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Exodus Chapter
One
Exodus 1
Chapter Contents
The children of Israel increase in Egypt after the death
of Joseph. (8-14) They are oppressed
but multiply exceedingly. (1-7) The
men-children destroyed. (15-22)
Commentary on Exodus 1:1-7
(Read Exodus 1:1-7)
During more than 200 years
while Abraham
Isaac
and
Jacob lived at liberty
the Hebrews increased slowly; only about seventy
persons went down into Egypt. There
in about the same number of years
though
under cruel bondage
they became a large nation. This wonderful increase was
according to the promise long before made unto the fathers. Though the
performance of God's promises is sometimes slow
it is always sure.
Commentary on Exodus 1:8-14
(Read Exodus 1:8-14)
The land of Egypt became to Israel a house of bondage.
The place where we have been happy
may soon become the place of our
affliction; and that may prove the greatest cross to us
of which we said
This
same shall comfort us. Cease from man
and say not of any place on this side
heaven
This is my rest. All that knew Joseph
loved him
and were kind to his
brethren for his sake; but the best and most useful services a man does to
others
are soon forgotten after his death. Our great care should be
to serve
God
and to please him who is not unrighteous
whatever men are
to forget our
work and labour of love. The offence of Israel is
that he prospers. There is
no sight more hateful to a wicked man than the prosperity of the righteous. The
Egyptians feared lest the children of Israel should join their enemies
and get
them up out of the land. Wickedness is ever cowardly and unjust; it makes a man
fear
where no fear is
and flee
when no one pursues him. And human wisdom
often is foolishness
and very sinful. God's people had task-masters set over them
not only to burden them
but to afflict them with their burdens. They not only
made them serve for Pharaoh's profit
but so that their lives became bitter.
The Israelites wonderfully increased. Christianity spread most when it was
persecuted: the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church. They that take
counsel against the Lord and his Israel
do but imagine a vain thing
and
create greater vexation to themselves.
Commentary on Exodus 1:15-22
(Read Exodus 1:15-22)
The Egyptians tried to destroy Israel by the murder of
their children. The enmity that is in the seed of the serpent
against the Seed
of the woman
makes men forget all pity. It is plain that the Hebrews were now
under an uncommon blessing. And we see that the services done for God's Israel
are often repaid in kind. Pharaoh gave orders to drown all the male children of
the Hebrews. The enemy who
by Pharaoh
attempted to destroy the church in this
its infant state
is busy to stifle the rise of serious reflections in the
heart of man. Let those who would escape
be afraid of sinning
and cry
directly and fervently to the Lord for assistance.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Exodus》
Exodus 1
Verse 1
[1] Now
these are the names of the children of Israel
which came into Egypt; every man
and his household came with Jacob.
Every man of his household — That is
children and grand-children.
Verse 3
[3] Issachar
Zebulun
and Benjamin
And Benjamin —
Who tho' youngest of all is placed before Dan
Naphtali
etc. because they were
the children of the hand-maidens.
Verse 5
[5] And
all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for
Joseph was in Egypt already.
Seventy souls —
According to the computation we had
Genesis 46:27
including Joseph and his two
sons. This was just the number of the nations by which the earth was peopled
Genesis 10:1-32
for when God separated the sons
of Adam
he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the
children of Israel
Deuteronomy 32:8.
Verse 6
[6] And
Joseph died
and all his brethren
and all that generation.
All that generation by degrees wore off:
perhaps all Jacob's sons died much about the same time
for there was not past
seven years difference in age between the eldest and the youngest of them
except Benjamin.
Verse 7
[7] And the children of Israel were fruitful
and increased abundantly
and
multiplied
and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them.
And the children of Israel were fruitful
and
increased abundantly — Like fishes or insects
so that they
multiplied; and being generally healthful and strong
they waxed exceeding
mighty
so that the land was filled with them
at least Goshen
their own
allotment. This wonderful increase was the product of the promise long before
made to the fathers. From the call of Abraham
when God first told him he would
make him a great nation
to the deliverance of his seed out of Egypt
was 430
years; during the first 215 of which
they were increased to 70
but in the latter
half
those 70 multiplied to 600
000 fighting men.
Verse 8
[8] Now
there arose up a new king over Egypt
which knew not Joseph.
There arose a new king (after several
successions in Joseph's time) which knew not Joseph - All that knew him loved
him
and were kind to his relations for his sake; but when he was dead he was
soon forgotten
and the remembrance of the good offices he had done was either
not retained or not regarded. If we work for men only
our works at farthest
will die with us; if for God
they will follow us
Revelation 14:13.
Verse 10
[10] Come
on
let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply
and it come to pass
that
when there falleth out any war
they join also unto our enemies
and
fight against us
and so get them up out of the land.
Come on
let us deal wisely with them
lest
they multiply — When men deal wickedly it is common for
them to imagine that they deal wisely
but the folly of sin will at last be manifested
before all men.
Verse 11
[11]
Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their
burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities
Pithom and Raamses.
They set over them task-masters
to afflict
them — With this very design. They not only made
them serve
which was sufficient for Pharaoh's profit
but they made them serve
with rigour
so that their lives became bitter to them; intending hereby to
break their spirits
and to rob them of every thing in them that was generous:
to ruin their health
and shorten their days
and so diminish their numbers: to
discourage them from marrying
since their children would be born to slavery;
and to oblige them to desert the Hebrews
and incorporate with the Egyptians.
And 'tis to be feared the oppression they were under did bring over many of
them to join with the Egyptians in their idolatrous worship; for we read
Joshua 24:14
that they served other gods in
Egypt; and we find
Ezekiel 20:8
that God had threatned to destroy
them for it
even while they were in the land of Egypt.
Treasure-cities — To
keep the king's money or corn
wherein a great part of the riches of Egypt
consisted.
Verse 12
[12] But
the more they afflicted them
the more they multiplied and grew. And they were
grieved because of the children of Israel.
But the more they afflicted them
the more
they multiplied — To the grief and vexation of the
Egyptians. Times of affliction
have oft been the church's growing times:
Christianity spread most when it was persecuted. v. 15.
And the king spake to the Hebrew midwives — The two chief of them. They are called Hebrew midwives
probably not because
they were themselves Hebrews; for sure Pharaoh could never expect they should
be so barbarous to those of their own nation
but because they were generally
made use of by the Hebrews
and being Egyptians he hoped to prevail with them.
Verse 16
[16] And
he said
When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women
and see them
upon the stools; if it be a son
then ye shall kill him: but if it be a
daughter
then she shall live.
The stools —
Seats used on that occasion.
Verse 17
[17] But
the midwives feared God
and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them
but
saved the men children alive.
But the midwives feared God — Dreaded his wrath more than Pharaoh's
and therefore saved the
men-children alive.
Verse 19
[19] And
the midwives said unto Pharaoh
Because the Hebrew women are not as the
Egyptian women; for they are lively
and are delivered ere the midwives come in
unto them.
I see no reason we have to doubt the truth of
this; it is plain they were now under an extraordinary blessing of increase
which may well be supposed to have this effect
that the women had quick and
easy labour
and the mothers and children being both lively
they seldon needed
the help of midwives; this these midwives took notice of
and concluding it to
be the finger of God
were thereby emboldened to disobey the king
and with
this justify themselves before Pharaoh
when he called them to an account for
it.
Verse 20
[20]
Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied
and
waxed very mighty.
Therefore God dealt well with them — That is
built them up in families
and blessed their children.
──
John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Exodus》
ISRAEL’S BONDAGE IN EGYPT. Exodus 1:1-14.
Sin is presented to us in various ways
in the Word of God. Sin is a consuming disease which has destroyed the organs
of man’s spiritual sense. Sin is a huge barrier rising up like an impassable
mountain
which keeps God from man and man from God. Sin is represented as a
heavy burden
which oppresses the sinner with an awful weight when conscience
is awakened. Sin is as a lurking monster
which waits to pounce upon its unwary
victim. Sin is a despotic master
who rules his subjects with an iron hand and
a relentless will. Sin is stated to be such a master in Romans 6.
and is
illustrated in the Pharaoh who knew not Joseph.
Ⅰ. The cunningness
of sin (verse 10). “ Let us deal wisely with them
” was the conclusion the
Egyptians came to
with regard to the Israelites; or
as the margin of Psalm
58:5 renders the term
“ cunning
” where the word occurs in relation to the
charmer seeking to charm the serpent. Sin’s policy is to present itself in as
attractive a form possible
and to hide its real purpose
which is to get its
victim entirely in its folds
and then to crush to death
as the serpent
which
first fascinates its prey and then folds it in the grip of death.
Ⅱ. The reign of
sin. Pharaoh set taskmasters over the children of Israel (verse 11). The
word here rendered “ taskmaster” is one that is generally used for a “ prince”
or “ ruler” (Ex.2:14; 18:21). But these rulers soon developed into oppressors
for when they are spoken of again (Ex.3:7; 5:6
10
13
14) a stronger term is
used
which means an “ oppressor” (Job 3:18). The same expression is him as the
“ Exactor” (Dan.11:20
M.). Sin is a hard taskmaster
and those who are under
its rule find it to be a greater despot than even the King of Babylon
who when
his command was disobeyed
caused the three Hebrew young men to be cast into
the fiery furnace.
Ⅲ. The affliction
of sin (verse 11). The meaning of the word “ afflict” is to humble. The
word is so rendered in Deut. 8:2
16. What an affliction it was to the
Israelites to come from being specially honoured by the king and his prime
minister
to be humbled to the position of serfs
and to the lash of the
taskmasters. Sin’s patronage may end in persecution. As the ruin of a stately
castle will remind us of a glory passed away
so many an one who bears the
humbling marks of iniquity
still carries with him a hearing which speaks of a
position lost by sin. Anyone who has been in our common lodging houses will
find many examples. Been in our common lodging houses will find many examples.
Broken down clergymen
lawyers
and merchants are to be found in these places
like stranded vessels which are shipwrecked on the rocks
being broken to
pieces by the waves as they dash against them.
Ⅳ. The burden of
sin (verse 11). The way they afflicted Israel was with burdens. There is a
pleasure in sin
but there is also pain. Many a boy who has had pleasure in
playing truant from school has found that it has led to the cane upon his back
or twenty-four hours extra in bed
much to his chafing. One cannot help being
impressed with the fact that many a man will put himself to great trouble in
seeking to achieve his sinful purpose. The sinner convicted by the Holy Spirit
specially finds that sin is a terrible burden
as Bunyan pictures in his
Pilgrim’s Progress
when he depicts Christian with a heavy burden upon his
back; and as the Psalmist confesses when he exclaims
“ Mine iniquities are
gone over mine head
as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me” (Ps.38:4).
Ⅴ. The bitterness
of sin (verse 14). Sorrow is the child of sin and the bitter fruit of
iniquity. At the bottom of every cup of iniquity there is a snake that bites
the quaffer and leaves its poison in the veins to torment its victim. The young
fellow who has weakened his body by his sinful ways
and is filled with remorse
at the prospect of an untimely death
knows the bitterness of sin. The drunkard
with his aching head
parched throat
and unsatisfied thirst
knows the sorrow
of his evil way; and the one who is put into prison because of his dishonest
action
feels the misery of his evil ways as he is kept in durance vile and
hard labour.
Ⅵ. The rigour of
sin (verse 13
14). The Egyptians were really cruel to the Israelites
for
so the term means as it is given in Ez. 34:4. By the sighs and cries which
escaped the Israelites (Ex.2:23-24) this is evidenced. They were pressed and
oppressed beyond measure
and groaned beneath their hard lot. Sin is more cruel
than the taskmasters of Egypt. It sears the conscience (1. Tim.4:2)
blinds the
eyes of the understanding (Mark 8:18)
dulls the moral sense (Eph.4:19)
kills
kindly feeling (1. John 2:9)
deafens the ears of the soul (Mark 8:18)
binds
the spirit with cords of iniquity ( John 8:34)
and separates from God
(Isa.59:2).
