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Israel, as a nation, were also separated by baptism.
"All our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all
baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea" (I Cor. 10: 1, 2).
"The pillar of the cloud went from before their face and stood behind them; and it
came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and
darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these . . . . . and Moses stretched out his
hand over the sea . . . . . and the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the
dry ground" (Exod. 14: 19-21).
Israel were moreover separated by miraculous interposition.
"Ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God
created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether
there have been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it? . . . . . hath
God assayed to go and take Him a nation from the midst of another nation, by
temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a
stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for
you in Egypt before your eyes?" (Deut. 4: 32-34).
Israel were still further separated by the blood of the Covenant.
"When Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took
the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled
both the book, and all the people saying, This is the blood of the covenant which God
hath enjoined unto you" (Heb. 9: 19, 20).
Here at the outer edge we meet with a whole series of separating and cleansing
processes such as one might have felt were sufficient to give the whole nation access to
God. But not so, they are but the beginning of the cleansing process. There follows the
separation of the tribe of Levi from the rest of Israel, and that "not without blood".
The Levites were taken in place of the firstborn son of each family.
"All the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem . . . . . the Lord slew
all the firstborn in the land of Egypt . . . . . therefore . . . . . all the firstborn of my children
I redeem" (Exod. 13: 13-15).
"And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of
all the firstborn" (Numb. 3: 12).
The Levites were then sanctified by atonement and washings.
"Thou shalt bring the Levites before the Lord: and the children of Israel shall put their
hands upon the Levites, and Aaron shall offer the Levites before the Lord . . . . . and the
Levites shall lay their hands upon the heads of the bullocks; and thou shalt offer one for
a sin offering and one for a burnt offering, unto the Lord, to make an atonement for the
Levites . . . . . thus shalt thou separate the Levites. And the Levites were purified, and
they washed their clothes" (Numb. 8: 10-14 and 21).