ii. The people generally, it would seem, cried to the Elohe of their

fathers for relief, and were heard and regarded.

Though from childhood to the age of forty Moses was one of the family and court of Pharaoh, and probably, therefore, could have had no peculiar advantages of instruction in the true religion, he nevertheless had such knowledge and experience of it, that "by faith, when he was come to years, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward." Heb. xi.

In this brief testimony concerning him, we clearly recognize the faith of Abraham, and of the prophets and martyrs of later times. He made no compromises with the honors, riches, or pleasures of the world, but renounced them. He sought not to serve two masters. He clearly discerned what distinguished the people of God from idolaters and unbelievers, and was well aware of the afflictions and trials which were consequent on their faith, and their allegiance and obedience to the Messiah, the Divine Mediator, the Messenger Jehovah, the Christ. In the certain prospect of affliction, reproaches, and sufferings, he chose publicly to manifest his faith and allegiance by his conduct. He forsook the court of Pharaoh, renounced the pleasures of sin and the riches of Egypt, and welcomed the cross.

In the family of Jethro, the priest of Midian, he probably found true worshippers, and met with nothing detrimental to his sentiments; and by the scene in which the Messenger Jehovah visibly appeared to him, doubtless his faith was so confirmed, and his knowledge increased, as to qualify him for the extraordinary services to which he was called. Hence we further read of him that, after the miracles and plagues by which Pharaoh was at length made to yield, "By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king.... And by faith he kept the passover and the sprinkling of blood." Heb. xi.

Now it is in the light of his character as thus referred to--of his knowledge and experience of the true religion as held by the people of God then and in earlier times--of his faith in the person and mediatorial work of the Messiah--that we are to regard him as the writer of the primeval and patriarchal history; and if it is evident that he recognized the Messiah in the person of the Messenger Jehovah, and that in all his subsequent narratives he designated the same official person by the terms Jehovah, Elohim, and Elohe, as well as by the terms Messenger, Adon, and Adonai, then it is safe to conclude that he intended to designate the same Person by the same terms in the earlier history.

At the period of the legation of Moses, the word Elohim was in familiar use in Egypt and among the Israelites as the designation of the object of religious homage; very probably it was the only name of God known to the people generally. Moses accordingly, in the first two chapters of Exodus, which probably were written before the book of Genesis, employs that name only. The third chapter opens with the announcement of the Messenger Jehovah appearing in the bush, and in its progress applies to him indifferently the names Elohim and Jehovah; and in the fourth and ensuing chapters, the same, and Adonai and El-Shadai, but most frequently Jehovah.

If now we suppose the book of Genesis to have been written by him after the events in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and at mount Sinai, and the setting up of the tabernacle, (which occurred about twelve months after the exodus,) where the people, though generally familiar only with the name Elohim, must have become in some degree used to the name Jehovah, we may perhaps discern a fitness and beauty in the first announcements of the Creator in Genesis; where, in the first chapter and the first three verses of the second, the name Elohim only is used; in the second, from the fourth verse, the name Jehovah Elohim, and in the ensuing chapters these names separately and conjointly, and various other designations, as Melach Jehovah, Adonai, and El-Shadai. In numerous instances the _article_ is prefixed to the name Elohim, as if emphatically to designate the God of Israel, the Creator, as _the_ true Elohim, in distinction from the false god of idolaters.

By this method he recalled, and reëstablished in the minds of the people, all the Divine designations known to the patriarchs of preceding ages, and their reference and applicability as designations to the one mediatorial Person; rendering it plain that _the_ Elohim of the Israelites in Egypt, and of the first chapter of Genesis, was identical with Jehovah, Melach the Messenger, Adonai, &c. In this view the resemblance of the first verses of the Gospel of John is noticeable, considering that it was his object to identify the Christ, as he appeared visibly incarnate, with Elohim the Creator announced in the first verses of Genesis.

