CHAPTER IV.

Moses continuing to express his fear that the Israelites would not credit his divine mission, I, God, to strengthen his faith, and to assure him that his countrymen would

believe hirn, changed his rod into a serpent, and the serpent into a rod, 2-5; made dued him with power to work such miracles, and that the Israelites would believe, 8;

his hand leprous, and afterward restored it, 6, 7, intimating that he had now en

and farther assures him that he should have power to turn the water into blood, 9. Moses excuses himself on the ground of his not being eloquent, 10, and God reproves him for his unbelief, and promises to give him supernatural assistance, 11, 12 MoBes expressing his utter unwillingness to go on any account, God is angry, and then promises to give him his brother Aaron to be his spokesman, 13-16, and appoints

his rod to be the instrument of working miracles, 17. Moses returns to his father in-law Jethro, and requests liberty to visit his brethren in Egypt, and is permitted, 18. God appears to him in Midian, and assures him, that the Egyptians who sought his life were dead, 19. Moses, with his wife and children, set out on their journey to Egypt, 20. God instruets him what he shall say to Pharaoh, 21-23. He is in danger of losing his life, because he had not circumcise i his son, 21. Zipporah immediately circumcising the child, Moses escapes unhurt, 25, 26. Aaron is commanded to go and meet his brother Moses; he goes and meets him at Horeb, 27. Moses informs him of the commission he had received from God, 28. They both go believe and adore God, 31.

to their brethren, deliver their message, and work miracles, 29, 30.

ND Moses

The people But, behold, my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee.

A they will answered and said, Buren unto

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

3 And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he

8 Ver. 17, 20-t Ch. 19. 9.-u Ch. 3. 15.-v Numb. 12. 10. 2 Kings 5. 27.

which God was pleased to make himself known to Moses and to the Israelites; a name by which the Supreme Being was afterward known among the wisest inhabitants of the earth. He who IS, and who WILL BE what he IS. This is a proper characteristic of the divine Being, who is, properly speaking, the only BEING, because he is independent and eternal; whereas all other beings, in whatsoever forms they may appear, are derived, finite, changeable, and liable to destruction, decay, and even to annihilation. When God therefore, announced himself to Moses by this name, he proclaimed his own eternity and immateriality; and the very name itself precluded the possibility of idolatry, because it was impossible for the mind, in considering it, to represent the Divine Being in any assignable shape; for who could represent BEING or Existence by any limited form? And who can have any idea of a form that is unlimited? Thus then we find, that the first discovery which God made of himself, was intended to show the people the simplicity and spirituality of his nature; that, while they considered him as BEING, and the cause of all BEING, they might be preserved from all idolatry for ever. The very name itself, is a proof of a divine revelation: for it is not possible that such an idea could have ever entered into the mind of man, unless it had been communicated from above. It could not have been produced by reasoning, for there were no premises on which it could be builded, nor any analogies by which it could have been formed. We can as easily comprehend eternity as we can being, simply considered in and of itself; when nothing of assignable forms, colours, or qualities existed, besides its infinite and unlimitable SELF.

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, 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 he hand into his

again; and plucked it out of his bosom, and, be

hold, 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.

w Deut. 32. 39. Numb. 12. 13, 14. 2 Kings 5. 14. Matt. 8. 3.

Know Thyself; as if, under the name EI, THOU ART, the Deity designed to excite men to venerate Hiм as eternally existing, ως οντα διαπαντος, and to put them in mind of the frailty and mortality of their own nature.'

What beautiful things have the ancient Greek philosophers stolen from the testimonies of God, to enrich their own works, without any kind of acknowledgement! And, strange perversity of man, these are the very things which we so highly applaud in the heathen copies, while we neglect or pass them by in the divine originals!

NOTES ON CHAPTER IV.

Verse 1. They will not believe me] As if he had said, Unless I be enabled to work miracles, and give them proofs by extraordinary works, as well as by words, they will not believe that thou hast sent me.

Verse 2. A rod] no mattch a staff, probably his shepherd's crook; see Levit. xxvii. 32. As it was made the instrument of working many miracles, it was afterward called the rod of God; see ver. 20.

Verse 3. A serpent] Of what sort we know not, as the word w nachash, is a general name for serpents, and also means several other things, see Gen. iii. 1. but it was either of a kind that he had not seen before, or one that he knew to be dangerous; for it is said, he fled from before it. Some suppose the staff was changed into a crocodile, see on chap. vii. 7.

