Bible Commentary

Expositor's Bible Commentary Exodus 5:1 And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. CHAPTER V. PHARAOH REFUSES. Exodus 5:1-23 . After forty years of obscurity and silence, Moses re-enters the magnificent halls where he had formerly turned his back upon so great a place. The rod of a shepherd is in his hand, and a lowly Hebrew by his side. Men who recognise him shake their heads, and pity or despise the fanatic who had thrown away the most dazzling prospects for a dream. But he has long since made his choice, and whatever misgivings now beset him have regard to his success with Pharaoh or with his brethren, not to the wisdom of his decision. Nor had he reason to repent of it. The pomp of an obsequious court was a poor thing in the eyes of an ambassador of God, who entered the palace to speak such lofty words as never passed the lips of any son of Pharaoh's daughter. He was presently to become a god unto Pharaoh, with Aaron for his prophet. In itself, his presence there was formidable. The Hebrews had been feared when he was an infant. Now their cause was espoused by a man of culture, who had allied himself with their natural leaders, and was returned, with the deep and steady fire of a zeal which forty years of silence could not quench, to assert the rights of Israel as an independent people. There is a terrible power in strong convictions, especially when supported by the sanctions of religion. Luther on one side, Loyola on the other, were mightier than kings when armed with this tremendous weapon. Yet there are forces upon which patriotism and fanaticism together break in vain. Tyranny and pride of race have also strong impelling ardours, and carry men far. Pharaoh is in earnest as well as Moses, and can act with perilous energy. And this great narrative begins the story of a nation's emancipation with a human demand, boldly made, but defeated by the pride and vigour of a startled tyrant and the tameness of a downtrodden people. The limitations of human energy are clearly exhibited before the direct interference of God begins. All that a brave man can do, when nerved by lifelong aspiration and by a sudden conviction that the hour of destiny has struck, all therefore upon which rationalism can draw, to explain the uprising of Israel, is exhibited in this preliminary attempt, this first demand of Moses. Menephtah was no doubt the new Pharaoh whom the brothers accosted so boldly. What we glean of him elsewhere is highly suggestive of some grave event left unrecorded, exhibiting to us a man of uncontrollable temper yet of broken courage, a ruthless, godless, daunted man. There is a legend that he once hurled his spear at the Nile when its floods rose too high, and was punished with ten years of blindness. In the Libyan war, after fixing a time when he should join his vanguard, with the main army, a celestial vision forbade him to keep his word in person, and the victory was gained by his lieutenants. In another war, he boasts of having slaughtered the people and set fire to them, and netted the entire country as men net birds. Forty years then elapse without war and without any great buildings; there are seditions and internal troubles, and the dynasty closes with his son.[9] All this is exactly what we should expect, if a series of tremendous blows had depopulated a country, abolished an army, and removed two millions of the working classes in one mass. But it will be understood that this identification, concerning which there is now a very general consent of competent authorities, implies that the Pharaoh was not himself engulfed with his army. Nothing is on the other side except a poetic assertion in Psalm 136:15 , which is not that God destroyed, but that He "shook off" Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea, because His mercy endureth for ever. To this king, then, whose audacious family had usurped the symbols of deity for its head-dress, and whose father boasted that in battle "he became like the god Mentu" and "was as Baal," the brothers came as yet without miracle, with no credentials except from slaves, and said, "Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, Let My people go, that they may hold a feast unto Me in the wilderness." The issue was distinctly raised: did Israel belong to Jehovah or to the king? And Pharaoh answered, with equal decision, "Who is Jehovah, that I should hearken unto His voice? I know not Jehovah, and what is more, I will not let Israel go." Now, the ignorance of the king concerning Jehovah was almost or quite blameless: the fault was in his practical refusal to inquire. Jehovah was no concern of his: without waiting for information, he at once decided that his grasp on his captives should not relax. And his second fault, which led to this, was the same grinding oppression of the helpless which for eighty years already had brought upon his nation the guilt of blood. Crowned and national cupidity, the resolution to wring from their slaves the last effort consistent with existence, such greed as took offence at even the momentary pause of hope while Moses pleaded, because "the people of the land are many, and ye make them rest from their burdens,"--these shut their hearts against reason and religion, and therefore God presently hardened those same hearts against natural misgiving and dread and awe-stricken submission to His judgments. For it was against religion also that he was unyielding. In his ample Pantheon there was room at least for the possibility of the entrance of the Hebrew God, and in refusing to the subject people, without investigation, leisure for any worship, the king outraged not only humanity, but Heaven. The brothers proceed to declare that they have themselves met with the deity, and there must have been many in the court who could attest at least the sincerity of Moses; they ask for liberty to spend a day in journeying outward and another in returning, with a day between for their worship, and warn the king of the much greater loss to himself which may be involved in vengeance upon refusal, either by war or pestilence. But the contemptuous answer utterly ignores religion: "Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, loose the people from their work? Get ye unto your burdens." And his counter-measures are taken without loss of time: "that same day" the order goes out to exact the regular quantity of brick, but supply