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the Almighty, the ravenous beasts were restrained from acting according to their instincts. The principle on which this interpretation rests is well expressed by Reland (Dissert. de Samarit. 7. § 7.), That with whatever instrument God unites his own virtue, so as to animate it, and to work in, with, and by it, that instrument is called an angel.' Accordingly, even a dream, a vision, a voice from heaven, may be so denominated. But the appellation seems to be in a particular manner bestowed upon the theophanies, or special divine manifestations of which we so frequently read in the Old Testament as made to the patriarchs and prophets. The Shekinah, or visible material symbol of glory, is undoubtedly, in repeated instances, called the angel of the Lord, inasmuch as it was the medium or vehicle through which the Divinity was pleased to reveal himself to the outward senses. Thus the Shekinah in the pillar of cloud and fire which guided the march of the Israelites is called, Ex. 14. 19, the angel of the Lord. At the same time, in all such cases an intelligent agent, a spiritual being, or, in other words, Jehovah himself, is doubtless to be considered as really but invisibly present in and associated with the visible emblem. Thus, in the present instance, the appearance, the preternatural light or fire in the burning bush, we suppose to be what is truly and primarily meant by the angel of the Lord; but it is clear from the sequel that in and under this outward symbol there was present the divine personage who styles himself, v. 6, 'the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob,' and who is also, v. 7, expressly called' Jehovah' (Lord). This is still farther manifest from Deut. 33. 16, where Moses, in blessing the tribes in the name of the Lord, invokes upon Joseph' the good will of him that dwelt in the bush. Still farther confirmation of this view will be given as we proceed. In a flame of fire out of the

midst of a bush. This appeared to Moses a natural fire burning with great vehemence in the midst of the bush, yet we may suppose it to have been the supernatural fiery splendor which constituted the Shekinah, the symbol of the divine presence. The Hebrew word for 'bush,' (properly bramble bush) is seneh, and from the 'bush' here mentioned, in connexion with the divine appearance, the Jewish writers, not improbably, suppose that this mountain and desert were afterwards called by the Israelites 'Mount Sinai,' and the wilderness of Sinai. Thus in Pirke Eliezer, ch. 41, 'From the beginning of the world this Mount was called Horeb, and when God appeared unto Moses out of the midst of the bramble-bush, from the name of the bramble (Seneh) it was called Sinai.'-The incident which so much excited the wonder of Moses is generally supposed to have been designed as a representation of the con dition of the Israelites in Egypt. The burning bush,' says Philo,' was a symbol of the oppressed, and the flaming fire of the oppressors; that what was burning but not consumed, did portend that these who were afflicted by the violence of their enemies should not perish; and that the attempts of their enemies should be frustrated; and that the present troubles of the afflicted should have a good issue.' There they were oppressed and cruelly treated, bound down with bondage, and suffering every grievance that malice could devise and power effect to wear out their strength and diminish their num bers. They were in a furnace of fire, and in themselves but as briars and thorns compared with those that kindled it. But they were nevertheless not destroyed; nay, they were still flourishing; the nation continued to shoot forth vigorous branches, and a numerous offspring surrounded them in spite of their enemies. And whence this wonder, this apparent contradiction to the common

3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. 4 And when the LORD saw that

d Ps. 111. 2. Act 7. 31.

he turned aside to see, God called eunto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses! And he said, Here am I.

e Deut. 33. 16.

did the kings of the earth set them. selves, and the rulers take counsel together.' And ever since have the world and the devil been striving to crush his people, and to root out the memoria. of them from the earth. Often have his witnesses prophesied in sackcloth, and often have his people suffered bonds and imprisonment and death for their religion. Yet it remains, and is still light shining in a dark place. This in because that God is with his church God is in the midst of her, and there fore she is not moved. 'When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kin. dle upon thee.' She is built upon a rock and the gates of hell shall not prevail against her. Her great head has declared, 'Lo I am with you always even unto the end of the world.' And herein consists the stability, perpetuity,

course of nature? It was because God was in the midst of them. He, the imperishable and eternal God, who now appeared to Moses in the bush, burning but unburnt, and who afterwards walked with his three faithful servants in the burning fiery furnace of Nebuchadnezzar, was continually with his oppressed people, and therefore they were not consumed. But farther, it will be no stretch of fancy if we consider the appearance of the bush as an emblem of the present condition of the children of Israel. They are at this day strangers in foreign lands. They have been in circumstances which, according to the common operation of merely human and political causes, would have long ago amalgamated them entirely with other nations, and made them vanish, as a people, from the earth. But they are at this day a distinct and separate people; they have survived the lapse of ages, which have swept away others far more numerous and powerful; they are scattered over the face of the whole earth, and yet their national character and name are preserved, and even their visages declare their origin. And why is this burning bush of the house of Israel yet unconsumed? It is because God is with them. He remembers his covenant with their fathers. He has further mercy in store for them. There shall yet come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.' They shall again be grafted into their own olive-tree, for God is able to graft them in again, and his gifts and call ings are without repentance. But again, this appearance may be considered as an apt emblem of the condition of even 4. When the Lord saw that he turned the spiritual church of Christ. Against aside to see, he called unto him, &c. himself and the cause of his gospel | As if to reward the regious awe and

and increase of the church.

