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any hope of his family and kindred returning from Egypt in following times?

A. Yes, he died in faith of the promise made to his fathers, that they should go and possess the land of Canaan; and therefore he required them, when they went, to carry up his bones, and bury them in the promised land, Gen. 1. 24, 25.

CHAPTER III.

THE DELIVERANCE OF THE ISRAELITES FROM EGypt,

AND OF MOSES AND AARON.

1 Q. WHO delivered the Israelites from the slavery of Egypt?

A. God heard their cry, and delivered them by the hand of Moses and Aaron, Exod. iii. 9, 10, and xii. 31. Josh. xxiv. 5, 6.

2 Q. Who was Moses ?

A. He was one of the family of Levi among the people of Israel, who was wonderfully saved from drowning when he was an infant, Exod. ii. 10.

3 Q How was he in danger of drowning?

A. Pharaoh the king of Egypt had commanded every male child to be drowned; and when Moses' parents could hide him no longer, they laid him by the bank of the river, in an ark or box of bulrushes, Exod. i. 22. and ii. 3.

4 Q. How was he saved?

A. The king of Egypt's daughter found him by the river, and pitied the child, and brought him up for her own son, Exod. ii. 5, 6, 9.

5 Q. Did he continue a courtier in Egypt?

A. No, for when he was grown a man he showed pity to his kindred in their slavery, and slew an Egyptian; which being known, he fled from the court of Pharaoh, Exod. ii. 11-14.

6 Q. Whither did he fly?

A. To the land of Midian, where he kept the sheep of Jethro, a priest or prince of the country, and married his daughter, Exod. ii. 14. and iii. 1.

7 Q. How did God appoint him to deliver Israel? A. God appeared to him in a burning bush, as he was keeping Jethro's sheep, and sent him to Pharaoh, to require the release of Israel, his people, Exod. iii. 1-18.

8. Q. What was his office afterwards?

A. God made him the leader and lawgiver of the people of Israel, Exod. xxxii. 34. Deut. xxxiii. 4, 5. John i. 17.

9 Q. Who was Aaron?

A. He was brother to Moses, and was sent by God to meet him, as he was returning to Egypt, and appointed to assist him in his dealing with Pharaoh the king, Exod. iv. 14, 27.

10 Q. What was Aaron's office afterwards?

A. He was made the first high-priest of Israel. Exod. xxviii. 1. Heb. v. 1, 4.

11 Q. How did Moses and Aaron prove to Pharaoh, and to the people, that God had sent them upon this errand?

A. They had power given them from God himself to work several miracles, or signs, and wonders to convince the people of Israel, as well as Pharaoh, that they had a commission from God, Exod. iv. 1-10. 12 Q. What was the first miracle?

A. Aaron cast down his rod, and it became a serpent; and when Pharaoh's conjurors did so too, Aaron's rod swallowed theirs all up, Exod. vii.. 9-12.

13 Q. What did Moses and Aaron do further to deliver that people?

A. Upon Pharaoh's refusal to let the people of Israel go, they brought ten miraculous plagues upon the king, and upon all the land, by the authority and power of God, Exod. vii. viii. ix. x. xi. and xiv. 10, &c. Psalm cv. 26, &c.

14 Q. What were these ten plagues?

A. (1.) Water turned into blood. (2.) Frogs. (3) Lice. (4.) Flies. (5.) Murrain among cattle. (6.) Boils and blisters on man and beast. (7.) Thunder, lightning, and hail. (8.) Locusts. (9.) Thick darkness. (10.) The first born-slain.

15 Q. Were Pharaoh and his people willing to release the Israelites at last?

1

A. Yes, when they saw they were all like to be destroyed, for there was not a house wherein there was not one dead: then they hastened them out, and lent them jewels and gold to adorn their sacrifices and worship, Exod. xii. 29–36.

16 Q. How great was the number of the Israelites that went out of Egypt?

A. Six hundred thousand men, besides children, and all went on foot, Exod. xii. 37.

17 Q. Which way did the Israelites bend their journey?

A. Towards the wilderness of the Red-sea, as they were guided by God himself, marching before them in a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night, Exod. xiii. 18, 21.

