_MOSES AND THE ISRAELITES, PRAISE THE LORD IN A TRIUMPHAL SONG: THEY
ADVANCE INTO THE WILDERNESS OF SHUR; WHERE, BEING IN WANT OF WATER,
THE WATERS OF MARAH ARE MADE SWEET BY CASTING WOOD INTO THEM: THENCE
THEY MARCH TO ELIM._
_Before Christ 1491._... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN SANG MOSES— This is supposed to be the most ancient piece of
genuine poetry extant in the world, if, perhaps, we except the Book of
Job. The words of Lamech to his wives; the prophecy of Noah concerning
his sons; the blessing of Jacob upon the twelve patriarchs, are all,
as some learned writers... [ Continue Reading ]
_Exodus 15:2. The Lord is my strength and song; And he is become my
salvation: He is my God; and I will prepare him an habitation: My
father's God; and I will exalt him._
This holds throughout, as the attentive reader may observe; except
that, in one or two verses, it seems as if the two choirs sun... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SANK INTO THE BOTTOM AS A STONE— A poetical expression, to set
forth their profound and utter destruction. See Jeremiah
51:63.Revelation 18:21.... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE GREATNESS OF THINE EXCELLENCY— _In the brightness of thy
glory,_ Calmet: referring to ch. Exodus 14:24 when the light from the
pillar of fire burst forth upon the Egyptians. Agreeably to this
remark, _thy wrath_ might be rendered thy _fiery heat,_ or _burning
indignation._ The expletives in t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WITH THE BLAST OF THY NOSTRILS— This is commonly supposed to
refer to the _wind_ mentioned in the 21st verse of the preceding
chapter, which was the instrument of gathering the waters together.
But, as the heat of the _nostrils,_ all through the Scripture, is used
to express _wrath,_ one would r... [ Continue Reading ]
THE ENEMY SAID, &C.— No reader can be insensible to the striking
beauty in these verses: the exultation of the enemy is so finely
expressed in the one, and their sudden destruction so emphatically in
the other: _thou didst blow with thy wind,_ &c. There is a similar
beauty in the song of Deborah: se... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO IS LIKE UNTO THEE, O LORD, AMONG THE GODS?— The sacred Writer
here refers to those _gods of Egypt,_ over whom Jehovah had now so
gloriously triumphed; and one of the great ends of whose miracles in
Egypt was, doubtless, to assert his Supremacy, and to shew his
superiority over all local and fals... [ Continue Reading ]
THE EARTH SWALLOWED THEM— That is, says Ainsworth, the bottom of the
sea, the abyss which the sea covers; as in Jonah 2:6.— ארצ
_aretz,_ rendered _earth,_ sometimes signifies, _the lowest part of
the earth: pars infima cujuscunque rei, the lowest part of any thing,_
says Calasio: _the lowest part of... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU HAST GUIDED THEM IN THY STRENGTH UNTO THY HOLY HABITATION—
There is in this song so great a variety in the tenses, as they are at
present fixed by grammarians, that there can be no impropriety in
giving to this passage such a version as makes it conformable with the
fact. In agreement with Houb... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PEOPLE SHALL HEAR, &C.— The sublimity of this passage would
appear much more striking if it were rendered, agreeably to the
Hebrew, _The people hear, they tremble: sorrow takes hold on the
inhabitants of Palestina. Straight_ (אז * _az_) _the dukes of Edom
are amazed: the mighty men of Moab, trem... [ Continue Reading ]
AND PLANT THEM IN THE MOUNTAIN OF THINE INHERITANCE, &C.— As this
verse undoubtedly refers to Jerusalem and Mount Sion, it is reasonable
to think, that the _holy habitation,_ Exodus 15:13 refers to the same.
The phrase of _planting,_ expresses their _fixed establishment:_ and
the same idea is used i... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD SHALL REIGN FOR EVER AND EVER— An exulting strain;
expressing the absolute sovereignty of Jehovah, which he had
demonstrated by this signal overthrow of the Egyptians, as the next
verse declares; where the reason is given for this triumphant
assertion; _for the horse of Pharaoh,_ &c. This 1... [ Continue Reading ]
MIRIAM THE PROPHETESS— Μαριαμ in the Greek, in the Latin
_Maria,_ from the Hebrew word מרה _marah, bitterness._ She was so
called, say some, from the times of affliction and bitterness, (Exodus
1:14.) in which she was born. In the note on Genesis 20:7 we have
given the true explanation of the word _... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THEY CAME TO MARAH— Moses tells us, in the close of the verse,
that the place was called _Marah,_ from the _bitterness_ of the waters
there. "In travelling from _Sdur,_ Or _Shur,"_ says Dr. Shaw, "towards
Mount Sinai, we came into the desert, as it is still called, of
_Marah,_ where the Israeli... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE CRIED UNTO THE LORD; AND THE LORD SHEWED HIM A TREE, &C.— As
soon as the Israelites felt the least inconvenience, they shewed that
murmuring and discontented disposition, which so strongly marks their
character. Their murmurs against Moses, Exodus 15:24 were, in reality,
murmurs against GOD.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY CAME TO ELIM— Elim was situated upon the northern skirts of
the desert of _Sin,_ two leagues from _Tor,_ and near thirty from
_Corondel._ I saw, says Dr. Shaw, no more than nine of the _twelve
wells_ which are mentioned by Moses, the other three being filled up
by those drifts of sand which... [ Continue Reading ]