mh_parser/vol_split/2 - Exodus/Chapter 2.xml

<div2 id="Ex.iii" n="iii" next="Ex.iv" prev="Ex.ii" progress="31.51%" title="Chapter II">
<h2 id="Ex.iii-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
<h3 id="Ex.iii-p0.2">CHAP. II.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Ex.iii-p1">This chapter begins the story of Moses, that man
of renown, famed for his intimate acquaintance with Heaven and his
eminent usefulness on earth, and the most remarkable type of
Christ, as a prophet, saviour, lawgiver, and mediator, in all the
Old Testament. The Jews have a book among them of the life of
Moses, which tells a great many stories concerning him, which we
have reason to think are mere fictions; what he has recorded
concerning himself is what we may rely upon, for we know that his
record is true; and it is what we may be satisfied with, for it is
what Infinite Wisdom thought fit to preserve and transmit to us. In
this chapter we have, I. The perils of his birth and infancy,
<scripRef id="Ex.iii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.1-Exod.2.4" parsed="|Exod|2|1|2|4" passage="Ex 2:1-4">ver. 1-4</scripRef>. II. His
preservation through those perils, and the preferment of his
childhood and youth, <scripRef id="Ex.iii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.5-Exod.2.10" parsed="|Exod|2|5|2|10" passage="Ex 2:5-10">ver.
5-10</scripRef>. III. The pious choice of his riper years, which
was to own the people of God. 1. He offered them his service at
present, if they would accept it, <scripRef id="Ex.iii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.11-Exod.2.14" parsed="|Exod|2|11|2|14" passage="Ex 2:11-14">ver. 11-14</scripRef>. 2. He retired, that he might
reserve himself for further service hereafter, <scripRef id="Ex.iii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.15-Exod.2.22" parsed="|Exod|2|15|2|22" passage="Ex 2:15-22">ver. 15-22</scripRef>. IV. The dawning of the day of
Israel's deliverance, <scripRef id="Ex.iii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.23-Exod.2.25" parsed="|Exod|2|23|2|25" passage="Ex 2:23-25">ver.
23</scripRef>, &amp;c.</p>
<scripCom id="Ex.iii-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2" parsed="|Exod|2|0|0|0" passage="Ex 2" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Ex.iii-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.1-Exod.2.4" parsed="|Exod|2|1|2|4" passage="Ex 2:1-4" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.2.1-Exod.2.4">
<h4 id="Ex.iii-p1.8">The Birth of Moses. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.iii-p1.9">b. c.</span> 1571.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ex.iii-p2">1 And there went a man of the house of Levi, and
took <i>to wife</i> a daughter of Levi.   2 And the woman
conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he <i>was
a</i> goodly <i>child,</i> she hid him three months.   3 And
when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of
bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the
child therein; and she laid <i>it</i> in the flags by the river's
brink.   4 And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be
done to him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p3">Moses was a Levite, both by father and
mother. Jacob left Levi under marks of disgrace (<scripRef id="Ex.iii-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.5" parsed="|Gen|49|5|0|0" passage="Ge 49:5">Gen. xlix. 5</scripRef>); and yet, soon after, Moses
appears a descendant from him, that he might typify Christ, who
came in the likeness of sinful flesh and was made a curse for us.
This tribe began to be distinguished from the rest by the birth of
Moses, as afterwards it became remarkable in many other instances.
Observe, concerning this newborn infant,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p4">I. How he was hidden. It seems to have been
just at the time of his birth that the cruel law was made for the
murder of all the male children of the Hebrews; and many, no doubt,
perished by the execution of it. The parents of Moses had Miriam
and Aaron, both older than he, born to them before this edict came
out, and had nursed them without that peril: but those that begin
the world in peace know not what troubles they may meet with before
they have got through it. Probably the mother of Moses was full of
anxiety in the expectation of his birth, now that this edict was in
force, and was ready to say, <i>Blessed are the barren that never
bore,</i> <scripRef id="Ex.iii-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Luke.23.29" parsed="|Luke|23|29|0|0" passage="Lu 23:29">Luke xxiii. 29</scripRef>.
Better so than bring forth children to the murderer, <scripRef id="Ex.iii-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9.13" parsed="|Hos|9|13|0|0" passage="Ho 9:13">Hos. ix. 13</scripRef>. Yet this child proves the
glory of his father's house. Thus that which is most our fear often
proves, in the issue, most our joy. Observe the beauty of
providence: just at the time when Pharaoh's cruelty rose to this
height the deliverer was born, though he did not appear for many
years after. Note, When men are projecting the church's ruin God is
preparing for its salvation. Moses, who was afterwards to bring
Israel out of this house of bondage, was himself in danger of
falling a sacrifice to the fury of the oppressor, God so ordering
it that, being afterwards told of this, he might be the more
animated with a holy zeal for the deliverance of his brethren out
of the hands of such bloody men. 1. His parents observed him to be
a <i>goodly child,</i> more than ordinarily beautiful; he was
<i>fair to God,</i> <scripRef id="Ex.iii-p4.3" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.20" parsed="|Acts|7|20|0|0" passage="Ac 7:20">Acts vii.
