A flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. Exodus 3:1-6 Moses at the burning bush Bp. Boyd Carpenter. I. The story of Moses is the story, at first, of FAILURE. Two great streams of influences moulded his life — the one drawn from the Egyptian surroundings of his early days, and the other drunk in with his mother's milk and his mother's teaching. On the one side he had before him the revelation of the world in its majesty and power, brute energy and magnificence, massive purpose and force, and splendid genius, with a kind of weird and magical faith in the dim powers of the unseen — those speechless-eyed deities of Egypt looking for ever into his face; and, along with these, a rugged sense of the responsibility of human life. And then, from the Hebrew side, another strain of thought. There came belief in the governing providence of God; there was belief in something more than might and majesty of force, and brute power; something like a belief that the weak might yet become strong — for the early history of that people was the history of the individual, or of the tribe waiting, not for his power upon the tokens of brute force, but waiting, rather, for his power upon the evolution of their history under the providence of God. But where he expected amongst people of his kin to find aspirations after better things, and responsiveness to his own spirit, he met only with chillness, coldness, and refusal to follow. Then came his exile in Midian — an exile from all his early dreams and hopes, an exile from the splendid position he had in Egypt, an exile from the future which glowed before him, and an exile, too, from the confidence he had that there was the power capable of lifting the hearts of his people and making them fit to strike a blow for freedom. II. Look, now, at THE VISION which restored him to faith and energy. 1. A revelation of permanence. The bush was not consumed; it held its own life amidst the devouring flame. Moses' feeling was one of suffering from that which, after all, is so common an experience of life — from the temptation to cry, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." It was something at such a moment to find that the revelation was to him one of permanence, where everything had slipped from his grasp. A while ago young dreams were his; a while ago, in his manhood, a noble purpose was his; and now all is gone, the temptation is to sit down and take a cynical attitude, and say, with a world where all things change, and where nothing abides, the safest and the wisest course is to laugh at existence, and take up either the language of despair, which wails out vanity of vanities, or the easy cynicism which treats life as a joke. But to the man in that state came a revelation of permanence. In the midst of all this change of things there is something which abides. Do not believe the answer to the cry of your heart, that all things perish, that the powers of decay touch everything in your life. There is in the unconsumed bush, there is in the change and policy of the world, an element of permanence. 2. A revelation of purity. "The place whereon thou standest is holy ground." In our first thought we think of permanence in material things. We see intellectual and moral things pass away and the materials remain; but the revelation of faith, the revelation of God, the revelation of all noble impulses of men, is everlastingly this: it is in the elements of purity that the powers of permanence are concerned. Mark you that the revelation given to Moses was not simply of the burning bush. Thrust thine hand into thy bosom; and he thrust it in, and drew it out leprous. Thrust thine hand into thy bosom again; and he did so, and drew it out clean. What significance is here to remind him that the cause of his failure lay not in the want of high purpose and high moral methods! The failure was not the failure of Moses' purpose, it was not the failure of his high hopes; there was permanent power, possibly, but there was a leprous stain within the breast of the patriot, and he understood it so; for when at last his dream was nearly accomplished, and he had led the people out from beneath the tryannies of the Pharaohs, and had planted them in the wilderness, then he drew from the throne of God that real law, that holy code, and he gave it to them graven as the image of eternity upon permanent stone, and said this is the law of the longevity of the people; these ten commandments, engrafted into the people's life, made part of their aspirations, part of their feelings, part of their intellectual powers, part of their whole social life, will guarantee their permanence. It shall be your life if ye will observe to do these things. The vision had taught him that permanence was to be found in purity. 3. A revelation of personal power and love. Behind the purity is a personal God. We might pause a moment and say, Why is this? If I have this moral law, and if the possession of this righteous strength gives permanence, why this personal God behind? The answer is simple. You and I may think there is energy in law; but, after all, law is merely a name given to certain causes and effects and sequences. There is no inspiration necessary in law. To tell Moses, indeed, that here this people could live, that there was no reason why Israel should die, that the element of permanence might be there if only the element of righteousness was there, would be to mock Moses, who might have said, "All my patriotic hopes are gone; here I get the answer of permanence, but I do not get the guarantee of it. I get no inspiration as to whether any one cares." Lo! the answer is given: "God cares; these people that seemed God forsaken, have yet God as their God; righteousness is not a dead letter, righteousness is an expression of a living will, and an expression of a living will moulding human life to achieve some great and final thing." Thus he began to see that he was not struggling merely against the nerveless hearts of men, but living and loving hearts were co-operating with his, and the aspirations which had dawned within his breast were not simply his own weak thought, but were the answers back to the purposes of God; for in the best sense it is true that the aspirations of man are the aspirations of God; and when you realize that, then you begin to see how needed is the guarantee which Moses asked, "Give me strength; what am I that I should go?" Because He is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob — the God of this people who seemed to be no people; therefore their resurrection is possible. III. THE REVELATION WAS NOT FOR MOSES ALONE. You remember the scene in "Alton Locke," where the poet would go to the Southern Pacific, and there find inspiration for his song, and a shrewd Scotchman took him into the slums of a great city, where the squalor and dinginess of life existed, and said to him that the poet sees poetry everywhere — the poetry is there if you will turn your poet's eye upon it. So also is religion. There is in every common bush the light of God, and only those who see it draw off their shoes. It is the old story again. God is near, God is in this place, and we knew it not. You may say that the vision, and that faith which the life which has surrounded you, has slowly dimmed and numbed, and you say, "There is no revelation for me; my heart, my mind, is a wilderness now; there were little fruits and flowers in the garden of my early life, and I hoped to dedicate my life, and consecrate my services, to God — perhaps as a minister of His Church, perhaps in a high calling in the State; but now I have grown confused with new and strange thoughts, that rise sirocco-like; new things have swept away the old, and have left me no verdure and flowers in their place; I am in a wilderness, and there is no revelation of fire for me." Pardon me, there is. Alter your views. Do you never feel a sense of dissatisfaction? did ever cross your mind the law of self-condemnation, and have you not said, "I meant to make more of my life in this place of study, and meant to have worked for a purpose; and now I am dissatisfied? Where I meant to be a living agent, I have only become an idle dreamer. I look back upon a wasted and unprofitable life, and say, Woe is me! all the bright, hopeful views have gone, and my life is like a ship. wrecked thing." Is not that pain, which is the witness of your failure, the fire of God? He lets it burn, that it may burn away the base thing, and that you may see in the voice of noble discontent the possibility of stepping up once more to the dream of your early life, and by the strength of God achieving it. But we forget to turn aside to see the great sights about us. Give your hearts leisure sometimes to meet with God, and God will meet with you. Give your souls the opportunity of letting the light of God's vision shine sometimes with a possibility of reflection upon your own, life, and the fire will glow, and the bush will burn, and the revelation will begin. ( Bp. Boyd Carpenter. ) The vision and the voice T. Jones. I. THE VISION. 1. The vision was miraculous. 2. Moses had this vision when he was in solitude. 3. It was symbolic — (1) Of Israel in Egypt. (2) Of the Church in the world. (3) Of the truth of the gospel. (4) Of ourselves, who have the religious life within us. II. THE VOICE. 1. It revealed the majesty and grandeur of God. 2. It revealed the special providence of the great God — the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 3. It proclaimed the faithfulness of God. 4. It demanded reverence. ( T. Jones. ) Moses as the bush C. Stanford, D. D. This narrative is a chain of glorious wonders. We see here — I. AN OLD MAN CALLED TO GO OUT ON THE GREAT ERRAND OF HIS LIFE. The education of Moses for the great mission of his life lasted eighty years. God never sends forth fruit until the season is fitted for the fruit, and the fruit for the season; when the hour was ready for the man, and the man for the hour, then God sent forth Moses. II. THE BURNING BUSH FROM WHICH THAT CALL WAS SOUNDED. 