Let it then be observed that in the narrative, Exod. iii. and iv., it is evident that one Divine personage only is referred to and designated by the several titles which are employed. That Divine personage appeared to Moses in the established or visible glory, the bright cloud-like envelope so familiar afterwards on mount Sinai and in the tabernacle. Moses, recording this appearance, says, "The Messenger Jehovah appeared to him." This was a person bearing an official title--one sent--the Messenger of the Covenant, for whose appearance incarnate John Baptist was to prepare the way, Mal. iii. Moses turned to behold the sight. And when Jehovah, he who appeared in the visible glory, the Messenger, saw that he turned aside to see, Elohim, that is, the person in the visible Shaking, "called unto him out of the midst of the bush, ... and said, I am the Elohe of thy father, the Elohe of Abraham, the Elohe of Isaac, and the Elohe of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon Elohim;" that is, upon the ineffable glory of the Person, the Messenger Jehovah, the Elohim, who thus visibly appeared to him. "And Jehovah said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry, ... and _I am come down_ to deliver them:" come down as a Person, so as to be locally and visibly present. The Elohim to whom the children of Israel cried, (chap. ii.,) and who heard their cry, is, on his first appearing visibly, called the Messenger Jehovah, and here announces himself to be Jehovah who had heard their cry and come down to deliver them. So surely therefore as these acts of seeing the affliction of the people, hearing their cry, coming down, and speaking to Moses, are the acts of a Person, this narrative and these several designations relate to one and the same Person; and this Person is shown to be the Messiah by his official title.

It being thus manifest that, as a Person locally and visibly appearing, these several designations were equally applicable to him, Moses in the next ensuing verses calls him Elohim, and asks by what name he shall designate him to the children of Israel. It is to be observed that there is no record of any visible appearance of the Messenger Jehovah prior to this since the days of Jacob; and it is probable that the names Jehovah and Messenger Jehovah, though known to the true worshippers, were not familiar to the people generally. But these designations being peculiar, and more distinguishing than that of Elohim, which was in common use among idolaters, were now to be proclaimed and brought into familiar use. "And Elohim 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:" expressions equivalent to those of John, "In him was life," "I am he that liveth;" that is, the self-existent. "And Elohim said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, Jehovah Elohe of your fathers, the Elohe of Abraham, the Elohe of Isaac, and the Elohe of Jacob, hath sent me unto you.... Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, Jehovah Elohe of your fathers, the Elohe 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." But it was the Messenger Jehovah who _appeared_ to him, and speaking from the midst of the bush said, "I am the Elohe of thy father, the Elohe of Abraham, the Elohe of Isaac, and the Elohe of Jacob.... I have surely seen the affliction of _my people_ which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry."

Again: "The elders of Israel 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, Jehovah Elohe of the Hebrews hath _met_ with us.... And now let us go that we may sacrifice to Jehovah our Elohe." Jehovah Elohe of the Hebrews, and the Angel Jehovah who appeared to Moses, is therefore one and the same Person. The Messenger Jehovah, the Person who locally and visibly met with Moses, was the Elohe of the patriarchial dispensation.

In what follows, chap. iv., for the encouragement and confirmation of Moses, the power of working miracles is imparted to him by Jehovah, that the people might "believe that Jehovah Elohe of their fathers, the Elohe of Abraham, and the Elohe of Isaac, and the Elohe of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee." By thus demonstrating the reality of the appearance, he would no less conclusively show that the appearance of the Messenger Jehovah was no other than the appearance locally and personally of the Elohe of their fathers.

Jehovah, still conversing with Moses, said, (verse 11,) "Who hath made man's mouth, or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, Jehovah? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say." Here the same Person, the Messenger, asserts the prerogatives of Creator, and the office of prophet or teacher. When Moses and Aaron had gathered the elders of Israel, "Aaron spake all the words which Jehovah had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. And the people believed; and when they heard that Jehovah," that is, the Messenger, "had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their afflictions," which the Messenger asserted of himself, "then they bowed their heads and worshipped."

