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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1></center>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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[<A HREF="MHC02001.HTM">Previous</A>]
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1706)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>E X O D U S</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. II.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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This chapter begins the story of Moses, that man of renown, famed for
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his intimate acquaintance with Heaven and his eminent usefulness on
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earth, and the most remarkable type of Christ, as a prophet, saviour,
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lawgiver, and mediator, in all the Old Testament. The Jews have a
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book among them of the life of Moses, which tells a great many stories
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concerning him, which we have reason to think are mere fictions; what
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he has recorded concerning himself is what we may rely upon, for we
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know that his record is true; and it is what we may be satisfied with,
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for it is what Infinite Wisdom thought fit to preserve and transmit to
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us. In this chapter we have,
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I. The perils of his birth and infancy,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+2:1-4">ver. 1-4</A>.
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II. His preservation through those perils, and the preferment of his
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childhood and youth,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+2:5-10">ver. 5-10</A>.
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III. The pious choice of his riper years, which was to own the people
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of God.
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1. He offered them his service at present, if they would accept it,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+2:11-14">ver. 11-14</A>.
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2. He retired, that he might reserve himself for further service
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hereafter,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+2:15-22">ver. 15-22</A>.
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IV. The dawning of the day of Israel's deliverance,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+2:23-25">ver. 23</A>, &c. </P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Ex2_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ex2_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ex2_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ex2_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Birth of Moses.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1571.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took <I>to wife</I>
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a daughter of Levi.
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2 And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him
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that he <I>was a</I> goodly <I>child,</I> she hid him three months.
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3 And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an
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ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and
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put the child therein; and she laid <I>it</I> in the flags by the
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river's brink.
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4 And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to
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him.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Moses was a Levite, both by father and mother. Jacob left Levi under
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marks of disgrace
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+49:5">Gen. xlix. 5</A>);
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and yet, soon after, Moses appears a
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descendant from him, that he might typify Christ, who came in the
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likeness of sinful flesh and was made a curse for us. This tribe began
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to be distinguished from the rest by the birth of Moses, as afterwards
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it became remarkable in many other instances. Observe, concerning this
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newborn infant,</P>
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<P>
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I. How he was hidden. It seems to have been just at the time of his
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birth that the cruel law was made for the murder of all the male
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children of the Hebrews; and many, no doubt, perished by the execution
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of it. The parents of Moses had Miriam and Aaron, both older than he,
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born to them before this edict came out, and had nursed them without
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that peril: but those that begin the world in peace know not what
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troubles they may meet with before they have got through it. Probably
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the mother of Moses was full of anxiety in the expectation of his
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birth, now that this edict was in force, and was ready to say,
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<I>Blessed are the barren that never bore,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+23:29">Luke xxiii. 29</A>.
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Better so
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than bring forth children to the murderer,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+9:13">Hos. ix. 13</A>.
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Yet this child
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proves the glory of his father's house. Thus that which is most our
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fear often proves, in the issue, most our joy. Observe the beauty of
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providence: just at the time when Pharaoh's cruelty rose to this height
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the deliverer was born, though he did not appear for many years after.
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Note, When men are projecting the church's ruin God is preparing for
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its salvation. Moses, who was afterwards to bring Israel out of this
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house of bondage, was himself in danger of falling a sacrifice to the
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fury of the oppressor, God so ordering it that, being afterwards told
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of this, he might be the more animated with a holy zeal for the
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deliverance of his brethren out of the hands of such bloody men.
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1. His parents observed him to be a <I>goodly child,</I> more than
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ordinarily beautiful; he was <I>fair to God,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+7:20">Acts vii. 20</A>.
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They fancied he had a
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lustre in his countenance that was something more than human, and was a
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specimen of the shining of his face afterwards,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+34:29">Exod. xxxiv. 29</A>.
