of this tabernacle is dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."

EXPOSITION LXIII.

CHAP. XXIV. 10-16.

10. And the son of an Israelitish woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel and this son of the Israelitish woman and a man of Israel strove together in the camp ;

11. And the Israelitish woman's son blasphemed the name of the Lord, and cursed. And they brought him unto Moses: (and his mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan :)

12. And they put him in ward, that the mind of the Lord might be shewed them.

13. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

14. Bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp; and let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him.

15. And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin.

16. And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation

:

shall certainly stone him as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall be put to death.

The verses which we have just read are remarkable as containing an account of the first breach of the decalogue, which appears to have been committed in the congregation of Israel. The delinquent could scarcely be considered an Israelite, for although his mother was of the tribe of Dan, his father was an Egyptian. It was probably these mixed marriages, so prejudicial at all times to the truth of God, which first led to this open contempt of his name. The man then, the offspring of one of these unholy alliances, had, it appears, dared to "blaspheme the name of the Lord;" we are not told in what manner, but simply that he had profaned that holy name. A sufficient proof that he had violated the command so lately given, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” It is pleasing to find that such a sin must have been hitherto unknown, for the children of Israel, apparently astonished at such wickedness, carried the delinquent before Moses, to know what punishment so great and gross an affront to their Almighty Leader merited. Moses himself appears to have been at a loss how to treat a man

thus capable of insulting his Father, his King, his God. He accordingly placed him in confinement until he should learn "the mind of the Lord respecting him." Then came the sentence of the Almighty, that the man who "had cursed," should be brought without the camp, and that those who had heard him, and were therefore the witnesses against him, should lay their hands upon his head, probably thus to bear an open testimony that he was justly condemned, and then that all the congregation should stone him.

After this, a law was promulgated by the Almighty that he who blasphemed the name of the Lord should surely be put to death, whether he were a stranger or born in the land, "Whosoever curseth his God, shall bear his sin."

Such a sentence will, probably, appear to many, to have been unnecessarily severe; but we must remember that the Israelites were placed in a position totally different from all the nations of the world. They were the one chosen people who should preserve, until the coming of the promised Messiah, the knowledge of the true God, which had been obscured and ultimately lost by every other people under heaven. They were to be the depository of all the promises, and prophecies, and types, which should precede

the glorious advent of which we have spoken. If this people had fallen into idolatry, or evinced their contempt of Jehovah, unpunished or unreclaimed, like the other nations of the world, every record of the wondrous deeds of the Most High, every anticipation of the coming of the Lord of life, would have been utterly blotted from the face of God's earth. To prevent this, therefore, the Almighty condescended to be their chief temporal ruler, guiding and directing them in all their political relationships, as well as their eternal and everlasting God; or, in other words, as the prophet reminded them, "The Lord their God was their King." Every act, therefore, in any degree offensive to God, was, at the same time, high treason against the state, and its perpetrator, therefore, necessarily became the object of temporal punishment. The man who could wilfully and deliberately "curse his God," would, it is obvious, if he possessed the power so to do, have dethroned him, and if within the reach of his puny arm have destroyed him. For too truly did an excellent minister of our church, now called to his rest, remark, that "every sinner is not only a homicide and a suicide, but in heart at least, a deicide." It was, therefore, death to blaspheme the name of the Lord, as it was also to break his sabbath, or to commit any other

open act of opposition to his kingly authority. And yet, with all these remarkable and powerful safeguards, with what extreme difficulty does this stiff-necked and perverse people appear to have been bound to anything like obedience to their Almighty Ruler; always starting aside like a broken bow, and ultimately, when the great purpose of the Most High was accomplished, still continuing their opposition and rebellion until they were most deservedly cast away, and their glory taken from them, and they themselves condemned to be, at least for a season, what they have ever since remained, the most degraded outcasts of the world.

EXPOSITION LXIV.

CHAP. XXIV. 23.

23. And Moses spake to the children of Israel, that they should bring forth him that

camp, and stone him with stones.

had cursed out of the

And the children of

Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses.

Such was the fulfilment of the swearer's sentence, as pronounced by the Lord Almighty.