CHAPTER III _Moses keeping the flock of_ Jethro _at_ Mount Horeb, _the angel of_ _the Lord appears to him in a burning bush_, 1, 2. _Astonished at the sight, he turns aside to examine it_, 3, _when God speaks to him out of the fire, and declares himself to_ _be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Ja... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 3:2. _THE ANGEL OF THE LORD_] Not a created angel certainly; for he is called יהוה _Jehovah_, Exodus 3:4, c., and has the most expressive attributes of the Godhead applied to him, Exodus 3:14, c. Yet he is an _angel_, מלאך malach, a _messenger_, in whom was the name of God, Exodus 23:2... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 3:5. _PUT OFF THY SHOES_] It is likely that from this circumstance all the eastern nations have agreed to perform all the acts of their religious worship _barefooted_. All the Mohammedans, Brahmins, and Parsees do so still. The Jews were remarked for this in the time of Juvenal; hence h... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 3:6. _I_ AM _THE GOD OF THY FATHER_] Though the word אבי _abi, father_, is here used in the singular, St Stephen, quoting this place, Acts 7:32, uses the plural, Ὁ Θεος των πατερων σου, _The God of thy_ FATHERS; and that this is the meaning the following words prove: The God of Abraha... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 3:7. _I HAVE SURELY SEEN_] ראה ראיתי _raoh raithi, seeing,_ _I have seen _- I have not only seen the afflictions of this people because I am omniscient, but I have considered their sorrows, and my eye affects my heart.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 3:8. _AND I AM COME DOWN TO DELIVER THEM_] This is the very purpose for which I am now come down upon this mountain, and for which I manifest myself to thee. _LARGE - LAND_] Canaan, when compared with the small tract of Goshen, in which they were now situated, and where, we learn, from... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 3:11. _WHO_ AM _I - THAT I SHOULD BRING_] He was so satisfied that this was beyond _his_ power, and all the means that he possessed, that he is astonished that even God himself should appoint him to this work! Such indeed was the bondage of the children of Israel, and the power of the p... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 3:12. _CERTAINLY I WILL BE WITH THEE_] This great event shall not be left to thy wisdom and to thy power; my counsel shall direct thee, and my power shall bring all these mighty things to pass. _AND THIS_ SHALL BE _A TOKEN_] Literally, _And_ THIS _to thee for_ _a sign_, i.e., this mira... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 3:13. _THEY SHALL SAY - WHAT_ IS _HIS NAME?_] Does not this suppose that the Israelites had an idolatrous notion even of the Supreme Being? They had probably drank deep into the Egyptian superstitions, and had gods many and lords many; and Moses conjectured that, hearing of a supernatu... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 3:14. _I AM THAT I AM_] אהיה אשר אהיה EHEYEH _asher_ EHEYEH. These words have been variously understood. The _Vulgate_ translates EGO SUM QUI SUM, _I am who am_. The _Septuagint_, Εγω ειμι ὁ Ων, _I am he who exists_. The _Syriac_, the _Persic_, and the _Chaldee_ preserve the original... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 3:15. _THIS_ IS _MY NAME FOR EVER_] The name here referred to is that which immediately precedes, יהוה אלהים _Yehovah Elohim_, which we translate the LORD GOD, the name by which God _had_ been known from the creation of the world, (see Genesis 2:4.) and the name by which he is known am... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 3:16. _ELDERS OF ISRAEL_] Though it is not likely the Hebrews were permitted to have any regular government at this time, yet there can be no doubt of their having such a government in the time of Joseph, and for some considerable time after; the elders of each tribe forming a kind of c... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 3:18. _THEY SHALL HEARKEN TO THY VOICE_] This assurance was necessary to encourage him in an enterprise so dangerous and important. _THREE DAYS' JOURNEY INTO THE WILDERNESS_] Evidently intending _Mount Sinai_, which is reputed to be about three days' journey, the shortest way, from the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 3:19. _I AM SURE THAT THE KING OF EGYPT WILL NOT LET YOU GO,_ _NO, NOT BY A MIGHTY HAND_] When the facts detailed in this history have been considered in connection with the assertion as it stands in our Bibles, the most palpable contradiction has appeared. That the king of Egypt _did_... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 3:22. _EVERY WOMAN SHALL BORROW_] This is certainly not a very correct translation: the original word שאל _shaal_ signifies simply to _ask, request, demand, require, inquire_, c. but it does not signify to _borrow_ in the proper sense of that word, though in a very few places of Script... [ Continue Reading ]