Part 4 (1/2)

In the future misery and desolation of the people they will say, ”Are not these evils come upon us because our G.o.d is not among us?” Deut.

x.x.xi. 17.

When the Israelites were about to cross the Jordan to Jericho, Joshua, referring to the miracle by which they were to pa.s.s over dry-shod, says, ”Hereby ye shall know that the living G.o.d is among you.”

Moses is directed to exclude lepers, ”that they defile not the camp in the midst of which I dwell.” Numb. v. 3.

”The sons of G.o.d came to present themselves _before_ Jehovah; and Satan came also amongst them.” Job i. 6. The context shows that a local personal presence is intended.

”G.o.d is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved.” Ps. xlvi. 5.

”Great is the Holy One in the midst of thee.” Isa. xii. 6. ”I am G.o.d and not man, the Holy One in the midst of thee.” Hosea xi. 9. ”Thou, O Jehovah, art in the midst of us; leave us not.” Jer. xiv. 9.

Joel, predicting the millennium, says, ii. 27, ”Ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your G.o.d, and none else.”

See Zeph. iii. 15-17: ”The King of Israel, even Jehovah, is in the midst of thee; thou shalt not see evil any more. The Lord thy G.o.d in the midst of thee is mighty.” And Zech. ii. 5, x. 11, and viii. 3: ”For I, saith Jehovah, will be the glory in the midst of her. Lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith Jehovah. And many nations, &c. Thus saith Jehovah, I am _returned_ unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and Jerusalem shall be called, A city of truth; and the mountain of the Lord of Hosts, The holy mountain.”

Jesus himself stood in the midst, &c. Luke xxiv. 36, John, &c. In the midst of the seven candlesticks. Rev. i. 13; ii. 1. In the midst of the throne stood a Lamb. Rev. v. 6.

The angel Jehovah appeared in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. Exod. iii. 2. Jehovah spake out of the midst of the fire. Deut.

iv. 12.

”Jehovah said unto Moses, Lo, _I come_ to thee in a thick cloud, that the people may _hear_ when I speak with thee. Be ready, ... for the third day Jehovah will _come down_ in the _sight_ of all the people upon mount Sinai.... And on the third day, in the morning, there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount.... And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to _meet with the Elohim_; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because Jehovah _descended_ upon it in fire....

And ... Moses spake, and (_the_) Elohim answered him by a voice. And Jehovah _came down_ upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount; and Jehovah called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up....

And Elohim spake, saying, I am Jehovah, thy Elohe.... Thou shalt have no other Elohim before me.” Exod. xix., xx.

If the acts here attributed to Moses are literally described, so also are those of Jehovah. If Moses literally went up to the top of the mount, the narrative no less plainly avers that Jehovah came down to the top of Sinai. He came down visibly--in the sight of the people; was personally and locally present.

On another occasion, chap. xxiv., he said unto Moses, ”_Come up unto Jehovah_, thou and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders, and wors.h.i.+p ye _afar off_; and Moses alone shall _come near Jehovah_, but they _shall not come nigh_.... Then went up Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and they _saw the Elohe of Israel_, and there was under _his feet_ as it were a paved work....

They _saw (the) Elohim_, and did eat and drink.”

No terms could well express more distinctly a personal appearance, in the form seen by Abraham and others. His person was manifest to their senses. They ate and drank in his presence, who in the same form partook of a repast with the patriarch, and walked and conversed with him as one human person does with another.

”Jehovah called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud.... And Moses went into the midst of the cloud.” Exod. xxvi. 16, 18. The cloud then was such that Moses could subsist in and be enveloped by it.

”And Jehovah said, I will _appear_ in the cloud upon the mercy-seat.”

Levit. xvi. 2. In this and similar instances a local personal appearance is evidently intended. No such phraseology would be suited to indicate the omnipresence, or merely the spiritual presence of Jehovah. See Deut.

x.x.xi. 15.

”And the cloud of Jehovah was upon them by day when they went out of the camp. And it came to pa.s.s when the ark set forward that Moses said, _Rise up_, Jehovah, and let thine enemies be scattered, and let them that hate thee flee before thee. And when it rested, he said, _Return_, O Jehovah, unto the many thousands of Israel.” Numb. x. 35, 36.

On these occasions the cloud visibly rose above the tabernacle, and advanced before the children of Israel; and again descended and rested on the tabernacle. The address of Moses seems unintelligible, unless Jehovah was personally present.

”And Jehovah _came down_ in the pillar of the cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle.... And he said, With Moses will _I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently_; ... and _the similitude of Jehovah shall he behold_.” Numb. xii. Surely a local personal presence is here intended.

”At the door of the tabernacle _before_ Jehovah, I will meet you, to speak there unto thee; and there I will meet with the children of Israel; and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory; and I will _dwell among_ the children of Israel, and will be their Elohim. And they shall know that I am Jehovah their Elohe, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt that I may _dwell among them_.” Exod. xxix. 42-46.

”Defile not the land which ye shall inhabit, wherein I dwell: for I Jehovah dwell among the children of Israel.” Numb. x.x.xv. 34. ”I have not dwelt in any house since the time that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle. In all the places wherein I have walked with the children of Israel,” &c. 2 Sam. vii., and 1 Chron. xvii.

So of the phrases, ”dwelleth between the cherubim,” ”sitteth between the cherubim,” and the like, which imply the local personal presence of Jehovah.