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Note, God sometimes gives early earnests of his gifts, and manifests
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himself betimes in those for whom and by whom he designs to do great
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things. Thus he put an early strength into Samson
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+13:24,25">Judge xiii. 24, 25</A>),
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an early forwardness into Samuel
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+2:18">1 Sam. ii. 18</A>),
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wrought an early deliverance for David
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+17:37">1 Sam. xvii. 37</A>),
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and began betimes with Timothy,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ti+3:15">1 Tim. iii. 15</A>.
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2. Therefore they were the more solicitous for his preservation,
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because they looked upon this as an indication of some kind purpose of
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God concerning him, and a happy omen of something great. Note, A lively
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active faith can take encouragement from the least intimation of the
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divine favour; a merciful hint of Providence will encourage those whose
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spirits make diligent search, <I>Three months</I> they hid him in some
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private apartment of their own house, though probably with the hazard
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of their own lives, had he been discovered. Herein Moses was a type of
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Christ, who, in his infancy, was forced to abscond, and in Egypt too
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+2:13">Matt. ii. 13</A>),
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and was wonderfully preserved, when many innocents were butchered. It
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is said
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:23">Heb. xi. 23</A>)
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that the parents of Moses <I>hid him by faith;</I> some think they had
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a special revelation to them that the deliverer should spring from
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their loins; however they had the general promise of Israel's
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preservation, which they acted faith upon, and in that faith hid their
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child, not being afraid of the penalty annexed to the king's
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commandment. Note, Faith in God's promise is so far from superseding
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that it rather excites and quickens to the use of lawful means for the
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obtaining of mercy. Duty is ours, events are God's. Again, Faith in
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God will set us above the ensnaring fear of man.</P>
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<P>
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II. How he was exposed. At three months' end, probably when the
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searchers came about to look for concealed children, so that they could
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not hide him any longer (their faith perhaps beginning now to fail),
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they put him in an ark of bulrushes by the <I>river's brink</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+2:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>),
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and set his little sister at some distance to watch what would become
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of him, and into whose hands he would fall,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+2:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
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God put it into their hearts to do this, to bring about his own
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purposes, that Moses might by this means be brought into the hands of
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Pharaoh's daughter, and that by his deliverance from this imminent
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danger a specimen might be given of the deliverance of God's church,
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which now lay thus exposed. Note,
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1. God takes special care of the outcasts of Israel
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+147:2">Ps. cxlvii. 2</A>);
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they are <I>his</I> outcasts,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+16:4">Isa. xvi. 4</A>.
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Moses seemed quite abandoned by his
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friends; his own mother durst not own him: but now the Lord took him up
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and protected him,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+27:10">Ps. xxvii. 10</A>.
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2. In times of extreme difficulty it is good to venture upon the
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providence of God. Thus to have exposed their child while they might
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have preserved it, would have been to tempt Providence; but, when they
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could not, it was to trust to Providence. "Nothing venture, nothing
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win." <I>If I perish, I perish.</I></P>
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<A NAME="Ex2_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ex2_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ex2_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ex2_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ex2_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ex2_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Deliverance of Moses.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1571.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>5 And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash <I>herself</I> at
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the river; and her maidens walked along by the river's side; and
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when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch
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it.
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6 And when she had opened <I>it,</I> she saw the child: and, behold,
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the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This <I>is
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one</I> of the Hebrews' children.
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7 Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and
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call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the
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child for thee?
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8 And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and
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called the child's mother.
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9 And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away,
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and nurse it for me, and I will give <I>thee</I> thy wages. And the
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woman took the child, and nursed it.
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10 And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's
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daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses:
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and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Here is,
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I. Moses saved from perishing. Come see the place where that great man
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lay when he was a little child; he lay in a bulrush-basket by the
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river's side. Had he been left to lie there, he must have perished in a
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little time with hunger, if he had not been sooner washed into the
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river or devoured by a crocodile. Had he fallen into any other hands
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than those he did fall into, either they would not, or durst not, have
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done otherwise than have thrown him straightway into the river; but
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Providence brings no less a person thither than Pharaoh's daughter,
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just at that juncture, guides her to the place where this poor forlorn
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infant lay, and inclines her heart to pity it, which she dares do when
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none else durst. Never did poor child cry so seasonably, so happily, as
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this did: <I>The babe wept,</I> which moved the compassion of the
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princess, as no doubt his beauty did,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+2:5,6"><I>v.</I> 5, 6</A>.
