Three great annual feasts A. M. 2513. B. C. 1491. Sivan. W CHAP. XXIII. 13 And in all things that I An. Exod. Isr. 1. have said unto you, be circumspect and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth. 14 Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year. 15 Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty :) 16 And the feast of harvest, the first-fruits ▾ Deut. iv. 9; Josh. xxii. 5; Psa. xxxix. 1; Eph. v. 15; 1 Tim. iv. 16. - Num. xxxii. 38; Deut. xii. 3; Josh. xxiii. 7; Psa. xvi. 4; Hos. ii. 17; Zech. xiii. 2.- Chap. xxxiv. 23; Lev. xxiii. 4; Deut. xvi. 16. - Chap. xii. 15; xiii. 6; xxxiv. 18; Lev. xxiii. 6; Deut. xvi. 8.- Chap. xxxiv. 20; Deut. xvi. 16; Verse 14. Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.] The three feasts here referred to were, 1. The feast of the PassOVER; 2. The feast of PENTECOST; 3. The feast of TABERNACLES. 1. The feast of the Passover was celebrated to keep in remembrance the wonderful deliverance of the Hebrews from Egypt. 2. The feast of Pentecost, called also the feast of harvest and the feast of weeks, chap. xxxiv. 22, was celebrated fifty days after the Passover to commemorate the giving of the law on Mount Sinai, which took place fifty days after, and hence called by the Greeks Pentecost. 3. The feast of Tabernacles, called also the feast of the ingathering, was celebrated about the 15th of the month Tisri to commemorate the Israelites' dwelling in tents for forty years, during their stay in the wilderness. See on Lev xxiii. "God, out of his great wisdom," says Calmet, "appointed several festivals among the Jews for many reasons: 1. To perpetuate the memory of those great events, and the wonders he had wrought for the people; for example, the Sabbath brought to remembrance the creation of the world; the Passover, the departure out of Egypt; the Pentecost, the giving of the law; the feast of Tabernacles, the sojourning of their fathers in the wilderness, &c. 2. To keep them faithful to their religion by appropriate ceremonies, and the splendour of Divine service. 3. To procure them lawful pleasures, and necessary, rest. 4. To give them instruction; for in their religious assemblies the law of God was always read and explained. 5. To consolidate their social union, by renewing the acquaintance of their tribes and families; for on these occasions they come together from different parts of the land to the holy city." to be strictly observed A. M. 2513. B. C. 1491. Sivan. of thy labours, which thou hast sown in thy field: and the feast An. Exod. Isr. 1. of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field. 17 Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the LORD God. e 18 Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning. 19 The first of the first-fruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk. Deut. d Chap. xii. 8.; Chap. Ecclus. xxxv. 4. Ch. xxxiv. 22; Lev. xxiii. 10. xvi. 13.— Chap. xxxiv. 23; Deut. xvi. 16.xxxiv. 25; Lev. iì. 11; Deut. xvi. 4.- Or, feast.xxii. 29; xxxiv. 26; Lev. xxiii. 10, 17; Numbers xviii. 12, 13; Deut. xxvi. 10; Neh. x. 35.- Ch. xxxiv. 26; Deut. xiv. 21. 4. The feast of the New Moon, which was celebrated on the first day the moon appeared after her change. 5. The feast of Expiation, which was celebrated annually on the tenth day of Tisri. or September, on which a general atonement was made for all the sins, negligences, and ignorances, throughout the year. 6. The feast of Lots or Purim, to commemorate the preservation of the Jews from the general massacre projected by Haman. See the book of Esther. 7. The feast of the Dedication, or rather the Restoration of the temple, which had been profaned by Antiochus Epiphanes. This was also called the feast of Lights. Besides these, the Jews have had several other feasts, such as the feast of Branches, to commemorate the taking of Jericho. The feast of Collections, on the 10th of September, on which they make contributions for the service of the temple and synagogue. The feast for the death of Nicanor, 1 Mac. vii. 48, &c. The feast for the discovery of the sacred fire, 2 Mac. 18, &c. i. The feast of the carrying of wood to the temple, called Xylophoria, mentioned by Josephus.-War, b. ii. c. 17. Verse 17. All thy males] Old men, sick men, male idiots, and male children under thirteen years of age, excepted; for so the Jewish doctors understand this command. Verse 18. The blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread] The sacrifice here mentioned is undoubtedly the Passover; (see chap. xxxiv. 