CRITICAL NOTES.—
Exodus 11:1. Said unto Moses.] Kalisch renders the verb here as a pluperfect, “had said;” and concludes that the object of these verses is to account for the utterance of the final threat before Moses leaves the presence of Pharaoh:—as though God had previously said this to Moses; and now, the fit moment having come, Moses repeats it to Pharaoh. But it seems doubtful whether the Hebrew imperfect tense with waw consecutive can ever be understood as a pluperfect (see Driver, “Hebrew Tenses,” § 76, Obs.); and the necessity so to understand it in this place is not very apparent. It should be observed that the narrative has not yet recorded the actual departure of Moses from Pharaoh’s presence,—this it postpones to Exodus 11:8 of this chapter; nor does there seem to be any good reason why we should not accept the view declined as “unnecessary” by Kalisch, viz., that “God spoke to Moses whilst he stood before Pharaoh; for the revelation came suddenly upon him.” This is surely far more probable than that the writer should have put an unnatural strain on the idiom of his own language.—
Exodus 11:2. Borrow.] Rather, “ask.” No one meeting with the Heb verb שאל, by itself, would think of “borrow” as its primary or ordinary meaning. It is true that we may “ask” with intent to “borrow,” and the latter notion may accordingly be sometimes inferred from “context and circumstance;” but to put that notion into this place, just to calumniate the record, or those appearing therein, is more wanton than wise.—
Exodus 11:5. The mill.] Literally, “the two millstones,” i.e., the upper and lower:—the characteristic position of the drudge of the family in the East.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Exodus 11:1-3
THE EVE OF FINAL RETRIBUTION
The first three verses of this chapter are a parenthesis, either referring to something that had previously been said to Moses, or to some communication that was made to him while he was in the presence of Pharaoh; they are inserted in order to give a full explanation of the narrative. After Moses had said that he would see the face of the king no more, he continued the utterance of the fourth verse. This was the last interview between the two men, and as such, it was most solemn and affecting. It appears to have made but little impression on the haughty king; but truly this was not the fault of Moses. After the servants of God have rendered their best service for the moral good of men, they may fail of the result they desire; but the husbandman cannot give the desired harvest, he is only responsible for the sowing.
I. On the eve of final retribution God reveals to His servants the things that are shortly to come to pass. God had privately told Moses the judgment He would send upon Egypt and its king, if they did not yield to His command. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him. Moses repeated the message to Pharaoh, that the proud monarch might be without excuse in the event of disobedience. Good men are sent by Heaven to announce to the world the retributions of the future. Thus they are saddened; thus they are honoured. God does not generally startle men by retribution; He predicts its advent by the ministry of the good.
II. On the eve of final retribution the servants of God must direct the activities of the Church. (Exodus 11:2.) Moses was told upon the eve of the threatened plague to direct the conduct of the children of Israel. To the Israelites the retribution was a crisis; it was the supreme moment of their national history, and upon the promptitude and wisdom of their conduct great issues were dependent. Hence they needed direction. And so all the retributions that come upon mankind have an important bearing toward the life and history of the Christian Church; they are related to its moral freedom, and hence it becomes the Church to act wisely in them, that it may receive the full advantage of the hour. The Church has lost the benediction of many a political revolution by sloth and lack of prompt action. All the struggles of nations are destined to work the freedom of the Church. Hence in times of national retribution the Church has need of strong-souled heroes, to awaken its intelligence, to inspire its activity, to guide its energies, and to make it victorious over all its foes, that it may go forth from bondage with the treasure it has earned through many years of unrequited service.
III. That on the eve of final retribution the servants of God become the great men of the times. “Moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants, and in the sight of the people” (Exodus 11:3). Pharaoh had not taken the advice of his servants (Exodus 10:7), and it is evident that he had lost the sympathy of his people to a large extent. The nation was weary of its suffering. Israel was growing in favour with Egypt. This the outcome of a gracious providence. Sometimes God gives the Church favour in the eyes of the world, for the accomplishment of His purpose. In times of national retribution, then warriors are forgotten, then artists are neglected, and the servants of God start into unexpected fame. Men who do their duty, even to a hostile multitude, are sure, in the long run, to be respected, even though at first they are regarded with scorn. Goodness and fidelity make men great. The world in its truer conscience knows in what real dignity consists. LESSONS:—
