8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good and spacious land, unto a land flowing with milk and honey, unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
On the same day Jehovah made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates; the Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaim, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.
For Jehovah thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of water-brooks, of springs, and of deep waters, that gush forth in the valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates; a land of olive-trees and honey; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, where thou shalt lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose mountains thou wilt dig copper.
Therefore say unto the children of Israel, I am Jehovah, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their service, and I will redeem you with a stretched-out arm, and with great judgments. And I will take you to me for a people, and will be your God; and ye shall know that I, Jehovah your God, am he who bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you into the land concerning which I swore to give it unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob; and I will give it you for a possession: I am Jehovah.
And thou gavest them kingdoms and peoples, and didst divide them by countries; and they possessed the land of Sihon, as well the land of the king of Heshbon, as the land of Og king of Bashan. And their children thou didst multiply as the stars of heaven, and thou broughtest them into the land concerning which thou didst say to their fathers that they should go in to possess it. And the children went in and possessed the land; and thou subduedst before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gavest them into their hands, both their kings and the peoples of the land, that they might do with them as they would. And they took strong cities, and a fat land, and possessed houses full of all good things, wells digged, vineyards and olive-gardens, and fruit trees in abundance. And they did eat and were filled, and became fat, and delighted themselves in thy great goodness.
Our fathers confided in thee: they confided, and thou didst deliver them. They cried unto thee, and were delivered; they confided in thee, and were not confounded.
And Jehovah said to Abram, after that Lot had separated himself from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land that thou seest will I give to thee, and to thy seed for ever.
If thou afflict him in any way, if he cry at all unto me, I will certainly hear his cry; and my anger shall burn, and I will slay you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless. -- If thou lend money to my people, the poor with thee,thou shalt not be to him as a usurer: ye shall charge him no interest. -- If thou at all take thy neighbour's garment in pledge, thou shalt return it to him before the sun goes down; for that is his only covering, his garment for his skin: on what shall he lie down? And it shall come to pass, when he crieth unto me, that I will hear; for I am gracious. Thou shalt not revile the judges, nor curse a prince amongst thy people. -- Thou shalt not delay the fulness of thy [threshing-floor] and the outflow of thy [winepress]. The firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto me. Likewise shalt thou do with thy calf, with thy sheep: seven days shall it be with its dam; on the eighth day thou shalt give it me. -- And ye shall be holy men unto me; and ye shall not eat flesh torn in the field: ye shall cast it to the dog.
(and I will send an angel before thee, and dispossess the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite,) into a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in the midst of thee, for thou art a stiff-necked people, -- lest I consume thee on the way.
And they spoke to the whole assembly of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it out, is a very, very good land. If Jehovah delight in us, he will bring us into this land, and give it us, a land that flows with milk and honey;
and that ye may prolong your days in the land which Jehovah swore unto your fathers to give unto them and unto their seed, a land flowing with milk and honey. For the land, whither thou enterest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs; but the land, whereunto ye are passing over to possess it, is a land of mountains and valleys, which drinketh water of the rain of heaven, a land which Jehovah thy God careth for; the eyes of Jehovah thy God are constantly upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year. And it shall come to pass, if ye hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love Jehovah your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, that I will give rain to your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain; and thou shalt gather in thy corn, and thy new wine, and thine oil; and I will give grass in thy field for thy cattle; and thou shalt eat and be full. Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside and serve other gods, and bow down to them, and Jehovah's wrath kindle against you, and he shut up the heavens, that there be no rain, and that the ground yield not its produce, and ye perish quickly from off the good land which Jehovah is giving you. And ye shall lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them unto your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou goest on the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up; and write them upon the posts of thy house, and upon thy gates; that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which Jehovah swore unto your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens [which are] above the earth. For if ye diligently keep all this commandment which I command you [this day] to do it, to love Jehovah your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him, then will Jehovah dispossess all these nations from before you, and ye shall take possession of nations greater and mightier than yourselves. Every place whereon the sole of your foot shall tread shall be yours; from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the hinder sea shall your border be.
and he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey! And now, behold, I have brought the first of the fruits of the land, which thou, Jehovah, hast given me. And thou shalt set it down before Jehovah thy God, and worship before Jehovah thy God. And thou shalt rejoice in all the good that Jehovah thy God hath given to thee, and to thy house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is in thy midst. When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thy produce in the third year, the year of tithing, thou shalt give it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat in thy gates, and be filled; and thou shalt say before Jehovah thy God, I have brought away the hallowed things out of the house, and also have given them to the Levite, and to the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all thy commandment which thou hast commanded me; I have not transgressed nor forgotten [any] of thy commandments: I have not eaten thereof in my mourning, neither have I brought away thereof in uncleanness, nor given thereof for a dead person; I have hearkened to the voice of Jehovah my God; I have done according to all that thou hast commanded me. Look down from thy holy habitation, from the heavens, and bless thy people Israel, and the land that thou hast given us as thou didst swear unto our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey!
And he bowed the heavens, and came down; and darkness was under his feet. And he rode upon a cherub and did fly; yea, he flew fast upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness his secret place, his tent round about him: darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies. From the brightness before him his thick clouds passed forth: hail and coals of fire. And Jehovah thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered his voice: hail and coals of fire. And he sent his arrows, and scattered [mine enemies]; and he shot forth lightnings, and discomfited them. And the beds of the waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were uncovered at thy rebuke, Jehovah, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils. He reached forth from above, he took me, he drew me out of great waters: He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them that hated me; for they were mightier than I. They encountered me in the day of my calamity, but Jehovah was my stay. And he brought me forth into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Exodus 3
Commentary on Exodus 3 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 3
As prophecy had ceased for many ages before the coming of Christ, that the revival and perfection of it in that great prophet might be the more remarkable, so vision had ceased (for aught that appears) among the patriarchs for some ages before the coming of Moses, that God's appearances to him for Israel's salvation might be the more welcome; and in this chapter we have God's first appearance to him in the bush and the conference between God and Moses in that vision. Here is,
Exd 3:1-6
The years of the life of Moses are remarkably divided into three forties: the first forty he spent as a prince in Pharaoh's court, the second a shepherd in Midian, the third a king in Jeshurun; so changeable is the life of men, especially the life of good men. He had now finished his second forty, when he received his commission to bring Israel out of Egypt. Note, Sometimes it is long before God calls his servants out of that work which of old he designed them for, and has been graciously preparing them for. Moses was born to be Israel's deliverer, and yet not a word is said of it to him till he is eighty years of age. Now observe,
Exd 3:7-10
Now that Moses had put off his shoes (for, no doubt, he observed the orders given him, v. 5), and covered his face, God enters upon the particular business that was now to be concerted, which was the bringing of Israel out of Egypt. Now, after forty years of Israel's bondage and Moses's banishment, when we may suppose both he and they began to despair, they of being delivered and he of delivering them, at length, the time has come, even the year of the redeemed. Note, God often comes for the salvation of his people when they have done looking for him. Shall he find faith? Lu. 18:8.
Here is,
Exd 3:11-15
God, having spoken to Moses, allows him also a liberty of speech, which he here improves; and,
Exd 3:16-22
Moses is here more particularly instructed in his work, and informed beforehand of his success.