no straw for binding it together. It is a pitiless mandate, and illustrates the fact, very natural though often forgotten, that men as a rule cannot lose sight of the religious value of their fellow-men, and continue to respect or pity them as before. We do not deny that men who professed religion have perpetrated nameless cruelties, nor that unbelievers have been humane, sometimes with a pathetic energy, a tenacious grasp on the virtue still possible to those who have no Heaven to serve. But it is plain that the average man will despise his brother, and his brother's rights, just in proportion as the Divine sanctions of those rights fade away, and nothing remains to be respected but the culture, power and affluence which the victim lacks. "I know not Israel's God" is a sure prelude to the refusal to let Israel go, and even to the cruelty which beats the slave who fails to render impossible obedience. "They be idle, therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God." And still there are men who hold the same opinion, that time spent in devotion is wasted, as regards the duties of real life. In truth, religion means freshness, elasticity and hope: a man will be not slothful in business, but fervent in spirit, if he serves the Lord. But perhaps immortal hope, and the knowledge that there is One Who shall break all prison bars and let the oppressed go free, are not the best narcotics to drug down the soul of a man into the monotonous tameness of a slave. In the tenth verse we read that the Egyptian taskmasters and the officers combined to urge the people to their aggravated labours. And by the fourteenth verse we find that the latter officials were Hebrew officers whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them. So that we have here one of the surest and worst effects of slavery--namely, the demoralisation of the oppressed, the readiness of average men, who can obtain for themselves a little relief, to do so at their brethren's cost. These officials were scribes, "writers": their business was to register the amount of labour due, and actually rendered. These were doubtless the more comfortable class, of whom we read afterwards that they possessed property, for their cattle escaped the murrain and their trees the hail. And they had the means of acquiring quite sufficient skill to justify whatever is recorded of the works done in the construction of the tabernacle. The time is long past when scepticism found support for its incredulity in these details. One advantage of the last sharp agony of persecution was that it finally detached this official class from the Egyptian interest, and welded Israel into a homogeneous people, with officers already provided. For, when the supply of bricks came short, these officials were beaten, and, as if no cause of the failure were palpable, they were asked, with a malicious chuckle, "Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task both yesterday and today, as heretofore?" And when they explain to Pharaoh, in words already expressive of their alienation, that the fault is with "thine own people," they are repulsed with insult, and made to feel themselves in evil case. For indeed they needed to be chastised for their forgetfulness of God. How soon would their hearts have turned back, how much more bitter yet would have been their complaints in the desert, if it were not for this last experience! But if judgment began with them, what should presently be the fate of their oppressors? Their broken spirit shows itself by murmuring, not against Pharaoh, but against Moses and Aaron, who at least had striven to help them. Here, as in the whole story, there is not a trace of either the lofty spirit which could have evolved the Mosaic law, or the hero-worship of a later age. It is written that Moses, hearing their reproaches, "returned unto the Lord," although no visible shrine, no consecrated place of worship, can be thought of. What is involved is the consecration which the heart bestows upon any place of privacy and prayer, where, in shutting out the world, the soul is aware of the special nearness of its King. In one sense we never leave Him, never return to Him. In another sense, by direct address of the attention and the will, we enter into His presence; we find Him in the midst of us, Who is everywhere. And all ceremonial consecrations do their office by helping us to realise and act upon the presence of Him in Whom, even when He is forgotten, we live and move and have our being. Therefore in the deepest sense each man consecrates or desecrates for himself his own place of prayer. There is a city where the Divine presence saturates every consciousness with rapture. And the seer beheld no temple therein, for the Lord God the Almighty, and the Lamb, are the temple of it. Startling to our notions of reverence are the words in which Moses addresses God. "Lord, why hast Thou evil entreated this people? Why is it that Thou hast sent me? for since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Thy name, he hath evil entreated this people; neither hast Thou delivered Thy people at all." It is almost as if his faith had utterly given way, like that of the Psalmist when he saw the wicked in great prosperity, while waters of a full cup were wrung out by the people of God ( Psalm 73:3 , Psalm 73:10 ). And there is always a dangerous moment when the first glow of enthusiasm burns down, and we realise how long the process, how bitter the disappointments, by which even a scanty measure of success must be obtained. Yet God had expressly warned Moses that Pharaoh would not release them until Egypt had been smitten with all His plagues. But the warning passed unapprehended, as we let many a truth pass intellectually accepted it is true, but only as a theorem, a vague and abstract formula. As we know that we must die, that worldly pleasures are brief and unreal, and that sin draws evil in its train, yet wonder when these phrases become solid and practical in our experience, so, in the first flush and wonder of the promised emancipation, Moses had forgotten the predicted interval of trial. His words would have been profane and irreverent indeed but for one redeeming quality. They were addressed to God Himself. Whenever the people murmured, Moses turned for help to Him Who reckons the most unconventional and daring appeal to Him far better than the most ceremonious phrases in which men