CHAPTER XV.

THROUGH THE RED SEA.-THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.

WHEN Pharaoh learned that the Israelites had not gone to Mount Horeb, but had fled out of the country, he began to feel that he had done wrong in letting them go. So he called out his army, and with his horsemen and chariots set out in

pursuit of the children of Israel, and overtook them by the Red Sea.

When they came in sight of the camp the children of Israel were afraid and cried unto the Lord, and they blamed Moses for having brought them out of Egypt to die in the wilderness. It would have been better for us, they said, to have remained slaves to the Egyptians. Moses told them not

to fear, but to wait patiently and see what wonders the Lord would show them that day. The Lord shall fight for you, he' said; and they would only have to look on and obey His words.

The sea was beWhich way could

Then Moses prayed to the Lord for help. fore him, and Pharaoh's army was behind. he lead the children of Israel? God told Moses to stretch his rod over the sea, and the waters would divide, and the children of Israel should march through it on dry land.

Moses did so, and all that night a strong east wind blew and swept the sea back, until for a long space there was only dry land. And the children of Israel marched over dry-shod, and the waters stood up on either side of them like a great wall.

Pharaoh and his host followed hard after the children of Israel, and when the Egyptians were in the midst of the sea, Moses stretched out his hand and the wall of waters gave way, and the king and his army, with all the horses and chariots, were drowned. Thus the Lord saved Israel out of the hand of the Egyptians; and the people feared the Lord, and believed in his servant Moses.

They sang songs of praise and thanks to God. Miriam, the prophetess, a sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand and led in a dance, and all the women took their timbrels and danced with her. The timbrel, or tambourine, was a favorite instrument on sacred and festive occasions. There were three kinds one round, another square, and a third composed of two squares separated by a bar. They were all beaten by the hand, and often used as an accompaniment to the harp and other instruments. The tambourine was usually played by females, who are represented as dancing to its sound without the accompaniment of any other instrument.

The children of Israel marched for three days without any water; and when they came to a brook they found the water so bitter they could not drink it. They called the stream Marah, which means bitter. Instead of praying to God, as they should have done, they found fault with Moses, and asked him what they should drink.

Moses prayed to God, and God showed him a tree and told

him what to do. And Moses took a branch of the tree and threw it in the waters, which were made sweet and whole

some.

When they came to Elim, they found twelve wells of water,

one for each tribe, and threescore and ten palm-trees, for cooling shade and pleasant fruit, and there they encamped.

When they left Elim the children of Israel marched back towards the Red Sea, and came to the wilderness of Sin, not far from Sinai, just a month from the time they had set out from

Egypt. They were angry at this, and found great fault with Moses and Aaron, and said, Would to God we had died in Egypt by the hand of the Lord, when we had meat and bread in plenty. For ye have brought us into the wilderness that we may die of hunger.

Moses prayed to the Lord, and the Lord said they should have flesh to eat in the evening, and plenty of bread in the morning. They should go out and gather a certain portion every day, and on the sixth day gather twice as much as they did on the other days, for he meant to try them, to see whether they would keep his laws or not, and also to let them know that God was with them, and would take care of them.

And God did as he promised. In the evening, when the sun went down, great flocks of quails came into the camp, so that there was no lack of meat. And in the morning, when the dew was dried up, there lay on the ground a small round thing as small as the hoar frost. When the children of Israel saw it they said, It is manna. Moses told them it was the

bread which the Lord had given them to eat. And they were to gather it as the Lord had commanded, and according to the size of their families. And the children of Israel did so; and he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack.

If any was left over until the next morning it was spoiled and full of worms. But that which was gathered on the sixth day to be eaten on the Sabbath was not spoiled, but was sweet and good. The Lord sent none on the Sabbath, for he did not want the people to go out and gather it on that day. Some went out on the seventh day to gather some, but found none.

The children of Israel called this new food-which the Lord sent them from heaven-Manna; and it was round, like coriander-seed, and white, and tasted like cakes made with honey. Moses told Aaron to take a pot and put in it three quarts of Manna, which would be about what one person would eat during the day. And that pot of Manna was to be kept, so that the Israelites who should live long afterwards might see what kind of food the Lord had given the children of Israel when they went through the wilderness on their way

to the land of Canaan. Manna was the food of the Israelites during their wanderings in the desert.

And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in Rephidim : and there was no water for the people to drink.

Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the Lord?

And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?