Verse 4. He put forth his hand and caught it] Considering the light in which Moses had viewed this serpent, it required considerable faith to induce him thus implicitly to obey the command of God; but he obeyed, and the noxious serpent became instantly the miraculous rod in his hand! Implicit faith and obedience conquer all difficulties: and he who believes in God, and obeys him in all things, has really nothing to fear.

Verse 5. That they may believe] This is an example of what is called an imperfect or unfinished speech; several of which occur in the Sacred Writings. It may be thus supplied, Do this before them, that they may believe that the Lord-hath appeared unto thee.

To this divine discovery, the ancient Greeks owed the inscription which they placed above the door of the temple of Apollo at Delphi: the whole of the inscription consisted in the simple monosyllable EI, THOU ART, the second person of the Greek substantive verb, I am. On this inscription, Plutarch, one of the most intelligent of all the Gentile philosophers, made an express treatise, ie TOU EI Aps, having received the true interpretation in his travels in Egypt, whither he had gone for the express pur- Verse 6. His hand was leprous as snow.] That is, the pose of inquiring into their ancient learning; and where leprosy spread itself over the whole body in thin white he had doubtless seen these words of God to Moses, in the scales, and from this appearance it has its Greek name Greek version of the Septuagint, which had been current Amp, from Asis, a scale. Dr. Mead says, "I have seen a among the Egyptians (for whose sake it was first made) remarkable case of this in a countryman, whose whole about four hundred years previous to the death of Plutarch. body was so miserably seized with it, that his skin was This philosopher observes, that "this title is not only shining as if covered with snow; and as the furfuraceous proper, but peculiar to God, because He alone is being: scales were daily rubbed off, the flesh appeared quick or for mortals have no participation of true being, because raw underneath." The leprosy, at least among the Jews, that which begins and ends, and is continually changing, was a most inveterate and contagious disorder; and deemed is never one nor the same, nor in the same state. The by them incurable. Among the heathens, it was considered deity, on whose temple this word was inscribed, was called as inflicted by their gods, and it was supposed that they Apollo, Aλ, from a, negative, and oxus, many, he-alone could remove it. It is certain that a similar belief cause God is ONE, his nature simple, his essence uncom- prevailed among the Israelites; hence, when the king of pounded." Hence, he informs us, the ancient mode of Syria sent his general, Naaman, to the king of Israel to addressing God was-"EI 'EN, Thou art one, ov yze mol- cure him of his leprosy, that he rent his clothes, saying, A TO 6 Ty, for many cannot be attributed to the divine Am I God, to kill and make alive, that this man doth send nature :—και ουδε πρότερον ουδιν εστιν, ενδύστερον, ουδε μέλλον, unto me, to recover a man of his leprosy? 2 Kings v. 7. ouds #agaxymorov, oude TεSOGUTRgov, oude vεwTigv, in which This appears, therefore, to be the reason why God chose there is neither first nor last, past nor future, old nor this sign; as the instantaneous infliction and removal of young: axλ? 145 WN IVE TO BUY TO MEI knew, but as being this disease were demonstrations, which all would allow, one, fills up in one NOW an eternal duration." And he of the sovereign power of God. We need, therefore, seek concludes with observing, that "this word corresponds to for no other reasons for this miracle: the sole reason is certain others on the same temple, viz. гN201 ZEATTON, sufficiently obvious.

9 And it shall come to pass, if they will not | thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt believe also these two signs, neither hearken send. 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 y shall become blood upon the dry land.

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

с

11 And the LORD said unto him, made man's mouth? or who maketh or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? the LORD?

Who hath
the dumb,
have not I

Verse 8. If they will not believe-the voice of the first sign, &c.] Probably intimating that some would be more difficult to be persuaded than others: some would yield to the evidence of the first miracle; others would hesitate till they had seen the second; and others would not believe, till they had seen the water of the Nile turned into blood, when poured upon the dry land; ver. 9.

Verse 10. I am not eloquent]

14 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against 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 he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God.