In the progress of the narrative, and throughout the writings of Moses, the use of the same Divine appellations as in chap. iii. and iv., indifferently and interchangeably, with reference to the same acts, leaves no room to doubt but that the same Divine personage is uniformly referred to. Generally, that Person is called Jehovah when he speaks to Moses. When he appears visibly, as in the cloudy pillar, he is called the Messenger Jehovah. When his attributes or relations, as in covenant, are referred to, he is called the Elohe. In all cases alike he is the official Person, the Messiah, the Messenger of the Covenant. Hence Stephen, Acts vii., referring to the whole period of Moses' intercourse with him, says, "This Moses is he that was in the church in the wilderness with _the Messenger_ which spake to him in the mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received the lively oracles to give unto us." Thus it was the Messenger who spoke to Moses and to the elders and people at mount Sinai, though he is there called Jehovah and Elohim. "And Jehovah said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever.... And Jehovah came down upon mount Sinai on the top of the mount.... And Elohim spake all these words, saying, I am Jehovah thy Elohe, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, &c.... And the people [at the close of the scene] said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear, but let not Elohim speak with us lest we die." Exod. xix., xx. Here the several Divine appellations are by Moses employed to designate the Person whom Stephen calls the Messenger. And Moses, Deut. v., says, "Jehovah talked with you face to face in the mount, out of the midst of the fire."

Once more, Exod. xiv. 19, Moses, speaking of the passage of the Israelites through the sea, says, "The Messenger Elohim, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them: and it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel, and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these." Here the same Person who is elsewhere called the Messenger Jehovah, is called the Messenger Elohim. This Person, and his change of position, are distinguished from the cloudy pillar, and its removal from the front to the rear of the camp. The Divine acts which ensued are ascribed to Jehovah; among which we are told that "Jehovah looked unto the host of the Egyptians _through the pillar of fire and of the cloud_, and troubled the host of the Egyptians." But it was the Messenger who was in the pillar of fire, (the Shekina,) and who therefore looked through the pillar of cloud which had been interposed between him and the Egyptians.

Suppose the Israelites under Moses to have had a knowledge, by previous revelations, of the truth concerning the person and work of Christ, and the way of salvation through him. In that case, such revelations not being committed to writing prior to Moses, but having been matter of oral instruction, were significantly expressed in an outward and visible manner by typical sacrifices, and other religious rites and prescriptions. By complying with these rites, the devout Israelite expressed his faith in the revealed truths which they were employed to recall and commemorate. The visible types were illustrative of revealed truths already known. They were not the medium of a revelation, but a medium through which faith in an existing revelation and obedience to it were expressed. Their office was not prophetic, but illustrative.

Thus, when under the Levitical economy the high priest, duly prepared and arrayed, entered the most holy place, his official person and acts constituted a striking visible emblem of certain truths concerning the Messiah's person and sacerdotal work. Beholding that visible token and illustration of these truths, the believer's faith was called into exercise. So when the priest offered a sacrifice of atonement and sprinkled the blood, burnt incense, or performed any other official act; and when the worshipper laid his hand on the head of the animal to be sacrificed, celebrated the paschal supper, or complied in any other respect with the prescribed ritual.

This method of worship and obedience through significant tokens and visible emblems, and types illustrative of known truths, was instituted soon after the fall, and suited in all respects the economy of outward and visible manifestation which prevailed down to the advent of Christ. Thus Abel, the patriarchs and prophets, worshipped, and thus Simeon and Anna at the time of the incarnation.

Of the patriarch Noah we read, Genesis vi.-ix., that he found grace in the eyes of Jehovah; that he was a righteous man; that he walked with (the) Elohim; that Elohim repeatedly spoke to him, directed him to build an ark, and prescribed the form of it, forewarned him of the deluge and of its object, directed him to enter the ark, and shut him in; that he did according to all that Jehovah commanded him; that Elohim directed him to go forth from the ark; that he built an altar unto Jehovah, took of animals denominated clean, and offered burnt offerings on the altar, and was accepted; that Elohim blessed Noah and his sons, prescribed certain laws to be observed thereafter, and announced a covenant of which the rainbow was made a perpetual token.

