come up into the midst of thee in a moment 1md consume thee." These are the effects of the Spirit's work to-dBy. The same cry is lifted:-" Flee from the wrath to come." II. THE SEPARATION OF Goo's PEOPLE FROM THE MIDST OF l!URROUNDING BIN AND 1TB RESULTS, 1. Its necessity as I\ testimony to God's seporatirm from sin. This i~ the duty of the Church to-day:-" Come ye out from among them and be ye separate." The tabernoole of the congregation, meant though it be for all, must be pitched "with- out the camp." 2. The results. (1) Moses' example led others to declare themselves on God's side (ver. 7). (2) The people "looked after Moses." Yearning for the light of God's face is stirred up in the hearts of men by those who go forth to meet with him. (3) God manifests himself to the separated (ver. 9). A living Church is ever the means of revealing God's reality. (4) The people worshipped "every man in his tent-door." A true Church will send forth a cry for mercy from the homes of the sinful.-U. Vera. 12--23.-Intercession and its reward. I. THE INTERCESSOR'S POWER. 1. God, who ha.d disowned Isra.el, and refused to go with them, consents to go with him : - " My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest." The first step in suc- cessful intercession for others is the receiving of power to serve God among them. This is the dropping which foretells the shower. 2. God is brought back by persistent asking into the midst of lsra.el :-" I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken " (ver.17). We must not be content till our whole desire is given us. He can make not only our words a power to others, but also his own presence felt by them. II. THE INTEROESSOR's PLEAS. 1. God's love to himself:-" Thou hast said I know thee by name," etc. The realisation of our personal interest in God's love is the basis of intercession for others. It gives confidence that God will hear us. It gives hope. He who ha.s blessed us can also bless them. 2. God's relation to them for whom he entreats :-" Consider that this nation is thy people." We can urge on behalf of the vilest that God created them, and gave Christ to die for them. 3. That God's presence and favour are needful to make himself and the people what God desires them to become :-" So shall we be separated." They can be consecrated only by the might of God's revealed love. ill. THE INTEROEBBOB'B REWARD: THE VISION OF Goo's GLORY. L "And he said, Show me thJ glory." 'rhe lifting up of availing prayer for others quickens our desire to know more of him with whom we speak. 2. The full vision of God is for the sinless life. The splendour of the Divine purity would slay us. John fell at Christ's feet as one dead. 3. How the fuller vision granted in the present may be had. (1) By listening to the proclamation of the Lord's name in his word. (2) We can see the glory which has passed us. God's deeds reveal him. 4. The place of vision :-" A rock," " by me." Taking our stand upon Christ, the glory of God's words and deeds breaks upon us. 5. The place of safety," in a clift of the rock." Only in the riven side of Jesus the vision of God is not to condemnation and death, but to justification and life.-U.
SECTION XVI.-CHAPTER XXXIV. THE REl!TOBATION OF THE Two TABLES, A.ND RENEWAL OF THE 0oVENANT.
EXPOSITION. restoration of the tables, which were essential CHAPTER XXXIV. to the covenant, as being at once the basis of Vers. 1-4.-THE TWO TABLES RENEWED, the law and of the orde.ined worship. To The fervente.nd prolonged interce&'!ion of Moses mark, however, that something is always for- he.d brought e.bout the pardon of the people ; feited by sin, even when forgiven, the new and that, together with their repentance and tables were made to lose one glory of the first their prayers ( eh. xx.xiii. 7), ha.d been e.ccepted -they were not shaped by God, as the first as a renewal of the covenant on their part ; were ( eh. xxxii. 16), but by Moses. but it remained for God to renew the covenant Ver. 1.-llew thee two tables of stone. un his p11rt The first step to this WIii! the Literally, " of slonea "-two separate ll\bles, THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [CB, XUIV. 1-4.
i.r .. _made of two ~erllTBte ~tonl'!I. MO&ee is the top of the mount. Whore he hAd hePn req111red to do this With strict jllBtice, since it with God previously ( eh. xix. 20; xxiv. 12, 18). , ....., b., his act that the former tables were Ver. 3.-•o man ■hall oome up with thee. brohri (eh. xxxii. 19). Upon th11e tablea. Thie time, no one, not even J0&hoa, WM to ac- Litere.lly," upon t.he tables," which he.~ exRCtly company Moses. The new manifl'6tation of the &1UDe force. The worm that were in the the glory of God was to be made to bim alone. fl.l'Bt tablea. It is quite true that 11·e have not lfeither let a.ny m&n be -n throughout all yt>t been explicitly told what these words the mount, etc. Compare the injunctions "·ere. (Sec eh. xxx.i. 18; xxxii. 15, 16, 19.) given in eh. xi.x. 12, 13. The proeent orden It has been left to our nat.ural intelligence to are even more stringent. understand that they must have been the "ten Ver. 4.-Moees obeys all the directions "·ordi; ·• uttered in the eare of all the people given him to the letter-hews, or caoses to be amid the thunders of Sinai, 86 recorded in eh. hewn, the two tables, making them as like as xx. 1-19, 11·hich are the evident b86i.s of all he can to tbe former ones-rises early, and the later legislation. We have, however, in ascends the mountain to the appointed spot- ver. 28. and still more plainly in Deut. x. 4, &nd takes with him the tables, for God to and"· 22. the desired statement. The fiction perform his promise (ver. 1) of writing the of a double decalogue, invented byGoethe&nd commandments upon them. It has been ques- supported br Hitzig, &nd even Ewald, is ab- tioned whether God did actnally write the i;oh1te)y without foundation in fact. words upon the second tables ; but Kurtz's Ver.' 2.-Be ready m the moming. An arguments upon the point are nnanswerable. interval wai; required for the hewing of the ( Hiat.ory of the Old CotleMnt, vol iii. p. 186, t.ablei;. It W86 made 86 short 86 poasible. I:n E.T.)