The Hidings of Deity
Isaiah 45:15
Truly you are a God that hide yourself, O God of Israel, the Savior.


The inspired writers dwell frequently and earnestly on the inaccessible splendour that surrounds the Creator. "Clouds and darkness are round about Him"; "touching the Almighty, we cannot find Him out"; "He made darkness His secret place; His pavilion round about Him were dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies." It was a cloud which conducted the wanderings of Israel; it was a cloud which filled the tabernacle of the Lord. The symbols of God's greatness wear the robes of concealment, and He demands homage, not so much by what He has revealed as by what the revelation itself pronounces obscure. And it should be observed that all this proceeded not from unwillingness to disclose His brightness, but rather from the fact that since this brightness was Divine it could not be endured by human vision. To this He Himself referred when discoursing with Moses as His own friend. "Thou canst not see My face, for there shall no man see Me and live"; and although He "made all His goodness to pass before him," as being that which the creatures of earth might behold and yet breathe, when the august train of His glory swept by, He hid His servant in the cleft of the rock, lest he should be withered to nothing by the unearthly blaze.

(H. Melvill, B. D.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour.

WEB: Most certainly you are a God who hidden yourself, God of Israel, the Savior.'"




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