CRITICAL NOTES.—
Exodus 2:6. She saw the child] This verse is surpassingly delightful for simple vividness, when rendered in oriental fashion: “And she opens, and beholds him—even the child, and lo! a BOY, wesping!”
Exodus 2:9. Take] More exactly: “Take away.” Prob. not said with aversion, but prompted by the child’s danger and her own prudence. The time was not yet come for M. to be called “the son of P.’s daughter.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Exodus 2:5-9
THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD IN RELATION TO THE YOUNG
It is a great mercy that there is a kindly, and special Providence resting upon the lives of young children. They are so helpless—thoughtless—so constantly exposed to danger—in the home—in the street—in the school—that, but for the divine care they would come to woe. God is very near to infancy and childhood—much nearer than many imagine.
I. As rescuing them from the peril of unhappy circumstances.
2. Moses was rescued from murder—in the Egyptian palace he was safe.
2. Moses was rescued from slavery—in the Egyptian palace he was free. It sometimes happens that young children, from the circumstances of their birth, are placed in peril—by orphanage, at a disadvantage in the race of life—these are especially under divine protection.
II. As ensuring an education necessary to fit them for their future engagements.
1. As the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, Moses had the opportunity of a good scholastic education. Had Moses remained at home, had his nation been free, he might have had a moderate education—but certainly not so liberal and advanced as he got in Egypt, the very seat of learning. Thus, Providence placed him in the best school of the day. So it very often happens that God, in some remarkable manner, places a good education at the disposal of children of unfortunate circumstances, who otherwise would grow up ignorant, and unfit for the duty of life. Providence attends to the education of young children much more than many of us imagine.
2. As the son of Pharaoh’s daughter he would be prepared to undertake the freedom of his nation. Mere book knowledge is the poorest—and least useful. Men require another education than that of the academy. They need to be trained in the meaning of life. Especially was this needful to Moses. Hence the discipline of the court was as necessary to his future usefulness as that of the school. In the palace he saw, in all its force, the tyranny of the king—the degradation of Israel—and the prowess of the nation he would have to combat. This, pre-eminently, was the school of his life, and he was made its scholar by Providence. So, many destitute young men are educated by Heaven—not merely in the facts of history and science—but in the duties that pertain to their distinct avocation, whatever it may be.
III. As employing the most unlikely agency. The tyrant’s daughter was the means of rescuing Moses from peril, and of educating him for his future calling. Unlikely means:—
1. Because her father had issued an edict for the death of all Israelitish children. All the newly-born children of Israel were to be thrown into the river. So Pharaoh had decreed. Yet his daughter saves, and educates the very child that is to prove his overthrow. The tyrant is defeated by his own daughter. How thoroughly wicked men are in the hand of God. So, young children of unfavourable early circumstances are often educated by the most unlikely instrumentalities.
2. Because it appeared unlikely that a royal daughter should wish to adopt the son of an Israelite. All hearts are in the divine hand. God can direct our sympathies to the most unlikely persons, and objects. He can put those who need our help into such an attitude that our pity must be awakened. The babe wept. These tears overcame all the improbabilities of the case. Providence uses instrumentality in the accomplishment of its purpose.
IV. As employing the most efficient instrumentality.
1. The mother of the boy—who could better teach him the wrongs of his country than she—that hundreds had suffered the fate he had managed to escape—the slavery of his people—the tyranny of the king—and that during the most sensitive time of his life. His mother instructed him during the earliest days of his youth—her instruction would, therefore, be enduring—hence he would go to the Egyptian court with a knowledge of his country’s woe—and of his father’s God. His murder of the Egyptian was the outcome of the former. His choosing to leave the royal court was the result of the latter. “By faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.”
2. The daughter of the king. Under no other tuition could he have gained a better preparation for his work of the future. Here he would learn sympathy with the oppressed—hatred of the oppressor. When Heaven undertakes the education of a life—it does so thoroughly and completely.
