CHAP. III. 1. And Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the Midianite priest, and he led the flock 'behind the desert, and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb. 2. And an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of 2 the thornbush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire; but the Engl. Vers.-To the backside of. rate], and the best for pasturage; for its herbage was excellent, and it had not been before fed upon; for as the native tribes believed that God dwelt there, the shepherds dared not to approach it.”—As the Mount Horeb, by the promulgation of the law which there took place, has become of paramount importance for the history of mankind, and as the Sinaitic peninsula in which that mountain is situated forms the principal scene of the wanderings of Israel after their Exodus from Egypt, it will not be inappropriate to introduce a geographical sketch of this peninsula, with especial regard to "the mountain of God." See the supplementary note at the end of the chapter. 2. In a flame of fire. ( naba). לבת אש so that לב with The word na has called forth the fol- = from מַכֹּלֶת flame, like לְהָבָה constr. of л, 1 Kings v. 25 (Ewald, Gram. §146; Maurer). The last explanation appears the most appropriate. - Thorn bush (D); rubus vulgaris (Cels. ii. 58), or rubus sanctus (Sprengel, History of Botany, 17), or Oxycantha arabica (hawthorn bush), which grows abundantly in the vicinity of Sinai (Shaw, Trav. 401; Pococke, Orient, i. 215). The Septuagint renders ẞáros, bramble-which is, how 2 A bush. מרט Kings ii. 10; in 2 מלקח instead of instead of , Ezek. xxi. 15, 16. See Gesen. Lehrg. p. 316; Heidenheim, Moda 1 that the bush appeared to be in flames; others imagine an issue of phosphoretted hydrogen from a volcanic fissure!-The burning bush which is not consumed has frequently been used as a suitable allegory of the fate of Israel, which, although despised among the nations as the thornbush among the trees-oppressed, degraded, and afflicted-could never be destroyed. Abarbanel and others apply it more especially to the sufferings of Israel in Egypt, from which they came forth with enhanced vigour. The symbol of the Scotch church is likewise a burning bush, with the words beneath it: "Nec tamen consumebatur." 4. God called unto him. The angel of God, who appeared to Moses (ver. 2) is, according to our verse and the whole following relation, God himself, with a change very usual in the Holy Scriptures: the angel calls Abraham (Gen. xxii. 11), and it is, in fact, God himself (ver. 16); the angel of God appeared to Gideon (Judg. vi. 11), whilst he is in reality God (ver. 14). Similarly Gen. xxi. 17 and 19; xxxi. 11, 13, 16. Judg. xiii. 3, 22. Ebn Ezra accounts for this change in a twofold manner: 1. The angel is called God, because he is His delegated messenger; or, 2. God almost every apparition of angels. Ori- ,21 .Kings xxii 1 רוח) "with the spirit Bohlen on Gen. xvi. 7). "Wherever God נעל-נשל Imperative Kal of של 5. from by to bind, to fasten (væóðŋμa, seeing that Moses was going to (יהוה) (אלהים) the bush, commanded His angel is no proper אלהים to call him; 4 for -Gen. xix. 23). Jonathan trans שרוך) noun, but a noun appellative, implying ,The Egyptians were, however .(סנדלך) first explanation is more acceptable; the everything divine and incorporeal." The latter, forced in itself, would not even apply to the other analogous passages. "A similar identification of the Deity with its messengers is observable in lates therefore 7 with thy sandals famous for the sumptuousness of their bush was not consumed. 3. And Moses said, 'I will just go thither and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. 4. And when the Lord saw that he went thither to see, God called to him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. 5. And He said, Approach not hither: put off thy shoes from thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. 6. And He said, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And 'Engl. Vers.-I will now go aside. 2 Father. gation, just as the Roman matrons went once in procession unshod to the temple of Vesta (Ovid, Fast. vi. 397). The first reason is the most plausible. See Niebuhr, Trav. ii. p. 63, 132, Tab. 2; Jamblichus, Life of Pythagoras, § 89, 105; Paxton, Illustrat. i. p. 296-300; Robinson, Trav. iii. 320; Ugolini. Thes. xxix.— Holy ground. The grandeur of the scenery around the three majestic peaks of Horeb impressed from the earliest times the wandering tribes of the Arabs with awe and veneration; and the region was commonly considered as a sacred locality (see ver. 1). 6. I am the God of thy fathers (TIN). N is here used collectively, like xv. 2, the God of my fathers, See אלהי אבי other figures wrought in silk, silver and gold (Wilkinson, Anc. Egypt. iii. 364). Shoes are, in the East, seldom worn in the apartments in paying visits; they are usually put off in the ante-chambers (comp. Plato, Sympos. p. 213). To enter a place of worship with covered feet is considered as an act of the greatest irreverence. Jamieson, (in Paxton's Illustrations, i. p. 298, note), observes: "The lobby of their mosques is filled with shoes, just as the lobby of a house, or recess in a church, is filled with hats amongst us." Pythagoras also, most probably following an Egyptian custom, enjoins on his disciples to sacrifice and to enter the temple unshod. Even in the remotest antiquity it was a gencral custom to approach barefoot those sacred spots, where the Deity was believed to be present; thus, in our passage, and perfectly so in Josh. v. 15, where, on a similar occasion, the same command is, almost in the identical words of our verse, addressed to Joshua; and the Hebrew priests probably performed their sacred duties in the temple unshod (as is even now done by the whole people on the holiest day in the year, the day of atonement; see also 2 Sam. xv. 13, and Berach. lxii. 2). Many find in this practice a similar mark of respect and reverence as in our custom of uncovering the head; others see therein an act of cleanliness which, as the ritual emblem of internal purity, is one of the greatest virtues among the Orientals; still others consider it as a kind of pious self-casti feared to look upon the divine apparition, which according to a very general notion nobody can behold without either losing his sight or his life (see Gen. xvi. 13; Deut. xviii. 