The Yale expositor., 1907-06-07
THE
PASSOVER
Sunday School Lesson Tor June 9.I9O7
Specially Prepared for This Paper.

pioou' VII pass over you -nAouuS
12:13
NEW TESTAMENT REFERENCES
New Testament references to passover:
John 1:29; 659; Cor SOS; Heb. Ola;
112S; / Peter 1:1S, 10.
TIME.-The plaques lasted nine or ten
months, from June to the following April
The Passover, our Easter time, was the
full moon OF the first month of the He
brew sacred year, Abb or Nissan, cor
responding TO the last of March and the
first of April. The year CUssher) was b.
{. 1891; or about 1900 according to others.
Professor Price makes it 1876.
PLACE.-The meetings of Moses with
Pharaoh were at the capital, Zoan (ran-
Isl, or Memphis. The Passover was OBJ
served in the land Of Goshen, In north
eastern Egypt.
THE PHARAOH was probably Meneph-
tab, son of the powerful monarch, Rame-
SEES H. The monuments of Egypt refer
to the death of a son of Meneptah and
ominous uprisngs in 1876 b. c.
Comment and Suggestive Thought.
The Bible records fewer miracles
than most men think. They are
grouped in three great periods, each
a critical epoch especially requiring
divine interposition-the times OF
Moses, when the nation was to be de-
livered from bondage; the times or
Elijah, when the authority of the
prophetic order was to be established
and the liberty of the people defended
against the kings; the times of Christ,
when the world was to be redeemed,
We study in this lesson the first OF
these periods of miracles.
The First Triad of Plagues.-Ex.
7:14; S:19. The plaques group them
selves in threes, gradually increasing
in severity, for God gave Pharaoh
every chance to repent. The first
triad are plaques Of loathsomeness,
not inflicting actual pain or injury tn
life. Water into blood; frogs and lice
The Second Triad of PIagues.-Ex
s: 20; 9:12. In this group of plaques
the property of the Egyptians is in
volved as well as their persons; the
land of Goshen, where the Hebrews
dwelt, is pointedly exempted from the
vsitations; and Moses no longer
makes use of the rod, as if to show
that no magic virtue resides in that
piece of wood Flies, murrain and
boils.
The Third Triad of Plagues.-Ex.
9:13; 1929. In this series of plaques
"a new insect of awfulness now APP
pears in the circumstance that the
physical agency is no longer of local
origination from within the land, but
comes from the general system of the
world; as if there now had been an in
Yasion of Egypt on the part of the I'M
seen universe beyond it. The rod is
now resumed. "-Macgregor. Hail; To-
Gusts, and darkness follow in ominous
succession.
The Last Plague; Death of the First
born.-EXodus IL. Paraoh and his
people had been given every opportu.
nifty to repent. Even the divine pa
tience had ceased TO endure their hard
and cruel and deceitful hearts. The
final and decisive plague was announc-
ed and described with accuracy; but
before its actual infiiction several
days elapsed that the people of Israei
might be prepared for the exodus. One
important step was the asking mot
"borrowing"-see r. W of jewels,
the most easily carried form of
wealth, from the Egyptians. 1t was
only right that the Hebrews should
have a little return for their long
services, and what their masters gave
them was far less than their due.
The Institution of the Passover
FIX. 12:1-22, 1850. While the Israeli
ties, protected by the effect of the
plaques were making preparations for
their departure, they were also pre-
pairing for a great and beautiful! cere-
mony ordained by God which should
at the same time arouse their religi.
Gus feeling, and bind them together
more firmly as a nation. 1t extended
from the fourteenth to the twenty-first
day of the month Abb, afterwards
called Nissan, corresponding nearly to
the last half of March and the first
half of April. Hebrew months began
with the new moon, 50 that the Pass
over came always at the time best for
travelling, the time of full moon. The
religious year began at this time; the
civil year began with the month Tisri.
including the last of September and
the first OF October.
"The Passover feast remains to this
day an enduring memorial of the exc
dus, inexplicable except as the com.
memoration of a historical fact, ana
testifying by its name to the nature
of the fact concentrated "-Rawlin-
son. Taken up into the Lords Sup
per, it is celebrated all over the world
wherever Christians az we'll as Jews
are found.
The awful stroke rell at midnight.
and Immediately the entire land was
filed with bitter anguish and with
terror. Pharaoh, whose own boy lay
dead, the heir to his throne. could not
wait for morning, but sent in the
night, praying the Hebrews to be
gone, and making no conditions.
Lessor Of the Passover.
II the lesson OF the plaques is a
mighty warning, that of the Passover
;e an abiding oopofort and oooaao,,o<.