We will here notice two remarkable appearances of the Lord: one of them to Balaam, the other to Moses, A few remarks on each will suffice. Balaam was a conjuror, and a person of no small consequence in his day. He was applied to by the princes of Moab to prophesy evil against the Israelites, That whole nation, under the guidance of Moses, being in the act of marching through the land of Moab on their route to the land of promise, and having the character of making too free with other people's property, the princes of Moab hired Balaam to curse them. We are told that the heathen prophet judged it best to procure the permission of Jehovah, the God of the Jews, before he cursed his people. He, therefore, erected an altar on the top of a hill, and on it sacrificed seven bullocks and seven sheep. During the sacrifice, the Lord of heaven and earth came down, and called the prophet aside from the presence of the princes of Moab, and forbade him to curse his people. The sacrifice was repeated thrice. On each occasion the Lord appeared to Balaam, giving him leave to go with the princes, but forbidding him on any account to curse the Israelites. The remainder of the tale is to be found in the history of Balaam.
Now, can it be possible, that this account contains a particle of truth? Can we suppose, that the unknown power, whom man calls God, presented himself at the altar of a heathen necromancer, and, whispering in his ear, forbade him to perform his monkey tricks to the detriment of his chosen people? And that three times he should descend from heaven to overawe the old trickster, as if he thought him capable of doing harm to the Israelites? This account is rendered more contemptible by being referred to by New Testament writers, although the scripture declares in many places that "no man can see God and live." Christians little think how largely their credulity is taxed when they are taught to believe that such accounts were given by divine inspiration.
It is written in the book of Exodus, (chapter xxiv.,) that After the giving of the moral law on Mount Sinai, the Lord called Moses to the top of that remarkable place to give him instructions respecting the tabernacle and its paraphernalia. Moses remained there forty days, attending to the commands of Jehovah. The Lord, on a sudden, informed Moses that the Israelites had forsaken him, had set up a golden calf, and were in the act of worshipping before it and dancing for joy. Moses was ordered to go down. Before he left the mount, however, the Lord's anger waxed hot, and he told Moses not to plead for the wicked people. Jehovah, being about to destroy them, Moses besought him not to cut them off, and reminded him that, by so doing, the Egyptians would triumph and say that their God led them into the wilderness to destroy them.