cruel bondage,” the memory of these revelations was never entirely extinguished in their minds; and when again addressed by Moses and Aaron “the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel, and that He had seen their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped” (Exod. iv. 31). Their faith was strengthened when they witnessed the fulfilment of the Divine message which was brought to them by Moses: “And they believed in the Lord, and in Moses His servant” (Ibid. xiv. 31). The foundation of the belief in the possibility of Divine revelation having thus been laid, that belief was further strengthened through the revelation on Mount Sinai, when every Israelite heard and understood the words addressed to him by God, “who had brought them out of Egypt, of the house of bondage;” they heard the very words which Moses subsequently told them in the name of God, and they were convinced of the truth of the words of Moses. He taught them that there would be other persons chosen by God to bring messages from Him to the children of Israel or to mankind, and at the same time he laid down the rule by which the truth of such messages could be tested. A person favoured by Divine communications was called a prophet, ‏נביא‎. That which characterised a prophet and distinguished him from the ordinary man was the privilege of being chosen by Providence to be ‏מלאך יי‎ “the messenger of God” to man. This notion of the characteristics of a prophet explains the circumstance that, although Daniel was favoured with numerous prophetic visions, the book called after his name was not placed among the Prophets, but among the Hagiographa. It is on account of his addressing his brethren and informing them of the Will of God that a person was called a prophet. [4] By simply receiving a communication, without the direction to impart the knowledge acquired to others, a person may become a man of God, a man in whom there is the spirit of God, but not a prophet.