PERIOD THE THIRD.

:

CHAPTER I.

The Birth and early Life of Moses.

EXODUS II.

1 Moses is born, 3 and in an ark cast into the flags. 5 He is found, and brought up by Pharaoh's daughter. 11 He slayeth an Egyptian. 13 He reproveth an Hebrew. 15 He fleeth into Midian. 21 He marrieth Zipporah. 22 Gershom is born. 23 God respecteth the Israelites' cry.

1 AND there went a man of the house of Levi, and took A.C. 1571. to wife a daughter of Levi.

a Ch. vi. 20.

59.

2 And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when Num. xxvi. she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him months.

three D Acts vii. 20.

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.

5 And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river's side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it.

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 Hebrew's 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 brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called

Heb. xi. 23.

A.C. 1571. his name * Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out

* That is, drawn out. 1531.

+ Heb. a man, a prince.

‡ Or, prince.

of the water.

11

And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an 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.

13 And when 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.

15 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.

16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.

17 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?

19 And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew water enough for us, and watered the flock.

20 And he said unto his daughters, And where is he? why is it that ye have left the man? 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 c Ch. xviii. 3. c Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.

23 And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel 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 d Gen. xv. 14. his d covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 And God looked upon the children of Israel, and

& xlvi. 4.

Heb. knew. God § had respect unto them.

PSALM LXXXVIII.

A Prayer containing a grievous complaint.

A.C. 1531.

A Song or Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the chief Musician upon Mahalath * Or, of.

Leannoth, † Maschil of 1 Heman the Ezrahite.

+ Or, a Psalm of Heman the

1 O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and Ezrahite, giv night before thee :

2 Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry;

3 For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.

4 I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength:

5 Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand.

6 Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.

7 Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves.

Selah.

8 Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.

9 Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: LORD, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands unto thee.

10 Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah.

11 Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction?

12 Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness ?

1 Lightfoot supposes, that Heman who composed the eighty-eighth Psalm, and Heman the singer, (1 Chrón. vi. 33.) were not the same person. The former was the immediate son of Gerah, the descendant of Judah ; and lived in Egypt, during the time of the affliction of the Israelites, (1 Chron. ii. 6.) Witsius differs from Lightfoot in this opinion; and many of the commentators suppose the Psalm to have been written during the Babylonish captivity. But we do not read that any of the name of Heman flourished at that time, and the Psalm is therefore inserted here, as well on the authority of Lightfoot, who repeatedly asserts this to be its proper place, as from its internal evidence, and the probable allusion (Exod. ii. 23.) to some compositions of this kind, which were penned by the Israelites in this mournful period of suffering and distress. Lightfoot's works, vol. i. p. 23, 70, 699; Witsius Misc. Sac. p. 170, &c.; Dr. Wells's Commentary, vol. iii. in loc.

ing instruction.

Or, by thy

hand.

A.C. 1531.

* Or, all the day.

1401.

13 But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee.

14 LORD, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me?

15 I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted.

16 Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off.

17 They came round about me * daily like water; they compassed me about together.

18 Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.

CHAPTER II.

Legation of Moses.

EXODUS 111.

1 Moses keepeth Jethro's flock. 2 God appeareth to him in a burning bush. 9 He sendeth him to deliver Israel. 14 The name of God. 15 His message to Israel.

1 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.

2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a