Exodus
Verse 1. These are the names'\ Though this book is a continuation of the book of Genesis, with which probably it wa& in former times conjoined, Moses thought it necessary to introduce it with an account of the names and number of the family of Jacob when they came to Egypt, to show that though they were then very few, yet in a short time, under the especial blessing of God, they had multiplied exceedingly; and thus the promise to Abraham had been literally fulfilled. See the notes on Gen. xlvi.
Verse 6. Joseph died, and all his brethren] That is, Joseph had now been some time dead, as also all his brethren, and all the Egyptians who had known Jacob and his twelve sons; and this is a sort of reason why the important services performed by Joseph were forgotten.
^ loins of Jacob were ° seventy souls for Joseph was in Egypt already.
7 ^ And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them.
paru, a general term, signifying that they were like healthy trees, bringing forth an abundance of fruit.
Verse 7. The children of Israel were fruitful] na
And increased] 2f liy yishretsu, they increased like fishes, as the original word implies. See Gen. i. 20, and the note there.
Abundantly] IDT yirbu, they multiplied; this is a separate term, and should not have been used as an adverb by our translators.
And waxed exceeding mighty] IXD nx03 lOVJ^M vaiyaatsmu bimod meod, and they became strong beyond measure — superlatively, superlatively — so that the land (Goshen) ivas filled tvith them. This astonishing increase was, under the providence of God, chiefly owing to two causes: 1. The Hebrew women were exceedingly fruitful, suffered very little in parturition, and probably often brought forth twins. 2. There appear to have been no premature deaths among them. Thus in about two hundred and fifteen years they were
The Hebrews are persecuted king over Egypt, which knew
9 And he said unto his people, Behold, ^ the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we:
10 ^ Come on, let us 'deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight
multiplied to upwards of 600,000, independently of old men, women, and children.
Verse 8. There arose up a neio king] Who this was it is difficult to say. It was probably Ramesses Miamun, or his son Amenophis, who succeeded him in the government of Egypt about A. M. 2400, before Christ 1604.
Which knew not Joseph.] The verb^H' yada, which we translate to know, often signifies to acknowledge or approve. See Judges ii. 10; Psa. i. 6; xxxi. 7; Hos. ii. 8; Amos iii. 2. The Greek verbs ei.6u and ycvuaicu are used precisely in the same sense in the New Testament. See Matt. xxv. 12, and 1 John iii. 1. We may therefore understand by the new king^s not knowing Joseph, his disapproving of that system of government which Joseph had established, as well as his haughtily refusing to acknowledge the obligations under which the whole land of Egypt was laid to this eminent prime minister of one of his predecessors.
Verse 9. He said unto his people] He probably summoned a council of his nobles and elders to consider the subject; and the result was to persecute and destroy them, as is afterwards stated.
Verse 10. They join also unto our enemies] It has been conjectured that Pharaoh had probably his eye on the oppressions which Egypt had suffered under the shepherd-kings, who for a long series of yea,rs had, according to Manetho, governed the land with extreme cruelty. As the Israelites were of the same occupation, (viz., shepherds,) the jealous, cruel king found it easy to attribute to them the same motives; taking it for granted that they were only waiting for a favourable opportunity to join the enemies of Egypt, and so overrun the whole land.
Averse 11. Set over them task-masters] D'D'J ^'\'<L' sarey missim, chiefs or princes of burdens, ivorks, or tribute; emaTaTag tuv epyuv, Sept. overseers of the works. The persons who appointed them their work, and exacted the performance of it. The ivork itself being oppressive, and the manner in which it was exacted still more so, there is some room to think that they not only worked them unmercifully, but also obliged them to pay an exorbitant tribute at the same time.
Treasure cities] mjDD'3 ""^^ a?-ey miscenoth, store cities — public granaries. Calmet supposes this to be the name of a city, and translates the verse thus: "They built cities, viz., Miscenoth, Pithom, and Rameses." Pithom is supposed to be that which Heroa agamst us, and so get them up a. m. dr. 2400.
1 1 Therefore they did set over them taskmasters ^ to afflict them with their ^ burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom ™ and Raamses.
12 '^ But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children
they ajjiicted them, so they multiplied, &c.
dotus calls Patumos. Raamses, or rather Rameses, (for it is the same Hebrew word as in Gen. xlvii. 1 1, and should be written the same way here as there,) is supposed to have been the capital of the land of Goshen, mentioned in the book of Genesis by anticipation; for it was probably not erected till after the days of Joseph, when the Israelites were brought under that severe oppression described in the book of Exodus. The Septuagint add here, Kai Qv, rj eariv 'B.?uov7ro?i,ic' and ON, which is Heliopolis; i. e., the city of the Sun. The same reading is found also in the Coptic version.
Some writers suppose that beside these cities the Israelites built the pyramids. If this conjecture be well founded, perhaps they are intended in the word niJDDD misceiiotk, which, from pD sachan, to lay up in store, might be intended to signify places where Pharaoh laid up his treasures; and from theiir structure they appear to have been designed for something of this kind. If the history of the pyramids be not found in the book of Exodus, it is nowhere else extant; their origin, if not alluded to here, being lost in their very remote antiquity. Diodorus Siculus, who has given the best traditions he could find relative to them, says that there was no agreement either among the inhabitants or the historians concerning the building of the pyramids. — Bib. Hist., lib. i., cap. Ixiv
Josephus e.xpressly says that one part of the oppression suffered by the Israelites in I'jgypt was occasioned by building pyramids. See on ver. 14.
In the book of Genesis, and in this book, the word Pharaoh frequently occurs, which, though many suppose it to be a proper name peculiar to one person, and by this supposition confound the acts of several Egyptian kings, yet is to be understood only as a name of office.
It may be necessary to observe that all the Egyptian kings, whatever their oiun name was, took the surname of Pharaoh when they came to the throne; a name which, in its general acceptation signified the same as king or monarch, but in its literal meaning, as Bochart has amply proved, it signifies a crocodile, which being a sacred animal among the Egyptians, the word might be added to their kings in order to procure them the greater reverence and respect.
Verse 12. But the more they afflicted them] The margin has pretty nearly preserved the import of the original: And as they afflicted them, so they multiplied
TTie midwives are commanded to destroy the male children
~ — '- — '■ ' the children of Israel to serve
14 And they ° made their lives bitter with hard bondage, p in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, ivas with rigour.
15 And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah:
16 And he said. When ye do the office of
and so they grew. That is, in proportion to their afflictions was their prosperity; and had their sufferings been greater, their increase would have been still more abundant.
Verse 13. To serve with rigour] '\'^-i2 bepharech, with cruelty, great oppression; being ferocious with them. The word fierce is supposed by some to be derived from the Hebrew, as well as the Latin /eroT, -from which we more immediately bring our English term. This kind of cruelty to slaves, and ferociousness, unfeelingness, and hard-heartedness, were particularly forbidden to the children of Israel. See Lev. XXV. 43, 46, where the same word is used: Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour, but shalt fear thy God.
Verse 14. They made their lives bitter] So that they became weary of life, through the severity of their servitude.