Jehovah graciously raised up a
deliverer for Israel. In like manner the Lord has graciously sent a Saviour
(John 3:16-18) for us. To receive Him is to be saved by Him
and thus to be
redeemed from the rigour of sin.
── F.E. Marsh《Five Hundred Bible Readings》
01 Chapter 1
Verses 1-5
The children of Israel which came into Egypt.
Israel in Egypt
I. A retrospective
view.
1. These verses lead us back to the time when Jacob came with his
family to Egypt.
(1)
.
It was a time of great distress from famine in Canaan.
2. These verses summarize the history of the children of Israel from
the time of Jacob’s emigration to Egypt till the bondage of the
Israelites--about 115 years.
(a) The entire period
from the call of Abraham to the Exodus
was 430
years.
(b) Up to the descent into Egypt
a period of 215 years
the family
had increased to only “seventy souls.”
(c) From the going down to Egypt to the Exodus--215 years--the 70 had
multiplied to 600
000 males
giving a population of nearly 2
000
000.
II. The change of
administration (Exodus 1:8). Not merely another
but a
“new” king
implying a change of dynasty. Now
probably
commenced the rule of
the “shepherd kings.”
2. The phrase
“who knew not Joseph
” suggests the prestige of
Joseph’s name to the former Pharaohs. A good man’s influence dies not with the
death of his body.
III. The change of
government policy (Exodus 1:9-14).
1. The nature of this change. From being a fostering government to
being cruel and repressive. Unwise policy
because suicidal.
2. The reason for this change (Exodus 1:10).
3. The result of this change (Exodus 1:12).
Lessons:
1. God’s children in Egypt a type of God’s children in the world.
2. The policy of the new king a type of the godlessness
selfishness
and inhumanity of those who work from a worldly standpoint.
3. The frustration of this policy a type of God’s overruling power. (D.
C. Hughes
M. A.)
God’s knowledge of man’s domestic life
I. He knows the
children of the family. “Reuben
Simeon
” etc.
1. He knows the character of each.
2. He knows the friendly relations
or otherwise
existing between
them
and the intentions of each.
II. He watches the
journeying of the family--“which came
” etc. Do not journey into Egypt without
an indication of the Divine will. All family changes should be under the
instruction of heaven. This insures safety
protection
development--though
sometimes discipline.
III. He marks the
death of the family (Exodus 1:6). (J. S. Exell
M.
A.)
Israel in Egypt
With Israel in Egypt begins a new era in the world’s progress.
Biography becomes history Instead of individuals or a tribe
God has now a
natron with which to work. He has undertaken a vast purpose. This
people--united by common parentage
common faith
and common hope--He is to
weld still more compactly by fellowship in disaster and deliverance into a
nation which shall be the miracle of history
as intensely and persistently
individual as its founder. With this nation He enters into covenant and
through its faith and experience
reveals to the world the one holy God
and
brings in its Redeemer. Such a mission costs; its apostles must suffer. Yet
this relief intervenes: personal blessing is not lost in national pains. The
strong word covering this process is discipline: the development of character
and efficiency
under rigorous conditions. The first element is--
I. Faith: taking
as real what cannot be seen
accepting as sure what has not come to pass.
Seemingly
this fruit of heaven cannot grow on earthly soil unless it be wet
with tears.
II. The second word
of blessing is disentanglement. The hope of the ages lay in freeing Israel
not
from Egypt
but from what Egypt represents. Heathenism is a bitter and bloody
thing. But heathenism filled the world outside the chosen nation. Only stern
guidance could lead away from it
for over its deformities were spread
distortions of natural needs and blandishments of sanctioned lust. God can
accomplish vast things with a soul wholly consecrated to Him; but how rarely He
finds such a soul
except as He leads it through affliction to make it loose
its hold on all but Him!
III. With this even
partially gained
comes that strong word efficiency. The nation which was Jacob
the Supplanter passes its Peniel and becomes Israel the Prince of God
having
power with God and men. Into its hands are put the direction of earth’s history
and the hope of its redemption. The distresses of those early generations are
as the straining and rending of the crust or the grinding march of glaciers
unsparing but beneficent
preparing a fertile soil on which at last men shall
dwell safely
lifting thankful hands to heaven. (C. M. Southgate.)
Egypt a type of the world
Sodom is associated in our minds with wickedness only
though no
doubt it was a great place in its day; but Egypt stands out before us as a
fuller and more adequate type of the world
with her glory as well as her
shame. And from Israel’s relation to Egypt we may learn two great lessons: one
of counsel how to use the world
the other of warning against abusing it. From
God’s purpose in regard to Israel let us learn that just as Egypt was necessary
as a school for His chosen people
so the world ought to be a school for us. We
are not to despise its greatness. No word of contempt for Egypt’s greatness is
found in the sacred records. The nation was intended to learn
and did acquire
many useful arts which were of much service to them afterwards in the Land of
Promise. Moses
the chosen of God
was learned in all the wisdom of the
Egyptians
and was thereby qualified for the great work for which he was
called. In these examples we may see how to use this world
making it a school
to prepare us for our inheritance and the work the Lord may have for us there
to do. On the other hand
let us beware of so yielding to the seductions of
this evil world as to lose our hold of God
and His covenant
and so incur the
certainty of forfeiting our eternal birthright and becoming the world’s slaves
helping perhaps to rear its mighty monuments
with the prospect possibly of
having our names engraved in stone among the ruins of some buried city
but
without the prospect of having them written “among the living in Jerusalem
”
the eternal city of God. Earth’s great ones belong to the dead past; but
heaven’s great ones have their portion in a glorious future. (J. M. Gibson
D. D.)
Making history
We are making history when we least think of it. That which seems
a little matter to us may be a link in a chain that binds the ages. What we do
to-day or to-morrow is done for all time. It cannot be undone. It and all its
countless results must stand entailed to the latest generations; and we are to
have honour or shame according as our part is now performed. The poor boy who
drives the horse along a canal tow.path may think it makes little difference
whether he does that work well or poorly. But forty years after
when he is in
nomination for the presidency of a great nation
he will find that men go back to
his boyhood story to learn whether he was faithful in that which was least
as
proof that he would be faithful also in that which is much. There is no keeping
out of history. We have got to be there. The only safe way of standing well in
history is by doing well in all things. You are just now going to Boston
or to
New York
or to Chicago
or to Savannah
or to London--will the record of your
spirit and conduct as you go there read well ten years hence
or a hundred?
That depends on what your spirit and conduct are at the present time. And if
you stay at home your place in history--in God’s record of history--is just as
sure as if you went to Egypt or to the Holy Land. That record is making up to-day: “Now
these are the names of the children of--
which came into--
or
which stayed
at--“ If you want a record which shall redound to your honour
and of which
your children’s children shall be proud
you have no time to lose in getting
things straight for it. (H. C. Trumbull.)
Joseph died
and all his brethren.
The death of a whole family
I. It was a
very large family
II. It was a very
diversified family.
1. They were diversified in their sympathies.
2. They were diversified in social position.
III. It was a very
tried family.
IV. It was a very
influential family.
V. It was a very
religiously privileged family. Lessons:
1. A rebuke to family pride.
2. A warning against seeking satisfaction in family joys.
3. A lesson as to the right use of family relationships. Live
together as those who must die.
4. Some strong reasons for expecting family meetings after death.
The universal characteristic
The succession of generations among the children of men has been
from Homer downwards
likened to that of the leaves among the trees of the
forest. The foliage of one summer
withering gradually away
and strewing the
earth with its wrecks
has its place supplied by the exuberance of the
following spring. But there is one point in which the analogy does not
hold
--there is one difference between the race of leaves and the race of men:
between the leaves of successive summers an interval of desolation intervenes
and “the bare and wintry woods” emphatically mark the passage from one season
to another. But there is no such pause in the succession of the generations of
men. Insensibly they melt and shade into one another: an old man dies
and a
child is born; daily and hourly there is a death and a birth; and
imperceptibly
by slow degrees
the actors in life’s busy scene are changed.
Hence the full force of this thought--“One generation passeth away
and another
generation cometh”--is not ordinarily felt. The first view of this verse that
occurs to us is its striking significance and force as a commentary on the
history of which it so abruptly and emphatically announces the close. The
previous narrative presents to us a busy scene--an animated picture; and here
as if by one
single stroke
all is reduced to a blank. It is as if having gazed on ocean
when it bears on its broad bosom a gallant and well-manned fleet--bending
gracefully to its rising winds
and triumphantly stemming its swelling
waves--you looked out again
and at the very next glance beheld the wide waste
of waters reposing in dark and horrid peace over the deep-buried wrecks of the
recent storm. “And all that generation”: How startling a force is there in this
awful brevity
this compression and abridgment--the names and histories of
millions brought within the compass of so brief a statement of a single fact
concerning them--that they all died! Surely it seems as if the Lord intended by
this bill of mortality for a whole race
which His own Spirit has framed
to
stamp as with a character of utter mockery and insignificance the most
momentous distinctions and interests of time; these all being engulfed and
swallowed up in the general doom of death
which ushers in the one distinction
of eternity.
I. Let us ponder
the announcement as it respects the individual--“Joseph died.” His trials
with
their many aggravations--his triumphs
with all their glories--were alike brief
and evanescent; and his eventful career ended
as the obscurest and most
commonplace lifetime must end--for “Joseph died.” Joseph is at home
the idol
of a fond parent. Ah I dote not
thou venerable sire
on thy fair and dutiful
child. Remember how soon it may be said of him
and how certainly it must be
said of him
that “Joseph died.” Joseph is in trouble--betrayed
persecuted
distressed
a prisoner
a slave. But let him not be disquieted above measure.
It is but a little while
and it shall be said of him that “Joseph died.”
Joseph is exalted--he is high in wealth
in honour
and in power. But why
should all his glory and his joy elate him? It will be nothing to him
soon--when it comes to be said of him that “Joseph died.” Ah! there is but one
of Joseph’s many distinctions
whether of character or of fortune
that does
not shrivel beside this stern announcement. The simplicity of his trust in God
the steadfastness of his adherence to truth and holiness
the favour of Heaven
his charity out of a pure heart and a good conscience and faith
unfeigned--these will stand the shock of collision with this record of his
decease.
II. “And all his
brethren.” They too all died
and the vicissitudes of their family history came
to an end in the silent tomb. “Joseph died
and all his brethren.” Ah! how
intimately should this reflection have knit them together in unity of interest
of affection
and of aim! The tie of a common origin is scarcely stronger or
closer than the tie of a common doom. The friend
the beloved brother who has
gone
has acquired
by his death
new value in your esteem--a new and sacred
claim to your regard. Now for the first time you discover how dear he should
have been
how dear he was
to your hearts--dearer far than you had ever
thought. How fondly do you dwell on all his attractions and excellencies! Hew
frivolous are all former causes of misunderstanding
all excuses for
indifference
now seen to be I And whither are they gone? And what are their
views now
and what their feelings
on the matters which formed the subject of
their familiar inter-course here? Are they united in the region of blessedness
above? Or is there a fearful separation
and are there some of their number on
the other side of the great gulf?
III. “And all that
generation.” The tide of mortality rolls on in a wider stream. It sweeps into
the one vast ocean of eternity all the members of a family--all the families of
a race. The distinctions alike of individuals and of households are lost. Every
landmark is laid low. Some are gone in tender years of childhood
unconscious
of life’s sins and sufferings--some in grey-headed age
weighed down by many
troubles. Some have perished by the hand of violence--some by natural decay.
