Bible Commentaries
Exodus 1

Verses 1-14

(The Exodus Book comments contain the first two introductory sections of Exodus)

III

A REVIEW AND A PROLOGUE

Exodus 1:1-14

It now becomes necessary to refer, though briefly, to some matters behind us. First, this book not only commences with the conjunction, "and," showing direct connection with the preceding book, of which it is a continuation, but also its prologue, the first six verses, rehearses the closing part of Genesis as an introduction. Moreover, throughout the book, there are so many back references to Genesis that one unfamiliar with Genesis can never understand Exodus.

We find in Genesis the following race trials: The first was the race trial in Adam, under a covenant of works, which culminated in his fall, the fall of the race with him and his expulsion from the garden of Eden. The second race trial was the establishment of the throne of grace, where God dwelt between the Cherubim on the east of the garden of Eden, as a Shekinah, or flame of fire, to keep open the way to the tree of life. This was a covenant of grace. Here, under this second trial, Adam and his descendants must approach God through faith in an atoning sacrifice. It is true that this sacrifice was only typical. This trial culminated at the flood with the race destruction. The third race trial was on the new earth under Noah, under a more enlarged covenant than the covenant with Adam. Still, however, the method of approach to God was by sacrifice and through faith in that atoning sacrifice. This trial culminated in the great sin at Babel, the confusion of tongues and the dispersion of the nations. From that time on our history does not deal with mankind at large, but the fourth trial commences at the call of Abraham; that in his descendants as a nation God might have a peculiar people, isolated from others, sanctified to him, becoming the depository of his revelations, and through that nation to reach all the nations of the earth. This is the fourth trial which was national.

But this trial was not consummated in Genesis; only its preparatory states. Abraham and his family, so far as Genegig goes, had not yet become a nation. It is to Exodus we must look to find the chosen line becoming a nation. So from Exodus on, until I give you notice, we are under the fourth trial. It is in the book of Exodus you must find the fulfillment in a great part of the prophecies and promises made to or through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. These preliminary observations show how necessary an understanding of Exodus is. Indeed, the whole book of the Pentateuch was formerly just one book, and the division into volumes, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, is really artificial.

The second thing is that two preliminary introductory chapters have been given; the first, devoted mainly to the geography, archeology and history of Egypt, and the Sinaitic Peninsula. As Egypt, and the desert lying between Egypt and the Holy Land, is the arena upon which all the events in the book of Exodus are performed, it is necessary to get clearly before us something of the geography, archeology, and history of those sections of country. On the map can be seen the sections of the country, the rivers, the deserts, the mountains, and the character of the country. Each reader should provide himself with Huribut’s Bible Atlas.

Now, our last chapter was devoted mainly to a consideration of the materials, or the sources of information necessary to a history of the life of Moses. These sources are found to be: first, biblical – the Old and New Testaments; second, Jewish, but not biblical; third, non-Jewish historians, myths, and legends. In that chapter there was particularly pointed out what parts of the Bible contributed material to the history of Moses. For instance, Psalm 90 – a psalm written by Moses; and in the New Testament are some valuable contributions to the life of Moses: Acts 7; Hebrews 11, the 11 sage in the letter to Timothy; one in the book of Revelation, and one in Jude, all of which are fully cited.

Chapter 2 was devoted partly to an examination of the religious light possessed by the Israelites in Egypt and their religious status under that light, up to the call of Moses recorded in Exodus 3. Then, by way of contrast, I considered the civilization of Egypt; noted its religion, its system of agriculture, its schools, arts, sciences, and government. The chapter closed with a commendation of some books on Exodus, the safest, most needed, most valuable, and withal, best suited to beginners in the study of Exodus. For the most part one who has only a knowledge of the English language is little prepared for a more extended bibliography. I will repeat the list of books:

Dr. Sampey’s Syllabus for Old Testament Study. In that syllabus you will find an outline of the book of Exodus that is about as good as anybody can give. And all along through the Old Testament you will find the chronological chart at the end of the book of very great value.

Hurlbut’s Bible Atlas.

Then I want each reader to have in compact form and according to a reliable author, a history of the Old Testament, and the book that I specially commended was "Edersheim’s History of the Bible," a history of Israel and Judah. The second volume of that history is the one that treats particularly of the book of Exodus.

The next book that I commended was Rawlinson’s Moses, His Life and Times. Rawlinson is a very great scholar, one of the best that we have; and his book, a little book prepared with a great deal of care, were I a student, I would buy. I would always read that part of it which touches the lesson. The fifth book is Dr. Wilkinson’s Epic of Moses. The Epic of Moses and the Epic of Paul are the best interpretative books in the way of epics in all literature. Milton’s Paradise Lost won’t begin to compare with Dr. Wilkinson’s books in the safeness of the interpretative spirit. Very seldom, so far as I am able to judge, does he ever get away from the right construction and meaning to be put on an event. There are intruded into the book, for filling in, of course, some characters that are not Bible characters, but all of these are interpretative.

