Part 22

Now Moses and Aaron went as the Lord commanded them, and told the people all that the Lord had spoken unto Moses, and did wonders before them. And Moses and Aaron went in and said to King Pharaoh, “Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.’” And Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.” And from that day Pharaoh made the children of Israel work harder than they had ever done before, desiring that they might no longer have straw given them to make their bricks of, but that they should from that time be obliged to find their own straw, and at the same time get done as much work as they did when they had straw given them. Then when God saw the hardness of Pharaoh’s heart, he commanded Moses to go to Pharaoh in the morning, when he took his walk by the river, and to take his rod in his hand, and to smite the waters of the river before him, which should all be turned into blood. And the fish that were in the river died, and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. Seven days did this sad change in the waters last; but still Pharaoh would not listen to the voice of Moses and Aaron. Then God told Moses to stretch forth his hand over the river, and over all the waters, and to bring frogs over all his people: and Moses did so; and frogs came over all the land of Egypt, as the Lord said. Then Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron, and said, “Entreat the Lord, that he may take away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may so sacrifice unto the Lord.” But no sooner did the Lord hear the voice of Moses, and take away this evil from Pharaoh and his people, than the king forgot what he had suffered, and would not let the Israelites go. Great and dreadful were the plagues that the Lord brought upon the land of Egypt before the King would let the children of Israel go. At one time, he covered the whole land, both man and beast, with the most disgusting kind of insects--at another, he sent grievous swarms of flies to torment them--now, he sent mighty hails, and thunderings, and rains upon the land, which were exceeding terrible, filling the hearts of the people with fear--then, he destroyed all the first-born of the land, both man and beast.

The Passover.

Exodus xii. 3.

On the evening before the Passover God commanded that every family of Israel should slay a lamb, and sprinkle the door-posts before the houses with the blood of the lamb; that so, when the angel of the Lord came down to destroy the first-born of Egypt, he might know the houses of Israel from those of Egypt, and pass over them, and save those that dwelt in them from death. This lamb was to be called the Passover, because God should pass over those houses whose doors were sprinkled with its blood. This was the last supper which the children of Israel were ever to eat in Egypt, even the feast of the Passover. They kept up this feast every year, in order that they might remember the night when the Lord smote the Egyptians.

The passage of Israel through the Red Sea.

Exodus xiv. 15.

We now see the children of Israel, delivered by the almighty power of God from Egypt and from Pharaoh, travelling towards the land that God had promised to their fathers. The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light. When they had thus got as far as Pi-hahiroth, which borders on the Red Sea, they lifted up their eyes, and behold the Egyptians marched after them. So hardened was king Pharaoh’s heart, that scarcely had the Israelites gone out of Egypt before he was sorry that he had let them go. And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt and captains over every one of them, and passed after the children of Israel, and overtook them by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth. Then the children of Israel were sore afraid, and cried unto the Lord. The Red Sea before them, the Egyptians behind, they saw no hope of safety; and they were full of anger against Moses, for having brought them out of Egypt. But the Lord said unto Moses, “Lift up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it; and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.” And the angel of the Lord, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them, and came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; so that the one came not near the other all the night. And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. But that foolish and wicked man Pharaoh, still set himself against God, and madly pursued the Israelites into the midst of the sea. But so soon as the Israelites had passed over on dry land, and safely reached the shore, the Lord said unto Moses, “Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.” And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared, and the Egyptians fled against it; but the Lord overthrew them in the midst of the sea, and the waters returned, and covered the chariots and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them: and Israel saw their dead bodies upon the sea shore. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians.

Israel fed from Heaven.

Exodus xvi. 1.

We read in the Bible, that after they had crossed the Red Sea, they came into the wilderness of Chur. While travelling onwards through the wilderness of Sin they suffered from hunger, and murmered against Moses and Aaron. But again God heard their cries, and sent them bread from heaven to eat. The Lord said unto Moses, “Behold I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day--at even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread.” And in the morning there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar-frost, on the ground. And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, “It is manna.” And Moses said, “This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat.”

Moses Smiting the Rock.

Exodus xvii. 1.

We now find the children of Israel travelling from the wilderness of Sin, and, according to the commandment of the Lord, pitching their camp at Rephidim. There being no water here, we find those stubborn and rebellious people, saying unto Moses, “Give us water that we may drink; wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us, and our children, and our cattle, with thirst?” The Lord had shewed them signs and mighty wonders in the land of Egypt--he had delivered their children from the sword of the destroying angel, when all around them was anguish and dismay--he heard them when they cried and groaned under the lash of the oppressor, amid the brick-kilns of Egypt, and emancipated them from the same--he opened a passage for them in the mighty waters at the Red Sea, when about to fall a prey to the rage and fury of Pharaoh king of Egypt--moreover, he had given them bread to eat in the wilderness when they hungered for the same; and was still able to give them what they now desired. But they, instead of praying to the Lord that he would once more condescend to look down with compassion upon them, and grant them their request, reproached, and murmured against Moses, the servant of the Lord. And Moses said unto them, “Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the Lord?” Moses tired of their complaints and discontent, felt that he could do nothing with the people under his care; but knew that the Lord could either quench there thirst, or put a stop to their rage. He, therefore, cried unto the Lord, and said, “What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me.” Nor did he cry in vain, for the Lord said unto him, “Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb, and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. Thus did God open streams in the desert--he clave the hard rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink thereof, as it had been out of the great depth--he brought waters out of the strong rock, so that it gushed out like rivers: and this he did although his people had sinned against him, and provoked the Most High in the wilderness.