And another generation now fills the stage--a generation that
in all its vast circle of
families
can produce not one individual to link it with the buried race on
whose ashes it is treading. On a smaller scale
you have experienced something
of what we now describe. In the sad season of bereavement
how have you felt
your pain embittered by the contrast between death reigning in your heart and
home
and bustling life going on all around! In the prospect
too
of your own
departure
does not this thought form an element of the dreariness of death
that when you are gone
and laid in the silent tomb
others will arise that
knew not you?--your removal will scarce occasion even a momentary interruption
in the onward course and incessant hurry of affairs
and your loss will be but
as that of a drop of water from the tide that rolls on in its career as mighty
and as majestical as ever. But here
it is a whole generation
with all its
families
that is engulfed in one unmeasured tomb! And lo! the earth is still
all astir with the same activities
all gay with the same pomps and
pageantries
all engrossed with the same vanities and follies
and
alas! the
same sins also
that have been beguiling and disappointing the successive races
of its inhabitants since the world began! And there is another common
lot--another general history--another universal characteristic: “After death
the judgment.” Joseph rises again
“and all his brethren
and all that
generation.” And they all stand before the judgment-seat. There is union then.
The small and the great are there; the servant and his master--all are brought
together. But for what? What a solemn contrast have we here! Death unites after
separation: the judgment unites in order to separation. Death
closing the
drama of time
lets the ample curtain fall upon its whole scenery and all its
actors. The judgment
opening the drama of eternity
discloses scenery and
actors once more entire. (R. S. Candlish
D. D.)
Death
I. Death removes
the most useful men--“Joseph.”
1. He had instructed his brethren.
2. He had enriched his father.
3. He had saved his nation.
4. He had taught the world an eternal lesson.
II. Death relieves
the largest families--“All his brethren.”
III. Death relieves
the proudest nations.
1. Pitiable.
2. Irremediable.
3. Admonitory. (J. S. Exell
M. A.)
Death’s disciplinary power
God deprives the Church of her comfort and stay--
1. That she may gain the power of self-reliance.
2. That she may show her ability to be independent of all human
instrumentalities.
3. That she may move into the exigencies of the future. (J. S.
Exell
M. A.)
Death common to all
In one of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s note-books there is a remark as to
qualifying men by some common quality or circumstance that should bring
together people the most unlike in other respects
and make a brotherhood and
sisterhood of them. “First by their sorrows; for instance
whenever there are
any
whether in fair mansion or hotel
who are mourning the loss of friends.
Secondly
all who have the same maladies
whether they lie under damask
canopies
or on straw pallets
or in the-wards of hospitals. Then proceed to
generalize and classify all the world together
as none can claim other
exemption from either sorrow
sin
or disease; and if they could
yet death
like a great parent
comes and sweeps them all through one darksome portal--all
his children.” (H. O. Mackey.)
Death admonitory
There is a
bird peculiar to Ireland
called the cock of the wood
remarkable for the fine
flesh and folly thereof. All the difficulty to kill them
is to find them out
otherwise a mean marksman may easily despatch them. They fly in woods in
flocks
and if one of them be shot
the rest remove not but to the next bough
or tree at the farthest
and there stand staring at the shooter
till the whole
covey be destroyed; yet as foolish as this bird is
it is wise enough to be the
emblem of the wisest man in the point of mortality. Death sweeps away one
and
one
and one
here one
and there another
and all the rest remain no whir
moved
or minding of it
till at last a whole generation is consumed and
brought to nothing. (J. Spencer.)
Death’s impartiality
Death levels the highest mountains with the lowest valleys.
He mows down the fairest lilies as well as the foulest thistles. The robes of
illustrious princes and the rags of homely peasants are both laid aside in the
wardrobe of the grave. (Archbp. Seeker.)
Meditate on death
There was a motto on the walls of the Delphian Temple
ascribed to
Chile
one of the seven wise men of Greece--“Consider the end.”
Death levels all distinctions
As trees growing in the wood are known--some by difference
of their trunks
and some by the properties of their branches
leaves
flowers
and fruits; but this knowledge is had of them only whilst they stand
grow
and
are not consumed; for if they be committed to the fire
and are turned into
ashes
they cannot be known. It is impossible that
when the ashes of divers
kinds of trees are mingled together
the tall pine should be discerned from the
great oak
or the mighty poplar from a low shrub
or any one tree from another;
even so men
whilst they live in the wood of this world
are known--some by the
stock of their ancestors
some by the flourishing leaves of their words and eloquence
some in the flowers of beauty
and some in the shrub of honesty
many by their
savage ignorance
and some by their kindness; but when death doth bring them
into dust
and has mixed all together
then their ashes cannot be known--then
there is no difference between the mighty princes of the world and the poor
souls that are not accounted of. (Cawdray.)
The children of Israel were fruitful
The increase of the Church
I.
Notwithstanding
the removal of its chief officer (Exodus 1:6). Joseph dead; his influence
gone; his counsel inaccessible. To-day the Church loses her chief officers
but
it still grows.
II. Notwithstanding
the decade of the generation (Exodus 1:6). So to-day men die
but the
Church
by making new converts
multiplies her progeny to an almost incredible
extent.
III. Notwithstanding
the persecution to which it was subjected (Exodus 1:11). The Church can never be put
down by force. The Infinite Power is on her side. This is more than all that
can be against her.
IV. Notwithstanding
the artifices by which it was sought to re betrayed (Exodus 1:15-22). So the Church has been
in danger through the treachery of the outside world
and through the daring
cruelty of meddlesome men. Still it grows. May it soon fill the world
as the
Israelites did Egypt! All Church increase is from God; not from men
not from
means. God has promised to multiply the Church. (J. S. Exell
M. A.)
Increase by God’s blessing
1. The death of fathers cannot hinder God’s increase of the Church’s
children. They decrease and these increase under God.
2. God’s promises for His Church’s increase cannot fall to the
ground. He doth fulfil them.
3. Fruitfulness
abundant increase
multiplication excessive
and
strength
are the Church’s blessing from God.
4. God works wonderfully to fulfil His promise of increasing His
people.
5. The land of enemies is made by God a nursery for the increase of
His Church.
6. God’s blessing makes His Israel to fill Egypt
the Church to fill
the world. (G. Hughes
B. D.)
A large population
and what it led to
I. A large
population is of great advantage to a nation.
1. It gives an impulse to civilization.
2. It augments the force of the national prowess.
3. It invests the nation with importance in the estimation of
surrounding kingdoms.
II. A large
population sometimes excites the suspicion and envy of neighbouring kings.
1. Pharaoh was jealous of the numerical growth of Israel.
2. He was suspicious of what might befall his country in future
exigencies.
III. This suspicion
frequently leads kings to practise the most abject slavery.
1. It was cunning.
2. It was unjust.
3. It was painful.
4. It was apparently productive of gain.
But what was gained in public buildings was lost in sensitiveness
of conscience
force of manhood
and worth of character. Slavery involves a
loss of all that is noble in human nature
and it leads to murder (Exodus 1:22).
IV. Slavery is an
incompetent method of conquest.
1. Because it does not gain the sympathy of the people it conquers.
2. Because it arouses the indignation of those who are subject to its
cruelties.
3. It does not save a ruler from the calamity he seeks to avert. (J.
S. Exell
M. A.)
A large population
The larger the population of a nation
the greater are its
capabilities of sympathy
mutual dependency
and help
and often-times the
greater difficulty in its right government. (J. S. Exell
M. A.)
Oppression and growth
I. There are three
aspects in which the oppression of Israel in Egypt may be viewed. It was the
fulfilment of God’s own word; it was education; it was a type.
1. The covenant with Abraham had included the prediction of four
hundred years of oppression in a strange land. The fulfilment is reached
through the fears and cruel policy of Pharaoh. The Bible decisively upholds the
view that not in Israel alone
but everywhere
the movements of nations
as the
incidents of individual lives
are directed by God. To it the most important
thing about Egypt and the mighty Rameses was that he and it were the
instruments for carrying out God’s designs in reference to Israel. Has not
history verified the view? Who cares about anything else in that reign in
comparison with its relation to the slaves in Goshen?
2. The oppression was
further
education. We can say nothing
certainly as to the teaching which Israel received in science
art
letters
or
religion. Some debts
no doubt
accrued in all these departments. Probably the
alphabet itself was acquired by them
and some tinge of acquaintance was made
by a few with other parts of the early blossoming Egyptian civilization. But
the oppression taught them better things than these. Pressure consolidates.
Common sorrows are wonderful quickeners of national feeling. The heavier the
blows
the closer grained the produce of the forge. Not increase of numbers
only
but tough knit consciousness of their unity
was needed for their future.
They acquired some beginnings of that extraordinary persistency of national
life which has characterized them ever since
in these bitter days. Note
further
they learned endurance
without which the education of a nation
as of
a man
is defective. The knowledge of God’s covenant with Abraham would in some
degree be preserved
and it taught them that their affliction was part of the
Divine plan for them. So they would learn--at least the best of them would--to
look for the better things following which the covenant held forth
and would
be able to see some gleam of the dawn even in the thickest darkness. “If winter
comes
can spring be far behind?” The evil foretold and accomplished is turned
into prophecy of the good foretold and yet unseen.
3. The growth of Israel under its oppression. The pressure which was
intended to crush only condensed. “The more they afflicted them
the more they
. . . grew.” So the foiled oppressors glared at them with a mixture of awe and
loathing
for both feelings are implied in the words rendered “were grieved.”
It is the history of the nation in a nutshell. The same marvellous tenacity of
life
the same power of baffling oppression and thriving under it
have been
their dower ever since
and continue so yet. The powers that oppress them fill
the world with their noise for awhile
and pass away like a dream; they abide.
For every tree felled
a hundred saplings spring up. What does it mean? and how
comes it? The only answer is that God preserves them for a better deliverance
from a worse bondage
and as His witnesses in their humiliation
as they were
His in their prosperity. The fable of the one of their race who bade Christ
march on to Calvary is true concerning them. They are doomed to live and to
wander till they shall recognize Him for their Messiah. That growth is a truth
for God’s Church
too. The world has never crushed by persecuting. There is a
wholesome obstinacy and chivalry in human nature which rallies adherents to a
persecuted cause. Truth is most powerful when her back is at the wall. Times of
oppression are times of growth
as a hundred examples from the apostles’ days
down to the story of the gospel in Madagascar prove. The world’s favour does
more harm than its enmity. Its kisses are poisonous; its blows do no hurt. (A.
Maclaren
D. D.)
Fruitfulness of Israelites in Egypt
Some commentators resort to natural causes to account for this
amazing increase. A modern writer declares that “the females in Egypt
as well
among the human race as among animals
surpass all others in fruitfulness.” But
we prefer to ascribe the matter to Divine intervention. The blessing of Jehovah
was now signally conferred upon the people. God “increased His people greatly
and made them stronger than their enemies” (Psalms 105:24). The word that after a
long delay came to Israel
the third patriarch
was now fulfilled (Genesis 35:11). Though the performance of
God’s promises is sometimes slow
yet it is always sure. It was when the
Israelites lost the benefit of the protection of Joseph that God made their
numbers their defence
and they became better able than they had been to shift
for themselves. If God continue our friends and relations to us while we most
need them
and remove them when they can be better spared
let us own that He
is wise
and not complain that He is hard upon us. (A. Nevin
D. D.)
Ancestry numerically regarded
The number of a man’s ancestors doubles in every generation as his
descent is traced upward. In the first generation he reckons only two
ancestors
his father and mother. In the second generation the two are
converted into four
since he had two grandfathers and two grandmothers. But
each of these four had two parents
and thus in the third generation there are
found to be eight ancestors; that is
eight great-grandparents. In the fourth
generation the number of ancestors is sixteen; in the fifth
thirty-two; in the
sixth
sixty-four; in the seventh 128. In the tenth it has risen to 1
024; in
the twentieth it becomes 1
048
576; in the thirtieth no fewer than
1
073
741
834. To ascend no higher than the twenty-fourth generation we reach
the sum of 16
777
216
which is a great deal more than all of the inhabitants
of Great Britain when that generation was in existence. For if we reckon a
generation at thirty-three years
twenty-four of such will carry us back 792
years
or to a.d. 1098
when William the Conqueror had been sleeping in his
grave at Caen only six years
and his son William II.
surnamed Rufus
was
reigning over the land. At that time the total number of the inhabitants of
England could have been little more than two millions
the amount at which it
is estimated during the reign of the Conqueror. It was only one-eighth of a
nineteenth-century man’s ancestors if the normal ratio of progression
as just
shown by a simple process of arithmetic
had received no check
and if it had
not been bounded by the limits of the population of the country. Since the
result of the law of progression
had there been room for its expansion
would
have been eight times the actual population
by so much the more is it certain
that the lines of every Englishman’s ancestry run up to every man and every
woman in the reign of William I.
from the king and queen downward
who left
descendants in the island
and whose progeny has not died there. (Popular
Science Monthly.)