20</scripRef>. They fancied he had a lustre in his countenance that
was something more than human, and was a specimen of the shining of
his face afterwards, <scripRef id="Ex.iii-p4.4" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.29" parsed="|Exod|34|29|0|0" passage="Ex 34:29">Exod. xxxiv.
29</scripRef>. Note, God sometimes gives early earnests of his
gifts, and manifests himself betimes in those for whom and by whom
he designs to do great things. Thus he put an early strength into
Samson (<scripRef id="Ex.iii-p4.5" osisRef="Bible:Judg.13.24-Judg.13.25" parsed="|Judg|13|24|13|25" passage="Jdg 13:24,25">Judge xiii. 24,
25</scripRef>), an early forwardness into Samuel (<scripRef id="Ex.iii-p4.6" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.2.18" parsed="|1Sam|2|18|0|0" passage="1Sa 2:18">1 Sam. ii. 18</scripRef>), wrought an early
deliverance for David (<scripRef id="Ex.iii-p4.7" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.17.37" parsed="|1Sam|17|37|0|0" passage="1Sa 17:37">1 Sam. xvii.
37</scripRef>), and began betimes with Timothy, <scripRef id="Ex.iii-p4.8" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.3.15" parsed="|1Tim|3|15|0|0" passage="1Ti 3:15">1 Tim. iii. 15</scripRef>. 2. Therefore they were the
more solicitous for his preservation, because they looked upon this
as an indication of some kind purpose of God concerning him, and a
happy omen of something great. Note, A lively active faith can take
encouragement from the least intimation of the divine favour; a
merciful hint of Providence will encourage those whose spirits make
diligent search, <i>Three months</i> they hid him in some private
apartment of their own house, though probably with the hazard of
their own lives, had he been discovered. Herein Moses was a type of
Christ, who, in his infancy, was forced to abscond, and in Egypt
too (<scripRef id="Ex.iii-p4.9" osisRef="Bible:Matt.2.13" parsed="|Matt|2|13|0|0" passage="Mt 2:13">Matt. ii. 13</scripRef>), and was
wonderfully preserved, when many innocents were butchered. It is
said (<scripRef id="Ex.iii-p4.10" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.23" parsed="|Heb|11|23|0|0" passage="Heb 11:23">Heb. xi. 23</scripRef>) that
the parents of Moses <i>hid him by faith;</i> some think they had a
special revelation to them that the deliverer should spring from
their loins; however they had the general promise of Israel's
preservation, which they acted faith upon, and in that faith hid
their child, not being afraid of the penalty annexed to the king's
commandment. Note, Faith in God's promise is so far from
superseding that it rather excites and quickens to the use of
lawful means for the obtaining of mercy. Duty is ours, events are
God's. Again, Faith in God will set us above the ensnaring fear of
man.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p5">II. How he was exposed. At three months'
end, probably when the searchers came about to look for concealed
children, so that they could not hide him any longer (their faith
perhaps beginning now to fail), they put him in an ark of bulrushes
by the <i>river's brink</i> (<scripRef id="Ex.iii-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.3" parsed="|Exod|2|3|0|0" passage="Ex 2:3"><i>v.</i>
3</scripRef>), and set his little sister at some distance to watch
what would become of him, and into whose hands he would fall,
<scripRef id="Ex.iii-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.4" parsed="|Exod|2|4|0|0" passage="Ex 2:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. God put it into
their hearts to do this, to bring about his own purposes, that
Moses might by this means be brought into the hands of Pharaoh's
daughter, and that by his deliverance from this imminent danger a
specimen might be given of the deliverance of God's church, which
now lay thus exposed. Note, 1. God takes special care of the
outcasts of Israel (<scripRef id="Ex.iii-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.147.2" parsed="|Ps|147|2|0|0" passage="Ps 147:2">Ps. cxlvii.
2</scripRef>); they are <i>his</i> outcasts, <scripRef id="Ex.iii-p5.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.16.4" parsed="|Isa|16|4|0|0" passage="Isa 16:4">Isa. xvi. 4</scripRef>. Moses seemed quite abandoned by
his friends; his own mother durst not own him: but now the Lord
took him up and protected him, <scripRef id="Ex.iii-p5.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.27.10" parsed="|Ps|27|10|0|0" passage="Ps 27:10">Ps.
xxvii. 10</scripRef>. 2. In times of extreme difficulty it is good
to venture upon the providence of God. Thus to have exposed their
child while they might have preserved it, would have been to tempt
Providence; but, when they could not, it was to trust to
Providence. "Nothing venture, nothing win." <i>If I perish, I
perish.</i></p>
</div><scripCom id="Ex.iii-p5.6" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.5-Exod.2.10" parsed="|Exod|2|5|2|10" passage="Ex 2:5-10" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.2.5-Exod.2.10">
<h4 id="Ex.iii-p5.7">The Deliverance of Moses. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.iii-p5.8">b. c.</span> 1571.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ex.iii-p6">5 And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash
<i>herself</i> at the river; and her maidens walked along by the
river's side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent
her maid to fetch it.   6 And when she had opened <i>it,</i>
she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had
compassion on him, and said, This <i>is one</i> of the Hebrews'
children.   7 Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter,
Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she
may nurse the child for thee?   8 And Pharaoh's daughter said
to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child's mother.  