Kadesh-barnea, by H. Clay Trumbull, was also commended. The books usually commended are Robinson’s Researches in the Holy Land, and Thomson’s The Land and the Book. But these books are of a long time ago. Kadesh-barnea touches the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. It is the book of the pilgrimage in the wilderness, from the going out of the people until they entered into the Holy Land.

The seventh book is Philo’s Life of Moses. That part of Josephus which covers the book of Exodus you should read, though I want to caution you that when Josephus gets outside of what the Bible says, what he says is to be received with a great deal of caution. He and Philo put in a great deal about Moses that the Bible does not give at all; all of it is based on some tradition; some of it is very wild; other things are probable.

There are two other books which I commend to you with much reservation: Stanley’s Jewish Church, Vol. 1; and Geikie’s "Hours with the Bible," Vol. II, both of which touch Exodus. These are both great writers, but in many respects unsafe. It does not hurt me to read them. I get great benefit from them, but one who has not studied the ground which they cover, can be misled either by Stanley or Geikie. Hence the commendation of these two books is with reservation.

Now, there is a set of books to which I wish to call attention. I never call attention to a book that I have not examined. Dr. Hengstenberg, a German author, who pleases Die better than all the rest put together, has a series of volumes on "Christology of the Old Testament." In the first of that "Christology" is an article on the Angel of the Lord, aa he is set forth in Genesis, Exodus, etc. That is a very valuable contribution. Then he has another book, The History of the Kingdom of God in the Old Testament. The first of that where it touches Exodus is very fine. He has a third book called Egypt and Moses, which is devoted mainly to rebutting the attacks of the higher critics.

The book of Exodus, and the ground covered by it, has been the theme of fiction, and I call attention to a book – Tom Moore’s Epicurean, – as throwing light upon the mysteries of the Egyptian priesthood and religion. I called attention to two or three of the Ebers’ books, bearing on this question. Another book of fiction which people like to read very much, though it is what Dr. Broadus would call "a third-class novel" as to its reliability, is the Pillar of Fire, by J. H. Ingraham. Nearly all of the young people like to read that book without stopping to reflect that the author committed suicide. He was an Episcopal clergyman. There is a modern book of very considerable value called Lex Mosaica, the Mosaic law. The first article in it is devoted to a consideration of this question: The literary activities in the time of Moses. Some of the higher critics have said that in the time of Moses there was no such thing as literature, and therefore it was impossible for any man in his time to have written the Pentateuch. That article "knocks the bottom out of" that contention. It shows there were schools and universities just as we have now. Moses himself was educated in a university at Heliopolis, and they not only had a system of writing, but many systems of writing. They even had alphabetical writing. The fact is that we get our alphabet from the Egyptians rather than from the Phenicians. The Arabians had schools and books of learning; the Babylonians more than any other had them. The land of Canaan was full of literature. One of the cities captured by Joshua was a book city, a city of books and public libraries. Archeological discoveries have gently brought to light whole libraries in which correspondQgg on love matters and business matters of that day are brought to light, showing the absurdity of trying to assert that there were no literary attainments in the days of Moses that would justify the statement that he was the author of the Pentateuch. The first article in the Lex Mosaica is very valuable on the subject.

In the January, 1907, issue of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Magazine is an article by Dr. Ashmore on "The Kingship of Jehovah." Try to get a copy of that publication and hold on to it. When I get to Exodus 20 I want to dig under the foundations of some of the statements by Dr. Ashmore in that article. Although it is a very fine article I am sure that its value is to be discounted in some of his positions. There is another magazine which, if the reader had access to, I would insist that he secure it. I do not remember the name and issue of the magazine, but the article is by Dr. A. G. Dayton, author of "Theodosia Earnest." In considering the politics and religion of Egypt this article bears directly upon the question of modern spiritualism. Probably the article is in the Southwestern Review or it may be in a magazine that J. R. Graves started. That man could not write without throwing light on a subject. So much for the books.