Successful colonists
Englishmen are not the only successful colonists; and the credit
if any
of exterminating aborigines they are entitled to share with insects.
Let us take the case of the Australian bee. The Australian bee is about the
size of a fly
and without any sting; but the English bee has been so successfully
introduced as to be now abundant in a wild state in the bush
spreading all over the Australian
continent
and yielding large quantities of honey
which it deposits in the
hollows of trees; the immense quantities of honey-yielding flowers afford an
abundant supply of material. The foreign bee is fast driving away the
aboriginal insect as the European is exterminating the black from the settled
districts
so that the Australian bee is now very scarce. (Scientific
Illustrations and Symbols.)
A new king.
Change of government
1. God’s blessing on His Church is the cause that worldly rulers
consult against it.
2. Blessings from God and oppositions from worldly powers usually are
connected.
3. Changes of kings and
governments may bring changes on the Church’s state.
4. New and strange rulers are set up
when new and strange things are
to be in the Church.
5. God suffers such to rise up
and orders them to His praise.
6. All God’s goodness by His instruments to the world are apt to be
committed to oblivion and ignorance.
7. Ignorance and oblivion of God’s mercies by His Church causeth
wicked rulers to persecute them. (G. Hughes
B. D.)
Egypt’s new king
I. He was out of
sympathy with the purpose and providence of God.
II. He was out of
sympathy with the conduct of his predecessors.
III. He was envious
in his disposition. Envious men generally bring on themselves the evils of
which they suspect the innocent to be guilty.
IV. He was cunning
in his arrangements. Policy a bad basis for a throne. It invites suspicion
alienates
respect
leads to ruin.
V. He was cruel in
his requirements.
VI. He was thwarted
in his project. Mere power cannot always command obedience. It is sometimes
defeated by weakness. Heaven is on the side of the oppressed. (J. S. Exell
M. A.)
The vicissitudes of power
The vicissitudes of power--
1. Are independent of past services.
2. Are independent of moral character.
3. Are frequently dependent upon the arbitrary caprice of a despotic
king. (J. S. Exell
M. A.)
A bad king will make a wicked people
1. He will influence the weak by his splendour.
2. Terrify the timid by his power.
3. Gain the servile by his flattery.
4. Gain the simple by his cunning.
5. Sometimes gain the good by his deception. (J. S. Exell
M. A.)
Like ruler
like people
If the mountains overflow with waters
the valleys are the better;
and if the head be full of ill-burnouts
the whole body fares the worse. The
actions of rulers are most commonly rules for the people’s actions
and their
example passeth as current as their coin. The common people are like tempered
wax
easily receiving impressions from the seals of great men’s vices; they
care not to sin by prescription and damn themselves with authority. And it is
the unhappy privilege of greatness to warrant
by example
others’ as well as
its own sins
whilst the unadvised take up crimes on trust and perish by
credit. (J. Harding.)
The king that knew not Joseph
It is said Joseph was not “known” by this dynasty. This is a
strong expression
used to denote the perfect obscurity into which this good
and great man had fallen; or rather
the contempt in which this benefactor and true patriot was held by those who
were unable to appreciate him. It was not that Joseph’s character had waned in
beauty; it was not that his intellect had lost its sagacity; but the new
dynasty wished to pursue a course of action and conduct inconsistent with that
purity
integrity
and candour which Joseph had counselled; and therefore he
was cast off. Less worthy men were taken in his place. But what occurred to
Joseph is just what befalls Christians still
in proportion as their
Christianity ceases to be latent. We are told by an apostle that the world
knoweth us not
because it knew Christ not.
1. The reason why the world does not appreciate the Christian character
is that the Christian lives a higher life. He is
in proportion as he is a
Christian
influenced by motives and hopes
and guided by laws and a sense of a
presence
which an unconverted
worldly man
such as was the new king of Egypt
who knew not Joseph
cannot at all understand.
2. Another reason why the world does not appreciate the Christian now
is that it judges a Christian by itself
and thinks that he must be at heart
notwithstanding all his pretences
what it is. The world loves sin
delights in
it. And when the world meets with a man who professes to have laid his ambition
at the foot of the Cross
and whose thirst for power is the noble thirst of
doing good
it will say
“This sounds very fine
but we do not believe it. The
only difference between you and us is that we do not pretend to these things
and that you do; for behind the curtain you practise what we practise
and are
exactly what we are.” Therefore the world hates the Christian
not simply for
his Christianity
but because it cannot conceive such a man to be any other
than a thorough hypocrite. (J. Cumming
D. D.)
A king’s ignorance
I. Who was this
man?
1. Exiled for many years.
2. Belonged to an alien dynasty.
3. May simply mean that he refused to know Joseph.
II. Why did he
reign? To carry out the promise of God.
1. God does not always use the same methods. Brought Israel into
Egypt by prosperity; took them out by adversity.
2. God had to prepare the way for His work.
III. What has he to
do with us?
1. He shows us how human wisdom overreaches itself. His policy only
brought about the very object he wished to avoid.
2. He shows us the abuse of privileges. He might have known Joseph.
Ignorance is no excuse for those who ought to know. (Homilist.)
Emptiness of fame
The readiness with which the populace forgets its vaunted idols
has ever been a favourite topic with third-rate moralists; A surviving friend
of William Pitt was convinced of the emptiness of fame by seeing the greatest
statesman of the age completely forgotten in ten days. Queen Elizabeth’s
passage into oblivion was even more rapid
for
according to an eminent
historical authority
she “was as much forgot in four days as if she had never
existed.” To be sure in such cases the oblivion has been short-lived. Posterity
has amply remedied the brief injustice of contemporary opinion
(Christian
Journal.)
Oblivion and neglect
It is a memorable example
amongst many others that we have
of
William the Conqueror’s successor
who being unhappily killed
as he was
hunting in the New Forest
all his nobles and courtiers forsook him
only some
few that remained laid his body in a collier’s cart
which being drawn with one
silly lean beast through very foul and filthy way
the cart broke
and there
lay the spectacle of worldly glory
both pitifully gored and all bemired. Now
if this were the portion of so mighty a prince
whom immediately before so
glorious a troop attended
what then must others of meaner rank expect and look
for
but only with death’s closing up of their eyes to have all their friends
excluded
and no sooner gone but to be as suddenly forgotten. Hence it is that
oblivion and neglect are the two handmaids of death. (J. Spencer.)
Let us deal wisely.--
Wrong councils
Kings ought to know better than to convene councils to oppose the
intentions of God. Such conduct is--
1. Daring.
2. Reprehensible.
3. Ruinous.
4. Ineffectual. (J. S. Exell
M. A.)
The end and design of the council
1. To prevent the numerical increase of Israel.
2. To enfeeble the military power of Israel.
3. To detain the Israelites in permanent bondage. (J. S. Exell
M.
A.)
Persecution of God’s people for hypothetical offences
Hypothetical offences have generally been the ground of the
persecution of the people of God. It has rarely been for a crime proved
but generally
for a crime possible. And this dynasty
in the exercise of what it thought a
very far-reaching diplomacy
but really a very wild and foolish hallucination
determined to persecute
and gradually crush
the children of Israel. The
result proved that the wisdom of man is folly with God. Whatever is undertaken
that has no sanction from God
never will have any real or permanent success
before men. But attempt anything
however wise it looks
or talented it
appears
yet if it be not inspired by principle
it is a rope of sand--it must
fall to pieces. Let us
therefore
ever feel that we never can do wisely
unless we do well
and that the highest principle is ever the purest and best
policy. The dynasty that succeeded the ancient Pharaoh did not know this. They
thought they could extirpate God’s people. They might as well have tried to
extirpate the sun from the firmament
or the fruits and trees of the earth; for
the everlasting arms are around all them that love and fear God; and they are
an immortal people who are the sons and daughters of the Most High. The
Egyptians found here that the more they afflicted them
the more they
multiplied. (J. Cumming
D. D.)
A perversion of language
The wisdom here proposed to be employed was the wisdom of the
serpent; but with men of reprobate minds
governed solely by the corrupt spirit
of this world
whatever measures tend to promote their own interests and
circumvent their opponents
is dignified by the epithet wise
though it
be found
when judged by a purer standard
to be in reality nothing less than
the very policy of hell. (G. Bush.)
Pharaoh’s sceptical reasoning
All Pharaoh’s reasoning was that of a heart that had never learnt
to take God into its calculations. He could accurately recount the various
contingencies of human affairs
the multiplying of the people
the falling out
of war
the joining with the enemy
their escape out of the laud
but it never
once occurred to him that God could have anything whatever to do in the matter.
Had he only thought of this
it would have upset his entire reasoning. Ever
thus is it with the reasonings of man’s sceptical mind. God is shut out
and
their truth and consistency depend upon His being kept out. The death-blow to
all scepticism and infidelity is the introduction of God into the scene. Till
He is seen
they may strut up and down upon the stage with an amazing show of
wisdom and plausibility
but the moment the eye catches even the faintest
glimpse of that blessed One whose
“Hand
unseen
Doth
turn and guide the great machine
”
they are stripped of their cloak
and disclosed in all their
nakedness and deformity. (A. Nevin
D. D.)
Jealousy of autocrats
Autocrats
whether elected or usurping
are all more or less
jealous. The female autocrat is in some respects worse than the male. Two queen
bees will not live together in the same hive. And indeed
as soon as a young
queen-bee is about to lay her eggs
she is anxious to destroy all the royal
pupae which still exist in the hive. When she has become a mother
she attacks
one after the other the cells which still contain females. She may be seen to
throw herself with fury upon the first cell she comes to. She tears an opening
in it large enough for her to introduce her sting. When she has stung the
female which it contains
she withdraws to attack another. Man is not much
behind these jealous insects. Among certain tribes of Ethiopians the first care
of the newly crowned chief is to put in prison all his brothers
so as to
prevent wars by pretenders to the throne. And even among more civilized nations
the records are numerous of the mean and petty tricks and cruelties adopted by
kings and queens for disposing of any possible rivals. (Scientific
Illustrations and Symbols.)
The more they multiplied.--
Moral growth proportionate to affliction
1. This is true of individual moral character.
2. This is especially true in the development of the Church. (J.
S. Exell
M. A.)
Why does persecution and trial operate thus
1. To manifest the love of God towards His Church.
2. To manifest the power of God over His enemies.
3. To fulfil the promise of God made to the good.
4. To manifest His providence towards the Church.
5. To strike terror into the hearts of tyrants.
6. To manifest the divinity of truth
and pure moral character. (J.
S. Exell
M. A.)
The Egyptians were grieved
1. Because their plots were a failure.
2. Because their cruelty was unavailing.
3. Because they had exasperated an enemy they could not subdue Half
the grief of the world is occasioned by the failure of wicked and cruel purposes.
(J. S. Exell
M. A.)
Persecution fertilising
“The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”
Persecuting the Church is but like casting manure upon the ground. It for a
while covers the plants
and seems to destroy them; but it makes the earth more
fertile
and the plants more numerous and vigorous. (J. Orton.)
Strange increase
How diverse were the barbarities and kinds of death inflicted on
the Christian confessors! The more they were slain
the more rapidly spread the
faith; in place of one sprang up a hundred. When a great multitude had been put
to death one at court said to the king
“The number of them increaseth
instead
of
as thou thinkest
diminishing.” “How can that be?” exclaimed the king. “But
yesterday
” replied the courtier
“thou didst put such-and-such a one to death
and lo! there
were converted double that number; and the people say that a man appeared to
the confessors from heaven
strengthening them in their last moments.”
Whereupon the king himself was converted. (The Apology of Al Kindy
a. d.
830.)
