495
August 1927
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
uneaten, is carefully gathered up and “burned with fire,” for There shall no stranger eat th ereof (E x . 1 2 :43). After the lambs are consumed, and the residue is burned, the Samaritans go to their tents, shut the doors, and remain within the tent until sunrise the following morning. And thus the ceremony of the Passover came to an end. Truly a thrilling experience! A most significant cere mony! But to us its significance did not lie in the age of the service, the manner and place of its observance, or in its religious ¡significance. To us it was the typical meaning which was impressive. Here was a ceremony, given by Jehovah to’ his •chosen people, perpetuated by Moses, David, and the Old Testament patriarchs, which pointed forward to Christ, our Passover. You can imagine the flood of emotions which swept over us as we saw enacted before our eyes, God’s own picture of the Lamb o f God, which taketh away the sin o f the world. H I • jig jig God In a Carpenter Shop F ROM Dr. A. Z. Conrad’s recent book “Comrades of the Carpenter” (Revell $1.50), a book that brings out some of the sayings of our Lord while He was looked upon as the Carpenter, we cull the following: In the Carpenter of Nazareth, God became man’s close friend, and holy companion. You can imagine the soliloquy of the Trin ity: . “Man whom we created in our own image has marred the image and broken the bond of fellowship. He does not know Us. He does not love Us. He will never know Us until We unveil Our love for Him. He has the marvels of our handiwork before Him in nature, but does not find Us. The starry heavens declare Our wis dom but do not proclaim Our affection. Man hears the Voice of thunder, the roar of the ocean, but does not find in them the music of Divine love. Let us go to him embodied in form like his own. Let Us walk with him, talk with him, sorrow with him, suffer with him, then die for him. “Then he will understand. Then he will discover who and what and where God is. I f We weep with him, work with him, think with him, feel with him, become a Com rade to him, then he will become a new creature, and the longing of Our Own heart for fellowship will be satisfied.” Then came the Carpenter! A sweet maiden of Naz areth became the vehicle through whom God accomplished His historic entry into the world. The mystic beauty of the Incarnation is entrancing. How natural! How like God! How human! How Divine! With a fineness and a directness dismissing all thought of imposture, the sweet story of the birth and growth of Jesus is told in the Gos pel narrative. “God manifest in the flesh!” Preparing for Comradeship with man! Thus and thus only could He make us realize that He knows childhood in all its tender ness; thus and thus only could we appreciate His perfect acquaintance with the struggles, the impulses, the aspira tions of youth. How else could God have come into the activities of men when they are at the full noontide of life, so that the business man might know that there are no bur dens he has to bear, no reverses he has to meet, with which the Great Companion is not familiar ? How gracious and how good this coming of the Sovereign Lord to make pos sible His own self-impartation to man! When a deep real ization of the fact that God is in His world possesses the human heart, everything in life changes.
the priest cleans the lamb, taking out the entrails, which are burned in the fire. And ye shall let nothing o f it remain until the morning, and that which remaineth until the morning ye'shall burn with fire (E x . 12:10). Dur ing the process of cleaning, the priest is very careful not to break a single bone, for Jehovah has commanded: N either shall ye break a bone th ereo f (E x . 12:46). After the entrails are taken out (Lev. 3 :4-5), and all the fat is removed (Lev. 7 :23-25), the priest rubs salt into the car cass, and it is placed upon a long wooden spit. However, previous to this, the right shoulder and fore-leg are re moved, and placed upon a special spit. They are for the priests. H e among the sons o f Aaron that offereth the blood o f the peace offerings, and the fa t, shall nave the right shoulder fo r his part (Lev. 7 :3 3 ). R oasting of the L amb After all the sheep have been placed upon the spits,-A heads, legs, and all, without breaking a bone, except to detach the right fore-leg for the priest,^they are taken to the oven. This consists of a pit in the ground about six or seven feet deep, and about four or five feet in diameter. It is lined with stones from top to bottom, and a fire has been kept burning in it for several hours. Thus the stones are almost red hot when the lambs are placed in the oven. The sticks with the lambs upon them are placed vertically in the oven, and the top of the, pit is then sealed with the lattice of wood, over which damp grass is thrown, and the whole is sealed air-tight with mud. Thus the directions are observed, which direct them to eat not o f it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance th ereof (E x . 19 :9 ). It requires about three hours for the lambs to be suf ficiently roasted, and when we were present at the feast, it was shortly after eleven o’clock at night when the oven was opened.- This part of the ceremony is attended with great excitement.. The attendants at the oven feverishly tear away the mud and grass, throw aside the lattice, and, drawing the lambs from the oven, they run into the enclosure. Men are shouting, women shrieking, and babies crying. There is a scene of wild confusion as the Samaritans, fully dressed with hats and coats on, and with staff in hand, begin to hurriedly tear the meat from the bones, and gulp it down. They gather around wooden bowls in which the meat is placed, according to their fam ilies. Now, for the first time, the women have a part in the ceremony, and are eating just as hurriedly, and just as excitedly as the men. These actions are in keeping with the commandment, which says, And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes upon your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste; it is the L ord ’s Passover (E x , 12:11). While they are hastily tearing the meat from the bones with one hand, they are holding in the other hand a roll of unleavened bread in which is wrapped some sort of herb, like watercress. They alternately take a bite of the meat and then a bite of this roll of bread, for they must obey the commandment, And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and with unleavened bread and bitter herbs shall they eat it (E x . 12:8). D uring the E ating of the L amb During the eating of the lambs, and after they have finished, they are very careful not to let any of the flesh drop to the ground, and what is dropped and what remains
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