In all these communications, the form of address is like that of a person locally and visibly present: "I, even I, _do bring_ a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh.... But with thee will I establish my covenant.... _Come_ thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous _before me_, in this generation.... Elohim spake unto Noah and to his sons with him, saying, I, behold, I establish my covenant with you and with your seed after you." And when Noah offered burnt offerings on the altar, "Jehovah smelled a sweet savor." From all which, and the occasion and nature of the things said and done, and a comparison of this with the occasions of local appearance to Abraham and others, which are declared to have been visible, we may without presumption conclude that He who spake to Noah was present in a visible form. That he was one of the most eminent and most favored of those with whom Jehovah conversed, whose righteousness he attested, and to whom he assigned the most important services, and imparted the highest gifts, is shown by his being named first of the three, who, by their preëminent righteousness, might, if present, be expected by the captive Israelites to shield them from exterminating judgments. "Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in the land, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith Jehovah Elohim." Ezekiel xiv. And if there was, in the course of the patriarchial or Levitical dispensations, any occasion on which the nature and magnitude of the events were reasons for the local and visible presence of Jehovah, surely that of the judicial destruction of the whole race, excepting Noah and his family, may be assumed to have been such.

The word translated altar is from a root which signifies _to kill_, _to slaughter_ animals _for sacrifice_, _to sacrifice_; also _a sacrifice,_ the _victim_, or _thing_, _sacrificed_; and in the form translated _altar_ it denotes the place or instrument of sacrifice, on which the slaughtered victim (wholly or in part) was consumed by fire, and the blood poured out or sprinkled. See Levit. viii. 21, 24, xvii. 6, and elsewhere. Accordingly, to build an altar unto Jehovah, was to erect a structure on which to offer to him slaughtered animals, to be consumed (probably in all instances of acceptable worship) by fire caused immediately by him. Such altars were, in many instances, and probably in all, erected by his direction, and at places specified by him, and they were places of customary worship and of Divine manifestation. It would therefore be incongruous and preposterous to suppose that the worshippers did not understand the doctrines and typical references involved in the system, as well as the ritual forms and observances.

The altar of burnt offerings, above referred to as the instrument of sacrifice by the shedding of blood, was typical of the cross as the instrument on which our Lord offered himself a sacrifice; and to this undoubtedly the true worshippers had reference, which implies a right apprehension of his person and office, as well as of the necessity and efficacy of his expiatory death, and its relation to the justification and acceptance of believers. His personal presence, in a form adapted to suggest such apprehensions, would seem to have been as necessary, when typical offerings were made by Abel, Noah, and others, during the patriarchial dispensation, as when made in the tabernacle and temple, where he was present in the visible Shekina, as is hereafter to be more particularly noticed. At present it may suffice to observe, that since he is declared to have been present in the likeness of man, and as the Melach Jehovah, on some occasions when burnt offerings were offered to him with his sanction and acceptance, as in that relating to Isaac in the history of Abraham, that of his appearance to Manoah, and that to Gideon, it may reasonably be inferred that his personal presence was equally requisite on all occasions of similar offerings.

The local personal presence of Jehovah in the form in which he was often visible is implied and affirmed in passages like the following:

When the children of Israel at Rephidim murmured against Moses because they had no water, Jehovah directed Moses to advance with the people and the elders, and said, "Behold, _I will stand before thee_ upon the rock in Horeb, and thou shalt smite the rock," &c. "And Moses called the name of the place Massah, &c., because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted Jehovah, saying, Is Jehovah among us or not?" Exod. xvii. 7; _i. e._, is he personally and locally present or not?