1. This was a sign to indicate the peculiar presence of God. 2. It was also a symbol of His people, eminently adapted to encourage the prophet in undertaking their cause. III. THE ANGEL WHO UTTERED THIS CALL. We see at the first glance that He is Divine; we next learn that He is an angel; we further find, from a chain of Scripture proofs, that He is Christ. IV. THE COVENANT UNDER WHICH THE ANGEL GAVE HIM HIS COMMISSION. It was the same covenant that had been given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. V. THE ANGEL'S NAME. That name asserts — 1. His real existence. 2. His underived existence. 3. His independent existence. 4. His eternity. VI. THE EFFECT TO BE WROUGHT BY THE REMEMBRANCE OF HIS NAME. 1. It was intended to inspire profoundest reverence for the Being to whom it belongs. 2. It reveals the infinite sufficiency of a Christian's portion. 3. It gives encouragement to evangelical enterprise. ( C. Stanford, D. D. ) Moses' education and life-work E. L. Hull, B. A. I. HOW WAS THE EARLIER HISTORY OF MOSES AN EDUCATION FOR THE GREAT WORK OF HIS LIFE? In order to free his people from their bondage, Moses needed sympathy and faith; and the Bible gives us three phases of his life, wonderfully adapted to educate him in these qualities. 1. His education in the Egyptian court. 2. His attempt to convince the people of their brotherhood. 3. His flight into the wilderness. II. HOW DID THIS VISION EXPLAIN TO MOSES THE WORK OF HIS LIFE? 1. The vision of God prepared him for the work of his life. It showed him the everlastingness of God, and his own unworthiness to do God's work. But the voice upheld him amid the overwhelming sense of his nothingness, and made him feel his vocation. 2. The vision of God gave endurance in fulfilling that work. Even should his work seem to fail, he had a grasp on eternity which would keep him strong and true. ( E. L. Hull, B. A. ) The Divine call and its sign W. A. Gray. I. THE CALL OF THE CHOSEN LEADER. Moses was already a believing man, walking in favour and fellowship with God, and in sympathy with his down-trodden people. We must carefully distinguish between Moses' decision for God, and God's disclosure of duty to Moses. The one took place in his early manhood; the other was deferred till the threshold of old age, when God gave the charge of the story before us, and the servant's self-denying choice was rewarded by the sovereign's honourable commission. The two experiences differ, you see, as conversion from service, as personal consecration from official appointment, as entrance on a life of holiness from entrance on a life of work. 1. And here comes our first lesson — a lesson for all who, like Moses, await God's call — the lesson, namely, of faith and of self-restraint. Are we struck with the fact that of the hundred and twenty years assigned to Moses, eighty were spent in preparation, and only forty in work? But it is God's way. What seems a time of uselessness as regards the world may be a time of probation as regards yourself. And the time of probation, if quietly endured and conscientiously improved, may issue, ere God has done with you, in a work of deliverance on the earth, whose concentration, rapidity, and success may amply explain the preceding delay. 2. Take a second lesson at this point in passing — a lesson of diligence. I know not how God means to meet and to summon you, if, as in Moses' case, He has special service in store for you; but I am sure of this, that revelations of special service are given only in the midst of conscientious application to ordinary duty. 3. Learn here yet a third truth — a lesson of constant watchfulness. For though Moses was at the time unexpectant, he was not upon that account heedless. His mind was in sympathy with the spiritual and eternal, and his eye was kept open to discern it: Be sure that, for all his industry in his worldly calling, the mood of Moses was such that no indication or hint could escape him from the world that is unseen and Divine. And let us take that spirit along with us, if, like Moses, we would find the lights and the beacons of God on our path — a spirit of devout and careful attention, of inquiry, and of vigilant thought. 4. The lesson of reverence is needed too. While the secret of the Lord is for those that seek Him, it is also for those that fear Him. 5. Holy diffidence. Much of the best work with which the Church has been served has been rendered by men who, like Moses, were at first overcome by the thought of it, and would fain have drawn back had Providence permitted. Take the example of the great pioneer of the Church in Scotland — the leader of its glorious exodus from the superstition and tyranny of popery to the heritage which God had prepared for it, in the light wherewith His Spirit illumines, and the liberty wherewith His truth makes free. When Knox was called to the pastorate of the church of St. Andrews, and the first step was disclosed to him of a road that led onwards to service and fame, we read that a strange thing happened. The audience were gathered, the service was proceeded with, the wish of the people was announced by the officiating minister, and echoed back as he spoke by the cries of the people themselves. But when Knox rose to speak in return, he broke clown into tears, left the meeting-place abruptly, and enclosed himself in the privacy of his house; "and from that day," as the chronicler tells of him, "till the day he presented himself to preach, his countenance and behaviour did sufficiently declare the grief and the trouble of his heart, for no man saw any sign of mirth from him, neither had he pleasure to accompany any man for days together." Such feelings of diffidence and misgiving will a true man feel whensoever he is honoured with special service; nor, if he is wise, will he seek to repress it. II. THE REVELATION OF THE CHANGELESS GOD. Nothing will establish the Church, nothing will support and encourage its leaders in times of trial such as those through which Israel was passing, like the thought of the changelessness of God, and in especial the changelessness and eternity of His love, of which trials, however grievous, and temptations, however scorching, form only a brief and a passing phase. The processes God employs may be many, but the principle He acts on is one. The manifestations He makes of Himself may be various, but the character that underlies them is the same. ( W. A. Gray. ) Man in relation to mystery J. S. Exell, M. A. I. THAT SOMETIMES MEN MEET WITH MYSTERY IN THE PURSUIT OF THEIR DAILY CALLING. 1. This vision was unexpected. 2. This vision was educational. II. THAT SOMETIMES MYSTERY IS ASSOCIATED WITH THINGS OF A VERY ORDINARY CHARACTER. "A bush." The smallest, the most trivial, the apparently unmeaning things, events of life, are full of mystery, contain a heavenly presence, a Divine voice, will teach a reflective spirit, will become an impulse to a higher life — avocation. The bushes of life are full of mystery. The world is a great secret — is vocal with messages of freedom to listening souls. III. THAT MYSTERY SHOULD BE INVESTIGATED WITH THE UTMOST DEVOTION OF SOUL. "Put off thy shoes from off thy feet." 1. There must be devotion in opposition to levity. 2. There must be devotion in opposition to curiosity. Why this devotion? (1) Because mystery is holy. (2) Because mystery is authoritative. It commands us to take off our shoes. Its authority is Divine; will be recognized by true manhood. IV. THAT SOMETIMES GOOD MEN ARE FAVOURED WITH A GRAND UNFOLDING OF MYSTERY. "I am the God," etc. 1. God observes the conduct of men in relation to mystery. "And the Lord saw that he turned aside to see." What a subduing, inspiring thought, that God knows all the efforts of our souls in their investigation of mystery. 2. God speaks to men who are anxious to investigate mystery. "God called to him out of the midst of the bush." God speaks — allows us to investigate. 3. God reveals Himself as the great solution of all mystery. ( J. S. Exell, M. A. ) Desert revelations W. H. Davison, D. D. I. LET US CONTEMPLATE THE ELEMENT OF WONDER IN THE HISTORY. 1. This was the crowning preparation and call of Moses for his life's work. 2. This was to be the beginning of a new stage in the life and history of the chosen people, and of the history of the Divine unfolding. II. SOME OF THE ELEMENTS OF WONDER HERE ARE OLD. 1. The Angel Jehovah was not a created Being. The designation is evidently used in a special sense, because, He speaks as God Himself and receives Divine homage. Here it means the Divine as self-revealing; the Infinite bringing Himself into relations of knowledge with a limited and finite creature, and into relations of covenanted grace and mercy. It is God to whom we can get near, understand, grasp, love, serve, obey. 2. The Angel Jehovah was God of the fathers. But He was revealed to them as El Shaddai, God Almighty. 3. But what He had been to the fathers He still was. The fathers' God! The God of our dead! The sanctities of home life go into and along with our religion. 