16. Comp. Homer, Odys. xvi. 161). Albo, (Ikkarim ii. 29), assigns the reason that Moses covered his eyes, in order not to be dazzled by the splendour of the fire, and not to be diverted from the divine ideas communicated to him; for if the external senses are occupied, the reflective powers lose their energy. 7. Indeed, I know their sorrows. I know their sorrows," is illogical; we have therefore preferred to take here as a particle of protestation: indeed (like ver. 12), in unison with the emphatical and forcible character of the whole verse (see note to i. 19). And in giving this meaning to, we are enabled to take the verb here in its usual meaning, to know (and not like ii. 25); nor need we, with Glaire and others, connect this verse with the following: "And because I have marked their sufferings, I am come down." 8. And I came down to deliver them. See Gen. ii. 5, and Raphall's note on that verse (who, however, following the explanation of Maimonides, lays too much stress on the notion of condescending, which is ascribed to 77; see our note to ii. 25). Targ. Onkelos, “And I revealed myself."— A brief description of the climate, extent, and fertility of Palestine will be given on Gen. xii. 7. Unto the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites, etc. Although "Canaanites" is the general name for all the nations which inhabited the land of Canaan, they are not seldom enumerated as one particular tribe, or rather as a certain kind of tribes, namely probably — according to the original signification of the word—the inhabitants of the lower regions, i. e., those tribes which lived near the coast of the Mediterranean and in the plains of the Jordan (see Gen. xiii. 7, Num. xiii. 29. Compare Bertheau, History of Israel, p. 161. Ewald, History of Israel, i. 281). Of the ten nations, the subjugation of which God promised to Abraham (Gen. xv. 19-21), six only are mentioned here, as these constituted the more important part of the population of Canaan. About the probable abodes of these tribes, see Rosenmüller, Bohlen and Tuch, on Gen. x. 15-19; and xv. 19-21; and Winer, Bibl. Dict. 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 who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry about their taskmasters; 'indeed, I know their sorrows. 8. And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them out of that land into a good and large land, into a land flowing with milk and honey; into 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 to me, and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. 10. Come now, therefore, and I will send thee to Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. 11. And Moses said to God, Engl. Vers.- For. dren of Israel, go to Pharaoh and lead them out of Egypt"-rn to press or oppress, is here construed with the double accusative. 10. And bring thou forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. It has often been asked by Biblical students, why it was necessary to lead the Israelites from Egypt, where they all had been born and brought up, and which, by their long sojourn through so many generations, they must have begun to consider as their own country; especially as their exit from Egypt exposed them to so many dangers and difficulties necessarily attendant on the march through the desert, and the military operations against warlike tribes; whilst God, if he wished to relieve them, might have inclined the heart of Pharaoh in their favour, instead of hardening it against them, and might thus have converted their abodes in Egypt into homes of happiness and comfort. The obvious answer to this question is, that the Israelites would not have been able to worship the God of their fathers, and to receive the Law, in Egypt, a country replete with idolatrous abominations; and in ver. 12jthe whole aim and end E of the Exodus appear to be hinted at in the words: "And this shall be a sign unto thee, that I have sent thee: when thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God upon this mountain." 11. The best commentary on this verse is given by Josephus (Antiq. II. xii. 2), who introduces Moses uttering the following words: "I am at a loss to comprehend, how I, a man of no rank or influence, should be able to persuade my countrymen to leave a land already so long inhabited by them, and to follow me into the country to which I might lead them; or, if I even succeed to induce the Israelites to listen to my words, how can I force Pharaoh to allow them to depart, by whose services and industry his national prosperity is so materially enhanced." The diffidence of Moses, which was the result of modesty (Num. xii. 3), not of disobedience, contrasted his humble pastoral condition with the exalted position of the mighty king of Egypt and his proud courtiers, to whom, he thought, it would be impossible even to obtain access; he doubted further his capabilities, which he believed were insufficient for the difficult task, to |