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this life was formed and molded quite differently fromthat of Egypt. Israel as a nation
was born of God; redeemed by God; brought forth by Godvictorious on the other side
the flood; taught of God; trained by God; and separated for the serviceof God. And
this God was to be known to them as Jehovah, the living and the true God. The
ideasthey had gained, the knowledge they had acquired, the life they had learned, even
the truths they hadheard in Egypt, might be taken with them, but, as it were, to be
baptized in the Red Sea, andconsecrated at the foot of Sinai.
Quite behind them in the far distance lay the Egypt they had quitted, with its dreamy,
giganticoutlines. As the sand carried from the desert would cover the land, so did the
dust of superstitiongradually bury the old truths. We are ready to admit that Israel
profited by what they had seen andlearned. But all the more striking is the final
contrast between Egyptian superstition, which ultimatelydegraded itself to make gods
of almost everything in nature, and the glorious, spiritual worship of theIsrael of God.
That contrast meets us side by side with the resemblance to what was in Egypt,
andbecomes all the more evident by the juxtaposition. Never is the religion of Israel
more strikingly theopposite to that of Egypt than where we discover resemblances
between the two; and never aretheir laws and institutions more really dissimilar than
when we trace an analogy between them. Israelmay have adopted and adapted much
from Egypt, but it learned only from the Lord God, who, inevery sense of the
expression, brought out His people with a mighty hand, and an outstretched arm!
NOTE ON THE BOOK OF EXODUS
For a clearer understanding, a general outline of the Book of Exodus may here be
given. LikeGenesis (see Hist. of the Patriarchs, Introd. p. 15.), it consists of two great
parts, the first describingthe redemption of Israel, and the second the consecration of
Israel as the People of God. The firstpart (ch. 1-15:21) appropriately ends with "the
Song of Moses;" while, similarly, the second partcloses with the erection and
consecration of the Tabernacle, in which Jehovah was to dwell in themidst of His
people, and to hold fellowship with them. Again, each of these two parts may
bearranged into seven sections (seven being the covenant number), as follows:
PART I:
Preparatory: Israel increases, and is oppressed in Egypt (Chap. 1.); birth and
preservation of a deliverer (Chap. 2.);
The calling and training of Moses (Chap. 3, 4.);
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