25;) this is called by way of eminence мY sacrifice, because God had instiBesides the feasts mentioned above, the Jews had,tuted it for that especial purpose, the redemption of 1. The feast of the Sabbath, which was a weekly feast. 2. The feast of the Sabbatical Year, which was a septennial feast. 3. The feast of Trumpets, which was celebrated on the first day of what was called their civil year, which was ushered in by the blowing of a trumpet; Lev. xxiii. 23, &c. Israel from the Egyptian bondage, and because it typified THE LAMB of GOD, who taketh away the sin of the world. We have already seen how strict the prohibition against leaven was during this festival, and what was signified by it. See on chap. xii. Verse 19. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.] This passage has greatly perplexed commen 21 Beware of him, and obey his voice, i provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions for my name is in him. 22 But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries. Chap. xiv. 19; xxxii. 34; xxxiii. 2, 14; Num. xx. 16; Josh. v. 13; vi. 2; Psa. xci. 11; Isa. lxiii. 9.- i Num. xiv. 11; Psa. 1xxviii. 40, 56; Eph. iv. 30; Heb. iii. 10, 16.—k Chap. xxxii. 34; Num. xiv. 35; Deut. xviii. 19; Josh. xxiv. 19; Jer. v, 7; Heb. iii. 11; 1 John v. 16.- Isa. ix. 6; Jer. xxiii. 6; John x. 30, 38. tators; but. Dr. Cudworth is supposed to have given it its true meaning by quoting a MS. comment. of a Karaite Jew, which he met with, on this passage. "It was a custom of the ancient heathens, when they had gathered in all their fruits, to take a kid and boil it in the milk of its dam ; and then, in a magical way, to go about and besprinkle with it all their trees and fields, gardens and orchards; thinking by these means to make them fruitful, that they might bring forth more abundantly in the following year.”Cudworth on the Lord's Supper, 4to. I give this comment as I find it, and add that Spenser has shown that the Zabii used this kind of magical milk to sprinkle their trees and fields, in order to make them fruitful. Others' understand it of eating flesh and milk together; others of a lamb or a kid while it is sucking its mother, and that the paschal lamb is here intended, which it was not lawful to offer while sucking. After all the learned labour which critics have bestowed on this passage, and by which the obscurity in some cases is become more intense, the simple object of the precept seems to be this: "Thou shalt do nothing that may have any tendency to blunt thy moral feelings, or teach thee hardness of heart." Even human nature shudders at the thought of causing the mother to lend her milk to seethe the flesh of her young one ! We need go no farther for the delicate, tender, humane, and impressive meaning of this precept. Verse 20. Behold, I send an Angel before thee] Some have thought that this was Moses, others Joshua, because the word malach signifies an angel or messenger; but as it is said, ver. 21, My name is in him, (apa bekirbo, intimately, essentially in him,) it is more likely that the great Angel of the Covenant, the Lord Jesus Christ, is meant, in whom dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. We have had already much reason to believe that this glorious personage often appeared in a human form to the patriarchs, &c.; and of him Joshua was a very expressive type, the names Joshua and Jesus, in Hebrew and Greek, being of exactly the same signification, because radically the same, from yo yasha, he saved, delivered, preserved, or kept safe. Nor does it appear that the description given of the Angel in the text can belong to any other person. who are warned against idolatry. A. M. 2513. B. C. 1491. Sivan. 23 For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in An. Exod. Isr. 1. unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off. 24 Thou shalt not a bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images. 25 And ye shall serve the LORD your God, Gen. xii. 3; Deut. xxx. 7; Jer. xxx. 20.- n Or, I will afflict them that afflict theer Ver. 20; chap. xxxiii. 2.- -P Josh. xxiv. 8, 11.- -9 Ch. xx. 5.—Lev. xviii. 3; Deut. xii. 30, 31: Chap. xxxiv. 13; Numbers xxxiii. 