MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Exodus 10:27-29
THE INTERCOURSE OF LIFE
I. That good men are often brought into contact with bad men. Moses was brought into constant contact with Pharaoh. Thus we see:—
1. That good men are brought into contact with bad irrespective of moral character. The degraded tyrant and the faithful servant of God meet together in the common intercourse of life. Sometimes on errands of moral significance. What a diversity of character is observable in the throngs of life. The pure soul shines all the more brightly for its contrast with the unholy by whom it is surrounded.
2. That good men are brought into contact with bad irrespective of mental temperament. Pharaoh and Moses were opposite in mental temperament. The one was selfish, the other was generous; the one oppressed the weak, the other defended the weak (Exodus 2:17); the one was proud, the other was humble; the one was deceptive, the other was conscientious and faithful; the one was hard of heart, the other was meek in disposition. And so, men of the most divergent temperaments and dispositions are brought together in the ordinary intercourse of life.
3. That good men are brought into contact with bad irrespective of social position. The despised Hebrew is brought into contact with the proud King of Egypt; the humble shepherd is brought into the presence of the great monarch. And so, men of the extremes of social position are brought together in the ordinary intercourse of daily life. And why?
1. That men may be imbued with the ideas of a common manhood.
2. That class prejudices may be destroyed.
3. That charity may be developed.
4. That life may become a unity.
II. That when good men are brought into contact with bad men the meeting should be educational to both.
1. The companionship of the good should be influential to the moral improvement of the bad. Pharaoh ought to have been morally improved by his contact with Moses and Aaron; he ought to have profited by their instruction, by their fidelity, and by a study of their characters. Their method of life ought to have been a rebuke to him. Bad men should gather inspiration from the actions, words, and silent but holy influence of a godly life. These are educational.
2. The companionship of the bad should inspire the good with feelings of gratitude and humility. Would not Moses and Aaron be grateful that they were different in moral disposition from the tyrant Pharaoh? They would adore the distinguished mercy of God to them. A sight of the conduct of a wicked man ought to awaken a pure soul to a remembrance of the mercy of heaven. It also ought to produce deep humility; in that good men might have been far otherwise than they are.
III. That when good men are brought into contact with bad men, the meeting is not always valued as it ought to be and its opportunity for good is often unimproved. Pharaoh did not value as he ought to have done the companionship of Moses and Aaron, who were divinely sent to influence him aright. He did not make a good use of the opportunity they presented to him of understanding God and truth. He was the worse for their advice. And so it is, if wicked men do not profit by the companionship of the good, they are morally injured by it. LESSONS:—
1. That a good life is a heavenly ministry.
2. That good men should seek to influence the bad aright.
3. That good men may learn lessons from wicked lives.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Exodus 10:27-29. The more persecutors are hardened the more they oppress God’s Church.
Hardened sinners command God’s ministers to depart from them when they faithfully speak for God.
The way in which hardened sinners treat the messengers of God:—
1. With contempt.
2. With threatenings of evil.
3. With banishment.
The way in which messengers of God treat hardened sinners:—
1. They scorn their taunts.
2. They impart to the language of the wicked a deeper significance than was intended.
3. They are courageous.
4. They bid them a sad farewell.
ILLUSTRATIONS
BY
REV. WM. ADAMSON
Soul-Humility! Exodus 10:3. It is not that God exults in showing us that He is greatest, and we must yield. Rabshakehs and Cæsars may take pleasure in forcing rebels to humble themselves; but it affords Jehovah no satisfaction to put the conqueror’s foot upon the captive’s neck. Such is not the treatment which humble souls receive at His hands. Cyrus and Antiochus might want to get the princes of surrounding sovereignties, where they could lord it over them, and show their power. No so God. He could do that better by our continued resistance than by our surrender; by our contending in strife against Him with all our power to the last. But He sought to bring Pharaoh and his subjects to a real spirit of soul-humility, that He might exalt them—that He might extend towards them the sceptre of gracious acceptancy—and that He might shower down upon their homes and hearts—not plagues but privileges.
“Complete Thy purpose, that we may become
Thy perfect image, O our Lord and God.”