cover their unbelief: "Lord, wherefore hast Thou evil entreated this people?" is in reality a much more pious utterance than "I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord." Wherefore Moses receives large encouragement, although no formal answer is vouchsafed to his daring question. Even so, in our dangers, our torturing illnesses, and many a crisis which breaks through all the crust of forms and conventionalities, God may perhaps recognise a true appeal to Him, in words which only scandalise the orthodoxy of the formal and precise. In the bold rejoinder of the Syro-Phoenician woman He recognised great faith. His disciples would simply have sent her away as clamorous. Moses had again failed, even though Divinely commissioned, in the work of emancipating Israel, and thereupon he had cried to the Lord Himself to undertake the work. This abortive attempt, however, was far from useless: it taught humility and patience to the leader, and it pressed the nation together, as in a vice, by the weight of a common burden, now become intolerable. At the same moment, the iniquity of the tyrant was filled up. But the Lord did not explain this, in answer to the remonstrance of Moses. Many things happen, for which no distinct verbal explanation is possible, many things of which the deep spiritual fitness cannot be expressed in words. Experience is the true commentator upon Providence, if only because the slow building of character is more to God than either the hasting forward of deliverance or the clearing away of intellectual mists. And it is only as we take His yoke upon us that we truly learn of Him. Yet much is implied, if not spoken out, in the words, "Now (because the time is ripe) shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh (I, because others have failed); for by a strong hand shall he let them go, and by a strong hand shall he drive them out of the land." It is under the weight of the "strong hand" of God Himself that the tyrant must either bend or break. Similar to this is the explanation of many delays in answering our prayer, of the strange raising up of tyrants and demagogues, and of much else that perplexes Christians in history and in their own experience. These events develop human character, for good or evil. And they give scope for the revealing of the fulness of the power which rescues. We have no means of measuring the supernatural force which overcomes but by the amount of the resistance offered. And if all good things came to us easily and at once, we should not become aware of the horrible pit, our rescue from which demands gratitude. The Israelites would not have sung a hymn of such fervent gratitude when the sea was crossed, if they had not known the weight of slavery and the anguish of suspense. And in heaven the redeemed who have come out of great tribulation sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb. Fresh air, a balmy wind, a bright blue sky--which of us feels a thrill of conscious exultation for these cheap delights? The released prisoner, the restored invalid, feels it: "The common earth, the air, the skies, To him are opening paradise." Even so should Israel be taught to value deliverance. And now the process could begin. FOOTNOTES: [9] Robinson, "The Pharaohs of the Bondage." The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Let My people go. Exodus 5:1 The deliverance of God's people Bp. Harvey Goodwin. The history of the deliverance of God's people from the bondage of Egypt, their pilgrimage through the wilderness, and their ultimate settlement in the Land of Promise, bears striking analogy to the history of the human soul. I. The words "Let My people go," regarded as spoken concerning human souls, may be said TO CONTAIN IN THEMSELVES THE WHOLE GOSPEL HISTORY OF OUR REDEMPTION. Even the small word "My" is emphatic. 1. We are God's people; not Satan's people. When God claims us we should remember that He claims His own, and that we are bound to support His claim. 2. The summons to let the people of God go implies a bondage from which they are to be delivered. That which forms the basis of Holy Scripture is the fact that man committed sin. He rebelled against his Maker, and became the slave of one to whom he owed no obedience. 3. If the words "Let My people go" imply the existence of slavery, they still more emphatically imply the way and the promise of redemption. The Gospel of Christ, as preached throughout the whole world, is just this — "Let My people go." II. THE WHOLE SYSTEM OF ORDINANCES AND SACRAMENTS, in which we find ourselves by God's providence, like the system of ordinances and sacrifices which was given to Israel when they came out of Egypt, ARE INTENDED TO INSURE AND PERFECT AND TURN TO THE BEST ACCOUNT THE LIBERTY WHICH THE LORD HAS GIVEN US, for the soul of man may not be content with emancipation once and for all. III. THE CONSIDERATION OF WHAT JESUS CHRIST HAS DONE FOR US IS THE CHIEF MEANS OF MOVING OUR HEARTS TO SEEK THAT LIBERTY WHICH GOD DESIGNS US ALL TO POSSESS. ( Bp. Harvey Goodwin. ) Freedom to serve God Bp. Harvey Goodwin. I. Perfect freedom is not the thing demanded of Pharaoh, nor is this the prize of their high calling held out before the eyes of the Israelites. To serve God is the perfect freedom held out: to change masters, to be rid of him who had no claim to their allegiance, and to be permitted without hindrance to serve Him who was indeed their Lord and their God. This was the boon offered to the children of Israel, and demanded on their account by Moses as the ambassador of God. II. This feature in the deliverance of the Israelites is worthy of special notice, when we regard it as typical of the deliverance from sin and the bondage of the devil, which our heavenly Father is willing to effect for each of us. "Let My people go," — not that they may be free from a master, BUT THAT THEY MAY SERVE; let them go, because they have been redeemed by Christ, and are not their own, but His. The deliverance from sin which God works for His people is, in fact, a change from one service to another: a change from service to sin, which is perfect bondage, to service to God, which is perfect freedom. III. THE BLESSEDNESS OF THE SERVICE OF GOD IS NOT ESTIMATED AS IT OUGHT TO BE; men in these days are too like the children of Israel, who seemed to think that they had conferred a favour on Moses by following his guidance, and that the least reverse would be a sufficient excuse to justify them in going back again to Egypt. There is nothing in their conduct more strange or more blamable than in the conduct of men calling themselves Christians, who do not perceive that in the earnest discharge of God's service is their highest happiness as well as their principal duty and most blessed privilege. ( Bp. Harvey Goodwin. ) Lessons G. Hughes, B. D. 1. God's ambassadors must proceed orderly in delivering their message — first to Israel, secondly to Pharaoh. 