With hard bondage] nt^p m:]>'3 baabodah kashah, tv.iih grievous servitude. This was the general character of their life in Egypt; it was a life of the most painful servitude, oppressive enough in itself, but made much more so by the cruel manner of their treatment while performing their tasks.
Li mortar, and in brief:] First, in digging the clay, kneading, and preparing it, and secondly, forming it into bricks, drying them in the sun, &c.
Service in the field] Carrying these materials to the places where they were to be formed into buildings, and serving the builders while employed in those public works. Josephus says " The Egyptians contrived a variety of ways to afflict the Israelites; for they enjoined them to cut a great number of channels for the river, and to build walls for their cities and ramparts, that they might restrain the river, and hinder its waters from stagnating upon its overrunnmg its own banks; they set them also to build pyramids, (TTvpa/iiidac te avoLKoSo/xovvrec,) and wore them out, and forced them to learn all sorts of mechanic arts, and to accustom themselves to hard labour." — Antiq., lib. ii., cap. ix., sec. 1. Philo bears nearly the same testimony, p. 86, Edit. Mangey.
who are here mentioned, were probably certain chiefs, under whom all the rest acted, and by whom they were instructed in the obstetric art. Aben Ezra sup- and see them upon the stools; — — -^.'
if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live.
17 But the midwives ^feared God, and did not ^ as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive.
18 And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive?
19 And Mhe midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the
poses there could not have been fewer than five hundred midwives among the Hebrew women at this time; but that very few were requisite see proved on verse 19.
Verse 16. Upon the stools] CD'^^Nn hy al haobnayim. This is a difficult word, and occurs nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible but in Jer. xviii. 3, where we translate it the potter''s wheels. As pX signifies a stone, the obnayim has been supposed to signify a stone trough, in which they received and washed the infant as soon as born. Jarchi, in his book of Hebrew roots, gives a very different interpretation of it; he derives it from p ben, a son, or □"'J3 banim, children; his words must not be literally translated, but this is the sense: " When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and ye see that the birth is broken forth, if it be a son, then ye shall kill him." Jonathan ben Uzziel gives us a curious reason for the command given by Pharaoh to the Egyptian women: " Pharaoh slept, and saw in his sleep a balance, and behold the whole land of Egypt stood in one scale, and a lamb in the other; and the scale in which the lamb was outweighed that in which was the land of Egypt. Immediately he sent and called all the chief magicians, and told them his dream. And Janes and Jimbres, (see 2 Tim. iii. 8,) who were chief of the magicians, opened their mouths and said to Pharaoh, ' A child is shortly to be born in the congregation of the Israelites, whose hand shall destroy the whole land of Egypt.' Therefore Pharaoh spake to the midwives, dfc."
Verse 17. The midwives feared God^ Because they knew that God had forbidden murder of every kind; for though the law was not yet given, Exod. xx. 13, being Hebrews they must have known that God had from the beginning declared, Whosoever sheddeth man^s blood, by man shall his blood be shed, Gen. ix. 6. Therefore they saved the male children of all to whose assistance they were called. See ver. 19.
Verse 19. The Hebreiu women are not as the Egyptian ivomen] This is a simple statement of what general experience shows to be a fact, viz., that women, who during the whole of tlieir pregnancy are accustomed to hard labour, especially in the open air, have comparatively little pain in parturition. At this time the whole Hebrew nation, men and women, were lively, and are deliverea ere the midwives come in unto them. 20 ^ Therefore God dealt well with the in a state of slavery, and were obliged to work in mortar and brick, and all manner of service in the FIELD, ver. 14, and this at once accounts for the ease and speediness of their travail. With the strictest truth the midwives might say, The Hehreiv women are not as the Egyptian loomen: the latter fare delicately, are not inured to labour, and are kept shut up at home, therefore they have hard, difficult, and dangerous labours; but the Hebrew women are lively, nrn chayoth, are strong, hale, and vigorous, and therefore are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them. In such cases we may naturally conclude that the midwives were very seldom even sent for. And this is probably the reason why we find but two mentioned; as in such a state of society there could be but very little employment for persons of that profession, as a mother, an aunt, or any female acquaintance or neighbour, could readily afford all the assistance necessary in such cases. Commentators, pressed with imaginary difficulties, have sought for examples of easy parturition in.Ethiopia, Persia, and India, as parallels to the case before us; but they might have spared themselves the trouble, because the case is common in all parts of the globe where the women labour hard, and especially in the open air. I have known several instances of the kind myself among the labouring poor. I shall mention one: I saw a poor woman in the open field at hard labour; she stayed away in the afternoon, but she returned the next morning to her work with her infant child, having in the interim been safely delivered! She continued at her daily work, having apparently suffered no inconvenience!
I have entered more particularly into this subject because, through want of proper information, (perhaps from a worse motive,) certain persons have spoken very unguardedly against this inspired record r " The Hebrew midwives told palpable lies, and God commends them for it; thus we may do evil that good may come of it, and sanctify the means by the end." Now I contend that there was neither lie direct nor even prevarication in the case. The midwives boldly state to Pharaoh a fact, (had it not been so, he had a thousand means of ascertaining the truth,) and they state it in such a way as to bring conviction to his mind on the subject of his oppressive cruelty on the one hand, and the mercy of Jehovah on the other. As if they had said, " The very oppression under vi^hich, through thy cruelty, the Israelites groan, their God has turned to their advantage; they are not only f-uitful, but they bring forth with comparatively no trouble; we have scarcely any employment among them." Here then is a fact, boldly announced in the face of danger; and we see that God was pleased with this frankness of the midwives, and he blessed them for it.
Verse 20. Therefore God dealt well ivith the midwives: and the people multiplied, and ivaxed very
21 And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, " that he made them houses.
mighty.'] This shows an especial providence and blessing of God; for though in all cases where females are kept to hard labour they have comparatively easy and safe travail, yet in a state of slavery the increase is generally very small, as the children- die for want of proper nursing, the women, through their labour, being obliged to neglect their offspring; so that in the slave countries the stock is obliged to be recruited by foreign imports: yet in the case above it was not so; there was not one barren among theit tribes, and even their women, though constantly obliged to perform their daily tasks, were neither rendered unfruitful by it, nor taken off by premature death through the violence and continuance of their labour, when even in the delicate situation mentioned above.
