66

MOSES narrates the history of the smiting of the rock at Horeb, and states that thence flowed the stream which refreshed and quenched the thirst of the sacred congregation. That rock is designated by the apostle, 1 Cor. x. 4, a spiritual rock," and is declared to be, or to represent, "Christ" himself, as the author of the supplies of salvation. The expression of the apostle, that the Jews drank of that spiritual rock that followed them," has given rise to the current opinion, that the water obtained from Horeb followed the Israelites during the whole of their wanderings in the wilderness. Does not the apostolic language rather imply, that Christ himself went with them, and that he supplied their wants as often as they recurred?

The term "rock" must be used metonymically or typically. Some learned divines have indeed conjectured, that the literal rock followed the camp, and became a perpetual fountain of supply, but the conjecture is improbable, and unsupported by the history, is not to be entertained for a moment.

If the term "rock" be understood metonymically, the cause for the effect, then the apostle's language fully interpreted would be, they drank of the water that followed them, and that water was Christ; a representation not usual in the Scripture,"water" being rather significant of spiritual blessings themselves, than of Christ as their author. But if the phrase "spiritual rock," be interpreted typically, then its obvious meaning is, that the Jews obtained supplies of water from Christ, the spiritual rock, who accompanied them

during their pilgrimage. This is probably the true meaning of the passage, and will be confirmed, if it can be shown that the water of Horeb did not follow the Jewish encampment for any length of time, and that supplies of water were furnished by ordinary or extraordinary means, as the case required.

1. The natural history of water renders it altogether improbable that the mountain stream flowed near the camps of Israel till they reached the Jordan.

Water flows invariably towards the sea, and if checked in its progress, will either expand into a lake, or channel out new courses for itself, till it reaches its parent ocean. Had the Jews moved only in the direction of the stream in its natural course towards the sea, there would have been some plausibility given to the popular notion. But their marchings were in various and opposite directions. Now towards the sea, then from it; now ascending lofty mountains, then descending into vallies; and frequently crossing and recrossing the same lines at distant intervals. This series of marchings and counter-marchings furnish strong probability that the stream of Horeb did not flow both towards the sea and from it; did not ascend the mountains, cross their elevated plains, and descend into the vallies; did not now expand into a lake, and then glide by the tents of the pilgrims, marking the course which they should follow. All these are possibilities to Omnipotence. Water can be arrested in its progress, and the laws of gravitation and cohesion suspended, as when passages

through the Red Sea and the Jordan were opened to the Jews. But such miracles are usually temporary. They indicate the presence and power of Omnipotence at a particular juncture, and for a special purpose, and having answered their end, nature resumes her functions. According, however, to the general opinion, the laws of nature must have been suspended without intermission for nearly forty years. It seems a more probable supposition, that the miraculous water obtained from Horeb was only a temporary supply, and ceased as they encamped near some natural fountain, or where water might be obtained by other means.

2. It is a remarkable fact, and completely nullifies the opinion respecting the constantly flowing stream, that there was a failure of water at Kadesh, and that another and similar miracle to that at Horeb was obliged to be wrought, and that subsequent to this latter miracle, no water could be obtained at some stations, till extraordinary means and miracles were brought into operation. Why did the supposed stream cease to flow when they arrived at Mount Hor? Why was another rock required to be smitten? This fact opposes the theory of a perpetual stream accompanying them to the end of their journey, and furnishes strong probability that during the interval of thirty-six years between the striking of the rocks at Horeb and at Kadesh, the same difficulties occurred, and the same miraculous interpositions took place.

The Mosaic narrative intimates that water was found at different stages of the pilgrimage. At Elim and at Marah, before they reached Mount Sinai, wells and fountains yielded the needful supply. During

"Moseroth" was the 26th station, and if the conjectures of modern geographers respecting its name and position are correct, the evidence against the miraculous river is clear and satisfactory. Moseroth is supposed to be close to the borders of the Red Sea, not far from the spot where the Israelites first stepped on the shores of the desert. Its modern name is "Ain Mousa," or the "wells of Moses," and is supposed to have derived its appellation from wells having been dug there during the encampment, and supplies of water thus providentially obtained.

