And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sinai an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush. (31) When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him, (32) Saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold. (33) Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground. (34) I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt. (35) This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush. (36) He brought them out, after that he had showed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years. (37) This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear. (38) This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sinai, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us: (39) To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, (40) Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. (41) And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. (42) Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness? (43) Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon. (44) Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen. (45) Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Joshua into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David; (46) Who found favor before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. (47) But Solomon built him a house. (48) Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, (49) Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest? (50) Hath not my hand made all these things?
Reader! pause to remark, a second forty years in the life of Moses had run out, before those visions of God began, which took place at the bush. What a wonder-working God is Israel's God, in relation to his dealings with his people? We find, that at all ages, at all occasions, and in all departments of life, the manifestations of his love, in the first calls of his grace, have been, and still are, made known. No time, no place, nor circumstances, can preclude their operation. The charter of grace runs in very certain terms: All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, John 6:37. In that day that the great trumpet shall be blown, they shall come which were ready to perish, Isaiah 27:13
I have already, in the opening of this Chapter, made it appear very plain, that it was the Son of God which spake to Moses from the bush: (see Acts 7:2-16. and the Comment upon the passage:) but in this place I would beg to add a short observation further. The inspired writer of the book of Exodus, (Exodus 3:4) saith, that God called unto him out of the midst of the bush. And here Stephen confirms the same, when he saith, that the words spoken were in a Covenant manifestation, as the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. So that it was not simply God, but God in Covenant; not only the glory of God in the person of Christ, but the glory of God's grace in him, John 1:18. And I would not have the Reader overlook, or forget, that this manifestation had such a strong and lasting impression on the mind of Moses, that when he came to die, and as he blessed the tribes of Israel before his death, he dwelt with more affection upon this discovery of Covenant-love to his soul at the bush, than upon any other circumstance in his whole eventful life. As he pronounced his dying benediction, (and which was partly prophetical), upon the tribe of Joseph, the blessings he prayed for were all founded in the good will of Him that dwelt in the bush: Deuteronomy 33:16, meaning God in flesh; Christ sealing all the blessings of the Covenant. Moses, by faith, beheld the Son of God then in our nature, as in a bush not consumed, because God dwelt in it: and finishing in that nature the whole purposes of redemption. Reader! first impressions of God's revelations in Christ are precious things. A child of God will think of them with holy joy, in the last hours of his dwelling in a body of flesh. And not unfrequently will they arise warm in the soul, when all the powers of nature are growing cold in approaching death.
One word more on this passage. When the Lord speaks of having seen the affliction of his people in Egypt, having heard their groanings, knew their sorrows, and was come down to deliver them; in the commission given to Moses, we must look to an infinitely greater than Moses, and behold the Lord Jesus Christ. It is Jesus which is come down to deliver his people, from more than the Egyptian state of bondage, even from the captivity of sin and hell, and everlasting destruction. And the Lord's people are indeed his people, by every tye which can make them so; from the everlasting betrothing of the Church, through all the time-state of the present existence, and leading into the eternity, which is to follow.
I admire the grace of the Lord, in repeating the assurance, of having perfect knowledge of his peoples' sorrows. I have seen; I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt. Reader! think how since that period, the Lord hath given his Church a more palpable conviction, of the interest he takes in all that concerns his redeemed; in not only knowing, and seeing their afflictions, but by a fellow-feeling, taking part with them in all that belongs to them. Whoso toucheth you, toucheth the apple of his eye, Zechariah 2:8. In all their affliction, he is afflicted, Isaiah 63:9; Hebrews 5:1-2
And there is a world of tenderness in the expression, my people. For it not only implies a peculiarity, whereby they differ from all the world beside; but a property, a right, which in every point, distinguishes them from every other nation under heaven. It is indeed a name, to signify the Lord's right in them, and their right in all that belongs to the Lord, by virtue of their relationship, and a oneness of nature in him. Sweetly sung the Church to this union, when she said, I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine. Song of Solomon 6:3
I forbear to enlarge on the several other parts which Stephen brings forward, in reciting the outlines of the history of the Church. Indeed it cannot be necessary, as the word of God hath the whole very largely set forth, in its proper place. And the subject is too plain to need a comment. If the Reader wishes any further scriptural testimony, in confirmation, I would recommend him, to consult some, or all, of the following scriptures, Exodus 20:2; Exodus 20:2; Deuteronomy 5:2-4; Exodus 33:11; Psalms 83:18; Exodus 24:18; 1 Kings 8:27; Isaiah 66:2-13.