2. Order of persons as well as time is observable by God's servants. 3. The poorest persons under God's authority may press into the presence of the proudest kings. 4. God's ambassadors must speak and declare His will to the greatest potentates. 5. God's messengers must go in His authority and vouch His name, 6. The true way of making out God unto man is concretely not abstractly. Every nation acknowledgeth God, but not Israel's God. 7. The true God hath a peculiar people whom He owneth in the world. 8. The will of God is to have His people set free from all that hinders them from Him. 9. The end of all redemption is that God's people should serve Him. 10. The true service of God is a festival living to Him. 11. Such feasting with God is better in the wilderness than in Egypt. 12. All such feasting, sacrificing, and worship must terminate in Jehovah. ( G. Hughes, B. D. ) Moses before Pharaoh R. A. Hallam, D. D. 1. The sense of his high commission enabled him to discharge the duty it laid upon him with dignity and boldness. The sinking of heart that had seized him upon its first announcement had passed away; and in its place had come "the spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." 2. Aaron was with him; but the relation he sustained to the work is marked, as it is throughout the narrative, by the order of the names, Moses and Aaron — never Aaron and Moses — a companion, aa associate, but only as a helper, a support, a spokesman, though Aaron was the eider. There are chords in our nature that vibrate mysteriously to another's touch, a magnetism that works by laws imperfectly understood, by which the presence and sympathy of a companion, silent though it be, and without visible action, braces and enlivens the heart; and that, though the disparity be so great that the inferior who cares for us can only think as we think, and feel as we feel, without any contribution of useful counsel or active succour. "At my first answer," says St. Paul, "no man stood with me, but all men forsook me." Let us not say that we cannot help our friend because we are inferior and of small resources. It is too often but the cover of cowardice or coldness of heart. He that knows the magic there is in a look, a touch, or a word, to alleviate and quicken a pained or fainting soul, feels the falsehood. Nor let us, in our height of pride and self-sufficiency, despise the "fellowship of kindred minds" because they are below us, and, it may be, without manifest strength to aid. A little child's sympathy is not to be despised. Moses' commission was sole, but Aaron's presence facilitated its execution. There is a wonderful power in company. 3. What Moses first asked of Pharaoh for his people, then, was a religious privilege — liberty to go out into the wild country beyond the bounds of Goshen, and worship God; sacrifice to that great Being in whom their fathers had trusted, but whose image, we may well believe, had grown dim among them during their long period of depression and enslavement. Moses was a religious reformer. The revival of truth, faith, and loyalty to Jehovah, lay at the bottom of all the other great things he was to do for them. The feast in the wilderness was preliminary to all that was to follow, to stand as the frontispiece of that series of wonderful events in which their deliverance was to be accomplished, the prologue of the great drama of their entrance upon national life. 4. To Pharaoh, in this call, there was a test of faith, and of that obedience in which all real faith finds its true expression. God came forth from His obscurity and spoke to him. Would he hear that voice, recognize it as the voice of Him who is "King of kings"? In humanity there is a chord that ever vibrates to God's touch, and an ear that hears His voice. It was the call of God's mercy to Pharaoh, Jehovah's coming near to him to do him good. Alas! he "knew not the time of his visitation." But if the heart of Pharaoh towards God was tested by this call, so was his heart towards man. It was an appeal to his humanity. 5. See the wisdom of acting in great matters with judgment, moderation, and patience. Many a good design has been ruined by abruptness, haste, and grasping greed. Moses did not succeed in his embassy, but he adopted fit and judicious methods to obtain success; and if they failed to secure their object, it was simply because they encountered an opposition that no power or skill could overcome. The eagerness that will have all at once, loses all. The impatience that will reach the goal at a single bound, never reaches it. To have asked the immediate emancipation of the Israelites would have been manifestly useless. 6. Finally, beware of striving against God. It can end in nothing but destruction. Its gains are losses, its successes its most ruinous failures. ( R. A. Hallam, D. D. ) Reasons for sending Moses and Aaron J. S. Exell, M. A. Why did God send Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh, when He could have destroyed Him with a stroke, and have wrought the freedom of Israel? 1. That God's power might appear in showing His wonders. 2. That the Israelites might see the great care God had over them. 3. To exercise their patience, not being delivered at once. 4. To leave Pharaoh without excuse. ( J. S. Exell, M. A. ) A proclamation of God J. S. Exell, M. A. 1. His name. 2. His authority. 3. His regard for His people. 4. His desire for the freedom of man. ( J. S. Exell, M. A. ) The freedom of men J. S. Exell, M. A. 1. Earnestly desired. 2. Effectively undertaken. 3. Divinely approved. 