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

f Or, shouldest.-g Ver. N. 1 Sam. 10. 2, 3, 5.-h Ch. 7. 1, 2-i Numb. 22. 38. & 23. 5, 12, 16. Deut 18 18. Isai. 51. 16. Jer. 1. 9.-k Deut. 5. 31.-1 Ch. 7. 1. & 18. 19. m Ver. 2.

other, I beseech thee send him now, for who can be sufficient to deliver and rule this people but himself alone." The Hebrew nhưn va xa nhw shelach na beyad tishlach, literally translated is, Send now (or I beseech thee) by the hand thou wilt send; which seems to intimate, Send a person more fit for the work than I am. So the Septuagint, προχειρισαι δυνάμενον αλλον, ον αποστελείς, Elect another lo ish deba-powerful person, whom thou wilt send. It is right to find out the Messiah wherever he is mentioned in the Old Testament; but to press Scriptures into this service which have not an obvious tendency that way, is both improper and dangerous. I am firmly of opinion, that Moses had no reference to the Messiah when he spake these words. Verse 14. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses] Surely this would not have been the case, had he only in modesty, and from a deep sense of his own unfitness, desired that the Messiah should be preferred before him. But the whole connexion shows that this interpretation is unfounded.

rim, I am not a man of words-a periphrasis, common in the Scriptures. So Job xi. 2. Ons ish sepetayim, a man of lips, signifies one that is talkative. Psal. cxl. 12. pish lashon, a man of tongue, signifies a prattler. But how could it be said that Moses was not eloquent, when St. Stephen asserts, Acts vii. 22. that he was mighty in words, as well as in deeds? There are three ways of solving this difficulty: 1. Moses might have had some natural infirmity of a late standing, which, at that time, rendered it impossible for him to speak readily, and which he afterward overcame; so that though he was not then a man of words, yet he might afterward have been mighty Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother?] Houbigant enin words, as well as deeds. 2. It is possible he was deavours to prove from this, that Moses, in ver. 13. did not intimately acquainted with the Hebrew tongue, so as pray for the immediate mission of the Messiah, and that to speak clearly and distinctly in it. The first forty God gives him here a reason why this could not be, years of his life he had spent in Egypt, chiefly at court; because the Levitical priesthood was to precede the priestand though it is very probable there was an affinity be-hood of our Lord. Is not Aaron the Levite, &c. Must tween the two languages, yet they certainly were not the not the ministry of Aaron be first established, before the same. The last forty he had spent in Midian, and it is other can take place? Why then ask for that which is not likely that the pure Hebrew tongue prevailed there, contrary to the divine counsel? From the opinion of so though it is probable that a dialect of it was there spoken. great a critic as Houbigant, no man would wish to dissent, On these accounts, Moses might find it difficult to express except through necessity: however, I must say, that it himself with that readiness and persuasive flow of lan- does appear to me, that his view of these verses is fanciful, guage, which he might deem essentially necessary on such and the arguments by which he supports it are insufficient a momentous occasion; as he would frequently be obliged to establish his point. to consult his memory for proper expressions, which would necessarily produce frequent hesitation, and general slowness of utterance, which he might think, would ill suit an ambassador of God. 3. Though Moses was slow of speech, yet when acting as the messenger of God, his word was with power; for at his command, the plagues came and the plagues were stayed: thus was he mighty in words, as well as in decds: and this is probably the meaning of St. Stephen.

By the expression, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant, he might possibly mean, that the natural inaptitude to speak readily, which he had felt, he continued to feel, even since God had begun to discover himself, for though he had wrought several miracles for him, yet he had not healed this infirmity: see on chap. vi. 12.

Verse 11. Who hath made man's mouth, &c.] Cannot he who formed the mouth, the whole organs of speech, and hath given the gift of speech also, cannot he give utterance? God can take away those gifts and restore them again. Do not provoke him: he who created the eye, the ear, and the mouth, hath also made the blind, the deaf, and the dumb..

Verse 12. I will be with thy mouth.] The Chaldee translates, My WORD, meimri, shall be with thy mouth. And Jonathan ben Uzziel paraphrases, I and my WORD will be with the speech of thy mouth. See on Gen. xv. 1. and Lev. xxv. 10.

Verse 13. Send-by the hand of him whom thou wilt send.] Many commentators, both ancient and modern, have thought that Moses prays here for the immediate mission of the Messiah: as if he had said, "Lord, thou has purposed to send this glorious person at some time or

ידעתי כי דבר ידבר הוא [I knob that he can speak oell

yadâti ki dabber yedabber hu, I know that in speaking he will speak. That is, he is apt to talk, and has a ready utterance.

