1. Now these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt; every man and his household came with Jacob. 2. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, 5. And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt already. B 6. And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. 7. And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them. THUS Commences the second book of Moses, named Exodus. This is not the appellation given it by the Jews, but is one taken from the Septuagint translation, since the word in the Greek language, signifies the "going out," and refers to the history, which this book narrates, of the going out of the children of Israel from Egypt, the land of their captivity. It contains the events of one hundred and forty-five years, from the death of Joseph to the consecration of the tabernacle. In the verses we have read, we are first told the names of the patriarchs who accompanied Jacob out of Canaan, and became the heads of distinct tribes. We are then informed of the death of Joseph and of these patriarchs, and of all that generation; and then are called to observe the early fulfilment of the Almighty's promise to Abraham, in the wonderful and almost miraculous increase of his descendants. This had been so great, that they had risen, in two hundred and fifteen years, from three-score and ten souls to six hundred thousand men, besides wo men and children, "so that the land of Goshen was filled with them." Now, we find from the fortieth verse of the twelfth chapter, that the sojourning of the children of Israel in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. This is reckoning from the time when Abraham first entered Canaan, between which and his going down into Egypt, was an interval of two hundred and fifteen years, while, from that period to the time of the Exodus, was two hundred and fifteen more years, making together the four hundred and thirty years mentioned above. How remarkable are God's dealings with his people! and how slow and disappointing to the eye of sense is oftentimes the fulfilment of his promises! In two hundred and fifteen years, the predicted multitude of Abraham's descendants, which the Almighty had declared that nothing could so well typify as the stars of heaven and the sands of the sea shore for number, literally only amounted to three-score and ten, or three-score and fifteen persons; while, in the next two hundred and fifteen years, it had increased to six hundred thousand men at arms, besides women and children; the whole, therefore, probably not far short of two or three millions of souls! It is well for our comfort, and the strengthening of our faith in God's promises, to bear such facts continually in mind, as illustrations of God's word, "The thing was true, but the time appointed was long." Long, in the instance to which those words originally applied, to Daniel; long, in the case before us, to Abraham; long, in many incidents with which our lives abound, to us; but not long to God; with whom, "one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day;" or rather, with whom, all past and all future are for ever present. The real Christian, knowing this, and having fixed his faith upon the promise, whatever may be his lot, prays for patience, and waits in confidence, while, in the full assurance of faith and hope, he is, by Divine grace, enabled to say with one of old,* "Lord, not only what thou wilt, but when thou wilt." Happy in the belief that God's times, whether for mercies or for trials, are invariably the best times, and that if even the greatest of his blessings are for a period withheld, it is only to make them more enjoyable, or to render us more capable of enjoying them. * Walker of Truro. |