which Moses had carried on the converRntion Aaron the Levite thy brother1 I know, etc In Hebrew up to this point. The former is a This translation is wrong. The two danses poesible meaning, thongh not a necessnry ono. form one sentence, and should be rendered, According to a Jewish tradition, Moses had a " Do I not know that Aaron the Levite, thy difficulty in pronouncing the labia.ls b, ti, m, brother, speaks well?" Aaron's designation p11,p. as "the Levite" is remarkable, and seemB to Vers. 11-13. - Wbo hath made ma.n'a glance at the future consecration of his tribo month 1 God could and would have cured to God's especie.l service. Behold, he cometh the defect in Moses' speech, whatever it we.a; forth to meet thee. It has been conjectured could e.nd would have ndded eloquenc~ to his that Aaron designed to visit Moses in Midian, other gifts, if he hnd even at this point yielded in order to convey to him the intelligence that himBelf up unreservedly to his guidance and the king who he.d sought his life ( eh. ii. 15) heartily accepted his mission. Nothing is too we.a dee.d. He did not, however, start on the hard for the Lord. He gives all powers- journey till God gave him a special direction eight, and hearing, and speech included-to (ver. 27). whom he will. He would have been "with Ver. 15.-Thou ehalt apeak unto him and Moses' mouth," removing all hesitation or in- put words in his month. Moses was to tell distinctness, and have " taught him what to Aaron what to say-furnish, i.e., the matter say "-!iupplied the thought and the language of his speeches-and Aaron was to clothe this by which to express it---if Moses would have matter in fitting words. God promised to be let him. But the reply in ver. 13 shut up with both of their mouths; with Moses', to the Divine bounty, prevented its outpour, and make him give right directions to Aaron; with left Moses the ineffective speaker which he Aa.ron's, to make him utter them persunsively was content to be. The words, 0 my Lord, Moses' position was still the more honourable send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom one, though Aaron's might seem the higher Thon wilt send, a.re curt and ungracious ; to the people. much curter in the origine.l than in our ver- Ver. 16. -He shall be thy spokesman.. sion. 1 They contain a grudging acquiescence. Literally, "He shall speak for thee." He But for the deprecatory particle with which shall be, even he. It is the verb that is re- they commence--the same as in ver. 10- peated, not the pronoun. Probably the mean- th!ly would be almost rude. And we see the ing is, "he shall mrely be." There is no com- result in t.he next verse. parison between Aaron and anyone else. Thou Ver. 14.-The anger of the Lord was kin- shalt be to him instead of God. Divine in- dled against Moses. The expression used is spiration, that is, shall rest on thee ; and it n strong one, but does not perhaps here mean shall be his duty to accept thy words as more than that God was displeased. At least, Divine words, and to do all that thou biddest he did not punish the offender in any severer him. way than by the withholding of a gift that Ver. 17.-Thon shalt take this rod. Not he was ready to bestow, and the partition be- any rod, but the pa.rticula.r one which had tween two of a position and a dignity which already once become a serpent. Wherewith Moses might have he.d all to himself. Per- thou &halt do eigns. Rather, "the signs," i.e. haps diffidence and self-distrust, even when the signs which thou wilt have to do, as out of place, are not altogether abhorrent to already decla.red in eh. iii. 20. It is qwte One whose creatures a.re continually offending gratuitous to suppose that God had already him by presumption and arrogance. Is not pa.rticnle.rised them
HOMILETim!. Vers. 1-5.-The intent of tlie first sign. Primarily, no doubt, the object was to empower Moses to show forth a sign easily, readily, without preparation, and so at any moment. He had come to the time of life at which he naturally carried a staff. That he should be able at his will to transform that dead piece of vegetable matter into an ,active, living organism, would show him endued with supernatural power over both the vegetable and animal worlds, and give him a means, always ready to his hand, of demonstrat4ig the truth of his mission. This alone was a great matter. But the fact that his rod became a serpent, n.ther than any other living thing, was specially calcu- le.kid to impress the Egyptians. In one form, the serpent with them meant "a king," or "a crown;" and the change of a sto.ff into a snake would typify the conversion of n. shepherd into a monarch. In another form it was a sign for a "multitude," and the transformation might remind them, that the single stock or stem of Jacob was now 1 They might perhaps he best translated-" Ah I my Lord, pray send by whom thou wilt.,. 88 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [CH, IV, 6-10,