"Jotbathah" was the 29th station, which Moses describes as a "land of rivers of waters." Deut. x. 7. Some chronological and historical difficulties attend this passage and its context. The reading of the Samaritan copy of the Pentateuch obviates some of the difficulties. Vide Horne, Introduction, vol. 1, Appendix, on apparent contradictions in sacred Scripture, and Townsend's Chronological Arrangement," in loco."

The topographical description of Jotbathah is, however, simple and obvious, and demonstrates that in that part of the wilderness before they reached Kadesh, the Horeb stream was unnecessary, and miraculous interposition was not required.

An expression of the "sweet singer in Israel," in Ps. lxxviii. 15, favours the safe position that a variety of divine interpositions took place, and that the "rocks and the depths" yielded frequent supplies to the thirsty travellers. "He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths."

The considerations now submitted to the reader, will, it is hoped, lead to the conclusion, that the Jews were supplied and refreshed with water for their numerous tribes during forty years, not by a miraculously circulating stream, but in many cases by the cloudy pillar conducting them to natural fountains or wells, or by miracles wrought specially and instantly by Him who was the angel of the divine presence, and the invisible leader and guide of the church during her march through the wilderness.

The opinion controverted in these remarks, does not affect any point of faith or practice, and is perfectly harmless. The only ob

ject of the writer is, if possible, to determine the real sense of the apostle in his inspired comment on the historical passage. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God," and it is supremely desirable that its genuine meaning should be understood. Whether

it were the water or Christ that followed the Jews in their march to Canaan, is an interesting enquiry. In either case it marks divine superintendence and miraculous agency, but if the meaning now sought to be put on the passage, and to be illustrated in a future number, is the true one, then it exhibits Christ most prominently as the Leader of his people, the Captain of their salvation, the Author of all their blessings, and shows that the Jews were taught to look to him incessantly as the source and supplier of all their wants. The church was conducted through the wilderness by a circuitous route, but it was "a right way to a city of habitation." The providence, the justice, the grace of God, were constantly exhibited to the Jews themselves; and the Mosaic history presents them to the view of the church, which is in the wilderness still; and should excite the faith and the hope, the fear and the joy, of all the pilgrims of Zion in their way to glory.

O GOD, protector of the lowly,
Of all that trust in thee;
Without whom nothing strong or holy
And nothing good can be.

Guide thou our steps to heavenly glory,
And teach us so to choose,
As not for pleasures transitory,
Eternal bliss to lose.

To all thy faithful people, Lord,
Pardon and peace impart;
And by thy Spirit shed abroad
Thy love in every heart;
That they, from conscious guilt made
clean,

May serve thee with a mind serene.

Evangelical Almanack.

Hora Hebraicæ, an Attempt to discover how the Argument of the Epistle to the Hebrews must have been understood by those therein addressed, with Appendices, &c. By George, Viscount Mandeville. Royal 8vo. London: James Nisbet and Co.

The Epistle to the Hebrews, a New Translation, in Sections, with Marginal References and Notes, and an Introductory Syllabus. 18mo. London.

THE first of these works is, on several accounts, a remarkable book. It is so, as the production of the heir apparent of a ducal coronet. It displays some knowledge of modern criticism, considerable ecelesiastical and more Rabbinical learning, and a very extensive acquaintance with old English theology, all which, as we suppose, are unusual attainments in aristocratic circles. It is, moreover, "an expansion of his Lordship's weekly expositions at family prayers after delivery committed to paper." Should his Lordship survive his father, and attain the much envied distinction of eight strawberry leaves, we trust he will not avail himself of his privilege, and secularize an ordinance of the Gospel, by making the minister of Christ an appendage to a title, but continue what he is so well qualified to be, and what every Christian, whether peer or plebeian, ought to be, the chaplain of his own household.

