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flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, A.C. 1491. and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

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

5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes b Josh. v. 15. from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is Acts vii. 33. holy ground.

6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the e Matt. xxii. God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 32. Acts vii. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.

7 And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their

sorrows;

8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.

10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.

11 And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?

12 And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.

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

divine legation; which at the same time convince him, that, by his means, Israelites should be delivered from Egypt.-Lightfoot, vol. i. p. 22; Hales' Analysis, vol. ii. p. 182: Horæ Mosaicæ, vol. ii. p. 99.

the.

A.C. 1491.

14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

15 And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of 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.

16 Go, and 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, 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 unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.

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 him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.

19 And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let * Or, but by you go, * no, not by a mighty hand.

strong hand.

d Ch. xi. 2. & xii. 35.

20 And I will stretch 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: and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty :

22 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 ye shall

+ Or, Egypt. spoil + the Egyptians.

EXODUS IV. VER. 1-29.

1 Moses' rod is turned into a serpent. 6 His hand is leprous. 10 He is loth to be sent. 14 Aaron is appointed to assist him. 18 Moses departeth from Jethro. 21 God's message to Pharaoh. 24 Zipporah circumciseth her son. 27 Aaron is sent to meet Moses.

1 And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee.

2 And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine A.C. 1491. hand? And he said, A rod.

3 And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it.

4 And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand:

5 That they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee.

6 And the LORD said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow.

7 And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and plucked it out of his bosom, and, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh.

8 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign.

9 And it shall come to pass, if if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river * shall become blood upon the dry land.

10 And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not + eloquent, neither ‡ heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.

11 And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD?

* Heb. shallbe and shall

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+ Heb. a man Hord

‡ Heb. since yesterday, nor since the third day.

12 Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, e Matt. x. 19.

and teach thee what thou shalt say.

13 And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the

hand of him whom thou §

wilt send.

Mark xiii. 11.
Luke xii. 11.

14 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against est. Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart.

15 And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do.

16 And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and

Or, should

A.C. 1491. he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God.

f Ch. vii. 1.

* Or, knife.

17 And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs 3.

18 And Moses went and returned to Jethro his father in law, and said unto him, Let me go, I pray thee, and return unto my brethren which are in Egypt, and see whether they be yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace.

19 And the LORD said unto Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt: for all the men are dead which sought thy life.

20 And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt: and Moses took the rod of God in his hand.

21 And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.

22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn :

23 And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.

24 And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him.

25 Then Zipporah took a sharp * stone, and cut off the + Heb. made foreskin of her son, and + cast it at his feet, and said, Surely

it touch.

a bloody husband art thou to me.

26 So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision.

27 And the LORD said to Aaron, Go into the wilder

3 Moses was the first teacher of religion to whom the power of working miracles appears to have been granted. The patriarchal dispensation was of divine appointment; but Moses was now chosen to abrogate that mode of instructing mankind, and to institute another in its place. Miracles were not necessary to Adam, or to Noah, as they each possessed sufficient evidence of the truths they taught: they were not necessary to Abraham, as he was the reformer only of the religion of Noah: but when a legislator ventured to assert that a law, which was originally divinely appointed, was now about to be annulled, it was absolutely essential that he should be able to produce the most incontrovertible evidence in support of his authority. Moses therefore was empowered to work miracles, for the purpose of establishing a new dispensation. In the same manner, Christ, the prophet "like unto Moses," wrought his wonderful miracles, to convince the world of the dissolution of the Levitical dispensation, in favour of the Christian covenant.-Horæ Mosaicæ, vol. ii. p. 222, &c.

ness to meet Moses. And he went, and met him in the A.C. 1491. mount of God, and kissed him.

28 And Moses told Aaron all the words of the LORD who had sent him, and all the signs which he had commanded him.

CHAPTER III.

From the Mission of Moses to the Infliction of the Plagues of Egypt.

EXODUS IV. VER. 29, TO THE END.

29 AND Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel :

30 And Aaron spake all the words which the LORD had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people.

• Moses was either a true prophet, an enthusiast, a dupe, or an impostor. That he was not an enthusiast, may be argued from his learning; he was versed in all the learning of Egypt-from his education among the courtiers of Pharaoh -from the diffidence with which he received the first annunciation of his mission-from the admirable suitableness of his law to the accomplishment of the object proposed-the knowledge therein displayed of human nature-the connection of laws politically necessary with religion, &c. &c. He could not have been a dupe: for if the appearance in the burning bush had not been real-if he had been deceived in the evidences of his mission-if the miracles wrought to convince him, that he was the chosen prophet of God, had been only natural phenomena, he could not have inferred from them, that he was to be the legislator and deliverer of the Jews. Neither was he an impostor. An impostor would not have chosen to suffer affliction with a degraded race, rather than to indulge in the gaieties and fascinations of a court-an impostor would not have exposed himself to the danger of death, by vindicating the cause of the oppressed-he would not, if banished to a desert, be contented with his lot-forget his schemes of ambition, intermarry among the natives of an obscure province, and calmly sink into the condition of a shepherd. Even if he were at length to rouse from this strange lethargy, and resolve to deliver his countrymen, or perish in the attempt, an impostor would have proceeded with some address, and policy-he would not enter abruptly into the presence of an absolute sovereign, and peremptorily insist on the liberation of a race of "useful slaves:" neither would an impostor commit himself, by predicting a series of miraculous judgments, if these slaves were not permitted to emigrate. If Moses too, had been either of these, he could not have conquered armies without fighting, or impressed a whole nation with imaginary terrors-or guided or fed a whole nation for forty years, in the wilderness; - he could not have compelled, and he could not have persuaded the Egyptians and their king to resign their dominion over the Israelites, unless he had been possessed of powers more than human. That is, he was a true prophet-he wrought miracles-he was the character he professed to be. The

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