was opaque by day became luminous by night; or whether there was a rending at night of the outer dark body of the cloud and the consequent disclosure of an interior splendor, which was enveloped and concealed from view during the day, has never been satisfactorily determined. We are inclined on the whole to adopt the latter opinion, not only because it strikes us as affording a more easy and consistent interpretation of the letter of various passages in which it is spoken of, but also because it harmonises better with what we conceive to have been the substance of this sublime symbolical shadow; on both which points we shall be more full in our subsequent annotations. This inwrapped inner splendor, which appeared at night, we suppose to have been that which is more appropriately termed 'the Glory of the Lord,' and this 'Glory' is said occasionally to have appeared in the day time, particularly when God would convey to his people an expression of his displeasure on account of their transgressions, or when he would strike them with a trembling awe of his majesty, as at the giving of the Law from Sinai, where the Glory of the Lord appeared as a devouring fire on the summit of the mount. Comp. Ex. 16. 10. Num. 16. 42. In like manner it appears that when the two sons of Aaron, Nabab and Abihu, of fended by strange fire in their offerings, a fatal flash from the cloudy pillar instantaneously extinguished their lives. We cannot doubt, therefore, that this majestic pillar of cloud was intended to serve as the Shekinah, or visible representative of Jehovah, dwelling in the midst of the chosen people. This, if we mistake not, will be placed still farther beyond the reach of question, upon considering the names by which it is designated. In the passage before us, ch. 13. 21, instead of the phraseology of the text, 'the Lord went before them,' the Targ. Jon. has, 'The Glory of the Shekinah went before them.' The Arab. 'The Angel of the Lord went before them.' This latter mode of rendering is to be especially noticed, as we shall find it confirmed by the sacred writer himself, Ex. 14. 19, 'And the angel of God which went before the camp of Israel, removed, and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before their face and stood behind them.' Here it is evident that that which in one clause of the verse is called the 'pillar of the cloud,' is in another called the 'angel of God.' The grounds of this phraseology we have already explained in the Note on Ex. 3. 2, from which it appears that the term 'Angel' is employed to denote any kind of agency, personal or impersonal, by which the divine will or working is made manifest. Accordingly, as the visible phenomenon of the burning bush is called the 'angel of the Lord,' which was on that occasion but another name for the Shekinah, so we find the Sheki nah again under another aspect, viz. that of the cloudy pillar, expressly called by the same designation, Ex. 23. 20-23, 'Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him. But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries. For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and I will cut them off.' This Angel, we cannot question, was the visible Shekinah in the pillar of cloud; and it is to the same manifested personage that allusion is had in what is said, Is. 63. 8, 9, of the 'Angel of the divine presence,' who was afflicted in all the affliction of his people, and who in his love and in his pity redeemed them, bearing and carrying them all the days of old. Again, the allusion is the same, Mal. 3. 1, 'Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger (i. e. the Angel) of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.' Here it is clear that the 'Lord' and the 'Angel of the covenant' are identical, and no one doubts that this is a prediction of the coming of Christ heralded by John the Baptist. Consequently, Christ of the New Testament, and the 'Angel' or 'Jehovah' of the Old, are one and the same. But to return to the passage last quoted from Exodus, as the 'name' of God is but another term for his nature, the import is, that the divine nature, that is, the divine power, efficacy, authority, majesty, and omniscience would be associated with the external visible symbol. To all prac tical purposes, therefore, this cloudy pillar was to them the 'Angel-Jehovah,' the God of their nation, and they were to look up to that sublime and awful column as a visible embodiment of their covenant God, as an ever present witness, and feel as if a thousand eyes were peering out of the midst of it upon them, from which not even their slightest word or deed could be hidden. Indeed this view of the cloudy pillar as a kind of watch-tower of the Almighty, an aerial Mizpeh, or 'place of espial,' is expressly recognised in the remarkable passage, Ex. 14. 24, 25, 'And it came to pass, that in the morning-watch the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, and took off their chariotwheels, that they drave them heavily; so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians.' We shall hereafter have occasion to notice, throughout the whole tenor of the Mosaic narrative, that this wondrous symbol is the very object which is to be understood, in innumerable instances, by the title 'Lord' (Jehovah), to which 'Angel of the Lord,' or rather 'Angel-Jehovah' is perfectly tantamount. This is plainly the idea conveyed by the language of the text which has given rise to these remarks; 'The Lord went before them in a pillar of cloud,' &c., where we do not perceive that to the minds of the ancient readers of the Hebrew Scriptures the term 'Lord' would convey any other idea than that of the visible phenomenon by, in, and through which the divine attributes were manifested. So again Deut. 1. 