52; Deut. vii. 5, 25; xii. 3. Deut. vi. 13; x. 12, 20; xi. 13, 14; xiii. 4; Joshua xxii. 5; xxiv. 14, 15, 21, 24; 1 Sam. vii. 3; xii. 20, 24; Matt. iv. 10. Calmet has referred to a very wonderful comment on these words given by Philo Judæus De Agricultura, which I shall produce here at full length as it stands in Dr. Mangey's edition, vól. i., p. 308: 's ποιμην και βασιλεὺς ὁ Θεος αγει κατα δικην και νόμον, προστησαμενος τον ορθον αυτου λόγον πρωτογονον υίον, δς την επιμέλειαν της Ιεράς ταύτης αγελης, οἷα τις με γαλου βασιλεως ύπαρχος, διαδέξεται. Και γαρ ειρηται Tov Ιδου εγω ειμι, αποστελώ αγγελον μου εις προσωπον σου, του φύλαξαι σε εν τῇ ὁδῷ. 'God, as the Shepherd and King, conducts all things according to law and righteousness, having established over them his right WORD, his ONLY-BEGOTTEN SON, who, as the Viceroy of the Great King, takes care of and ministers to this sacred flock: For it is somewhere said, (chap. xxiii. 20,) Behold, I AM, and I will send my Angel before thy face, to keep thee in the way." This is a testimony liable to no suspicion, coming from a person who cannot be supposed to be even friendly to Christianity, nor at all acquainted with that particular doctrine to which his words seem so pointedly to refer. Verse 21. He will not pardon your transgressions] He is not like a man, with whom ye may think that ye may trifle; were he either man or angel, in the common acceptation of the term, it need not be said, He will not pardon your transgressions, for neither man nor angel could do it. My name is in him.] The Jehovah dwells in him; in him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily; and because of this he could either pardon or punish. All power is given unto me in heaven and earth, Matt. xxviii. 18. Verse 23. Unto the Amorites] There are only six of the seven nations mentioned here, but the Septuagint, Samaritan, Coptic, and one Hebrew MS., add Girgashite, thus making the seven nations. Verse 24. Break down their images.] onnoro matstsebotheyhem, from 1 natsab, to stand up; pillars, anointed stones, &c., such as the baitulia. See on Gen. xxviii. 18. Verse 25. Shall bless thy bread and thy water] That is, all thy provisions, no matter of what sort; the meanest fare shall be sufficiently nutritive when God's blessing is in it. Their enemies to be expelled. A. M. 2513. Sivan. ness away V and " he shall bless thy bread and 30 By little and little I will. An. Exod. Isr. 1. thy water; and I will take sick-drive them out from before thee, from the midst of thee, until thou be increased, and in26 There shall nothing cast their young, herit the land.. nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil. 2 W 27 I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee. a 28 And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee. 29 I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee. 31 And I will set thy bounds from the Red Sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee. e 32 Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. 33 They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee. "Deut. vii. 13; xxviii. 5, 8. - Chap. xv. 26; Deut. vii. 15. ⚫b Deut. vii. 20; Josh. xxiv. 12; Wisd. xii. 8.- Deut. vii. Deut. vii. 14; xxviii. 4; Job xxi. 10; Mal. iii. 10, 11. 22. Gen. xv. 18; Num. xxxiv. 3; Deut. xi. 24; Josh. i. 4; e Josh. xxi. 44; Judg. i. 4 Gen. xxv. 8; xxxv. 29; 1 Chron. xxiii. 1; Job v. 26; xlii. 17;1 Kings iv. 21, 24; Psa. lxxii. 8.Chap. xxxiv. 12, 15; Deut. vii. 2. Chap. xxxiv. Psa. lv. 23; xc. 10.- - Gen. xxxv. 5; chap. xv. 14, 16; Deut. xi. 21. 12; Deut. vii. 16; xii. 30; Josh. xxiii. 13; Judg. ii. 3; 1 Sam, ii. 25; xi. 25; Josh. ii. 9, 11; 1 Sam. xiv. 15; 2 Chron. xiv. 14. * Deut. vii. 23.- Heb. neck; Psa. xviii. 40. xviii. 21; Psa. cvi. 36. Verse 26. There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren] Hence there must be a very great increase both of men and cattle. The number of thy days I will fulfil.] Ye shall all live to a good old age, and none die before his time. This is the blessing of the righteous, for wicked men live not out half their days; Psa. lv. 23. The east, to the Mediterranean Sea on the west; and from of the true religion till the coming of the Messiah, hence he strictly forbade them to tolerate idolatry. Verse 28. I will send hornets before thee] hatstsirah. The root is not found in Hebrew, but it may be the same with the Arabic Ɛ saraa, to