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Note,
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1. Those are hard-hearted indeed that have not a tender compassion for
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helpless infancy. How pathetically does God represent his compassion
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for the Israelites in general considered in this pitiable state!
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+16:5,6">Ezek. xvi. 5, 6</A>.
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2. It is very commendable in persons of quality to take cognizance of
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the distresses of the meanest, and to be helpful and charitable to
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them.
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3. God's care of us in our infancy ought to be often made mention of
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by us to his praise. Though we were not thus exposed (that we were not
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was God's mercy) yet many were the perils we were surrounded with in
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our infancy, out of which the Lord delivered us,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+22:9,10">Ps. xxii. 9, 10</A>.
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4. God often raises up friends for his people even among their enemies.
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Pharaoh cruelly seeks Israel's destruction, but his own daughter
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charitably compassionates a Hebrew child, and not only so, but, beyond
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her intention, preserves Israel's deliverer. <I>O Lord, how wonderful
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are thy counsels!</I></P>
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<P>
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II. Moses well provided with a good nurse, no worse than his own dear
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mother,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+2:7-9"><I>v.</I> 7-9</A>.
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Pharaoh's daughter thinks it convenient that he should
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have a Hebrew nurse (pity that so fair a child should be suckled by a
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sable Moor), and the sister of Moses, with art and good management,
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introduces the mother into the place of a nurse, to the great advantage
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of the child; for mothers are the best nurses, and those who receive
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the blessings of the breasts with those of the womb are not just if
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they give them not to those for whose sake they received them: it was
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also an unspeakable satisfaction to the mother, who received her son as
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life from the dead, and now could enjoy him without fear. The transport
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of her joy, upon this happy turn, we may suppose sufficient to betray
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her to be the true mother (had there been any suspicion of it) to a
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less discerning eye than that of Solomon,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ki+3:27">1 Kings iii. 27</A>.</P>
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<P>
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III. Moses preferred to be the son of Pharaoh's daughter
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+2:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>),
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his parents herein perhaps not only yielding to necessity, having
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nursed him <I>for her,</I> but too much pleased with the honour thereby
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done to their son; for the smiles of the world are stronger temptations
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than its frowns, and more difficult to resist. The tradition of the
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Jews is that Pharaoh's daughter had no child of her own, and that she
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was the only child of her father, so that when he was adopted for her
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son he stood fair for the crown: however it is certain he stood fair
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for the best preferments of the court in due time, and in the mean time
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had the advantage of the best education and improvements of the court,
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with the help of which, having a great genius, he became master of all
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the lawful learning of the Egyptians,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+7:22">Acts vii. 22</A>.
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Note,
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1. Providence pleases itself sometimes in raising the poor out of the
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dust, to set them among princes,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+113:7,8">Ps. cxiii. 7, 8</A>.
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Many who, by their birth, seem marked for obscurity and poverty, by
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surprising events of Providence are brought to sit at the upper end of
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the world, to make men know that <I>the heavens do rule.</I>
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2. Those whom God designs for great services he find out ways to
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qualify and prepare beforehand. Moses, by having his education in a
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court, is the fitter to be a prince and <I>king in Jeshurun;</I> by
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|
having his education in a learned court (for such the Egyptian then
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was) is the fitter to be an historian; and by having his education in
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the court of Egypt is the fitter to be employed, in the name of God, as
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an ambassador to that court.</P>
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<P>
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IV. Moses named. The Jews tell us that his father, at his circumcision,
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called him <I>Joachim,</I> but Pharaoh's daughter called him
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|
<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
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happy omen to the Gentile world, and gives hopes of that day when it
|
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shall be said, <I>Blessed be Egypt my people,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+19:25">Isa. xix. 25</A>.
