Placed, as the children of Israel were, in a very central position among the nations, they were exposed to a great variety of temptations. Circumstances must sometimes have favoured the influence of one nation, sometimes of another. Commercial intercourse, political leagues, matrimonial alliances, all had a share in determining which nation should predominate in influencing the Jewish people. And it is certain that by such influences the people were led into idolatries of different kinds. Egypt, as the neighbour of Israel upon the south, naturally came again and again into contact with the people who had been by Divine power delivered from her hands. Probably some relics of Egyptian superstition lingered for generations among the Jews, and it seems certain that efforts were made to introduce the deities and idolatrous worship of Egypt among the professed worshippers of Jehovah. This verse obviously refers to the practice of Egyptian idolatry in the capital, and in the very temple courts.

I. THE CHARACTER OF THIS IDOLATRY.

1. It was the worship of living creatures.

2. And of the lowest forms of life. This we know to have been especially characteristic of the religion of ancient Egypt.

II. THE VILENESS AND ABSURDITY OF THIS IDOLATRY.

1. It was the elevation of the creature above the Creator.

2. It was the glorification of animal in preference to spiritual life.

3. It manifested itself in the most irrational and indefensible forms which so called religion could possibly assume.

4. It lowered the worshippers to a moral level of degradation below which it was scarcely possible to sink.

III. THE GUILT OF THE JEWS IN PRACTISING THIS IDOLATRY.

1. They forsook the pure and elevating worship of the living and true God, preferring the vile to the precious, the disgusting to the sublime.

2. They acted in a manner contrary to all the lessons of their past history.

3. They rebelled against the authoritative admonitions of the Lord's faithful prophets. In all these respects the Hebrew people were far more blamable than the surrounding nations who had been trained in idolatrous practices, and had never declined from a purer and nobler faith and worship. - T.

1. Persons may sometimes be found where we would little expect them to be. It may happen that the irreligious shall appear among the godly, seem to be actuated by the same spirit, and to the surprise of all who knew them, contribute to the advancement of a good cause: "Is Saul also among the prophets?" But how frequently is the case reversed, and those who make a good profession, of whom we thought well, and even hoped the things that accompany salvation, to our great surprise, are found in situations very inconsistent with what they professed, perhaps totally foreign to all that we had thought and hoped about them. The saint, on revisiting a place from which, like the prophet, he may have been absent for a time, may behold with grief some with whom he had formerly walked in sweet fellowship, gone off from their profession, and no longer the steady ornamental friends of the cause they had once solemnly espoused. But supposing the profession retained, how often may those who are engaged in it be found in situations, in places and occupations, in which their friends and religious acquaintances would little have expected to find them!

2. Persons may even go great lengths, and take a very active part in those things which were little to be expected from their former character or present reputation in the church. Jaazaniah was one of the ancients or elders of Israel. His former character at least appears to have been good, somewhat worthy of his name, which signifies one attentive to God, or whom God will hear, — a name probably given him by his religious parents as a son of their vows. By his station he was to preside over the administration of the law, and even to take care of the worship of God, as a member of the great council to which the Jews ever looked up with veneration. But, alas! how vain is it to trust in man! "In the midst, of them stood Jaazaniah." He seems to have occupied some prominent place that struck at once the eye of the prophet; he was at any rate actively engaged, and had gone every length with his companions in sin; he stood in the midst of them, while "every man had his censer in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense went up." Who knows, when once he has deviated from the right path, how far he may go? how far he may be left to go? nay, supposing his heart not imbued with grace, how totally, if not finally, he may be given up to apostasy, and all manner of vice?

3. Godly parentage and the advantages of a religious education Neatly aggravate the criminality of such conduct. The parentage of this man is particularly noticed, and, considering the person from whom he was descended, we may well believe he had the advantage of a religious education. His very parentage and religious education greatly aggravated his crime. How seldom do ungodly or apostate children reflect upon this! They despise the religion of their fathers; they forsake, without compunction, the law of their mother. The children of such parents will have to answer, not only for the obedience they would have owed to God, even in a heathen country, and of whomsoever descended, but for all these peculiar advantages; for the contempt too, or violation, of the most sacred obligations, strengthened by the influence which natural affection ought to have had; not merely for disrespect to parental authority, for dishonouring their parents, but for dishonouring them in the most beneficial discharge of their duty, and in the best character they can sustain.

4. The idea of secrecy is a great inducement and strong temptation to engage in unworthy, inconsistent, and wicked practices. The mysteries of Pagan superstition, and the scheme of an interior doctrine in the heathen philosophy, are both well known. The former, particularly, may he traced to very ancient times, when the priests began to secrete what they accounted the essentials of religion, the foundations of even civil order, and of all morality, and to impart them only to a few; — a grand device of the devil, for not only promoting idolatry, but every species of wickedness, without fear of detection. How often do persons persuade themselves that all is well, provided only they can be concealed while indulging themselves! Such conduct, however, must indicate a want of cordial regard to truth and righteousness for their own sake, a secret contempt for the laws of the church, and even of moral decorum; it must shew that the regularity otherwise displayed is only compelled by the fear of men.

5. Notwithstanding their apprehended secrecy, such persons are still under the eye of God. (Hebrews 4:13, in connection with Psalm 139:1-12.)

6. God can easily detect and expose them to others, to their shame and confusion. Various are the ways of detection that God hath employed. Sometimes the habit of irregularity in profession, or of intemperance and profligacy in manners, fostered for a time by secrecy, at length gains the ascendency and breaks out, so that the person stands revealed in his true colours. Sometimes, though only associates be present, their very transactions, their riot and excess, shall make the discovery, and become the subject of talk. Sometimes these associates, not to be trusted, shall divulge the matter, particularly if they have to tell that a Jaazaniah, a son of Shaphan, was among them; and the deluded man finds himself betrayed and made a sport of by those whom he attempted to gratify.

(Christian Magazine.)