exclaims, "The language of one I know not, I hear i" and what he hears he proceeds to tell in the following Yerses. God's voice sounded strange to him. I. THE UNKNOWN VOICE OF Gon. Illustrate by the direct speaking of God from SinRi, which ~o alarmed the people. All close commu11ications of God with men, ~d1ethcr by vision_ or voice, ~re humbling, surprising, and overwhelmini;i;. Unknown, m the_ ~ense of being unfamiliar; and unknown because unexpected. God communi- cates m the language of men, since he desires to be understood; but his will is usually rc.ealed through human agencies. I I. 'l'HE UNXNOWN LANGUAGE OF F..OYPT. This may be shown to have made part of the burden And trouble of Israel, from which God so graciously delivered them. It was the land of tbe stranger, and the different language spoken by the inhabitants constantly reminded Israel of its bondage and its hope. _Ill. Ta_E "UNKNOWN" DECLARATION OF PHARAOH. His saying, "I know not." His declaring that Jehovah was to him unknown. His lauauacre about "not know- i?g" the God of the Hebrews. God took notice or the boastf~l speech; for the declara~ t10n that he did not know really meant that he did not oare, and so he must be made to know, by seeing and feeling the judgments which Jehovah executeth. It is necessary to remember that Eastern poetical figures are often far-fetched, and very difficult to trace.-R. T.
Ver. 7.-" The secret place of thunder." "Thunder-covert;" literally, "hiding-place of thunder;" i.e. the dark thunder-clouds, from behind which God spoke to the Israelites. Some writers find a reference to the pillar of cloud and fire, in which God appeared for the guidiug of Israel's journey. But there is no special reason for calling the pillar of cloud a "thunder-cloud." The poet is, in a very general way, reviewing the Divine dealings with Israel; and here the troubles connected with the timeat Sinai are clearly referred to. The" hiding-place of thunder" i.s surely the" thick darkness where God was" (Exod. xx. 21) when the Law was given from the "smoking mountain," amid " thunderings and lightnings." The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews rhetori- cally contrasts the revelations from Sinai and from Zion (Heb. xii. 18-24). His descriptiou of the revelation given from Sinai may help us to understand this poetical figure," the secret place of thunder." "Ye are not come unto a mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the words should not be spoken to them any more." Thunder, then, may be taken, poetically, a.s the characteristic of the Old Testament dispensation. We mnst keep in mind two things: (1) the intensity of the thunder-noise in mountain districts; and (2) the peculiar Eastern sentiments about thunder. In illustration of (1), Dr. Stewart gives the following experience of a thunder-storm at Mount Sinai. "Every ball, as it burst, with the roar of a cannon, seemed to awaken a series of distinct echoes on every side; . . . tbey swept like a whirlwind among the higher mountains, becom• ing faint as some mighty peak intervened, and bursting with undiminished volume tbrough some yawning cleft, till tbe very ground trembled with the concussion. It seemed as if the mountains of the whole peninsula were answering one another in a chorus of the deepest bass. Ever and anon a flash of lightning dispelled the pitchy darkness, and lit up the mount as if it had been day; then, after the interval of a few seconds, came the peal of thunder, bursting like a shell, to scatter its echoes to the four quarters of the heavens, and overpowering for a moment the loud howlings of the wind." In illustration of (2), tbe fear produced by thuuderings now may be shown, though superstitious ideas are checked by some measures of scientific knowledge. The fear of thunder is shared by the animals in the fields. Thunder, then, is the fitting illustration of the old dispensation; but unsuitable to the new dispensation. It fits the old because it impresses on man the sense of mystery; it gives man an idea of farce; and it fills man's mind with/ear. I. THUNDER BRINGS A SENSE OF MYBTEBY. In those days, liow it comes wa.e not known. Always, when it comes is not known. It was, and it still is, something over which men can only wonder. Show that this character is prernrved in the God of the Old Testament. He hides himself. "Clouds and darkness a.re roUDd about him." Hi.a voice ie to man but as the inarticulate thunder. In some ages of the world, and in PB, LXXXI, 1-16.] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 175
some conditions of tho race, mystery in God is the best education; it awakens the spiritual faculties in child-ages, as H does in children. II. 'l'HUNDER GIVES MAN AN IDEA OF F,1RCE. When he bears it, man feels there is something wholly beyond his control. And force must be felt by the Israelites to lie behind law. He who gives the Law must be felt able to enforce its sanctions. Joubert tells us that the 11bsolute rule of moral training is "force till right is ready." The thunderings nnd lightnings of Sinai impre8sed the force of the Divine authority. III. THUNDER FILLS MEN'S MINDS WITH FEAR. If fear is not the highest motive in~piring obedience, it is the necessary mo,ive for many people, and the first motive for all. Fear is not lost, as the inspiration of obedience, in Christianity, it is only glorified. in love. "Perfect love casteth out fear." Storm and tempest clear the atmosp!iere, and prepare for the warmth and quickening of the steady nnshine; and so the thunder of the Old Testament prepares for the life-giving sunshine of the New.-R. T.