Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 1.djvu/273

Rh us from, giving us boldness to enter into the holiest, and inviting us to draw near. (2.) He must express his reverence, and his readiness to obey; Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, as a servant; the putting off the shoe was then what the putting off the hat is now, a token of respect and submission. "The ground, for the present, is holy ground, made so by this special manifestation of the divine presence there, and during the continuance of that; therefore tread not on that ground with soiled shoes. "Keep thy foot, Eccl. 5. 1. Note, We ought to approach to God with a solemn pause and preparation; and, though bodily exercise alone profits little, yet we ought to glorify God with our bodies, and to express our inward reverence by a grave and reverent behaviour in the worship of God, carefully avoiding every thing that looks light and rude, and unbecoming the awfulness of the service.

V. The solemn declaration God made of his name, by which he would be known to Moses; (v. 6.) I am the God of thy father.

1. He lets him know it is God that speaks to him, to engage his reverence and attention, his faith and obedience; for that is enough to command all these, I am the Lord. Let us always hear the word, as the word of God, 1 Thess. 2. 13.

2. He will be known as the God of his father, his pious father Amram, and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, his ancestors, and the ancestors of all Israel, for whom God was now about to appear. By this, God designed, (1.) To instruct Moses in the knowledge of another world, and strengthen his belief of a future state. Thus it is interpreted by our Lord Jesus, the best expositor of scripture, who from hence proves that the dead are raised, against the Sadducees; Moses, says he, showed it at the bush; (Luke 20. 37.) that is, "God there showed it to him, and in him to us," Matt. 22. 31, &c. Abraham was dead, and yet God is the God of Abraham; therefore Abraham's soul lives, to which God stands in relation; and, to make his soul completely happy, his body must live again in due time. This promise, made unto the fathers, that God would be their God, must include a future happiness; for he never did any thing for them in this world sufficient to answer to the vast extent and compass of that great word, but having prepared for them a city, he is not ashamed to be called their God; (Heb. 11. 16.) and see Acts 26. 6, 7.—24. 15. (2.) To assure Moses of the performance of all those particular promises made to the fathers; he may confidently expect that, for by these words it appears God remembered his covenant, ch. 2. 24. Note, [1.] God's covenant-relation to us as our God, is the best support in the worst of times, and a great encouragement to our faith in particular promises. [2.] When we are conscious to ourselves of our own great unworthiness, we may take comfort from God's relation to our fathers, 2 Chron. 20. 6.

VI. The solemn impression this made upon Moses; he hid his face, as one both ashamed and afraid to look upon God. Now that he knew it was a divine light, his eyes were dazzled with it; he was not afraid of a burning bush, till he perceived that God was in it. Yea, though God called himself the God of his father, and a God in covenant with him, yet he was afraid. Note, 1. The more we see of God, the more cause we shall see to worship him with reverence and godly fear. 2. Even the manifestations of God's grace and covenant-love, should increase our humble reverence of him.

7. And the said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their task-masters; 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.

Now that Moses had put off his shoes, (for, no doubt, he observed the orders given him, v. 5.) and covered his face, God enters upon the particular business that was now to be concerted, which was the bringing of Israel out of Egypt. Now, after forty years of Israel's bondage, and Moses' banishment, when we may suppose both he and they began to despair, they of being delivered, and he of delivering them; at length the time is come, even the year of the redeemed. Note, God often comes for the salvation of his people then when they have done looking for him; Shall he find faith? Luke 18. 8.

Here is,

1. The notice God takes of the afflictions of Israel; (v. 7. 9.) Seeing, I have seen, not only, I have surely seen, but I have strictly observed and considered the matter. Three things God took cognizance of, 1. Their sorrows; (v. 7.) it is likely they were not permitted to make a remonstrance of their grievances to Pharaoh, nor to seek relief against their task-masters in any of his courts, nor scarcely durst complain to one another; but God observed their tears. Note, Even the secret sorrows of God's people are known to him. 2. Their cry; I have heard their cry, (v. 7.) it is come unto me, (v. 9.) Note, God is not deaf to the cries of his afflicted people. 3. The tyranny of their persecutors; I have seen the oppression, v. 9. Note, As the poorest of the oppressed are not below God's cognizance, so the highest and greatest of their oppressors are not above his check, but he will surely visit all these things.

2. The promise God makes of their speedy deliverance and enlargement; (v. 8.) I am come down to deliver them. (1.) It denotes his resolution to deliver them, and that his heart was upon it, so that it should be done speedily and effectually, and by methods out of the common road of providence: when God does something very extraordinary, he is said to come down to do it, as Isa. 64. 1. (2.) This deliverance was typical of our redemption by Christ, and in that the eternal Word did indeed come down from heaven to deliver us. It was his errand into the world. He promises also their happy settlement in the land of Canaan, that they should exchange bondage for liberty, poverty for plenty, labour for rest, and the precarious condition of tenants at will, for the ease and honour of lords proprietors. Note, Whom God by his grace delivers out of a spiritual Egypt, he will bring to a heavenly Canaan.

3. The commission he gives to Moses in order hereunto, v. 10. He is not only sent as a prophet to Israel, to assure them that they should speedily be delivered, (even that had been a great favour,) but he is sent as an ambassador to Pharaoh, to treat with him, or rather as an herald at arms, to demand