Exodus 23
DOYLYExodus 23:8
- — Behold the blood of the covenant.] Behold that blood, by which the covenant made between God and
people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, “All the words which the LORD hath said will we do.
a Chap. 19. 8. & 34. 8, 7. Deut. 6. 27.
Exodus 23:9
- — ye know the heart of a stranger.] Ye have felt what a distressed condition that of a stranger is; how friendless and helpless. Bp. Patrick.
Exodus 23:10
- And they saw the God of Israel:] The visible glory of God, the symbols of His Majesty and Presence, appearing with more splendour and brightness than ever before. Dr. Wells, Pyle.
— under his feet] Under the lower part of this glorious light. There was no bodily form; for it is expressly said at Deut. iv. 15, that they “saw no manner of similitude.” Thus the Divine Majesty is sometimes said to have a footstool, though it have no human shape. Bp. Patrick.
— a paved work of a sapphire stone.] A pavement very bright and glistening. Bp. Patrick.
— the body of heaven] As clear as the purest and serenest sky, when it is all spangled with stars. Bp. Patrick.
Exodus 23:11
- — also they saw God, &c.] They saw God in these signs of His manifestation, and yet lived in health and soundness of body. Bp. Hall.
Exodus 23:13
- — make no mention of the name of other gods.] With any reverence, or any approbation, by appealing to them, or vowing by their names. It was not unlawful merely to mention the names of other gods in ordinary conversation. Bps. Patrick and Kidder.
Exodus 23:19
- — Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk.] This precept has respect to an idolatrous custom of the heathens of those days, cruel as well as superstitious, VOL. I.
Exodus 23:20
- — an Angel] Called at verse 23, “Mine Angel.” See chap. xiv. 19.
Exodus 23:21
- — my name is in him.] He acts by My authority and power. Bp. Patrick. My power and divinity is in Him. Bp. Hall. John x. 38. The name of God signifies His essence, Exod. iii. 13, 14. And sometimes His word, says Maimonides; and is applicable to the Messiah in both these senses. Bp. Kidder.
Exodus 23:28
- — I will send hornets before thee, &c.] See the O Moses is called up into the mountain, where
Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.
Exodus 23:31
- — I will set thy bounds &c.] See Gen. xv. 18, and Numb. xxxiv. “The sea of the Philistines” is the Mediterranean sea, on which the Philistines bordered: “the desert,” the desert of Arabia, or Shur, Exod. xv. 22, near Egypt; and “the river,” the Euphrates.
Chap. XXIV. ver. 4. — an altar — and twelve pillars.] The former to represent God in this covenant, which follows: the latter, to represent the twelve tribes of Israel. Bp. Patrick.