Verse 21. He 7nade them houses.] Dr. Shuckford thinks that there is something wrong both in the punctuation and translation of this place, and reads the passage thus, adding the 21st to the 20th verse: " And they multiplied and waxed mighty; and this happened (TIM vayehi) because the midwives feared God; and he {Pharaoh) made (CDD? lahem, masc.) them {the Israelites) houses; and commanded all his people, saying, Every son that is born, &c." The doctor supposes that previously to this time the Israelites had no fixed dwellings, but lived in tents, and therefore had a better opportunity of concealing their children; but now Pharaoh built them houses, and obliged them to dwell in them, and caused the Egyptians to watch over them, that all the male children might be destroyed, which could not have been easily effected had the Israelites continued to live in their usual scattered manner in tents. That the houses in question were not made for the midwives, but for the Israelites in general, the Hebrew text seems pretty plainly to indicate, for the pronoun Uvh lahem, to them, is the masculine gender; had the midwives been meant, the feminine pronoun |n? lahen would have been used. Others contend that by making them houses, not only the midwives are intended, but also that the words mark an increase of their families, and that the objection taken from the masculine pronoun is of no weight, because these pronouns are often interchanged; see 1 Kings xxii. 17, where hvh lahem is written, and in the parallel place, 2 Chron. xviii. 6, \Th lahen is used. So DH^ hahem, in 1 Chron. x. 7, is written |n!J bahen, 1 Sam. xxxi. 7, -and in several other places. There is no doubt that God did bless the midwives, his approbation of their conduct is strictly marked; and there can be no doubt of his prospering the Israelites, for it is particularly said that the people multiplied and waxed very mighty. But the words most probably refer to the Israelites, whose houses or families were built up by an extraordinary increase of children, notwithstanding the cruel policy of the Egyptian king Vain is the counsel of man when opposed to the de
Pharaoh commands all his people
22 And Pharaoh cliargecl all his people, saying, ^ Every son that is
EXODli'.S. to destroy the male children.
born ye shall cast into the river, and a. m, cir. 2431
terminations of God! All the means used for the destruction of this people became in his hand instruments of their prosperity and increase. How true is the saying, If God be for us, who can be against us T
Verse 22. Ye shall cast into the rivei-] As the iVz/e, which is here intended, was a sacred river among the Egyptians, it is not unlikely that Pharaoh intended the young Hebrews as an offering to his god, having two objects in view: 1. To increase the fertility of the country by thus procuring, as he might suppose, a proper and sufficient annual inundation; and 2. To prevent an increase of population among the Israelites, and in process of time procure their entire extermination.
It is conjectured, with a great show of probability, that the edict mentioned in this verse was not made till after the birth of Aaron, and that it was revoked soon after the birth of Moses; as, if it had subsisted in its rigour during the eighty-six years which elapsed between this and the deliverance of the Israelites, it is not at all likely that their males would have amounted to six hundred thousand, and those all effective men.
In the general preface to this work reference has been made to Origen's method of interpreting the Scriptures, and some specimens promised. On the plain account of a simple matter of fact, related in the preceding chapter, this very eminent man, in his 2d Homily on Exodus, imposes au interpretation of which the following is the substance.
" Pharaoh, king of Egypt, represents the deoil; the male zxi^ female children of the Hebrews represent the animal and rational faculties of the soul. Pharaoh, the devil, wishes to destroy all the males, i. e., the seeds of rationality and spiritual science through which the soul tends to and seeks heavenly things; but he wishes to preserve the females alive, i. e., all those animal propensities of man, through which he becomes carnal and devilish. Hence," says he, " when you see a man living in luxury, banquetings, pleasures, and sensual gratifications, know that there the king of Egypt has slain all the males, and preserved all the females alive. The midlives represent the Old and New Testaments: the one is called Sephorn, which signifies a sparrow, and means that sort of instruction by which the soul is led to soar aloft, and contemplate heavenly things; the other is called Phua, which signifies ruddy or bashful, and points out the Gospel, which is ruddy with the blood of Christ, spreading the doctrine of his passion over the earth. By these, as midwives, the souls that are born into the Church are healed, for the reading of the Scriptures corrects and heals what is amiss in the mind. Pharaoh, the devil, wishes to corrupt those midwives, that all tlie males the spiritual propensities, may be destroyed; and this he endeavours to do by bringing in heresies and corrupt opinions. But the foundation of God standeth sure. The midwives feared God, therefore he builded them houses. If this be taken literally, it has little or no meaning, and is of no importance; but it points out every daughter ye shall save alive.
that the midwives — the law and the Gospel, by teaching the fear of God, build the houses of the Church, and fill the whole earth with houses of prayer. Therefore these midwives, because they feared God, and taught the fear of God, did not fulfil the command of the king of Egypt — they did not kill the males, and I dare confidently affirm that they did not preserve the females alive; for they do not teach vicious doctrines in the Church, nor preach up luxury, nor foster sin, which are what Pharaoh wishes in keeping the females alive; for by these virtue alone is cultivated and nourished. By Pharaoh^s daughter I suppose the Church to be intended, Avhich is gathered from among the Gentiles; and although she has an impious and iniquitous father, yet the prophet says unto her, Hearken, O daughter, and consider, incline thine ear; forget also thine oiun people, and thy father'^s house, so shall the king greatly desire thy beauty, Psa. xlv. 10, 11. This therefore is she who is come to the tvaters to bathe, i. e., to the baptismal font, that she may be washed from the sins which she has contracted in her father^ s house. Immediately she receives bowels of commiseration, and pities the infant: that is, the Church, coming from among the Gentiles, finds Moses — the law, lying in the pool, cast out, and exposed by his own people in an ark of bulrushes, daubed over tvith pitch — deformed and obscured by the carnal and absurd glosses of the Jews, who are ignorant of its spiritual sense; and while it continues with them is as a helpless and destitute infant; but as soon as it enters the doors of the Christian Church it becomes strong and vigorous; and thus Moses — the law, grows up, and becomes, through means of the Christian Church, more respectable even in the eyes of the Jews themselves, according to his own prophecy: / ivill move them to jealousy ivith those which are not a people; I luill provoke them to anger ivith a foolish nation, Deut. xxxii. 21. Thus taught by the Christian Church, the synagogue forsakes idolatry; for when it sees the Gentiles worshipping the true God, it is ashamed of its idols, and worships them no more. In like manner, though we have had Pharaoh for our father — though the prince of this world has begotten us by wicked works, yet when we come unto the waters of baptism we take unto us Moses— the law of God, in its true and spiritual meaning; what is low or weak in it we leave, what is strong and perfect we take and place in the royal palace of our heart. Then we have Moses grown up — we no longer consider the law as little or mean; all is magnificent, excellent, elegant, for all is spiritually understood. Let us beseech the Lord Jesus Christ that he may reveal himself to us more and more, and show us how great and sublime Moses is; for he by his Holy Spirit reveals these things to whomsoever he will. To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever! Amen." Neitlier tiie praise of piety nor the merit of ingenuity can be denied to this eminent man in such interpretations as these. But who at the same time does not see that if such a mode of exposition were to be a allowed, the trumpet could no longer give a certain sound? Every passage and fact might then be obliged to say something, any thing, every thing, or nothing, according to the fancy, peculiar creed, or caprice of the interpreter.