1. That times of retribution are revealed to the good.
2. That the servants of God must gather strength to act in important times.
3. That all things tend to the freedom of the Church.
ONE MORE PLAGUE
I. It shows that Heaven will terribly plague the sinner. “Yet will I bring one plague more upon Pharaoh.” Many people cant about the mercy of God and the kindness of Heaven. This is their most prominent theology. They consider the Infinite Father as incapable of plaguing men. Did He not send terrible retributions on the land of Egypt, and were they not compatible with the Divine character and government? And the one plague more to come upon the impenitent sinner will be awful, it will be just; it will be the natural outcome of a wicked life, and will be inflicted by God.
II. It shows that Heaven has a great resource of plagues with which to torment the sinner. Heaven had already sent nine plagues on Pharaoh and his people; and yet its retributive resources were not exhausted. The material universe, in its every realm, is the resource of Heaven for the plaguing of men. Men ask how God can punish the sinner in the world to come. He will not be at a loss for one plague more whereby to torment the finally impenitent. How foolish of man to provoke the anger of God!
III. It shows that Heaven gives ample warning of the plagues it will inflict upon the sinner. The king of Egypt had ample warning of the death that was to overtake the first-born of the nation. God has revealed to the sinner the severity and certainty of the one plague more; and if it falls upon his guilty soul, it will be through wilful disobedience. Men do not walk ignorantly to hell.
IV. It shows that Heaven has a merciful intention even in the infliction of its plagues. It designed the moral submission of Pharaoh by the threatened plague, and also the freedom of Israel. And so God plagues men that He may save them, and those whom they hold in the dire bondage of moral evil.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Exodus 11:1. One plague may do more than nine that have preceded it.
Combined persecutors are joined in God’s plague.
In God’s own time He will get victory over His enemies.
At God’s word oppressors shall release his Church fully and readily.
Exodus 11:2-3. God may command His servants to ask and have of their very enemies.
It is no wrong to ask and take what God commands His people.
God can give the silver and gold of enemies to His Church.
When God moves the Church to ask He moves hearts to give.
The freedom of the Church:—
1. After long struggle.
2. Welcome.
3. The commencement of development.
4. The earnest of victory.
The Church of God:—
1. Favoured by enemies.
2. Enriched by tyrants.
3. Freed by Heaven.
God can make men favourable to others:—
1. By inspiring beauty of character.
2. By awaking guilty despisers.
3. By bestowing deep sympathy.
4. By enabling them to render efficient help.
ILLUSTRATIONS
BY
REV. WM. ADAMSON
Persistent Effort! Exodus 11:1. In Howe’s Cave, in the New World, is a vast stalagmite, thirty feet high and broad. Listening intently, you can hear a drop of water falling from the high limestone roof at intervals of about one minute. Drop by drop, steadily, slowly, surely, the work is done. Each drop contained an almost infinitesimal particle of limestone, so that thousands of years must have been spent in the formation of this giant stalactite. The relation between the Gulliver result and the Liliput cause is in such contrast, that any one must feel the lesson of persistent effort, patient doing, as well as the confident expectation of large results, and the certainty of duty ending in reward. So with Moses; patiently and persistently had he, step by step, struggled for his nation’s freedom, and now he is to receive his reward. Pharaoh is to let Israel go, not under conditions, limitations, and restrictions, but free and unfettered altogether. Jehovah thus assures Moses that even now
“The waves of the ocean are ceasing to swell,
And the tempest has whispered its last farewell.”
Divine Favour! Exodus 11:3. When Luther first began to demand the freedom of the Church, their oppressor, and his cardinals and tributary princes, despised and scorned the humble monk; but as, step by step, he persistently demanded their liberation from moral tyranny, and gained triumph after triumph in the intellectual and theological struggle, his enemies began to look upon the Reformer with different eyes. The Roman Pharaoh and his courtiers feared and hated him, while God gave him favour in the sight of the people; and now at Augsburg, then at Worms—
“Unquailed by frowns, unchecked by human fear,
Before the monarch stands the holy seer.”
—Mark.