4. There was still another old element in the wonder; and that was the Fire. This was the same element which appeared amid and upon the cherubic symbols, darting hither and thither like flashing sword in the sunshine at the gate of Eden, and which we read of as "the Presence," the faces of Jehovah; and as "the glory of the Lord." III. BUT TO THE WONDER WHICH WAS OLD THERE WERE ELEMENTS ADDED WHICH ARE NEW. God reveals Himself here under a new name. An old word is vitalized with a new meaning, and is laid at the foundation of a dispensation. He will be known in all the Mosaic times and institutions, not as El Shaddai, but as Jehovah, "I am that I am." He is the one self-existent, unchangeable, ever-living God of ages. From everlasting to everlasting God. But the name is adopted and comes into use, specially in relation to the deliverance from Egypt and the constitution of the nation. So it means, the Sovereign Ruler and Ordainer of the Ages, who has become a Righteous Deliverer and Redeemer. ( W. H. Davison, D. D. ) The burning bush A. Nevins, D. D. 1. Observe the substance of the figure. Not a fine tall tree, a cedar or a cypress, but a bush — a mere bush. Such is the image of the Church — poor and humble. It was at one time in the ark, and there was a wicked Ham, at another in the family of Abraham, and there was a mocking Ishmael. It was now in Egypt, consisting of slaves and brickmakers. Jesus had not where to lay His head, His followers were the common people, His apostles were fishermen. 2. Observe the condition of the bush. It burned with fire. Fire denotes suffering. Christians must have tribulation in the world. They are never to consider "fiery trials" as strange things. Of how many can God say, "I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction"? 3. Mark the bush's preservation. The bush was not consumed. Sometimes the Church has burned in the fire of persecution, and sometimes of derision. But with what result? Whilst kingdoms and empires have passed away, and not a wreck of them is left but some vestiges in ruins, lingering in monumental mockery of the boasts of men, the Church still stands, as she is destined ever to do, in the light and strength of her omnipotent and faithful Lord. And this is as true of every individual believer as of the whole Church collectively. ( A. Nevins, D. D. ) The bush as an emblem A. Nevins, D. D. Some also see in this bush an emblem of — 1. The awfulness of God's offended justice ( Deuteronomy 4:21 ; Malachi 3:2 ). 2. The incarnation and sufferings of Christ, the bush representing His human nature ( Isaiah 53:2 ), the flame of fire shadowing forth His Divine nature ( Deuteronomy 4:24 ), and the union of the flame with the bush denoting the union of the Divine with the human nature. 3. Those dreadful sufferings by which sin should be expiated — Christ enduring the fierce flames of the wrath of God, yet not consumed ( Hebrews 9:28 ). ( A. Nevins, D. D. ) Was this a great sight? A. Nevins, D. D. 1. It was the great I AM who exhibited it. 2. It afforded a bright gleam of hope to Israel, that their bondage was nearly over (vers. 7, 8).In order to see this great sight, we must turn aside — 1. From the world ( 1 John 2:15 ; 2 Corinthians 6:17 ). 2. Carnal reasoning ( 1 Corinthians 2:14 ; John 3:9 ). 3. All known sin ( Ephesians 4:17, 18 ; 2 Peter 1:9 ). ( A. Nevins, D. D. ) The God of Moses Lyman Abbott, D. D. Here we have an account of God s disclosure of Himself to Moses; we have that which is the root out of which Moses' whole conception of God and His government grew. Laying aside all preconceptions and prejudices, let us see what sort of a portrait this chapter gives us: 1. It shows us a self-revealing God; a God who discloses Himself to the human race, and communicates with them. 2. This God is one who is not indifferent to the woes and sufferings of His people. 3. He is a God of deliverance. 4. In working out this deliverance, He chooses human and imperfect instruments. 5. The very name by which God at once reveals and conceals Himself suggests the similitude between the Old Testament and the New Testament revelations. "I am," says Jehovah to Moses; "you must trust Me and walk by faith in My assurance, and not in an intellectual comprehension of My character and My purposes." "I am," says Christ to Philip; "you must trust in Me, and walk by your faith in Me: not by an understanding of what the Father is who hath sent Me, or a comprehension of what the Father purposes to accomplish in and by you." In a sense the Egyptian inscription, the Athenian altar, and Herbert Spencer's definition are true; God is the Unknown and Unknowable. The intellect tries in vain to draw aside the veil; but love and sympathy pass behind it. Philosophy in vain endeavours to analyse and interpret mother-love; but the child in simplicity and faith reposes on it. The God of Moses and the God of the twelve disciples are alike in this — that They are the incomprehensible "I am"; to be loved, trusted, obeyed, rested on, but never to be measured, fathomed and understood. Sometimes from my hill-side home among the Highlands of the Hudson I see, fifty miles away, obscured by haze and overhanging clouds, and partially veiled, perhaps, in mist or rain, the distant outline of the Catskill range; and then the veil is drawn aside, the turbaned mist is lifted off their foreheads, and that which before was dim and indistinct stands out against the dark background of sky in clear, intelligible outline, yet leaving all the dress of grey rock and green tree and foaming cataract, and dark gloom, and flitting sunshine breaking through the trees, to the imagination; for at best it is only an outline I can see. So in the Old Testament I look upon the outline of my God veiled in cloud; in the New Testament the cloud is lifted, the mist is cleared away, and through an atmosphere like that of the most perfect October day I look on the same outline, distinct and beautiful against a heavenly background: and still it is but an outline that I see of the mystery and majesty of the nature I shall never know, never be able even to explore, until I stand in His presence and am invited to know Him even as I am known. ( Lyman Abbott, D. D. ) Moses and the burning bush Homilist. 1. That God's purposes are punctual in their accomplishment (see Genesis 15 .). The clock of time had now struck the four hundred years, and God forthwith began to redeem His pledge. 2. That God's purposes, in relation to our world, are generally accomplished by the agency of man. 3. That the men whom God employs for the carrying out of His purposes, He qualifies by a special revelation. 4. That this special revelation which He vouchsafes, is frequently symbolical in its character. All nature is a symbol. Truth in symbol is palpable, attractive, impressive. The burning bush was a symbol. But what did it symbolize? God's presence. I. OBSERVE MOSES DIRECTING HIS EARNEST ATTENTION TO THE DIVINE REVELATION. 1. Moses directs his attention to it, under an impression of its greatness. 2. Moses directs his attention to it, in order to ascertain its import. It is ever so with a true student of the Bible. He will seek to find out "the reason of things." II. OBSERVE MOSES HOLDING INTERCOURSE WITH GOD THROUGH THE DIVINE REVELATION. 1. God's communications depended upon his attention. Only he who looks and inquires, hears in the Bible the voice of God. 2. God's communications were consciously personal to him. 3. God's communications were directive and elevating. III. OBSERVE MOSES REALIZING THE PROFOUNDEST IMPRESSIONS THROUGH THE DIVINE REVELATION. "Hid his face," etc. 1. These impressions are peculiarly becoming in sinful intelligences. The Bible is designed to produce reverence for God. 2. These impressions are necessary to qualify men for God's work. 3. These impressions are consonant with the highest dignity and enjoyment. He that is consciously least is always greatest. ( Homilist. ) The burning bush Homilist. I. THE LOCALITY. How many noted Scriptural events took place on mountains! 1. It seems as if they were above the common herd of man. 2. They are difficult of access. All religious duties must be connected with difficulty. 3. They were mostly places of solitude. II. THE SPOT. A bush. 1. Its insignificance. 2. Its incongruity. What apparent connection between God and a bush? 3. Its intrinsic worthlessness. III. THE PHENOMENON. 1. The bush burned with fire. God's glory appeared in it, humble as it was. 2. The bush, though burning, was not consumed. ( Homilist. ) Moses encouraged by the burning bush Homilist. Some would have us learn, that it is God's glory makes the Church beautiful, and gives the poor bush its excellence and power; others, that the burning fire represents the afflictions to which we are subject as Christians, which exist, but do not consume the soul. We may, indeed, profitably extract any such lessons; they all help us on our way. But I think the appearance was only intended to encourage Moses. He was sent forth to go to Pharaoh, but complained of his own inability. God showed him that it was not the power of the instrument that was to prevail, but the influence of the Spirit which animated it; even as it was not the bush which was remarkable, but the fire which dwelt in it. ( Homilist. ) The betraying bush; or, the Church in the world D. Rowlands, B. A. Remember also, that you may attain the end of your being in any place; that you may adorn with moral beauty the very humblest sphere; that you may confer upon your position greater dignity than any position could possibly confer upon you. When we read the histories of the world's brightest characters, we seem to forget altogether the social ranks to which they belonged; the dazzling brightness of their heroism, their valour, their truth, makes their outward surroundings of no account; the one prominent fact which forces itself upon our attention is, that they acquitted themselves like. men, and won the admiration of all succeeding ages. Who ever stops