I have given this large specimen from one of the ancients, merely to save the moderns, from whose works on the sacred writings I could produce many specimens equally singular and more absurd. Reader, it is possible to trifle with the testimonies of God, and all the while speak serious things; but if all be not done according to the pattern shown in the mount, much evil may be produced, and many stumbling blocks throwu in the way of others, which may turn them totally out of the way of understanding; and then what a dreadful account must such interpreters have to give to that God who has pronounced a curse, not only on those who take away from his word, but also on those who add to iti
Amram and Jocheled marry, 1. Moses is lorn, and is hidden by his mother three months, 2. Js exposed m an ark of bulrushes on the river Nile, and watched by his sister, 3, 4. He is found by the daughter of Pharaoh, tvho commits him to the care of his own mother, and has him educated as her own son, 5—9. When groivn up, he is brought to Pharaoli's daughter, who receives him as her oion child, and calls him Moses, 10. Finding an Egyptian smiting a Hebreio, he kills the Egyptian, and hides him, in the sand, 11, 12. Reproves tico Hebrews that were contending together, one of lohom charges him ivith killing the Egyptian, 13, 14. Pharaoh, hearing of the death of the Egyptian, sought to slay Moses, who, being alarmed, escapes to the land of Midian, 15. Meets ivith the seven daughters of Reuel, priest or prince of Midian, ivho came to water their flocks, and assists them, 16, 17. On their return they inform their father Reuel, ivho invites Moses to his house, 18—20. Moses divells with him, and receives Zipporah his daughter to wife, 21. She bears him a son whom he calls Gershom, 22. The children of Israel, grievously oppressed in Egypt, cry for deliverance, 23. God remembers his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and hears their prayer, 24, 25.
_ house 01 Levi, and took to
2 And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and ^ when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.
Verse 1. There loent a man] Amram, son of Kohath, son of Levi, chap. vi. 16—20. A daughter of Levi, Jochebed, sister to Kohath, and consequently both the wife and aunt of her husband Amram, chap. vi. 20; Num. xxvi. 59. Such marriages were at this time lawful, though they were afterwards forbidden, Lev. xviii. 12. But it is possible that daughter of Levi means no more than a descendant of that family, and that probably Amram and Jochebed were only cousin germans. As a new law was to be given and a new priesthood formed, God chose a religious family out of which the lawgiver and the high priest were both to spring.
Verse 2. Bare a son] This certainly was not her first child, for Aaron was fourscore and three years old when Moses was but fourscore, see chap. vii. 7: and there was a sister, probably Miriam, who was older than either; see below, ver. 4, and see Num. xxvi. 59. Miriam and Aaron had no doubt been both born before the decree was passed for the destruction of the Hebrew male children, mentioned in the preceding chapter.
Goodly child] The text simply says Nin 2)0 O ki tob hu, thai he was good, which signifies that he was not only a perfect, well-formed child, but that he was very
3 And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink.
4 ° And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him.
beautiful; hence the Septuagint translate the place, ISovrec (5e avro ugtelov. Seeing him to be beautiful, which St. Stephen interprets, Hv aareioc rip 9ea>, He ivas comely to God, or divinely beautiful. This very circumstance was wisely ordained by the kind providence of God to be one means of his preservation. Scarcely any thing interests the heart more than the sight of a lovely babe in distress. His beauty would induce even his parents to double their exertions to save him, and was probably the sole motive which led the Egyptian princess to take such particular care of him, and to educate him as her own son, which in all likelihood she would not have done had he been only an ordinary child.
Verse 3. An ark of bulrushes] XDJ T\2T\ tebath gome, a small boat or basket made of the Egyptian reed called papyrus, so famous in all antiquity. This plant grows on the banks of the Nile, and in marshy grounds; the stalk rises to the height of six or s^^) cubits above the water, is triangular, and termip i in a crown of small filaments resembling hair, which the ancients used to compare to a thjTrsus. This reed was of the greatest use to the inhabitants of Egypt, the pith contained in the stalk serving them for foo-' and the woody part to build vessels with; which _ 295 ^^^
5 And the "^ daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the rivef; and her maidens walked along by the
Bels frequently appear on engraved stones and other monuments of Egyptian antiquity. For this purpose they made it up like rushes into bundles, and by tying them together gave their vessels the necessary figure and solidity. " The vessels of bulrushes or papyrus," says Dr. Shaw, " were no other than large fabrics of the same kind with that of Moses, Exod. ii. 3, which from the late introduction of planks and stronger materials are now laid aside." Thus Pliny, lib. vi., cap. 16, takes notice of the naves papyraceas armamcntaque Nili, " ships made of papyrus and the equipments of the Nile:" and lib. xiii., cap. 11, he observes. Ex ipsi quidem papyro navigia texunt: " Of the papyrus itself they construct sailing vessels." Herodotus and Diodorus have recorded the same fact; and among the poets, Lucan, lib. iv., ver. 136: Conseritur bibula Memphitis cymba papyro, " The Memphian or Egyptian boat is constructed from the soaking papyrus." The epithet bibula is particularly remarkable, as corresponding with great exactness to the nature of the plant, and to its Hebrew name XDJ gome, which signifies to soak, to drink up. See Parkhursl sub voce.
She laid it in the flags] Not willing to trust it in the stream for fear of a disaster; and probably choosing the place to which the Egyptian princess was accustomed to come for the purposes specified in the note on the following verse.
Verse 5. And the daughter of Pharaoh] Josephus calls her Thermuthis, and says that " the ark was borne along by the current, and that she sent one that could swim after it; that she was struck with the figure and uncommon beauty of the child; that she inquired for a nurse, but that he having refused the breasts of several, and his sister proposing to bring a Hebrew nurse, his own mother was procured." But all this is in Josephus's manner, as well as the long circumstantial dream that he gives to Amram concerning the future greatness of Moses, which cannot be considered in any other light than that of a fable, and not even a cunningly devised one.
To wash herself at the river] Whether the daughter of Pharaoh went to bathe in the river through motives of pleasure, health, or religion, or whether she bathed at all, the text does not specify. It is merely stated by the sacred writer that she xoenl doivn to the river to w.\sn; for the word herself is not in the original. Mr. Harmer, Observat., vol. iii., p. 529, is of opinion that the time referred to above was that in wliich the Nile begins to rise; and as the dancing girls in Egypt are accustomed now to plunge themselves into the river at its rising, by which act they t^.slify their gratitude for the inestimable blessing of:\'^inundations, so it might have been formerly; and thai Pharaoh's daughter was now coming down to the river on a similar account. I see no likelihood in all hous^^' ^^ ^^^ washed herself at all, it rtiight have been meanini!'^'""^ ablution, and yet extended no farther than hands and face; for the word ]*n"> rachats, to "JOG
river's side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it.
wash, is repeatedly used in the Pentateuch to signify religious ablutions of different kinds. Jonathan in his Targum says that God had smitten all Egypt with ulcers, and that the daughter of Pharaoh came to wash in the river in order to find relief; and that as soon as she touched the ark where Moses was, her ulcers were healed. This is all fable. I believe there was no bathing in the case, but simply what the text states, washing, not of her person, but of her clothes, which was an employment that even kings' daughters did not think beneath them in those primitive times. Homer, Odyss. vi., represents Nausicaa, daughter of Alcinous, king of the Phceacians, in company with her maidens, employed at the seaside in washing her own clothes and those of her five brothers! While thus employed they find Ulysses just driven ashore after having been shipwrecked, utterly helpless, naked, and destitute of every necessary of life. The w'hole scene is so perfectly like that before us that they appear to me to be almost parallels. I shall subjoin a few lines. The princess, having piled her clothes on a carriage drawn by several mules, and driven to the place of washing, commences her work, which the poet describes thus: —
" Light'ning the carriage, next they bore in hand The garments doicn to the unsullied loave. And thrust them heap'd into the pools; their task Despatching brisk, and with an emulous haste. When all tvere purified, and neither spot Could be perceived or blemish more, they spread The raiment orderly along the beach. Where dashing tides had cleansed the pebbles most."