Locusts! Exodus 10:4. There are several species. They are described in Jamieson’s Commentary as resembling a large, spotted, red-and-black, double-winged grasshopper, with two hind legs working like hinged springs of immense strength and elasticity. They are frequently referred to in the Bible as one of the great scourges of the East, and the details concerning them have been verified by numerous travellers—justifying Pharaoh’s exclamation in Exodus 5:17, “this death.” No doubt, the distance which these dark locust masses had come would whet their naturally voracious appetites, and aggravate the appalling desolation which they were accustomed to leave behind. In one of the papyri, the locust is mentioned as the common enemy of the husbandman. In the province of Nejed, in Arabia, having destroyed the harvest, they penetrated by thousands into the private dwellings, and devoured even the leather of the water vessels. Major Moore describes a cloud of locusts extending over 500 miles, and so compact on the wing that, like an eclipse, it completely hid the sun. Such are the judicial visitations of Divine Providence upon the godless nations of the earth, the devouring appetites of the moral and social locust-hosts of anarchy, the God-obscuring properties of the cloud-throng of infidelity. See Joel 1:6 and Nahum 3:15. And these judgments are appointed
“Thus to keep daring mortals more in awe.”
—Young.
Wicked Heart! Exodus 10:10. A sceptic once asked Dr Nettleton how he came by his wicked heart? The Christian replied, “That is a question which does not concern you so much as another, viz., how you are to get rid of it.” As the man manifested no wish to hear anything on that point, but still pressed the question of how he came by his wicked heart, Dr Nettleton told him that his condition resembled that of a man who is drowning, while his friends are attempting to save his life. As he rises to the surface of the water, he exclaims, “How came I here?” From the bank one of his friends shouts, “Never mind that now; but take hold of the rope.” Suppose the infatuated man repeated his inquiry as to how he got into the foaming torrent, and spurned all proffered aid until his question was answered; what would be said as he sank to the bottom? What, but that he caused his own death, and deserved the doom? Thus
“Whether we drive, or whether we are driven,
If ill, ’tis ours; if good, the act of Heaven.”
—Dryden.
Repentance! Exodus 10:11. In the Greek it means a change of mind; and in the Hebrew it implies comfort of heart. There can be no abiding consolation of spirit, where there has been no genuine transformation of the mind. This is twofold:—attrition, as when a rock is broken by the springing of a mine; contrition, as when an iceberg floating southward, gradually melts beneath the warm of the gulf stream and the genial rays of the sun. The repentance of Pharaoh had not this latter. His heart resembled that asphalte pavement of our streets, which is softened temporarily under the potent influences of the summer noontide sun, but which is all the harder at the midnight hour for the previous partial softening.
“ ’Tis to bewail the sins thou didst commit,
And not commit those sins thou hast bewailed.”
—Quarles.
East Wind! Exodus 10:13. Locusts generally came into Egypt from Libya and Ethiopia; as Diodorus says, “In the spring-time, the south winds rise high, and drive an infinite number of locusts out of the desert of an extraordinary size.” But on this occasion they were brought from Arabia. Keil says that the fact of the wind blowing a day and a night before bringing the locusts shows that they came from a great distance, and therefore proved to the Egyptians that the omnipotence of Jehovah reached far beyond the borders of Egypt. How often God sends judgments from remote and far-away places to convince them that He is Jehovah afar off as well as nigh at hand!
“Soul of the world, supremely High,
Where—where shall man Thy potence fly?”
—Peter.
Locust-Symbols! Exodus 10:15. In Revelation 9:3, the Apocalyptic seer beholds locusts coming out of the smoke upon the earth. Unto them was given power as the scorpions of the earth. Their teeth were the teeth of lions, and their power was to hurt men. The locust was esteemed sacred in Greece, and the Athenians wore golden cicadæ or grasshoppers in their hair to denote the antiquity of their race. It was King James who said: “By locusts and grasshoppers understand monks and friars, who seem to fly a little from the earth, but are great devourers. They go in swarms, and seize upon the meadows, the fat and pleasant parts of the land.” As Volney says, The Tartars themselves are a less destructive enemy than these little animals. One would imagine that evil had followed their progress. Wherever they went, they caused the dreary image of winter to succeed in an instant to the rich scenery of spring. But Elliott shows that not of the myriad-hosts of monks are locusts a scriptural symbol. The locust-woe was really the invasion of the Saracenic armies, and the pest Mohammedanism which they brought with them. And just as through the forbearance of God, the plague passed off from Egypt without annihilating all; so the aggressive character of the Saracenic woe rolled away. As Gibbon says: The passion of the Saracens for war ceased. The luxury of the Caliphs, now established (712 A.D.) quietly at Bagdad, relaxed the nerves and terminated the progress of the Arab empire.
