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5. [40]Acts
6. [41]Acts 7
7. [42]Acts 7:30

Acts 7:30

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[43]PREVIOUS Acts 7:29 [44]NEXT Acts 7:31
[45]Acts 7:30

And when forty years were expired
"Forty other years" the Arabic version reads; for so long the Jews
^[46]F7 say Moses kept Jethro's flock, and so many years he lived in
Midian; and so the Syriac version, "when then he had filled up forty
years"; which agrees exactly with the account of the Jewish writers
observed on ( [47]Acts 7:23 ) who say, that he was forty years in
Pharaoh's court, and forty years in Midian; so that he was now, as they
^[48]F8 elsewhere justly observe, fourscore years of age:

there appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai;
the same with Horeb, ( [49]Exodus 3:1 ) where it is said, "Moses came
to the mountain of God, even to Horeb"; where he saw the sight of the
burning bush, and out of which the angel appeared to him: and Stephen
is to be justified in calling it Mount Sinai; the account which Jerom
^[50]F9 gives of it is this;

``Horeb is the Mount of God in the land of Midian, by Mount Sinai,
above Arabia, in the desert, to which is joined the mountain and
desert of the Saracenes, called Pharan: but to me it seems, that the
same mountain was called by two names, sometimes Sinai, and
sometimes Horeb;''

and in which he was right. Some think the same mountain had two tops,
and one went by one name, and the other by another; or one side of the
mountain was called Horeb, from its being dry and desolate; and the
other Sinai, from the bushes and brambles which grew upon it. So
(Nynyo) , "Sinin", in the Misna ^[51]F11, signifies the thin barks of
bramble bushes; and the bush hereafter mentioned, in the Hebrew
language, is called (hno) , "Seneh"; from whence, with the Jews, it is
said to have its name.

``Says ^[52]F12 R. Eliezer, from the day the heavens and the earth
were created, the name of this mountain was called Horeb; but after
the holy blessed God appeared to Moses out of the midst of the bush,
from the name of the bush "(Seneh)", Horeb was called Sinai.''

Some say the stones of this mountain, when broken, had the resemblance
of bramble bushes ^[53]F13 in them. Add to this, that Josephus ^[54]F14
calls this mountain by the same name as Stephen does, when he is
reciting the same history. Moses, he says,

``led the flock to the Sinaean mountain, as it is called: this is
the highest mountain in that country, and best for pasture,
abounding in good herbage; and because it was commonly believed the
Divine Being dwelt there, it was not before fed upon, the shepherds
not daring to go up to it.''

Here Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law; for to such a
life did he condescend, who for forty years had been brought up in the
court of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Here appeared to him

an angel of the Lord,
and who was no other than the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as
appears from ( [55]Acts 7:32 ) and was the second person in the
Trinity, the Son of God, the angel of the divine presence, and of the
covenant, an uncreated angel. And this is the sense of many of the
Jewish writers, who interpret it of the angel the Redeemer, the God of
Bethel ^[56]F15; though Jonathan the paraphrast seems to understand it
of a created angel, whose name he calls Zagnugael ^[57]F16, and some
say it was Michael, and some Gabriel ^[58]F17.

In a flame of fire in a bush;
and which yet was not consumed by it. This bush was a bramble bush, or
thorn; so Aben Ezra ^[59]F18 says it was a kind of thorn, and observes,
that in the Ishmaelitish or Turkish language, the word signifies a kind
of dry thorn; and so Philo the Jew says ^[60]F19, it was a thorny
plant, and very weak; and therefore it was the more wonderful, that it
should be on fire, and not consumed. Josephus ^[61]F20 affirms, that
neither its verdure, nor its flowers were hurt, nor any of its fruitful
branches consumed, though the flame was exceeding fierce. The Jerusalem
Targum of ( [62]Exodus 3:2 ) is,

``and he saw and beheld the bush burned with fire, and the bush
(byjrm) : "became green"; or, as Buxtorf renders it, "emitted a
moisture", and was not burnt.''

