I am the Lord your God which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians *." On sending Moses to Pharoah, he bids him say to him, "Thus saith the Lord, In this shalt thou know that I am the Lord +" (by his turning the water into blood). When Pharoah besought Moses to entreat for the removal of the plague of frogs, Moses declared it should be so, "that thou mayest know that there is none like unto the Lord our God." In the Lord's further message to Pharoah, concerning the plague of flies, he declares he will sever the land of Goshen, that the plague should not be upon the children of Israel though it were upon the Egyptians," to the end thou mayest know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth." Again; the Lord commands him to let the people go, and threatens him with all plagues," that thou mayest know there is none like Me in all the earth §." The Lord also declares to him, that he will stretch out his hand and cut him off; and adds, "And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power, and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth." song The Lord also declares to Moses that he had hardened Pharaoh's heart to shew these signs, that they might be told to the son, and to the son's son; "that ye may know how that I am the Lord." On his shewing his intention to smite all the firstborn of Egypt, and execute judgment upon all the gods of Egypt, the Lord adds, "I am the Lord." And in his declaring to Moses his intention to cut off the Egyptian host, the Lord saith, "I will harden Pharoah's heart, that he shall follow after them (the Israelites); and I will be honoured upon Pharoah and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord." In the song of Moses, which is the of triumph over the deliverance of the Israelites and the completion of the Lord's judgments upon Pharoah and his host, we find the purpose of the Lord, which he had before declared, is set forth; and the thanksgivings to God are in the acknowledgment of it: "I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously.....The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.....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 fathers' God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a Man of war; The Lord is his name." And in another part, "Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? The Lord shall reign for ever and ever." 13. These declarations of the Lord's purpose in his judgments upon Pharoah are perfectly full and explicit; That he might be known, his great power shewn forth, and his name * Ex. v. + Ex. vii. Ex. viii. Ex. ix. Ex. x. Ex. xiv. declared throughout all the earth. Thus we find the same ultimate purpose, the design, of the calling of Abraham and covenanting with him and all his seed, in blessing them; and the design of bringing his great judgments upon Pharoah, and cutting him off, with all his host; the same," I am the Almighty God." 14. We shall also have observed, that the same declaration of purpose is made concerning the Lord's dealings with his people Israel; that his deliverance and adoption of them was to the end they might know him to be the Lord. It will, however, be of service to pursue the same inquiry down through the subsequent dealings of God with his people, that the testimony of this truth may be fully before us. 14. a. When they murmured for want of flesh, the Lord spake to them by Moses: " At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God*." On the giving of the commandments, the beginning was, "I am the Lord thy God+;" and all the commandments are grounded and built upon this truth. In giving directions for the tabernacle and the continual burnt-offering, and declaring his election of Aaron, the Lord adds, "And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God; and they shall know that I am the Lord their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt that I may dwell among them: I am the Lord their God." When the Lord revealed himself on Mount Sinai after the commandments were given, and on the occasion of the people's idolatry the tables had been broken and the Lord had called Moses into the Mount to renew the tables, "The Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth; keeping mercy for thousands; forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and the children's children, unto the third and fourth generation." When the people murmured at the report of the spies sent into the promised land, and the Lord was angry with them, Moses entreated for them; and the Lord said to him, "I have pardoned, according to thy word: but as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord§." When he gave command that the people should make fringes upon the borders of their garments, it is said; "That ye may remember and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your upon * Ex. xvi. + Ex. xx. ↑ Ex. xxix. § Num. xv. God. I am the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the Lord your God." : In the prayer of Moses to God, that he might be permitted to enter the promised land, he records that which has been taught him by all the works of the Lord: "O Lord God, thou hast begun to shew thy servant thy greatness and thy mighty hand for what God is there in heaven, or in earth, that can do according to thy works, and according to thy might?" In rehearsing God's judgments and dealings towards Israel, Moses records the purpose of the Lord in giving the Law from Horeb "The Lord said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words; that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children." And again; "Unto thee it was shewed; that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God: there is none else beside him." And again, in the same chapter; "Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath there is none else." In declaring also the curses and judgments upon Israel, if they should not obey the commandments of the Lord, Moses thus expresses the end of obedience: " If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of the law, that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, The Lord thy God." In giving commandment to the priests and Levites to read the Law unto the children of Israel at the Feast of Tabernacles in the seventh year (being the year of the release), he thus