reproachful sense, yet it characterizes the Danites, especially in their expedition against the peaceful city of Laish, Judg. 18. V. 18. I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord. This is Jacob's longing cry in the midst of his prophecy, for he asks not only the assistance of the Lord for his descendants in this prayer, but he also confesses that his own longing to see the Messiah, like that of Eve, had not been fulfilled, and he realizes, in view of the future as disclosed in his own inspired words, that it will be some time before the Messiah would come to His people. Not for the salvation of Samson, but for that of the Messiah, who should save His people from their sins, his soul was longing.

THE PROPHECY UPON GAD, ASHER, NAPHTALI, JOSEPH, AND BENJAMIN. - V. 19. Gad, a troop shall overcome him; but he shall overcome at the last. The picture is that of a person crowded by malicious hordes, who nevertheless manages not only to hold his own, but even to turn upon the masses and drive them away. The tribe of Gad, living on the eastern side of the Jordan, was harassed more or less by the desert hordes, but managed to hold its own very successfully, 1 Chron. 5, 18; 12, 8—15. V. 20. Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties, shall produce pleasant foods. The fat which he would bring forth on his very fertile land in the plains toward Phenicia, would be his bread, for the country was noted for the excellence of its wheat and of its olive-oil. V. 21. Naphtali is a hind let loose; he giveth goodly words. In comparing Naphtali to a gazelle, Jacob predicts that he will be both a handsome and an active warrior. The fine words probably include such poems as that sung by Deborah, Judg. 4 and 5. V. 22. Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall. Here the prophetic song of Jacob rises to a solemn exultation. The descendants of Joseph would increase so rapidly in their territory that they would soon extend beyond their own boundaries into the neighboring tribes. V. 23. The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him; v. 24. but his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob (from thence is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel). Here the powerful and victorious growth of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh is pictured, in consequence of which all enemies would be overcome. This result, however, would not come about by their own power, but through the help of the mighty God of Jacob, by virtue of the assisting hands of God, who is both the Shepherd and the Rock of Israel. V. 25. Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts and of the womb. Rains from heaven above and sufficient water from springs

and brooks to give the necessary moisture to the soil and the greatest fertility for all his herds, that is the blessing which Jacob begs from the Lord for his beloved son. V. 26. The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills; they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren. The blessings of Jacob upon Joseph exceeded in extent and compass those of his fathers before him, rising higher than the eternal hills and surpassing them in beauty. Such a rich outward unfolding was to come upon him who excelled his brethren in dignity and power, on account of which he was separated from them by a wide gulf. V. 27. Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf; in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil. There would be no end to the successful raids of this warlike tribe, such men as Ehud, Saul, and Jonathan being members of it. At the same time, however, there would be ever present that nobility which would be willing to divide the spoil with the others. V. 28. All these are the twelve tribes of Israel; and this is it that their father spake unto them and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them. Not one was omitted in the blessing, although there was a big difference in the form and in the nature of the blessings.

THE DEATH OF JACOB. V. 29. And he charged them and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people, the time when his soul was to be added to those of his fathers was at hand; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron, the Hittite, v. 30. in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron, the Hittite, for a possession of a buryingplace. V. 31. There they buried Abraham and Sarah, his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah, his wife; and there I buried Leah. V. 32. The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was

from the children of Heth. Cp. chap. 23. What Jacob had charged Joseph to do in the event of his death, chap. 47, 30. 31, he here repeated to all his sons, giving them explicit directions regarding the burial-ground, lest they make any mistake about it or neglect the speedy execution of his dying wish. V. 33. And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, for he had been sitting on his couch, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people, the expression which denotes also here the hope of a final glorious resurrection unto eternal life, a resurrection which will surely come to all that have waited for, and believed in, the salvation of the Lord.

The Burial of Jacob; the Death of Joseph. THE MOURNING FOR JACOB. V. 1. And Joseph fell upon his father's face, and wept upon him, and kissed him, an evidence of deep, almost uncontrollable sorrow. V. 2. And Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father, an art in which the Egyptians had reached a high degree of perfection, as the condition of most mummies shows. And the physicians embalmed Israel. They took out those organs of the body which were most easily subject to decay, filling the cavities with spices, soaking the flesh in a solution which prevented its decaying, and then wrapping the body in linen smeared with gum.6) V. 3. And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those embalmed, so long it took for the entire process of embalming; and the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days, not only during the forty days of the embalming, but for thirty days more, thus giving him the honor which was given to princes in Egypt. V. 4. And when the days of his mourning were past, when the official, solemn mourning for Jacob had come to an end, Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh, to the officials of the king's court, - - for since he was still in mourning, he could not appear before Pharaoh in person, saying, If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, v. 5. My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die; in my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Since his father had taken the solemn oath from him, Joseph asked the courtiers to do him the favor of applying to Pharaoh for leave of absence for him, that he might bury his father. Jacob, in anticipation of his death, probably at the time when he buried Leah, had prepared also his own burial-place in the cave of Machpelah. It is by no means a sign of a sickly morbidity if Christians purchase and prepare a cemetery lot for themselves where they hope eventually to rest, for they believe in the resurrection of the dead. Joseph's request was stated: Now, therefore, let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again. V. 6. And Pharaoh said, Go up and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear. Pharaoh's regard for Joseph, as for a faithful servant, had in no wise been diminished, and he readily granted the request.