to reflect that John Bunyan was a tinker; that Paul the apostle was a tent-maker; that Jesus of Nazareth was a carpenter's son? Be it ours, therefore, not to murmur at our circumstances, but to make the most of whatever circumstances in which we may be placed. Let us learn from this scene how to conduct ourselves in God's presence. Of course, God is present everywhere, our conduct should therefore be an habitual recognition of this solemn fact. Still there are times and places in which we come into God's special presence. When we open God's book, and meditate upon its contents, and endeavour to profit in the study of it, His presence breathes in every page, and speaks words of mercy, warning, and encouragement to our souls. Ah! my friends, it makes one sad to think, how men can treat their Bible as if it were mere trash; how men can repeat their prayers, as if they were useless forms; how men can hear the gospel, as if it were a worthless tale! I. THE CHURCH IN THE MIDST OF THE WORLD. The primary reference in the text is to the Jewish Church in Egypt. There is an uncompromising antagonism, an eternal conflict, between the Church and the world. And the Church being comparitively small in number, engages in this conflict at great odds. Hence it frequently seems as if she must be eventually overcome. The spirit of this world is in direct opposition to the principles which the Church is commissioned to hold forth. The morality which it propagates is a standing protest against the world's most cherished notions. Is it likely that such teaching as this should provoke no opposition? It has provoked opposition of the strongest, keenest, deadliest kind. I shall not detain you with any account of the horrible persecutions which the Church has passed through during the last eighteen centuries of its history. But in spite of all, the Church has proved itself invincible; though persecuted, it has not been cast down; though burned with fire, it has not been consumed. Nay, we can say even more. The very trials to which the Church has been exposed, have only helped to develop its powers, to widen its influence, to make it what it is at the present day. The bush has been set on fire. True. But what then? The fire itself has been for its benefit; fanned into a mighty conflagration, it has shone all the more brilliantly in the midst of the world's darkness. II. GOD IN THE MIDST OF THE CHURCH. The glory which appeared in the bush is a fit emblem of God's presence in the Church — His life-giving presence — His protecting presence — His conquering presence. God is in the heart of every true member of the Church, God is the source of his spiritual life, God is the secret of his spiritual power. God's presence is the Church's chief defence. It is not strange that she has been so firm, so immovable, so enduring, when we consider the mighty Being, whose power has protected her. "The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge." But this great fact — this ever-abiding presence of God in the Church — suggests a still more precious thought; for it is a guarantee for the Church's future; its future safety, its future triumphs, its future glory. ( D. Rowlands, B. A. ) The burning bush J. McNeill. Moses was not engaged in any unworthy work, or any career of sin. He was tending the flock of his father-in-law, and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God. Here, perhaps, he had been often before, but as he led the flock along that familiar track, suddenly there came to hi

Benson Commentary Exodus 3:1 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. Exodus 3:1 . Now Moses — The years of Moses’s life are remarkably divided into three forties; the first forty he spent as a prince in Pharaoh’s court, the second a shepherd in Midian, the third a king in Jeshurun. He had now finished his second forty when he received his commission to bring Israel out of Egypt. Sometimes it is long before God calls his servants out to that work which of old he designed them for. Moses was born to be Israel’s deliverer, and yet not a word is said of him till he is eighty years of age. To the mountain of God — So called, either from the vision of God here following, (see Acts 7:30 ,) or by anticipation, from God’s glorious appearance there, and his giving the law from thence. Even to Horeb — Called also Sinai, Exodus 19:1 . Probably Horeb was the name of the whole tract of mountains, and Sinai the name of that particular elevation where the vision happened, and the law was delivered: or Horeb and Sinai were two different summits of the same mountain. Exodus 3:2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. Exodus 3:2 . The Angel of the Lord appeared to him — Not a created angel, but the Angel of the covenant, Christ, who then and ever was God, and was to be man, and a messenger from God to man. He, termed the Angel of God’s presence, ( Isaiah 63:9 ,) had wrestled with Jacob, ( Genesis 32:24 ;) and had redeemed him from all evil, ( Genesis 48:16 ;) and afterward conducted his posterity through the wilderness, 1 Corinthians 10:4 . These his temporary appearances were presages of his more solemn mission and coming, on account of which he is fitly called the Angel or Messenger. That this angel was no creature, appears from his saying, I am the Lord, a language which angels never speak; but, I am sent from God — I am thy fellow-servant. In a flame of fire — Representing God’s majesty, purity, and power, and showing that he was about to bring terror and destruction to his enemies, and light and comfort to his people, and to display his glory before all. The bush burned and was not consumed — An emblem of the church now in bondage in Egypt, burning in the brick-kilns, yet not consumed; cast down, but not destroyed; for God was in the burning bush, was and always will be present with his people in their sufferings; Isaiah 43:2 ; Daniel 3:25 . Exodus 3:3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. Exodus 3:3-4 . I will turn aside and see — He speaks as one inquisitive and bold in his inquiry: whatever it was, he would, if possible, know the meaning of it. God called to him, and said, Moses, Moses — Probably there had been no appearance of God to any one since Jacob’s descent into Egypt, above two hundred years before: and Moses, being addressed thus by name, must have been much more surprised by what he heard than by what he saw. Divine calls are then effectual when the Spirit of God makes them particular, and calls us as by name. He said, Here am I — Not only to hear what is spoken, but to do what is commanded. Exodus 3:4 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. Exodus 3:5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Exodus 3:5 . Draw not nigh hither — Keep thy distance. Thus God checks his curiosity and forwardness, and disposes his mind to the greater reverence and humility. Put off thy shoes from thy feet — This is required as a token of his reverence for the Divine Majesty, then and there eminently present; of his humiliation for his sins, which rendered him unworthy to appear before God; of his putting away all sin in his walk or conversation; and of his submission and readiness to obey God’s will; for which reason slaves were wont to approach their masters barefooted. We find the same direction given to Joshua, for the same reason, Joshua 5:15 . And it seems not improbable that putting off the shoes, as a sign of humiliation and veneration, was a ceremony observed by the patriarchs in their religious worship. Buxtorf says, that to this day the Jews go to their synagogues barefoot on the day of atonement, (Jud. Synag., c. 30, p. 57,) and many learned men suppose that the priests officiated barefoot in the tabernacle and temple. The custom of treading barefoot in holy places seems to have been general in the East: the Egyptians used it: and Pythagoras, who recommends to his disciples to worship, putting off their shoes, ( ?????????? ????????? ,) is thought to have learned this rite from them. The Mohammedans observe this ceremony at the present time, as do also the Christians of Abyssinia. The truth seems to be, as Henry observes, that putting off the shoes was then what putting off the hat is now, a token of respect and submission. The ground is holy — Not absolutely, but in relation to him who sanctified it by this peculiar manifestation of his presence. We ought to approach to God with a solemn pause and preparation; and to express our inward reverence by a grave and reverent behaviour in the worship of God, carefully avoiding every thing that looks light or rude. Exodus 3:6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God. Exodus 3:6 . I am, &c. — He lets him know it is God that speaks to him, to engage his reverence, faith, and obedience. The God of thy father — Thy pious father Amram, and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, thy ancestors: engaged to them by solemn covenant, which I am now come to perform. