CHAP. XXIV. Respecting one of his sons Jacob uttered a very remarkable prediction, clearly indicating, not only the prosperity and the regal power which should distinguish his tribe, but more particularly the extinction of this external dominion upon the coming of Christ, and the establishment of that spiritual kingdom which shall endure for ever :“Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise; thine hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down to thee:-the sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be."

And Jacob charged his sons, saying, "I am to be gathered unto my people-bury me with my fathers, in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan." And when Joseph

had lived to the age of one hundred and ten

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years, he also " said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and will bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." And the brethren of Joseph embalmed him,

and he was put in a coffin in Egypt, in order that, according to his injunction, his remains might eventually be interred in the cave of Machpelah, where they had entombed their father Jacob. Thus, as the Apostle declares, By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel, and gave commandment concerning his bones."

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And all that generation died: but the Hebrews "increased and multiplied greatly," and were "exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them." Now there arose a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph; and he, fearing the numbers and consequent power of the Israelites, endeavoured to suppress them, and to prevent their increase by severe and cruel bondage. And he set over them taskmasters who afflicted them with their burdens, and made them build treasure cities for Pharaoh, Pithom, and Raamses (or Rameses) and all the service imposed on them was with rigour." And

in order to exterminate the race of the Hebrews, Pharaoh issued an edict that all their male children should be destroyed.

"At this time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and was nourished up in his `father's house three months;" and when he could no longer be concealed there, his mother hid him in an ark of bulrushes amongst the flags by the edge of the river Nile. And the daughter of Pharaoh went to bathe in the river, and her maidens walked along by the river's side: and seeing the ark among the flags she sent a maid to fetch it: and when she had opened it and looked on the child, "behold the babe wept; and she had compassion on him," and took him for her own son, employing his mother as his ⚫ nurse. And Pharaoh's daughter had Moses instructed in all the learning of the Egyptians, and he became "mighty in words and in deeds." Egypt was then a powerful kingdom, and the honours and pleasures of a glittering court were calculated to captivate the heart of Moses; but, being actuated by faith in God, and guided by the Holy Spirit, "he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the

reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward."

CHAP. XXV.-It appears that, at an early period of his life, Moses contemplated becoming the deliverer of his brethren; and "when he was grown he went out unto them, and looked upon their burdens: and he espied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, and he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand. And when he went out the second day, behold two men of the Hebrews strove together; and he said to him that did the wrong, why smitest thou thy fellow? And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian yesterday? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known." He had "supposed that his brethren would have understood how that God, by his hand, would deliver them; but they understood not." Now "Pharaoh heard this thing," and "sought to slay Moses: but he fled from the face of

G

Pharaoh to the land of Midian," and dwelt "And it

with Jethro, the priest of Midian. came to pass in process of time that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage; and their cry came up unto God, and God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them."

CHAP. XXVI.- "Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to Mount Horeb;" a district here, as well as in some other narrations of the sacred volume, denominated "the Mountain of God:" being doubtless so called in consequence of the awfully memorable and glorious manifestations of the Almighty Jehovah, repeatedly visible there; a remarkable instance of which was now vouchsafed to Moses. For, behold, "the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

And