While we were in Genesis I called attention to a question of chronology. It comes in the twelfth chapter, but I will give you the references now, and you can study them: Genesis 15:13; Exodus 12:40-41; Acts 7:6; Galatians 3:17. The Genesis passage is in the prophecy made to Abraham that his people should be afflicted 400 years, a prophecy which distinctly tells that they should be led away into another nation to be subject to them, and that God would deliver them and bring them out. It is the great declaration that kept hope alive in the hearts of those people all the time they were in exile. Joseph refers to it in the last chapter of Genesis when he said: "God will certainly visit you and bring you out of this land." The point of chronology is that this seems to put the stay in Egypt at 430 years. The Exodus 12 declares that at the very day God said their time in Egypt should end it did end, and gives the number as 430 years. But in the Greek Septuagint, and in the Samaritan Pentateuch, Exodus 12, reads differently. It gives the 430 years, but it includes in the 430 years in this text all the sojourners, including Abraham, commencing with the call of Abraham to the Exodus, in order to get the 430 years. In Acts 7, Stephen, speaking of it, refers to this 400 years of Genesis 15:13. In Galatians 3, Paul evidently does not think that they were in Egypt 430 years, but he makes the law, delivered on Mount Sinai just a few months after they left Egypt, just 430 years after the call of Abraham. Now, here is one of my examination questions: How long were the children of Israel in Egypt? My own opinion is that they were in Egypt 210 years, and that the sojourning covers the whole time, as Paul gives it, from the call of Abraham to the giving of the Law, 430 years. Ussher, in his chronology, which you find in the margin of the King James Version, adopts this view. Dr. Sampey adopts it in his chronology.

While the chronology of the Old Testament is always difficult, yet Genesis 15:13; Exodus 12:40-41; Acts 7-8; Galatians 3:17 may be harmonized thus:

(1) Galatians 3:17 reckoning from the grace promise, "In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed (Genesis 12:3)" to the giving of the Law at Sinai, fixes the time at 430 years.

(2) Exodus 12:40-41 may be rendered, according to some versions: "The sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was 430 years." The sojourning of Exodus 12 coincides in its commencement with Paul’s promise (see Genesis 12:1-3), and terminates with the departure from Egypt. As the Law was given about two months after the departure these two periods of 430 years are practically the same.

(3) The emphasis of Genesis 15:13 is on the afflictions of Abraham’s seed while sojourning, which commencing with the persecution of Isaac by Hagar and Ishmael extended to the departure from Egypt, a period of 400 years.

(4) Stephen, in Acts 7:6 merely quotes the Septuagint Version of Genesis 15:13.

(5) This harmony would make the stay in Egypt 210 years and it is generally, though not exclusively, accepted.

Another examination question will be this: There were seventy odd of these people – not including their servants, which might have made them three thousand – when they went into Egypt. When they entered Egypt their occupation was pastoral. They were nomads – people that lived under tents and changed their stopping place as pasturage and water demanded. Now give me proof from the book of Exodus that the people had changed largely from a pastoral people to agriculturalists and artisans. The evidences on the subject can be found in the following scriptures: Exodus 3:10-22, which shows that the Israelites in Egypt lived in houses. The same thing is clearly brought out in Exodus 11:1-3; Exodus 12:7. Here are some important passages to show that the greater part of them had become agriculturalists: Numbers 11:5; Numbers 20:5; Deuteronomy 11:10. Now here are some scriptures that show that numbers of them had become architects and manufacturers: Exodus 1:14, and many others. It is very important for the reader to fix in his mind that great change which had come over these people from the nomadic, or pastoral life, to the agricultural life. Egypt was an agricultural land. True, there were only about five thousand square miles of the whole territory that could be tilled, but as it was tilled under irrigation, a small plot could support a great many people. It was the highest form of agriculture, and these people served in the fields. In some of these passages it says that they would run along and open trenches with their feet for the water to run from the big irrigation canal. Then, how did Aaron know how to take metal and put it into a furnace and mold a calf? How did they know how to construct a tabernacle, and many things necessary to its equipment? A great change must have come over this people.

Now, I commence the book of Exodus. The first thing in your book is the Prologue, which simply rehearses the closing part of Genesis, as Exodus 1:7 says: "And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them." Here was a most marvelous fecundity, or reproduction of the race. When we go to lead these people out there will be 600,000, from twenty years old and upward, without counting the women and children, besides the mixed population. You will see a multitude go out of that country, at least 3,000,000 in number, including the mixed population and their servants. Their male servants were circumcised, and became thereby constituent members of the Jewish economy. Exodus goes on to tell us that it was utterly impossible to keep these people from multiplying; and when the call of Moses takes place it takes place under the marvelous symbol of a bush that was all the time burning, and never consumed. These people might be afflicted, and effort might be made to stop the increase of the population, but all the powers of affliction did not destroy the bush; they kept on growing. This was under the blessing of God.

