ness, and that from David to Christ the scepter was in Judah-until the Messiah came, when it dropped from his hand. "We have a law," (said the Jewish Sanhedrim in the age of Christ) "and by our law he ought to die"-i. e. for blasphemy. But under their law, capital punishment was by stoning (Lev. 24: 15, 16, and Mat. 26: 65, 66, and Jno. 19: 7). Having lost the power of life and death over criminals, they were compelled to take the case to the Roman authorities. Their mode of capital punishment was crucifixion. Thus the "cross" stands through all the ages to prove that the scepter had departed from Judah and that the Messiah had come. But he came not only to die but to reign, and the nations of the wide earth are to bow to his scepter. Such is the construction of this passage, provided the term "Shiloh" refers to the Messiah.

That it does refer to him may be argued on two grounds:

(a.) This construction is facile, natural, and supported by analogous prophecies;

(b.) The other which makes Shiloh the name of a town in Canaan, labors under serious, not to say insurmountable difficulties.

(a.) "Shiloh" is derived readily from the verb Shalah, kindred with Shalam, both words being in frequent use in the sense of being at peace and in rest; expressing good wishes for peace-i. e. for all prosperity-the noun from which might naturally mean the author of peace, as we see in Mic. 5: 4. Furthermore, this distinctive feature of the Messiah's character and mission is the theme of Ps. 72 and of many passages in Isaiah, e. g. 9: 6, 7, and 11: 1-10, and 60: 1822. These prophecies naturally follow the lead of this and therefore sustain the construction here given it.

Moreover, it is natural and highly probable that Jacob whose twelve sons were to found the twelve tribes of Israel and who knew that the Messiah was to come in the line of some one of his sons, should indicate which. Noah had designated Shem: God had designated Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; now the choice is naturally made out of these twelve. That the long prom ised Seed was in Jacob's thought is forcibly and beauti

שלה*

fully suggested in the midst of these dying benedictions by the words "I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord" (49: 18). In the sustaining hope of a coming Savior he had waited and trusted through many long years; for these words express the precious experiences of a life. As Jesus himself testified of Abraham, "He rejoiced to see my day," hailing it joyously from afar, so Jacob witnesses of himself, "I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord."

(b.) Those who give "Shiloh " here the geographical sense argue that in every other case of its use in scripture, it refers to the town of that name. This name for a town appears first in Josh. 18: 1, 8, 10, and often subsequently in Judges, 1 Sam., etc. But there is no evidence that in Jacob's day it had come into use in geography. This usage, so far as appears, was long subsequent. Nothing forbids, therefore, that Jacob should use it simply for its significance-the Peace-giving One.

Again, the most marked supremacy of Judah began after the nation had reached Shiloh. It is therefore bad history and very inept prophecy to represent Judah as holding the scepter until the nation came to Shiloh; the fact being that he had not held it in the full sense previously to reaching Shiloh, but did hold it for many centuries after Shiloh had lost its pre-eminence as the religious capital. I see therefore no good ground for setting aside the Messianic interpretation of this passage. The argument in its defense is ably and fully drawn out by Keil in his Commentary, and yet more fully by Hengstenberg in his Christology, vol. 1. pp. 50-63.

The less readable portions of Genesis.

We have passed several portions of Genesis with little or no notice; e. g. the genealogical tables, and some of the less important sketches of family and tribal history; e. g. that of Abraham's sons by Keturah; of Ishmael, Esau, Laban, etc.

Of these less readable passages, let it be noted:

1. They are such as never could find place in a tale of fiction, gotten up in some later age to interest and amuse the reader. The fact that nobody finds interest

and amusement in reading them now proves conclusively that no writer of fiction could possibly have concocted such chapters from his own fancy and have foisted them into a professedly ancient history. The men who forge books of fiction to pass them off as truthful history are careful not to put in unreadable chapters-void of rational or even imaginative interest to the men of after ages.

2. Consequently these passages are incontrovertible proof of the genuineness and real antiquity of these writings. In their time they had interest-just that interest which attaches to sober truth: none more or other than this.

