The Pulpit Commentary — Exodus — Volume 2 — Section 37

food. There is a law of modesty in dress. There are the laws relating to the :i.cqui~i- tion and expenditure of money-honesty in acquisition, economy in use, liberality in giving (cf. Deut. xv. 7-12), devotion of the first fruits of income to God. There is the supreme law, which includes all others-" Whether, therefore, ye eat or drink, or what- soever ye do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Cor. x. 31). There is no action, no occupation, however seemingly trivial, which has not important relations to the forma- tion of character. "The daily round, the common task," etc. II. THE PRKPARATORY THEOPHANY (vers. 9--13). Moses summoned the people to draw near before the Lord. Then, as they came together, and looked toward the wilderness, lo I "the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud." It is a suggestive cir- cumstance that it is Aaron, who by co=and of Moses, collects the congregation (ver.10). Moses, according to his wont, bad probably withdrawn to pray(cf. eh. xiv. 15). In this, as in other instances, Moses might be taken as an example of secrecy in prayer. His prayers are never paraded. They are even studiously kept in the background-a proof surely of the Mosaic authorship of the book. When they come to light, it is often in- cidentally (eh. xiv. 15). On one notable occasion an intercessory prayer of his was not made known till near the end of his life (Deut. ix. 25). We know of his prayers mostly by their results. This appearance of the glory of God to lsrael may be viewed :-1. As a rebuke of the prople's murmurings. Unlike the " look" from the pillar of fire with which the Lord discomfited the Egyptians (eh. xiv. 24), it was a look with as much mercy as anger in it. Yet it con- veyed reproof. It may be compared with the theophany which terminated the dispute between Job and his friends, and caused the patriarch to abhor himself, and to repent in dust and ashes (Job x.xxviii. 1; xlii. 6); or to the look of sorrow and reproof which the Lord cast on Peter, which caused him to go out, and weep bitterly (Matt. xxvi. 75). How abashed, humbled, and full of fear, those munn11ters would now be, as with mouths stopped (Rom. iii. 19), they beheld that teirible glory forming itself in the cloud, and looking down full upon them! 2. As a fitting introduction to the miracle that was to follow. It gave impressiveness to the announcement-showed indubitably the source of the miraculous supply-roused the minds of the people to a high pitch of expectation -prepared them for something grand and exceptional in the Divine procedure. It thus checked their murmurings, convinced them of their sin in distrusting God, warned them of the danger of further rebellion, and brought them back to their obedience. God's words-" I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel "-at the same time reminded them that he was fully aware of all their "hard speeches" which they had spoken against him. 3. As an anticipation of the 'revelation of Sinai. 'lhese chapters are full of anticipations. In eh. xv. 25, 26, we have "statute and an ordinance," anticipatory of the later Sinaitic covenant; in this chapter, we have an anticipation of Sinai glory l\nd also of the sabbath law (ver. 23); in eh. xvili. 16, we have an anticip:i.- tion of the civil code of Sinai; for Moses makes the people "know the statutes of God, and his laws." III. THE MA=A GIVEW (vers. 13-16). Quails came in. the evening, and next morning the manna fell with the dew. We observe concerning it---1. That it came in a not unfamiliar form. The " angel's food" (Ps. lxx.viii. 25), wore the dress, and had the taste of the ordinary manna of the desert. We miss in the :m.irncles of the Bible the grotesque and bizarre features which mark the supernatural stories of other books. They testify to the existence, as well as respect the laws, of an established natural order. The plagues of Egypt, e.g., were thoroughly true to the natural phenomena of that country, and made the largest possible use of existing agencies. The crossing of the Red Sea was accomplished by the supernatural employ- ment of natural conditions and agencies. There is in all these miracles the constant observance of the two laws: (1) Of economy-uti-lising the natural so far as it will go; and (2) of congruity-keeping as closely as possible to the type of the natural, even when originating supernatural phenomena. 2. That it was a direct production of the poWIJ'I' of God. It was in the truest sense bread from heann, and is thus a type of Christ, the Bread of Life (see below). Yet the power exerted in the creation of the manna-and it is important to remember this-is but the same power, only more visibly put forth, which operates still in nature, giving us our yearly supplies of the good things of the earth. 'l'hc annual harvest is only not a miracle, because it cowe11  TTIE BOOK OF EXODUS. [en XVI. !l-21.