The Prescott daily news., 1907-06-08
THE PASSOVER j ! y Sunday School Lesson for June s.l9o7 Specially Prepared for This Paper
Specially Prepared for This Paper.

LESSON TEXT.--Exodus 12 21-30. Mem ory verses. 26 27.
 GOLDEN TEXT-'When I see the blood, I will pass over you."-Exodus 12:13.
 NEW TESTAMENT REFERENCES
 New Testament references to passover. John 1:2s; 6:53 1 Cor. 5:6-S Heb. 9:H; 1l:2S; 1 Peter 1:1S, 19
 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. Abib or Nissan, cor responding to the last of March and the first of April The year CUssheD was B. c. 149l; or about 1900 according to others. Professor Price makes it 1276
 PLACE-The meetings of Moses with Pharaoh were at the capital, Zoan (Tan- s). or Memphis The Passover was ob- served in the land of Goshen, in north eastern Egypt
 THE PHARAOH was probably Meneph tah son of the powerful monarch, Rame- ses II. The monuments of Egypt refer to the death of of Meneptah and ominous uprisings in 1276 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 of 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. TIA; 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 to life. Water into blood; frogs and lice.
 The Second Triad of Pagues.-Ex. 8: 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 vistations; 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; 10:29 In this series of plaques "a new insect of awfulness now ap- pears in the circumstance that the nh, ;- pf origination from within the land, but comes from the general system of the world; as if there now had been an in- vasion of Egypt on the part of the un- seen universe beyond it. The rod is now resumed. ."-Macgregor. Hail; To- custs, and darkness follow in ominous succession.
 The Last Plague; Death of the First born.-Exodus II. 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 infliction several days elapsed that the people of Israel might be prepared for the exodus. One important step was the asking (not borrowing g"-see R. V) of jewels, the most easily carried form of wealth. from the Egyptians. It 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.- Ex 2:1-22, 43-50. While the Israel ites, protected by the effect of the plaques were making preparations for their departure. they were also pre- pairing for great and beautiful cere- mony, ordained by God, which should at the same time arouse their religi- ous feeling, and bind them together more firmly as a nation. It extended from the fourteenth to the twenty first day of the month Abib, afterwards called Nissan. corresponding nearly to the last half of March and the first half of April. Hebrew months began with the new moon, so that the Pass over came always at the time best for travelling, the time of full meon 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 exo- dus, inexplicable except as the com memoration of historical fact, and testifying by it's name to the nature of the fact commemorated "-Rawlin- -C alxGr, into tLa