EXPOSITION V.

EXODUS ii. 11-15.

11. And it came to pass in those days when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burthens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren.

12. And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.

13. And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?

14. And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known.

15. Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.

WE are indebted to the writings of the New Testament for very important lights upon the most difficult passages of the Old; and upon none more than the portion of Scripture we have just

been reading. Had nothing been revealed, except what is here told us, we should have only known that Moses had left the house of Pharaoh's daughter, and had gone to Goshen to visit his brethren, and had there acted in a very heroic, but in what, perhaps, might have been deemed a very violent and unjustifiable manner; for have not the Scriptures said, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord?" But upon turning to the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, we have a most valuable explanation of the motives which dictated the conduct of the prophet; for we there find it distinctly stated, "By faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward." And still further, we learn from St. Stephen, that Moses, when he smote the Egyptian, "supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not." Now it is clear from this, that Moses must himself have received some direct revelation from the Almighty upon the subject, or he would no more have understood or imagined so impro

bable a fact than his brethren. He, therefore, at the age of forty, voluntarily left the house of Pharaoh's daughter, not on a mere visit of curiosity to Goshen, but with a determination to take up his abode among his brethren: he deliberately refused the adoption to wealth and honours, which was offered him at the court of Pharaoh, and at once, and unhesitatingly, cast in his lot with the people of God, bearing their reproach. It is evident from what we have seen, that all that he did was done advisedly and by direct inspiration from on high, and that Moses chose the portion of a fugitive and an alien, simply at God's bidding, and because "he had respect unto the recompense of the reward," and like his pious ancestors, " desired a better country, that is, an heavenly."

What an admirable and striking example for the Christian!. Never was the true church of God at so low an ebb, as in the brickkilns of Egypt-never did the world bid higher for a follower, than in the court of Pharaoh; and yet by divine grace had this consistent servant of the Most High strength and resolution to prefer "the reproach of Christ" to all these treasures and immunities, and voluntarily to unite himself to those who were suffering the world's enmity and the world's wrong.

Let no one, then, attempt to shelter himself, while disobedient to God's express command to "come out and be separate" from the sinful pleasures and practices of the world, by a reference to his peculiar position, rank, or station. Let no one say, this may be sufficiently easy for those whom Providence has placed in the middle or lower walks of life, but for me it is impossible. Be assured that God gives no general commands, without offering to each and to all, grace and strength, and power to fulfil them; and if any individual fail, it will be vain to plead his worldly circumstances in extenuation. For if his difficulties be greater than those of others, hath not God expressly said, that he "giveth more grace; more in proportion to the trial to be borne, the temptation to be resisted, the impediments to be overcome?

We can scarcely imagine a situation of such overwhelming opposition to spiritual feelings and holy conduct as that of Moses. Forty years' residence in an idolatrous palace; the offer to be recognised as the son of Pharaoh's daughter, with all the incalculable worldly advantages to which such an adoption would assuredly lead; while, on the other hand the certainty of oppression, contempt, and poverty, if he relinquished these splendid prospects; and yet in the face of

all this, he firmly and deliberately chose "the reproach of Christ," and went out, "not knowing whither he went;" satisfied that, if he conscientiously forsook the evil, he might safely leave it to God to choose for him the good, and that while endeavouring to please God, he was certainly promoting his own temporal and eternal felicity.

Happy, thrice happy are they who have grace to walk in such footsteps, to believe in God's own declaration, that "the friendship of the world is enmity with God: " to forsake its broad road, and wide gate, and crowded paths, and to join that little company who are in every age earnestly seeking, in a life of unworldliness and self-denial, to take up the cross and to follow Christ now, and who shall hereafter " follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth."

EXPOSITION VI.

EXODUS ii. 16-25.

16. Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.

17. And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.