32, 33, 'Yet in this thing ye did not believe the Lord your God, who went in the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to show you by what way ye should go, and in a cloud by day.' It was this visible Deity which was intended in all such phrases as 'before the Lord,' 'from the Lord,' 'unto the Lord,' &c., where the circumstances compel us to affix somewhat of a local idea to the expression. Thus But another important view of the subject is afforded by the fact, that it was this visible symbol of Jehovah which was the oracle of the chosen people. It was the Shekinah, the Glory, enthroned in the pillar of cloud, but afterwards removed into the most holy place of the tabernacle and temple, which issued commands and delivered responses to the congregation. Ps. 99. 6, 7, 'They called upon the Lord, and he answered them. He spake unto them in the cloudy pillar.' A still more remarkable passage to the same effect occurs Ex. 33. 9-11, which we give with the omission of the Italics gratuitously introduced into the English version; 'And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and talked with Moses. incarnate Jehovah dwelt, or as the And all the people saw the cloudy pil-original has it (ɛoknywoɛv) tabernacled, lar stand at the tabernacle-door: and shekinized among us; 'and we beheld all the people rose up and worshipped, his glory,' referring not to the intrinsic every man in his tent-door. And the moral glory that distinguished his charLord spake unto Moses face to face, as acter, and that might be said to be seen a man speaketh unto his friend.' Here whenever his person was seen, but rather it is evident that 'cloudy pillar' and to that special and overwhelming display 'Lord' are used synonymously, and if of which John, Peter, and James were the fact of such a usage in repeated in- eye-witnesses on the mount of transstances be borne in mind, there will be figuration, when there was a temporary no serious objection to the present mode rending or laying aside of the veil of of rendering v. 9, 'the Lord talked with his flesh, the cloud of his human nature, Moses,' instead of simply 'it talked and a transient disclosure of the indwelwith Moses.' The phraseology, at any ling Shekinah, the glory of his Godhead. rate, is remarkable, and shows beyond This was a preintimation to the senses question that the cloud of the Shekinah of that ineffable light and splendor in was the grand organ of communication which he will appear when he comes to the covenant people. It was the with the retinue of his saints to be the Speaker, the Word, of the ancient econ- luminary of the New Jerusalem, which omy; and the place whence the oracles is to come down from God out of heaven. were uttered from the Shekinah, after The whole scene seems to have been it became enthroned in the sanctuary, intended to afford a demonstration to was called debir, word-place, the senses of the substantial identity of from dabar, word, to which, as the person of the incarnate Redeemer every scholar knows, corresponds the with the manifested Jehovah of the Jew. Gr. Loyos, word, used by John in the ish dispensation. Consequently, whatcommencement of his Gospel. Indeed, ever of essential divinity is indicated we are persuaded that it is only in the by the title 'Jehovah,' it is unquestionview above given of the import of the ably to be considered as belonging to visible symbol of the cloudy pillar and Christ. The proposal of Peter on this the enshrined Glory, that we have the occasion to build three tabernacles, true clue to the Evangelist's meaning, while it showed that the overpowering which, if we understand it, is nothing display had somewhat confused his less than an identification of Christ with mind, shows at the same time, by a the 'Jehovah,' or the oracular presence, natural association, the connexion in his the Shekinah, of the Old Testament. 'In thoughts of the Shekinah with a taberthe beginning,' i. e. under the old dis-nacle. Here was the Shekinah, which pensation, 'was the Word,' the speaking, commanding, law-giving Shekinah; 'and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,' équivalent to what It would be easy to prosecute this Moses says, 'My name is in him,' all train of thought to a much greater exdivine attributes were to be considered tent, and accumulate proofs of our main as associated with and dwelling in the position, but we must leave it to be folsensuous symbol; 'And the Word was lowed out by ourselves or others under made flesh and dwelt among us,' the circumstances that will allow of more shadowy, but glorious symbol of the enlargement. We doubt not it is a field earlier economy at length became sub-in which a rich harvest of Scripture stantiated in human flesh, and as the elucidation is yet to be reaped. he well knew had been used to abide in a tabernacle, but there was no tabernacle to receive it, and thence his proposition. CHAPTER XIV. ND the LORD spake unto Mo- 2 Speak unto the children of Israel, a that they turn and encamp a ch. 13. 18. CHAPTER XIV. The children of Israel had now arrived near the head of the Red Sea, and at the limit of the three days' journey into the wilderness, for which they had applied. It is therefore evident that their next move must decide their future course, and convey to the Egyptians, who doubtless kept a keen eye upon their movements, a clear and decisive intimation of their intentions. If they designed to do as they had all along declared to be their purpose, they would stay at this place and proceed to celebrate their intended feast to Jehovah; but if they meant to escape altogether, they would resume their journey, and, passing by the head of the Red Sea, strike off into the desert. The march from Etham then, whatever direction it took, was to be a decisive move, and what that move was we are now to consider. before b Pi-hahiroth, between cMigdol and the sea, over against Baalzephon: before it shall ye encamp by the sea. b Numb. 33. 7. Jer. 44. 