After the apostasy manifested in making a molten calf, Jehovah said to Moses, Depart with the people, &c., and I will send _an_ angel before thee; for I will not go up in the midst of thee, lest I consume thee, &c. Moses having removed the tabernacle out of the camp, the cloudy pillar _descended and stood_ at the door of the tabernacle; and Jehovah talked with Moses. And Jehovah spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. Moses having expressed his great anxiety at the proposed substitution of _an_ angel, and prayed for further instruction, Jehovah said, "My presence shall go with thee;" and he said, "If thy presence [_i. e._, thou, thyself] go not with me, carry us not up hence. For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in _thy_ sight? Is it not in that _thou goest with us_? So shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth." Moses, for further assurance, desired to see the splendor of Jehovah's person, and, in a modified degree, his request was granted. Jehovah descended--his glory passed by, &c. Exod. xxxiii. 34. This whole scene implies his local personal presence, in distinction from his universal, invisible presence.

The visible Deity is intended in all such phrases as, "before the Lord," "being seen," "going with," "among you," "in the midst of you," &c., a local reference being manifest.

"Ye have despised Jehovah which is among you." Numb. xi. 20.

The Egyptians "have heard that thou, Jehovah, art among this people; that thou, Jehovah, art seen face to face; and that thy cloud standeth over them; and that thou goest before them by day-time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night." Numb. xiv. 14. Thus Moses argued to avert the destruction threatened on occasion of the murmuring at the report of the spies. The passage clearly imports that it was Jehovah himself who was seen face to face, and who went in the cloud.

So when a portion of the people resolved presumptuously to proceed, Moses says, Go not up, for Jehovah is not among you. Numb. xiv. 42; Deut. i. 42.

"The Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp." Deut. xxiii. 14.

In the future misery and desolation of the people they will say, "Are not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?" Deut. xxxi. 17.

When the Israelites were about to cross the Jordan to Jericho, Joshua, referring to the miracle by which they were to pass over dry-shod, says, "Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you."

Moses is directed to exclude lepers, "that they defile not the camp in the midst of which I dwell." Numb. v. 3.

"The sons of God came to present themselves _before_ Jehovah; and Satan came also amongst them." Job i. 6. The context shows that a local personal presence is intended.

"God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved." Ps. xlvi. 5. "Great is the Holy One in the midst of thee." Isa. xii. 6. "I am God and not man, the Holy One in the midst of thee." Hosea xi. 9. "Thou, O Jehovah, art in the midst of us; leave us not." Jer. xiv. 9.

Joel, predicting the millennium, says, ii. 27, "Ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and none else." See Zeph. iii. 15-17: "The King of Israel, even Jehovah, is in the midst of thee; thou shalt not see evil any more. The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty." And Zech. ii. 5, x. 11, and viii. 3: "For I, saith Jehovah, will be the glory in the midst of her. Lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith Jehovah. And many nations, &c. Thus saith Jehovah, I am _returned_ unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and Jerusalem shall be called, A city of truth; and the mountain of the Lord of Hosts, The holy mountain."

Jesus himself stood in the midst, &c. Luke xxiv. 36, John, &c. In the midst of the seven candlesticks. Rev. i. 13; ii. 1. In the midst of the throne stood a Lamb. Rev. v. 6.

The angel Jehovah appeared in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. Exod. iii. 2. Jehovah spake out of the midst of the fire. Deut. iv. 12.

"Jehovah said unto Moses, Lo, _I come_ to thee in a thick cloud, that the people may _hear_ when I speak with thee. Be ready, ... for the third day Jehovah will _come down_ in the _sight_ of all the people upon mount Sinai.... And on the third day, in the morning, there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount.... And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to _meet with the Elohim_; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because Jehovah _descended_ upon it in fire.... And ... Moses spake, and (_the_) Elohim answered him by a voice. And Jehovah _came down_ upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount; and Jehovah called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up.... And Elohim spake, saying, I am Jehovah, thy Elohe.... Thou shalt have no other Elohim before me." Exod. xix., xx.

If the acts here attributed to Moses are literally described, so also are those of Jehovah. If Moses literally went up to the top of the mount, the narrative no less plainly avers that Jehovah came down to the top of Sinai. He came down visibly--in the sight of the people; was personally and locally present.