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God — The more we see of God, the more cause we shall see to worship him with reverence and godly fear. And even the manifestations of God’s grace should increase our humble reverence of him. Exodus 3:7 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; Exodus 3:8 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. Exodus 3:8 . I am come down to deliver them — When God doth something very extraordinary, he is said to come down to do it, as Isaiah 64:1 . This deliverance was typical of our redemption by Christ, and in that the eternal Word did indeed come down from heaven to deliver us. A large land — So it was, according to its true and ancient bounds, as they are described, ( Genesis 15:18 ,) and not according to those narrow limits, to which they were afterward confined for their unbelief and impiety. A land flowing with milk and honey — A proverbial expression: abounding with the choicest fruits, both for necessity and delight. Exodus 3:9 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. Exodus 3:10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. Exodus 3:10 . I will send thee — And the same hand that now fetched a shepherd out of a desert to be the planter of the Jewish Church, afterward fetched fishermen from their ships to be the planters of the Christian Church, that the excellency of the power might be of God. Exodus 3:11 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? Exodus 3:11 . Who am I? — He thinks himself unworthy of the honour, and unable for the work. He thinks he wants courage, and therefore cannot go to Pharaoh: he thinks he wants conduct, and therefore cannot bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt — They are unarmed, undisciplined, quite dispirited, utterly unable to help themselves. Moses was incomparably the fittest of any man living for this work, eminent for learning, wisdom, experience, valour, faith, holiness, and yet he says, Who am I? The more fit any person is for service, the less opinion he has of himself. Exodus 3:12 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. Exodus 3:12 . Certainly I will be with thee — Those that are weak in themselves, yet may do wonders, being strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. God’s presence puts wisdom and strength into the weak and foolish, and is enough to answer all objections. Exodus 3:13 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? Exodus 3:13 . When they shall say, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? — What name shall I use, whereby thou mayest be distinguished from false gods, and thy people may be encouraged to expect deliverance from thee? Exodus 3:14 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. Exodus 3:14 . God said — Two names God would be known by: 1st, A name that speaks what he is in himself, I AM THAT I AM. The Septuagint renders the words ???? ? ?? , I AM the existing Being, or HE WHO IS; and the Chaldee, I AM HE WHO IS, and WHO WILL BE. That is, I am He that enjoys an essential, independent, immutable, and necessary existence, He that IS , and WAS, and IS TO COME. It explains his name Jehovah, and signifies, 1st, That he is self- existent: he has his being of himself, and has no dependance on any other. And being self-existent, he cannot but be self-sufficient, and therefore all-sufficient, and the inexhaustible fountain of being and blessedness. 2d, That he is eternal and unchangeable: the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. For the words are with equal propriety rendered, I WILL BE WHAT I AM, or, I AM WHAT I WILL BE, or, I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE. Other beings are, and have been, and shall be; but because what they have been might have been otherwise, and what they are might possibly not have been at all, and what they shall be may be very different from what now is therefore their changeable, dependant, and precarious essence, which to-day may be one thing, to- morrow another thing, and the next day possibly nothing at all, scarce deserves the name of being. There is another consideration which makes this name peculiarly applicable to God, namely that he is the fountain of all being and perfection, and that from him all things have derived their existence; so that it is he alone that has life in himself: and no creature, of whatever rank or order, has so much as an existence of its own: For in him we live, and move, and have our being. And though divers of God’s attributes are, through his goodness, participated by his creatures, yet because they possess them in a way so inferior to that transcendent, peculiar, and divine manner in which they belong to God, the Scriptures seem absolutely to exclude created beings from any title to those attributes. Thus our Saviour says, There is none good but one, that is God. Thus St. Paul terms God the only Potentate, though the earth be shared by several potentates; and the only wise God, though many men and the holy angels are wise. And thus he describes him as one who only hath immortality, although angels and human souls are also immortal. In so incommunicable a manner does the superiority of God’s nature make him possess those very excellences which the diffusiveness of his goodness has induced him to communicate. 3d, That he is faithful and true to all his promises, unchangeable in his word, as well as in his nature; and not a man that he should lie. Let Israel know this; I AM hath sent me unto you. Exodus 3:15 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. Exodus 3:15 . God will be known, 2d, By a name that speaks what he is to his people. Lest they should not understand the name I AM, Moses is directed to make use of another name of God more familiar to them. The Lord God of your fathers hath sent me unto you — Thus God made himself known, that he might revive among them the religion of their fathers, which was much decayed, and almost lost. And, that he might raise their expectations of the speedy performance of the promises made unto their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are particularly named, because with Abraham the covenant was first made, and with Isaac and Jacob often expressly renewed, and these three were distinguished from their brethren, and chosen to be the trustees of the covenant. This God will have to be his name for ever, and it has been, is, and will be his name, by which his worshippers know him, and distinguish him from all false gods. Exodus 3:16 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: Exodus 3:17 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. Exodus 3:18 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. Exodus 3:18-19 . Hath met with us — Hath appeared to us, declaring his will, that we should do what follows. I am sure he will not let you go — God sends his messengers to those whose obstinacy he foresees, that it may appear he would have them turn and live. Exodus 3:19 And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand. Exodus 3:20 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. Exodus 3:21 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: Exodus 3:22 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 spoil the Egyptians. Exodus 3:22 . Every woman shall ask, ????? , shaalah, (not borrow,) jewels. And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians — God sometimes makes the enemies of his people not only to be at peace with them, but to be kind to them. And he has many ways of balancing accounts between the injured and the injurious, of righting the oppressed, and compelling those that have done wrong to make restitution. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Exodus 3:1 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. 5 CHAPTER III. THE BURNING BUSH. Exodus 2:23 - Exodus 3:1-22 "In process of time the king of Egypt died," probably the great Raamses, no other of whose dynasty had a reign which extended over the indicated period of time. If so, he had while living every reason to expect an immortal fame, as the greatest among Egyptian kings, a hero, a conqueror on three continents, a builder of magnificent works. But he has only won an immortal notoriety. "Every stone in his buildings was cemented in human blood." The cause he persecuted has made deathless the banished refugee, and has gibbeted the great monarch as a tyrant, whose misplanned severities wrought the ruin of his successor and his army. Such are the reversals of popular judgment: and such the vanity of fame. For all the contemporary fame was his. "The children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried." Another monarch had come at last, a change after sixty-seven years, and yet no change for them! It filled up the measure of their patience, and also of the iniquity of Egypt. We are not told that their cry was addressed to the Lord; what we read is that it reached Him, Who still overhears and pities many a sob, many a lament, which ought to have been addressed to Him, and is not. Indeed, if His compassion were not to reach men until they had remembered and prayed to Him, who among us would ever have learned to pray to Him at all? Moreover He remembered His covenant with their forefathers, for the fulfilment of which the time had now arrived. "And God saw the children of Israel, and God took knowledge of them." These were not the cries of religious individuals, but of oppressed masses. It is therefore a solemn question to ask How many such appeals ascend from Christian England? Behold, the hire of labourers ... held back by fraud crieth out. The half-paid slaves of our haste to be rich, and the victims of our drinking institutions, and of hideous vices which entangle and destroy the innocent and unconscious, what cries to heaven are theirs! As surely as those which St. James records, these have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Of these sufferers every one is His own by purchase, most of them by a covenant and sacrament more solemn than bound Him to His ancient Israel. Surely He hears their groaning. And all whose hearts are touched with compassion, yet who hesitate whether to bestir themselves or to remain inert while evil is masterful and cruel, should remember the anger of God when Moses said, "Send, I pray Thee, by whom Thou wilt send." The Lord is not indifferent. Much less than other sufferers should those who know God be terrified by their afflictions. Cyprian