_GOD PROMISES THAT HE WILL DELIVER THE ISRAELITES FROM SLAVERY: BUT THE PEOPLE BELIEVE NOT THE WORDS OF MOSES. THE HEADS OF THE FAMILIES OF REUBEN, SIMEON, AND LEVI ARE ENUMERATED._ _Before Christ 1491._... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THE LORD SAID UNTO MOSES— The improper division of this, and of many other subsequent Chapter s, is evident to readers of the least attention. Some have supposed, that the language of Moses, at the close of the former chapter, was querulous and unbecoming: but the answer which God here condesce... [ Continue Reading ]
I APPEARED, &C.— The emphasis being upon _Jehovah,_ in Exodus 6:2 it is to be wished, that this word had been used in our translation, instead of, _the Lord: I am Jehovah._ Some render this verse, _I appeared unto Abraham—by the name of God Almighty; and was not I also known to them by my name Jehov... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL TAKE YOU— "I will now take you under my peculiar protection; separate you to me for a people; and become, in an especial and distinguishing manner, your God.... [ Continue Reading ]
ANGUISH OF SPIRIT— The original רוח קצר, _chotzer ruach,_ denotes that _shortness of breath,_ which is occasioned by extreme _grief, anger,_ or _fatigue:_ see the margin of our Bibles. The LXX render it, _out of despondency,_ ολιγοψυχιας; and Grotius interprets it, _anxiety of mind._ The spirits of... [ Continue Reading ]
MOSES SPAKE BEFORE THE LORD— The phrase _before the Lord,_ evidently denotes some visible appearance of the Deity, that divine _Shechinah,_ in which God discovered himself to Moses. _Uncircumcised lips,_ according to the meaning of the phrase in other parts of Scripture, expresses _vile, unworthy, u... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD SPAKE UNTO MOSES, &C.— From this verse to the twenty-eighth, we have a short digression, wherein Moses gives us an account of the genealogy of himself and his brother Aaron; as well to shew their descent from the stock of Abraham, as to mark the time of Israel's deliverance; and, theref... [ Continue Reading ]
THE YEARS OF THE LIFE OF LEVI, &C.— Bishop Patrick observes, that Levi is thought to have lived the longest of all Jacob's sons; none of whose ages are recorded in Scripture, but his and Joseph's; whom Levi survived twenty-seven years, though he was much the elder brother. Kohath, the second sort of... [ Continue Reading ]
ELEAZAR—TOOK HIM ONE OF THE DAUGHTERS OF PUTIEL— Eleazar succeeded his father in the priesthood, and assisted Joshua in the division of the land of Canaan. It is thought that this Putiel, whose daughter he married, was an Egyptian; as the name _Putiel,_ seems derived from _Phut,_ the brother of _Miz... [ Continue Reading ]
ACCORDING TO THEIR ARMIES— Le Clerc interprets this, _by their tribes._ The word implies _a regularly disposed multitude._ See ch. Exodus 12:41; Exodus 12:51 Exodus 13:18. Junius and others begin the seventh chapter, with great propriety, at the 28th verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS, &C.— This is a repetition to connect the history. God will have his work done, and he has ways of constraining the most unwilling heart.... [ Continue Reading ]