lay prostrate, to strike down; the hornet, probably so called from the destruction occasioned by the violence Verse 32. Thou shalt make no covenant with them] of its sting. The hornet, in natural history, belongs to the species crabro, of the genus vespa or wasp; it They were incurable idolaters, and the cup of their And had the Israelites contracted is a most voracious insect, and is exceedingly strong iniquity was full. for its size, which is generally an inch in length, any alliance with them, either sacred or civil, they though I have seen some an inch and a half long, and would have enticed them into their idolatries, to which so strong that, having caught one in a small pair of the Jews were at all times most unhappily prone; and forceps, it repeatedly escaped by using violent contor-as God intended that they should be the preservers tions, so that at last I was obliged to abandon all hopes of securing it alive, which I wished to have done. How distressing and destructive a multitude of these might be, any person may conjecture; even the bees of one hive would be sufficient to sting a thousand men to madness, but how much worse must wasps and No armour, no weapons, could avail against these. A few thousands of them would be quite sufficient to throw the best disciplined army into confusion and rout. From Josh. xxiv. 12, we find that two kings of the Amorites were actually driven out of the land by these hornets, so that the Israelites were not obliged to use either sword or bow in the conquest. Verse 31. I will set thy bounds from the Red Sea] WHAT a pity that the Mosaic Law should be so litWhat a number of just and equal laws, On the south-east, even unto the sea of the Philistines tle studied! -the Mediterranean, on the north-west; and from pious and humane institutions, useful and instructive the desert-of Arabia, or the wilderness of Shur, on ordinances, does it contain! Everywhere we see the the west, to the river-the Euphrates, on the north-purity and benevolence of God always working to preOr in general terms, from the Euphrates on the vent crimes and make the people happy! But what hornets be! east. Verse 33. They shall not dwell in thy land] They must be utterly expelled. The land was the Lord's, and he had given it to the progenitors of this people, The latter being obto Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. liged to leave it because of a famine, God is now conducting back his posterity, who alone had a Divine and natural right to it, and therefore their seeking to pos sess the inheritance of their fathers can be only criminal in the sight of those who are systematically opposed to the thing, because it is a part of Divine revelation, 421 Moses and others go to the mount EXODUS. The people promise obedience. else can be expected from that God who is love, whose Jesus is with thee; hear and obey his voice; provoke tender mercies are over all his works, and who hateth him not, and he will be an enemy to thine enemies, and nothing that he has made? Reader, thou art not strait- an adversary to thine adversaries. Believe, love, obey ; ened in him, be not straitened in thy own bowels. and the road to the kingdom of God is plain before Learn from him to be just, humane, kind, and merciful. thee. Thou shalt inherit the good land, and be estaLove thy enemy, and do good to him that hates thee. I blished in it for ever and ever. CHAPTER XXIV. Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders, are commanded to go to the mount to meet the Lord, 1. ·Moses alone to come near to the Divine presence, 2. He informs the people, and they promise obedience, 3. He writes the words of the Lord, erects an altar at the foot of the hill, and sets up twelve pillars for the twelve tribes, 4. The young priests offer burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, 5. Moses reads the book of the covenant, sprinkles the people with the blood, and they promise obedience, 6-8. Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel, go up to the mount, and get a striking display of the majesty of God, 9-11. Moses alone is called up into the mount, in order to receive the tables of stone, written by the hand of God, 12. Moses and his servant Joshua go up, and Aaron and Hur are left regents of the people during his absence, 13, 14. The glory of the Lord rests on the mount, and the cloud covers it for six days, and on the seventh God speaks to Moses out of the cloud, 15, 16. The terrible appearance of God's glory on the mount, 17. Moses continues with God on the mount forty days, 18. A. M. 2513. An. Exod. Isr. 1. a A. M. 2513. B. C. 1491. Sivan. AND he said unto Moses, 3 And Moses came and told Come up unto the LORD, the people all the words of the An. Exod. Isr. 1. thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and LORD, and all the judgments: Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship ye afar off, b 2 And Moses alone shall come near the LORD but they shall not come nigh; neither : shall the people go up with him. and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD hath said will we do.. 4 And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and Chapter i. 5; Num. xi. 16. Verse 7; chapter xix. 8; Deut. v. 27; Galatians iii. 19, 20. c Ver. 13, 15, 18. * Deut. xxxi. 9. Chap. xxviii. 1; Lev. x. 1, 2, NOTES ON CHAP. XXIV. Verse 1. Come up unto the Lord] Moses and Aaron were already on the mount, or at least some way up, (chap. xix. 24,) where they had heard the voice of the Lord distinctly speaking to them and the people also saw and heard, but in a less distinct manner, probably like the hoarse grumbling sound of distant thunder; see chap. xx. 18, Calmet, who complains of the apparent want of order in the facts laid down here, thinks the whole should be understood thus:“After God had laid before Moses and Aaron all the laws mentioned from the beginning of the 20th chapter to the end of the 23d, before they went down from the mount to lay them before the people, he told them that, when they had proposed the conditions of the covenant to the Israelites, and they had ratified them, they were to come up again unto the mountain accompanied with Nadab and Abihu the sons of Aaron, and seventy of the principal elders of Israel. Moses accordingly went down, spoke to the people, ratified the covenant, and then, according to the command of God mentioned here, he and the others reascended the mountain. Tout cela est raconté ici avec assez peu d'ordre." Verse 2. Moses alone shall come near] The people stood at the foot of the mountain. Aaron and his twn sons and the seventy elders went up, probably about half way, and Moses alone went to the summit, Verse 3. Moses-told the people all the words of the Lord] That is, the ten commandments, and the various laws and ordinances mentioned from the beginning of the 20th to the end of the 23d chapter. Verse 4. Moses wrote all the words of the Lord] After the people had promised obedience, (ver. 3,) and so entered into the bonds of the covenant, “it was necessary," says Calmet, "to draw up an act by which the memory of these transactions might be preserved, and confirm the covenant by authentic and solemn ceremonies." And this Moses does. 1. As legislator, he reduces to writing all the articles and conditions of the agreement, with the people's act of consent, 2. As their mediator and the deputy of the Lord, he accepts on his part the resolution of the people; and Jehovah on his part engages himself to Israel, to be their God, their King, and Protector, and to fulfil to them all the promises. he had made to their fathers. 3, To make this the more solemn and affecting, and to ratify the covenant, which could not be done without sacrifice, shedding and sprinkling of blood, Moses builds an altar, probably of turf, as was commanded, chap. xx. 24, and erects twelve pillars, no doubt of unhewn stone, and probably set round about the altar. The altar itself represented the throne of God; the twelve stones, the twelve tribes of Israel. These were the two parties, who were to contract, or enter into covenant, on this occasion. Verse 5. He sent young men] Stout, able, reputable young men, chosen out of the different tribes, for the purpose of killing, flaying, and offering the oxen mentioned here. Burnt-offerings]-They generally consisted of sheep and goats, Lev. i. 10. These were wholly consumed by fire. Peace-offerings] Bullocks or goats; see Heb. ix. 19. The blood of these was poured out before the Lord, and then the priests and people might feast on the flesh. Verse 7. The book of the covenant] The writing containing the laws mentioned in the three preceding chapters. As this writing contained the agreement made between God and them, it was called the book of the covenant; but as no covenant was considered to be ratified and binding till a sacrifice had been offered on the occasion, hence the necessity of the sacrifices mentioned here. and read in the audience of the k Sivan. 