When this task was finished we find the Phaeacian princess and her ladies {Kovpr) S" ek dalafioio — afjL<^i- ■KoXoi a?.lai) employed in amusing themselves upon the beach, till the garments they had washed should be dry and fit to be folded up, that they might reload their carriage and return.
In the text of Moses the Egyptian princess, accompanied by her maids, n''m>'J naarothcyha, comes down to the river, not to bathe herself, for this is not intimated, but merely to tvash, rniS lirchots; at the time in which the ark is perceived we may suppose that she and her companions had finished their task, and, like the daughter of Alcinous and her maidens, wero amusing themselves walking along by the river's side, as the others did by tossing a ball, ^(paipi^ rat r' op en-a(,'or, when they as suddenly and as une.xpectedly 1 discovered Moses adrift on the flood, as Nausicaa
Moses IS given to his mother.
6 And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said. This is one of the Hebrews' children.
7 Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter. Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee?
8 And Pharaoh's daughter said to her. Go. And the maid went, and called the child's mother.
9 And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it.
10 And the child grew, and she a.m. 2433.
ter, and he became « her son. And she called his name ^ Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.
that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their ^ burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, one of his brethren.
12 And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he • slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.
and her companions discovered Ulysses just escaped naked from shipwreck. In both the histories, that of the poet and this of the prophet, both the strangers, the shipwrecked Greek and the ahnost drowned Hebrew, were rescued by the princesses, nourished and preserved alive! Were it lawful to suppose that Homer had ever seen the Hebrew story, it would be reasonable to conclude that he had made it the basis of the 6th book of the Odyssey.
Verse 6. She had compassion on him] The sight of a beautiful babe in distress could not fail to make the impression here mentioned; see on ver. 2. It has already been conjectured that the cruel edict of the Egyptian king did not continue long in force; see chap. i. 22. And it will not appear unreasonable to suppose that the circumstance related here might have brought about its abolition. The daughter of Pharaoh, struck with the distressed state of the Hebrew children from what she had seen in the case of Moses, would probably implore her father to abolish this sanguinary edict.
Verse 7. Shall I go and call — a 7iurse] Had not the different circumstances marked here been placed under the superintendence of an especial providence, there is no human probability that they could have had such a happy issue. The parents had done every thing to save their child that piety, affection, and prudence could dictate, and having done so, they left the event to God. By faith, says the apostle, Heb. xi. 23, Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he teas a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king'^s commandment. Because of the king's commandment they were obliged to make use of tlie most prudent caution to save the child's life; and their faith in God enabled them to risk their oion safety, for they were not afraid of thg king's commandment — they feared God, and they had no other fear.
Verse 10. And he became her son.] From this time of his being brought home by his nurse his education commenced, and he was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, Acts vii. 22, who in the knowledge of nature probably exceeded all the nations then on the face of the earth.
And she called his name] Htt'D mosheh, because D'On |i3 min hammayim, out of the waters inn'iyD meshithihu, have I drawn him- Hty^ mashah signifies to draiv out; and mosheh is the person drawn out; the word is used in the same sense Psa. xviii. 17, and 2 Sam. xxii. 17. What name he had from his parents we know not; but whatever it might be it was ever after lost in the name giv«n to him by the princess of Egypt. Abul Farajius says that Thermuthis delivered him to the wise men Janees and Jimbrees to be in • strucled in wisdom.
Verse 11. When Moses was groivn] Being full forty years of age, as St.. Stephen says, Acts vii. 23, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, i. e., he was excited to it by a Divine inspiration; and seeing one of them suffer ivrong, by an Egyptian smiting him, probably one of the task-masters, he avenged him and smote- slew, the Egyptian, supposing that God who had given him commission, had given also his brethren to understand that they were to be delivered by his hand; see Acts vii. 23—25. Probably the Egyptian killed the Hebrew, and therefore on the Noahic precept Moses w-as justified in killing him; and he was authorized so to do by the commission which he had received from God, as all succeeding events amply prove. Previously to the mission of Moses to deliver the Israelites, Josephus says, " The Ethiopians having made an irruption into Egypt, and subdued a great part of it, a Divine oracle advised them to employ Moses the Hebrew. On this the king of Egypt made him general of the Egyptian forces; with these he attacked the ^Ethiopians, defeated and drove them back into their own land, and forced them to take refuge in the city of Saba, where he besieged them. Tharbis, daughter of the Ethiopian king, seeing him, fell desperately in love with him, and promised to give up the city to him on condition that he would take her to wife, to which Moses agreed, and the city was put into the hands of the Egj^ptians." — Jos. Ant. lib. ii., chap. 9. St. Stephen probably alluded to something
Moses flees from Pharaoh,
1 3 And '' wlien he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong. Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?
14 And he said, ^ Who made thee ™ a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known.
1 5 Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But " Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by ° a well.
of this kind when he said Moses was mighty in deeds as well as ivords.
Verse 1 3. Tioo men of the Hebrews strove together^ How strange that in the very place where they were suffering a heavy persecution because they were Hebrews, the very persons themselves who suffered it should be found persecuting each other! It has been often seen that in those times in v/hich the ungodly oppressed the Church of Christ, its own members have been separated from each other by disputes concerning comparatively unessential points of doctrine and discipline, in consequence of which both they and the truth have become an easy prey to those whose desire was to waste the heritage of the Lord. The Targum of Jonathan says that the two persons who Btrove were Dathan and Abirani.
Verse 14. And Moses feared] He saw that the Israelites were not as yet prepared to leave their bondage; and that though God had called him to be their leader, yet his providence had not yet sufficiently opened the way; and had he stayed in Egypt he must have endangered his life. Prudence therefore dictated an escape for the present to the land of Midian.
Verse 15. Pharaoh — sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh] How can this be reconciled with Heb. xi. 27: By faith he (Moses) forsook Egypt, not fearing the lorath of the king? Very easily. The apostle speaks not of this forsaking of Egypt, but of his and the Israelites' final departure from it, and of the bold and courageous manner in wliich Moses treated Pharaoh and the Egyptians, disregarding his threatenings and the multitudes of them that pursued after the people whom, in the name and strength of God, he led in the face of their enemies out of Egypt.
Dwelt in the land of Midian] A country generally supposed to have been in Arabia Petrsea, on the eastern coast of the Red Sea, not far from Mount Sinai. This place is still called by the Arabs the land of Midian or the land of Jethro. Abul Farajius calls it the land of the Arabs. It is supposed that the Midianites derived their origin from Midian, the fourth eon of Abraham by Keturah, thus: — Abraham, Zim-
came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.
1 7 And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and ^ watered their flock.