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JACOB IS BURIED IN CANAAN. · V. 7. And Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, the most prominent court and state officials, in recogni

6) Lange-Schaff, Genesis, 663.

tion of Joseph's high position, v. 8. and all the house of Joseph, all the relatives of Joseph and of Jacob, and his brethren, and his father's house; only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds they left in the land of Goshen. V. 9. And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen; and it was a very great company, an immense caravan, under the protection of an armed escort. V. 10. And they came to the threshing-floor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, on the east side of the river, the caravan finding it advantageous to travel around the Dead Sea; and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation; and he made a mourning for his father seven days. As distinguished from the official period of mourning in Egypt, this was a week of weeping with the chanting of dirges. V. 11. And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians; wherefore the name of it was called Abelmizraim (the mourning of the Egyptians), which is beyond Jordan. V. 12. And his sons did unto him (Jacob) according as he commanded them, the Egyptians apparently remaining in camp during that time; v. 13. for his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a burying-place of Ephron, the Hittite, before Mamre. Thus they performed their last duty of love toward their father, and incidentally confessed their belief in the fact that God will finally awaken His children unto life everlasting. V. 14. And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father. The children of Israel were not to stay in Canaan at this time, but according to the will of God many years were yet to elapse before their deliverance from Egypt would come. In his hands are the destinies of all mankind.

JOSEPH REASSURES HIS BROTHERS. - V. 15. And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him. They thought that it had been' only for the sake of his aged father that Joseph had refrained from taking revenge upon them for the wrong which they had done, that the enmity which he had concealed for so long a time would now cause him to pay them back in kind. V. 16. And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, they commanded or instructed some one to bring him a message, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying, v. 17. So shall ye say unto Joseph, For

GENESIS 50, 17 b--26.

give, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren and their sin, for they did unto thee evil. So the sons' fear of Joseph's revenge had caused them to make a full confession to their father and to ask his advice in this difficult matter. Their repentance, their conversion, was now an accomplished fact: they had made a full and free confession. And now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. Thus the brothers received perfect assurance of the forgiveness of their sin, for it is by confessing and forsaking sins that mercy is obtained. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him, it grieved him to think that they believed him capable of such meanness, but he wept also tears of joy over this evidence of complete repentance. V. 18. And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants. They freely offered what they had formerly resented with indignation. V. 19. And Joseph said unto them, Fear not; for am I in the place of God, to judge, to condemn, and to punish? God had brought matters to pass in this manner, and it was not for Joseph to change God's purposes. V. 20. But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. Their evil intentions the Lord had not only frustrated, but had turned them for the best, as they plainly saw before their eyes, their own lives being saved as a consequence of the Lord's providence. V. 21. Now, therefore, fear ye not; I will nourish you and your little ones. His kind favor would be with them as heretofore. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them, thus giving an example of true forgiveness for all times; for this is the disposition which all Christians should foster most diligently.

THE DEATH OF JOSEPH.-V. 22. And Joseph

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dwelt in Egypt, he and his father's house. And Joseph lived an hundred and ten years, thus enjoying the love and the reverence of the Egyptians for eighty years. V. 23. And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation; the children also of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were brought up upon Joseph's knees. He lived to see grandchildren and great-grandchildren, thus experiencing what it means that God shows mercy to the third and fourth generation of them that love Him and keep His commandments. V. 24. And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die; and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which He sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. It was his dying message, prophetical in tone, breathing his faith in the fulfilment of the divine promise, chap. 46, 4. 5. V. 25. And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence. Like his father, he did not want his bones to rest in strange ground, but his very burial should express his faith in the patriarchal blessing and in the Messianic promise. He was sure that the Lord would visit His people with His grace and mercy. That is the final test, if a person retains his faith until the end. V. 26. So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt, in a chest of sycamore wood such as was used to keep a mummy until the time of burial. The children of Israel kept the oath which their fathers had sworn to Joseph. When they left Egypt, they carried the mummy of Joseph along with them, Ex. 13, 19, and when they arrived in Canaan, they buried him in the field of Jacob at Shechem, Josh. 24, 32. From Joseph we learn to set our hope forward to the great Land of Promise above and patiently to await the end of our faith, even the salvation of our souls.