3. Why the bush is not consumed. Heb. lo yibar, is not eaten up; i. e. burnt up, entirely consumed, for that it was apparently burning we are expressly informed in v. 2. A fire in the Scriptures is frequently said to eat' as Lev. 6. 10, And take up the ashes which the fire hath consumed ;' Heb. hath eaten,' Ps. 50. 3, 'Our God shall come and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.' It was matter of astonishment to Moses that this was not the effect in the present instance.

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5 And he said, Draw not nighthy feet; for the place whereon hither: fput off thy shoes from off thou standest is holy ground.

f ch. 19. 12. Josh. 5. 15. Acts 7. 33.

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cious gospel. Whatever they heard, they heard not the things which have come to our ears. Whatever were the promises given to them, we are in pos

nant made with the fathers, a better one has been established with us their spiritual descendants. Whatever the encouragement granted to them, we have still greater afforded to us in every part of the work which we have to do, in every trial and danger to which we may be exposed. Let us then hear the voice of God speaking to us in the gospel, where no phenomenon of fire intimidates our spirits. Let us hearken in faith to all its declarations, and yield implicit obedience to all its commands.

Here am I. A common expression indicative of readiness to hearken or obey. See Note on Gen. 22. 1.

dread, and the sanctified curiosity, with which his spirit was touched. The phraseology shows that the term 'Lord' here is used interchangeably with Angel, carrying with it the idea of some-session of better. Whatever the cove. thing visible, or in other words of the Shekinah. God might have called to him without any such tokens of reverence on the part of Moses, but he does not see fit to make his communications to heedless minds. The desire of Moses to be taught,' says Calvin, as indicated by his drawing near, is especially worthy of note. It often happens that God meets us in vain because we perversely spurn so great a grace. Let us learn from the example of Moses, as often as God, by any sign, invites us to himself, sedulously to attend, nor stifle the offered light by our sluggishness.' The vouchsafement of visions of this nature was never intended to inspire a 5. Draw not nigh hither. That is, fruitless wonder or alarm in the minds approach not any nearer than thou art. of holy men. They were always sub- The scrutiny of mere curiosity was reservient to some great moral end, and pelled; an undue familiarity was not for the most part were attended with permitted; a deep and awful reverence some express instructions in which the was enjoined. He was forbidden to apbeholder was deeply concerned. It had proach too nigh unto God. The deepest now been a long time since any such awe which can possibly fill the soul is personal intercourse with the Deity had called for when a worm of the dust is been enjoyed by any of the chosen peo- admitted to stand within the precincts ple. No instance of the kind is recorded of the divine presence. We are indeed as having taken place since God was favored to live under a milder dispenpleased to speak to Jacob to encourage sation than was Moses, one under which him to go down into Egypt; but now we are not only bidden to draw nigh after a lapse of two hundred years God unto God,' but assured that he will again condescends to appear and to draw nigh unto us.' We do not now converse with Moses, in order to en- draw nigh unto a burning bush or a courage him to go back to the same flaming mount, but to a inercy seat country to bring his people out of it. to which we are commanded to come We are ready to say that those favored with filial boldness to obtain all needed men of old were. happy in being per- grace. Yet even here there is nothing mitted to enjoy such immediate inter- to warrant an unhallowed familiarity, course with God; but happier are we nothing to abate the most profound rev. who enjoy the full revelation of the pre-erence and godly fear when we enter

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into the audience-chamber of the King of kings.- -¶ Put off thy shoes from off thy feet. By shoe here is meant the leathern or wooden sole attached to the bottom of the foot byshoe-latchets' passing round the instep and ancle. See Note on Gen. 18. 4. Jerus. Targ. sandelok, thy sandal. 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 every where, whether among Christians, Moslems, or Pagans, be considered in the highest degree irreverent for a person to enter a church, a temple, or a mosque, with his feet covered; and we shall observe that the priests under the law officiated with bare feet. And not only is this form of showing respect exhibited in religious observances, but in the common intercourse of life. Few things inspire an Oriental with deeper disgust, than for a person to enter his room with shoes or boots on, regarding such conduct both as an insult to himself and a pollution to his apartment. These usages influence the costume of the head and feet. The former, being never uncovered, is in general shaven, and the head-dress generally is such that it could not be replaced without some degree of trouble; while for the feet they have loose and easy slippers, which may be thrown off and resumed with the least possible degree of inconvenience.' Pict. The place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Heb. 8 Padmath kodesh, ground of holiness; i. e. 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 by his worshippers. Accordingly the mount on which