4. Successfully achieved. ( J. S. Exell, M. A. ) A Divine challenge The slavery of Israel in Egypt was hopeless slavery; they could not get free unless God interfered and worked miracles on their behalf. And the slavery of the sinner to his sin is equally hopeless; he could never be free, unless a mind that is infinitely greater than he can ever command shall come to his assistance and help. What a blessed circumstance it is, then, for those poor chosen children of God, who are still in bondage, that the Lord has power to say, and then power to carry out what He has said — "Thus saith the Lord, let My people go, that they may serve Me." I. THE FULNESS OF THE SENTENCE. "Thus saith the Lord, let My people go, that they may serve Me." I don't doubt but what there are some of God's people who have not any idea they are His people. The demand was not made to Pharaoh, "Make their tasks less heavy; make the whip less cruel; put kinder taskmasters over them." No, but, "Let them go free." Christ did not come into the world merely to make our sin more tolerable, but to deliver us right away from it. He did not come to make our lusts less mighty; but to put all these things far away from His people, and work out a full and complete deliverance. Again, you will mark, it says, "Let My people go." It says nothing about their coming back again. Once gone, they are gone for ever. II. THE RIGHTNESS OF IT. The voice of justice, and pity, and mercy, cries to death, and hell, and sin, "Let My people go free — Satan, keep thine own if thou wilt, but let My people go free, for they are Mine. This people have I created for Myself; they shall show forth My praise. Let My people go free, for I have bought them with My precious blood. Thou hast not bought them, nor hast thou made them: thou hast no right to them; let My people go free." All this is our comfort about poor sinners, and we hope that some of them, though they don't know it, are God's people. III. THE REPETITION OF THIS SENTENCE. Observe now, as Pharaoh would not give up the people, the sentence had to be repeated again, and again, until at last God would bear it no longer, but brought down on him one tremendous blow. He smote the firstborn of Egypt, the chief of all their strength, and then He led forth His people like sheep by the hands of Moses and Aaron. In like manner this sentence of God has to be repeated many times in your experience and mine, "Thus, saith the Lord, let My people go free," and if you are not quite free yet, don't despair; God will repeat that sentence till at last you shall be brought forth with silver and gold, and there shall not be a feeble thought in all your soul; you shall go forth with gladness and with joy; you shall enter into Canaan at last, up yonder where His throne is glittering now in glorious light, that angel eyes cannot bear. It is no wonder then, if it is to be repeated in our experience, that the Church of Christ must keep on repeating it in the world as God's message. Go, missionary, to India, and say to Juggernaut, and Kalee, and Brahma, and Vishnu, "Thus saith the Lord, let My people go free." Go, ye servants of the Lord, to China, speak to the followers of Confucius, and say, "Thus saith the Lord, let My people go free." Go ye to the gates of the harlot city, even Rome, and say, "Thus saith the Lord, let My people go, that they may serve Me." Think not though you die that your message will die with you. 'Tis for Moses to say, "Thus saith the Lord," and if he be driven from Pharaoh's sight, the "Thus saith the Lord" still stands, though His servant fall. Yes, brothers and sisters, the whole Church must keep on throughout every age, crying, "Thus saith the Lord, let My people go." IV. THE OMNIPOTENCE OF THE COMMAND. Sin is a Pharaoh, but God is Jehovah. Your sins are hard; you cannot overcome them of yourself, but God can. There is hope yet; let that hope arouse you to action. Say to your soul tonight, "I am not in hell, though I might have been. I am still on praying ground and pleading terms, and now, God helping me, I will begin to think." And when you begin to think you will begin to be blessed. ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) God's people M. G. Pearse. I. WHO ARE THESE WHOM GOD CALLS "MY PEOPLE"? 1. They are a distinct and separate race. The people of God are not those who agree with each other as to certain theories — in these things they may be sundered far as the poles. It is not that they come together on certain particular occasions and observe the same ceremonies. No ceremonies however ancient, however solemn, however significant, however faithfully observed can make us His people. The distinction is one of birth. It is a difference of nature. Born of God, begotten of God, they arc the children of God. Within them is the very Spirit of God whereby they cry "Abba Father." 2. They are Created of God by a distinct and wholly supernatural act. The children of a new life — of the resurrection. And out of that relationship to God come a thousand new relationships. There is a new authority which is ever supreme — there is a new nature, with new hopes, and new desires; and new needs; and new aspirations; and new delights; a nature which can find its only satisfaction in Him in whom it found its source; there is a new relationship to all things. Born of God, they look further; they soar higher; they find more. II. But if these are His people, WHY DOES HE SUFFER THEM TO BE HERE? Forsaken, wronged — has God forgotten to be gracious? Who shall deliver them out of the hand of Pharaoh? 1. That they may know that I am the Lord — this is the key to it all. They are led into the wilderness where there is neither bread nor water, that they may learn to look up to God for their help: so they are hemmed in by all possible evils in Egypt, that they may see the greatness and might of their God in their deliverance. The mightier the nation that oppressed them, the greater the glory of their deliverance. The more hopeless their condition, and the more hopeless the people, so much more room was there for God to show forth His mighty arm. The greatness of life — its breadth and depth, its expanse like heaven above us, its solidity like the earth beneath us — is exactly according to our knowledge of our God. And the deep peace and rest — the blessedness and satisfaction — these too come only from knowing Him. We are most indebted — not to those things for which it is easiest to give thanks, but to those from which we have shrunk, and which set us wondering, fearing, perhaps even doubting. The reaper is a happy man, and poets sing and artists paint the scene of harvest home. But the keen frosts that break the clods, and the patient ploughman plodding wearily behind the share with which he cleaves the soil in chill winter winds and under cheerless skies — these are apt to be forgotten and unthanked. And yet what should the reaper bring if the ploughman went not forth? "My people." God sends them to school that they may learn to know Him. 2. Learn further that wherever His people are led, they can never get where God cannot help them. Be sure of that. Whatever clouds gather they cannot hide His child in the darkness. No circumstances can ever shut us out from His help. 3. The Lord knoweth them that are His. He leadeth them in a way that they know not, but He knoweth the way. Fear not: we too may sing — "He leadeth us in a right way to bring us to a city of habitation." 