9 And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and
nurse it for me, and I will give <i>thee</i> thy wages. And the
woman took the child, and nursed it.   10 And the child grew,
and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son.
And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out
of the water.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p7">Here is, I. Moses saved from perishing.
Come see the place where that great man lay when he was a little
child; he lay in a bulrush-basket by the river's side. Had he been
left to lie there, he must have perished in a little time with
hunger, if he had not been sooner washed into the river or devoured
by a crocodile. Had he fallen into any other hands than those he
did fall into, either they would not, or durst not, have done
otherwise than have thrown him straightway into the river; but
Providence brings no less a person thither than Pharaoh's daughter,
just at that juncture, guides her to the place where this poor
forlorn infant lay, and inclines her heart to pity it, which she
dares do when none else durst. Never did poor child cry so
seasonably, so happily, as this did: <i>The babe wept,</i> which
moved the compassion of the princess, as no doubt his beauty did,
<scripRef id="Ex.iii-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.5-Exod.2.6" parsed="|Exod|2|5|2|6" passage="Ex 2:5,6"><i>v.</i> 5, 6</scripRef>. Note, 1.
Those are hard-hearted indeed that have not a tender compassion for
helpless infancy. How pathetically does God represent his
compassion for the Israelites in general considered in this
pitiable state! <scripRef id="Ex.iii-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.5-Ezek.16.6" parsed="|Ezek|16|5|16|6" passage="Eze 16:5,6">Ezek. xvi. 5,
6</scripRef>. 2. It is very commendable in persons of quality to
take cognizance of the distresses of the meanest, and to be helpful
and charitable to them. 3. God's care of us in our infancy ought to
be often made mention of by us to his praise. Though we were not
thus exposed (that we were not was God's mercy) yet many were the
perils we were surrounded with in our infancy, out of which the
Lord delivered us, <scripRef id="Ex.iii-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.22.9-Ps.22.10" parsed="|Ps|22|9|22|10" passage="Ps 22:9,10">Ps. xxii. 9,
10</scripRef>. 4. God often raises up friends for his people even
among their enemies. Pharaoh cruelly seeks Israel's destruction,
but his own daughter charitably compassionates a Hebrew child, and
not only so, but, beyond her intention, preserves Israel's
deliverer. <i>O Lord, how wonderful are thy counsels!</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p8">II. Moses well provided with a good nurse,
no worse than his own dear mother, <scripRef id="Ex.iii-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.7-Exod.2.9" parsed="|Exod|2|7|2|9" passage="Ex 2:7-9"><i>v.</i> 7-9</scripRef>. Pharaoh's daughter thinks it
convenient that he should have a Hebrew nurse (pity that so fair a
child should be suckled by a sable Moor), and the sister of Moses,
with art and good management, introduces the mother into the place
of a nurse, to the great advantage of the child; for mothers are
the best nurses, and those who receive the blessings of the breasts
with those of the womb are not just if they give them not to those
for whose sake they received them: it was also an unspeakable
satisfaction to the mother, who received her son as life from the
dead, and now could enjoy him without fear. The transport of her
joy, upon this happy turn, we may suppose sufficient to betray her
to be the true mother (had there been any suspicion of it) to a
less discerning eye than that of Solomon, <scripRef id="Ex.iii-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.3.27" parsed="|1Kgs|3|27|0|0" passage="1Ki 3:27">1 Kings iii. 27</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p9">III. Moses preferred to be the son of
Pharaoh's daughter (<scripRef id="Ex.iii-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.10" parsed="|Exod|2|10|0|0" passage="Ex 2:10"><i>v.</i>
10</scripRef>), his parents herein perhaps not only yielding to
necessity, having nursed him <i>for her,</i> but too much pleased
with the honour thereby done to their son; for the smiles of the
world are stronger temptations than its frowns, and more difficult
to resist. The tradition of the Jews is that Pharaoh's daughter had
no child of her own, and that she was the only child of her father,
so that when he was adopted for her son he stood fair for the
crown: however it is certain he stood fair for the best preferments
of the court in due time, and in the meantime had the advantage of
the best education and improvements of the court, with the help of
which, having a great genius, he became master of all the lawful
learning of the Egyptians, <scripRef id="Ex.iii-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.22" parsed="|Acts|7|22|0|0" passage="Ac 7:22">Acts vii.
22</scripRef>. Note, 1. Providence pleases itself sometimes in
raising the poor out of the dust, to set them among princes,
<scripRef id="Ex.iii-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.113.7-Ps.113.8" parsed="|Ps|113|7|113|8" passage="Ps 113:7,8">Ps. cxiii. 7, 8</scripRef>. Many
who, by their birth, seem marked for obscurity and poverty, by
surprising events of Providence are brought to sit at the upper end
of the world, to make men know that <i>the heavens do rule.</i> 2.
