Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 1.djvu/269

Rh very strong; he had a fair opportunity (as we say) to make his fortune, and to have been serviceable to Israel too, with his interest at court; he was obliged, in gratitude as well as interest, to Pharaoh's daughter, and yet he obtained a glorious victory by faith over his temptation. He reckoned it much more his honour and advantage to be a son of Abraham, than to be the son of Pharaoh's daughter. 2. His tender concern for his poor brethren in bondage, with whom (though he might easily have avoided it) he chose to suffer affliction; he looked on their burthens, as one that not only pitied them, but was resolved to venture with them, and, if occasion were, to venture for them.

II. He gives a specimen of the great things he was afterward to do for God and his Israel, in two little instances, related particularly by Stephen, (Acts 7. 23, &c.) with design to show how their fathers had always resisted the Holy Ghost, (v. 51.) even in Moses himself, when he first appeared as their deliverer, wilfully shutting their eyes against this day-break of their enlargement. He found himself, no doubt, under a divine direction and impulse in what he did, and that he was in an extraordinary manner called of God to it. Now, observe,

1. Moses was afterward to be employed in plaguing the Egyptians for the wrongs they had done to God's Israel; and, as a specimen of that, he killed the Egyptian who smote the Hebrew; (v. 11, 12.) probably, it was one of the Egyptian task-masters, whom he found abusing his Hebrew slave, a relation (as some think) of Moses, a man of the same tribe. It was by special warrant from Heaven, (which makes not a precedent in ordinary cases,) that Moses slew the Egyptian, and rescued his oppressed brother. The Jews' tradition is, that he did not slay him with any weapon, but, as Peter slew Ananias and Sapphira, with the word of his mouth. His hiding him in the sand signified, that hereafter Pharaoh and all his Egyptians should, under the control of the rod of Moses, be buried in the sand of the Red-sea. His taking care to execute this justice privately, when no man saw, was a piece of needful prudence and caution, it being but an assay, and perhaps his faith was yet weak, and what he did, was with some hesitation. Those who come to be of great faith, yet began with a little, and at first spake trembling.

2. Moses was afterward to be employed in governing Israel, and, as a specimen of that, we have him here trying to end a controversy between two Hebrews, in which he is forced (as he did afterward for forty years) to suffer their manners. Observe here,

(1.) The unhappy quarrel which Moses observed between two Hebrews, v. 13. It does not appear what was the occasion; but, whatever it was, it was certainly very unseasonable for Hebrews to strive with one another, when they were all oppressed and ruled with rigour by the Egyptians. Had they not beating enough from the Egyptians, but they must beat one another? Note, [1.] Even sufferings in common do not always unite God's professing people to one another, so much as one might reasonably expect. [2.] When God raises up instruments of salvation for the church, they will find enough to do, not only with oppressing Egyptians, to restrain them, but with quarrelsome Israelites, to reconcile them.

(2.) The way he took of dealing with them: he marked him that caused the division, that did the wrong, and mildly reasoned with him, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? The injurious Egyptian was killed, the injurious Hebrew was only reprimanded; for what the former did, was from a rooted malice; what the latter did, we may suppose, was only upon a sudden provocation. The wise God makes, and according to his example, all wise governors make, a difference between one offender and another, according to the several qualities of the same offence. Moses endeavoured to make them friends; a good office; thus we find Christ often reproving his disciples' strife; (Luke 9. 46, &c.—22. 24, &c.) for he was a Prophet like unto Moses, a healing Prophet, a Peace-Maker, who visited his brethren with a design to slay all enmities. The reproof Moses gave on this occasion, may still be of use, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? Note, Smiting our fellows is bad in any, especially in Hebrews; smiting with tongue or hand, either in a way of persecution, or in a way of strife and contention. Consider the person thou smitest; it is thy fellow, thy fellow-creature, thy fellow-christian, it is thy fellow-servant, thy fellow-sufferer. Consider the cause, Wherefore smitest? Perhaps it was for no cause at all, or no just cause, or none worth speaking of.

(3.) The ill success cf his attempt; (v. 14.) He said, Who made thee a prince? He that did the wrong, thus quarrelled with Moses; the injured party, it should seem, was inclinable enough to peace, but the wrong-doer was thus touchy. Note, It is a sign of guilt to be impatient of reproof; and it is often easier to persuade the injured to bear the trouble of taking wrong, than the injurious to bear the conviction of having done wrong, 1 Cor. 6. 6..8. It was a very wise and mild reproof which Moses gave to this quarrelsome Hebrew, but he cannot bear it, he kicks against the pricks, (Acts 9. 5.) and crosses questions with his reprover. [1.] He challenges his authority; Who made thee a prince? A man needs no great authority for the giving of a friendly reproof, it is an act of kindness; yet this man needs will interpret it an act of dominion, and represents his reprover as imperious and assuming. Thus when people dislike good discourse or a seasonable admonition, they will call it preaching, as if a man could not speak a word for God, and against sin, but he took too much upon him. Yet Moses was indeed a prince and a judge, and knew it, and thought the Hebrews would have understood it, and struck in with him, but they stood in their own light, and thrust him away, Acts 7. 25, 27. [2.] He upbraids him with what he had done in killing the Egyptian; Intendest thou to kill me? See what base constructions malice puts upon the best words and actions. Moses, for reproving him, is immediately charged with a design to kill him. An attempt upon his sin was interpreted an attempt upon his life; and his having killed the Egyptian was thought sufficient to justify the suspicion; as if Moses made no difference between an Egyptian and a Hebrew. If Moses, to right an injured Hebrew, had put his life in his hand, and slain an Egyptian, he ought therefore to have submitted to him, not only as a friend to the Hebrews, but as a friend that had more than ordinary power and zeal. But he throws that in his teeth as a crime, which was bravely done, and was intended as a specimen of the promised deliverance; if the Hebrews had taken the hint, and come in to Moses as their head and captain, it is probable that they would have been delivered now; but, despising their deliverer, their deliverance was justly deferred, and their bondage prolonged forty years; as, afterward, their despising of Canaan kept them out of it forty years more. I would, and ye would not. Note, Men know not what they do, nor what enemies they are to their own interests, when they resist and despise faithful reproofs and reprovers. When the Hebrews strove with Moses, God sent him away into Midian, and they never heard of him for forty years; thus the things that belonged to their peace,