The Pulpit Commentary — Exodus — Volume 1 — Section 100

"turned aside to see" forty years before, he had supposed tha.t his brethren would have recognised in him their deliverer; had not sufficiently recognised himself that it we.s God's angel in their midst who was really preserving them. Trouble, sorrow persecution may consume and practically annihilate; whole peoples have been killed off and left hardly a trace in history. '!'hough " the blood of the martyr, is the seed of the Church," yet there is no ,ipecially conservative power in suffering; it is only when God is with men that they can "walk through the fire and yet not be burned,. ( cf. Is. xliii. 2). II. THE DrnNE REVELATION. 1. Preliminary c<Yndieion: ver. 4. "Jehovah saw that he turned aside to see." (1) Revelations are not for tbe unobservant. God will give us eye-guidance if we will have it (Ps. xxxii. 8), but we must be alert to catch his glance. (2) Revelations are not for the cowardly; where one turned aside to see, nine might have turned a.side in sheer terror to escape seeing. He that would hear God's voice must fight with and overcome his fears, otherwise he is likely to be classed with the unbelieving and the abominable (Rev. xxi. 7, 8). 2. The call he,a,rd and answered. To the man ready to receive it the call comes. God is going to reveal his own name to Moses, but calls Moses first by his name. The conviction that God knows us is the best preparation for learning more about him. Moses is on the alert ; eager to listen, ready to obey. 3. Reverence secured: ver. 5. Interviews with God need preparation. Even when God calls, man cannot hear his voice aright save in the hush of utter reverence. To attain this for those who are in the body, material aids must not be despised ; so long as men possess senses there must be a sensuous form for even the most spiritual worship. 4. God declares himself: ver. 6. Cf. Matt. x:xii. 32. God in the midst of the nation, as in the midst of the bush, was preserving it in its entirety. Not like a bundle of green twigs, the relics of a perished stem. Stem and twigs, the ancestral stock no less than the offspring, all alike preserved-kept by him who can say, "I am their God." .Application :-Has God ever declared himself to us? If not, whose the fault? Have we been on the outlook to catch his signs? Have we used due reverence in listening for his voice? Have we been ready to obey even the lightest indication of his will? Attention, reverence, obedience-all needed if we would hear God speak. We must be 2.s Moses wa&--self stifled, the world silenced, a-hush to hear the Divine voice.-G. Vers. 1-10.-The Burning Bush. "Behold the bush," etc. Ex. iii. 2. A very astonishing event ; yet amply evidenced to us by those voluminous arguments which now more than ever establish the authenticity of Exodus; but in addition to this, we have here the special endorsement of the Truth Incarnate. See Mark rii. 26. !"Examine this passage critically, and consider how full and valid the endorsement i:J I No mere acceptance ofreceived legend.] I. THE TIME. A solemn undertone in ver. 1. A great soul wandering under the 11ta.rlight of a. partial revela.ion. 1. In the life of the Church. A time of trial; Israel like leaves in autumn, like the foam of the sea, and that for long. Of deepening trial, see Ex. i. Deliverance apparently impossible. The government of the new Pharaoh now firm and strong. For evidence of depression see Ex. vi. 9. 2. In the life of Moses. Eighty years of age. Acts vii. 23, 30. Yet hardly any history of the man. In fact we have no continuous history. Died at 120. First forty years? Blank. So with second and third. .A history of four crises! Birth; decision ; entrance on service ; death. Learn: (1) Crises in all lives. Divergent roads I Crises fix what we are to be and do. Illustrate from life. Watch for them. Pass them on your knees. "Hold up my goings," etc. (2) God determines them. 'l'his came on Moses unexpectedly. Where? On the line of common duty, "He led the flock," etc. "So, rest in the Lord," etc. (3) Leave life to God. II. THE SCENE, The following should be carefully observed, with the view of vivifying and realising this story of Divine manifestation. The scene was laid- 1. In the desert. See Stanley's 'Sinai and Palestine,' pp. 12-14, for the general characteriftics of the desert. 2. In the Midian section of the desert. For exact definition of this, see "Midian," in Smith's ' Bibi. Diet.' 356a. 3. In the Horeb range. Horeb de~ignates the range of mountains about Sinai; Sinai the solitary grandeur c,f EXODUS. "  82 'l'liB BOOK 01!' J!;XODUS, [en. m. 18-lli.