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A.C. 1571. his name * Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.

* That is, drawn out. 1531.

+ Heb. a man, a prince.

+ Or, prince.

11 ¶ And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren.

12 And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.

13 And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?

14 And he said, Who made thee + a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known.

15 Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.

16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.

17 And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. 18 And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon to day?

19 And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew water enough for us, and watered the flock.

20 And he said unto his daughters, And where is he? why is it that ye have left the man? call him, that he may eat bread.

21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.

22 And she bare him a son, and he called his name e Ch. xviii. 3. Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.

23 ¶ And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.

24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered d Gen. xv. 14. his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 And God looked upon the children of Israel, and

& xlvi. 4.

Heb. knew. God § had respect unto them.

PSALM LXXXVIII.

A Prayer containing a grievous complaint.

A.C. 1531.

A Song or Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the chief Musician upon Mahalath Or, of. Leannoth, † Maschil of 1 Heman the Ezrahite.

+ Or, a Psalm of Heman the

1 O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and Erahite, giv night before thee:

2 Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry;

3 For my soul is full of troubles and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.

4 I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength:

5 Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand.

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6 Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the

deeps.

7 Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah.

8 Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.

9 Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: LORD, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands unto thee.

10 Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah.

11 Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction?

12 Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

1 Lightfoot supposes, that Heman who composed the eighty-eighth Psalm, and Heman the singer, (1 Chron. vi. 33.) were not the same person. The former was the immediate son of Gerah, the descendant of Judah; and lived in Egypt, during the time of the affliction of the Israelites, (1 Chron. ii. 6.) Witsius differs from Lightfoot in this opinion; and many of the commentators suppose the Psalm to have been written during the Babylonish captivity. But we do not read that any of the name of Heman flourished at that time, and the Psalm is therefore inserted here, as well on the authority of Lightfoot, who repeatedly asserts this to be its proper place, as from its internal evidence, and the probable allusion (Exod. ii. 23.) to some compositions of this kind, which were penned by the Israelites in this mournful period of suffering and distress.-Lightfoot's works, vol. i. p. 23, 70, 699; Witsius Misc. Sac. p. 170, &c.; Dr. Wells's Commentary, vol. iii. in loc.

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ing instruction.

Or, by thy hand.

A.C. 1531.

* Or, all the day.

1491.

a Acts vii, 30.

13 But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee.

14 LORD, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me?

15 I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted.

16 Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off.

*

17 They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about together.

18 Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.

CHAPTER II.

Legation of Moses.

EXODUS III.

1 Moses keepeth Jethro's flock. 2 God appeareth to him in a burning bush. 9 He sendeth him to deliver Israel. 14 The name of God. 15 His message to Israel.

1 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.

a

2

2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a

2 After the death of Joseph, and of the patriarchs, the Israelites began to depart from the worship of the God of their fathers. Many of them were contaminated by the idolatry of Egypt, (Josh. xxiv. 14; Ezek. xx. 8.); others had neglected circumcision, (Josh. v. 9.); and some had intermarried with the Egyptians, (Lev. xxiv. 10.) The majority, however, had not forsaken their ancient religion; and in this period of distress and bondage, by which they were justly punished, they cried unto the Lord. The time of the fulfilment of the promise (Gen. 1. 24.) drew nigh, and "The Lord remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."

The angel Jehovah, the guardian of the church, had frequently appeared to the patriarchs; but we have no account of his manifesting himself after the death of Jacob, till he was revealed to Moses in the bush. As this Divine Being, however, had uniformly commissioned the patriarchs to preach the true religion, the people would naturally expect, that the prophet who should declare himself the lawgiver and deliverer, would be appointed by the same authority. This we accordingly find to have been the case. Moses, when feeding the flock of Jethro at Horeb, observes a copse, or thicket, burning with fire; while the branches and leaves appeared unconsumed and uninjured. Astonished at the phenomenon, he approaches the thicket. The angel Jehovah, the God of the patriarchal dispensation, was seen; and Moses receives from him his commission. The diffidence, the delay, the scruples of the prophet, are overcome by miraculous proofs of his

flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, A.c. 1491. and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was

not consumed.

3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.

4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.

5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: "put off thy shoes b Josh. v. 15. from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is Acts vii. 33. holy ground.

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32. Acts vii.

6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the e Matt. xxii. God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 32. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.

7 And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their

sorrows;

8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.

10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.

11 ¶ And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?

12 And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.

13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?

say

divine legation; which at the same time convince him, that, by his means, the. Israelites should be delivered from Egypt.-Lightfoot, vol. i. p. 22; Hales' Analysis, vol. ii. p. 182: Hora Mosaicæ, vol. ii. p. 99.

A.C. 1491.

14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

15 And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.

16 Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt:

17 And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.

18 And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.

19¶ And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let

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* Or, but by you go, no, not by a mighty hand.

strong hand.

d Ch. xi. 2. & xii. 35.

20 And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go.

21 And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty :

22 But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall + Or, Egypt. spoil the Egyptians.

EXODUS IV. VER. 1-29.

1 Moses' rod is turned into a serpent. 6 His hand is leprous. 10 He is loth to be sent. 14 Aaron is appointed to assist him. 18 Moses departeth from Jethro. 21 God's message to Pharaoh. 24 Zipporah circumciseth her son. 27 Aaron is sent to meet Moses.

1 And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee.

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