Those whom God designs for great services he find out ways to
qualify and prepare beforehand. Moses, by having his education in a
court, is the fitter to be a prince and <i>king in Jeshurun;</i> by
having his education in a learned court (for such the Egyptian then
was) is the fitter to be an historian; and by having his education
in the court of Egypt is the fitter to be employed, in the name of
God, as an ambassador to that court.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p10">IV. Moses named. The Jews tell us that his
father, at his circumcision, called him <i>Joachim,</i> but
Pharaoh's daughter called him <i>Moses, Drawn out of the water,</i>
so it signifies in the Egyptian language. The calling of the Jewish
lawgiver by an Egyptian name is a happy omen to the Gentile world,
and gives hopes of that day when it shall be said, <i>Blessed be
Egypt my people,</i> <scripRef id="Ex.iii-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.19.25" parsed="|Isa|19|25|0|0" passage="Isa 19:25">Isa. xix.
25</scripRef>. And his tuition at court was an earnest of the
performance of that promise, <scripRef id="Ex.iii-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.49.23" parsed="|Isa|49|23|0|0" passage="Isa 49:23">Isa.
xlix. 23</scripRef>, <i>Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and
queens thy nursing mothers.</i></p>
</div><scripCom id="Ex.iii-p10.3" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2" parsed="|Exod|2|0|0|0" passage="Ex 2" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Ex.iii-p10.4" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.11-Exod.2.15" parsed="|Exod|2|11|2|15" passage="Ex 2:11-15" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.2.11-Exod.2.15">
<h4 id="Ex.iii-p10.5">Moses Slays an Egyptian; Rebukes a
Contentious Hebrew. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.iii-p10.6">b. c.</span> 1533.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ex.iii-p11">11 And it came to pass in those days, when Moses
was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their
burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his
brethren.   12 And he looked this way and that way, and when
he saw that <i>there was</i> no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid
him in the sand.   13 And when he went out the second day,
behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him
that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?   14
And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest
thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared,
and said, Surely this thing is known.   15 Now when Pharaoh
heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the
face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down
by a well.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p12">Moses had now passed the first forty years
of his life in the court of Pharaoh, preparing himself for
business; and now it was time for him to enter upon action,
and,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p13">I. He boldly owns and espouses the cause of
God's people: <i>When Moses was grown he went out unto his
brethren, and looked on their burdens,</i> <scripRef id="Ex.iii-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.11" parsed="|Exod|2|11|0|0" passage="Ex 2:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. The best exposition of these
words we have from an inspired pen, <scripRef id="Ex.iii-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.24-Heb.11.26" parsed="|Heb|11|24|11|26" passage="Heb 11:24-26">Heb. xi. 24-26</scripRef>, where we are told that by
this he expressed, 1. His holy contempt of the honours and
pleasures of the Egyptian court; he <i>refused to be called the son
of Pharaoh's daughter,</i> for <i>he went out.</i> The temptation
was indeed very strong. He had a fair opportunity (as we say) to
make his fortune, and to have been serviceable to Israel too, with
his interest at court. He was obliged, in gratitude as well as
interest, to Pharaoh's daughter, and yet he obtained a glorious
victory by faith over his temptation. He reckoned it much more his
honour and advantage to be a son of Abraham than to be the son of
Pharaoh's daughter. 2. His tender concern for his poor brethren in
bondage, with whom (though he might easily have avoided it) he
<i>chose to suffer affliction;</i> he looked on their burdens as
one that not only pitied them, but was resolved to venture with
them, and, if occasion were, to venture for them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p14">II. He gives a specimen of the great things
he was afterwards to do for God and his Israel in two little
instances, related particularly by Stephen (<scripRef id="Ex.iii-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.23-Acts.7.53" parsed="|Acts|7|23|7|53" passage="Ac 7:23-53">Acts vii. 23</scripRef>, &amp;c.) with design to show
how their fathers had <i>always resisted the Holy Ghost</i>
(<scripRef id="Ex.iii-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.51" parsed="|Acts|7|51|0|0" passage="Ac 7:51"><i>v.</i> 51</scripRef>), even in
Moses himself, when he first appeared as their deliverer, wilfully
shutting their eyes against this day-break of their enlargement. He
found himself, no doubt, under a divine direction and impulse in
what he did, and that he was in an extraordinary manner called of
God to do it. Now observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p15">1. Moses was afterwards to be employed in
plaguing the Egyptians for the wrongs they had done to God's
Israel; and, as a specimen of that, he killed the Egyptian who
smote the Hebrew (<scripRef id="Ex.iii-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.11-Exod.2.12" parsed="|Exod|2|11|2|12" passage="Ex 2:11,12"><i>v.</i> 11,
12</scripRef>); probably it was one of the Egyptian taskmasters,
whom he found abusing his Hebrew slave, a relation (as some think)
of Moses, a man of the same tribe. It was by special warrant from
Heaven (which makes not a precedent in ordinary cases) that Moses
slew the Egyptian, and rescued his oppressed brother. The Jew's
