The Pulpit Commentary — Exodus — Volume 2 — Section 350

Ve!"ll. 38---35.-The ,ymboliffra of the 'lleil. The veil upon Moses' face shrouded the glory of his countenanoe from Israel, except at such times as he spake to them the commands of God. So God himself shrouds bis glory from us ordinarily, and only at rare intervals, when be would impress us most deeply, lifts the veil and lets the bright- ne111; flash forth. So Christ, when be ea.me on earth, emptied himself of the glory which he had with the 1''atber, hid it away, and seldom let it be seen. Tenderness and compalll!iou for man'• weakne86 is the cause of the concealment in such case. Humnn nature, while we are in the flesh, cannot bear the blinding light of Divine glory, any more than the eye can bear to gaze upon the noonday sun. The veil was thus, primarily, a token of Moses' love for lRT"IIBl; but it was also a token of many other things besidee ; e,f/.- 1. OF THE DARKNE88 AND llYSTERY IN WHICH DIVINE TRUTH WAS BBBOUDED tTNDER TBE MosAICAL DISPENSATION. The Trinity, the Incarnation, the Atonement, J ustific:ation, Sanctification, even Immortality-all the great doctrines which constitute the heart and kernel of true religion, though in a certain sense contained in Mosaism, were concealed, hidden away, wrapt in a veil Men "saw through a glass darkly·· fewer or more of these truths-had, that is, some dim conception of them, but saw none of them clearly till they were " brought to light" by the Gospel. " Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in :peace, according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvatwn," said holy Simeon, when he looked upon the Lord, then first having made pla.in to him what had been darkness a.nd cloud previously. Much of the Divine t1eheme of ll.lan's salvation had been a myst.ery even to angels until it was revealed to them by and through the Church (Eph. iii. 4-10). When Christ came, and lived, and preached, "the people which sat in darkness saw great light, and to them which eat in the region and shadow of death light sprang up" (Matt. iv. 16). A solemn thought to Christians that this is so; for responsibility is in proportion to the light Youchs&fed. " He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses. Of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy who bath trodden under foot the Son of God?" (Heb. L 28, 29). II. Or TBE BLIND?,.'ESS wmCB LmB PEJllliNEl,'TLY Ul'ON THE HEARTS AND HINDS OF THE Ji;:ws. The veil of obstinat.e unbelief has so shrouded, and Htill so shrouds, the intelligence of the race, that, though Moses is read to them every Sabbath day, and the words cf the prophet.s are continually sounded in their ears, they cannot see or under- st.a.nd. Still they remain " fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken" (Luke xx.iv. 25). Like the Ethiopian eunuch, they "understand not what they read" (A.ct.s viii. 31); but, unlike him, they will not accept guidance. "The veil i,; upon their heart" (2 Cor. iii 15). Christians should ever pray that the time may come, and come speedily, when" the veil shall be t.aken away" (ib. 16), and so "all Israel be saved" (Bom. :ri. 26). Hopeless as the task seems, Christians should still labour for the conversion of the eight millions of Jews dispersed throughout the world. Christiaw; should beware lest they themselves, by their sinful lives, intensify and prolong the blindness of Israel, pressing the veil down upon the brows that otherwise might have cast it off, and dimming the brightness of the Gospel of Christ that otherwise might have pierced through the veil's folds, and have given sight to the shrouded eyes. HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Ver6. 29-35.-T/ui sh,imngfo,a,. Consider- I. THE SBU.-U.G OF M08ES' FACE (ven;. 29, 30). (1) A result of personal communion. (2) .A symbol of the glory of his dispensation (2 Cor. iii. 7). (3) A foreshadowing of the CII. XXXIV, 29-35,] THE BOOK OF EXODUS. 3,5