8 And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words. 1 9 Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel: 10 And they saw the God of Israel; and m See Gen. xxxii. 30; ch. iii. 6; Judg. xiii. 22; Isa. vi. 1, 5, with ch. xxxiii. 20, 23; John i. 18; 1 Tim. vi. 16; 1 John iv. 12. the present day. The Romans were particularly fond of them, and left monuments of their taste and ingenuity in pavements of this kind, in most countries where they established their dominion. Some very fine specimens are found in different parts of Britain. The Sapphire is a precious stone of a fine blue colour, next in hardness to the diamond. The ruby is considered by most mineralogists of the same genus; so is also the topaz: hence we cannot say that the sapphire is only of a blue colour; it is blue, red, or yellow, as it may be called sapphire, ruby, or topaz; and some of them are blue or green, according to the light in which they are held; and some white. A very large specimen of such a one is now before me. ancient oriental sapphire is supposed to have been the same with the lapis lazuli. Supposing that these differ. ent kinds of sapphires are here intended, how glorious must a pavement be, constituted of polished stones of this sort, perfectly transparent, with an effulgence of heavenly splendour poured out upon them! The red, the blue, the green, and the yellow, arranged by the wisdom of God, into the most beautiful emblematic representations, and the whole body of heaven in its clearness shining upon them, must have made a most glorious appearance. As the Divine glory appeared above the mount, it is reasonable to suppose that the Half of the blood being sprinkled on the ALTAR, and half of it sprinkled on the PEOPLE, showed that both GOD and THEY were mutually bound by this covenant. GOD was bound to the PEOPLE to support, defend, and save them; the PEOPLE were bound to God to fear, love, and serve him. On the ancient method of making covenants, see on Gen. vi. 18; xv. 18. Thus the blood of the new covenant was necessary to pro-Israelites saw the sapphire pavement over their heads, pitiate the throne of justice on the one hand, and to reconcile men to God on the other. On the nature and various kinds of the Jewish offerings, see the note on Lev. vii. 1, &c. Verse 10. They saw the God of Israel] The seventy elders, who were representatives of the whole congregation, were chosen to witness the manifestation of God, that they might be satisfied of the truth of the revelation which he had made of himself and, of his will; and on this occasion it was necessary that the people also should be favoured with a sight of the glory of God; see chap. xx. 18. Thus the certainty of the revelation was established by many witnesses, and by those especially of the most competent kind. A paved work of a sapphire stone] Or sapphire brick-work. I suppose that something of the Musive or Mosaic pavement is here intended; floors most curiously inlaid with variously coloured stones or small square tiles, disposed in a great variety of ornamental forms. Many of these remain in different countries to as it might have occupied a space in the atmosphere equal in extent to the base of the mountain; and being transparent, the intense brightness shining upon it must have greatly heightened the effect,. It is necessary farther to observe that all this myst have been only an appearance, unconnected with any personal similitude; for this Moses expressly asserts, Deut. iv. 15. And though the feet are here mentioned, this can only be understood of the sapphirine basis or pavement, on which this celestial and indescribable glory of the Lord appeared. There is a similar description of the glory of the Lord in the Book of Revelation, chap. iv. 3: "And he who sat [upon the throne] was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone; and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald." In neither of these appearances was there any similitude or likeness of any thing in heaven, earth, or sea. Thus God took care to preserve them from all incentives to idolatry, while he gave them the fullest proofs of his being, |