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sages, the first in Isaiah,* the second in the book of Revelations. In the first it is, "the sun shall no more be thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee, but Jehovah shall be to thee for the light (Olam) of that future world." In the second; †" And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof."

* Isa. Ix. 19.

+ Rev. xxi. 23.

CHAPTER

CHAPTER IV.

God makes himself known to Moses by the Name

Jehovah.

I shall be who I shall be (Ehjeh asher Ehjeh)*

-This is my

name (Le-Olam) through the hidden period; and this is my memorial to generation of generation. Exod. iii. 14, 15.

THE texture of this name in the original, is sin

gular, being so compounded as to present, in one word, the past, the present, and the future. Of these three, the future, as first meeting the eye, is the most prominent. That the ancient Jews did not view this a mere appellative, appears from the different periphrases given of it, both in the Old and New Testaments. In Isaiah, he is termed, from one part of the name, the first, and from the other the last. So in the New, he is termed the Alpha and the Omega, which correspond to first and last, And still more plainly in the Revelations, the Was, the Is, the About-tocome.†4,8,11,17; 2-8:22.23

* Quod Deus de se in prima persona dixit Ehjeh ero, id ho mines de eo efferunt Jehjeh erit mutato i in o inde fit Jehovah. Buxtorfius.

These three, the apostle, by his making them indeclinable, would have to be understood as proper names; therefore, ssays Beza, he has prefixed to each the masculine article.

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This name appearing throughout the whole book of Genesis, has created to commentators a difficulty how to reconcile it with what God says to Moses, that by this name he had not made himself known to Abraham, and various solutions have been attempted to be given. I apprehend the difficulty has arisen, partly from not attending to the particular analysis, which God himself condescended to give of the name JEHOVAH, I shall be who I shall be; and partly from not distin guishing between the meer sound of the name (which might have often met the ear of Abraham) and what God had inclosed in the name itself. P.77 This, as will afterwards appear, he had never ununfolded to Abraham, nor even to Moses, until a certain period. The reason for which, seems to be this; that the Israelites, as one body, and the visible people of God, were by and by to encoun ter a danger, and to experience a deliverance which were to be figurative, of similar dangers and deliverances, which the redeemed were to experience through every age to the end of the world.

The name Jehovah, like the bow in the clouds, was now to assume a new appearance, and to disclose a new source of comfort, which had been kept hid from former generations. The period was come, when the mystery concealed in this glorious name was to be laid open, as an anchor,

sure

şure and stedfast, to which, in every storm of distress, the people of God might betake themselves.

To the reader of present days, the name Jehovah often occurs; and yet it may be safely affirmed, that while nothing meets the view, either. in the contexture of the word, or as to what it promises, it is as unknown to him as if he had never heard it, though at the same time the sound may be familiar. The case was very different

with an antient Hebrew, and the words, I am Jehovah, met his ear with a peculiar emphasis, and promissive still of something great to follow. In the structure of the word, he would be unavoidably led to mark, in one part, the past, but the first letter, or future, would particularly strike his eye. In the past, he discerned the God of antient ages; and, in the future, the promise of his second coming.

Future Appearer seems to have been the idea principally excited in the mind of the pious Israelite, by the name Jehovah. This view will place a variety of passages in a new and pleasing light. Prov. xviii. 10. "The name of Jehovah is a strong tower;" i. e. his future coming is the certain refuge of his people in every danger, Psal. lii. 9. "I will wait on thy name"-I will look for thy future appearance. Zech. x. 12. “ They shall walk up and down in his name" The whole

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tenor of their lives shall be with a view to his coming to judgment. Acts, xv. 14. "To take out of them a people to his name"-Into whose hearts he puts the hope of his last appearance. Psal. lxxxvi. 9. “ All nations shall glorify thy name" Glory shall redound to him as the future appearer, when the secrets of every heart shall be disclosed. Isa. xxvi. 13. "O Jehovah, our God, other lords besides thee have had dominion over us, but by thee only will we make mention of thy name❞— Although in servitude, we will console ourselves in the expectation of thy future appearance. Micah. vi. 9. "The man of wisdom shall see thy name"-be the happy spectator of thy last appearance.

It is the observation of Maimonides, that all the names of God, which occur in Scripture, are, except this, derived from his works. Such as Adonai, which is expressive of dominion; Elohim, of judgment; Shaddai, of all-sufficiency, of which the etymon is known and manifest; but Jehovah is that glorious name which teaches concerning the existence of the Creator, and the different appearances which he assumes through the different stages of the human existence.

The name Jehovah seems to have been formed by himself, and assumed from the very foundation of the world. On this name, the analysis given by St. John is a bright comment, and

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