dren of Israel, yI AM hath sent | God of your fathers, the God of me unto you. Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations. 15 And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD y ch. 6. 3. John S. 58. 2 Cor. 1. 20. Hebr. 13 8. Rev. 1. 4. z Ps. 135. 13. Hos. 12. 5. & 58, Before Abraham was, I am!' The expression is so strikingly paral lel, that we know not how to resist the conclusion that there was a real though mysterious identity in the essential nature of the two speakers, so that whatever was meant by Jehovah in saying to Moses, 'I am hath sent me to you,' the same was meant by the saying of Jesus, 'Before Abraham was, I am.' And thus the Jews would appear to have understood it, for they immediately took up stones to cast at him, as being guilty of the highest blasphemy in thus appropriating to himself the incommunicable name of God. faithful performance of every promise which he had uttered, so that whatever he had bound himself by covenant to do for Abraham, for Isaac, and for Jacob, he pledges himself by the annunciation of this august title to make the same good to their seed. 'I am that (which) I will be, and I will be that (which) I am; the same yesterday, today, and for ever.' We see then the purport of the passage. If they shall ask, what is he? by what name is he known? what are the nature and attributes of him who, as thou sayest, has sent thee to bring us out of Egypt? tell them that thou art commissioned by him who describes his own nature by saying I AM THAT I AM; I am the eter-generations. Heb. 1 zikri. The nal, self-existent, and immutable Being; the only being who can say, that he always will be what he always has been.' -T I AM hath sent me unto you. Heb. ehyeh, I will be; a proper future, but having the force of the continuous present. The first person of the verb of existence is here used as a noun substantive, and made the nominative to another verb in the third per son. 15. This is my memorial unto all name or character by which I will be remembered, celebrated, and invoked in all time to come. Accordingly, in allusion to this declaration, we have Hos. 12. 5, 'Even the Lord (Jehovah) God of Hosts; the Lord (Jehovah) is his memorial.' Ps. 135, 'Thy name, O Lord, (Jehovah,) endureth for ever; and thy memorial, O Lord, (Jehovah,) unto all generations.' The words were This is indeed a striking gram- evidently adapted, as they were doubt. matical anomaly, but it arises out of less intended, to bring the chosen peothe nature of the subject. When God ple to a devout recognition of God as speaks of himself it is no matter of emphatically and pre-eminently the God wonder that he should disregard all of their race, and to wake up to more grammatical rules, for adequate expres- lively actings that faith which had besions come not within the compass of come dormant under the pressure of any language or any possible form of long continued affliction. Their prospeech. The Targ. of Jonathan thus tracted bondage, though it had not utfeebly halts towards a fitting phrase- terly extinguished the light of the great ology, The That-was and Hereafter- truth respecting the divine Being and will-be hath sent me unto you.' And his perfections, yet had no doubt very here we cannot but be reminded of the much obscured it. They had lost the remarkable words of our Savior, John, | practical sense of their covenant rela 16 Go, and a gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, a ch. 4. 29. tion to Jehovah, and yet as this was the only true spring of all active faith, hope, and obedience, it was important that they should be freshly instructed on this head, and taught continually to speak of and to trust in God as the God of their fathers, who would never be unfaithful to his engagements. Moses, therefore, by reminding them of this endearing title of the Most High, would be in fact furnishing them with a constant memorial of their own mercies. 16. Gather the elders of Israel together. Gr. την γερουσίαν των υιών Ισραηλ,, the senate or eldership of the children of Israel; not so much all the aged men of the congregation of Israel, as the elders in office, the persons of principal note and influence in the tribes, teachers and rulers; men who were qualified by age, experience, and wisdom, to preside over the affairs of the nation, and who it appears were usually employed as organs of communication between Moses and the body of the people. Thus when Moses and Aaron are said, ch. 12. 3, to have been commanded to speak unto all the congregation of Israel, saying,' &c. we find that in the account of the execution of this order, v. 21, 'Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them,' &c. See Note on Gen. 24. 