“It floats awhile, then floundering, sinks absorbed
Within that boundless sea it strove to grasp.”
—Bally.
Help! Help! Exodus 10:16. How intensely dark the night was, as a traveller started on his journey along an unfamiliar road. It was a broad way—smooth and pleasant enough to all appearance, and the man was hopeful and void of apprehension. As he went on, he was encountered by a stranger, who very urgently begged him not to proceed further, as ahead the road was rough and dangerous—passing through a lonely wild—with bogs and quagmires on each side. But the traveller laughed to scorn the sage advice, and proceeded on his way. The darkness deepened—the hedgerows disappeared—and the road could no longer be discerned from the rest of the surrounding country. Lonely cries were heard, which the traveller recognised as the call of the marsh-birds; so that he knew there were fenny places—possibly deep ditches and gloomy tarns around. Scarcely had he arrived at this conclusion than he plunged into a morass. The more he struggled to free himself, the more did he feel his limbs sinking in the mire, and his head and arms becoming entangled amongst the flags and rushes. Worn out and alarmed, he uttered a loud cry for help. It is answered, and presently a man with a lamp in hand appears to help him out. The foolish mocking traveller recognises his monitor on the earlier part of the road; but he does not now scorn his assistance. Pharaoh had ridiculed the remonstrances of Moses against pursuing a path of antagonism to God; now he appeals to Moses for help. Moses’ intercession prevailed, and so often do the prayers of the saints, urgently solicited by sinners, avail for the removal of Divine judgments.
“And beneath the great arch of the portal,
Through the streets of the City Immortal,
Is wafted the fragrance they shed.”
—Longfellow.
Locust-Lessons! Exodus 10:17. These insects are used for food. John the Baptist fed on them, and the Hottentots are glad when the locusts come, for they fatten upon them. Thus as locusts gathered, prepared, and eaten, prove a common and nutritious food; so trials properly used may become blessings. Out of the eater went forth meat, and out of the strong sweetness, is as true of the locust as the lion, and may be as true of the judgments of God as of the locusts. It is well for men to derive all the good they may and can from the trials of Divine appointment.
“Sometimes the souls He loves are riven
By tempests wild, and thus are driven
Nearer the better land.”
—Perry.
West Wind! Exodus 10:19. Orosius mentions a locust plague about 125 B.C., which happened in Africa, and adds that, after these living vermin had consumed all the herbage of the field, and had gone so far as to devour the bark and solid timber of the trees, a violent wind came and wafted them away in different portions ultimately to plunge them in the sea. Pliny states that the winds carry them off in vast swarms, upon which they fall into the ocean and seas of waters. Oh! when the breath of the Spirit of the living God is wafted upon the serried ranks of the locust-devourers of infidelity, how these voracious and selfish principles are swept away into the sea of oblivion! As a scourge upon the nations God uses them; and when their ungrateful task is done, He drowns them in the deep ocean of forgetfulness.
“A wave of dark oblivion’s sea
Then sweeps across their place.”
—Gould.
Darkness-Symbolism! Exodus 10:21. It has been remarked by Salter that darkness is the proper image and metaphor by which to represent moral ignorance. At midnight all that is fair and beautiful in nature is concealed. There are fields and forests, brooks and fountains, rivers and valleys; but gloom and confusion rest upon all this loveliness. And in like manner, as long as a man continues in moral darkness, there is a veil and confusion (as it were) upon God and Christ, upon heaven and eternity. These, bright and glorious in themselves, and bright and glorious in their radiance to the believer who walks in the light, are hid from the eyes of the walker in darkness. He sees—but how? As the traveller in the night, who mistakes some lovely rosebush for a demon being of unholy birth.