The second book of Moses, called Exodus (going out, departure), has been recognized as a distinct book since the time of the Jewish Church. It is not a continuation, but a sequel of the Book of Genesis, a long interval of time being passed over without record. The family of Jacob had now grown into a large nation, and the inspired author proceeds to show how the Lord carried out His promise of leading the children of Israel back to the land where Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had been strangers. Gen. 15, 13-16; 35, 11. 12; 48, 21. 22; 50, 25. The main purpose of the book is to relate how the

theocracy, the direct government of God, was established among the people of Israel by the solemn giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, the act by which God made and confirmed the covenant which He had hinted at to the patriarchs. The book tells the history of Israel from the time that God arranged for their departure out of Egypt until the time that the Tabernacle had been dedicated near Mount Horeb. A large part of the book is devoted to the legislation on Mount Sinai, which included not only the giving of the Moral, or Natural, Law in the form of the Ten Commandments,

but also the Ceremonial, or Levitical, Law, which prescribed all forms of divine worship which were to be observed by the people of God in the centuries before the coming of Christ, and the Civil Law, which was given to the children of Israel as a separate people among the nations of the earth and which regulated their political affairs and provided for sanitary rules throughout the country.

The

"Exodus is the Book of Redemption. chosen people are in hopeless bondage in the land of Egypt, having no power to deliver themselves. But God says: 'I have seen the affliction of My people, I have heard their cry, I know their sorrows; I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up into a good land,' Ex. 3, 7. 8. It is a beautiful picture of the soul redeemed from the bondage of Egypt into the glorious liberty of the children of God. God is revealed to us as the Deliverer and Leader of His people, a God near at hand, dwelling among them, concerned with the affairs of their daily life." (Hodgkin.) The Book of Exodus is especially rich in Messianic types and symbols. The burning bush, chap. 3, is a picture of the incarnation of Jesus Christ. The Passover lamb, chap. 12, is a type of Christ and His redemption, 1 Cor. 5, 7. 8; 1 Pet. 1, 18. 19. The manna, chap. 16, is a type which Jesus applies to Himself, John 6, 48—51, when He says: "I am the Bread of Life." The smitten rock, chap. 17, is referred to 1 Cor. 10, 4: "They drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them; and that Rock was Christ."

Moses himself, the central personage of Exodus, is a type of the great Prophet of the New Testament, Deut. 18, 15. 18. The high priest Aaron was a type of our great High Priest, Jesus Christ, whose atoning sacrifice reconciled the whole world to God. The Tabernacle in the wilderness, built according to the design furnished by God Himself, was a picture and shadow of heavenly things, Heb. 8, 5. It was the outward sign of God's presence, God's tent in the midst of the tents of the children of Israel, the meeting-place between God and man.

The contents of the book may be briefly summarized: The departure out of Egypt, including the narrative of the oppression, of the birth and education of Moses, of his flight, call, and equipment, of the ten plagues, of the institution of the Passover, of the passage through the Red Sea and the destruction of Pharaoh; the wilderness journey to Mount Sinai, including the stop at Marah, the quails, manna, water from the rock, the battle with Amalek; the solemn legislation on Mount Sinai, including the preparations, the Ten Commandments, the rights of Israel, and the making of the covenant; the building and the dedication of the Tabernacle, including the sin of Aaron and the people, the making of the Tabernacle coverings and appointments, the erection and the dedication of the Tabernacle.1)

1) Cp. Concordia Bible Class, Feb., 1919; Fuerbringer, Einleitung in das Alte Testament,

24. 25.

The Oppression of Israel in Egypt. THE RAPID GROWTH OF THE PEOPLE. — V. 1. Now these are the names of the children of Israel which came into Egypt; every man and his household came with Jacob: V. 2. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, v. 3. Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, v. 4. Dan, and Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. V. 5. And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls; for Joseph was in Egypt already. The order is: the sons of Leah, the son of Rachel, the sons of Rachel's handmaid, the sons of Leah's handmaid. As in Gen. 46, 27, seventy souls are mentioned as the forefathers of the children of Israel, it being expressly stated that the sons came, each with his family, with his wife and children. small number serves as a fine contrast over against the immense multitude that is spoken of at the time of the Exodus. V. 6. And Joseph died, and all his brethren and all that generation. Joseph died at the age of one hundred and ten years, Gen. 50, 26, apparently the first one of the brothers to be taken away; but he was soon followed by the other members of his own generation, Levy dying about twenty years after him, Ex. 6, 16. V. 7.