2-4, As the distinction of tribes was undoubt. edly kept up among the Israelites in Egypt, and as it is clear from Num. 2, and elsewhere, that each of the tribes had one or more presiding or ruling chiefs called elders, who formed colectively, at least in after times, the great counsel of the nation, it was to these individuals, as the natural heads and representatives of the rest, that Moses in the first instance was com manded to go, and summon them together to a general assembly, when he would announce to them the fact and the object of his mission. The release of Israel was to be demanded of the king in the general name of the whole people, and this required the consent and concurrence of the entire body of their rulers, the proper organs of the national voice. When they were informed of the fact and convinced of the reality of Moses' mission, they would of course exert all their influence in preparing the people for the crisis before them.-¶ I have surely visited you and seen, &c. Heb. pp pakod pakadti, visiting I have visited. That is, I have so absolutely purposed and decreed to deliver you from Egypt, that it may be said to be already done. Although the word 'seen' is supplied in our version, it is not indispensably necessary to complete the sense, as the import of the preceding verb includes the idea of judicial or penal visitation, as well as merciful. To visit the doings of any one is plainly to punish them. The phrase therefore expresssively conyeys the assurance of visiting the Is. raelites in mercy and their oppressors in judgment. 17. And I have said I will bring, &c. That is, I have resolved. See Note on Gen. 1. 3. The term 'affliction' here will appear very appropriate upon comparing this with the original promise given to Abraham, Gen. 15. 13, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years.' From this affliction they were now to be delivered, unto the land of the Canaanites, | him, The LORD God of the Heand the Hittites, and the Amorites, brews hath fmet with us; and now and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, let us go (we beseech thee) three and the Jebusites, unto a land flow-day's journey into the wilderness, ing with milk and honey. that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God. 18 And they shall hearken to thy voice; and ethou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto d ch, 4, 31. e ch. 5. 1, 3. and in order to stimulate their minds with the incentive of hope, the Most High recites a list of nations of whose territories they were to come into possession, and lest moreover they should be discouraged by the recollection that several of the patriarchs had been for merly driven out of that land by famine, he gives them adequate assurance on that head by telling them that it is 'a land flowing with milk and honey.' 19 And I am sure that the king of Egypt g will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand. f Numb. 23. 3, 4, 15, 16. ch. 5. 2. & 7. 4. token of the divine presence which had been manifested, and they say 'hath met with us,' though Moses alone had witnessed it, from his constructive identity, as leader, with the people, and from its having been vouchsafed for their benefit as well as his. The Gr. and the Vulg. both render, ' hath called us.'-¶Let us go three days' journey into the wilderness, &c. Neither Moses nor he in whose name he spoke, can be justly charged with falsehood or preva utmost that can be alleged is, that he did not tell the whole truth, and this it cannot be shown that he was bound to do. See on this subject the Note on Gen. 12. 13. The command to make this request of Pharaoh shows, that it may sometimes be the way of true wis. dom to seek that as a favor, which may at the same time he claimed as a right. 19. I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go. Heb. 13 18. And they shall hearken to thy voice. That is, shall believingly and obedient-rication in uttering this language. The ly hearken. See Note on Gen. 16. 2. This assurance on the part of God was peculiarly seasonable and precious. The Israelites had been so long depressed and dispirited by their bondage, that they would naturally be slow to entertain any thoughts of deliverance, and a cordial willingness to use the means, encounter the difficulties, and face the dangers requisite for that purpose, could only be effected by a powerful divine influence on their hearts; and that influence God here engages to lo yitten ethkem lahalok, will not put forth. Such an assurance is the give you to go. See Note on Gen. 20. 6. grand encouragement of ail good men God announces beforehand that their engaged in declaring useful and saving first application will be unavailing, in truths or commanding laborious duties order that they may not be disheartened to their fellow men. Their best words by the repulse, and give up the enter will be unregarded, their utmost efforts prise as hopeless. Let it not be thought, will fail, unless the Lord himself infuse however, derogatory to the divine glory a vital efficacy into them, and give thus to send men advisedly upon a bootthe hearing ear and the yielding heart less errand; for the result would tend far to their auditors.