The next verse says: "Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who knew not Joseph." When Abraham entered Egypt and particularly when Joseph and these Israelites entered Egypt, the rulers were (what is called in history) the Hyksos, or shepherd kings. They were of the Semitic blood; they were really kind and good to the Israelites. And they were monotheists. They knew about the pastoral life. These kings that came from Syria and the Holy Land, and other places, and took possession of Egypt, driving out the native population, or rather obtaining the rule over the native population, were there several hundred years. That made it very opportune for these people to go into Egypt in order to be nourished, but just before the Exodus, soon after the death of Joseph, the native Egyptians expelled the Hyksos kings and re-established the old rule all over Egypt. It was quite natural that when they drove out these shepherds that had held their country they would hold in mind no longer Joseph, who was a prime minister under the Hyksos kings, as the former kings had done. So they did not cherish the same kindly feeling toward the descendants of Jacob as the former kings had done. That part of Egyptian history every student ought to be familiar with, as it explains how this new king knew not Joseph.

Now, from Exodus 1:9, we have what is called a great state problem. Don’t you make any mistake – it was a problem. Always in history there has been a problem when there has been an imperium in imperio, a nation within a nation, a people within a people, differing in customs and feelings. What are you going to do with them when they are side by side, like the Moorish population in Spain? A fair illustration is the Negro population in the South. We find that to be a real problem, too. Here we have 10,000,000 Negroes and most of them in the South, a different race of people; it is a hazardous situation. Now the new kings of Egypt found that great problem; a great population that looked like it was going to be greater than the Egyptian population. The Egyptians did not multiply. Notice what the king said, "Behold, the people of Israel are more and mightier than we; come, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to pass that, when there falleth out any war, they join themselves also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and get them up out of the land." He did not want to lose all that population, and yet he did not know what to do with that problem. So he called his council together and considered what should be done. A nation is always in danger when it comes to deal with a people inside of its own boundaries that are not homogeneous. That is the greatest problem England has today in dealing with Ireland. They do not assimilate. Scotland did assimilate. The English and Irish differ in religion and in everything. They are really different in racial origin, one Celtic and other Teutonic.

Let us see what measures this king adopted: (1) He enslaved them. Heretofore they had not been slaves. You notice the position they occupied in Goshen on one of the mouths of the Nile that was nearest to the Holy Land, where the great Hittite and Philistine nations were. Really, just at the time there had been great wars between the Hittite nation and the Egyptians, and if the Hittites were to invade Egypt like the Hyksos they would first strike Goshen where they would find a large population, almost as large as the Egyptians, and they might join hands, and it would then be only a few hours’ march to the greatest cities of Egypt. So the king determined to make slaves out of them.

"Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh storecities, Pithom and Rameses." The pyramids were already built, and had been built before Abraham, but they built these treasure cities. If you were to go there today you would find the foundation of that great city of Rameses, built of sundried brick like the adobe houses of Mexico, of mixed mortar and straw. All the land in Egypt belonged to the king, from the time of Joseph. The people held the land as tenants of the king, and these treasure cities were built to hold his revenue.

QUESTIONS
1. What evidence of the direct connection with Genesis?

2. What race trials in Genesis?

3. What trial in Exodus?

4. Name the books commended on Exodus.

5. What works of fiction mentioned?

6. What evidence of the literary activity in the time of Moses?

7. Briefly, how do you clear the chronological difficulty of Genesis 16:13; Exodus 12:40-41; Acts 7:6; Galatians 3:17?

8. Give proof from the book of Exodus that the people had changed largely from pastoral people to agriculturists and artisans

9. Give evidence that Israel increased rapidly in Egypt and how was their endurance symbolized?

10. Explain bow the new king knew not Joseph.

11. What great state problem did the new king find?

12. What two modern illustrations of this problem?

13. What policy did the king adopt?

14. Did it succeed and why?

15. What is meant by the treasure cities that the Israelites built for the Egyptians?

Verses 15-22

IV

BIRTH AND PREPARATION OF MOSES

Exodus 1:15-2:22

We come now to a resumption of our study of the book of Exodus. The last chapter closed while we were considering that great state problem: What the dominant people of a nation should do with an entirely distinct people in their boundaries is always a critical question to deal with, and it is always best to deal with it in righteousness.

The expedients to which Pharaoh resorted: (1) The enslavement of the people; (2) Two different methods to bring about the destruction of the male children as they were born. Both failed; they continued to multiply.

Now we come to the greatest man (his impress on the world is ineffaceable) – the greatest man unless, perhaps, we except Abraham, in Jewish history, Moses, a marvelous man. We ought very carefully to study this man’s life, which is divided into three periods of forty years each, exactly: (1) From his birth up to forty years of age, when he made his great decision that he would not be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, including his birth, early life, education, and his deeds while he was a part of the court of Pharaoh; (2) The period of retirement, forty years in Midian; (3) The forty years extending from God’s call in the burning bush until his death. In that last period comes most of the book of Exodus, all of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, Psalm 90 and all the other things that he did. This is the period of his literary activity and his great deeds.