tradition is that he did not slay him with any weapon, but, as
Peter slew Ananias and Sapphira, with the word of his mouth. His
<i>hiding him in the sand</i> signified that hereafter Pharaoh and
all his Egyptians should, under the control of the rod of Moses, be
buried in the sand of the Red Sea. His taking care to execute this
justice privately, when no man saw, was a piece of needful prudence
and caution, it being but an assay; and perhaps his faith was as
yet weak, and what he did was with some hesitation. Those who come
to be of great faith, yet began with a little, and at first spoke
tremblingly.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p16">2. Moses was afterwards to be employed in
governing Israel, and as a specimen of this, we have him here
trying to end a controversy between two Hebrews, in which he is
forced (as he did afterwards for forty years) to suffer their
manners. Observe here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p17">(1.) The unhappy quarrel which Moses
observed between two Hebrews, <scripRef id="Ex.iii-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.13" parsed="|Exod|2|13|0|0" passage="Ex 2:13"><i>v.</i>
13</scripRef>. It does not appear what was the occasion; but,
whatever it was, it was certainly very unseasonable for Hebrews to
strive with one another when they were all oppressed and ruled with
rigour by the Egyptians. Had they not beating enough from the
Egyptians, but they must beat one another? Note, [1.] Even
sufferings in common do not always unite God's professing people to
one another, so much as one might reasonably expect. [2.] When God
raises up instruments of salvation for the church they will find
enough to do, not only with oppressing Egyptians, to restrain them,
but with quarrelsome Israelites, to reconcile them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p18">(2.) The way he took of dealing with them;
he marked him that caused the division, that did the wrong, and
mildly reasoned with him: <i>Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?</i>
The injurious Egyptian was killed, the injurious Hebrew was only
reprimanded; for what the former did was from a rooted malice, what
the latter did we may suppose was only upon a sudden provocation.
The wise God makes, and, according to his example, all wise
governors make, a difference between one offender and another,
according to the several qualities of the same offence. Moses
endeavoured to make them friends, a good office; thus we find
Christ often reproving his disciples' strifes (<scripRef id="Ex.iii-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Luke.9.46-Luke.9.50 Bible:Luke.22.24-Luke.22.27" parsed="|Luke|9|46|9|50;|Luke|22|24|22|27" passage="Lu 9:46-50,22:24-27">Luke ix. 46, &amp;c.; xxii. 24,
&amp;c.</scripRef>), for he was a prophet like unto Moses, a
healing prophet, a peacemaker, who visited his brethren with a
design to slay all enmities. The reproof Moses gave on this
occasion may still be of use, <i>Wherefore smitest thou thy
fellow?</i> Note, Smiting our fellows is bad in any, especially in
Hebrews, smiting with tongue or hand, either in a way of
persecution or in a way of strife and contention. Consider the
person thou smitest; it is thy fellow, thy fellow-creature, thy
fellow-christian, it is thy fellow-servant, thy fellow-sufferer.
Consider the cause, <i>Wherefore smitest?</i> Perhaps it is for no
cause at all, or no just cause, or none worth speaking of.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p19">(3.) The ill success of his attempt
(<scripRef id="Ex.iii-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.14" parsed="|Exod|2|14|0|0" passage="Ex 2:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>): <i>He said,
Who made thee a prince?</i> He that did the wrong thus quarrelled
with Moses; the injured party, it should seem, was inclinable
enough to peace, but the wrong-doer was thus touchy. Note, It is a
sign of guilt to be impatient of reproof; and it is often easier to
persuade the injured to bear the trouble of taking wrong than the
injurious to bear the conviction of having <i>done wrong.</i>
<scripRef id="Ex.iii-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.6.7-1Cor.6.8" parsed="|1Cor|6|7|6|8" passage="1Co 6:7,8">1 Cor. vi. 7, 8</scripRef>. It was a
very wise and mild reproof which Moses gave to this quarrelsome
Hebrew, but he could not bear it, he kicked against the pricks
(<scripRef id="Ex.iii-p19.3" osisRef="Bible:Acts.9.5" parsed="|Acts|9|5|0|0" passage="Ac 9:5">Acts ix. 5</scripRef>), and crossed
questions with his reprover. [1.] He challenges his authority:
<i>Who made thee a prince?</i> A man needs no great authority for
the giving of a friendly reproof, it is an act of kindness; yet
this man needs will interpret it an act of dominion, and represents
his reprover as imperious and assuming. Thus when people dislike
good discourse, or a seasonable admonition, they will call it
<i>preaching,</i> as if a man could not speak a work for God and
against sin but he took too much upon him. Yet Moses was indeed a
prince and a judge, and knew it, and thought the Hebrews would have
understood it, and struck in with him; but they stood in their own
light, and <i>thrust him away,</i> <scripRef id="Ex.iii-p19.4" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.25 Bible:Acts.7.27" parsed="|Acts|7|25|0|0;|Acts|7|27|0|0" passage="Ac 7:25,27">Acts vii. 25, 27</scripRef>. [2.] He upbraids him with
what he had done in killing the Egyptian: <i>Intendest thou to kill
me?</i> See what base constructions malice puts upon the best words
and actions. Moses, for reproving him is immediately charged with a
design to kill him. An attempt upon his sin was interpreted an
attempt upon his life; and his having killed the Egyptian was
thought sufficient to justify the suspicion; as if Moses made no
difference between an Egyptian and a Hebrew. If Moses, to right an
injured Hebrew, had put his life in his hand, and slain an
Egyptian, he ought therefore to have submitted to him, not only as
a friend to the Hebrews, but as a friend that had more than