“Reason may strive, but reason strives in vain;
It cannot break the adamantine chain.”
Darkness-Lessons! Exodus 10:22. Men in the dark are in danger. Sailing once along a coast where a friend had suffered shipwreck, the scene which recalled his danger filled us with no fear. Why was this? Because, while his ship, on the night she ran ashore, was cutting her way through the gloom of a dense fog, we were ploughing the waters of a silver sea, where noble headlands, and pillared cliffs, and scattered islands, and surf-beaten reefs stood bathed in the brightest moonshine. There was no danger just because there was no darkness. The robe of night
“With sparkling brilliants guide the vessel on,
And now the land appears—the port is won.”
—Mark.
Artificial Light! Exodus 10:22. Herodotus records that at the sacrifice at Sais the assembly is held by night. They suspend before their houses in the open air lamps, which are filled with oil mixed with salt; a wick floats on the top, which will burn all night. The feast is called the Feast of Lamps. Such of the Egyptians as do not attend the ceremony burn lamps in like manner before their houses; so that all Egypt is illuminated. When, therefore, the great horror of darkness chained them to their seats, these worshippers would bethink themselves of the brilliant illumination of their artificial light. But in vain! They could have no lights whatever. And, when God leaves the hardened sinner in the outer darkness of condemnation, all artificial lights of human reason and philosophy falsely so called will be of no avail. They will be beyond the sinner’s reach, and will also themselves be quenched in the blackness of darkness. So that whatever show of courage sinners may display whilst their artificial lights gleam, yet all self-assurance will forsake them—
“As heroes, dauntless in the thickest fight,
At phantoms tremble in the darksome night.”
Darkness-Effects! Exodus 10:23. Modern discoveries have shown that the seeds of epidemic and miasmatic diseases are generated and exert their activity during the night, and in places unvisited by the solar beams. Darkness is favourable to their development. This is a true picture of the cause of sin’s development and growth. In proportion to the density of the gloom of mental and moral ignorance is the increase and fructification of sin. The Jews have a tradition that there were terrible alarms under the Egyptian canopy of darkness; that the devil and his angels were let loose during those three dreadful days, and that they had a wider range, a greater liberty than usual for working mischief. Such a thing seems to be referred to in Psalms 78:49. He sent, i.e., He permitted, evil angels among them. Certainly wherever moral ignorance prevails, there Satan and his spirits of evil are busily employed.
“’Tis dark—that dreary, witching hour of night,
When restless spirits steal in mortal sight,
And grisly specters stalk their dreary round.”
Light-Lessons! Exodus 10:23. A young prince having been chastised by his royal parent for doing something wrong, was full of discontent and displeasure. Passing, by and by, through the palace gate, he encountered a street-Arab, who had left his father’s home, but who, however free from chastening, was lean and wretched, miserable and woebegone. The young prince dried his tears very quickly with the reflection that it was far better to be a chastened prince than a wretched beggar-boy. He looked down upon the ragged urchin’s condition with the greatest conceivable pity and thankfulness, even though he himself was smarting from the rod. God had chastened Israel, and they had expressed displeasure. By and by, when they saw how the hearts and homes of the Egyptians were draped in darkness, while they themselves, as the children of the Heavenly King, were enjoying light, doubtless they would compare their own condition with the misery of the oppressors, and would look upward with gratitude to Almighty God, who, though He chastened them, nevertheless crowned their lives with the light of His countenance. And thus—
“Their streams of joy would more enriching grow,
As they adored the source from whence they flow.”
Pride! Exodus 10:24. On the shore of the Scandinavian Peninsula stands the ancient city of Bergen, facing the prevailing winds from the west and south-west. Behind it rise the towering rugged peaks and mountains of Norway. These attract the clouds charged to the full with moisture, and force them to pour their torrents of rain on the surrounding country. Thus what, from its position, facing the rainy quarter, ought to be abundantly supplied with rain, is comparatively rainless. How often do the lofty mountains deprive the soul of those divine droppings of grace which refresh the spiritual life!