4. Notice yet another characteristic of His people. See Israel come forth from Egypt. Every man, every woman, every child bows his head beneath a doorpost on which is sprinkled the blood — each one passes between the side posts whereon is the crimson stain. They arc the redeemed of the Lord — My people — ransomed by a great price. The people of God find their deliverance in the power of the Cross. ( M. G. Pearse. ) Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh C. S. Robinson, D. D. We never heard of an insurrection against a tyrannical government, deliberately planned, for which there was not aggregated some sort of preparation in armies and munitions of war. So we inquire in this instance, What was the number of Israel's troops now on their belligerent way to beseige the capital of Egypt? Only one organized battalion, consisting of these two old men! What were the arms they carried? These were altogether seven weapons in detail. Any one can count them at his pleasure: one shepherd's crook, called a "rod," one tremendous name in the Hebrew language, four promises, and a miracle. These were expected to revolutionize Egypt. I. INADEQUACY OF CONSPICUOUS RESOURCES IS NO ARGUMENT AGAINST SUCCESS, WHEN GOD IN PERSON HAS SENT HIS SERVANTS FORTH TO DO HIS ERRAND. II. THE ALMIGHTY GOD HAS NEVER LET GO HIS HOLD UPON ANY INDIVIDUAL OF THE HUMAN RACE, FOR ALL THE SPITEFUL REBELLION SOME MEN HAVE SHOWN. III. IT IS OF THE UTMOST IMPORTANCE THAT INTELLIGENT PEOPLE SHOULD HAVE A SAFE CREED. Undoubtedly Pharaoh is very much in earnest. He does not "know" Jehovah; he knows the deities he has been educated to worship. But if we only wait a little longer, and read the story of the exodus clear through to the crossing of the Red Sea, we shall find out whether it made any difference to Pharaoh what he believed in that moment when he defied Jehovah! IV. SEE HOW CLEARLY THE ALL-WISE GOD WORKS UP TO SIMPLE ISSUES WITH EVERY WILFUL TRANSGRESSOR BEFORE HE CASTS HIM UTTERLY OUT. There is only one question which confronts any man, no matter how many are the forms in which it may be put: Will you, or will you not, obey God? V. THOSE WHO SEEK TO HELP THEIR FELLOW-MEN IN THIS WORLD MUST EXPECT MISJUDGMENT. VI. So we reach our final lesson: THE NATURAL AND FIRST RESULT OF STIRRING UP SIN IS TO AGGRAVATE ITS VIOLENCE. Satan hates to lose his slaves. The heart is desperately wicked, and seems to grow more malignant than before. "It is always darkest just before day." This does not happen so; it is the Divine rule. ( C. S. Robinson, D. D. ) Divine condescension to Pharaoh A. Edersheim, D. D. At the outset, we observe the more than dutiful manner in which Israel was directed to act towards Pharaoh. Absolutely speaking, Pharaoh had no right to detain the people in Egypt. Their fathers had avowedly come not to settle, but temporarily to sojourn, and on that understanding they had been received. And now they were not only wrongfully oppressed, but unrighteously detained. It was infinite condescension to Pharaoh's weakness, on the part of God, not to insist from the first upon the immediate and entire dismissal of Israel. Less could not have been asked than was demanded of Pharaoh, nor could obedience have been made more easy. Assuredly such a man was ripe for the judgment of hardening; just as, on the other hand, if he had at the first yielded obedience to the Divine will, he would surely have been prepared to receive a further revelation of His will, and grace to submit to it. And so God in His mercy always deals with man. "He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least, is unjust also in much." The demands of God are intended to try what is in us. It was so in the case of Adam's obedience, of Abraham's sacrifice, and now of Pharaoh; only that in the latter case, as in the promise to spare Sodom if even ten righteous men were found among its wicked inhabitants, the Divine forbearance went to the utmost verge of condescension. ( A. Edersheim, D. D. ) Divine authority for the message On one occasion when Whitefield was preaching, an old man fell asleep, and some of the audience became listless. Suddenly changing his manner, Whitefield broke forth in an altered tone, declaring that He had not come to speak in his own name, otherwise they might lean on their elbows and go to sleep. "No; I have come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts, and I must and will be heard." The sleeper started wide awake; the hearers were stripped of their apathy at once; and every word of the sermon was attended to. It was thus that Moses addressed Pharaoh; and it is thus all witness for God should address the listeners — with authority. Hold a feast unto Me The first attempt at a religious service J. S. Excel, M. A. I. THAT THIS FIRST ATTEMPT AT A RELIGIOUS SERVICE WAS MADE RESPONSIVE TO THE CALL, AND IN HARMONY WITH THE WILL OF GOD. 1. Thus there was a great necessity that the work now attempted by Moses and Aaron should be accomplished. 2. Moses and Aaron were the right men to undertake this work. In the first place, Moses had been directly called by God to do it; also Aaron had been providentially conducted to this sphere of work. In this we see the different methods by which God enjoins work upon good men. Then, again, Moses and Aaron had been Divinely prepared for their work. Men are prepared in different ways. Solitude prepares one man; publicity will prepare another the preparation must be in harmony with the temperament of the man, and the work that he has to perform. The Church requires to think less of results, and more of the methods by which they are to be attained. 3. Moses and Aaron undertook this work in the proper spirit. II. THAT OUR FIRST ATTEST AT RELIGIOUS SERVICE IS OFTEN MET BY OPEN PROFANITY AND IGNORANCE. 