On another occasion, chap. xxiv., he said unto Moses, "_Come up unto Jehovah_, thou and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders, and worship ye _afar off_; and Moses alone shall _come near Jehovah_, but they _shall not come nigh_.... Then went up Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and they _saw the Elohe of Israel_, and there was under _his feet_ as it were a paved work.... They _saw (the) Elohim_, and did eat and drink."

No terms could well express more distinctly a personal appearance, in the form seen by Abraham and others. His person was manifest to their senses. They ate and drank in his presence, who in the same form partook of a repast with the patriarch, and walked and conversed with him as one human person does with another.

"Jehovah called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud.... And Moses went into the midst of the cloud." Exod. xxvi. 16, 18. The cloud then was such that Moses could subsist in and be enveloped by it.

"And Jehovah said, I will _appear_ in the cloud upon the mercy-seat." Levit. xvi. 2. In this and similar instances a local personal appearance is evidently intended. No such phraseology would be suited to indicate the omnipresence, or merely the spiritual presence of Jehovah. See Deut. xxxi. 15.

"And the cloud of Jehovah was upon them by day when they went out of the camp. And it came to pass when the ark set forward that Moses said, _Rise up_, Jehovah, and let thine enemies be scattered, and let them that hate thee flee before thee. And when it rested, he said, _Return_, O Jehovah, unto the many thousands of Israel." Numb. x. 35, 36.

On these occasions the cloud visibly rose above the tabernacle, and advanced before the children of Israel; and again descended and rested on the tabernacle. The address of Moses seems unintelligible, unless Jehovah was personally present.

"And Jehovah _came down_ in the pillar of the cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle.... And he said, With Moses will _I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently_; ... and _the similitude of Jehovah shall he behold_." Numb. xii. Surely a local personal presence is here intended.

"At the door of the tabernacle _before_ Jehovah, I will meet you, to speak there unto thee; and there I will meet with the children of Israel; and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory; and I will _dwell among_ the children of Israel, and will be their Elohim. And they shall know that I am Jehovah their Elohe, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt that I may _dwell among them_." Exod. xxix. 42-46. "Defile not the land which ye shall inhabit, wherein I dwell: for I Jehovah dwell among the children of Israel." Numb. xxxv. 34. "I have not dwelt in any house since the time that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle. In all the places wherein I have walked with the children of Israel," &c. 2 Sam. vii., and 1 Chron. xvii.

So of the phrases, "dwelleth between the cherubim," "sitteth between the cherubim," and the like, which imply the local personal presence of Jehovah.

The local presence and agency of the Messenger Jehovah, as Captain of his hosts, and dictator to Joshua of all the steps taken by him in the conquest and destruction of the Canaanites, is clearly indicated throughout the book of Joshua.

Joshua had, for forty years in the wilderness, as minister to Moses, been familiar with the personal presence, the agency, the miraculous power, and the voice of the Messenger, in the tabernacle, in the pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night, on mount Sinai, and on many peculiar and special occasions.

His name properly signifies _Saviour_. The Hebrew word Jehoshua is equivalent to the Greek name Jesus, or Saviour.

On the occurrence of the war with Amalek, shortly after the passage of the Red Sea, Joshua was appointed by Moses to command the army of the Israelites. He led out the chosen men of war, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur took their station on a neighboring hill, where Moses held up the rod of God, as a token that all the success under Joshua, in the destruction of the Amalekites, was owing to the superior power of Jehovah exerted specially on the occasion. When Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.

The battle being ended by the discomfiture of Amalek and his people, Jehovah said unto Moses, "Write this for a memorial, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua, That I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah Nissi," _i. e._, the Lord my banner. Exod. xvii.

Thus the supremacy and leadership of Jehovah was fully acknowledged. It was his war, executed under the lieutenancy of Joshua, in accordance with the specific directions given to Moses, and in the exercise of faith in the will of Jehovah, as indicated by tokens of his appointment.

On the occasion of the giving of the tables of stone, Joshua accompanied Moses, as his minister, into the mount of God. There they tarried forty days, while "the sight of the glory of Jehovah was like devouring fire on the top of the mount, in the eyes of the children of Israel." The directions concerning the construction of the tabernacle were given on that occasion. Exod. xxiv. When they descended from the mount, Joshua seems first to have heard the shouting of the people before the molten image they had made. Exod. xxxii.