“So keen the grasp, so vast is human pride,
When pampered most—the least ’tis satisfied.”
Conscience! Exodus 10:25. The manager of a cotton-mill received a complaint from the girls in the weaving-room that they could not make the bobbin-boys hear them call for more bobbins. Having bought several bells, he instructed the boys to answer these when rung by the girls. For a time all went well. No matter where the boys were, the bells were heard above the clatter of the looms. But by and by the girls began to complain that the boys were getting careless, and hindered them more than before; while the boys answered that the girls did not ring loud enough. The manager therefore went to the room, and experimented by ringing one of the bells again and again; yet, though the bobbin-boy was not far off, he paid no attention. Suddenly it flashed across the manager’s mind that the bells must be at fault. On inspection, he found that the girls had been in the habit of snatching up the bells by the metal instead of the handles, and that they had thus covered the bells with oil from the machinery. The bells were accordingly cleaned, and all went well. To how many people has the clear voice of conscience become a dull sound! Not at once; but gradually—gradually as the bell decreased its tone—gradually as Pharaoh progressed in sin—
“Till, like a frozen mass, his heart was chilled,
Its upward movement stayed, and conscience stilled.”
Heart-Hardness! Exodus 10:27. Away on the wide ocean, at the midnight hour, when the winds howled and the clouds loured heavily, floated a man clutching a plank riven by the storm from the deck of the gallant barque which but twenty-four hours before he had commanded, but which now was buried fathoms deep within the heart of the ocean. A godless and profane captain had he been; but he lifts up his anguished eyes to heaven, and amid the gloom and tempest vows that, if the offended Majesty of heaven will but send a ship to his rescue, oaths shall never again pass his lips. Scarcely had he solemnly pledged himself to be a humble servant of God, than a ship hove in sight—a shout was heard, for some one had perceived the dark spot floating, and guessed its cause. The vessel’s course was changed—the lifebuoy was flung to the drowning mariner—the crew easily dragged him on board. The vows were soon forgotten, and the reckless sinner revelled in his profanity and godlessness as soon as he was once more in safety. Such was the position of Pharaoh. His resolutions declared under the pressure of suffering perished when the judgment was removed—
“And his regrets were like the flitting light
Which feebly glimmers in despair’s dark night.”
Obstinate Folly! Exodus 10:28. Traversing the sandy wastes at the noontide hour beneath the burning sun, horsemen became aware of a dark cloud in the distance, as if rising from the earth. It is the sandrift swept before the whirlwind; and it comes on like a black wall, rising higher and higher till sky and sun are obscured. Whole caravans have been buried beneath that heavy canopy; and the great question is how to escape? There are two possibilities:
1. To flee; and
2. To fight. The first is chosen. The spurs are applied, and the horses seemingly conscious of the danger, urge themselves to their utmost speed. On and on they spur! The riders look back, only to perceive the dark mass in swift pursuit, from which it is vain to flee. They turn their holes’ heads to face it. On comes the dense cloud! The horses press towards it, with thick-drawn breath from the particles of sand. They pant and press; but all in vain. What folly to contend! When the last breath of the fierce whirlwind passes by, and the sun shines forth bright and clear upon the sea of glittering sand, the dark wall has settled down in a line of undulating mounds, beneath which lie horsemen and horses in death. Pharaoh first fled from the cloud of Divine judgment; now he attempts to fight with it. A vain contention!
“As crime increased, so swelled the threat’ning storm,
The clouds assumed a still more awful form.”
Moses! Exodus 10:29. The calmness of Moses is conspicuous all through the contest. The Divine discipline of adversity had accomplished this in him. No more was his spirit to be like the stream which, though coursing through verdant meads, chafes at every pebble, and from its own shallowness murmurs and frets as it flows. Adversity had deepened the channel. Purer, calmer, clearer it rolled on. If it had to plunge down into depths of sorrow in the wilderness wanderings, it had yet sunshine resting upon it; and even from tears was that rainbow formed which—unshaken by tumult, undimmed and unbroken—like that spanning the cataract’s verge, shines with all the soft tints of the skies—
“Whose fleecy clouds, in radiant splendour glow,
While heaven is mirrored in the sea below.”