HOMILIES BY VARIOUS .AUTHORS. Vers. 1-12. .A nation in garb of penitence. On this section consider- I. THE CONDITIONED PROMISE (vers. 1--4). God has consented to spa.re the nation. They are to set out forthwith on the journey to Cana.an. But his presence is no longer to go with them. He would send an angel. Notice-!. Everything, in one sense, remains the same. The people are to be conducted to Cana.an. They are to inherit the promises. God will drive out their enemies before them. The land will still flow with milk and honey. It will still be able to be said of them, that there is no nation on earth so favoured as they a.re. Yet, 2. Everything, in another sense, is different. Blessings without God in them are not the same blessings. They want that which gives them iheir chief value. See below, on ver. 15. II. THE SUMMONS TO REPENTANCE (vers. 4-7). A command is next given to the people to strip off their ornaments. They are to humble them.selves before Jehovah that Jehovah may know what to do with them. This co=and they obeyed. From this time forward they ceased to wear ornaments. On this observe, 1. Repentance for sin is an indispensable condition of restoration to Go<CsfavCYU,r. It was required of Israel. It is required of us. There can be no salvation without it (Luke x:vii. 5). "Cease to do evil; learn to do well" (Is. i. 16, 17). Had Israel not repented, Moses would have interceded in vain. 2. Repentance, if sincere, must approve itself by appra,priate deeds. -" Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance " (Matt. iii. 8). The people put off their ornaments. Ornaments do not become those with whom God is displeased. This a.et of the people was a first step in obedience. 3. .A very imperfect repentance is sometimes accepted by God as a reason for forbearance with the sinner. The people mourned; but their repentance, as events showed, did not amount to a real change of heart. They mourned for "the evil tidings." It was the consequences of their sin which distressed them, more than the sin itself. Yet do them justice. The" evil tidings" was not the loss of any material blessings, but, solely, the loss of God's presence. There is still good in a heart which feels the withdrawal of God's presence to be a loss to it. 4. It is well that the remembrance of great sins sh(YIJ,ld go with us all our days. Those who have committed them should go softly ever after. III. THE WITHDRAWAL OF JEHOVAH'S PRESENCE FROM THE CAMP (vers. 7-9). Moses, we are next informed, took a tent, possibly bis own, possibly one which had hitherto served as a sanctuary, pitched it" without the camp, afar off from the camp," and called it "the tent of meeting." Thither came out every one that sought the Lord. The act was, 1. A symbol of Jehovah's formal withdrawal from the midsL of the people. 2. A token that a final decision had not yet been come to as to how God mewit to deal w:th them. Communications were not whoJJy broken off. Space was left for repentance. God might still be entreated of them. Lea.rn (1) iniquities separate between ma.n a.nd TBE BOOK OF EXODU~. rcn. xu:m 12--li.
Goo ( cf. k lix. 2); (2) the withdrBwR.l of God's presence is not neccss11,rily the em\ of tb(• da~· of grnce. There is au "accepted time" during which, if the sinner repents, he wil! hr fnrgiven, and God's pre~enoe will be restored to him ~2 Cor. vi. 2). Me11,nwhile, e,·en ('T(,d·~ keeping 1mck from him hR.S its side of mercy. God's near presence would cnnsnme (cf. ver. 5). (3) The day of grace which sinners enjoy is won for them by the intercl'ssin11 of anot.her. hrRel's "accepted time" WllS based on the intercession of J\1 nseH. Ours, Bll the passage Rbove referrl'd to implies, rests on the interce911ion of Christ. " I ha,·r heard thee (Chri~t) in e. time accepted" (cf. Is. xlix. 8)-" Behold, now is the acceptro time "-for mR11 (2 Cor. vi. 2). '(4) it is our duty to seek the Lord while he may be foun,l, and to call on him while he is near (Is. lv. 6). J ,·. '1'1m TOKEK cw l'AVOUR TO MosEs (vers. 9-12). The cloudy pillar descended, and stood al I he door of the taberne.cle. There the Lord talked with Moses, as a man talketh with his friend. This we.s (1) a mark of favour to Moses himself; (2) an honour put upon him before the people; (3) an encouragement to further interccssion.-J. 0.