18 And when they came to ' Reuel, their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon to-day?
1 9 And they said. An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew toater enough for us, and watered the flock.
ran, Jokshan, Medan and Midian, Raguel, Jethro; see Gen. xxv. 1. But Calmet contends that if Jethro had been of the family of Abraham, either by Jokshan, or Midian, Aaron and Miriam could not have reproached Moses with marrying a Cushite, Zipporah, the daughter of Reuel. He thinks therefore that the Midianites were of the progeny of Cush, the son of Ham; see Gen. x. 6.
Verse 16. The priest of Midian] Or prince, or both; for the original jPID cohen has both meanings. See it explained at large. Gen. xv. 18. The transaction here very nearly resembles that mentioned Gen. xxix. concerning Jacob and Rachel; see the notes
Verse 17. The shepherds — drove them] The verb DliyiJ'' yegareshum, being in the masculine gender, seems to imply that the shepherds drove away the flocks of Reuel's daughters, and not the daughters themselves. The fact seems to be, that, as the daughters of Reuel filled the troughs and brought their flocks to drink, the shepherds drove those away, and, profiting by the young women's labour, watered their own cattle. Moses resisted this insolence, and assisted them to water their flocks, in consequence of which they were enabled to return much sooner than they were wont to do, ver. 18.
Verse 18. Reuel, their father] In Num. x. 29 this person is called Raguel, but the Hebrew is the same in both places. The reason of this difference is that the >' ain in Sxi^n is sometimes used merely as voioel, sometimes as g, ng, and gn, and this is occasioned by the difficulty of the sound, which scarcely any European organs can enunciate. As pronounced by the Arabs it strongly resembles the first effort made by the throat in gargling, or as Meninski says. Est vox vituli?nalrem vocantis, " It is like the sound made by a calf in seeking its dam." Raguel is the worst method of pronouncing it; Re-u-el, the first syllable strongly accented, is nearer to the true sound. A proper uniformity in pronouncing the same word whereever it may occur, either in the Old or New Testament, is greatly to be desired. The person in question appears to have several names. Here he is called Rcucl; in Num. x. 29, Raguel; in Exod. iii. \,Jethor;
20 And he said unto his daughters, And where is he? why is it that ye have left the man 1 call him, that he may ^ eat bread.
21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses ^ Zipporah his.daughter.
22 And she bare him a son, and he called his name "^ Gershom: ^ for he said, I have been y a stranger in a strange land.
23 And it came to pass '= in process of
^ sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and '' their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.
24 And God <= heard their groaning, and God ^ remembered his ^ covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
25 And God ^ looked upon the children of Israel, and God ^ had respect unto them?'
in Judges iv. 11, Hobab; and in Judges i. 16 he is called Tp Keyni, which in chap. iv. we translate Kenite. Some suppose that Re-u-el was father to Hobab, who was also called Jethro. This is the most likely; see the note on chap. iii. 1.
Verse 20. That he may eat bread.] That he may be entertained, and receive refreshment to proceed on his journey. Bread, among the Hebrews, was used to signify all kinds of food commonly used for the support of man's life.
Verse 21. Zipporah his daughter.] Abul Farajius calls her " Saphura the black, daughter of Rewel the Midianite, the son of Dedan, the son of Abraham by his wife Keturah." The Targum calls her the granddaughter of Reuel. It appears that Moses obtained Zipporah something in the same way that Jacob obtained Rachel; namely, for the performance of certain services, probably keeping of sheep; see chap. iii. 1.
Verse 22. Called his name Gershom] Literally, a stranger; the reason of which Moses immediately adds, for I have been an alien in a strange land.
The Vulgate, the Septuagint, as it stands in the Complutensian Polyglot, and in several MSS., the Syriac, the Coptic, and the Arabic, add the following words to this verse: And the name of the second he called Eliezer, for the God of my father has been my help, and delivered me from the hand of Pharaoh. These words are found in chap, xviii. 4, but they are certainly necessary here, for it is very likely that these two sons were born within a short space of each other; for in chap. iv. 20 it is said, Moses took his wife and his sons, by which it is plain that he had both Gershom and Eliezer at that time. Houbigant introduces this addition in his Latin version, and contends that this is its most proper place. Notwithstanding the authority of the above versions, the clause is found in no copy, printed or MS., of the Hebrew text.
Verse 23. In process of time — the king of Egypt ditd] According to St. Stephen, (Acts vii. 30, compared with Exod. vii. 7,) the death of the Egyptian king happened about forty years after the escape o-f Moses to Midian. The words Dm D'3"in D'O'IJ Tl'l vayehi baiyamim harabbim hahem, which we translate And it came to pass in process of time, signify, And it a ivas in many days from these that the king, &c. It has already been remarked that Archbishop Usher supposes this king to have been Ramesses Miamun, who was succeeded by his son Amenophis, who was drowned in the Red Sea when pursuing the Israelites, but Abul Farajius says it was Amunfathis, (Amenophis,) he who made the cruel edict against the Hebrew children.
Some suppose that Moses wrote the book of Job during the time he sojourned in Midian, and also the book of Genesis. See the preface to the book of Job, where this subject is considered.
Sighed by reason of the bondage] For the nature of their bondage, see on chap. i. 14.
Verse 24. God remembered his covenant] God's covenant is God's engagement; he had promised to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give their posterity a land flowing with milk and honey, &c. They are now under the most oppressive bondage, and this was the most proper time for God to show them his mercy and power in fulfilling his promise. This is all that is meant by God's re?nembering his covenant, for it was noiv that he began to give it its effect.
Verse 25. And God had respect unto them.] ^T'1 D'rivX vaiyeda Elohim, God knew them, i. e., he approved of them, and therefore it is said that their cry came up before God, and he heard their groaning. The word ^'T yada, to know, in the Hebrew Bible, as well as yivuGKu in the Greek Testament, is frequently used in the sense of approving; and because God knew— had respect for and approved of, them, therefore he was determined to deliver them. For D'H^X Elohim, GOD, in the last clause of this verse, Houbigant reads Dn'/X aleyhem, upon them, which is countenanced by the Vulgate, Septuagint, Chaldee, Coptic, and Arabic, and appears to have been the original reading. The difference in the original consists in the interchange of two letters, the "' yod and n he. Our translators insert unto them, in order to make up that sense which this various reading gives without trouble.
The farther we proceed in the sacred writings, the more the history both of the grace and providence of God opens to our view. He ever cares for his creatures, and is mindful of his promise. The very means made use of to destroy his work are, in his hands, the instruments of its accomplishment. Pharaoh orders the male children of the Hebrews to be thrown into the river; Moses, who was thus exposed, is found by his own daughter, brought up as her own son, and from his Egyptian education becomes much better qualified for the great work to which God had called him; and his being obliged to leave Egypt was undoubtedly a powerful means to wean his heart from a land in which he had at his command all the advantages and luxuries of life. His sojourning also in a strange land, where he was obliged to earn his bread by a very painful employment, fitted him for the perilous journey he was obliged to take in the wilderness, and enabled him to bear the better the privations to which he was in consequence exposed.