ordinary power and zeal. But he throws that in his teeth as a crime
which was bravely done, and was intended as a specimen of the
promised deliverance; if the Hebrews had taken the hint, and come
in to Moses as their head and captain, it is probable that they
would have been delivered now; but, despising their deliverer,
their deliverance was justly deferred, and their bondage prolonged
forty years, as afterwards their despising Canaan kept them out of
it forty years more. <i>I would, and you would not.</i> Note, Men
know not what they do, nor what enemies they are to their own
interest, when they resist and despise faithful reproofs and
reprovers. When the Hebrews strove with Moses, God sent him away
into Midian, and they never heard of him for forty years; thus the
things that belonged to their peace were hidden from their eyes,
because they knew not the day of their visitation. As to Moses, we
may look on it as a great damp and discouragement to him. He was
now <i>choosing to suffer affliction with the people of God,</i>
and embracing <i>the reproach of Christ;</i> and now, at his first
setting out, to meet with this affliction and reproach from them
was a very sore trial of his resolution. He might have said, "If
this be the spirit of the Hebrews, I will go to court again, and be
the son of Pharaoh's daughter." Note, <i>First,</i> We must take
heed of being prejudiced against the ways and people of God by the
follies and peevishness of some particular persons that profess
religion. <i>Secondly,</i> It is no new thing for the church's best
friends to meet with a great deal of opposition and discouragement
in their healing, saving attempts, even from their own mother's
children; Christ himself was set at nought by the builders, and is
still rejected by those he would save.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p20">(4.) The flight of Moses to Midian, in
consequence. The affront given him thus far proved a kindness to
him; it gave him to understand that his killing the Egyptian was
discovered, and so he had time to make his escape, otherwise the
wrath of Pharaoh might have surprised him and taken him off. Note,
God can overrule even the strife of tongues, so as, one way or
other, to bring good to his people out of it. Information was
brought to Pharaoh (and it is well if it was not brought by the
Hebrew himself whom Moses reproved) of his killing the Egyptian;
warrants are presently out for the apprehending of Moses, which
obliged him to shift for his own safety, by flying into the land of
Midian, <scripRef id="Ex.iii-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.15" parsed="|Exod|2|15|0|0" passage="Ex 2:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. [1.]
Moses did this out of a prudent care of his own life. If this be
his forsaking of Egypt which the apostle refers to as done by faith
(<scripRef id="Ex.iii-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.27" parsed="|Heb|11|27|0|0" passage="Heb 11:27">Heb. xi. 27</scripRef>), it teaches
us that when we are at any time in trouble and danger for doing our
duty the grace of faith will be of good use to us in taking proper
methods for our own preservation. Yet there it is said, <i>He
feared not the wrath of the king;</i> here it is said he
<i>feared,</i> <scripRef id="Ex.iii-p20.3" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.14" parsed="|Exod|2|14|0|0" passage="Ex 2:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>.
He did not fear with a fear of diffidence and amazement, which
weakens and has torment, but with a fear of diligence, which
quickened him to take that way which Providence opened to him for
his own preservation. [2.] God ordered it for wise and holy ends.
Things were not yet ripe for Israel's deliverance: the measure of
Egypt's iniquity was not yet full; the Hebrews were not
sufficiently humbled, nor were they yet increased to such a
multitude as God designed; Moses is to be further fitted for the
service, and therefore is directed to withdraw for the present,
till the time to favour Israel, even the set time, should come. God
guided Moses to Midian because the Midianites were of the seed of
Abraham, and retained the worship of the true God among them, so
that he might have not only a safe but a comfortable settlement
among them. And through this country he was afterwards to lead
Israel, with which (that he might do it the better) he now had
opportunity of making himself acquainted. Hither he came, and sat
down by a well, tired and thoughtful, at a loss, and waiting to see
which way Providence would direct him. It was a great change with
him, since he was but the other day at ease in Pharaoh's court:
thus God tried his faith, and it was found to praise and
honour.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Ex.iii-p20.4" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2" parsed="|Exod|2|0|0|0" passage="Ex 2" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Ex.iii-p20.5" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.16-Exod.2.22" parsed="|Exod|2|16|2|22" passage="Ex 2:16-22" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.2.16-Exod.2.22">
<h4 id="Ex.iii-p20.6">The Marriage of Moses. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.iii-p20.7">b. c.</span> 1533.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ex.iii-p21">16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters:
and they came and drew <i>water,</i> and filled the troughs to
water their father's flock.   17 And the shepherds came and
drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered
their flock.   18 And when they came to Reuel their father, he
said, How <i>is it that</i> ye are come so soon to day?   19
And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the
shepherds, and also drew <i>water</i> enough for us, and watered
the flock.   20 And he said unto his daughters, And where
<i>is</i> he? why <i>is</i> it <i>that</i> ye have left the man?
call him, that he may eat bread.   21 And Moses was content to
dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.  