1. Moses and Aaron were met by a manifestation of ignorance. 2. They were met by deep profanity. 3. They were met by unwarrantable pride. III. THAT OUR FIRST ATTEMPT AT SERVICE IS OFTEN MISUNDERSTOOD, AND ITS MOTIVE MALIGNED. 1. Pharaoh was not sensitive to the claims of duty. 2. Pharaoh was not a disinterested interpreter of the claims urged upon him. IV. THAT SOMETIMES OUR FIRST ATTEMPT AT RELIGIOUS SERVICE APPEARS TO BE MORE PRODUCTIVE OF HARM THAN GOOD, AND TO HAVE THE VERY OPPOSITE EFFECT TO THAT DESIGNED. Lessons: 1. Begin at once some enterprise for the moral freedom of humanity, 2. If in the first attempt at service you meet with difficulty and rejection, do not be dismayed. 3. That you must be finally successful in your efforts. (1) For they are appointed by God. (2) You are upheld by heaven. (3) You have the sympathy of all good men. ( J. S. Excel, M. A. ) Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice? Exodus 5:2 Pharaoh's question answered David Jamison, B. A. If we would know God as He is, we should neither take our own idea nor adopt the world's estimates, but see Him as He has revealed Himself in His Word, especially in the Gospel which began to be spoken by His Son, the only Teacher competent to instruct us here. 1. God is One, indeed, who will punish sin, etc. As a Holy God, He hates it; and, as a Just God, He will "by no means clear the guilty," etc. 2. But, at the same time, He is One who would rather not, and who will not unless He must. Judgment is His strange work, and He "would have all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth." 3. One, too, so averse to punish that He "spared not His own Son," etc. Abraham could give no higher proof of his love to God than by his willingness to offer up his son, his only son, Isaac. "God so loved," etc. 4. One, too, who, in addition to giving His Son, strives with men by His Word, ordinances, Spirit, Providence, to dispose them to accept that Son and find peace and joy in believing. 5. One, again, who has filled His Word with warnings to arouse, invitations to attract, directions to instruct, promises to encourage, etc. 6. One, too, who has thrown the door of hope wide open to all, and imposed no impossible, or even difficult, condition in the case of any. 7. One, in fine, who can say, "What more could I have done for My vineyard that I have not done in it?" One whose plan, provision and proffer of salvation is such that if any fail of its privileges, they can but blame themselves. This is the Lord! Not only our Creator (that itself should summon our service; see Psalm 100 .), nor only our Preserver (living by His bounty, should we not live by His bidding, too?); but also our Redeemer: the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Surely, then, if there be any voice, we should obey, it is His. That voice, further, is the voice of One who knows us; knows our frame, knows what suits us, knows what will contribute to our well-being. His commands are so far from being arbitrary that in the very keeping of them there is great reward; and, following the course they indicate, we shall ever have growing reason to say, "The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places"; while, on the other hand, all experience, as well as revelation, declares, "the way of transgressors is hard." The sinner flies from God's voice, thinking it a voice of anger; whereas, did he but stop and listen, he would "wonder at the gracious words that proceed out of His mouth." Only let us "acquaint ourselves with Him, and we shall be at peace, and good shall thereby come to us." But if we follow after lying vanities, we forsake our own mercies. ( David Jamison, B. A. ) Lessons G. Hughes, B. D. 1. Proud imperious spirits are hasty to reply roughly upon God's messengers. 2. Idolaters are apt to despise God in the true revelation of Him. 3. Hardened souls vent their contempt upon God Himself more than on His Church. 4. Contempt of Jehovah suffers not men to hear His voice. 5. Disobedience to God ushers in oppression to His people. 6. Scorners of God can never come to the right knowledge of God or acknowledgment of Him. 7. Wicked wretches glory in the contempt of knowing God. 8. Denial of knowing God denieth all good commanded for His people. ( G. Hughes, B. D. ) God entitled to an obedience C. Coffin, D. D. I. WE OUGHT TO OBEY GOD, BECAUSE HE IS THE BENEVOLENT CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE. II. WE ARE BOUND TO OBEY GOD, BECAUSE HE IS THE CONSTANT PRESERVER OF THE CREATURES OF HIS POWER. III. WE ARE UNDER YET GREATER OBLIGATIONS TO OBEY GOD, BECAUSE HE IS THE PERFECT GOVERNOR OF THE UNIVERSE. IV. WE ARE OBLIGATED IN THE HIGHEST DEGREE TO OBEY GOD, BECAUSE HE IS THE MERCIFUL REDEEMER OF SINNERS. ( C. Coffin, D. D. ) God's claim on our obedience Sketches of Sermons. I. SOME PARTICULARS RELATIVE TO GOD'S VOICE. 1. The persons to whom He speaks — Mankind. (1) His favourite creatures. (2) Ignorant creatures. (3) Improvable creatures. 2. The means by which He speaks. (1) His works. (a) Of creation. (b) Of providence. (2) His Word. 3. What He says to us. He speaks to us variously, according to our various states, as sinful, submissive, and reclaimed creatures. As sinful creatures, who transgress His laws, He speaks to us in the language of reproof; charging us with rebellion ( Isaiah 1:1, 2 ); and ingratitude ( Deuteronomy 32:6 ); and in the language of warning; showing us that we are rejected by Him ( Proverbs 15:8, 26 ); under His curse ( Galatians 3:10 ); and under the sentence of eternal death ( Ezekiel 18:20 ; Romans 6:21 ). As submissive creatures, who desire to obey Him, He speaks to us in the language of kind authority ( Isaiah 55:6, 7 ; Matthew 11:28, 29 ); of encouragement ( Isaiah 1:16-18 ); and of caution against delay. ( Psalm 95:7, 8 ). As reclaimed creatures, restored to His favour and service, He speaks in the language of instruction ( Micah 6:8 ; Titus 2:12 ); and in the language of consolation, ( Isaiah 40:1 ; Psalm 84:11 ). 