Moses was of the tribe of Levi. Exodus states it thus: "And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi." That was during the time of the law that

every male child should be cast into the river. That injunction rested upon every Egyptian and upon all Jewish parents. This last law came into effect between the birth of Aaron and the birth of Moses. This family had two children before this law went into effect, Miriam the oldest, and Aaron, who was three years older than Moses. When Moses was born three terms were used to describe the child, one in Exodus 2, one in Acts 7, and one in Hebrews II.

Exodus 2 says, "When she saw him that he was a goodly child"

Acts 7 says, "When she saw that he was exceeding fair."

Hebrews 11 says, "When she saw he was a proper child." These words describe this baby as the mother saw him. From the traditions that confirm the statements here, he was a remarkable specimen of the physical as well as the mental man. Philo and Josephus go into ecstasies. They say that when Moses as a boy walked along the street the women would come out and stand at the doors to look at him. When he grew to be a man he attracted attention, as a man of presence. There are very few men of presence who, as soon as they are seen, impress you. General Sam Houston would impress you 100 yards off. He had more presence than any other man I ever saw. I was a boy when I first saw him, but I recognized him 100 yards off. Sam Houston could not walk down the street without people coming out to look at him.

The next thing that we learn about Moses, as in Hebrews 11:25, is: "By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months by his parents, because they saw he was a goodly child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment." Here is a case of simple faith on the part of the parents of the child. They seemed to recognize that in that child was much of the future of their people. Their faith took hold of it, that God meant to do great things through that baby, and that faith was so strong that it cast out fear. The king’s command was his: "Cast this child into the Nile." They hid him. When they could not hide him longer, and the king said "Cast him into the Nile," still they were not afraid. They cast him into the Nile, but took precaution to put him where he would not be injured. They constructed a little vessel of bulrushes and put him in that; and their faith did not stop at that, for they stationed their eldest child to watch. They put him right where they knew the king’s daughter came down to bathe. Someone has said, "How could she dare to bathe in the Nile on account of crocodiles?" There were no crocodiles that low down in the Nile. Look at the faith of the parents of that child: that God meant great things for that child and, through him, for his people; that the king’s command was not going to interfere with God’s purpose; their faith taking steps for his preservation, and their steps were to induce a member of the royal family to foster the future deliverer of the nation.

The next thing is to know what opportunity the child’s parents had to make a religious impression on his mind. They arranged it so that the mother of the child should nurse him. She had the boy, until he was weaned, under her exclusive control. You let a mother have faith about a child and have complete charge of him until he is weaned, and she will make a great many religious impressions upon his mind. It is not to be supposed, then, that all connection between her and the child was broken off. We do not know that Moses ever, for one moment, supposed himself to be an Egyptian, and never for one moment was he, in heart, identified with the Egyptians; so that evidently in that early period of his life, deep religious impressions were made upon his mind.

The next step was in regard to his name. Pharaoh’s daughter called him "Moses," saying, "Because I drew him out of the water." An examination question will be: Give the derivation of the name of Moses. And you need not bother your mind with critical statements about some other origin of the name. The Bible says that this is the true origin; Josephus says it is; and it can be fairly deduced from the name itself.

The next statement about him is his education. Acts 7 comes in here: "And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds." Now, if you have given attention to what the education of a royal child in Egypt signified, you have some conception of the preparation in this man’s life. We think it is awful to have to go to college for four years. This man’s preparation extended over eighty years, for forty years’ work. I repeat to you again, that only prepared men ever do great things. It is simply impossible for unprepared men to do really great things. Shakespeare says that some men have greatness thrust upon them, but he means a very short-lived greatness, one that soon vanishes. Now, this record further states that he was mighty in words and in deeds. Evidently this refers to military matters. In Egypt great men were utilized in the priesthood or in bureaucracies. The king was an autocrat; arid all things were managed by bureaus, such as the bureau of agriculture, government of provinces, etc. Or he could enter the military life. As the royal family were especially devoted to military affairs, it is very probable, as Josephus says, that Moses commanded an expedition against the Ethiopians in a great war, and won a signal triumph.

This brings the boy up to forty years. Let us see what the Scripture says about that. Acts 7: "And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren." Verse 11 says, "And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown up, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens." The question now comes up: How did it come into Moses’ heart to make that visit of inspection to his brethren? The only way it could occur to him is by considering this passage in Hebrews II (which it seems to me is the most remarkable statement in the Bible): "By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; choosing rather to share ill-treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; accounting the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he looked unto the recompense of reward."

Now faith rests on some word of God presented: "Faith comes by hearing." What do you suppose was the word of God to Moses? We infer what it was by a statement in Acts 7, where Stephen says that when he intervened between two of the Hebrews who were quarrelling, he supposed that they would understand that God was to deliver them through him. He understood it, and supposed that they would understand. So that when he was forty years old evidently a communication was made to him from God to this effect: "You are to deliver this people Israel." Now he had faith. Therefore, he had to make a decision. He came to where the roads forked.