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And his tuition at
|
|
court was an earnest of the performance of that promise,
|
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+49:23">Isa. xlix. 23</A>,
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<I>Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and queens thy nursing
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|
mothers.</I></P>
|
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|
|
<A NAME="Ex2_11"> </A>
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|
<A NAME="Ex2_12"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ex2_13"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ex2_14"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ex2_15"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Moses Slays an Egyptian; Rebukes a Contentious Hebrew.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1533.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>11 And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown,
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that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens:
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and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren.
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12 And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that
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<I>there was</I> no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the
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sand.
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13 And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the
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Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong,
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Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?
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14 And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us?
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intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And
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Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known.
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15 Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses.
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But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of
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Midian: and he sat down by a well.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Moses had now passed the first forty years of his life in the court of
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Pharaoh, preparing himself for business; and now it was time for him to
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enter upon action, and,</P>
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<P>
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I. He boldly owns and espouses the cause of God's people: <I>When Moses
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was grown he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their
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burdens,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+2:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
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The best exposition of these words we have from an
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inspired pen,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:24-26">Heb. xi. 24-26</A>,
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where we are told that by this he
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expressed,
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1. His holy contempt of the honours and pleasures of the Egyptian
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court; he <I>refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,</I>
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for <I>he went out.</I> The temptation was indeed very strong. He had a
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fair opportunity (as we say) to make his fortune, and to have been
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serviceable to Israel too, with his interest at court. He was obliged,
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in gratitude as well as interest, to Pharaoh's daughter, and yet he
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obtained a glorious victory by faith over his temptation. He reckoned
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it much more his honour and advantage to be a son of Abraham than to be
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the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
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2. His tender concern for his poor brethren in bondage, with whom
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(though he might easily have avoided it) he <I>chose to suffer
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affliction;</I> he looked on their burdens as one that not only pitied
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them, but was resolved to venture with them, and, if occasion were, to
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venture for them.</P>
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<P>
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II. He gives a specimen of the great things he was afterwards to do for
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God and his Israel in two little instances, related particularly by
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Stephen
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+7:23-53">Acts vii. 23</A>,
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&c.) with design to show how their fathers had
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<I>always resisted the Holy Ghost</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+7:51"><I>v.</I> 51</A>),
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even in Moses himself,
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when he first appeared as their deliverer, wilfully shutting their eyes
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against this day-break of their enlargement. He found himself, no
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doubt, under a divine direction and impulse in what he did, and that he
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was in an extraordinary manner called of God to do it. Now observe,</P>
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<P>
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1. Moses was afterwards to be employed in plaguing the Egyptians for
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the wrongs they had done to God's Israel; and, as a specimen of that,
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he killed the Egyptian who smote the Hebrew
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+2:11,12"><I>v.</I> 11, 12</A>);
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probably it was one of the Egyptian taskmasters, whom he found abusing
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his Hebrew slave, a relation (as some think) of Moses, a man of the
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same tribe. It was by special warrant from Heaven (which makes not a
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precedent in ordinary cases) that Moses slew the Egyptian, and rescued
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his oppressed brother. The Jew's tradition is that he did not slay him
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with any weapon, but, as Peter slew Ananias and Sapphira, with the word
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of his mouth. His <I>hiding him in the sand</I> signified that
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hereafter Pharaoh and all his Egyptians should, under the control of
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the rod of Moses, be buried in the sand of the Red Sea. His taking care
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to execute this justice privately, when no man saw, was a piece of
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needful prudence and caution, it being but an assay; and perhaps his
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faith was as yet weak, and what he did was with some hesitation. Those
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who come to be of great faith, yet began with a little, and at first
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spoke tremblingly.</P>
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<P>
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2. Moses was afterwards to be employed in governing Israel, and as a
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specimen of this, we have him here trying to end a controversy between
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two Hebrews, in which he is forced (as he did afterwards for forty
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years) to suffer their manners. Observe here,</P>
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<P>
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(1.) The unhappy quarrel which Moses observed between two Hebrews,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+2:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>.
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It does not appear what was the occasion; but, whatever it was, it
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was certainly very unseasonable for Hebrews to strive with one another
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when they were all oppressed and ruled with rigour by the Egyptians.
