(vi) Accordingly Moses and Aaron were commanded to take handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and sprinkle them upwards towards heaven, and on their so doing, Boils and Blisters, and other eruptive disorders, broke forth upon man and upon beast. Even the royal magicians suffered so terribly from this the sixth plague,that they could not stand before Moses, but the heart of their master was still hardened, nor would he yield to the will of God (Ex. ix. 8–12).
(vii) With still greater solemnity, therefore, the coming of the Seventh Plague was announced to him, and he was warned to send his servants and gather together such of his cattle as were grazing in the fields, if he would not have them utterly destroyed by a terrible Storm of thunder, lightning, and hail[64]. By some, who heard the warning, it was heeded in time, by others it was utterly disregarded. But it was too surely fulfilled. Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven, and on the fair garden of Egypt, with its green meadows and fields of corn and barley and maize, the storm burst forth with unwonted fury. The Lord thundered out of heaven, and the Highest gave His thunder (Ps. xviii. 13). The fire ran along upon the ground, the hail rattled, and smote the vines and fig-trees (Ps. cv. 33), and every herb of the field, and every tree of the field, the barley then in the ear, and the flax then bolled or risen in the stalk, as also the cattle and herdmen that had not been removed to any place of shelter. Alarmed beyond measure at this unexampled tempest, Pharaoh begged Moses to intercede for him, owned this time that he had sinned, that the Lord was righteous, that he and his people were wicked, and promised to do all that was required of him. But, as before, when the fury of the elements was hushed he refused to abide by his word (Ex. ix. 13–35).
(viii) And now for the eighth time the release of the people was demanded, and the monarch was told that, in the event of refusal, the country, already grievously devastated, should be given up to the awful ravagesof the Locusts, which, in numbers, such as neither his fathers nor his fathers’ fathers had seen, should swarm in the palace and the hut, covering the face of the ground, and eating up whatever herb or tree had escaped the fury of the late storm. This announcement filled the Egyptians, already suffering severely, with uttermost alarm. Let the people go, they cried to their king, that they may serve the Lord their God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed? Even Pharaoh was fain to lend an ear to this remonstrance. Summoning Moses and Aaron, he informed them that he was ready to allow such as were men amongst the Israelites to depart and serve their God, but their wives and children must remain as a guarantee for their return. The servants, however, of Jehovah, were not empowered to make this concession, and the plague began. A strong east wind blew continuously and brought the locusts, which in dense swarms covered the face of the land, so that it was darkened and became a desolate wilderness, without a leaf upon the trees or a blade of grass in the fields[65]. The obduracy of the monarch now broke down, and was followed by a brief repentance, which lasted no longer than the west wind which swept away the locusts; for once more, in the face of an utterly devastated country and a murmuring people, he refused to hearken to the word of the Lord (Ex. x. 1–20).
(ix) Without the pre-announcements, therefore, which had preceded the infliction of the other plagues, the ninth now appeared in the shape of Darkness[66] so dense that it might be felt, which for three days envelopedthe entire land, save only the favoured country of Goshen. During this period the light of the sun was obscured, an awful and preternatural gloom shrouded the land, so that the Egyptians neither could see one another nor rise from their place. At the end of the three days Pharaoh once more capitulated; all the Israelites, young and old, might depart, the flocks and herds alone must remain. These conditions, however, were rejected by Moses, and he was dismissed from the palace with the warning to take heed that he saw the face of Pharaoh no more, for on the day that he saw his face, he should surely die (Ex. x. 21–29).
CHAPTER III.
THE LAST PLAGUE—THE PASSOVER—THE EXODUS.
Exod. xi.–xv.
HITHERTO the elements of nature had each in their turn been commissioned to fight against Pharaoh. In all the preceding plagues there had been human intervention. The rod or the hand of Moses had summoned from the sacred river, or the fertile soil, or the rainless air, or the desert sands of Arabia, the ministers of punishment, and wrought signs and wonders in the land of Ham, and had proved that the God he served was no mere national god, but was Lord over earth and air and water, over cattle and man, over tree and herb. But none of the elements of nature were to bring on Pharaoh God’s last sore judgment. At midnight, said Jehovah, will I go out into the midst of Egypt, and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maid-servant that is behind the mill, and all the firstborn of beasts;I will execute judgment against all the gods or princes (Ex. xiii. 12 Marg.) of Egypt, I am Jehovah.