expresses the purpose of it: "That they may learn and fear the Lord your God, and observe to do all the words of this law; and that their children, which have not known any thing, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your Gods." As the last testimony from Moses: in his song unto the Lord, he demands attentention and declares the blessedness of his doctrine, "Because I will publish the Name of the Lord. Ascribe ye greatness unto our God. He is the Rock: his work is perfect; for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right, is hell." And, after rehearsing the Lord's gracious dealings towards his people Israel, referring prophetically to that which the Lord should do unto his people after they should have gone unto other gods, and the Lord should have repented himself for his servants, he declares, The Lord shall say thus unto them; "See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no other God with me: I kill and make alive; I wound and I heal¶," &c. And, giving his dying blessing unto the children of * Deut. iii. + Deut. iv. + Deut. xxviii. § Deut. xxxi. Israel, Moses saith, "The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them: he shined forth from Mount Paran ; and he came with ten thousand of saints. From his right hand went a fiery law for them." 14. b. After the death of Moses, when the people, under the conduct of Joshua, had passed through Jordan, and twelve stones were set up as a memorial of the miraculous passage, Joshua declared to the Israelites that which should be told by them to their children: "The Lord your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over; as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over: that all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord that it is mighty: that ye might fear the Lord your God for ever” 66 14 c. When David went up to meet Goliath, he expresses his faith in the Lord, and that the Lord would deliver Goliath into his hand; and he declares the great purpose of God in doing this: That all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel." When God gave his concluding command and sure mercies to David, and David in the Spirit cried out, "Who am I, O Lord, and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto ?" he adds the explanation of the Lord's dealing with him: "For thy word's sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all these great things, TO MAKE THY SERVANT KNOW THEE." Thus declaring this to be the great purpose of the Lord, "To make thy servant know thee." And the consequence which flows from this manifestation of God-namely, the worship of God as God-is shewn by what immediately follows: Wherefore, Thou art great, O Lord God: for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.... And let thy name be magnified for ever, saying, The Lord of hosts is the God over Israel: and let the house of thy servant David be established before thee!" So, when David brought the ark of the Lord to Zion, in his Psalm of thanksgiving he says, "Give thanks unto the Lord : call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people.... glory ye in his holy name....declare his glory among the heathen, his marvellous works among all nations.... Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name.... Fear before him, all the earth.... Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice: and let men say among the nations, The Lord reigneth §." Likewise, on the bestowal of gifts for the building of the temple, David, offering a thanksgiving unto the Lord, saith, "Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven, and in the earth, is thine: * Josh. iv. +1 Sam. xvii. 2 Sam. vii. 18. § 1 Chron. xvi thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all*." 13. d. Solomon likewise, at the dedication of the temple, began his prayer unto the Lord thus: "Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee in heaven above or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart +;" and, after praying the Lord's remembrance of his covenant with David, proceeds, "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, the heaven, and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee: how much less this house that I have builded?" Beseeching the Lord to hear his people, he declares this as the end and object which will be attained by the Lord out of his temple thus hearing and answering their prayers, "that they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers;" and adds, "Concerning a stranger, that is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country for thy name's sake (for they shall hear of thy great name, and of thy strong hand, and of thy stretched-out arm): when he shall come and pray toward this house, hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for; that all people of the_earth_may know thy name, to fear thee, as do thy people Israel; and that they may know that this house which I have builded is called by thy name. Again; after beseeching the Lord to remember that which he asked of him in his prayer-that he may maintain the cause of his servants-he expresses, as the end and purpose which the Lord will accomplish by so doing, "that all the people of the earth may know that the Lord is God, and that there is none else." When the Lord appeared to Solomon and answered his prayer, he declared he would hear the people if they would humbly call upon him; but that, if they would not worship him, but would serve other gods, he would cast them out of his sight, and would make that house an astonishment to every one, so that every one passing by, "might glorify God for thus greatly punishing those who forsook him;" thus furthering his ultimate purpose of self-manifestation. These are the words: "And this house, which is high, shall be an astonishment to every one that passeth by it; so that he shall say, Why hath the Lord done thus unto this land, and unto this house? And it shall be answered, Because they forsook the Lord God of their fathers which brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them and served them; therefore hath he brought all this evil upon them." 14. The plain and repeated testimony thus given of the Lord's purpose in calling up the children of Israel out of Egypt, in the * 1 Chron. xxix. +1 Kings viii. 3 H 2 Chron. viii, |