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Had they not beating enough from the Egyptians, but they must beat one
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another? Note,
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[1.] Even sufferings in common do not always unite God's professing
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people to one another, so much as one might reasonably expect.
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[2.] When God raises up instruments of salvation for the church they
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will find enough to do, not only with oppressing Egyptians, to restrain
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them, but with quarrelsome Israelites, to reconcile them.</P>
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<P>
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(2.) The way he took of dealing with them; he marked him that caused
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the division, that did the wrong, and mildly reasoned with him:
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<I>Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?</I> The injurious Egyptian was
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killed, the injurious Hebrew was only reprimanded; for what the former
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did was from a rooted malice, what the latter did we may suppose was
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only upon a sudden provocation. The wise God makes, and, according to
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his example, all wise governors make, a difference between one offender
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and another, according to the several qualities of the same offence.
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Moses endeavoured to make them friends, a good office; thus we find
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Christ often reproving his disciples' strifes
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+9:46-50,22:24-27">Luke ix. 46, &c.; xxii. 24, &c.</A>),
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for he was a prophet like unto Moses, a healing prophet, a peacemaker,
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who visited his brethren with a design to slay all enmities. The
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reproof Moses gave on this occasion may still be of use, <I>Wherefore
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smitest thou thy fellow?</I> Note, Smiting our fellows is bad in any,
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especially in Hebrews, smiting with tongue or hand, either in a way of
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persecution or in a way of strife and contention. Consider the person
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thou smitest; it is thy fellow, thy fellow-creature, thy
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fellow-christian, it is thy fellow-servant, thy fellow-sufferer.
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Consider the cause, <I>Wherefore smitest?</I> Perhaps it is for no
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cause at all, or no just cause, or none worth speaking of.</P>
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<P>
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(3.) The ill success of his attempt
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+2:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>):
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<I>He said, Who made thee a prince?</I> He that did the wrong thus
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quarrelled with Moses; the injured party, it should seem, was
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inclinable enough to peace, but the wrong-doer was thus touchy. Note,
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It is a sign of guilt to be impatient of reproof; and it is often
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easier to persuade the injured to bear the trouble of taking wrong than
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the injurious to bear the conviction of having <I>done wrong.</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+6:7,8">1 Cor. vi. 7, 8</A>.
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It was a very wise and mild
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reproof which Moses gave to this quarrelsome Hebrew, but he could not
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bear it, he kicked against the pricks
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+9:5">Acts ix. 5</A>),
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and crossed questions with his reprover.
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[1.] He challenges his authority: <I>Who made thee a prince?</I> A man
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needs no great authority for the giving of a friendly reproof, it is an
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act of kindness; yet this man needs will interpret it an act of
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dominion, and represents his reprover as imperious and assuming. Thus
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when people dislike good discourse, or a seasonable admonition, they
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will call it <I>preaching,</I> as if a man could not speak a work for
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God and against sin but he took too much upon him. Yet Moses was indeed
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a prince and a judge, and knew it, and thought the Hebrews would have
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understood it, and struck in with him; but they stood in their own
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light, and <I>thrust him away,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+7:25,27">Acts vii. 25, 27</A>.
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[2.] He upbraids him with what he had done in killing the Egyptian:
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<I>Intendest thou to kill me?</I> See what base constructions malice
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puts upon the best words and actions. Moses, for reproving him is
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immediately charged with a design to kill him. An attempt upon his sin
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was interpreted an attempt upon his life; and his having killed the
|
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Egyptian was thought sufficient to justify the suspicion; as if Moses
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made no difference between an Egyptian and a Hebrew. If Moses, to right
|
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an injured Hebrew, had put his life in his hand, and slain an Egyptian,
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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
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zeal. But he throws that in his teeth as a crime which was bravely
|
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done, and was intended as a specimen of the promised deliverance; if
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the Hebrews had taken the hint, and come in to Moses as their head and
|
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captain, it is probable that they would have been delivered now; but,
|
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despising their deliverer, their deliverance was justly deferred, and
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|
their bondage prolonged forty years, as afterwards their despising
|
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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
|
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their own interest, when they resist and despise faithful reproofs and
|
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reprovers. When the Hebrews strove with Moses, God sent him away into
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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,
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and is still rejected by those he would save.</P>
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<P>
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(4.) The flight of Moses to Midian, in consequence. The affront given
|
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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
|
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as, one way or other, to bring good to his people out of it.