Prosperity under persecutions
Whatever has been done by enemies in rage or in recklessness
God
has always met it calmly and quietly. He has shown Himself ready for every
emergency. And He has not only baffled and utterly defeated all the inventions
of wicked men
but He has turned their strange devices to good account
for the
development of His own sovereign purposes.
I. In the case of
Israel
it did seem to be a deep-laid plot
very politic and crafty indeed
that as the kings of Egypt
themselves of an alien race
had subdued the
Egyptians
they should prevent the other alien race
the Israelites
from
conquering them. Instead of murdering them wholesale
it did seem a wise though
a cruel thing to make them slaves; to divide them up and down the country; to
appoint them to the most menial work in the land
that they might be crushed down and
their spirits become so base that they would not dare to rebel. Thus we may
suppose it was hoped that their physical strength would be so relaxed
and
their circumstances so reduced
that the clan would soon be insignificant if
not utterly extinct. But God met and overruled this policy in various ways.
“The more they afflicted them
the more they multiplied.” The glory of God
shines forth conspicuously in the use to which He turned the persecutions they
endured. The severe treatment they had to bear from the enemy became to them a
salutary discipline. In order to cut loose the bonds that bound them to Egypt
the sharp knife of affliction must be used; and Pharaoh
though he knew it not
was God’s instrument in weaning them from the Egyptian world
and helping them
as His Church to take up their separate place in the wilderness
and receive
the portion which God had appointed for them. Once more--and here you may see
the wisdom of God the very means which Pharaoh devised for the effectual
crushing of the people--the destruction of the male children--became the
direct
nay
the Divine provision for educating a deliverer for them.
II. Let us now
carry the same thought a stage farther
and take a brief survey of the history
of the children of God. The like means will appear in manifold operation. Men
meditate mischief
but it miserably miscarries. God grants protection to the
persecuted
and provides an escape
from the most perilous exposure. Full often the darkest conspiracy is brought
to the direst confusion. Persecution has evidently aided the increase of the
Church by the scattering abroad of earnest teachers. We are very apt to get;
hived--too many of us together--and our very love of one another renders it
difficult to part us and scatter us about. Persecution therefore is permitted
to scatter the hive of the Church into various swarms
and each of these swarms
begins to make honey. We are all like the salt if we be true Christians
and
the proper place for the salt is not massed in a box
but scattered by handfuls
over the flesh which it is to preserve. Moreover
persecution helps to keep up
the separation between the Church and the world. When I heard of a young man
that
after he joined the Church
these in his workshop met him at once with
loud laughter and reproached him with bitter scorn
I was thankful
because now
he could not take up the same position with themselves. He was a marked man: they
who knew him discovered that there was such a thing as Christianity
and such a
one as an earnest
defender of it. Again
persecution in the Christian Church acts like a
winnowing fan to the heaps gathered on the threshing-floor. Persecution has a
further beneficial use in the Church of God
and it is this. It may be that the
members of the Church want it. The Roman who professed that he would like to
have a window in his bosom
that everybody might see his heart
would have
wished
I should think
before long for a shutter to that window; yet it is no
slight stimulus to a man’s own circumspection for him to know that he is
observed by unfriendly eyes. Our life ought to be such as will bear criticism.
And this persecution has a further usefulness. Often does it happen that the
enmity of the world drives the Christian nearer to his God.
III. And now I close
this address by just very briefly hinting that this great general truth applies
to all believers; but I will make a practical use of it. Are you passing through
great trials? Very well then
to meet them I pray that God’s grace may give you
greater faith; and if your trials increase more and more
so may your strength
increase. You will be acting after God’s manner
guided by His wisdom
if you
seek to get more faith out of more trial
for that trial does strengthen faith
through Divine grace
experience teaches us
and as we make full proof of the
faithfulness of God
our courage
once apt to waver
is confirmed. (C. H.
Spurgeon.)
How to defeat the devil
Always take revenge on Satan if he defeats you
by trying to do
ten times more good than you did before. It is in some such way that a dear
brother now preaching the gospel
whom God has blessed with a very considerable
measure of success
may trace the opening of his career to a circumstance that
occurred to myself. Sitting in my pulpit one evening
in a country village
where I had to preach
my text slipped from my memory
and with the text seemed
¢o go all that I had thought to speak upon it. A rare thing to happen to me;
but I sat utterly confounded. I could find nothing to say. With strong crying I
lifted up my soul to God to pour out again within my soul of the living water
that it might gush forth from me for others; and I accompanied my prayer with a
vow that if Satan’s enmity thus had brought me low
I would take so many fresh
men whom I might meet with during the week
and train them for the ministry
so
that with their hands and tongues I would avenge myself on the Philistines. The
brother I have alluded to came to me the next morning. I accepted him at once
as one whom God had
sent
and I helped him
and others after him
to prepare for the service
and
to go forth in the Saviour’s name to preach the gospel of the grace of God.
Often when we fear we are defeated
we ought to say
“I will do all the more.
Instead of dropping from this work
now will I make a general levy
and a
sacred conscription upon all the powers of my soul
and I will gather up all
the strength I ever had in reserve
and make from this moment a tremendous
life-long effort to overcome the powers of darkness
and win for Christ fresh
trophies of victory.” After this fashion you will have an easier time of it
for if you do more good the more you are tempted
Satan will not so often tempt
you. When he knows that all the more you are afflicted so much the more you
multiply
very likely he will find it wiser to let you alone
or try you in
some other method than that of direct and overt opposition. So whenever you
have a trial
take it as a favour; whenever God holds in one hand the rod of
affliction
He has a favour in the other hand; He never strikes a child of His
but He has some tender blessing in store. If He visits you with unwonted
affliction
you will have unusual delight; the Lord will open new windows for
you
and show His beauty as He shows it not to others. According as your
tribulations abound
so also shall your consolations abound in Christ Jesus. (C.
H. Spurgeon.)
Egypt
the house of bondage to God’s people
I. The character
of Egypt
and her influence on her children.
1. Egypt was distinguished as the abode of a peculiarly easy and
luxurious life. In Egypt
as in the world
there was all that could lay the
soul to sleep
under its vine and fig-tree
and reduce it to the level of the brutes which the
Egyptian worshipped as more wise and wonderful than man. This easiness of the
terms of life is fatal to the noblest elements in man. Look at Naples. No
heroism can be extracted from the Lazzaroni. Give the fellow a bit of bread
a
slice of melon
and a drink of sour wine
and he will lie all day long on the
quays
basking in the sun and the glorious air; and what cares he if empires
rise or totter to their fall? Egypt was the Naples of the old world; wealth
luxury
elaborate refinement
of a kind not inconsistent with grossness; but no
moral earnestness
no manhood
no life. Nature wooed man to her lap in Egypt
and won him
bathing him in luxurious pleasures--Egypt was the world.
2. Moreover
Egypt was cut off very much from all the political and
intellectual activity in which Babylon was compelled to share. She could “live
to herself and die to herself
” as was not possible for Babylon. She could play
away her strength and her life in wanton pleasures at her will. Egypt is the image
of the wanton world herein. It was full of the wisdom of this world
the wisdom
of the understanding
which prostitutes itself easily to the uses of a sensual
and earthly life.
II. The experience
of God’s children there--its influence on a people conscious that they had a
soul to be saved.
1. They went down to Egypt with the fairest prospect--certainty of
sustenance
and promise of wealth
honour
and power. They were to settle in
Goshen; better
richer land than the bare hills which would be their only home
in Canaan
whose rich valleys would be mainly occupied by the native
inhabitants--laud in every way suited to yield pasture to their flocks. So the
world woos us. We are born in it
God placed us here
God gave us these keen
senses
these imperious appetites
and the means of their fullest indulgence;
and why should we tighten the rein? See you no new reason why Egypt
when the patriarchs dwelt there
was a fit and full image of “the world”?
2. They had not lived there long
before
rich and fruitful as was
the land
they began to find their life a bondage. Egypt was strange to them.
They could not amalgamate with the inhabitants. The Egyptians came to feel it;
alienation sprang up and bitterness. Egypt laid chains on them to keep them in
her service
while they groaned and writhed
and sighed to be gone--to be free.
And rich as the world’s pastures may be
propitious as may be its kings
the
soul of man grows uneasy in its abodes. There are moments of utter heart-sickness amidst
plenty and luxury
such as a sick child of the mountains knows
tossing on a
purple bed of state: “Oh
for one breath of the sunny breezes
one glance at
the shadows sweeping over the brown moorlands; one breath
one vision
would
give me new life.” The very prosperity makes the soul conscious of its fetters.
3. The moment comes
in every experience
when the bondage becomes
too grevious to be borne; when the spirit cries out and wrestles for
deliverance
and the iron
blood-rusted
enters the very heart. The men became
conscious of their higher vocation
and wept and pleaded more earnestly; and
their tyrants yoked them more tightly
and loaded them more heavily; till
like
Job
they cursed God’s light and hated life
in bitterness of soul. And the
soul in its Egypt
the world
drinks deep of this experience. The moment comes
when it wakes up and says
“I am a slave”; “I am a beast”; “I will shake off
this yoke”; “I will be free.” Then begins a battle-agony; a strife for life and
immortality--the end either a final
eternal relapse into captivity
or an
exodus into the wilderness and to heaven. Let the soul fight its own battles
and the most heroic struggles shall not save it. Let it follow the Captain of
Salvation
and gird on the armour of God
and death and hell shall not spoil it.
(J. B. Brown
B. A.)
The taskmasters of the world
1. Sin is a taskmaster.
2. The rich are often taskmasters.
3. The ambitious are often taskmasters. These taskmasters are--
That God allowed His people thus to be enslaved and afflicted
1. A mystery.
2. A problem.
3. A punishment.
4. A discipline. (J. S. Exell
M. A.)
Suffering and strength
One thing experience teaches
that life brings no benediction for
those who take it easily. The harvest cannot be reaped until the soil has been
deeply ploughed and freely harrowed. “Learn to suffer and be strong
” says the
poet; and certain it is that without suffering there can be no strength. Not
indeed
that suffering is or makes strength
but that it evokes the latent
power
and rouses into action the energies that would have otherwise lain
ingloriously supine. The discipline of life is a necessary prelude to the
victory of life; and all that is finest
purest
and noblest in human nature is
called forth by the presence of want
disappointment
pain
opposition
and
injustice. Difficulties can be conquered only by decision; obstacles can be
removed only by arduous effort. These test our manhood
and at the same time
confirm our self-control. (W. H. D. Adams.)
Life maintained by struggling
You lament that your life is one constant struggle; that
having
obtained what you tried hard to secure
your whole strength is now required in
order to retain it; and that your necessities impose on you the further
obligation of additional exertions. It is so; but do not repine. As a rule
the
maintenance of life is everywhere conditional on struggling. It is not only so
with men and animals. It is so even in the vegetable world. You struggle with
obstacles; but the very trees have to do the same. Observe them; take heart and
grow strong. M. Louis Figuier says that the manner in which roots succeed in
overcoming obstacles has always been a subject of surprise to the observer. The
roots of trees and shrubs
when cramped or hindered in their progress
have
been observed to exhibit considerable mechanical force
throwing down walls or
splitting rocks
and in other eases clinging together in bunches or spreading
out their fibres over a prodigious space
in order to follow the course of a
rivulet with its friendly moisture. Who has not seen with admiration how roots
will adapt themselves to the special circumstances of the soil
dividing their
filaments in a soil fit for them almost to infinity
elsewhere abandoning a
sterile soft to seek one farther off which is favourable to them; and as the
ground was wide or less hard
wet or dry
heavy or light
sandy or stony
varying their shapes accordingly? Here are wonderful energy
and illustrations
of the way in which existence may be maintained by constant action. (Scientific
Illustrations and Symbols.)
Use of adversity
The springs at the base of the Alpine Mountains are fullest
and freshest when the summer sun has dried and parched the verdure in the
valleys below. The heat that has burned the arid plains has melted mountain
glacier and snow
and increased the volume of the mountain streams. Thus
when
adversity has dried the springs of earthly comfort and hope
God’s great
springs of salvation and love flow freshest and fullest to gladden the heart. (Irish
Congregational Magazine.)
