The Pulpit Commentary — Exodus — Volume 1 — Section 74

through the wilderness to that " land flowing the true God, whom Reuel e.nd Jethro wor• with milk and honey," which ha.cl been pro- shipped ( eh. xviii. 12). mised to the seed of Abraham more the.n six Ver. 2.-The angel of thil Lord. Literally, "e.n angel of Jehovah." Taking the whole centuries previously (Gen. xv. 18). Whatever narrative e.ltogether, we are justified in con- hopes he had entertained of being his people's cluding the.t the appearance was that of " !ho deliverer in youth and middle life, they had Angel of the Covenant" or" the Second Person long been abandoned; and, h'lllillLnly speaking, of the Trinity lrimself ; " but this is not nothing WILB more improbable than the.t the stated nor implied in the present verse. We len.rn it from whe.t follows. The angel "ap- e.ged shepherd, grown " slow of speech e.nd of peared in a flame of :flre out of the midst of e. slow tongue" (eh. iv 10)-his manners the thorn-bush "-not out of" a thorn-bush"- rusticised-his practice.I faculties rusted by which me.y be exple.ined by there being only disuse-his physical powers weakened--1,hould one on the spot, which however seems impro- bable, as it is e. common tree ; or by Moses come forth from a retirement of forty yee.rs' having so often spoken of it, that, when he duration to be a leader and king of men. came to write to his countrymen, he naturally Nothing less than direct supernatural inter- ce.lled it "the bush," meaning "the bush of position could-one me.y well believe-have which you have all heard." So St. John says sufficed to overcome the nature.I vis inertim of of the Baptist (iii. 24) that " he was not yet Moses' present character and position. Hence, cast into the prison," meaning, the prison into which you e.11 know that he was cast. Seneh, after e.n absolute cessation of miracle for more the word translated " bush," is still the name than four hundred yea.re, miracle is once more of e. thorny shrub, a species of e.cacia, common made use of by the Ruler of the Universe to in the Sine.itic district. work out his ends. A dignus vindice nodus Ver. 3.-I will turn aside. Suspecting has a.risen ; and the ordinary le.we of the.t nothing but e. no.tare.I phenomenon, which he was anxious to investigate. The action be- Nature which is but one of his instruments speaks him e. 1D.8.D. of sense and intelligence, a.re suspended by the Lord of All, who sees not easily scared or imposed npon. whe.t mode of action the occasion requires, and Ver. 4.-When the Lord saw . . . God acts accordingly. oalled. This collocation of words is fate.I to the entire Elohistic ana J ehovistic theory, for Ver. 1.-Moeea kept the :flook. The Hebrew no one ce.n suppose the.t two different writers expresses that this was his regular occupation. wrote the two clauses oi the sentence. Nor, Understand by "flock" either sheep or goo.ta, if the same term was origine.lly used In both or the two intermixed. Both anciently and clauses, would any reviser have altered one e.t the present de.y the Sine.itic pastures sup- without altering both. Out of the midst of port these e.nime.ls, and not homed cattle. the bush. A voice, which was the true voice Of Jethro, his father-in-law. The word of God, appeared to Moses to proceed out of translated "father-in-law" is of much wider the midst of the fire which enveloped the e.pplice.tion, being used of almost any relation thorn-bush. An objective reality is described, by marriage. Zippore.h uses it of "Moses in not e. vision. Moses, Moses. The double ce.ll eh. iv. 25, 26 ; in Gen. xix. 12, H, it is ap- implies urgency. Compare the ce.11 o! Samuel plied to Lot's "sons-in-le.w; " in other places (1 Sam. iii. 10). it"is used of "brothers-in-le.w." Its applica- Ver. 5.-Dre.w not nigh. The awful great- tion to Jethro does not prove him to be the ness of the Creator is such that his creatures, same per.son e.s Reuel, which the difference of until invited to draw nee.r, a.re bound to stand name renders improbable. He was no doubt aloof. Moses, not yet a.we.re that God himself the head of the tribe ,e.t this period, having spoke to him, was e.pproe.chil!g the bush too succeeded to that dignity, and to the priest- close, to ex.a.mine and see what the "great hood, when Renel died. He me.y have been thing " was. (See ver. 3.) On the general either Reuel's son 01 his nephew. The baok- unfitness of me.n to approach nee.r to holy e.ide of the desert, i.e. " behind " or " beyond things, see the comment on eh. xix. 12. l'u.t the desert," across the strip of sandy plain ofl' thy shoes. Rather, "thy sandals." Shoes which sepe.ro.tes the coast of the Ele.nitic were not worn commonly, even by the Egyp- Gulf from the monnto.ins, to the grassy regions tians, until e. le.te period, and would certainly beyond. Xe oame to the mountain of God, not be known in the land of Midian at this even Xoreb. Rather, " the mountain of God, time. The practice of putting them off. befo~e Horeb-way," or "towards Horeb." By "the entering a temple, e. palace, or even the pn- mountain of God" Sinai seems to be meant. ve.te e.pe.rtmentl! of e. house, was, and ill, uni- It me.y be so no.med either by e.nticii;>e.tion (e.s verse.I in the East-the ratiimale of it being " the land of Ra.meses " in Gen. xlYii, 11 ), or that the shoes or sande.ls have dust or dirt because there was e.lready a sanctuary there to attaching to them. The command given to  &tl THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [ctt. lU. 6-11.