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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
|
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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,
|
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+2:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>.
|
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[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
|
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:27">Heb. xi. 27</A>),
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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>
|
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|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+2:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
|
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[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
|
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faith, and it was found to praise and honour.</P>
|
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|
|
<A NAME="Ex2_16"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ex2_17"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ex2_18"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ex2_19"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ex2_20"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ex2_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ex2_22"> </A>
|
|
|
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<A NAME="Sec4"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Marriage of Moses.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1533.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came
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and drew <I>water,</I> and filled the troughs to water their father's
|
|
flock.
|
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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.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Moses here gains a settlement in Midian, just as his father Jacob had
|
|
gained one in Syria,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+29:2">Gen. xxix. 2</A>,
|
|
|
|
&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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+2:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
II. Concerning Moses. He was taken for an Egyptian
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+2:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>);
|
|
|
|
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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+2:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+2:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>),
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by whom he had a son, whom he called <I>Gershom, a stranger there</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+2:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>),
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that if ever God should give him a home of his own
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he might keep in remembrance the land in which he had been a stranger.
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Now this settlement of Moses in Midian was designed by Providence,
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(1.) To shelter him for the present. God will find hiding-places for
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his people in the day of their distress; nay, he will himself be to
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them a little sanctuary, and will secure them, either under heaven or
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in heaven. But,
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(2.) It was also designed to prepare him for the great services he was
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further designed for. His manner of life in Midian, where he kept the
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flock of his father-in-law (having none of his own to keep), would be
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of use to him,
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[1.] To inure him to hardship and poverty, that he might learn how to
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want as well as how to abound. Those whom God intends to exalt he
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first humbles.
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[2.] To inure him to contemplation and devotion. Egypt accomplished him
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|
as a scholar, a gentleman, a statesman, a soldier, all which
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|
accomplishments would be afterwards of use to him; but yet he lacked
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|
one thing, in which the court of Egypt could not befriend him. He that
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|
was to do all by divine revelation must know, by a long experience,
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|
what it was to live a life of communion with God; and in this he would
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|
be greatly furthered by the solitude and retirement of a shepherd's
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|
life in Midian. By the former he was prepared to rule in Jeshurun, but
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by the latter he was prepared to converse with God in Mount Horeb, near
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|
which mount he had spent much of his time. Those that know what it is
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|
to be alone with God in holy exercises are acquainted with better
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|
delights than ever Moses tasted in the court of Pharaoh.</P>
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<A NAME="Ex2_23"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ex2_24"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ex2_25"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec5"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Cry of the Oppressed Israelites.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1491.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>23 And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of
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Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the
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bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason
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|
of the bondage.
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24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his
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|
covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
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25 And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had
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respect unto <I>them.</I>
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Here is,
|
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1. The continuance of the Israelites' bondage in Egypt,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+2:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>.
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Probably the murdering of their infants did not continue; this part of
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|
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
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|
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.
|
|
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|
2. The preface to their deliverance at last.
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|
(1.) <I>They cried,</I>
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+2:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>.
|
|
|
|
Now, at last, they began to think of God under their
|
|
troubles, and to return to him from the idols they had served,
|
|
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+20:8">Ezek. xx. 8</A>.
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|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+36:13">Job xxxvi. 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
But before
|
|
God unbound them he put it into their hearts to cry unto him, as it is
|
|
explained,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Nu+20:16">Num. xx. 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+2:24,25"><I>v.</I> 24, 25</A>.
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Le+26:42">Lev. xxvi. 42</A>.
|
|
|
|
(3.) <I>God looked upon the children of Israel.</I> Moses looked upon
|
|
them and pitied them
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+2:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>);
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
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