I remember when I first preached a sermon on this text. I was a young preacher. The town of Bryan was just being built. The railroad had just reached there. They invited me to preach, and I preached on this subject: "The Choice of Moses." I have the sermon now. It was published. I drew a picture of a man forty years old, not a child. I commenced by saying, "It is the custom of infidels to claim that religion is for weak-minded women and for children. Here was not a weak-minded person but a mature, strong man, the best educated man of his age, the brightest man whose power was unquestioned; and this man came to the forks of the road. When he looked down the left-hand road, what could he see? (1) The position of a prince, the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; (2) The pleasure of sin; (3) The treasures of that position, viz.: honor, pleasure, treasure, not his to be had by working for them, but his already, in his possession. Now, what induced him to discount that? First, these pleasures were those of sin, and these treasures were those of evil. He knew how they had been gotten by rapacious wars. So the character of the honor, the pleasure, and the treasure dispounted them. What else discounted them? ’For a season.’ They are transient. The honor, the pleasure, and the treasure all had written over them: ’Passing away.’ What other thought? The recompense of the reward, that is, The Outcome. Pleasure is sweet; treasure is desirable; honor is gratifying; but if these are bad in character, transitory in their nature, and the ultimate reward is evil, a wise man ought not to walk in that road."

Let us see what he saw on the other side. (1) "Choosing afflictions," (2) reproach, (3) the giving up of that which he had; renunciation, affliction, and reproach. But now what was the character of these? If he renounced this high position, it was because they were not his people; that if he chose this affliction, it was an affliction with the people of God; and if he was to bear this reproach, it was the reproach of Christ, the coming Messiah. So you see his faith, even then, rested clearly on the coming Messiah. Now the last thing is, the recompense of the reward: (1) Not for a season, but for all time; the other was transitory. There a man forty years old, learned, great, stood and looked down both these roads, first at this picture then at that; instituting a comparison that might be a basis of decision. This path commences bright and gets dark. The other commences dark, but becomes brighter. This fire bordered; that satin. But as a thinker and an intelligent man, he must press the question to its outcome. How does it end? The principle by which he made that decision was faith. He believed in God, in the promises made to his people; that he was the appointed deliverer of his people. He believed that in the end he would have higher honor, sweeter pleasure, richer treasure, and more alluring reward, if he took that right-hand road. It would be very interesting to trace the life of Moses out, to see whether he made a good choice or a bad one. His life was very much afflicted all the time he was trying to deliver his people. He had to die alone, with nobody near him; to be buried, nobody knew where. But the outcome is glorious. He is seen in consultation with Jesus Christ upon the Mount of Transfiguration. He wrote one of the hymns of heaven, which not only made him immortal on earth, but immortal throughout eternity. He wrote the Pentateuch, the basis of all good government, recognized by all of the leading nations of the world as the very foundation of jurisprudence. So that in literature the way he decided was well. In personal reward he did well.

I shall never forget the first sermon I ever heard Major Penn preach. He was then holding a protracted meeting, and a big crowd was out. That old First Church down there in Waco was brimful. He got up and said:

"What is the first thing? The first thing is decision. Now if you are incapable of making a decision, the sexton will open the door and let you out. You need not stay here. But if you have stamina enough in you to reach a decision, a conclusion, when a matter is fairly presented to you, I would like for you to come up and take a front seat, and let me tell you what I want you to decide on. I want you, without any singing or any sermon, just simply on the point, that if a matter is presented to you that you will decide one way or the other, to come up and take a front seat. Are you afraid to come? Are you afraid to pledge yourselves to a decision? If you just simply want to hear me talk and not decide, and do nothing, the sexton will let you out and you can go home. But if you will engage to listen fairly to what I have to say, and then, so help you God, you will decide, come up and take a front seat."

That was a great talk. It made a tremendous impression. I saw men who had never made a move in their lives just get right up and take a front seat. When he got them up there, about fifty or sixty men and women, he just stood down before them, and talked to them, and showed them the things on which they were to make a decision; and he would not let them get up and leave until they had made a decision one way or the other. Some of them were converted the first day; some as soon as they had started on that pledge that they would reach a conclusion. What is it that Shakespeare says of something that "causes all our resolutions to turn awry and lose the name of action"? What is it that Patrick Henry said when he was trying to get the House of Burgesses to come to a decision: "Shall we gain strength by irresolution and inaction?" What does anybody ever gain by such a course?

Take the first period of the life of Moses, and we find it all preparatory. God had made a revelation to him that he was to deliver the people. He believed that through that people Christ would come. He could not have made that decision without faith. Faith was the great principle that caused his parents to defy the authority of the mighty king and not to have fear of him. Faith conquers the world.

