Exodus 3:5

Draw not nigh hither.

This may be taken as proper to the Old Testament dispensation, which was. dispensation of darkness, bondage and terror, which the Gospel happily frees us from, giving us boldness to enter into the holiest, and inviting us to draw near.-- M. Henry. We must come to God; we must not come too near him. When we meditate of the great mysteries of his word, we come to him. We come too near him when we search into his counsels. The sun and the fire say of themselves, Come not too near; how much more the light, which none can attain unto? We have all our limits set us.-- Bishop Hall.

Put off thy shoes.

By shoe here is meant the leathern or wooden sole attached to the bottom of the foot by "shoe-latchets" passed round the instep and ankle.-- Bush. The reverence indicated by putting off the covering of the feet is still prevalent in the East. The Orientals throw off their slippers on all those occasions when we should take off our hats. They never uncover their heads, any more than we our feet. It would everywhere, whether among Christians, Moslems, or Pagans, be considered in the highest degree irreverent for. person to enter. church,. temple, or. mosque with his feet covered; and we shall observe that the priests under the law officiated with bare feet.-- Kitto.

Holy ground.

That is, sanctified by the presence and manifestation of the Deity, who makes the heavens, the earth, the sanctuary, or whatever place it be in which his glory is revealed, to be accounted "holy," and therefore to be occupied with devout reverence for the divine presence.