18 Q. But did not Pharaoh and his army pursue them after they were gone?

A. Yes, they repented that they had let them go, and pursued them to the Red-sea, resolving to de stroy them, Exod xiv. 5. and xv. 9.

19 Q. How did the people of Israel, who came out of Egypt, get over the Red-sea?

A. When they were in distress, with the Red-sea before them, and Pharaoh's army behind them, they cried unto God, whereon Moses bade them stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord. Then, at the command of God, Moses struck the sea with his rod, and divided the waters asunder, and the children of Israel went through upon dry land, Exod. xiv. 10, 16, 21, 29. 20 Q. What became of the Egyptians that followed them?

A. God troubled their army, retarded their march, and when Moses stretched out his hand over the sea again, the waters returned upon them, and they were drowned, Exod. xiv. 28.

21 Q. Whither did the children of Israel go then?

A. They went whithersoever God guided them by the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire; and they moved and they rested according to the rest or the motion of this cloud, Exod. xiii. 21. Numb. x. 23, 34.

22 Q. How did the people of Israel, who had seen all these wonders, behave themselves in their travels? A. At every new difficulty, when they wanted meat or water, or met with enemies, they fell a murmuring against God and Moses, Exod. xv. 23, 24. and xvi. 2,3. 23 Q. How long was it before they came to the place that God had promised them?

A. They wandered forty years in the wilderness, for their sins, Numb. xiv. 32, 33. See Psalm lxxviii. 24 Q. What did they eat all the time?

A. God fed them with manna, or bread that came down every night from heaven, and lay all round the camp, Exod. xvi. 4, 15, 35. Deut. viii. 3.

25 Q. What did they drink in the wilderness?

A. Moses smote the rock with his rod, and water gushed out in a river, which attended them in their journey, Exod. xvii. 5, 6. 1 Cor. x. 4. Num. xx. 11. Nehem. ix. 15.

20 Q. What did they do for clothes during these forty years?

A. Their raiment waxed not old, nor did their shoes wear out, Deut. xxix. 5.

27 Q. Did Moses govern all this people himself? A. By his father-in-law Jethro's advice, and by God's approbation, he appointed officers and judges over the people for common cases, but every harder cause was brought to Moses, Exod. xviii.

28 Q. You told me that Moses was a lawgiver to the Jews, or people of Israel; pray how came he by those wise and holy laws which he gave them?

C

A. He conversed with God fourscore days and nights on mount Sinai, and there he learnt them, Exod. xxvi. 12-18. Deut. ix. 9, 18.

Note, The people of Israel were not all called Jews, till after the return from the captivity of Babylon, the chief part of those who returned being of the tribe of Judah. Yet in all other histories, the Israelites are so universally called Jews, that I have sometimes used this name even in the earlier part of their history. It is plain, that Moses was twice with God on Mount Sinai, and that forty days each time; for Moses coming down, and finding the idolatry of the golden calf, broke the tables of the law which God wrote first; and God called him up a second time, and wrote the law on new tables. See Exod. xxxiv. 1-5, 28.

29 Q. What token was there that Moses had been with God?

A. The face of Moses shone so that the people could not converse with him, till he put a veil on his face, Exod. xxxiv. 29-35.

30 Q. What sort of laws were those which Moses gave the Jews?

A. Moral laws, ceremonial laws, and judicial laws, and all by God's appointments, Exod. xxiv. 12, &c. Isa. xxxiii. 22.

31 Q. What was the religion of the Jews or Israelites?

A. The same with the religion of Adam after his fall, of Noah, and Abraham, in chap. ii. Qu. 50, with these additions given by Moses.

Note, This is called the JEWISH or MOSAICAL, or LEVITICAL DISPENSATION; and herein God may be considered under three characters.

1. As the universal Creator of all men, and as the Lord God and Ruler of the souls and consciences of all, and of the Jews, as part of mankind. And under this character he required of the Jews all the duties of the Light of Nature, or the Moral Law, which obliged all mankind as well as them, and that under every dispensation.

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