Now we come to the mistake of Moses. Bob Ingersoll talks about the mistakes of Moses, but what he calls mistakes are not mistakes. We do come to a mistake, though. It was not a mistake to turn around and say, "I deliberately, voluntarily, and forever step down and out; I refuse any longer to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; I do not belong there. That is not my crowd; I cast my lot with these afflicted people." No mistake was there. "Now, I am going to take a look at my people. I’m going to visit them and see for myself how these burdens are put on them." No mistake is there. Where, then, did Moses make a mistake? He made the kind of mistake that Rebekah and Jacob made. There was a promise of God that the elder should serve the younger; and so they concluded that they would hurry up God’s purpose. And Moses sinned by not waiting for God’s providence to open the way by which he was to deliver the people. He ought not to have shaken the hourglass and tried to make the sand run out faster. When he saw that taskmaster inhumanly and unjustly smiting a Hebrew, he killed him. God did not tell him that that was the way it was to be done. God said, "You must deliver my people," but he did not tell him to do it on his own judgment. He covered the Egyptian up in the sand; possessed with the same idea that when he saw two of his brethren quarrelling he just stepped up with the air of a deliverer and began to settle that case, and they refused to be settled. In other words, he came without credentials and with only his "say-so," and with no proof from God that he was to deliver the people. So they rejected him and Pharaoh sought to kill him.

Turn again to Hebrews 11:27: "By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible." Now, his going out of Egypt is not generally understood. A great many people say he was a coward and was afraid. He fled by faith, under divine promptings. It was not the fear of the king that drove him into banishment, but he seemed to understand that his preparation was not complete) and there was something he had not yet received, and all through that forty years of the second period of his life "he endured as seeing him who is invisible."

Now, let us look at that forty-years’ period. He concluded to go where he would be out of the power of Pharaoh and he went to the safest place in the Sinaitic Peninsula, partly occupied by the Midianites and partly by the Amalekites; and he comes like Eliezer and Jacob came, and like everybody else in those desert countries comes, to the well. The well was a great place of meeting, just like a windmill in South Texas. There he sees some girls, as they frequently water the cattle in those countries; and some shepherds were driving them away.

Moses was a soldier and he never stopped to count. The chivalry in which he had been reared in the character of a prince, urged him forward, and he put those herdsmen to flight, and helped the girls water the cattle. That is a fair mark of esteem to young ladies, and always will be. Just let a man show that he is a man, and has a respectful and kind feeling for womanhood, the name of mother, wife and sister, and that he will not see brutal men trample on the rights, privileges and courtesies that are due to the woman, and that man is going to be popular with the women, and justly so. His very bearing announced that he was a kingly man, and according to the rapid manner in which such things are consummated, he married.

This Midianitish sheik to whom he came gave him one of his daughters, Zipporah, who was sometimes called the Ethiopian woman. Therefore, some people say that Moses married a Negress. There is not a word of truth in it. There was a "Cush" in Africa, but there was also a "Cush" in Southern Arabia, not like some who made the Midianites the descendants of Esau. If you will read Genesis 25, you will find that Midian was a descendant of Abraham, through Keturah; that the Midianites and Ishmaelites lived together. They were close akin; one, the descendants of Abraham through Keturah; the other the descendants of Abraham through Hagar. After all, that marriage of Moses was not a good marriage. That wife never sympathized with the great work that God had given him to do, and she "cut up" much when he circumcised the first child which Moses weakly allowed her to govern. So the second child was not circumcised; and it almost cost him his life, as we shall soon learn. There is not a line in the Bible which shows that that woman stood up to her husband in any godly thing which he attempted to do. But he stayed there and in that forty years he got an education of incalculable value.

The sublimity of the great mountain scenery, the solitude of those desert plains, the silent communing with God under a brilliant galaxy of stars that shine brighter there than perhaps in any other portion of the world; there he meditated; there he came in touch with the people of the book of Job. There I think he wrote that book of Job, which I think is the first book of the Bible written, suggesting the afflictions of his people unjustly being ground to powder, harmonizing with the thoughts of the book of Job, viz.: afflictions sent upon the righteous through no fault of theirs. Job was a contemporary of Moses. It was the easiest thing in the world for him to get in touch with all the history. There he studies the ways of getting through that wilderness, and a man needs a guide) even now, through that country. He learned all about the water courses, and the proper stopping places; how to endure the desert life for forty years; forty years of the greatest displays of divine power that the world has ever witnessed.

Now, in this chapter we can go no further. That forty years is ended, and we will next take up the beginning of the last forty years of the life of Moses, when God comes to him and says) "I told you at first that you were to deliver this people. The time has come. I will show you how to do it."