In the progress of the events which succeeded this defection, the cloudy pillar--the Shekina--descended from Sinai, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and Jehovah talked with Moses. "And Jehovah spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And Moses turned again into the camp, but his minister Joshua departed not out of the tabernacle." He, therefore, doubtless heard and saw the same as Moses. Ibid. xxxiii.

He was one of those sent to examine and report concerning the land of Canaan, Numb. xiii.; on which occasion, Moses changed his name from Oshea to Jehoshua. Ten of those sent were unfaithful. The joint report of Joshua and Caleb was true and faithful. The ten were destroyed by a plague; the two were protected and preserved. Ibid. xiv.

Joshua was specially set apart as the successor of Moses, and consecrated by the laying on of Moses' hands, in the presence of the high priest and the congregation. Numb. xxvii. He, with the high priest, was appointed to divide the land. Ibid. xxxiv. When Moses was forbidden to enter the good land, he was notified that his minister Joshua would lead the children of Israel thither, and commanded to encourage him. Deut. i. 38. This he did, Deut. iii., and more emphatically, chap. xxxi., when in the presence of all Israel he encouraged him, and cited the predictions concerning his causing the people to inherit the land; adding, "And Jehovah, he it is that doth go _before thee_; he will be _with thee_; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee; fear not, neither be dismayed."

On the death of Moses, we read that "Joshua, the son of Nun, was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands upon him; and the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as Jehovah commanded Moses." Deut. xxxiv.

Notwithstanding all this training, discipline, and intimate fellowship with Moses for forty years, and the premonitions, designations and predictions of him, as leader of Israel in place of Moses; yet such was the sacredness and specialty of the relation in which he was to officiate, that Jehovah spake unto Joshua, charged him with the duties he was to perform, and promised him victory and complete success, in case of his fidelity. "As I was with Moses, so _I will be with thee_. I will not fail nor forsake thee. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God _is with thee_ whithersoever thou goest." Josh. i.

Joshua was to act only upon the authority expressly delegated to him, and in the strictest subordination to the directions previously given to Moses, and those which Jehovah now and from time to time announced to him. The circumstances, like those which attended Moses at the commencement and throughout his official life, required an assured and unwavering faith in the declared purposes, the promises, the presence and power of Jehovah the Elohe of Israel, the king, preserver, teacher, and guide of his people.

There was, no doubt, a degree of mysteriousness connected with the personal and local manifestations of Jehovah, which rendered an unwavering faith constantly requisite. The minds of men, no less at that than at other periods, were most readily and strongly affected by visible and familiar objects. The chief incitements to idolatry were visible, and such as were supposed to be easily comprehended. The fears of men, founded in their consciousness of guilt and ignorance, had reference naturally to things invisible and mysterious. The conscious depravity, corruption, blindness and ill-desert of men, in contrast with the perfect holiness, righteousness, impartiality, and other perfections of Jehovah, could not but excite their natural inclination to exclude him from their thoughts, instead of loving and confiding in him, and realizing his presence by faith.

Whether for these or other reasons, a strong, constant, unwavering faith in the person and the perfections, prerogatives and works of Jehovah, was not uniformly exhibited even by the patriarchs and prophets of the ancient dispensation. That dispensation was specially characterized as one of outward and visible manifestations, miraculous interpositions, and audible revelations; yet in the most signal instances of strong faith as occasioning it, some special and overpowering manifestation of Jehovah was vouchsafed. Thus Abraham, on the occasion of entering into and ratifying the covenant concerning the everlasting inheritance of the promised land by his posterity, through Christ as his Seed; the Shekina visibly appeared, passed between the pieces of the sacrifice, and probably consumed them. And again, prior to the destruction of Sodom, when that event was revealed, and the earlier promises were renewed to him, Jehovah appeared in the form of man, and conversed and walked with him.