The "Hora Hebraica" is "an attempt to discover how the epistle

to the Hebrews must have been dressed." This object is kept conunderstood by those therein adtinually in view. The noble author pays constant attention to the customs, feelings, opinions, and modes of interpretation, which were prevalent among the persons addressed. That they were Jews, and not Gentiles, is a fact often overlooked by many expositors, but never forgotten by Lord Mandeville. We think that, chiefly from a careful attention to this circumstance, some points of the argument are correctly traced, and happily illustrated; and though we must say that some of the interpretations appear more ingenious than solid, we willingly admit that the work deserves the perusal of all who study this important portion of Holy Scripture. It contains much more research and investigation, much more argument, and very much less dogmatism than we expected, from one of the class of theologians to which his Lordship is supposed to belong.

We must, however, express our dissent from the author's explanation of “the rest that remaineth for the people of God." This, according to his Lordship, is the millenial rest of the believing Hebrews in Canaan. However specious may be the reasons alleged, and respectable the Rabbinical authorities adduced in favour of this

hypothesis, we must maintain that the only rest which could have been proposed to the early Hebrew converts, as the object of their laborious endeavours, was the blessedness of heaven, of which both the Sabbath and the earthly Canaan were emblematical. The Hebrews would well understand this meaning of the Sabbatismus, the Sabbath keeping,-which remaineth for the people of God. That the Sabbath is typical of heaven was a favourite doctrine of their teachers. Instead of citations, the Rabbinical tale may suffice. The Israelites said to God, show us the image of heaven: the Sabbath is that image, said God in reply.

To establish his theory of " the rest" seems to be the noble author's principal object in this publication. He contends, that the Sabbatismus is the millenial rest of the Jews in the land of their ancestors, to which Jesus will conduct them as Joshua conducted their fathers. We are not disposed, just now, to dispute on this theory; but our objection to it, independent of criticism on the passage, is, that the distinction between Jew and Gentile is not recognized under the Gospelthat the children of Abraham, under the new covenant, are those who believe with faithful Abraham; that the Christian religion does not admit carnal ordinances which perish in the using, that is temporal blessings, but is founded on better promises. It was clearly the desire of the apostle, as it is the spirit of the gospel, that Jewish and Gentile converts should amalgamate and lose their several distinctions, as children equally beloved of one Father of all, purchased by one Redeemer, and sanctified by one Spirit.

Not having time to adduce the

argument in support of this conclusion, we can only refer in illustration to the early history of the Jewish converts. Some of them, uniting with the Gentiles in the spirit of the gospel, were no longer distinguished from the multitude of believers, and their descendants were completely identified with the general church. Some, on the contrary, who maintained the distinction of Hebrew Christians,— such a distinction as Lord Mandedeville thinks will appear in the millenium,-were left by God to the gross heresy of the Ebionites in the denial of the Lord that bought them, and eventually disappeared as a portion of the Christian community. Has Lord Mandeville yet to learn that the middle wall of partition is broken down? The church of the New Covenant is the general assembly of the first born, in which no national distinctions are recognized. It is not twain, but one in all things. The doctrine of a difference, in the religious prospects of the Jews and Gentiles, appears to us to be little else than a metempsychosis among the millenarians of the old Judaizing spirit, over which the apostles mourned as the most fruitful source of schism and divisions. Besides, Canaan to a Jew is but part of the letter of the law that killeth Jerusalem on earth is Hagar that gendereth to bondage with her children.

The second work we can cordially recommend. It is a new version of the epistle, very carefully made, preceded by a concise but complete syllabus, and accompanied with well selected references and a few valuable critical notes. We think the sense of the original is developed with much exactness and precision. While there is published far too much loose trans