22 And she bare <i>him</i> a son, and he called his name Gershom:
for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p22">Moses here gains a settlement in Midian,
just as his father Jacob had gained one in Syria, <scripRef id="Ex.iii-p22.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.29.2" parsed="|Gen|29|2|0|0" passage="Ge 29:2">Gen. xxix. 2</scripRef>, &amp;c. And both these
instances should encourage us to trust Providence, and to follow
it. Events that seem inconsiderable, and purely accidental, after
wards appear to have been designed by the wisdom of God for very
good purposes, and of great consequence to his people. A casual
transient occurrence has sometimes occasioned the greatest and
happiest turns of a man's life. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p23">I. Concerning the seven daughters of Reuel
the priest or prince of Midian. 1. They were humble, and very
industrious, according as the employment of the country was: they
<i>drew water for their father's flock,</i> <scripRef id="Ex.iii-p23.1" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.16" parsed="|Exod|2|16|0|0" passage="Ex 2:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. If their father was a prince, it
teaches us that even those who are honourably born, and are of
quality and distinction in their country, should yet apply
themselves to some useful business, and what their hand finds to do
do it with all their might. Idleness can be no one's honour. If
their father was a priest, it teaches us that ministers' children
should, in a special manner, be examples of humility and industry.
2. They were modest, and would not ask this strange Egyptian to
come home with them (though handsome and a great courtier), till
their father sent for him. Modesty is the ornament of woman.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p24">II. Concerning Moses. He was taken for an
Egyptian (<scripRef id="Ex.iii-p24.1" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.19" parsed="|Exod|2|19|0|0" passage="Ex 2:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>); and
strangers must be content to be the subjects of mistake; but it is
observable, 1. How ready he was to help Reuel's daughters to water
their flocks. Though bred in learning and at court, yet he knew how
to turn his hand to such an office as this when there was occasion;
nor had he learned of the Egyptians to despise shepherds. Note,
Those that have had a liberal education yet should not be strangers
to servile work, because they know not what necessity Providence
may put them in of working for themselves, or what opportunity
Providence may give them of being serviceable to others. These
young women, it seems, met with some opposition in their
employment, more than they and their servants could conquer; the
shepherds of some neighbouring prince, as some think, or some idle
fellows that called themselves shepherds, <i>drove away their
flocks;</i> but Moses, though melancholy and in distress, <i>stood
up and helped them,</i> not only to get clear of the shepherds,
but, when that was done, to water the flocks. This he did, not only
in complaisance to the daughters of Reuel (though that also did
very well become him), but because, wherever he was, as occasion
offered itself, (1.) He loved to be doing justice, and appearing in
the defence of such as he saw injured, which every man ought to do
as far as it is in the power of his hand to do it. (2.) He loved to
be doing good. Wherever the Providence of God casts us we should
desire and endeavour to be useful; and, when we cannot do the good
we would, we must be ready to do the good we can. And he that is
faithful in a little shall be entrusted with more. 2. How well he
was paid for his serviceableness. When the young women acquainted
their father with the kindnesses they had received from this
stranger, he sent to invite him to his house, and made much of him,
<scripRef id="Ex.iii-p24.2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.20" parsed="|Exod|2|20|0|0" passage="Ex 2:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. Thus God will
recompense the kindnesses which are at any time shown to his
children; they shall in no wise lose their reward. Moses soon
recommended himself to the esteem and good affection of this prince
of Midian, who took him into his house, and, in process of time,
married one of his daughters to him (<scripRef id="Ex.iii-p24.3" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.21" parsed="|Exod|2|21|0|0" passage="Ex 2:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>), by whom he had a son, whom he
called <i>Gershom, a stranger there</i> (<scripRef id="Ex.iii-p24.4" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.22" parsed="|Exod|2|22|0|0" passage="Ex 2:22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>), that if ever God should give
him a home of his own he might keep in remembrance the land in
which he had been a stranger. Now this settlement of Moses in
Midian was designed by Providence, (1.) To shelter him for the
present. God will find hiding-places for his people in the day of
their distress; nay, he will himself be to them a little sanctuary,
and will secure them, either under heaven or in heaven. But, (2.)