The Law given from Mount Sinai.

Exodus xix. 10.

Now the children of Israel encamped before Mount Sinai. Then God desired that the people would put away all their usual employments, and spend the next two days in preparing to appear before him. And on the third day Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke; because the Lord descended upon it in fire, 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. And the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mount. Then Moses went up and heard God himself speak the Ten Commandments which we have in the twentieth Chapter of Exodus.

The Israelites worshipping the golden calf.

Exodus xxxii. 1.

Now Moses was forty days and forty nights in the mount with God; and the people had began to wonder what had become of him, and to be tired of waiting and looking for his return. Although the glory of the Lord still rested on the mount, and the presence of the Lord was clearly there, they pretended to think that God and Moses had left them, and they said one to another, “Let us make us gods which shall go before us.” And they made them a golden calf, and said, “These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt.” And they worshipped the golden calf which they had set up, although God had positively forbidden them to make any graven image to worship, or the likeness of any thing in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth. But so evil were their hearts, so ready to wander from God, so quick to forget his mercies, that having been left only for a few short days to themselves, they set up a golden calf to worship. And the Lord said unto Moses, “Go, get thee down; for thy people have corrupted themselves: they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it: let me alone that my wrath may consume them, and I will make of thee a great nation.” But Moses loved the people of Israel; and he prayed earnestly for them, unto the Lord his God. And the Lord who is abundant in mercy, graciously heard his prayer; so as not to destroy them altogether in a moment. And Moses went down from the mount, and as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, he saw the calf, and the dancing; and his anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and break them beneath the mount. And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strewed it upon the water, and made them drink of it. And he stood in the gate of the camp, and said, “Who is on the Lord’s side? let him come unto me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. Then Moses, by the command of God, desired the sons of Levi to take their swords and go in amongst the people, and kill them: and they did so; and there fell of the people that day about three thousand. And to the rest of the people Moses said, “Ye have sinned a great sin; and now will I go up unto the Lord; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin.”

Nadab and Abihu burnt by fire.

Leviticus x. 1.

Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. Then Moses said unto Aaron, “This is it that the Lord spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified.” And Aaron held his peace. And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel, the uncle of Aaron, and said unto them, “Carry your brethren from before the sanctuary out of the camp.” So they carried them, as Moses had said; And Moses said unto Aaron, and unto his sons, “Uncover not your heads, neither rend your clothes, lest ye die.”

The Spies return from surveying Canaan.

Numbers xiii. 1.

The children of Israel were thus wonderfully led by the Lord throughout all their journeys, until they arrived safely on the borders of the land of Canaan. There God desired Moses, to send men to search the land of Canaan. And Moses sent twelve men, one man from each of the tribes or families of Israel, and said unto them, “Go, see the land what it is, and the people that dwell therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many; and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes. So they went up and searched the land; and they came to a brook or valley, afterward called Eshcol. And so beautiful were the fruits they found in this fertile valley of Eshcol, that they cut down there a bunch of grapes so large that two men were obliged to carry it between them on a stick: they took also of the pomegranates and the figs. After forty days spent in searching the land, they went back to Moses and Aaron, and all the people, and shewed them the fruit of the land; and they told them that such were the fruits of the land of Canaan, and that it was certainly a land flowing with milk and honey; but in other respects these men gave a very evil account of the land itself, and a very frightful one of the people that dwelt there, whom they called giants; saying, “That by the side of them they seemed to themselves as grasshoppers.” But two of the children of Israel, named Caleb and Joshua, who were of the twelve who had been sent into the land, declared unto all the people that what the others had told them was not true. But the people would not listen to Caleb and Joshua, nor believe what they said; for their hearts were exceedingly perverse towards God. And the anger of the Lord was exceeding great against the children of Israel; and because they had acted in this wicked manner, God said they should not see the land which he had promised them; no, not one of them should enter that land, excepting his servants Caleb and Joshua; but that the rest of the people should die in the wilderness, and that their children should wander there, until all those who had now and so often before sinned against the Lord had died and were buried. Then God said to this wicked people, “Turn you, and get you into the wilderness, by the way of the Red Sea.” Now Moses told these sayings to the people of Israel, and they murmured greatly.

He that violated the Sabbath is stoned.

Numbers xv. 32.

On one occasion some of the children of Israel found a man gathering sticks upon the sabbath day. And they put him in ward, because it had not been declared what should be done to him. And the Lord said unto Moses, “The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp.” And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the Lord commanded Moses. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, “Bid them make fringes in the border of their garments, throughout their generations, and put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue; that they may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto their God.”