4. With what design He speaks. This is to engage our obedience. His works teach us to glorify Him as God ( Romans 1:21 ). His Word requires practical piety as man's indispensable duty ( 1 Samuel 15:22 ; Matthew 7:21 ; James 1:22, 25 ). The obedience thus required must be prompt, without delay ( Job 22:21 ). Universal, without defect ( Psalm 119:6 ). Persevering, without intermission ( Romans 2:7 ); and humble, without arrogance. It must be humbly ascribed to Divine grace ( Isaiah 26:12 ); humbly presented through Christ for acceptance ( 1 Peter 2:5 ); and humbly as unprofitable at best ( Luke 17:10 ). Such being the obedience which God requires, let us consider — II. HIS CLAIMS ON OUR OBEDIENCE TO HIS VOICE. These will appear by answering the inquiry here instituted — "Who is the Lord?" etc. 1. He is our indisputable Proprietor. 2. He is our acknowledged Sovereign. 3. He is our best Friend, and kindest Benefactor. 4. He is the Disposer of our eternal destiny. (1) Omniscient. (2) Just. (3) Powerful. ( Sketches of Sermons. ) Pharaoh's impious interrogation J. Burns, D. D. I. GOD HAS SPOKEN TO MANKIND. II. WHY AND HOW YOU SHOULD HEAR. 1. Why. (1) Because of His right in and over you. (2) Because of His condescension to you. (3) Because of the design of His speaking — your present and eternal welfare. 2. How. With awe, sacred attentions, holy anxiety. III. THE IMPIETY AND FOLLY OF REFUSING TO HEAR THE VOICE OF GOD. 1. It is a flagrant contempt of God. 2. It is open rebellion against authority. 3. It must be eventually ruinous to the sinner. ( J. Burns, D. D. ) Scorners of God J. S. Exell, M. A. 1. They hear not His voice. 2. They perceive not His revelations. 3. They recognize not His claims. 4. They insult His servants. 5. They enslave His people. 6. They are obstinate in their denials. ( J. S. Exell, M. A. ) Pharaoh fighting against God — A certain king used to wander about in disguise. Once he fell into a quarrel, and was getting rather roughly handled. But as soon as his assailant knew that he was pummeling the king, he dropped on his knees, asking for mercy. It is a good thing to know against whom we are fighting. Pharaoh did not realize that. When Job came to see that he was fighting against God, he said, "Behold, I am vile... I will lay mine hand upon mine mouth." "I know not the Lord" J. Parker, D. D. A kind of agnosticism more prevalent than agnosticism of a scientific kind. There is an agnosticism of the heart; there is an agnosticism of the will. Men reason foolishly about this not knowing. Men imagine that because they know not the Lord, the Lord knows not them. There is a vital distinction. We do not extinguish the sun by closing our eyes. If men will not inquire for God in a spirit worthy of such an inquiry, they can never know God. Pharaoh's no-knowledge was avowed in a tone of defiance. It was not an intellectual ignorance, but a spirit of moral denial. Pharaoh practically made himself god by denying the true God. This is the natural result of all atheism. Atheism cannot be a mere negative; if it pretend to intelligence it must, in some degree, involve the Godhead of the being who presumes to deny God; the greatest difficulty is with people who know the Lord, and do not obey Him. If they who professedly know the Lord, would carry out His will in daily obedience and sacrifice of the heart, their lives would constitute the most powerful of all arguments. ( J. Parker, D. D. ) Dangerous ignorance H. Cowles, D. D. He says he does not know Jehovah; he does not recognize His authority or admit His claims. His soul is full of practical unbelief in God — a fact which commonly lies at the bottom of all the hardening of sinners' hearts in every age. Pharaoh did not at first contemplate crossing swords and measuring strong arms with the Almighty God. If he had taken this view of the case he might have paused a while to consider. So it usually is with sinners. Unbelief in God conduces to launch them upon this terrible conflict. Once committed, they become more hardened; one sin leads on to more sinning till sin becomes incurable — shall we say it? — an uncontrollable madness. ( H. Cowles, D. D. ) "Who is the Lord?" George Breay, B. A. This is — 1. The language of independence. "Who is the Lord?" I am the lord of Egypt, etc. 2. Of decided opposition; a setting up of his will

5:1-9 God will own his people, though poor and despised, and will find a time to plead their cause. Pharaoh treated all he had heard with contempt. He had no knowledge of Jehovah, no fear of him, no love to him, and therefore refused to obey him. Thus Pharaoh's pride, ambition, covetousness, and political knowledge, hardened him to his own destruction. What Moses and Aaron ask is very reasonable, only to go three days' journey into the desert, and that on a good errand. We will sacrifice unto the Lord our God. Pharaoh was very unreasonable, in saying that the people were idle, and therefore talked of going to sacrifice. He thus misrepresents them, that he might have a pretence to add to their burdens. To this day we find many who are more disposed to find fault with their neighbours, for spending in the service of God a few hours spared from their wordly business, than to blame others, who give twice the time to sinful pleasures. Pharaoh's command was barbarous. Moses and Aaron themselves must get to the burdens. Persecutors take pleasure in putting contempt and hardship upon ministers. The usual tale of bricks must be made, without the usual allowance of straw to mix with the clay. Thus more work was to be laid upon the men, which, if they performed, they would be broken with labour; and if not, they would be punished. 5:10-23 The Egyptian task-masters were very severe. See what need we have to pray that we may be delivered from wicked men. The head-workmen justly complained to Pharaoh: but he taunted them. The malice of Satan has often represented the service and worship of God, as fit employment only for those who have nothing else to do, and the business only of the idle; whereas, it is the duty of those who are most busy in the world. Those who are diligent in doing sacrifice to the Lord, will, before God, escape the doom of the slothful servant, though with men they do not. The Israelites should have humbled themselves before God, and have taken to themselves the shame of their sin; but instead of that, they quarrel with those who were to be their deliverers. Moses returned to the Lord. He knew that what he had said and done, was by God's direction; and therefore appeals to him. When we find ourselves at any time perplexed in the way of our duty, we ought to go to God, and lay open our case before him by fervent prayer. Disappointments in our work must not drive us from our God, but still we must ponder why they are sent.