Moulding influences of life
The steel that has suffered most is the best steel. It has
been in the furnace again and again; it has been on the anvil; it has been
tight in the jaws of the vice; it has felt the teeth of the rasp; it has been
ground by emery; it has been heated and hammered and filed until it does not
know itself
and it comes out a splendid knife. And if men only knew it
what
are called their “misfortunes” are God’s best blessings
for they are the
moulding influences which give them shapeliness and edge
and durability
and
power. (H. W. Beecher.)
The advantage of afflictions
Stars shine brightest in the darkest night; torches are better for
the beating; grapes come not to the proof till they come to the press; spices
smell sweetest when pounded; young trees root the faster for shaking; vines are
the better for bleeding; gold looks the brighter for scouring; glow-worms
glisten best in the dark; juniper smells sweetest in the fire; pomander becomes most fragrant for
chafing; the palm-tree proves the better for pressing; camomile
the more you
tread it
the more you spread it. Such is the condition of all God’s children
they are then most triumphant when most tempted; most glorious when most
afflicted; most in the favour of God when least in man’s; as their conflicts
so their
conquests; as their tribulations
so their triumphs; true salamanders
that
live best in the furnace of persecution
so that heavy afflictions are the best
benefactors to heavenly affections. (J. Spencer.)
The university of hard knocks
A great deal of useless sympathy is in this day expended upon
those who start in life without social or monetary help. Those are most to be
congratulated who have at the beginning a rough tussel with circumstances. John
Ruskin sets it down as one of his calamities that in early life he “had nothing
to endure.” A petted and dandled childhood makes a weak and insipid man. You
say that the Ruskin just quoted disproves the theory. No. He is showing in a
dejected
splenetic
and irritated old age the need of the early cudgelling of
adversity. He seems fretting himself to death. A little experience of the
hardship of life would have helped to make him gratefully happy now. No brawn
of character without compulsory exertion. The men who sit strong in their
social
financial
and political elevations are those who did their own
climbing. Misfortune is a rough nurse
but she raises giants. Let our young
people
instead of succumbing to the influences that would keep them back and
down
take them as the parallel bars
and dumb-bells
and weights of a
gymnasium
by which they are to get muscle for the strife. Consent not to beg
your way to fortune
but achieve it. God is always on the side of the man who
does his best. God helps the man who tries to overcome difficulties. (Dr.
Talmage.)
Graces multiply by affliction
Graces multiply by afflictions
as the saints did by persecutions.
(T. Adams.)
Beneficial effects of affliction
The walnut tree is most fruitful when most beaten. Fish thrive
best in cold and salt waters. The most plentiful summer follows upon the
hardest winter. (J. Trapp.)
lnjuries overruled
Though your attempt to destroy a man’s position may fail to
accomplish that object
it may be productive of serious injury to him. Yet
fortunately for him
that very injury may afterwards bring forth good results.
His friends may rally round him; his resources may be added to through the
medium of the sympathetic; or he may be so acted on as to put forth power from
within which develops new graces and fresh vigour. You injure a tree
and you
will discover reparation is at work even there. The wheel of your cart
for
instance
grazes the trunk
or the root of the tree is wounded by your passing
ploughshare; the result is an adventitious bud comes. Wherever you see those adventitious buds
which come without any order
you may recollect that their formation is
frequently thus produced by the irritation caused by injury. You cut down the
heads of a group of forest trees; you have not destroyed them. Like the men you
have injured
they live to tell the tale. The pollarded dwarf remains to
declare what the forest tree would have become but for you. Even the date of
your attack can be ascertained; for the stunted group will cover themselves
with branches all of the same age and strength
which will exhibit to the sky
the evidence of the story: Injured these all are; yes
but not destroyed. (Scientific
Illustrations and Symbols.)
Affliction and growth
Bunyan’s figure of Satan pouring water on the fire to extinguish
it
and it all the while waxing brighter and hotter because the unseen Christ
was pouring oil upon it
illustrates the prosperity of God’s people in
affliction. “The more they afflicted them
the more they grew.” When a fire
attains certain heat and volume
to pour water upon it is only to add fuel. The
water
suddenly changed to its component gases
feeds
instead of
extinguishing
the flame. So God changes the evil inflicted upon His people
into an upbuilding and sanctifying power. (H. C. Trumbull.)
They made their lives bitter
with hard bondage.--
The bondage of sin
I. The bondage as
an illustration of sin. “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.”
1. The unnaturalness of this bondage. Men were fitted to serve God
not Satan. All their powers are perverted
misused
and reversed
when they are
in courses of disobedience
and rebellion. “Right” means “straight
” and
“wrong” means “wrung.”
2. The severity of this bondage. No taskmaster for men has ever been
found more brutal than a brutal man. The devil has no despot out of hell more
despotic than sinners to place over sinners. When villains get villains in
their power
how they do persist in lashing them into further villainy and
vice!
3. The injustice of this bondage. Satan never remembers favours
bestowed. One may give himself
body
soul
and spirit to the devil
and no
fidelity will win him the least consideration. Injustice is the rule in sin
it
never in any case has exceptions. The prince of evil simply uses his devotees
all the worse because of their servility and patience.
4. The destructiveness of this bondage of sin. The wanton waste of
all that makes life worth a struggle by persistent courses of sin is familiar
to every thoughtful observer. Wickedness never builds up; it always pulls down.
Once in the heat of a public discussion some infidels challenged an immediate
reply to what they called their arguments. A plain woman arose in the audience;
she proceeded to relate how her husband had been dissipated and unkind; she had
prayed for him
and he had become a praying man and a good father; years of
comfort and of peace had they now dwelt together in the love of each other and
the fear of God. “So much
” she continued
“has my religion done for me. Will
you kindly state now what your religion has done for you in the same time?”
Done? unbelief does not do anything
it undoes.
II. And now with so
sorrowful a showing as this bondage has to make
it seems surprising to find
that the Israelites were counselled to “remember” it. Why should they recall
such humiliation?
1. Such reminiscences promote humility. Spiritual pride is as
dangerous as a vice. What have we that God’s mercy has not bestowed upon us?
Why boast we over each other? Recollect that “the Lord hath taken you
and
brought you forth out of the iron furnace
even out of Egypt
to be unto Him a
people of inheritance
as ye are this day.” To Him we owe everything we are.
2. Such a remembrance quickens our considerate charity for others.
Our disposition is to condemn and denounce the degeneracies of the times in
which we live. Wherein are people worse now than we ourselves were once? How do
we know what we might have been if it had not been for the arrest of our
rebellion by the power of the Holy Ghost? Once
as a drunken man reeled past
his door
John Newton exclaimed: “But for the grace of God
there goes John
Newton!” (C. S. Robinson
D. D.)
Embittering the lives of others
It is no credit to Pharaoh that God overruled his oppression of
the Israelites to their advantage. For his course there is nothing but guilt
and shame. He who makes another life bitter has got the bitterness of that life
to answer for
whatever good may come to his victim through the blessing of
God. It is a terrible thing--a shameful thing also--to make another’s life
bitter. Yet there are boys and girls who are making their mothers’ lives
bitter; and there are husbands who are making the lives of their wives bitter;
and there are parents who are making their children’s lives bitter. Is no one’s
life made bitter by your course? Is there no danger of bitterness of life to
any one through your conduct--or your purposed action? Weigh well these
questions; for they involve much to you. Pharaoh is dead; there is no danger of
his making our lives bitter with hard bondage. But the devil is not dead; and
there is danger of our being in hard bondage to him. Pharaoh’s bondage was
overruled for good to those who were under it. The devil’s bondage is harder
than Pharaoh’s
and no good ever comes of it to its subjects. It were better
for us to have died under the hardest bondage of Pharaoh than to live on under
the devil’s easiest bondage. (H. C. Trumbull.)
Pharaoh’s cruel policy
It is worth notice that the king holds council with his people
and evidently carries them with him in his policy. The Egyptians had more than
their share of the characteristic ancient hatred and dread of foreigners
and
here they are ready to second any harsh treatment of these intruders
whom
three hundred years have amalgamated. Observe
too
that the cruel policy of
Pharaoh is policy
and that only. No crime is alleged; no passion of hate
actuates the cold-blooded proposal. It is simply a piece of state-craft
perfectly cool
and therefore indicating all the more heartlessness. Calculated
cruelty is worse than impulsive cruelty. Like some drinks
it is more nauseous
cold than hot. No doubt the question what to do with a powerful subject race
on a threatened frontier
who were suspected of kindred and possible alliance
with the enemy on the other side of the boundary
was a difficult one. Rameses
must have thought of Goshen and the Israelites much as we may fancy Prince
Bismarck thinks of Alsace. He was afraid to let them become more powerful
and
he was loath to lose them. Whether they stayed or went
they were equally
formidable. High policy
therefore
which
in Old Egypt
and in other lands and
ages nearer home
has too often meant undisguised selfishness and cynical
cruelty
required that the peaceful happiness of a whole nation should be
ruthlessly sacrificed; and the calm Pharaoh
whose unimpassioned
callous face
we can still see on the monuments
laid his plans as unmoved as if he had been
arranging for the diminution of the vermin in the palace wails. What a picture
of these God-defying
man-despising
ancient monarchies is here! What would he
have thought if any of his counsellors had suggested
“Try kindness”? The idea
of attaching subject peoples by common interests
and golden bonds of benefit
had to wait millenniums to be born. It is not too widely spread yet. (A.
Maclaren
D. D.)
The despotism of sin
I. It commences by
suggesting a small tribute to the sinner. It wins us by the hope of a good
investment whereby we may secure wealth
prosperity
fame. A false hope; a
deceptive promise. Sin is cunning; has many counsellors; many agencies. You are
no match for it.
II. It succeeds in
getting the sinner completely within its power.
1. Sin gets the sinner under its rule.
2. Sin makes the sinner subject to its counsel.
3. Sin makes the sinner responsible to its authority.
III. It ultimately
imposes upon the sinner an intolerable servitude.
1. The servitude of a bitter life. Destroys friendly companionships
breaks up family comfort.
2. The servitude of hard work. Unprofitableness and folly of sin.
3. The servitude is degrading. Brings men from respect to
derision--from plenty to beggary--from moral rulership to servitude. (J. S.
Exell
M. A.)
The spiritual bondage of men
I. An entire and
universal bondage. No merciful limit nor mitigation (see 2 Timothy 2:26; 2 Peter 2:19; John 8:34; Romans 5:18
Romans 3:23; Galatians 3:22).
1. It extends to all mankind.
2. The slavery of the individual is as complete and total
as that of
the species is universal.
II. A severe and
cruel bondage. No mastery can be found more pitiless than that of the
unhallowed affections and passions which rule the mind
until the Almighty
Redeemer breaks the yoke
and sets the captive free from the law of sin and
death.
III. A helpless
bondage.
1. The oppressor of the soul abounds too greatly in power and
resources to dread any resistance from a victim so helpless. Our strength for
combat against such an enemy is perfect weakness.
2. In addition to his own power Satan has established a close
alliance with every appetite and affection of our nature. Morally unable to
deliver ourselves. Hope in God alone. Seek His aid through prayer. (R. P.
Buddicom
M. A.)
The sufferings of Israel were rendered more intense
1. As a punishment for their idolatry.
2. To inspire within them a deep hatred toward Egypt
so that through
their perils in the wilderness they might not wish to return thither.
3. That the prospect of Canaan might animate and refresh their souls.
4. That after such excessive and unpaid labour they might fairly
spoil the Egyptians on their departure.
5. That they might be aroused to earnest prayer for deliverance.
6. That the power and mercy of God might be more forcibly displayed
in their freedom.
Here is a true picture of tyranny:
1. Its rigour increases with failure.
2. It becomes more impious as it is in evident opposition to the
Divine providence.