This

3. The Scriptures were written with special adaptation to their first readers, and must include therefore those matters which had real value and interest to them, whether they would continue to have interest and value many thousand years onward or not. fact, often overlooked, has many important bearings. 4. By far the greater portion of these historic books has a permanent interest and value to us and will have to their readers through all future ages. We see in these ancient books not only the earliest developments of human nature in the primitive society of the race, but also the earliest manifestations of God to men, and can trace their progressive unfoldings step by step age after age by new methods and with clearer light as we move on toward the great era when God became manifest in human flesh.

5. It may well reconcile us to the annoyance (if such it be) of some unreadable portions that precisely these above all others afford us the strongest evidence of the genuineness and high antiquity of these entire books. They constitute an internal mark of antiquity and genuineness which by the laws of human nature never could be counterfeited. The man who should attempt to counterfeit such proofs that his fiction is true history would not prove himself very sharp save in the skill of spoiling his book and frustrating the only conceivable object of a fiction-for the sake of what?

We lay down Genesis, profoundly impressed that this oldest volume of human history is unsurpassed in simplicity and beauty, and wonderfully rich in its revelations both of man and of his Maker.

CHAPTER XII.

EXODUS.

THIS Second book of the Pentateuch takes its modern name from its principal event, the exodus of the Hebrew people their marching forth out of their house of bondage from the land of their oppression, to be replanted under God's gracious providence in the goodly land promised to their fathers. This one main event

as recorded in this book includes many subordinate points, e. g.

I. The oppressions of the Hebrews by the Egyptians. II. Moses, who became in the hand of God their great Deliverer; his history; his early training and his call from the Lord to this great work.

III. The great mission of Moses to Egypt's king; his reception; the ten successive plagues-miraculous judgments from the hand of God; the case of the magicians; the hardening of Pharaoh's heart, and the ultimate result.

I. The Oppression.

The narrative shows that this oppression consisted in part in the exacting of terribly severe labors, especially in building, including the making of brick, the preparation of mortar, the transportation of these materials, and the erection of buildings. The ancient monuments of Egypt confirm the statements of sacred history, showing that the Egyptians employed national bondmen in the construction of their vast national works; that they placed over them task-masters; that when the workmen fell short of the required tale of brick, their masters put them to more severe labors, and in some cases to labors of other sort. It has been supposed by some that the ancient paintings represented some of these laborers with the well-known physiognomy of the He

brews.

It should be noted that this bondage differed from the slavery of modern times in this one respect-that the bondmen were held by the king and the nation in their national capacity and not by individuals. The He

brews were not held as private but as public property. The king and the nation as such bore therefore the responsibility and guilt of this oppression, and God let his judgments smite them for the most part in such a way as to indicate their sin.

Å second feature in this oppression was the king's cruel edict to murder the male infants. This was first enjoined upon the Hebrew midwives. Fearing God more than Egypt's king, they evaded obedience; whereupon the king commanded all his people to cast the male infants into the river. The reason assigned for both these measures was public policy, to prevent the rapid increase of Hebrew population which the king assumed might be dangerous to his throne and people in case of a foreign invasion. Such a policy is at once short-sighted and wicked; short-sighted, since kind treatment would have made this rapidly growing people their fast friends and helpers; wicked, because it violates common morality, insulting God, and provoking his wrath by outraging all the obligations which he imposes on men toward their fellows. Egypt's king and court presently found themselves arrayed against Almighty God and saw him take up the challenge in a fearful conflict for mastery. We shall see in the final issue that the Lord improved this occasion to illustrate some of the noblest principles of his government over nations and indeed over individuals as well, showing that he abhors oppression; takes the side of the oppressed; hurls his fiercest thunderbolts against giant oppressors in every age; and every-where holds men to the responsibility of using their power to befriend and not to oppress their human brethren.

This oppression began with "a new king over Egypt who knew not Joseph." It is generally held that these words indicate a new dynasty-one royal line superseded by another, perhaps a foreign power coming in to supplant the former dynasty. The points of historic contact between Egyptian and Hebrew chronology may at some future day be adjusted with reasonable certainty. They are not yet. The subject is undergoing a somewhat thorough investigation with some prospect of ultimate success. At present I am not prepared to express positive opinions.