The bondage of the Israelites was also wisely permitted, that they might with less reluctance leave a country where they had suffered the greatest oppression and indignities. Had they not suffered severely previously to their departure, there is much reason to believe that no inducements could have been sufficient to have prevailed on them to leave it. And yet their leaving it was of infinite consequence, in the order both of grace and providence, as it was indispensably necessary that they should be a people separated from all the rest of the world, that they might see the promises of God fulfilled under their own eyes, and thus have the fullest persuasion that their law was Divine, their prophets inspired by the Most High, and that the Messiah came according to the prophecies before delivered concerning him.
From the example of Pharaoh's daughter, (see note ver. 4,) and the seven daughters of Jethro, (ver. 16,) we learn that in the days of primitive simplicity, and in this respect the best days, the children, particularly the daughters of persons in the highest ranks in life, were employed in the most laborious offices. Kings' daughters performed the office of the laundress to their own families; and the daughters of princes tended and watered the flocks. We have seen similar instances in the case of Rehekah and Rachel; and we cannot be too pointed in calling the attention of modern deli- ■ cate females, who are not only above serving their own parents and family, but even their own selves: the consequence of which is, they have neither vigour nor health; their growth, for want of healthy exercise, is generally cramped; their natural powers are prematurely developed, and their whole course is rather an apology for living, than a state of effective life. Many of these live not out half their days, and their ofispring, when they have any, is more feeble than themselves; so that the race of man where such preposterous conduct is followed (and where is it not followed 1) is in a state of gradual deterioration. Parents who wish to fulfil the intention of God and nature, will doubtless see it their duty to bring up their children on a different plan. A worse than the present can scarcely be found out.
Afflictions, under the direction of God's providence and the influence of his grace, are often the means of leading men to pray to and acknowledge God, who in the time of their prosperity hardened their necks from his fear. When the Israelites were sorely oppressed', they began to pray. If the cry of oppression had not been among them, probably the cry for mercy had not been heard. Though afflictions, considered in themselves, can neither atone for sin nor improve the moral state of the soul, yet God often uses them as means to bring sinners to himself, and to quicken those who, having already escaped the pollutions of the world, were falling again under the influence of an earthly mind. Of many millions besides David it may truly be said, Before they were afflicted they went astray.
Moses keeping the flock o/ 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, ivhen God speaks to him out of the fire, and declares himself to he the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 4-6; announces his purpose of delivering the Israelites from their oppression, and of hinging them into the promised land, 7-9; commissions him to go to Pharaoh, and to be leader of the children of Israel from Egypt, 10. Moses excuses himself, 11; and God, to encourage him, promises him his protection, 12. Moses doubts whether the Israelites loill credit him, 13, and God reveals to him his N.ime, and informs him what he is to say to the people, 14~1~> fl"<^ instructs him and the elders of Israel to apply unto Pharaoh for permissioii to go three days^ journey into the wilderness, to sacrifice unto the Lord, 18; foretells the obstinacy of the Egyptian king, and the miracles ivhich he himself should work in the sight of the Egyptians, 19, 20; and promises that, on the departure of the Israelites, the Egyptians should be induced to furnish them with all necessaries for their journey, 21,22.
priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the
Verse 1. Jethro his father-in-law] Concerning Jethro, see the note on chap. ii. 18. Learned men are not agreed on the signification of the word jnn chothen, which we translate father-in-law, and which in Gen. xix. 14, we translate son-in-law. It seems to
2 And '^ the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire, out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside,
be a general term for a relative by marriage, and the connection only in which it stands can determine its precise meaning. It is very possible that Reuel was now dead, it being forty years since Moses came to Midian; that Jethro was his son, and had succeeded him in his office of prince and priest of Midian; that Zipporah was the sister of Jethro; and that consequently the word |nn cholhen should be translated brother-in-law in this place: as we learn from Gen. xxxiv. 9, Deut. vii. 3, Josh, xxiii. 12, and other places, that it simply signifies to contract affinity by marriage. If this conjecture be right, we may well suppose that, Reuel being dead, Moses was continued by his brotherin-law Jethro in the same employment he had under his father.
Mountain of God^ Sometimes named Horeb, at other times Sinai. The mountain itself had two peaks; one was called Horeb, the other Sinai. Horeb was probably the primitive name of the mountain, which was afterwards called the mountain of God, because God appeared upon it to Moses; and Mount Sinai, "J'D, from nJD seneh, a bush, because it was in a bush or bramble, in a flame of fire, that this appearance was made.
Verse 2. The angel of the Lord] Not a created angel certainly; for he is called mn'' Jehovah, ver. 4, &c., and has the most expressive attributes of the Godhead applied to him, ver. 14, &c. Yet he is an angel, ■]xS'D?nalach, a 7nessengcr, in whom was the name of God, chap, xxiii. 21; and in whom dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, Col. ii. 9; and who, in all these primitive times, was the Messenger of the covenant, Mai. iii. 1. And who was this but Jesus, the Leader, Redeemer, and Saviour of mankind? See the note on Gen. xvi. 7.
A fame of fire, out of the midst of a busli] Fire was, not only among the Hebrews but also among many otherlmcient nations, a very significant emblem of the Deity. God accompanied the Israelites in all their journeyings through the wilderness as a pillar of fire by night; and probably a fire or flame in the holy of holies, between the cherubim, was the general symbol of his presence; and traditions of these things, which must have been current in the east, have probably given birth, not only to the pretty general opinion that God appears in the likeness of fire, but to the whole of the Zoroastrian system of fire-worship. It has been reported of Zoroaster, or Zeradusht, that having retired to a mountaiti for the study of wisdom, and the benefit of solitude, the whole mountain was one day enveloped with flame, out of the midst of which he came without receiving any injury; on which he offered sacrifices to God, who, he was persuaded, had then appeared to him. M. Anquetil du Perron gives much curious in-
4 And when the Lord saw that he turne<l aside to see, God called « unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses And he said. Here am 1.
formation on this subject in his Zend Avesta. The modern Parsees call fire the offspring of Ormusd, and worship'it with a vast variety of ceremonies.
Among the fragments attributed to ^schylus, and collected by Stanley in his invaluable edition of this poet, p. 647, col. 1, we find the following beautiful verses: —
Xupi^e OvTjTuv Tov Qeov, Kai fir} Sokei '0/iotov aVTo) aapKivov KaOtaravai. OvK oiada 6' avrov irore fiev ug nvp <j>aiveTai ATvTiaarov opfii^' ■kote 6' vdup, ■jrore de ■yvo(f>o(. "Distinguish God from mortal men; and do not suppose that any thing fleshly is like unto him. Thou knowest him not: sometimes indeed he appears as a formless and impetuous fire, sometimes as water, sometimes as thick darkness." The poet proceeds: —
" The mountains, the earth, the deep and extensive sea, and the summits of the highest mountains tremble whenever the terrible eye of the Supreme Lord looks down upon them."