The earth swalloweth up Korah.

Numbers xvi. 1.

Now Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, took men; and they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly. And they gathered themselves together against Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, “Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them; wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord?” And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face; and he spake unto Korah, and all his company, saying, “Even to-morrow, the Lord will shew who are his, and who is holy; and will cause him to come near unto him. This do; take you censers, Korah and all his company; and put fire therein, and put incense in them before the Lord to-morrow, and it shall be, that the man whom the Lord doth choose, he shall be holy.” And they took every man his censer, and put fire in them, and laid incense thereon, and stood in the door of the tabernacle of the congregation with Moses and Aaron. And Korah gathered all the congregation against them, and the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the congregation. And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, “Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.” But Moses and Aaron fell upon their faces, and entreated the Lord to spare the congregation. And the Lord commanded Moses to speak unto them, and say, “Get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.” So Moses spake these words unto them, and they obeyed him, and departed from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Then Moses said unto them, “If these men die the common death of all men, then the Lord hath not sent me; but if the Lord open the mouth of the earth, and swallow them up, and all that pertaineth unto them, then ye shall know that these men have provoked the Lord.” And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking these words, that the ground clave asunder under them; and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah. And there came out fire from the Lord and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense. Then the congregation murmured against Moses, saying, “Ye have killed the people of the Lord.” And the Lord was angry with the children of Israel, and smote them with a plague; which, however, was stayed by the intercession of Aaron.

The Brazen Serpent.

Numbers xxi. 6.

The children of Israel being obliged to take a longer journey than they expected before they were permitted to enter the promised land, murmured against the Lord and against Moses. Then the Lord in his anger sent fiery serpents among the people, which bit them; and much people of Israel died. And Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said unto Moses, “Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole; and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.” And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. The children of Israel continued their journey towards the promised land; none of them, however, who had left the land of Egypt, save Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, were permitted to enter it, for having sinned so often against the Lord. Even Moses the servant of the Lord, though permitted to see it from the top of Mount Nebo, was not permitted to enter; but died in the land of Moab, when he was an hundred and twenty years of age. And the children of Israel wept for Moses thirty days.

FINIS.

THE HISTORY

OF

JOSEPH & HIS BRETHREN,

EMBELLISHED WITH CUTS;

TO WHICH IS ADDED,

THE LIFE, JOURNEYINGS, AND DEATH

OF THE

APOSTLE PAUL.

GLASGOW: PRINTED FOR THE BOOKSELLERS.

JOSEPH’S FIRST DREAM.

In Canaan lived a man of righteousness, Whom the great God in love was pleas’d to bless With twelve sweet sons, one Joseph called by name. Whose worthiness we’ll to the world proclaim. Being endued with blessings from above, He gained the favour of his father’s love, Now while his brothers hated him, behold! He dream’d a dream, which unto them he told; Saying, “As we were binding in the field Our sheaves of wheat, it was to me revealed That mine arose upright, and yours around, Stood making low obedience to the ground.” These words of his, they did anger breed; They say, must you reign over us indeed? The like of this was never known before, Thus for his dreams they hated him the more.

HIS SECOND DREAM.

Soon after this as Joseph sleeping Free from the toils and troubles of the day, He dreamed a second dream, and told the same Unto his brothers, as to them he came; Saying, in sleep appeared before my eyes, The sun, the moon, the seven stars likewise, All making their obedience unto me, With meek and humble humility. He told it likewise to his father dear, Who chid him, saying, what is this I hear? Must I, thy mother, and thy brothers too, Be all obliged to bow the knee to you, Low on the earth, as if you reigned and ruled: ’Tis very hard that aged parents should A meek and lowly veneration pay To you who ought to honour and obey.

HE IS PUT INTO A PIT.

This very paragraph will clearly show How they did seek young Joseph’s overthrow, His father sent him to the rural plain, Where with their flocks his brothers did remain. When afar off young Joseph they espied, Behold, here comes the dreamer now, they cried Let us conclude to take his life away, And cast him in a pit without delay, Then see how all his dreams will come to pass: But Reuben, Reuben pitied him, alas! And hid him in the pit, there to remain, Till he might safe conduct him home again. What mortal man is able to express, Poor Joseph’s grief when in the wilderness He lay confined? no doubt his present fears Caused his youthful eyes to flow with tears.

HE IS SOLD INTO EGYPT.

While in the pit young Joseph lay confined, They sat them down to eat, and ere they dined Some Ishmaelites from Egypt passed by; Then Judah made his brothers this reply, “What shall it profit to us now, I pray, If we should take this precious life away?” They all consented to the same with speed, For loth they were to see their brother bleed. Then from the lonesome pit the child they drew, And sold him to those trading merchants, who A score of silver pieces for him paid, And then to Egypt he was soon conveyed. When Reuben found him not, how did he grieve The rest contrive their father to deceive, By staining Joseph’s coat with purple blood, Which caused poor Joseph many a weeping flood.

TEMPTED BY POTIPHAR’S WIFE.