This sight, the Arabic writers ^[63]F21 say, Moses saw at noon day.
Artapanus ^[64]F23, an ancient writer, makes mention of this burning,
but takes no notice of the bush; yea, denies that there was anything
woody in the place, and represents it only as a stream of fire issuing
out of the earth: his words are,

``as he (Moses) was praying, suddenly fire broke out of the earth,
and burned, when there was nothing woody, nor any matter fit for
burning in the place.''

But Philo better describes it; speaking of the bush, he says ^[65]F24,

``no one bringing fire to it, suddenly it burned, and was all in a
flame from the root to the top, as if it was from a flowing
fountain, and remained whole and unhurt, as if it was no fuel for
the fire, but was nourished by it.''

The Jews allegorize this vision different ways: sometimes they say {y},

``the fire designs the Israelites, who are compared to fire, as it
is said, ( [66]Obadiah 1:18 ) "the house of Jacob shall be a fire";
and the bush denotes the nations of the world, which are compared to
thorns and thistles; so shall the Israelites be among the people,
their fire shall not consume the people, who are like to thorns and
briers; nor shall the nations of the world extinguish their flame,
which is the words of the law: but in the world to come, the fire of
the Israelites shall consume all people, who are compared to thorns
and thistles, according to ( [67]Isaiah 33:12 ) ''

But it is much better observed in the same place;

``the bush pricks, afflicts, and gives pain, why does he (the Lord)
dwell in affliction and anguish? because he saw the Israelites in
great affliction, he also dwelt with them in affliction, as it is
said, ( [68]Isaiah 63:9 ) "in all their affliction he was
afflicted"''

And very appropriately is it remarked by Philo ^[69]F26;

``the burning bush (says he) is a symbol of the oppressed, the
flaming fire, of the oppressors; and whereas that which was burning
was not burnt, it shows, that they that are oppressed shall not
perish by those who attempt it; and that their attempt shall be in
vain, and they shall escape safe.''

And so Aben Ezra has this note on ( [70]Exodus 3:2 ) .

``the enemy is compared to fire, and Israel to the bush, wherefore
it was not burnt:''

this may be very well considered as an emblem of the state of the
Jewish people in fiery trials, and very severe afflictions; who were
like a bush for the number of its twigs and branches, they being many,
and for its weakness and liableness to be consumed by fire, and yet
wonderfully preserved by the power and presence of God among them.
__________________________________________________________________

FOOTNOTES:
F7 Pirke Eliezer, c. 40.
F8 Sepher Cosri, fol. 38. 1. & Moses Kotsensis praefat ad Mitzvot Tora.
F9 De locis Hebraicis, fol. 92. E.
F11 Misn. Celim, c. 10. sect. 6.
F12 Pirke Eliezer, c. 41. Aben Ezra in Exod. iii. 2.
F13 R. Moses Narbonensis apud Drusii Preterita in loc. Vid. Hilleri
Onomasticum, p. 523.
F14 Antiqu l. 2. c. 12. sect. 1.
F15 R. Menachem in Ainsworth in Exod. iii. 2.
F16 Targum Jon. in ib.
F17 Shemot Rabba, sect. 2. fol. 92. 4.
F18 Comment. in Exod. iii. 2.
F19 De Vita Mosis, l. 1. p. 612, 613.
F20 In loc. supra citat.
F21 Patricides, p. 26. Elmacinus, p. 47. apud Hottinger. Smegma
Oriental. l. 1. c. 8. p. 415.
F23 Apud Euseb. Evangel. praepar. l. 9. c. 27. p. 434.
F24 Ut supra. (De Vita Mosis, l. 1. p. 612, 613.)
F25 Pirke Eliezer, c. 40. Vid. Shemot Rabba, sect. 2. fol. 92. 4.
F26 Ut supra. (De Vita Mosis, l. 1. p. 612, 613.)
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