The

And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them. The heaping of the expressions, five different terms being used to emphasize this point, indicates the extraordinary growth of the people, a factor brought about not only by natural fertility and the eagerness for children, but above all by the fulfilment of God's promise to all the patriarchs. They filled the entire land, particularly Goshen, so that the country swarmed with their numbers. God's promises never fail, and it is a matter of wisdom to trust in them with firm confidence. PHARAOH PLANS TO CURB THE GROWTH. V. 8. Now there arose up a new king over Egypt which knew not Joseph. The expression "arose up" indicates either that the new Pharaoh adopted entirely new policies with reference to the strange people within the boundaries of his land, or that a new dynasty was founded by conquest or by the overthrow of that which had been friendly to the people of Joseph, the savior of Egypt. This new Pharaoh knew not Joseph, either because he was entirely unfamiliar with the history of the strange people in Goshen, or because he deter

mined to set aside the high regard in which the strangers had been held. A careful comparison of Biblical and secular history seems to show that Thothmes I must have been the Pharaoh of the oppression, while the Pharaoh of the Exodus was Amenhotep II. V. 9. And he said unto his people, to the high officials and representatives of the people, who were his counselors, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we. This was an exaggeration to emphasize the unwelcome growth of the Israelites which showed the abject fear of the despot. V. 10. Come on, let us deal wisely with them, make use of political sagacity combined with despotic craftiness and malice, lest they multiply, and it come to pass that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. The children of Israel were no citizens of Egypt, they had never become Egyptianized, neither in language nor in religion nor in customs, and so the new despot scented a danger which his policy bade him remove in time. He did not fear the conquest of his own country, but merely the departure of the Jews in case of a war. He considered the Israelites subject to his jurisdiction to the extent of treating them as serfs and bondmen. V. 11. Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. The counselors advised impressing the Israelites into peonage, practically into slavery, by setting officers over them, the purpose being to enfeeble the people, both in body and mind, by enforced labor, to take the heart out of them by the grievousness of their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses. Certain cities had been set aside as places to store the annual tax of the harvest which Joseph had introduced, Pithom, which was situated on the canal connecting the Nile with the Arabian Gulf, and Raamses, later known as Heroopolis, in Goshen, about twenty-two miles east of Pithom, as nearly as may be determined at the present time. V. 12. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. God spoiled the success of the Egyptians' plans by continuing to bless the Israelites in spite of all the measures intended to destroy their fruitfulness. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel. They were not merely disgusted at them, but they felt an increasing horror of the mysterious power that was aiding the children of Israel. V. 13. And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor; v. 14. and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar and in brick and in all manner of service in the field; all their service wherein they made them serve was with rigor. Chagrined at the failure of their first plan, the Egyptians added ill treatment and cruelty to oppression. Two new forms of service were Popular Commentary, Old Test., I.

laid upon them, brick-making, which included both the preparing of the clay and the drying of the brick, and the hard field labor on the soil which had to be irrigated. Thus all the work which the Egyptians performed through the Israelites was done under hard pressure upon the latter. To this day tribulation and persecution is the lot of the people of God, but such crosses bring them only blessing and gain.

THE COMMAND TO KILL ALL THE MALE CHILDREN. — V. 15. And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah, their names being recorded to their lasting honor; v. 16. and he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools, in determining the sex; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him, the male children should be killed right after birth; but if it be a daughter, then she shall live. Whether these two women were the only midwives in Israel, or whether they were the heads of the order of midwives, is immaterial; the devilish command to use inhuman violence referred to all male children among the Hebrews. V. 17. But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive. They placed the reverential fear of God before the slavish fear of the tyrant. V. 18. And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, he stormed at them with an angry cry, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive? V. 19. And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, full of life and energy, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them. This was not a mere evasion or deception, but agreed with the general experience, although in this case an untruth would have been defensible. V. 20. Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, gave them evidence of His goodness; and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty under their ministrations, the remarkable growth of the children of Israel continued. V. 21. And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that He made them houses. He blessed them with abundant prosperity. V. 22. And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born (to the Hebrews) ye shall cast into the river (Nile), and every daughter ye shall save alive. Since his first plan had failed, he made use of open, violent brutality in not only giving permission, but even a command that his people might at any time drown the male babies of the Israelites. No Christian will permit himself to be made the instrument of a tyrant who seeks to destroy the Church of God. And it will be found that it is to the advantage of believers to obey God rather than men, even here in time.

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