encouraged the Church of his time to endure even unto martyrdom, by the words recorded of ancient Israel, that the more they afflicted them, so much the more they became greater and waxed stronger. And he was right. For all these things happened to them for ensamples, and were written for our admonition. It is further to be observed that the people were quite unconscious, until Moses announced it afterwards, that they were heard by God. Yet their deliverer had now been prepared by a long process for his work. We are not to despair because relief does not immediately appear: though He tarry, we are to wait for Him. While this anguish was being endured in Egypt, Moses was maturing for his destiny. Self-reliance, pride of place, hot and impulsive aggressiveness, were dying in his bosom. To the education of the courtier and scholar was now added that of the shepherd in the wilds, amid the most solemn and awful scenes of nature, in solitude, humiliation, disappointment, and, as we learn from the Epistle to the Hebrews, in enduring faith. Wordsworth has a remarkable description of the effect of a similar discipline upon the good Lord Clifford. He tells-- "How he, long forced in humble paths to go, Was softened into feeling, soothed and tamed. "Love had he found in huts where poor men lie, His daily teachers had been woods and rills, The silence that is in the starry sky, The sleep that is among the lonely hills. "In him the savage virtues of the race, Revenge, and all ferocious thoughts, were dead; Nor did he change, but kept in lofty place The wisdom which adversity had bred." There was also the education of advancing age, which teaches many lessons, and among them two which are essential to leadership,--the folly of a hasty blow, and of impulsive reliance upon the support of mobs. Moses the man-slayer became exceeding meek; and he ceased to rely upon the perception of his people that God by him would deliver them. His distrust, indeed, became as excessive as his temerity had been, but it was an error upon the safer side. "Behold, they will not believe me," he says, "nor hearken unto my voice." It is an important truth that in very few lives the decisive moment comes just when it is expected. Men allow themselves to be self-indulgent, extravagant and even wicked, often upon the calculation that their present attitude matters little, and they will do very differently when the crisis arrives, the turning-point in their career to nerve them. And they waken up with a start to find their career already decided, their character moulded. As a snare shall the day of the Lord come upon all flesh; and as a snare come all His great visitations meanwhile. When Herod was drinking among bad companions, admiring a shameless dancer, and boasting loudly of his generosity, he was sobered and saddened to discover that he had laughed away the life of his only honest adviser. Moses, like David, was "following the ewes great with young," when summoned by God to rule His people Israel. Neither did the call arrive when he was plunged in moody reverie and abstraction, sighing over his lost fortunes and his defeated aspirations, rebelling against his lowly duties. The humblest labour is a preparation for the brightest revelations, whereas discontent, however lofty, is a preparation for nothing. Thus, too, the birth of Jesus was first announced to shepherds keeping watch over their flock. Yet hundreds of third-rate young persons in every city in this land today neglect their work, and unfit themselves for any insight, or any leadership whatever, by chafing against the obscurity of their vocation. Who does not perceive that the career of Moses hitherto was divinely directed? The fact that we feel this, although, until now, God has not once been mentioned in his personal story, is surely a fine lesson for those who have only one notion of what edifies--the dragging of the most sacred names and phrases into even the most unsuitable connections. In truth, such a phraseology is much less attractive than a certain tone, a recognition of the unseen, which may at times be more consistent with reverential silence than with obtrusive utterance. It is enough to be ready and fearless when the fitting time comes, which is sure to arrive, for the religious heart as for this narrative--the time for the natural utterance of the great word, God. We read that the angel of the Lord appeared to him--a remarkable phrase, which was already used in connection with the sacrifice of Isaac ( Genesis 22:11 ). How much it implies will better be discussed in the twenty-third chapter, where a fuller statement is made. For the present it is enough to note, that this is one pre-eminent angel, indicated by the definite article; that he is clearly the medium of a true divine appearance, because neither the voice nor form of any lesser being is supposed to be employed, the appearance being that of fire, and the words being said to be the direct utterance of the Lord, not of any one who says, Thus saith the Lord. We shall see hereafter that the story of the Exodus is unique in this respect, that in training a people tainted with Egyptian superstitions, no 'similitude' is seen, as when there wrestled a man with Jacob, or when Ezekiel saw a human form upon the sapphire pavement. Man is the true image of God, and His perfect revelation was in flesh. But now that expression of Himself was perilous, and perhaps unsuitable besides; for He was to be known as the Avenger, and presently as the Giver of Law, with its inflexible conditions and its menaces. Therefore He appeared as fire, which is intense and terrible, even when "the flame of the grace of God does not consume, but illuminates." There is a notion that religion is languid, repressive, and unmanly. But such is not the scriptural idea. In His presence is the fulness of joy. Christ has come that we might have life, and might have it more abundantly. They who are shut out from His blessedness are said to be asleep and dead. And so Origen quotes this passage among others, with the comment that "As God is a fire, and His angels a flame of fire, and all the saints fervent in spirit, so they who have fallen away from God are said to have cooled, or to have become cold" ( De Princip. , ii. 8). A revelation by fire involves intensity. There is indeed another explanation of the burning bush, which makes the flame express only the afflictions that did not consume the people. But this would be a strange adjunct to a divine appearance for their deliverance, speaking rather of the continuance of suffering than of its termination, for which the extinction of such fire would be a more appropriate symbol. Yet there is an element of truth even in this view, since fire is connected with affliction. In His holiness God is light (with which, in the Hebrew, the very word for holiness seems to be connected); in His judgments He is fire. "The Light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame, and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day" ( Isaiah 10:17 ). But God reveals Himself in this thorn bush as a fire which does not consume; and such a revelation tells at once Who has brought the people into affliction, and also that they are not abandoned to it. To Moses at first there was visible only an extraordinary phenomenon; He turned to see a great sight. It is therefore out of the question to find here the truth, so easy to discover elsewhere, that God rewards the religious inquirer--that they who seek after Him shall find Him. Rather we learn the folly of deeming that the intellect and its inquiries are at war with religion and its mysteries, that revelation is at strife with mental insight, that he who most stupidly refuses to "see the great sights" of nature is best entitled to interpret the voice of God. When the man of science gives ear to voices not of earth, and the man of God has eyes and interest for the divine wonders which surround us, many a discord will be harmonised. With the revival of classical learning came the Reformation. But it often happens that the curiosity of the intellect is in danger of becoming irreverent, and obtrusive into mysteries not of the brain, and thus the voice of God must speak in solemn warning: "Moses, Moses, ... Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." After as prolonged a silence as from the time of Malachi to the Baptist, it is God Who reveals Himself once more--not Moses who by searching finds Him out. And this is the established rule. Tidings of the Incarnation came from heaven, or man would not have discovered the Divine Babe. Jesus asked His two first disciples "What seek ye?" and told Simon "Thou shalt be called Cephas," and pronounced the listening Nathaniel "an Israelite indeed," and bade Zaccheus "make haste and come down," in each case before He was addressed by them. The first words of Jehovah teach something more than ceremonial reverence. If the dust of common earth on the shoe of Moses may not mingle with that sacred soil, how dare we carry into the presence of our God mean passions and selfish cravings? Observe, too, that while Jacob, when he awoke from his vision, said, "How dreadful is this place!" ( Genesis 28:17 ), God Himself taught Moses to think rather of the holiness than the dread of His abode. Nevertheless Moses also was afraid to look upon God, and hid the face which was thereafter to be veiled, for a nobler reason, when it was itself illumined with the divine glory. Humility before God is thus the path to the highest honour, and reverence, to the closest intercourse. Meantime the Divine Person has announced Himself: "I am the God of thy father" (father is apparently singular with a collective force), "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." It is a blessing which every Christian parent should bequeath to his child, to be strengthened and invigorated by thinking of God as his father's God. It was with this memorable announcement that Jesus refuted the Sadducees and established His doctrine of the resurrection. So, then, the bygone ages are not forgotten: Moses may be sure that a kindly relation exists between God and himself, because the kindly relation still exists in all its vital force which once bound Him to those who long since appeared to die. It was impossible, therefore, our Lord inferred, that they had really died at all. The argument is a forerunner of that by which St. Paul concludes, from the resurrection of Christ, that none who are "in Christ" have perished. Nay, since our Lord was not disputing about immortality only, but the resurrection of the body, His argument implied that a vital relationship with God involved the imperishability of the whole man, since all was His, and in truth the very seal of the covenant was imprinted upon the flesh. How much stronger is the assurance for us, who know that our very bodies are His temple! Now, if any suspicion should arise that the argument, which is really subtle, is over-refined and untrustworthy, let it be observed that no sooner was this announcement made, than God added the proclamation of His own immutability, so that it cannot be said He was, but from age to age His title is I AM. The inference from the divine permanence to the living and permanent vitality of all His relationships is not a verbal quibble, it is drawn from the very central truth of this great scripture. And now for the first time God calls Israel My people, adopting a phrase already twice employed by earthly rulers ( Genesis 23:11 , Genesis 41:40 ), and thus making Himself their king and the champion of their cause. Often afterwards it was used in pathetic appeal:--"Thou hast showed Thy people hard things,"--"Thou sellest Thy people for nought,"--"Behold, look, we beseech Thee; we are all Thy people" ( Psalm 60:3 , Psalm 44:12 ; Isaiah 64:9 ). And often it expressed the returning favour of their king: "Hear, O My people, and I will speak"; "Comfort ye, comfort ye My people" ( Psalm 50:7 ; Isaiah 40:1 ). It is used of the nation at large, all of whom were brought into the covenant, although with many of them God was not well pleased. And since it does not belong only to saints, but speaks of a grace which might be received in vain, it is a strong appeal to all Christian people, all who are within the New Covenant. Them also the Lord claims and pities, and would gladly emancipate: their sorrows also He knows. "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; 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." Thus the ways of God exceed the desires of men. Their subsequent complaints are evidence that Egypt had become their country: gladly would they have shaken off the iron yoke, but a successful rebellion is a revolution, not an Exodus. Their destined home was very different: with the widest variety of climate, scenery, and soil, a land which demanded much more regular husbandry, but rewarded labour with exuberant fertility. Secluded from heathenism by deserts on the south and east, by a sublime range of mountains on the north, and by a sea with few havens on the west, yet planted in the very bosom of all the ancient civilisation which at the last it was to leaven, it was a land where a faithful people could have dwelt alone and not been reckoned among the nations, yet where the scourge for disobedience was never far away. Next after the promise of this good land, the commission of Moses is announced. He is to act, because God is already active: " I am come down to deliver them ... come now, therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth My people." And let this truth encourage all who are truly sent of God, to the end of time, that He does not send us to deliver man, until He is Himself prepared to do so, that when our fears ask, like Moses, Who am I, that I should go? He does not answer, Thou art capable, but Certainly I will go with thee. So, wherever the ministry of the word is sent, there is a true purpose of grace. There is also the presence of One who claims the right to bestow upon us the same encouragement which was given to Moses by Jehovah, saying, "Lo, I am with you alway." In so saying, Jesus made Himself equal with God. And as this ancient revelation of God was to give rest to a weary and heavy-laden people, so Christ bound together the assertion of a more perfect revelation, made in Him, with the promise of a grander emancipation. No man knoweth the Father save by revelation of the Son is the doctrine which introduces the great offer "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest" ( Matthew 11:27-28 ). The claims of Christ in the New Testament will never be fully recognised until a careful study is made of His treatment of the functions which in the Old Testament are regarded as Divine. A curious expression follows: "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." It seems but vague encouragement, to offer Moses, hesitating at the moment, a token which could take effect only when his task was wrought. And yet we know how much easier it is to believe what is thrown into distinct shape and particularised. Our trust in good intentions is helped when their expression is detailed and circumstantial, as a candidate for office will reckon all general assurances of support much cheaper than a pledge to canvass certain electors within a certain time. Such is the constitution of human nature; and its Maker has often deigned to sustain its weakness by going thus into particulars. He does the same for us, condescending to embody the most profound of all mysteries in sacramental emblems, clothing his promises of our future blessedness in much detail, and in concrete figures which at least symbolise, if they do not literally describe, the glories of the Jerusalem which is above. Exodus 3:10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. THE COMMISSION. Exodus 3:10 , Exodus 3:16-22 . We have already learned from the seventh verse that God commissioned Moses, only when He had Himself descended to deliver Israel. He sends none, except with the implied or explicit promise that certainly He will be with them. But the converse is also true. If God sends no man but when He comes Himself, He never comes without demanding the agency of man. The overruled reluctance of Moses, and the inflexible urgency of his commission, may teach us the honour set by God upon humanity. He has knit men together in the mutual dependence of nations and of families, that each may be His minister to all; and in every great crisis of history He has respected His own principle, and has visited the race by means of the providential man. The gospel was not preached by angels. Its first agents found themselves like sheep among wolves: they were an exhibition to the world and to angels and men, yet necessity was laid upon them, and a woe if they preached it not. All the best gifts of heaven come to us by the agency of inventor and sage, hero and explorer, organiser and philanthropist, patriot, reformer and saint. And the hope which inspires their grandest effort is never that of selfish gain, nor even of fame, though fame is a keen spur, which perhaps God set before Moses in the noble hope that "thou shalt bring forth the people" ( Exodus 3:12 ). But the truly impelling force is always the great deed itself, the haunting thought, the importunate inspiration, the inward fire; and so God promises Moses neither a sceptre, nor share in the good land: He simply proposes to him the work, the rescue of the people; and Moses, for his part, simply objects that he is unable, not that he is solicitous about his reward. Whatever is done for payment can be valued by its cost: all the priceless services done for us by our greatest were, in very deed, unpriced. Moses, with the new name of God to reveal, and with the assurance that He is about to rescue Israel, is bidden to go to work advisedly and wisely. He is not to appeal to the mob, nor yet to confront Pharaoh without authority from his people to speak for them, nor is he to make the great demand for emancipation abruptly and at once. The mistake of forty years ago must not be repeated now. He is to appeal to the elders of Israel; and with them, and therefore clearly representing the nation, he is respectfully to crave permission for a three days' journey, to sacrifice to Jehovah in the wilderness. The blustering assurance with which certain fanatics of our own time first assume that they possess a direct commission from the skies, and thereupon that they are freed from all order, from all recognition of any human authority, and then that no considerations of prudence or of decency should restrain the violence and bad taste which they mistake for zeal, is curiously unlike anything in the Old Testament or the New. Was ever a commission more direct than those of Moses and of St. Paul? Yet Moses was to obtain the recognition of the elders of his people; and St. Paul received formal ordination by the explicit command of God ( Acts 13:3 ). Strangely enough, it is often assumed that this demand for a furlough of three days was insincere. But it would only have been so, if consent were expected, and if the intention were thereupon to abuse the respite and refuse to return. There is not the slightest hint of any duplicity of the kind. The real motives for the demand are very plain. The excursion which they proposed would have taught the people to move and act together, reviving their national