Before, however, this last great blow was struck, involving the firstborn of the highest and the lowest in one common fate, certain important preliminaries were to be enacted. It was now the Hebrew month of Nisan or Abib, the month of green ears. On the fourteenth day of this month it was announced that the last sore judgment would be inflicted. But on the tenth day of this month, a month to be to the Israelites henceforth the beginning of months, the first month of their sacred year, the father of every household was to select a lamb or kid, without blemish, a male of the first year. It was to be kept till the fourteenth day, and then slain just before the evening twilight (Ex. xii. 1–6). A portion of the blood was to be sprinkled with a bunch of hyssop on the two side-posts and the upper door-post of the houses of the Israelites, and on the selfsame night the lamb, roast with fire, whole, not a bone being broken, was to be eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Of this meal each household was to partake, with their loins girded, their shoes on their feet, their staves in their hands, in haste like persons in a hurry to depart. Of the flesh of the lamb nothing was to be allowed to remain until the morning, and all remnants were to be burnt with fire. And at midnight, while they were partaking of this mysterious meal, the Lord, they were told, would pass through the land of Egypt, and smite all the firstborn, both of man and beast, but when He saw the blood sprinkled on the houses of the Israelites, He would pass over them, and the plague should not be upon them to their destruction (Ex. xii. 7–12).
Such was the ordinance of the Passover, a Memorial-Feast to be celebrated, not on that night only, but throughout all future generations, and to be kept for aperiod of seven days, during which leavened bread was neither to be eaten nor found in any of the houses of the Israelites. On receiving from Moses the Lord’s commands respecting this Feast, the elders of Israel, partakers with him of a like faith in the certainty of the events about to be enacted (Heb. xi. 28), bowed their heads and worshipped. On the tenth day of Nisan, the Month of Redemption, each household selected a lamb or kid, kept it till the fourteenth day, slew it, sprinkled the blood upon the side-posts and the upper door-post of their houses, and at midnight were eating of it with the prescribed ceremonies, when suddenly the last and most awful of all the Ten Plagues began. The Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon unto the firstborn of the mighty Pharaoh himself, and all the firstborn of cattle. In the darkness of that awful night the monarch rose up, he and all his servants, and all the Egyptians, and a loud frantic cry arose throughout the land, for there was not a house where there was not one dead. Terrified and confounded the stubborn king could no longer resist the power of Jehovah. He implored Moses and Aaron, as an act of kindness, to depart with the utmost speed. And not only he, but all his people joined in the petition, and pressed upon the Israelites jewels of silver and jewels of gold, earrings, signet-rings, necklaces, and festal apparel. Thus furnished by the Egyptians themselves with costly ornaments befitting the great day of their deliverance[67], the whole host of the Israelites, numbering 600,000 men capable of bearing arms, besides women and children and a mixed multitude from the lower orders of theEgyptians, went forth from Rameses, and in the darkness and cool of the night pursued their way (Ex. xii. 37, 38).
The nearest route to Canaan would have been the usual caravan route, which runs in a north-easterly direction along the coast of the Mediterranean, and would not have occupied more than a few days. But it would have brought the host into collision with the warlike and powerful nation of the Philistines, and for such an encounter they were as yet totally unfit. From Rameses, therefore, which was probably on the eastern skirts of the Delta in the Wady Tumeilat, they proceeded in a southerly course, and after a day’s journey halted for the first time at Succoth (Ex. xii. 37), the place of booths, “formed by the luxuriant foliage of tamarisk, sycamore, and palm” at the verge of the cultivated land of Egypt. The next day’s halt was at Etham in the edge of the wilderness (Ex. xiii. 20). At this point the Lord Himself in an outward and visible form assumed the direction of their march, appearing by day in a Pillar of Cloud, and by night in a Pillar of Fire. Such a miraculous intervention was indeed needed to confirm the faith of the host, for instead of being conducted round the northern extremity of the Red Sea, so as to escape with all speed beyond reach of their Egyptian oppressors, they were commanded to turn and encamp before Pihahiroth (the place of sedge), between Migdol (a frontier Watchtower) and the western side of the Red Sea over against Baal-zephon. Here they had scarcely encamped, when lifting up their eyes the Israelites discerned the terrible horses and chariots of Pharaoh pursuing after them. Astonished that the people had not made good their flight into Asia, and deeming them entangled in the land and shut in by the wilderness, the monarch had directed all his forces to give chase to the fugitives.In wild alarm the Israelites cried out to Moses, and already complained of their deliverance from the bondage of Egypt. But the faith of their leader was not shaken. He bade the trembling, panic-stricken host stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.