Page images
PDF
EPUB

13 And Moses said unto God, Be- | me, What is his name? what shall hold, when I come unto the children I say unto them? of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to

also better to accord with our ordinary conceptions of the use of a sign, which is understood to be something addressed to the outward senses rather than to the faith of the recipient, and is of course naturally regarded rather as a cause, help, or confirmation of faith, than its object. The latter view of the passage, however, it must be admitted, is strongly corroborated by Isaiah, 7. 14. 'Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.' Here both the sign and the thing promised are future. But, the point is one which after all we must leave undecided.

14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the chil

mainly of that attribute which served as a security for the fulfilment of the promise. Thus when he appeared to Abraham, Gen. 17. 1, and promised him a son in his old age, he announced himself as El Shaddai, God Almighty, infinitely able to accomplish all his purposes. So also we find the occasional titles Most High, Ancient of Days, Jah, &c. In like manner, Moses took it for granted that on an occasion so momentous as the present, they would expect the announcement of some new and appropriate name, which should carry in its import a kind of pledge for the performance of all that he was pleased to promise.

14. God said unto Moses, I am that I

ehyeh asher אהיה אשר אהיה .am. Heb

ων,

ehyeh, literally, I will be that I will be.
The Gr. resolves it, cyw ɛini
I am
he that is, or the Existing One. Arab.
The Eternal who passeth not away.'
A somewhat similar denomination oc-
curs, Rev. 1. 4, where John invokes
grace and peace' from Him which is
and which was, and which is to come,'
which is supposed to be a paraphrase
or exposition of the name Yeho-
vah, a word derived from the same root

13. Behold, when I come, &c. The diffidence of Moses is not yet overcome. Still doubting and irresolute, he ventures to urge another difficulty in the words of this verse. He supposes that his own people will rigidly interrogate him by way of sifting the authority under which he acts, and will particularly require of him an account of the nature, character, and attributes of the Being whose commission he bore. This is undoubtedly the true sense of the term name in this connexion. It is not so much the common title by which he was known that they would wish to learnfor it is supposed by the wording of the text that he would announce him as 'the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob'-as the new and significant denomination, which he might be expect-in it also the implication that He, in dised to assume on this occasion. The people were well aware by tradition that whenever God had been pleased to honor any of their ancestors with a new revelation, it was his wont, in order to give it greater weight, to assume a new characteristic denomination, expressive

hayah, and of kindred import with the phrase before us. See Note on Ex. 6. 3. The title, 'I am that I am,' prodenotes the underived, eternal, and unchangeable existence of the great Being to whom it is applied, carrying

perly

tinction from all others, is the one only true God, the God who really is, while all the pretended deities of the Egyptians and other nations were a vanity, a nonentity, a lie. It implies, moreover, as founded upon the immutability of the Divine nature, the certain and

dren of Israel, y I AM hath sent | God of your fathers, the God of

[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors]

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.

z Ps. 135. 13. Hos. 12. 5.

8. 58, Before Abraham was, I am!' The expression is so strikingly parallel, 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 eternal, 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 person. This is indeed a striking gram-evidently adapted, as they were doubtmatical anomaly, but it arises out of the nature of the subject. When God speaks of himself it is no matter of wonder that he should disregard all grammatical rules, for adequate expressions come not within the compass of any language or any possible form of speech. The Targ. of Jonathan thus feebly halts towards a fitting phraseology, The That-was and Hereafterwill-be hath sent me unto you.' And here we cannot but be reminded of the remarkable words of our Savior, John,

[ocr errors]

15. This is my memorial unto all generations. Heb. zikri. The 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, 0 Lord, (Jehovah,) endureth for ever; and thy memorial, O Lord, (Jehovah,) unto all generations.' The words were

less intended, to bring the chosen people to a devout recognition of God as emphatically and pre-eminently the God of their race, and to wake up to more lively actings that faith which had be come dormant under the pressure of long continued affliction. Their protracted bondage, though it had not ut terly extinguished the light of the great truth respecting the divine Being and his perfections, yet had no doubt very much obscured it. They had lost the 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. Tny yeρuvolav Twv viwv Ispand, 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. the distinction of tribes was undoubtedly 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 collectively, 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

As

I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt: 17 And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt,

b Gen. 50. 24. ch. 2, 25. & 4. 31. Luke 1.68. Gen. 15. 14, 16. ver. 8.

Moses in the first instance was commanded 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. p 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 conveys the assurance of visiting the Israelites 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 thou 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 I 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 Inor 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 wisdom to seek that as a favor, which may at the same time be claimed as a right.

19. I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go. Heb. PINŽ

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 put forth. Such an assurance is the grand encouragement of all good men engaged in declaring useful and saving truths or commanding laborious duties to their fellow men. Their best words will be unregarded, their utmost efforts will fail, unless the Lord himself infuse a vital efficacy into them, and give the hearing ear and the yielding heart to their auditors. The Lord God of the Hebrews hath met with us. Heb. nikrah, has been made to occur. The allusion is plainly to the visible

lo yitten ethkem lahalok, will not give you to go. See Note on Gen. 20. 6. God announces beforehand that their first application will be unavailing, in order that they may not be disheartened by the repulse, and give up the enter prise as hopeless. Let it not be thought, however, derogatory to the divine glory thus to send men advisedly upon a bootless errand; for the result would tend far more strikingly to illustrate the equity of the subsequent proceedings of providence in extorting, with tremendous 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 kafter that he will let you go.

21 And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians; 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. 1 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 be 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.'

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. a Job 27. 17. Prov, 13, 22. Ezek. 39. 10.

rity and vigor. He not only assures them of liberty, but of riches. But this could be accomplished only by turning the hostile hearts of the Egyptians to a posture of clemency and generosity, and this he engages to do. The words, however, 'I will give this people favor,' are not to be understood as intimating that he would conciliate towards them the affection of their enemies. Undoubtedly the reverse of this was the case, particularly at the time when the promised favor was shown them; for they were then trembling for their lives under the repeated inflictions of the plagues; but the meaning is, that God would so overrule their dispositions towards his people that they should bestow upon them marked expressions of

20. And I will stretch out mine hand, &c. Heb. 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 de-favor, they should be induced to treat sign 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.'

[blocks in formation]

them as if they loved them, though in reality they hated them as the procuring cause of all their troubles. Such an absolute control over the fiercest spirits of the enemies of his church shows that when God allows them to rage it is for the wisest purposes of discipline to his people. As he could soften them in a moment, if he does not do so, it is because he sees it better that license should be afforded them for a season.

22. Every woman shall borrow of her neighbor, &c. Heb. shaalah, shall ask. For a somewhat extended view of the moral character of this transaction see Note on Ex. 12.35. We shall there see that when God com

allures his people by an accumulation of promises, that they may engage in the work before them with more alac-manded the Israelites to possess them

« PreviousContinue »