3. It discards all the claims of humanity.
4. It ends in its own defeat and overthrow. (J. S. Exell
M. A.)
The bondage
Situated as they were within the bounds of a foreign kingdom
at
first naturally jealous
and then openly hostile towards them
it is not
difficult to account for the kind of treatment inflicted on them
viewing the
position they occupied merely in its worldly relations and interests. But what
account can we give of it in its religious aspect--as an arrangement settled
and ordained on the part of God? Why should He have ordered such a state of
matters concerning His chosen seed? For the Egyptians “though their hearts
thought not so”--were but instruments in His hands
to bring to pass what the
Lord had long before announced to Abraham as certainly to take place (Genesis 15:13).
1. Considered in this higher point of view
the first light in which
it naturally presents itself is that of a doom or punishment
from which
as
interested in the mercy of God
they needed redemption. For the aspect of
intense suffering
which is latterly assumed
could only be regarded as an act
of retribution for their past unfaithfulness and sins.
2. It formed an essential part of the preparation which they needed
for occupying the inheritance.
The bondage of sin
Throughout the Scriptures the circumstances of Israel in Egypt are
referred to as typical of the servitude under which the sinner is held. There
is more than guilt in wickedness. It would indeed be bad enough
even if that
were all
but there is slavery besides. Our Lord Himself says
“Whosoever
committeth sin is the slave of sin”; and there are no taskmasters so
exacting as a man’s own lusts. Look at the drunkard! See how his vile appetite
rules him! It makes him barter every comfort he possesses for strong drink. It
lays him helpless on the snowy street in the bitter winter’s cold. It sends him
headlong down the staircase
to the injury of his body and the danger of his
life. If a slaveholder were to abuse a slave as the drunkard maltreats himself
humanity would hiss him from his place
and denounce him as a barbarian. And
yet the inebriate does it to himself
and tries to sing the while the refrain
of the song which ends
“We never
never shall be slaves.” The same thing is
true of sensuality. Go search the hospitals of this city; look at the wretched
victims of their own lusts who fill the wards
and then say if man’s inhumanity
to himself be not
in some aspects of it
infinitely more terrible than his
oppression of his neighbours. Visit our prisons
and see how avarice
fashion
frivolity
and the love of standing well with their companions
have held
multitudes in their grip
forcing them--nay
I will not say forcing them
for
they sin wilfully--but leading them to dishonesty day by day
until at last the
inner servitude gives place to an external imprisonment. The setting of slaves
to make bricks without straw is nothing to the drudgery and the danger--as of
one standing on the crater’s edge--that dishonesty brings upon a man when once
it has him in its power. And it is the same with every kind of sin. But this
slavery need not be perpetual
for the Great Emancipator has come. (W. M.
Taylor
D. D.)
Egypt opposed to Israel
It is no new thing for Egypt to be unkind and cruel to Israel.
Israelites and Egyptians are of contrary dispositions and inclinations; the
delight of one is the abomination of the other. Besides
it is the duty of
Israel to depart out of Egypt. Israel is in Egypt in respect of abode
not of
desire. Egypt is not Israel’s rest. If Egypt were a house of hospitality
it
would more dangerously and strongly detain the Israelites
than in being a
house of bondage. The thoughts of Canaan would be but slight and seldom if
Egypt were pleasant. It is good that Egyptians should hate us
that so they may
not hurt us. When the world is most kind
it is most corrupting; and when it
smiles most
it seduces most. Were it not for the bondage in Egypt
the food
and idols of Egypt would be too much beloved. Blessed be God
who will by the
former wean us from the latter; and will not let us have the one without the
other: far better that Egypt should oppress us than we oppose God. (W.
Jenkyn.)
The bondage of sin
Vice
as it groweth in age
so it improveth in stature and strength; from a
puny child it soon waxeth a lusty stripling
then riseth to be a sturdy man
and after a while becomes a massy giant whom we shall scarce dare to encounter
whom we shall be very hardly able to vanquish; especially seeing that
as it
groweth taller and stouter
so we shall dwindle and become more impotent
for
it feedeth upon our vitals and thriveth by our decay; it waxeth mighty by
stripping us of our best forces
by enfeebling our reason
by preventing our
will
by corrupting our temper
by debasing our courage
by seducing all our
appetites and passions to a treacherous compliance with itself; every day our
mind growing more blind
our will more restive
our spirit more faint
our
appetites more fierce
our passions more headstrong and untameable. The power
and empire of sin do strangely by degrees encroach
and continually get ground
upon us till it has quite subdued and enthralled us. First we learn to bear it
then we come to like it; by and by we contract a friendship with it; then we
dote on it; at last we become enslaved to it in a bondage which we shall hardly
be able or willing to shake off. (Isaac Barrow.)
Darkest before the dawn
“Fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a
great nation” (Genesis 46:3). Look down
thou sainted
patriarch! see what has here become of thy posterity
increased now fourteen
thousand fold; nay
see
Thou God of Abraham
what has become of Thine
inheritance
how they have watched and prayed in vain! “The Lord hath forsaken
the Lord hath forgotten!” And this continues
not for years
but centuries
each year of which seems in itself a century! “Verily
Thou art a God that
hidest Thyself!” With such a scene of sorrow in his view
the most unfortunate
among us well may cease complaint; and he who has to some extent learned to
observe God’s dealings in His providence
may have himself already marked how
in the present case
an old-established law in God’s government is set before
us in the form of a most touching incident: the Lord ofttimes makes everything
as dark as they can possibly become
just that thereafter and thereby the light
may shine more brilliantly. Ishmael must faint beneath the shrubs ere Hagar
shall be told about the well. Joseph must even be left to sigh
not merely in
his slavery
but in imprisonment and deep oblivion
ere he is raised to his
high dignity. The host of the Assyrians must stand before Jerusalem’s gates ere
they are smitten by the angel of the Lord. The prophet Jeremiah must be let
sink down into the miry pit
ere he is placed upon a rock. Did not a violent
persecution of the Christians precede the triumph of the gospel? In the night
of mediaeval times
must not star after star set ere the Reformation dawn
arose? Yes; is not Israel’s history in this respect also the history of God’s
own people in succeeding times
even in the present day? They suffer
persecution
are oppressed
ill-treated
and opposed through a mistaken policy;
all kinds of force are often used for their restraint under the sacred name of
liberty; yet still they stand
and take deep root
and grow
expecting better
times will come in spite of these fierce hurricanes. Nay
verily
the Lord has
not forgotten to be gracious
though He sometimes seems to hide His face; nor
does He cease to rule the world
though He delays to interpose. The Father
watches and preserves his child amidst the fiercest fires of persecution; and
although the furnace of the trial through which he comes be heated seven times
more than usual
every degree of heat is counted
measured
regulated by the
Lord Himself. Though He permits injustice
and even lets it grow to an
extraordinary height
He yet employs it for a purpose that may well command our
adoration and regard--the purifying and the perfecting of those who are His
own. (J. J. Van Oosterzee
D. D.)
The bitter lives
I. God’s blessing
makes fruitful
1. The promise to Abraham (Genesis 17:2-8).
2. The number of the Israelites in Egypt (verses 9
10).
II. Note the
mistakes committed through prejudice.
1. The Egyptians hated and spurned the Israelites; therefore
ultimately
lost the blessing of their presence.
2. Statesmanship fails in placing policy before principle.
3. Cruelty begot enmity; kindness would have won.
III. Selfishness
soon forgets past favours. A new ruler disregarded the claims of Joseph’s seed.
This world works for present and prospective favours.
IV. Here is a type
of the growth of sin. The Israelites came into the best part of Egypt; first
pleasant
then doubtful
then oppressed
then finally enslaved.
1. Sin yields bitter fruit.
2. We have taskmasters in our habit.
3. Life becomes a burden: sorrows of servitude.
V. Note the reason
for this affliction.
1. They were becoming idolatrous (Joshua 24:14; Ezekiel 20:5-8).
2. Bitterness now would help to prevent return to Egypt.
3. We sometimes find sorrow here that we may look above.
VI. God’s favour
here contrasted with man’s opposition. Pharaoh failed; the Israelities
multiplied.
VII. Affliction
helps us.
1. As afflicted
so they grew.
2. Christ purgeth us for more fruit.
3. Self-denial is the path to power. (Dr. Fowler.)
The mummy of Rameses the Great
After the verification by the Khedive of the outer
winding-sheet of the mummy in the sight of the other illustrious personages
the
initial wrapping was removed
and there was disclosed a band of stuff or strong
cloth rolled all around the body; next to this was a second envelope sewed up
and kept in place by narrow bands at some distance each from each; then came
two thicknesses of small bandages; and then a new winding-sheet of linen
reaching from the head to the feet. Upon this a figure representing the goddess
Nut
more than a yard in length
had been drawn in red and white colour
as
prescribed by the ritual for the dead. Beneath this amulet there was found one
more bandage; when that was removed
a piece of linen alone remained
and this
was spotted with the bituminous matter used by the embalmers; so at last it was
evident that Rameses the Great was close by--under his shroud. Think of the
historic changes which have passed over the world since that linen cloth was
put around the form of the king: Think what civilization stood facing an old
era like his. A single clip of the scissors
and the king was fully disclosed.
The head is long and small in proportion to the body. The top of the skull is
quite bare. On the temple there are a few sparse hairs
but at the poll the
hair is quite thick
forming smooth
straight locks about two inches in length.
White at the time of death
they have been dyed a light yellow by the spices
used in embalmment. The forehead is low and narrow; the brow-ridge prominent;
the eyebrows are thick and white; the eyes are small and close together; the
nose is long
thin
arched like the noses of the Bourbons; the temples are
sunken; the cheek-bones very prominent; the ears round
standing
far out from
the head
and pierced
like those of a woman
for the wearing of ear-rings; the
jawbone is massive and strong; the chin very prominent; the mouth small but thick-lipped;
the teeth worn and very brittle
but white and well preserved. The moustache
and beard are thin. They seem to have been kept shaven during life
but were
probably allowed to grow during the king’s last illness; or they may have grown
after death. The hairs are white
like those of the head and eyebrows
but are
harsh and bristly
and a tenth of an inch in length. The skin is of earthy
brown
splotched with black. Finally
it may be said the face of the mummy
gives a fair idea of the face of the living king. The expression is
unintellectual
perhaps slightly animal; bat
even under mummification
there
is plainly to be seen an air of sovereign majesty
of resolve
and of pride.
The rest of the body is as well preserved as the head; but
in consequence of
the reduction of the tissues
its external aspect is less life-like. He was
over six feet in height. The chest is broad; the shoulders are square; the arms
are crossed upon the breast; the hands are small and dyed with henna. The legs
and thighs are fleshless;
the feet are long
slender
somewhat flat-soled
and dyed
like the hands
with
henna. The corpse is that of an old man
but of a vigorous and robust old man
The man was an incarnation of selfishness. To him there was but one being in
the universe for whom he needed to care one great; only a single will was to be
consulted
only a single man’s comfort was to be sought; he himself was the
sole centre of all things. Man’s strength
and woman’s honour
life
wealth
time
and ease of other men
went for his personal glorification. And now the
world looks at him
and gives him his due
in the light of the charities and
decencies God commands. What do we mean when we speak of “a hard man”? One of
the visitors who saw that mummy unrolled
a cool
quiet German
wrote
afterwards this clause of description: “The expression of the features is that
of a man of decided
almost tyrannical
character.” That ought to be so. This
is the despot who ordered that the tally of bricks should remain undiminished
while his slaves should have to forage for their own necessity of straw. He was
“a hard man.” Is any one of us hard? Do we need to be kings in order to have
that name? Can one be hard upon his clerks
his journeymen
his neighbours
in
so far as he has power? So
again
does” a man of decided
almost tyrannical
character” fashion and fix his character in the expression of his features? Do
you recognize “a hard man” by his looks
when you set eyes upon him in ordinary
life? Will one’s disposition grow on him
until it shows itself in his
forehead
his lips
his chin
the poise of his proud head? As years pass
are
your features growing heavier and colder? Furthermore
is it on the body alone
that character makes an impression? Is it possible that
even unconsciously to
ourselves
soul as well as body is becoming indurate and chilly? Is money
forcing features on our inner life and being? As we rise in life
do we grow
interested in others; unselfish
gentle
forbearing in our judgments
or stiff
and rigid
and violent
and impatient of others’ successes? And finally
if
character thus perpetuates itself in the soul as well as on the body
is there
anything disclosed to us of the world to come which will avail to change the
destiny we have fashioned? On the day royal Rameses was buried
they wrapped
his aged bald head in cerements
and covered him in the shadows. He comes up
now after some awful centuries of silence
and he looks Just as he used to
look. It is likely his soul has not grown different either. We know nothing
about his future. It is ours that concerns us. What is going to change any
lineament of soul in the mysterious Hereafter? (C. S. Robinson
D. D.)
If it be a son
then ye
shall kill him.--
High social position used for the furtherance of a wicked purpose
I. Sometimes high
social position exerts its authority for the accomplishment of a wicked and
cruel purpose.