--T The Lord God more strikingly to illustrate the equity of the Hebrews hath met with us. Heb. of the subsequent proceedings of provi nikrah, has been made to occur. dence in extorting, with tremendous The allusion is plainly to the visible | judgments, that which had been unjustly 20 And I will hstretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go. 21 And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians; h ch. 6. 6. & 7. 5. & 9, 15, i ch. 7, 3, & 11.9. Deut. 6. 22. Neh, 9, 10. Ps. 105, 27, & 135.9. Jer. 32. 20. Acts 7, 36. See ch. 7, to ch, 13, ch. 12, 31, ch. 11. 3. & 12. 36. Ps, 106, 46, Prov, 16, 7, and impiously withheld. As the request was in itself simple and reasonable, his refusal to comply with it would disclose his real character, and show how truly he and his people deserved all the wrath that they were afterwards made to feel. -¶ No, not by a mighty hand. That is, he will at first resist and rebel, notwithstanding all the demonstrations of my great power against him; but at length he shall yield, as is declared in the next verse. Or it may be rendered, with the Gr. and Vulg. Unless by a strong hand.' 20. And I will stretch out mine hand, &c. Heb. 7 veshalahti, and I will send out. Chal. And I will send the stroke of my strength.' The connective particle and may as properly here be rendered but or therefore; as if the design were to point to the opposition which God was to make to Pharaoh's resistance; or to indicate the reason of his stretching forth his hand; "Therefore will I stretch forth my hand, because Pharaoh will not yield to my demand without it. I will see whose hand is the stronger, his or mine.' and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty: 22 m But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and nye shall spoil the Egyptians. m Gen. 15, 14, ch. 11, 2, & 12. 35, 36, n Job 27. 17. Prov, 13, 22. Ezek. 39, 10, rity and vigor. He not only assures 21. I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Here again we perceive that God has his eye upon the ancient promise, Gen. 15. 14, ' And 22. Every woman shall borrow of her also that nation whom they shall serve, neighbor, &c. Heb. shaalah. will I judge and afterward shall they shall ask. For a somewhat extended come out with great substance.' He view of the moral character of this aliures his people by an accumulation transaction see Note on Ex. 12.35. We of promises, that they may engage in shall there see that when God com. the work before them with more alac-manded the Israelites to possess them CHAPTER IV. lieve me, nor hearken unto my AND Moses answered and said, voice; for they will say, The Lop But, behold, they will not be hath not appeared unto thee. stranger.' The implication would seem to be, that the Egyptians in some cases occupied tenements which belonged to the Israelites, or at any rate that they lived very closely intermingled together, a circumstance which gave them a better opportunity to despoil their op of silver and jewels of gold.' Heb. selves of the jewels and raiment of their enemies, and to 'spoil' them, they did not take them by rapine and stealth, but as spoils voluntarily given up to them by the Egyptians; in a word, that there is no ground in the import of the original for accusing the Israelites of fraud or injustice. Without anticipat-pressors of their effects.- - Jewels ing the fuller canvassing the subject which we there propose, we may here remark, that the term 'borrow' has been somewhat unhappily adopted in our translation, as it implies a promise of return. But this is not the sense of the original shaal. This signifies to ask, demand, petition, request, and is the very word employed Ps. 2. 8, Ask (sheal) of me the heathen for thine inheritance,' &c.; although in two passages, Ex. 22. 14, and 2 Kings, 6. 5, it cannot perhaps be doubted that its import is that of borrowing. But for borrow in the more strict and genuine sense of the word, the Heb. has entirely another term 3 lavah, which occurs among other places, Deut. 28. 12, 'Thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow ( hilvitha).' Neh. 5. 4, 'There were also that said, We have borrowed (3 lavinu) money for the king's tribute.' Prov. 22. 7, The borrower ( malveh) is servant to the lender.' Is. 24. 2, And It shall be, as with the lender, so with the borrower (3 malveh).'— - Of her that sojourneth in her house. Heb. hold, they will not believe me. Heb. Gr. ve-hen, and behold. The Gr. we incline to believe has the most correct rendering ɛav, if, making it a hypotheti cal instead of an absolute affirmation o. Moses. Thus too the Arab, 'Perhaps they will not believe me.' The original term is expressly so rendered, Jer. 3. 1, .miggarath bethah מגרת ביתה συσκηνου αυτής, her fellow-dweller. Chal. 'From her who is a near neighbor to her house." But this is not an exact rendering of the Heb. nor does it differ sufficiently from the preceding term. The original properly signifies an indweller, as in Job, 19. 15, They that dwell in mine house ( garë hëthi), and my maids count me for a CHAPTER IV. 1. Moses answered and said, But be They say if ( hen) a man put away his wife, and she go from him,' &c. It cannot indeed be questioned |