It was also designed to prepare him for the great services he was
further designed for. His manner of life in Midian, where he kept
the flock of his father-in-law (having none of his own to keep),
would be of use to him, [1.] To inure him to hardship and poverty,
that he might learn how to want as well as how to abound. Those
whom God intends to exalt he first humbles. [2.] To inure him to
contemplation and devotion. Egypt accomplished him as a scholar, a
gentleman, a statesman, a soldier, all which accomplishments would
be afterwards of use to him; but yet he lacked one thing, in which
the court of Egypt could not befriend him. He that was to do all by
divine revelation must know, by a long experience, what it was to
live a life of communion with God; and in this he would be greatly
furthered by the solitude and retirement of a shepherd's life in
Midian. By the former he was prepared to rule in Jeshurun, but by
the latter he was prepared to converse with God in Mount Horeb,
near which mount he had spent much of his time. Those that know
what it is to be alone with God in holy exercises are acquainted
with better delights than ever Moses tasted in the court of
Pharaoh.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Ex.iii-p24.5" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.23-Exod.2.25" parsed="|Exod|2|23|2|25" passage="Ex 2:23-25" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.2.23-Exod.2.25">
<h4 id="Ex.iii-p24.6">Cry of the Oppressed
Israelites. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.iii-p24.7">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ex.iii-p25">23 And it came to pass in process of time, that
the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason
of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by
reason of the bondage.   24 And God heard their groaning, and
God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with
Jacob.   25 And God looked upon the children of Israel, and
God had respect unto <i>them.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p26">Here is, 1. The continuance of the
Israelites' bondage in Egypt, <scripRef id="Ex.iii-p26.1" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.23" parsed="|Exod|2|23|0|0" passage="Ex 2:23"><i>v.</i>
23</scripRef>. Probably the murdering of their infants did not
continue; this part of their affliction attended only the period
immediately connected with the birth of Moses, and served to
signalize it. The Egyptians now were content with their increase,
finding that Egypt was enriched by their labour; so that they might
have them for slaves, they cared not how many they were. On this
therefore they were intent, to keep them all at work, and make the
best hand they could of their labour. When one Pharaoh died,
another rose up in his place that was governed by the same maxims,
and was as cruel to Israel as his predecessors. If there was
sometimes a little relaxation, yet it presently revived again with
as much rigour as ever; and probably, as the more Israel were
oppressed the more they multiplied, so the more they multiplied the
more they were oppressed. Note, Sometimes God suffers the rod of
the wicked to lie very long and very heavily on the lot of the
righteous. If Moses, in Midian, at any time began to think how much
better his condition might have been had he staid among the
courtiers, he must of himself think this also, how much worse it
would have been if he had had his lot with brethren: it was a great
degradation to him to be keeping sheep in Midian, but better so
than making brick in Egypt. The consideration of our brethren's
afflictions would help to reconcile us to our own. 2. The preface
to their deliverance at last. (1.) <i>They cried,</i> <scripRef id="Ex.iii-p26.2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.23" parsed="|Exod|2|23|0|0" passage="Ex 2:23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>. Now, at last, they began
to think of God under their troubles, and to return to him from the
idols they had served, <scripRef id="Ex.iii-p26.3" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.20.8" parsed="|Ezek|20|8|0|0" passage="Eze 20:8">Ezek. xx.
8</scripRef>. Hitherto they had fretted at the instruments of their
trouble, but God was not in all their thoughts. Thus <i>hypocrites
in heart heap up wrath; they cry not when he binds them,</i>
<scripRef id="Ex.iii-p26.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.36.13" parsed="|Job|36|13|0|0" passage="Job 36:13">Job xxxvi. 13</scripRef>. But before
God unbound them he put it into their hearts to cry unto him, as it
is explained, <scripRef id="Ex.iii-p26.5" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.16" parsed="|Num|20|16|0|0" passage="Nu 20:16">Num. xx. 16</scripRef>.
Note, It is a good sign that God is coming towards us with
deliverance when he inclines and enables us to cry to him for it.
(2.) <i>God heard,</i> <scripRef id="Ex.iii-p26.6" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.24-Exod.2.25" parsed="|Exod|2|24|2|25" passage="Ex 2:24,25"><i>v.</i> 24,
25</scripRef>. The name of God is here emphatically prefixed to
four different expressions of a kind intention towards them. [1.]
<i>God heard their groaning;</i> that is, he made it to appear that
he took notice of their complaints. The groans of the oppressed cry
aloud in the ears of the righteous God, to whom vengeance belongs,
especially the groans of God's spiritual Israel; he knows the
burdens they groan under and the blessings they groan after, and
that the blessed Spirit, by these groanings, makes intercession in
them. [2.] <i>God remembered his covenant,</i> which he seemed to
have forgotten, but of which he is ever mindful. This God had an
eye to, and not to any merit of theirs, in what he did for them.
See <scripRef id="Ex.iii-p26.7" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.42" parsed="|Lev|26|42|0|0" passage="Le 26:42">Lev. xxvi. 42</scripRef>. (3.)
<i>God looked upon the children of Israel.</i> Moses looked upon
them and pitied them (<scripRef id="Ex.iii-p26.8" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.11" parsed="|Exod|2|11|0|0" passage="Ex 2:11"><i>v.</i>
11</scripRef>); but now God looked upon them and helped them. (4.)
<i>God had a respect unto them,</i> a favourable respect to them as
his own. The frequent repetition of the name of God here intimates
that now we are to expect something great, <i>Opus Deo dignum—A
work worthy of God.</i> His eyes, which run to and fro through the
earth, are now fixed upon Israel, to show himself strong, to show
himself a God in their behalf.</p>
</div></div2>