V. 6. The servants of God are sometimes called to deliver his message and to turn away' without waiting to witness its reception.

V. 7. Where kings refuse to listen to the mandates of heaven their counsellors are sometimes moved to regard them, and their advice may prevail when other means have been ineffectual.

V. S. The professed subjection of sinners to the will of God is often fettered with provisos, which go to render it of no account in his sight.

V. 11. The wicked are sometimes disposed to falsify the claims of the Most High, that they may have an excuse for not complying with them.

V. 12. A latter plague may be commissioned to finish what a former began.

V. 16. The sense of divine wrath may extort from its victims the confession, that they have sinned both against God and against his servants.

V. 16. Death is the principal evil deprecated by the wicked.

V. 21. The lifted hands of the saints sometimes bring judgments as well as mercies upon the earth.

V. 26. The Lord's ministers are not at liberty to bate an iota of what he requires. Not an hoof.'

V. 29. It is a sad farewell when God in the persons of his servants refuses any more to see the face of the wicked; especially if in so doing he yields to their desires.

CHAPTER XI.

What purpose did God now announce to Moses, what command was connected with it, and what was the reason given for this command? v. 1-3. "And the Lord said unto Moses ;' rather, 'and the Lord had said. From v. 8, it appears that Moses, after announcing the tenth plague, went out from Pharaoh in

great anger,' and yet in ch. 10. 29, he is represented as saying to Pharaoh, I will see thy face again no more.' It is consequently to be inferred that the present judgment was denounced to the king before the cluse of the lastmentioned interview, and the information respecting it communicated to Moses some time previous to that interview. Shall surely thrust you out; Heb. thrusting shall thrust you out. Gr. with all rejection shall he reject you. And let every man borrow, &c.' Heb. 'And they shall borrow (or ask) every man of his neighbor.' We are by no means satisfied that Moses was required to command the people to practise the device here mentioned. We regard it rather, as far as they were concerned, as the mere prediction of a fact which should occur. Moses, we conceive, was here directed as a private individual, and probably in a covert manner, (whence the Gr. has, ' speak therefore privily in the ears;' i. e. in a private, not in a public, capacity) to start the suggestion among the people that the present was a favorable opportunity to obtain some measure of that remuneration for years of unrequited service to which they were justly entitled. The grounds of this proceeding are given in the ensuing verse; viz.-The Lord gave (rather, had given) the people favor, &c. This is to be taken in immediate connection with what goes before, as a statement of the reason which existed to give countenance and secure success to the measure proposed. Both Moses and the people were now in high estimation with the Egyptians from its having been so clearly evinced that they were the special objects of a divine interposition, and accounting this as a providential intimation they were led to avail themselves of the favorable impressions of their enemies to obtain a partial redress for their wrongs. As to the true import of the original word for borrow,' it is to be remarked that its general signification is that of asking, demanding, soliciting, without expressly implying a promise of restoration, although it cannot be denied that there are cases where it legitimately imports the act of borrowing, as Ex. 22. 14. 2 Kings, 6. 5. But in the present instance it is obvious that the Egyptians were as voluntary and as forward in giving as the Israelites were in receiving, there being no bribe which they were not willing to offer in order to free

themselves from the presence of men whom they regardedas the cause of their calamities; and when we consider for how long a period the latter had been impoverished that the former might be enriched, and that now being about to quit the land of their sojourning with only so much of their effects as they could bind up in their clothes upon their shoulders,' all the property which they left behind would naturally fall into the hands of their oppressors, we cannot deem it inconsistent with the divine perfections that this mode of possessing themselves of their dues should be suggested to an injured people. They took no more than they received, they received no more than they demanded, and they demanded no more than that to which they were justly entitled.-Josephus; 'They also honored the Hebrews with gifts, some in order to get them to depart quickly, and others on account of their neighborhood and the friendship they had with them. It is evident from cl. 12. 35, 36., that this account of the borrowing of the jewels is inserted here by anticipation, as the fact did not occur till some time afterward. The three first verses of this chapter ought properly, we think, to be included in a parenthesis.