He cometh forth to meet thee] He shall meet thee at my mount, (ver. 27.) shall rejoice in thy mission, and most heartily co-operate, with thee in all things. A necessary assurance, to prevent Moses from suspecting that Aaron, who was his elder brother, should envy his superior call and office.

Verse 15. I will be with thy mouth and with his mouth] Ye shall be both (in all things which I appoint you to do in this business) under the continual inspiration of the Most High.

Verse 16. He shall be thy spokesman] Literally, He shall speak for thee (or in thy stead) to the people.

He shall be to thee instead of a mouth] He shall convey every message to the people and thou shalt be to him instead of God-thou shalt deliver to him what I communicate to thee.

Verse 17. Thou shalt take this rod] From the story of Moses' rod, the heathens have invented the fables of the Thyrsus of Bacchus, and the Caduceus of Mercury. Cicero reckons five Bacchuses, one of which, according to Orpheus, was born of the river Nile; but according to the common opinion, he was born on the banks of that river. Bacchus is expressly said to have been exposed on the river Nile, hence he is called Nilus, both by Diodorus and Macrobius; and in the hymns of Orpheus he is named Myses, because he was drawn out of the water. He is represented by the poets as being very beautiful, and an illustrious warrior; they report him to have overrun all Arabia with a numerous army both of men and

22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus | 27 And the LORD said to Aaron, Go into the saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my first- wilderness to meet Moses. And he went, and born: met him in the mount of God, and kissed him.

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 first

born.

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 cut off the foreskin of her son, and his feet, and said, Surely a bloody art thou to me. 26 So he let him go: bloody husband thou art, cumcision.

stone, and cast it at husband then she said, A because of the cir

Hos. 11. 1. Rom. 9. 4. 2 Cor. 6. 18-t Jer. 31. 9. James 1. 18-u Ch. 11. 5. & 12. 29- Namb. 22 22-w Gen. 17. 14.- Josh. 5. 2, 3.-y Or, knife.-z Heb. made it touch.

dependence on them was necessarily shaken. These great ends could not have been answered, had Pharaoh at once consented to let the people go. This consideration alone unravels the mystery, and explains every thing. Let it be observed, that there is nothing spoken here of the eternal state of the Egyptian king; nor does any thing in the whole of the subsequent account authorize us to believe, that God hardened his heart against the influences of his own grace, that he might occasion him so to sin, that his justice might consign him to hell. This would be such an act of flagrant injustice, as we could scarcely attribute to the worst of men. He who leads another into an offence, that he may have a fairer pretence to punish him for it; or brings him into such circumstances, that he cannot avoid committing a capital crime, and then hangs him for it, is surely the most execrable of mortals. What then should we make of the God of justice and mercy, should we attribute to him a decree, the date of which is lost in eternity, by which he has determined to cut off from the possibility of salvation, millions of millions of unborn souls, and leave them under a necessity of sinning, by actually hardening their hearts against the influences of his own grace and Spirit, that he may, on the pretext of justice, consign them to endless perdition? Whatever may be pretended in behalf of such unqualified opinions, it must be evident to all who are not deeply prejudiced, that neither the justice nor the sovereignty of God can be magnified by them. See farther on chap. ix. 16.

Verse 22. Israel is my son, even my first-born] That is, the Hebrew people are unutterably dear to me.

Verse 23. Let my son go, that he may serve me] Which they could not do in Goshen, consistently with the policy and religious worship of the Egyptians: because the most essential part of an Israelite's worship consisted in sacrifice; and the animals which they offered to God were sacred among the Egyptians. Moses gives Pharaoh this reason, chap. viii. 26.

I will slay thy son, even thy first-born] Which, on Pharaoh's utter refusal to let the people go, was accordingly done; see chap. xii. 29.

