on the west of Sinai, is pointed out to travellers as the spot at which this event took place; but there is nothing to verify the tradition—which, however, is of long standing, and obtains the assent of some visitors. On account of the provocation here offered to the Lord, and the confusion which prevailed, Moses called this place Massah (temptation, tempting, sc. of the Lord), and Meribah (contention, strife).

While the people were encamped at Rephidim, they sustained an attack from the native inhabitants of the country, the Amalekites. These are generally regarded as descendants of Amalek, the son of Eliphaz, and grandson of Esau (Gen. xxxvi. 12, 16); while others infer from Gen. xiv. 7 that they existed as a nation long before the birth of the Edomite Amalek. Seeing the enemy approach, 'Moses said unto Joshua,* Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to-morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur (whom Josephus describes as the husband of Miriam, and identical with Hur,† the grandfather of Bezaleel), went up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand (and so lifted up his rod; being, doubtless, at the same time, engaged in intercessory prayer), that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands were heavy (i. e. he became weary of holding them up); and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua; for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi (the Lord my banner).' (Exod. xvii. 9-15; see also Deut. xxv. 17-19.) We notice here grouped together,' says Dr. Kitto, 'that hallowed combination of agencies which ought never to be separated-dependence upon Heaven, with the use of appointed means. The rod in the hand of Moses, and the sword in that of Joshua; the embattled host in the valley below, and the praying hand in the mount above--all were necessary in

*This is the first mention of Joshua in the sacred history. He was the son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim. His name was originally (Num. xiii. 8) Oshea (i.e. salvation); but he was afterwards called by Moses, Jehoshua (i. e. salvation of the Lord).

[Ex. xxxi. 2.]

the Divine economy to the victory of Israel over his foes. So must it be in our conflict with the Amalek which lies ambushed within, to hinder our progress to the mount of God. . . . . And if we are tempted at any time to faint in the discharge of this duty, or to find too little enjoyment in the exercise of this privilege, let us take to ourselves all the encouragement derivable from the assured knowledge that He who marshals the consecrated hosts, leads them to battle, and fights on their behalf, sustains another office equally important. He has ascended to the summit of the everlasting hills, and is there employed in prevalent intercession for their success; and we may well be consoled with the assurance that a greater than Moses is mediating for us in the mount above; and that His hand is never weary, His love never faint, His voice never silent.' *

The Israelites, being now† in the district of Horeb, were not far from the residence of Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, who paid a visit to the camp, bringing with him Zipporah, whom Moses had sent home at the commencement of his perilous undertaking, together with her two sons Gershom and Eliezer (p. 53). Moses recounted to his father-in-law the events which had befallen him since his departure from Midian; and the latter united with Moses and the elders of Israel in a solemn sacrifice of thanksgiving.

Observing that the amount of business on the hands of Moses was too burdensome for one man, Jethro advised him to appoint a certain number of persons of approved piety and integrity, as heads of companies of ten, fifty, a hundred, and a thousand, with whom should be vested the decision of all minor causes, reserving to himself the judgment of weightier matters, especially those concerning religion. Moses acquiesced in this suggestion, and framed a constitution accordingly. Afterwards he sought the assistance of a senate or council (synedrium) of seventy elders (see chap. xxiii.)

ELEMENTARY AND GENERAL QUESTIONS.

219. What part of the Red Sea did the Israelites cross?

220. In what country were they after their passage, and in what particular district?

221. Why were they not conducted directly towards Canaan ?

222. What took place at Marah ?

223. Describe the station called Elim.

224. What took place in the Wilderness of Sin?

* Daily Bible Illustrations, vol. ii. pp. 118, 120.

† Some suppose that this incident occurred a little later, while the Israelites were encamped around Sinai, after the giving of the Law; which they deem to be the order of events indicated in Deut. i. 9-17. But the note of time in that passage refers to the whole period of the journeys of the children of Israel.

225. Describe the miraculous gift of Manna.

226. What truths and lessons are conveyed to us by the history of the Manna? 227. What miracle was wrought while the people were at Rephidim ?

228. Describe the significance of this miracle.-Where is it explained?

229. What attack did the Israelites sustain at Rephidim - and with what result? 230. State some lessons to be derived from what Moses did during the battle with the Amalekites.

231. Relate the incidents connected with the visit of Jethro to the camp of the Israelites.

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS.

232. Point out the probable line of the passage through the Red Sea.

233. Describe the boundaries of the Peninsula of Sinai.

234. Trace the probable route of the Israelites, and mention their several stations or encampments between the Red Sea and Horeb.

235. What are the probable localities of Marah-Elim-the Wilderness of Sinand Rephidim ?

226. Who were the Amalekites?

237. Where is the first mention of Joshua in the Bible?

238. Describe that constitution of the tribes which Moses adopted at the suggestion of Jethro.

239. Give the meanings of-Marah-Elim-Manna-Massah-Meribah-Joshua -Jehovah-nissi.

CHAPTER XIV.

HOREB AND SINAI.-THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. FURTHER DELIVERY OF THE LAW.

(Exod. xix.-xxxi.)