These are very remarkable fragments, and seem all to be collected from traditions relative to the diflferent manifestations of God to the Israelites in Egypt, and in the wilderness. Moses wished to see God, but he could behold nothing but an indescribable glory: nothing like mortals, nothing like a hmnan body, appeared at any time to his eye, or to those of the Israelites. " Ye saw no manner of similitude," said Moses, " on the day tliat the Lord spake unto you in Horeb, out of the midst of the fire," Dout. iv. 15. But sometimes the Divine power and justice were manifested by the indescribable, formless, impetuous, consuming flame; at other times he appeared by the water which he brought out of the flinty rock; and in the thick darkness on Horeb, when the fiery law proceeded from his right hand, then the earth quaked and the mountain trembled: and when his terrible eye looked out upon the Egyptians through the pillar of cloud and fire, their chariot wheels were struck off", and confusion and dismay were spread through all the hosts of Pharaoh; Exod. xiv. 24, 25.
And the bush was not consumed.'] I. An emblem of the state of Israel in its various distresses and persecutions: it was in the fire of adversity, but was not consumed. 2. An emblem also of the state of the Church of God in the wilderness, in persecutions often, in the midst of its enemies, in the region of the shadow of death — yet not consumed. 3. An emblem also of the state of every follower of Christ: cast down, but not forsaken; grievously tempted, but not destroyed;
5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: ^ put off thy shoes from oflf thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.
6 Moreover he said, ^1 am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for ^ he was afraid to look upon God.
7 And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt,
8 And "* I am come down to "^ deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land ° unto a good land and a large, unto a land p flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of ^ the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
••valking through the fire, but stOl unconsumed! Why are all these preserved in the midst of those things which have a natural tendency to destroy them 1 Because God is in the midst of them; it was this that preserved the bush from destruction; and it was this that preserved the Israelites; and it is this, and this alone, that preserves the Church, and holds the soul of every genuine believer in the spiritual life. He in whose heart Christ dwells not by faith, will soon be consumed by the world, the flesh, and the devil.
Verse 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 he speaks of their performing their sacred rites barefooted; Sat. vi., ver. 1 58:
The ancient Greeks did the same. Jamblichus, in the life of Pythagoras, tells us that this was one of his maxims, kvvno6r]Tog 6ve Kac npoaKwei, Offer sacrifice and worship luith your shoes off. And Solinus asserts that no person was permitted to enter into the temple of Diana, in Crete, till he had taken off his shoes. " JEdem Numinis {Diana) prccterquam nudus vestigio nullus licito ingreditur.^'' Tertullian observes, de jejunio, that in a time of drought the worshippers of Jupiter deprecated his wrath, and prayed for rain, walking barefooted. "Cum stupet ccelum, et aret annus, ni/c?/pfirfa/!a,denunciantar." It is probable that D^*7>'J nealim, in the text, signifies sandals, translated by the Chaldee SlJD sandal, and nSiJD sandala, (see Gen. xiv. 23,) which was the same as the Roman solea, a sole alone, strapped about the foot. As this sole must let in du.st, gravel, and sand about the foot in travelling, and render it very uneasy, hence the custom of frequently washing the feet in those countries where these sandals were worn. Pulling off the shoes was, therefore, an emblem of laying aside the pollutions contracted by xoalking in the xvay of sin. Let those who name the Lord Jesus Christ depart from iniquity. In our western countries reverence is expressed by pulling off the hat; but how much more significant is the eastern custom! " The natives of
Bengal never go into their own houses with their shoes on, nor into the houses of others, but always leave
their shoes at the door. It would be a great affront not to attend to this mark of respect when visiting; and to enter a temple without pulling off the shoes would be an unpardonable offence." — Ward.
The place whereon thou standest is holy ground.^ It was now particularly sanctified by the Divine presence; but if we may credit Josephus, a general opinion had prevailed that God dioelt on that mountain; and hence the shepherds, considering it as sacred ground, did not dare to feed their flocks there. Moses, however, finding the soil to be rich and the pasturage good, boldly drove his flock thither to feed on it. — Antiq., b. ii., c. xii., s. 1.
Verse 6. /am the God of thy father} Though the word '3X abi, father, is here used in the singular, St. Stephen, quoting this place, Acts vii. 32, uses the plural, 'O Geof -uv narepuv cov. The God of thy f.'VThers; and that this is the meaning the following words prove: The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. These were the fathers of Moses in a direct line. This reading is confirmed by the Samaritan and by the Coptic. Abraha.m was the father of the Ishmaelites, and with him was the covenant first made. Isaac was the father of the Edomites as well as the Israelites, and with him was the covenant reneived. Jacob was the father of the twelve patriarchs, who were founders of the Jewish nation, and to him were the promises particularly confirmed. Hence we see that the Arabs and Turks in general, who are descendants of Ishmael; the Edomilcs, now absorbed among the Jews, (see the note on Gen. XXV. 23,) who are the descendants of Esau; and the Jewish people, wheresoever scattered, who are the descendants of Jacob, are all heirs of the promises included in this primitive covenant; and their gathering in with the fulness of the GentUes may be confidently expected.
Ayid Moses hid his face] For similar acts, see the passages referred to in the margin. He was afraid to look — he was overawed by God's presence, and dazzled with the splendour of the appearance.
Verse 7. I have surely seen] Tl'N"! DNI raoh raithi, seeing, I have seen — I have not only seen the afllictions of this people because I am omniscient, but I have considered tlieir sorrows, and my eye affects my heart.
Verse 8. And I am come down to deliver them] This is the very purpose for which 1 am now com© a
9 Now therefore, behold, ""the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the ■ oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress
10 * Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of
1 1 And Moses said unto God, " Who aw I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I
Large — land'\ Canaan, when compared with the small tract of Goshen, in which they were now situated, and where, we learn, from chap. i. 7, they were straitened for room, might be well called a large land. See a fine description of this land Deut. viii. 7.
A land jlotving with millc and hone]/] Excellent for pasturage, because abounding in the most wholesome herbage and flowers; and from the latter an abundance of wild honey was collected by the bees. Though cultivation is now almost entirely neglected in this land, because of the badness of the government and the scantiness of the inhabitants, yet it is still good for pasturage, and yields an abundance of honey. The terms used in the text to express the fertility of this land, are commonly used by ancient authors on similar subjects. It is a metaphor taken from a breast producing copious streams of milk. Homer calls Argos ovdap apovpyjc, the breast of the country, as affording streams o{ milk and honey, II. ix.,ver.l41. So Virgil: — Prima tulit tellus, eadem vos ubere laeto Accipiet. JEn., lib. iii., ver. 95.
" The land that first produced you shall receive you again into its joyous bosom.^^
The poets feign that Bacchus, the fable of whom they have taken from the history of Moses, produced rivers of milk and honey, of water and wine: — 'Pel (5e ya?iaKTc tteSov, ^ 'Pet (5' o(vu, /iet 6e fitXiaoav
"SeKTapi. EuRip. Bacch., E'nod., ver. 8. " The land flows with -milk; it flows also with wine; it flows also with the nectar of bees, (honey.)" This seems to be a mere poetical copy from the Pentateuch, where the sameness of the metaphor and the correspondence of the descriptions are obvious.
Verse 1 1. Who am / — 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 people by whom they were enslaved, that had not their deliverance come through supernatural means, their escape had been utterly impossible.
12 And he said, ^ Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain,
1 3 And:*Ioses said unto God, Behold, when Icome unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall' say to me,