spirit, and filling them with a desire for the liberty which they tasted. In the very words which they should speak, "The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, hath met with us," there is a distinct proclamation of nationality, and of its surest and strongest bulwark, a national religion. From such an excursion, therefore, the people would have returned, already well-nigh emancipated, and with recognised leaders. Certainly Pharaoh could not listen to any such proposal, unless he were prepared to reverse the whole policy of his dynasty toward Israel. But the refusal answered two good ends. In the first place it joined issue on the best conceivable ground, for Israel was exhibited making the least possible demand with the greatest possible courtesy--"Let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the wilderness." Not even so much would be granted. The tyrant was palpably in the wrong, and thenceforth it was perfectly reasonable to increase the severity of the terms after each of his defeats, which proceeding in its turn made concession more and more galling to his pride. In the second place, the quarrel was from the first avowedly and undeniably religious: the gods of Egypt were matched against Jehovah; and in the successive plagues which desolated his land Pharaoh gradually learnt Who Jehovah was. In the message which Moses should convey to the elders there are two significant phrases. He was to announce in the name of God, "I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done unto you in Egypt." The silent observation of God before He interposes is very solemn and instructive. So in the Revelation, He walks among the golden candlesticks, and knows the work, the patience, or the unfaithfulness of each. So He is not far from any one of us. When a heavy blow falls we speak of it as "a Visitation of Providence," but in reality the visitation has been long before. Neither Israel nor Egypt was conscious of the solemn presence. Who knows what soul of man, or what nation, is thus visited today, for future deliverance or rebuke? Again it is said, "I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt into ... a land flowing with milk and honey." Their affliction was the divine method of uprooting them. And so is our affliction the method by which our hearts are released from love of earth and life, that in due time He may "surely bring us in" to a better and an enduring country. Now, we wonder that the Israelites clung so fondly to the place of their captivity. But what of our own hearts? Have they a desire to depart? or do they groan in bondage, and yet recoil from their emancipation? The hesitating nation is not plainly told that their affliction will be intensified and their lives made burdensome with labour. That is perhaps implied in the certainty that Pharaoh "will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand." But it is with Israel as with us: a general knowledge that in the world we shall have tribulation is enough; the catalogue of our trials is not spread out before us in advance. They were assured for their encouragement that all their long captivity should at last receive its wages, for they should not borrow[6] but ask of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and gold, and raiment, and they should spoil the Egyptians. So are we taught to have "respect unto the recompense of the reward." FOOTNOTES: [6] So much ignorant capital has been made by sceptics out of this unfortunate mistranslation, that it is worth while to inquire whether the word "borrow" would suit the context in other passages. "He borrowed water and she gave him milk" ( Jdg 5:25 ). "The Lord said unto Solomon, Because thou hast borrowed this thing, and hast not borrowed long life for thyself, neither hast borrowed riches for thyself, nor hast borrowed the life of thine enemies" ( 1 Kings 3:11 ). "And Elijah said unto Elisha, Thou hast borrowed a hard thing" ( 2 Kings 2:10 ). The absurdity of the cavil is self-evident. Exodus 3:14 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. A NEW NAME. Exodus 3:14 . Exodus 6:2-3 . "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." We cannot certainly tell why Moses asked for a new name by which to announce to his brethren the appearance of God. He may have felt that the memory of their fathers, and of the dealings of God with them, had faded so far out of mind that merely to indicate their ancestral God would not sufficiently distinguish Him from the idols of Egypt, whose worship had infected them. If so, he was fully answered by a name which made this God the one reality, in a world where all is a phantasm except what derives stability from Him. He may have desired to know, for himself, whether there was any truth in the dreamy and fascinating pantheism which inspired so much of the Egyptian superstition. In that case, the answer met his question by declaring that God existed, not as the sum of things or soul of the universe, but in Himself, the only independent Being. Or he may simply have desired some name to express more of the mystery of deity, remembering how a change of name had accompanied new discoveries of human character and achievement, as of Abraham and Israel; and expecting a new name likewise when God would make to His people new revelations of Himself. So natural an expectation was fulfilled not only then, but afterwards. When Moses prayed "Show me, I pray Thee, Thy glory," the answer was "I will make all My goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord." The proclamation was again Jehovah, but not this alone. It was "The Lord, the Lord, a God full of compassion and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy and truth" ( Exodus 33:18-19 , Exodus 34:6 , R.V.) Thus the life of Moses, like the agelong progress of the Church, advanced towards an ever-deepening knowledge that God is not only the Independent but the Good. All sets toward the final knowledge that His highest name is Love. Meanwhile, in the development of events, the exact period was come for epithets, which were shared with gods many and lords many, to be supplemented by the formal announcement and authoritative adoption of His proper name Jehovah. The infant nation was to learn to think of Him, not only as endowed with attributes of terror and power, by which enemies would be crushed, but as possessing a certain well-defined personality, upon which the trust of man could repose. Soon their experience would enable them to receive the formal announcement that He was merciful and gracious. But first they were required to trust His promise amid all discouragements; and to this end, stability was the attribute first to be insisted upon. It is true that the derivation of the word Jehovah is still a problem for critical acumen. It has been sought in more than one language, and various shades of meaning have been assigned to it, some untenable in the abstract, others hardly, or not at all, to be reconciled with the Scriptural narrative. Nay, the corruption of the very sound is so notorious, that it is only worth mention as illustrating a phase of superstition. We smile at the Jews, removing the correct vowels lest so holy a word should be irreverently spoken, placing the sanctity in the cadence, hoping that light and flippant allusions may offend God less, so long as they spare at least the vowels of His name, and thus preserve some vestige undesecrated, while profaning at once the conception of His majesty and the consonants of the mystic word. A more abject superstition could scarcely have made void the spirit, while grovelling before the letter of the commandment. But this very superstition is alive in other forms today. Whenever one recoils from the sin of coarse blasphemy, yet allows himself the enjoyment of a polished literature which profanes holy conceptions,--whenever men feel bound to behave with external propriety in the house of God, yet bring thither wandering thoughts, vile appetites, sensuous imaginations, and all the chamber of imagery which is within the unregenerate heart,--there is the same despicable superstition which strove to escape at least the extreme of blasphemy by prudently veiling the Holy Name before profaning it. But our present concern is with the practical message conveyed to Israel when Moses declared that Jehovah, I AM, the God of their fathers, had appeared unto him. And if we find in it a message suited for the time, and which is the basis, not the superstructure, both of later messages and also of the national character, then we shall not fail to observe the bearing of such facts upon an urgent controversy of this time. Some significance must have been in that Name, not too abstract for a servile and degenerate race to apprehend. Nor was it soon to pass away and be replaced; it was His memorial throughout all generations; and therefore it has a message for us today, to admonish and humble, to invigorate and uphold. That God would be the same to them as to their fathers was much. But that it was of the essence of His character to be evermore the same, immutable in heart and mind and reality of being, however their conduct might modify His bearing towards them, this indeed would be a steadying and reclaiming consciousness. Accordingly Moses receives the answer for himself, "I AM THAT I AM"; and he is bidden to tell his people " I am hath sent me unto you," and yet again "JEHOVAH the God of your fathers hath sent me unto you." The spirit and tenor of these three names may be said to be virtually comprehended in the first; and they all speak of the essential and self-existent Being, unchanging and unchangeable. I AM expresses an intense reality of being. No image in the dark re