What was the specific announcement now made by Moses to Pharaoh respecting his family and people? v. 4-6.

'And Moses said;' i, e. to Pharaoh, before he left his presence, as mentioned v. 8. and ch. 10. 29. about midnight will I go out; Heb. ' about midnight am I going out,' the future present participle. Chal. 'I will be revealed.' Árab. I will make my angel walk through the country of Egypt.' God went forth in the judgment instrumentally accomplished by the destroying angel.-"That sitteth upon his throne;' i. e. the first-born, whose right it would have been to sit upon the throne of the kingdom as a successor to his father. Of the maid-servant that is behind the mill." "Most families," says Dr Shaw; * speaking of the Moors in Barbary, "grind their wheat and barley at home, having twoportable millstones for that purpose; the uppermost of which is turned round by a small handle of wood or iron

Travels, p. 231.

that is placed in the rim. When this stone is large, or expedition is required, then a second person is called in to assiet; and as it is usual for the women alone to be concerned in this employment, who seat themselves over against each other with the millstones between thein, we may see not only the propriety of the expression, Ex. 11. 5. of sitting behind the mill, but the force of another, Mat. 24. 40. that two women shall be grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken, and the other left." Sir John Chardin also remarks," that they are female slaves who are generally employed in the East at these hand-mills; that this work is extremely laborious, and esteemed the lowest employment in the house." Thus, we find a translation from the highest honor to the lowest degradation described in the following terins, Is. 47. 1, 2. Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin, daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground ... take the millstones and grind meal.'

How were the children of Israel to be distinguished, and what tokens of respect was it predicted should be shown by Pharaoh's servants? v. 7, 8.

Shall not a dog move his tongue;' a proverbial expression for the most profound tranquillity, implying that nothing should occur to harm or affright them; they should abide in peace and safety. Doth put a difference;' Heb. wonderfully distinguisheth. All the people that follow thee;' Het. all the people which are at thy feet.' See note on Gen. 49. 10, p. 435. Gr. all thy people whom thou leadest.' Chal. that are with thee.'-' In a great anger; Heb. with a heat of anger.'

6

What is said in the two concluding verses of the chapter? v. 9, 10.

HEADS OF PRACTICAL REFLECTION.

V. 1. God may have one plague in reserve, which shall do more execution upon his enemies than nine preceding. V. 2. The Most High at his pleasure will give not only freedom but fulness to his enslaved people.

v. 3. Cruel and rapacious oppressors are sometimes made, in a strange way, to recompense those whom they have wronged.

V. 4. God's midnight walks are sometimes fearful visitation to sinners.

V. 8. The Lord can easily make his contumelious adversaries to stoop to his meanest servants, while these humble instruments triumphantly, but not malevolently, scorn those who scorn Him.

CHAPTER XII.

What instructions are given in the commencement of this chapter to Moses and Aaron respecting the then present month, and what was the name of that month? v. 1, 2. Ex. 34. 18.

And the Lord spake;' better rendered, the Lord had spoken,' for this order was given anterior to Moses' last interview with Pharaoh, and probably prior to the three days' darkness, as is evident from the fact of the paschal lamb being required to be made ready the fourth day before it was killed. We suppose, therefore, that the above direction was given to Moses on the ninth or tenth day of the month when the Passover was immediately provided; then followed the three days' darkness; on the thirteenth Moses appeared for the last time before Pharaoh; and on the fourteenth the Passover was eaten. This month;' called Abib,' new green corn, Ex. 13. 4. and Nisan,' Nehem. 2. 1. answering to part of our March and part of April, shall be unto you the beginning of months; Heb. 'shall be the head of months to you ;' i. e. not only first in order, but highest in estimation; the chief and most excellent month of the year. This month had formerly been reckoned the seventh, but was henceforth to stand the first of the ecclesiastical year, while the civil year remained unaltered, commencing in Tisri or September. Thus Josephus; Moses appointed that Nisan should be the first month; so that this month began the year, as to all the so