called by Jehovah out of the bush that burned with fire and was not consumed,) the people were near to the land of Midian; and Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, had heard of all that the Lord had done for Israel; and he came to the camp, and brought the wife of Moses with her two sons-for they had been sent back to Midian while the mission to Pharaoh was fulfilled-and Jethro praised the Lord for His goodness to Israel, and offered a burnt sacrifice unto God.

CHAP. XXXVII.-From Rephidim, at the base of Horeb, which was the western summit of the mountain, the Israelites were led forward to the foot of the middle, or highest of its peaks, denominated Sinai, probably from its being the most elevated ground in that desert country called the wilderness of Sin: the eastern summit was named Mount Seir, possibly also, Hor from Hori, the grandson of Seir. The district bordering this peak was, as we have before seen, given to the Edomites, the descendants of Esau. Being now encamped at the edge of Mount Sinai, the word which was declared to Moses from

the burning bush, "When thou hast brought the people out of Egypt ye shall serve God in this mountain," was to be fulfilled in a most memorable manner: for "the Lord said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to-day and to-morrow, and let them wash their clothes, and be ready against the third day; for on the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai. And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it; whosoever toucheth the mount shall surely be put to death; there shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast, or man, it shall not live." "And it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud, so that all the people that were in the camp trembled; and Moses brought forth the people to meet with God, and they stood at the nether part of the Mount: and Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the

Lord descended on it in fire-and the whole mount quaked greatly; and when the noise of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice." And God spake all the words of the Ten Commandments: and the people were afraid, and “they removed and stood afar off; and they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us and we will hear, but let not God speak with us, lest we die." This awful manifestation of the presence of Jehovah on Mount Sinai, and the circumstances that attended the revelation of His immutably righteous law, are significant of the terrors which overwhelm the conscience of the guilty sinner, when effectually aroused to the conviction that "The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men." And the sanctifying of the Israelites, and the washing of their clothes, is emblematic of that turning away from evil, and that desire of forgiveness, which fill the hearts of those who truly "repent, and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance." These are brought, through the mercy of God in Christ, not to

an abiding under the condemnation of the law, but to the justifying faith of the Gospel. As saith the Apostle, in his epistle to the believing Hebrews, "Ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire; and 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 word might not be spoken to them any more. But ye are come unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, which speaketh better things than that of Abel.”

CHAP. XXXVIII.—The Ten Commandments were delivered to the people with the most impressive indications of their solemn character. Moses said, "The Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire-and

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He declared to you His covenant, which He commanded you to perform; even ten commandments; and He wrote them upon two tables of stone," (elsewhere called) "two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God." Moses remained on the mount forty days, and received many other directions for the laws which were to be observed by the Israelites, and for the making of the tabernacle and ark of the covenant, also for the vestments of the High Priest, and the other Levites employed in the holy services of ministering before the Lord, and offering sacrifices unto Him. And the Lord called Bezaleel, of the tribe of Judah, and "filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge of all manner of workmanship;" and Aholiah, of the tribe of Dan, was inspired with the qualifications needful to be the assistant of Bezaleel; and to the wise-hearted among the people was given ability to unite with them in making all that was commanded. But when Moses tarried in the mount the Israelites made a calf of molten gold, and " sacrificed peace offerings, and burnt sacrifice"