V. As requiring the utmost human effort possible.
1. His mother did the best for Moses that she could. She did not put him on the Nile directly he was born. She had the power to conceal him under her own care then. But when all her means of self-help were exhausted, then she gave him into the Divine care. So, as a rule, God does not educate the children of indolent parents. He moves in the line of the mother’s best effort. When she has done her best—put him on the river—not forgotten him—prays for him—then God will send Pharaoh’s daughter to save, and educate the boy.
2. His mother was judicious in her conduct towards Moses. She did not let maternal affection endanger his safety—her mother’s heart no doubt wished to keep him at home longer—had she done so, the officers of the king might have found him. Many parents ruin their children by excess of love. Moses was placed on the Nile at the right time—she was a wise mother—regarded his welfare—sacrificed her own feeling—at this point the safety of Moses commenced. Let parents do their best for the safety of their children—physically—morally—in wisdom—and Providence will find the means for their temporal—and eternal rescue—education—destiny.
VI. As perfectly consistent with the free agency of individuals. The daughter of the king undertook the training of Moses at the suggestion of her own sympathy—under a perfect knowledge of the case—there was no coercion brought to bear upon her. The providence of God uses willing instrumentalities.
THIS CRADLE ON THE WATERS TEACHES:—
I. The power of young life to endure hardship. (Exodus 2:3.) The mother of Moses made an ark, in which to put her boy, and then placed him on the waters of the Nile. There are few mothers in these days who would put their babes in such a cradle, much less on the waters of a river. They wrap them up—they give them medicine—they treat them as though they had only got a spark of life in them: such codling treatment is foolish—unhealthy—the boy will be far more healthy out on the Nile. Young children are stronger than we imagine—the vital principle in them is not so easily put out. There are few, in these days, who begin life under the same condition as Moses—it would be better if there were more.
II. The use that one member of a family may be to another. (Exodus 2:7.) The sister of Moses was equal to the occasion; her love for her infant brother carried her through the difficulties of her duty. She was not timid at approaching a king’s—a tyrant’s daughter. She knew when to make her suggestion—God told her anxious heart—the babe had wept—the womanly instincts of Pharaoh’s daughter: were touched, “she had compassion on him”—at this moment Miriam stepped up, and suggested the need of a nurse—she was wise beyond her years; the idea was accepted—the boy’s mother was fetched, and received the commission of nurse, with the unnecessary promise of wages. Miriam must have had a good home training; she appears in the scene as a bright—happy—ingenious—loving girl. Thus we see how the younger ones of a family can help each other in their perils—necessities of life. And very extensive this help may be in its influence. Miriam, in helping Moses, rendered possible the freedom of her nation. The little kindness shewn by a sister to a brother may have an unexpected effect upon thousands. Thus we see the loving dexterity of a little girl.
III. The pathetic influence of a babe’s tears. (Exodus 2:6.) There is a great power in tears; they are tokens of sorrow—weakness—helplessness; but they are potent—they invite help—they especially touch a woman’s heart—they defeat a monarch’s cruelty—they aid the intentions of Heaven—they prophesy the sorrows of the future—they render welcome the tearless home. The tears of Moses won the compassion of the Monarch’s daughter; they were a fit emblem of his nation’s grief. She was perhaps unmoved by the story of Israel’s bondage—it was old—as she might think deserved; but the tears of Moses were new—pathetic—were concentrated upon the tender sympathies of her nature. They conquered. Many are moved by the sight, or record of personal grief, who can look unmoved upon a national calamity. So inconsistent are we in the bestowal of our sympathy.
III. The sensitive coscience of a tyrant’s daughter. “This is one of the Hebrew’s children.” (Exodus 2:6.) She needed no voice to tell her to whom the child belonged, the silent monitor within was sufficient. Tyranny does not necessarily run from father to daughter; many a cruel parent has a tender-hearted child. The command of conscience is more authoritative than that of a king—a father. She saved the child—all honour to her memory.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Exodus 2:5. Divine Providence sometimes unites the utmost peril with the best means of safety.