QUESTIONS

1. Derivation of the word "Moses"?

2. Give names of his tribe, parents, brother, and sister.

3. What oppressive Egyptian law was in force at his birth?

4. What three passages of Scripture describe his physical appearance at birth, and what traditions of his presence and beauty of person?

5. How did the faith of his parents in three distinct particulars save the child from the Egyptian law?

6. What opportunities had his parents to preoccupy his mind with the faith of his father, and the evidence of their success?

7. What of the Old Testament material for a life of Moses?

8. Cite the special New Testament Scriptures throwing light on his life.

9. Into what three equal periods was his life divided?

10. How much of his 120 years was devoted to preparation, compare this with the period of preparation in the case of John the Baptist, and of our Lord, and the bearing of these facts on the time, labor and cost we should devote to the preparation for our life’s work?

11. What are the constituent elements of his education in this long preparation-? Ans. – His home training fixing character and faith; Egyptian education of a prince; service in official positions in Egypt; forty years of retirement and meditation.

12. In what did "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians" consist? (Have you read Tom Moore’s Epicwean?) Ans. – The Egyptian learning was very great in mathematics, mechanics, astronomy, agriculture, architecture, hieroglyphics and symbols, government, economics, sanitation, embalming, war, diplomacy etc. The priestly ritual and theology was extensive, mystical, burdensome, and most of it profitless.

13. How did retirement and meditation in Midian for so long & time prove helpful to his character and work in the active period of his life, and what is the great defect of modern preparation.

14. What New Testament apostle sought retirement, and for how long, in this very region, before commencing active work? What evidences of its helpfulness to him?

15. At what age did he make his great decision?

16. What New Testament passage indicates that a previous revelation from God as to his future work influenced this decision?

17. Cite precisely the New Testament statement of this choice.

18. According to this statement, by what principle or grace was the choice made?

19. Following the lecture, analyze this New Testament passage as if for a sermon outline (see also the author’s sermon on "Choice of Moses").

20. What the literary productions of Moses and their importance, and show that, so far as literary fame is concerned, the "recompense of the reward" to which he looked was greater and more enduring than could have come from resting in the "learning of the Egyptians." Answer: (1) The Pentateuch; (2) Psalm 90; and probably the book of Job. From this psalm is a song which is, and will be sung in heaven.

21. Wherein did Moses make a mistake in his first effort to be a deliverer? Answer: (1) As to time; the predicted time of deliverance had not come; (2) as to method – deliverance was not to be by the sword; (3) as to readiness – on hia own part, Israel’s part and Pharaoh’s part.

22. Cite New Testament passage showing that a motive mightier than fear of Pharaoh, as set forth in Exodus 2:14-15, influenced his voluntary exile.

23. What were the ties of kindred between Israelites, Ishmaelites and Midianites?

24. Locate Midian and show its touch with the land of Job.

25. What are the arguments tending to prove that Moses in Midian wrote the book of Job as the first Bible book written? Answers: (1) As Midian, where Moses lived forty years, touched Job’s country, as there was much intercommunication, as both were occupied by Semite population, Moses had exceptional opportunity to learn of Job. (2) All the internal evidence shows that Job lived in patriarchal times, anywhere between Abraham and Moses, and all the idioms of speech in the book show that the author lived near the times of the scenes described. No late author could have so projected his style so far back. (3) The correspondences between the Pentateuch and the book of Job are abundant and marvelous. (4) The man who wrote the song of deliverance at the Red Sea and the matchless poems at the close of Deuteronomy 32-33 is just the man to write the poetic drama of Job. (5) The problem of the book of Job, the undeserved afflictions of the righteous, was the very problem of the people of Moses. (6) The profound discussions in the book call for just such learning, wisdom, philosophy, and Oriental fire as Moses alone of his age possessed. (7) The existence and malevolence of a superhuman evil spirit (Job 1-2) alone could account for these afflictions, a being of whom Job himself might be ignorant, but well known to Moses in the power behind the magicians and idolatries of Egypt. (8) The purpose of the book to show, first, the necessity of a written revelation (Job 31:35) and, second, the necessity of a Daysman, Mediator, Redeemer (Job 9:33) to stand between God and sinful man, both point to a period when there was no written revelation and no clear understanding of the office of the Daysman in the plan of salvation, and the necessity of a manifestation of God, visible, audible, palpable and approachable (Job 3:3-9) – all indicate a period when there was no Bible, but a desire for one, revealing the Daysman and forecasting his incarnation, and make the presumption strong that Job was the first book of the Bible to be written – and such a book could find no author but Moses. (9) The book must have been written by a Jew to obtain a place in the canon of the Scriptures. All the conditions meet in Moses and in him alone of all men.