e Lord; throughout your generations ye shall keep it a feast by an
ordinance for ever" (xii. 14). "It shall be for a sign unto thee upon
thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the law of the
Lord may be in thy mouth, for with a strong hand hath the Lord brought
thee out of Egypt. Thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in its
season from year to year" (xiii. 9, 10).

Now for the first time we read of "the congregation of Israel" (xii. 3,
6), which was an assembly of the people represented by their elders (as
may be seen by comparing the third verse with the twenty-first); and
thus we discover that the "heads of houses" have been drawn into a
larger unity. The clans are knit together into a nation.

Accordingly, the feast might not be celebrated by any solitary man.
Companionship was vital to it. At every table one animal, complete and
undissevered, should give to the feast a unity of sentiment; and as many
should gather around as were likely to leave none of it uneaten. Neither
might any of it be reserved to supply a hasty ration amid the confusion
of the predicted march. The feast was to be one complete event, whole
and perfect as the unity which it expressed. The very notion of a people
is that of "community" in responsibilities, joys, and labours; and the
solemn law by virtue of which, at this same hour, one blow will fall
upon all Egypt, must now be accepted by Israel. Therefore loneliness at
the feast of Passover is by the law, as well as in idea, impossible to
any Jew. Every one can see the connection between this festival of unity
and another, of which it is written, "We, being many, are one body, one
loaf, for we are all partakers of that one loaf."

Now, the sentiment of nationality may so assert itself, like all
exaggerated sentiments, as to assail others equally precious. In this
century we have seen a revival of the Spartan theories which sacrificed
the family to the state. Socialism and the _phalanstere_ have proposed
to do by public organisation, with the force of law, what natural
instinct teaches us to leave to domestic influences. It is therefore
worthy of notice that, as the chosen nation is carefully traced by
revelation back to a holy family, so the national festival did not
ignore the family tie, but consecrated it. The feast was to be eaten
"according to their fathers' houses"; if a family were too small, it was
to the "neighbour next unto his house" that each should turn for
co