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Christ was transfigured, 2 Pet. 1, 18. is called the 'holy mount.' A 'holiness' of this kind, founded solely upon divine appointment, and not upon the intrinsic nature of the subject, is termed 'relative' in contradistinction from 'positive,' or 'absolute,' and ceases when the occasion creating it ceases. The same direction was afterwards given to Joshua, the successor of Moses, on a somewhat similar occasion, Josh. 6. 15, 'Loose thy shoe from off thy foot, for the place whereon thou standest is holy.' That is, it was made temporarily holy by the divine manifestation there witnessed. We are not indeed in the Scriptures taught the intrinsic holiness of places, but there is no doubt that the spirit of this command enjoins upon us a peculiar awe and reverence of feeling whenever we enter a house of worship or any other place, where God is considered to be especially present. The impression that God is here' ought ever to have a solemnizing effect upon our minds, and repress every thing like carelessness, listlessness, or levity. Had we a proper sense of the divine majesty resting upon our spirits, would it be possible that we could give way to that profane heedlessness of mind which often steals upon us? Would one short hour's attendance betray us into slumber? Would a crowd of worldly or sensual thoughts intrude into our minds? Could the eye find leisure to roam over the assembly and upon the dress or deportment of others? Could a scornful or simpering countenance by significant smiles communicate its contemptuous or frivolous emotions to another? suredly not. God is as truly, though not as visibly, in the midst of his worshipping assemblies, as he was in the burning bush at Horeb, and our most appropriate sentiments on such occasions are those which would utter themselves in the reverential language of Jacob at Bethel, 'How dreadful is this place!'

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6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid

g Gen. 28. 13. ver. 15. ch. 4. 5. Matt, 22, 32. Mark 12. 26. Luke 20. 37. Acts 7. 32.

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6. Moreover, he said, I am the God of thy father. That is, of each one of thy fathers, even Abraham, and Isaac, &c. The term here is usually understood of Moses' immediate father, Amram, but it is with more probability to be considered as a collective singular, equivalent to 'fathers.' Accordingly it is rendered in Stephen's version of this event, Acts 7, 32, I am the God of thy fathers.' A like sense, we presume, is to be given to the expression, Ex. 15. 2, 'He is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him;' 1. e. the God of my ancestors in general. We suppose the true import of the passage before us would be better expressed by the rendering; I am the God of thy fathers, (even) the God of Abraham, &c.' This is obviously confirmed by v. 15 of this chapter. While the Most High repressed presumption in Moses, and enjoined reverence, he encouraged him by reassuring him of that relation into which he had entered with the nation of Israel in the persons of their fathers. This declaration was made in order to assure Moses that even in the present oppressed state of his nation in Egypt, he had not forgotten them, or his relation to them as a God in covenant. This would be an unspeakable consolation to Moses, to find himself addressed by that God of whose appearances and promises to his fathers he had often heard, and to know that his heart was as kindly affected to him as it ever had been to his venerated ancestors. How comforting beyond measure to the Christian, in his more favored moments, to be assured that the God of all the good who have ever lived is kis God, and equally pledged by his

his face; for h he was afraid to look upon God.

And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my peoh So 1 Kings 19. 13. Isai. 6. 1, 5. Neh. 9. 9. Ps. 106. 44. Acts 7. 34.

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covenant faithfulness, to show to him the same loving kindness that he showed to them! Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. Or rather perhaps, parenthetically, according to the Heb. accents, And Moses hid his face (because he was afraid) from looking upon God.' A more literal rendering of the last words (3 el haclohim) is to or towards God, or towards the Elohim, as the article is prefixed, which is not the common usage. It would seem that the term 'Elohim' here is intended to signify simply that which was visible, the out ward symbol representing the essential Godhead,' which no man hath seen nor can see.' The Chal. has correctly, 'He feared to look towards the Glory of God;' i. e. towards the overpowering brightness of the Shekinah, in which God manifested his presence. The effect described is what might have been anticipated. A consciously sinful creature may well fear and tremble when God comes to visit him, even though on a purpose of mercy. It is ignorance of God, not intimate communion with him, that begets an unhal lowed familiarity. The angels, who know him best and adore him most profoundly, are most sensible of the infinite distance between him aud them, and are therefore represented as 'covering their faces with their wings' when standing in his awful presence.

7. I have surely seen the affliction, &c. Heb.raoh raithi, seeing I have seen, i. e. have intently considered. Arab. 'Have regarded.' Thus Ps. 106. 44,' Nevertheless he regarded their affliction when he heard their cry.' Heb. 'He saw (77) their affliction.' - By reason of their task-masters

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