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

e

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.

i

31 And the people believed: and when they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped.

a Ver. 14-b Ch. 3. 1-c Ver. 15, 16-d Ver. 8, 9.-e Ch. 3. 16.- Ver. 16. Ch. 3. 18. Ver. 89.-h Ch. 3. 16.- Ch. 2. 25. & 3. 7.-k Gen. 24. 25. Ch. 12. 27. Chron. 29. 20.

had neglected this, therefore Jehovah was about to have slain the child, because not in covenant with him by circumcision; and thus he intended to have punished the disobedience of the father by the natural death of his son. Zipporah, getting acquainted with the nature of the case, and the danger to which her first-horn was exposed, took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son. By this act the displeasure of the Lord was turned aside, and Zipporah considered herself as now allied to God, because of this circumcision. According to the law, Gen. xvii. 14. the uncircumcised child was to be cut off from his people, so that there should be no inheritance for that branch of the family in Israel. Moses, therefore, for neglecting to circumcise the child, exposed him, to this cutting off, and it was but barely prevented by the prompt obedience of Zipporah. As circumcision was the seal of that justification by faith, which comes through Christ, Moses, by neglecting it, gave a very bad example, and God was about to proceed against him with that severity which the law required.

The sharp stone, mentioned ver. 25. was probably a knife made of flint, for such were anciently used, even where knives of metal might be had, for every kind of operation about the human body, such as embowelling for the purpose of embalming, circumcision, &c. Ancient authors are full of proofs of these facts. See the note on Gen. 1. 2.

It is probable that Zipporah being alarmed by this circumstance, and fearing worse evils, took the resolution to return to her father's house with her two sons; see chap. xviii. 1, &c.

Verse 27. The Lord said to Aaron] See ver. 14. By some secret but powerful movement on Aaron's mind, or by some voice or angelic ministry, he was now directed to go and meet his brother Moses: and so correctly was the information given to both, that they arrived at the same time on the sacred mountain.

Verse 30. Aaron spake all the words] It is likely that Aaron was better acquainted with the Hebrew tongue than his brother, and on this account he became the spokes

man; see on ver. 8.

Did the signs] Turned the rod into a serpent, made the hand leprous, and changed the water into blood. See on ver. 8 and 9.

Verse 31. The people believed] They credited the account given of the divine appointment of Moses and Aaron, to be their deliverers out of their bondage; the miracles wrought on the occasion confirming the testimony delivered by Aaron.

Verse 24. By the way in the inn] See the note on Gen. xlii. 27. The account in this and the two following verses is very obscure. Some suppose that the 23d verse is not a part of the message to Pharaoh, but was spoken by the Lord to Moses; and that the whole may be thus paraphrased: "And I have said unto thee (Moses) send forth ( shalach) my son (Gershom, by circumcising him) that he may serve me, (which he cannot do till entered into the covenant by circumcision) but thou hast refused to send They bowed their heads and worshipped] See a simihim forth, behold (therefore) I will slay thy son, thy first-lar act mentioned, and in the same words, Gen. xxiv. 26. born. And it came to pass by the way in the inn (when The bowing the head, &c. here, may probably refer to the he was on his journey to Egypt) that Jehovah met him, eastern custom of bowing the head down to the knees, and sought (threatened) to kill him (Gershom.) Then then kneeling down and touching the earth with the foreZipporah took a sharp stone, and cut away the foreskin head. This was a very painful posture, and the most of her son, and caused it to touch his feet, (Jehovah's, humble in which the body could possibly be placed. Those who probably appeared in a bodily shape; the Septuagint who pretend to worship God, either by prayer or thankscall him the angel of the Lord) and said unto him: a giving, and keep themselves during the performance of spouse by blood art thou unto me. Then he (Jehovah) those solemn acts, in a state of perfect ease, either careceased from him (Gershom.) Then she said, A spouse by lessly standing, or stupidly sitting, surely cannot have a blood art thou unto me, because of this circumcision." due sense of the majesty of God, and their own sinfulness That is, I, who am an alien, have entered as fully into co- and unworthiness. Let the feelings of the body put the venant with thee, by doing this act, as my son has, on soul in remembrance of its sin against God. Let a man whom this act has been performed. put himself in such a position (kneeling for instance) as it is generally acknowledged a criminal should assume, when coming to his sovereign and judge, to bewail his sins and solicit forgiveness.

The meaning of the whole passage seems to be this. Gershom or Eliezer, the son of Moses, for it does not appear which, had not been circumcised, though it would zeem, that God had ordered the father to do it; but as he

The Jewish custom, as we learn from Rabbi Maymon,

no reiress, 17, 18. The officers finding their case desperate, bitterly reproach Moses ple from their works? get you unto your bur