92 



is sufRciciit for tlic present to remark, tliat the scriptures abound 

 with reference to kingdoms and empires by their ensigns, as their 

 best known types, and that the IsraeHtes joined with other nations 

 in the popular attacimient to their niihtary banners. They had 

 deeply imbibed Egyptian manners and sentiments •, and, as each of 

 tlie Jewish tribes was also a separate familv, there was yet more 

 reason that they should each of them revere the antient " ensign 

 "of their father's house;" while, connected as they were by their 

 descent, the choice of God, and their misfortunes, into one single 

 and independent stale, they had doubtless a common emblem of 

 military union. As this people had not yet " set * up their banners 

 for tokens," or given to them that adoration, which they afterwards 

 did, the reverence with which they were regarded was still far re- 

 moved from devotion. The Deity, therefore, who established the 

 Jewish ceremonial to be, as far as was possible, conformable to the 

 usages of the people, preserved the use of the national standard -f- 

 for the community, as he did the " ensigns of their father's house" 

 for each tribe, to serve as a necessary bond. But it was, concealed 

 from the public eye ; perhaps, lest the gross intellect of a stubborn 

 multitude might be tempted to give it worship, on account of its as- 



• Psalm 74-. 4. 



■f- Agreeable to this is tlie common language of scripture : besides that there seeras to be 

 throughout ihe entire of the 1st book of Sam. c. i. a kind of military importance belonging to 

 the ark, which we feel to be somewhat different from the consequence attached to it upon higher 

 grounds : whenever the Deity is mentioned in combination with the Cherubim of the Taber- 

 nacle, he is the " Lord of Hosts," the captain of his chosen people. See particularly the 

 chapter above alluded to, and also 2 Sam. 6. PI. 80th and 99th, and Is. 63. We should not 

 here forget the following expression which he uses to his people, when he speaks of their 

 deliverance frohi Egypt ; " I bare you upon eagle's wings, and brought you to myself, "^Exod. 

 19. 4. and similar elsewhere. See hereafter Bishop Horsley's construction of Exod. 25. v. 13, 

 li and 15. 



