adjoining both the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, was well adapted for purposes of commerce, yet, owing to the exclusive disposition of its inhabitants, it was little known by the Greeks till the reign of Psammetichus.18 He owed his throne to the assistance of Grecian mercenaries, to whom in return he gave a settlement in Egypt. His son Necho, a warlike prince, extended the Egyptian power in Asia, and captured Jerusalem, after defeating king Josiah.19 Herodotus calls it Cadytis, or the holy city, and describes it as nearly of the size of Sardis.20 Necho, however, was compelled to yield to the arms of the Assyrians, and to confine himself to his own continent.21 Here he had been engaged in constructing a canal which was to unite the river Nile to the Red Sea; an enterprise in which one hundred and twenty thousand persons are said to have perished.22 But he left his purpose incomplete; probably because, on his defeat by the Assyrians, he feared to facilitate their passage into Egypt. He continued, however, to direct his attention to the navigation of the Red Sea; and from the measures which he employed for discovering the south of Africa, he appears to have formed designs of extending his power in that direction. For it was by his orders that some Phoenician mariners sailed down the Red Sea, with a view of discovering whether a passage could be found by it to the Straits of Gibraltar.23 The course which they held was one in which the winds were likely to favour them; and we are told that in three years they passed round Africa, landing every winter, and setting forth again at the approach of spring. A circumstance is added, which, to the ancients, unacquainted 18 Herod. xi. 152. B.C. 660. 20 Herod. iii. 5. 22 Herod. ii. 158. D 19 Herod. ii. 159. B.C. 608. with the southern hemisphere, threw doubt upon their testimony, but which is in reality the strongest confirmation of the truth of their narrative. They stated, as a singular phenomenon, what must necessarily happen to the south of the line, that as they sailed round Africa, the sun at midday appeared to the north, and not to the south of them. THE Israelites had dwelt two hundred and sixteen years in Egypt, and four hundred and twenty years had passed since Abraham had received the promise of the land of Canaan, when God called them to its possession. They had at first grown into a great nation under the shelter of the Egyptian government; but the oppression which that government had now begun to exercise made them receive gladly the summons to depart. Moses led them forth,— a man preserved in childhood by God's providential care, afterwards instructed by God Himself in the wilderness, and finally sent back to perform by divine power what, in the presumption of youth, he had expected to accomplish by human means. As God delivered His people by miracle from Egypt, so, by like miracle, did He preserve them in the wilderness. Forty years they remained there; they received new laws, they formed new habits, till they were ready to come forth as a separate people 1 B.C. 1491. This into the country which they were to possess. wonderful change of the common laws of God's providence was not ordained for their sakes alone. "These things happened unto them for ensamples; and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.' 990 In His dealings with Israel it pleased God to give a sign of His dispensations with the Church at large. Israel was led through the waters of the Red Sea; so has God appointed that through the waters of baptism men pass into His Church. As by this ordinance men are admitted into "the number of God's faithful and elect children,"4 so was the nation of Israel "elected" to be a 66 special people."5 Thus was their general predestination a sign of the election of individuals in later days to Christian privileges. So, again, the manna with which they were fed in the wilderness was a type of that heavenly food with which, in His holy communion, our Lord refreshes His faithful servants. The wilderness, in which they walked so long, resembled the world we inhabit; and the heavenly state was signified by the Canaan of rest which lay beyond.7 These things were understood not at the moment, but were "pearls that lay concealed in the great deep of God's counsels." And when the Israelites entered Canaan, the old figures passed away like visions of the night, and a new series of God's dealings began. But before this happened, that wonderful law had been given, the schoolmaster to bring men to Christ, which lasted till it was fulfilled in Him. This law had several parts and many objects. Its first part consisted of those ten commandments which Moses distinguishes from the rest, 3 1 Cor. x. 1. 4 Baptismal Service. 6 John vi. 51; 1 Cor. x. 3, 16. 8 Davison on Sacrifice. 2 1 Cor. x. 11. 7 Heb. iv. 8. B.C. 1491. OBJECTS OF THE LAW. 29 because spoken by the very mouth of God, by which the teaching of man's conscience, and the commands which had been given to the patriarchs, were renewed. Another part consisted of those laws and ceremonies which were meant to keep the Israelites distinct from surrounding nations. Thus were they fitted for their great purpose, to prepare the way for the coming of Christ. The provision for this object was the third and most important part of their law, which by its sacrifices led their minds to that great and only real sacrifice for sin, to be offered once for all on the cross. The sacrifice of a lamb, at the season of the passover, was the clearest type of the sacrifice of that Lamb of God, who at the self-same season shed His blood for our deliverance. But this was a type which could not be understood till it shone in the light of its own fulfilment. Other things there were which could earlier be perceived. The law which appointed means for atoning for every outward defilement, provided no method by which the defilement of sin could be done away. Yet conscience taught that the murderer needed forgiveness more than the man who touched the dead, and that evil thoughts defiled the soul more than outward stains the body. Thus by what it left undone, as well as by what it did, the law taught men to expect a Saviour. At this time, also, our Lord's coming was declared by clearer prophecies. Balaam, the pagan seer, who was summoned by the king of Moab to curse Israel, spoke of the "Star" which should rise "out of Jacob."10 This prophecy was remembered by other Eastern nations also; but to God's people, their own leader, Moses, declared, "a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your bre 9 Deut. v. 22. 10 Num. xxiv. 17. |