THE Israelites arrived at Horeb on the first day of the third month (Sivan), at the expiration of about forty-five days after their departure from Egypt, and they remained at this encampment a little more than eleven months;-a most momentous period of their history, during which it pleased God to make to them a special declaration of His will, confirming His covenant with them as the descendants of Abraham, and solemnly announcing the terms and limitations which He now prescribed to them in their national capacity, and as His peculiar people.

The peninsula of Sinai contains several ranges of mountains or lofty rocks, intersected by valleys and deep gorges. The mountain near which the Israelites were now stationed forms one of those ridges, about three miles in length, running nearly from north to south, and distinguished by two heights or peaks, at either end; the one, to the north, being called Horeb (proper), and the other, to the south, bearing the name of Sinai (now Jebel Mousa, i. e. Mount of Moses); while the whole region took its denomination either from Horeb alone, or perhaps sometimes from one of these summits, and sometimes from the

other. (Compare Exod. xix. 11, &c., with Deut. i. 6, iv. 10, 15, v. 2, xviii. 16.) The southern and more elevated summit has been traditionally regarded as the scene of the delivery of the Law; which is now, however, assigned by Dr. Robinson and others to the northern and lower summit Horeb, and especially to that projecting point of Horeb called Râs Sasafeh, which overlooks a tolerably spacious plain formed by the junction of the two valleys Wady Er-Râhah and Wady EshSheykh, where it is supposed that the people were encamped. Dean Stanley, who concurs in this view, yet thinks it possible that the spot may have been at the end of the mountain range Fureia, now called Jebel Sena, opposite Horeb, and forming the other (northern) side of the plain; a spot, it may be observed, which might have been nearly surrounded by the people who could have been assembled, for the most part, only in front of Horeb. Some persons, however, still entertain the idea that Moses stood on the southern peak, Sinai, while the people were gathered together in a valley (Wady Sebayeh) in front (viz. to the south) of it. But this valley is small and narrow; and it is difficult to avoid concurring in the views of Dr. Robinson and Dean Stanley, that the Israelite encampment lay in the valleys to the north of Horeb. Perhaps when Moses was called up into the mount, to meet God, and especially during the long periods of forty days, it was to the recesses or height of Sinai that he was summoned; and he probably descended thence to the lower summit (Horeb), and stood on Râs Sasafeh, when he addressed the people; so that the Law was delivered to Moses on Sinai, and to the people from Horeb. At all events, the Wadys Er-Râbah and Esh-Sheykh, with the plain formed by their confluence, appear to be the only ground in the neighbourhood of Sinai on which a multitude of people can be supposed to have pitched their tents.

Such then was, probably, the spot which the Most High selected as the scene of His great communication on the present occasion. It was somewhere in this region, if not at this very place, that the Lord had formerly (p. 54) appeared to Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; He now comes down in fire on the mountain, as a manifestation of His more immediate presence to the assembled people. The following is, in brief, the history of this great event.

In the first place, Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mount, charging him to remind the people of all the wonderful works which had been wrought in their favour, and announcing his purpose of giving them a law, to which He required their obedience, with the promise of

making them a peculiar treasure unto Himself above all people -a kingdom of priests and a holy nation-so that they should be taken under His special protection, and distinguished by singular honour. The people promised obedience; and Moses, having reported this promise to God, was sent back to them with instructions to sanctify themselves, and to wash their clothes, expecting on the third day to witness a glorious manifestation of the Divine presence on the mountain; bounds also were to be set round the base of the mountain, beyond which none should be permitted to pass, under penalty of death. And it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended † upon it in fire; and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.' (Exod. xix. 16-19; comp. Heb. xii. 18-26.) This voice summoned Moses to go up to the top of the mount, accompanied by Aaron, while the people remained at the prescribed distance. It appears that Moses alone drew near unto the thick darkness where God was,' or entered the borders of the cloud, which was the more immediate token of the Divine presence.

Under these solemn circumstances, God began to make the

* If Minos, the legislator of the Cretans, pretended to have, every nine years, communions with Jupiter in a cavern; if Lycurgus, the legislator of the Lacedæmonians, raised his influence by an oracle of Apollo; and Numa, Rome's second king, supported his anthority by a feigned intercourse with the nymph Egeria, who, he said, instructed him in a grotto near his fountain; if Zamolxis, the lawgiver of the Getæ, ascribed his wisdom to Vesta; and Odin carried constantly with him the embalmed head of Mimer, to whom he imputed oracular inspirations; if Manko-Kapak spread the belief that he descended from the sun in order to enlighten the people of Peru; and Mohammed listened to the wisdom which his dove whispered in his ear, as Sertorius, in Lusitania, followed the secret suggestions of his hind; all these extraordinary men understood well that a certain Divine authority was required to diffuse new systems and new ideas among whole nations, and to make them act in accordance therewith. What those men effected very imperfectly, by more or less gross illusions, was executed by God, whom the whole of nature obeys, in a manifest and awful manner, by perpetually continued wonders, witnessed by a whole nation.'-Stollberg's History of Religion (ii. p. 58), quoted by KALISCH on Exod. xix. 5.

How far more sublime, and more worthy of Deity, are the facts of Scripture, than the fictions of Heathen mythology! The Indian mountain Meru, and the Greek Olympus, were regarded as the thrones of their earthly and fictitious divinities; but the true God, the Most High, manifested Himself by coming down to Mount Sinai.