1. The king commands the murder of the male children of the
Israelites. Diabolical massacre of innocents. Abuse and degradation of regal
power.
2. He seeks to accomplish this by bringing the innocent into a
participation of his murderous deed. Tyrants are generally cowards.
II. When high
social authority is used to further a wicked design
we are justified in
opposing its effort.
1. We are not to do wrong because a king commands it. To oppose
murder
when advocated by a king
and when it could be accomplished
unknown--or
if known
gain applause of nations--is--
2. Such opposition must embody the true principle of piety. The
midwives feared God more than they feared the king.
3. Such opposition will secure for us the Divine protection.
III. For such
opposition we shall be divinely rewarded (verses 20
21). (J. S. Exell
M.
A.)
Why were the males to be put to death?-
1. Because they were the most capable of insurrection and war.
2. Because the Israelitish women were fairer than the Egyptian
and
so might be kept for the purposes of lust.
3. Because the Israelitish women were industrious in spinning and
needlework
and so were
kept for service. (J. S. Exell
M. A.)
Pharaoh’s murderous intentions
His plan was a quiet one. I dread the quietness of murderers. When
murderers lay their heads together
and fall into soft whispers
their whispers
are more awful than the roar of cannon or the crash of thunder. The king’s plan
was to murder the male child the instant it was born. The thing could easily be
done. A thumb pressed on the throat would do it. A hand covering the external
organs of respiration for a few moments would be sufficient. This was his simple
plan of beating back the manhood of the dreaded nation. He was going to do it
very simply. Oh
the simplicity of murderers is more intricate than any
elaboration of complexity on the part of innocent men! There was to be no
external demonstration of violence--no unsheathing of swords--no clash of arms
on the field of battle; the nation was to be sapped very quietly. Sirs! Murder
is murder
whether it is done quietly or with tumult and thunder. Beware of
silent manslaughter! Beware of quiet murder! Nothing sublimer than butchery
struck the mind of this idiot king. Thoughts of culture and kindness never
flashed into the dungeon of his soul. He had no idea of the omnipotence of
love. He knew not of the power of that government which is founded on the
intelligence and affection of the common people. Annihilation was his fierce
remedy There is a profound lesson here. If a king fears children
there must be
great power in children; if the tyrant begins with the children
the good man
should begin with them too. (J. Parker
D. D.)
The midwives feared
God.--
Pharaoh’s evil intention frustrated by God
1. Tyrants’ commands are sometimes crossed by God’s good hand.
2. The true fear of God
from faith in Him
will make weakest
creatures abstain from sin.
3. The name of the only God is powerful to support against the word
of mightiest kings.
4. God’s fear will make men disobey kings
that they may obey God.
5. The fear of God will make souls do good
though commanded by men
to do evil.
6. Life preservers discover regard to God
and not bloody injurious
life destroyers.
7. God makes them save life whom men appoint to destroy it.
8. The good hand of God doth keep the males or best helps of the
Church’s peace
whom persecutors would kill (verse 17). (G. Hughes
B. D.)
Beneficent influence of the fear of God
They who fear God are superior to all other fear. When our notion
of authority terminates upon the visible and temporary
we become the victims
of fickle circumstances; when that notion rises to the unseen and eternal
we enjoy
rest amid the tumult of all that is merely outward and therefore perishing.
Take history through and through
and it will be found that the men and women
who have most devoutly and honestly feared God have done most to defend and
save the countries in which they lived. They have made little noise; they have
got up no open-air demonstrations; they have done little or nothing in the way
of banners and trumpets
and have had no skill in getting up torchlight
meetings; but their influence has silently penetrated the national life
and
secured for the land the loving and mighty care of God. Where the spiritual
life is profound and real
the social and political influence is
correspondingly vital and beneficent. All the great workers in society are not
at the front. A hidden work is continually going on; the people in the shade
are strengthening the social foundation. There is another history beside that
which is written in the columns of the daily newspaper. Every country has
heroes and heroines uncanonised. (J. Parker
D. D.)
A definition of the fear of God
Fear of God is that holy disposition or gracious habit formed in
the soul by the Holy Spirit
whereby we are inclined to obey all God’s
commands; and evidences itself by--
1. A dread of His displeasure.
2. Desire of His favour.
3. Regard for His excellences.
4. Submission to His will.
5. Gratitude for His benefits.
6. Conscientious obedience to His commands. (C. Buck.)
Civilizing influence of the fear of God
A weary day had been passed in visiting a wretched
neighbourhood. Its scenes were sad
sickening
repulsive. Famine
fever
want
squalid nakedness
moral and physical impurities
drunkenness
death
and the
devil were all reigning there. Those only who have known the sinking of heart
which the miseries of such scenes produce
especially when aggravated by a
close and tainted atmosphere
can imagine the grateful surprise with which
on
opening a door
we stepped into a comfortable apartment. Its whitewashed walls
were hung around with prints
the household furniture shone like a
looking-glass
and a bright fire was dancing merrily over a clean hearth-stone.
It was an oasis in the desert. And we well remember
ere question was asked or
answered
of saying to ourselves
“Surely the fear of God is in this place;
this must be the house of a church-going family.” It proved to be so. Yet it
was a home where abject poverty might have been expected and excused. A blind
man dwelt there. (T. Guthrie
D. D.)
The fear of God
Learn a life-lesson from the monument to Lord Lawrence in
Westminster Abbey. Of all the memorials there
you will not find one that gives
a nobler thought. Simply his name
and the date of his death
and these words;
“He feared man so little
because he feared God so much.” Here is one great
secret of victory. Walk ever in the fear of God. Set God ever before you. Let
your prayer be that of the Rugby boy
John Laing Bickersteth
found locked up
in his desk after his death: “O God
give me courage that I may fear none but
Thee.” (Great Thoughts.)
Obedience to conscience
Lord Erskine
when at the bar
was remarkable for the fearlessness
with which he contended against the Bench. In a contest he had with Lord Kenyon
he explained the rule and conduct at the bar in the following terms:--“It was
”
said he
“the first command and counsel of my youth always to do what my
conscience told me to be my duty
and leave the consequences to God. I have
hitherto followed it
and have no reason to complain that any obedience to it
has been even a temporal sacrifice; I have found it
on the contrary
the road
to prosperity and wealth
and I shall point it out as such to my children.” (W.
Baxendale.)
Excellency of the fear of God
It hath been an usual observation
that when the king’s porter
stood at the gate and suffered none to come in without examination what he
would have
that then the king was within; but when the porter was absent
and
the gates open to receive all that came
then it was an argument of the king’s
absence. So in a Christian
such is the excellency of the fear of God
that
when it is present
as a porter shutting the doors of the senses
that they see
not
hear not what they list
it is an argument the lord of that house
even
God Himself
is within; and when this fear is away
a free entrance is given to
all the most dissolute desires
so that it is an infallible demonstration of
God’s removal from such a soul. (J. Spencer.)
Fear of God a safeguard
If we fear God
we need know no other fear. That Divine fear
like
the space which the American settler burns around him as a defence against the
prairie fire
clears a circle
within which we are absolutely safe. The old
necromancists believed that if a man was master of himself he enjoyed complete immunity from
all danger; if his will was firmly set
the powers of evil could not harm him;
he could defy a host of devils raging around. Against the malice of human and
infernal power
the citadel of a man’s heart that is set upon God is
impregnable. (Dr. Hugh Macmillan.)
The best service
He who serves God
serves a good master. He who truly serves God
is courageous and heroic. Here are two humble women who despise the patronage
of a crown
and set a king’s edict at defiance. There is no bravery equal to
the bravery that is moral. It makes the weakest a conqueror
and lifts up the
lowest to pluck the palm of victory. A short-sighted policy would have said
“Please Pharaoh”; a true heart said
“Please God.” Pharaoh had much to give. He
held honours in his hand. He could deal out gold and silver. He could give a name
among the Egyptians. What of it I God could turn his honours into shame
and
send the canker on his gold. Serve God! Well tended is that fold which God
watches. Pharaoh may frown
but his frowns will be unseen and unregarded amid
the light of an approving heaven! (J. Parker
D. D.)
Cast into the river.--
The last edict of a tyrant king
I. It was public
in its proclamation. How men advance from one degree of sin to another.
II. It was cruel in
its requirements. Why should a tyrant king fear the infant sons of Israel? He
knew they would be his enemies in the future if spared. Young life is the hope
of the Church and the terror of despots. (J. S. Exell
M. A.)
Progress in sin
There is a woful gradation in sin. As mariners
setting
sail
lose sight of the shore
then of the houses
then of the steeples
and
then of the mountains and land; and as those who are waylaid by a consumption
first lose vigour
then appetite
and then colour; thus it is that sin hath its
woful gradations. None decline to the worst at first
but go from one degree of
turpitude to another
until the very climax is reached.
The climax of cruelty
If we glance once more at the different means which Pharaoh
devised for the oppression and diminution of the Hebrews
we find that they
imply the following climax of severity and cruelty: he first endeavoured to
break their energy by labour and hardship (verses 11-14)
then to effect their
diminution by killing the newborn
male children through the midwives (verses 15
16); and when neither of these
plans had the desired result--the former in consequence of the unusual
robustness of the Hebrew women
the latter owing to the piety and compassion of
the midwives--he tried to execute his design by drowning the young children
(verse 22); which last device was in two respects more audacious and impious
than the second: first
because he now
laying aside all shame
showed publicly
his despotism against a harmless foreign tribe
which relied on the hospitality
solemnly promised to them; and
secondly
because now the whole people were let
loose against the Hebrews; spying and informing was made an act of loyalty
and
compassion stamped as high-treason.
(M. M. Kalisch
Ph. D.)
Increasing power of sin
When once a man has done a wrong thing it has an awful power of
attracting him and making him hunger to do it again. Every evil that I do may
indeed
for a moment create in me a revulsion of conscience
but stronger than
that revulsion of conscience it exercises a fascination over me which it is
hard to resist. It is a great deal easier to find a man who has never done a
wrong thing than to find a man who has only done it once. If the wall of the
dyke is sound it will keep the water out
but if there is the tiniest hole in
it
it will all come in. So the evil that you do asserts its power over you; it
has a fierce
longing desire after you
and it gets you into its clutches.
Beware of the first evils
for
as sure as you are living
the first step will
make the second seem to become necessary. The first drop will be followed by a
bigger second
and the second
at a shorter interval
by a more copious third
until the drops become a shower
and the shower becomes a deluge. The course of
evil is ever wider and deeper
and more tumultuous. The little sins get in at
the window and open the front door for the big housebreakers. One smooths the
path for the other. All sin has an awful power of perpetuating and increasing
itself. As the prophet
says in his awful vision of the doleful creatures that make their sport in the
desolate city
“None of them shall want her mate. The wild beasts of the desert
shall meet with the wild beasts of the islands.” Every sin tells upon
character
and makes the repetition of itself more and more easy. “None is
barren among them.” And all sin is linked together in a slimy tangle
like a
field of seaweed
so that the man once caught in its oozy fingers is almost
sure to drown. (A. Maclaren
D. D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》