1. utterly inexplicable. To be convinced of this we need only bring before us the topography of the region. About the head of the Gulf of Suez a desert plain extends for ten or twelve miles to the west and north of the city of that name. On the west this plain is bounded by the mountainous chain of Attaka, which comes down toward the sea in a north-western direction, contracting the breadth of the plain more and more, till it finally seems to shut it up by its termination at Ras-el-Attaka, twelve miles below Suez. But on approaching this point ample room is found to pass beyond; and on passing beyond, we find ourselves in a broad alluvial plain, form. ing the mouth of the valley of Bedea. This plain is on the other or southern side nearly shut up by the termination of another chain of these mountains, which extend between the Nile and the western shore of the Red Sea. Any further progress in this direction would be impossible to a large army, especially one encumbered with flocks and herds, with women, children, and baggage. The valley of Bedea, which opens to the Red Sea in the broad plain above. mentioned, narrows as it proceeds west 2. Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn, &c. Heb. 1 yashubu, from, the usual meaning of which is to return, turn back, go back again, and so it is here rendered by Gesenius. But the circumstances of the case for bid this meaning except in a very limited degree. The import of the term un-ward towards the Nile. It forms a fine doubtedly is that of turning off, deviating, from the direct course, which would have been due east till they had rounded the upper extremity of the gulf. An ample confirmation of this sense of the term may be seen upon comparing Ezek. 35. 7. Zech. 7. 14-9.8. Ps. 73. 10. The divine command now given to change the direction of their route must have been unexpected and surprising to all parties, and one which on any human principle of action would have appeared roadway between the Nile and the Red Sea, and as such has in all ages been one of the most frequented routes in all the country, being travelled by all parties and caravans desirous of proceeding from the neighborhood of Cairo, or places to the south of Cairo, to Suez, or the region lying beyond the head of the gulf. Now, the Hebrew host being at Etham, and their next step from thence being of the utmost importance, they were directed, not-as might obviously have been expected-to pass round the head of the Gulf into the Sinai peninsula, but to proceed southward, between the mountains of Attaka and the western shore of the Gulf, and, after passing the Ras-el-Attaka, to encamp in the plain into which the valley of Bedea opens. But the question recurs, why bring them down this way, and make the passage of the Red Sea necessary, when they might so much more easily have got into the peninsula of Sinai by going round the Gulf?—why lead them out of their way to entangle' and 'shut them in' between the mountains and the sea? The answer to this is given in v. 3, 4. It was to give Pharaoh an additional inducement to follow them to his own destruction, by his knowledge of the advantage which their embarrassed position would give him over them. The overthrow of the Egyptian host was the contemplated result of this movement; and by this overthrow not only did the Egyptians receive their complete and final punishment, but the immediate security and future success of the Israelites were greatly assisted by it. For we learn from many passages of Scripture, that the neighboring tribes and natives were too much alarmed and intimidated by this stupendous event to think of any hostile encounter, the single instance of the Amalekites excepted. But of this more in the sequel. fore Pihahiroth. Heb. Be names now exists. It perhaps throws some light on the passage to read the word Pi-ha-hiroth not as a proper name, but as a descriptive epithet. Hiroth means a valley, a confined pass, or a defile among mountains; pi signifies 'mouth,' or 'entrance;' ha is merely the definite article the, or of the so that we may read the word Pi-ha-hiroth, as the entrance of the valley or pass.' It would thus denote, as we may take it, the pass or strip of land along the western shore of the gulf, between the mountains which skirt the sea, and the sea itself. It is certain that they crossed from the western to the eastern shore ; and as this valley between the mountains and the sea commences nearly at the extremity of the gulf, the Hebrews must have encamped along its 'mouth' or entrance, if the sea were nearly then as it is now; and there they would have been effectually 'shut in' between the mountains, the desert, and the sea. The same result arises if we read Pi-hahiroth as a proper name, and apply it to the mountains which confine the valley at its entrance, the present name of which, Addagi, 'deliverance,' may be supposed to commemorate the passage of the Red Sea, and therefore to have superseded some previous name. This opinion is the more probable, because the flanks of the Hebrew host would have been exposed to the Egyptians whilst marching into the sea, if we liphnë pi hahiroth, more properly writ-place the point of passage any where ten in English in the form of 'Pi-hahiroth. There is not a more minute specification of locality in the Bible than that which the text affords; and one is led to think that it was thus carefully pointed out, in order to render it manifest that the passage could not there be effected by less than a miracle; or, in other words, to preclude those attempts to account for it on natural grounds which have actually resulted from the memory of the spot thus distinctly denoted being now lost. Not one of the VOL. I 15 above this valley, in which the mountains protected the right flank, and the sea the left. Here their rear only would be exposed, and accordingly we read only of their rear being protected by the pillar of cloud, which implies that their flanks needed no protection. We also think that it has not been suffi ciently considered that an encampment consisting of about two millions of peo. ple must have covered a vast extent of ground; and wherever they encamped so as to face the sea, their camp must |