Divine Providence sometimes uses the most unlikely agency for the working of its holy purpose.
The pleasures of individuals are embraced by the wide scheme of Divine Providence.
Tender-hearted women are generally honoured by, and entrusted with, the finding of those who are to be the world’s patriots.
Divine providence generally uses an instrumentality that is completive:—
1. Saw the ark—many see objects of pity, but do nothing more.
2. Took the ark—practical side of pity.
3. Ordered a nurse.
4. Welcomed the child to her own home.
The renewed mind enjoys one of its sweetest exercises while tracing the Divine footsteps in circumstances and events, in which a thoughtless spirit sees only blind chance or rigid fate [C. H. M.]
I. The claims of the orphan.
1. The first claim on her compassion was the claim of infancy. “She saw the child.” That sentence contains an argument. It was an appeal to the woman’s heart. Rank, caste, nationality, all melted before the great fact of womanhood. This feeling was spontaneous. She did not feel compassion because it was her duty, but because it was her nature. God has provided for humanity by a plan more infallible than system, by implanting feeling in our nature.
2. Consider the degradation of the child’s origin. “Hebrews’ children.” The exclusiveness of the Egyptian social system was as strong as that of the Hindoo—slave—enemy—to be slain. Princess brought up with these ideas. She was animated by His Spirit who came to raise the abject, to break the bond of the oppressor.
3. The last reason we find for this claim was its unprotected state. It wept; those tears told of a conscious want—the felt want of a mother’s arms.
II. The Orphan’s education.
1. It was a suggestion from another. This woman brought up in luxury—had warm feelings—not knowing how to do good—was told by another. Results of this training:—
1. Intellectually. He learned to ask “Why” “the bush is not consumed.”
2. In the moral part of his character we notice his hatred of injustice [F. W. Robertson].
Even a king’s daughter is the richer and gladder for this stoop of love. Some of us have been trying to reach too high for our enjoyments; the blooming fruit has been beyond our stature; we have therefore turned away with pining and discontent, not knowing that if we had bent ourselves to the ground we should have found the happiness in the dust, which we attempted in vain to pluck from inaccessible heights [City Temple].
The Church’s children, though destroyed by some, yet are pitied by others.
The compassion of the daughter condemns the cruelty of the monarch-father.… The child:—
1. The moment of its degradation.
2. The moment of its sadness.
3. The moment of its hope.
4. The moment of its unknown future.
5. The moment of a mother’s recompense.
Exodus 2:7. A good suggestion:—
1. Made at a proper time.
2. Made in a proper spirit.
3. Made for a proper purpose.
Society would be enriched by many more good deeds if only Christian people would watch their opportunity, and suggest conduct to well-meaning but ignorant people.
Are there not sorrows that enable us to overcome the petty difficulties of etiquette? [City Temple].
If we really cared for lost children we could find ways of speaking for them in high quarters [City Temple].
Hebrew nurses are most desirable for Hebrew children.
Where God moves the question for saving his little ones, he prepares an answer of peace.
A mother the best guardian of infancy.
Exodus 2:8. The Princess gave a prompt reply to the inquiry of the little maid. She did not promise to consider the subject. If she had, the probabilities are that Moses would not have been rescued from the waters of the Nile.
God’s Providence excludeth not man’s prudence [Trapp].
Providence can bring a mother to nurse the child she had concealed, because, through the edict of a cruel king, she could not longer keep it undetected in the house.… When we save the lives of children we should see to their education afterwards.
Exodus 2:9. The king’s daughter is made a mother, while the mother is made a nurse.
“And the woman took the child and nursed it.” What her self-control, in that hour of maddening excitement, cost, no tongue can tell. She took the child as a stranger might have taken it, and yet her heart was bursting with the very passion of delight. Had she given way for one instant, her excitement might have revealed the plot. Every thing depended on her calmness. But love can do anything! The great question underlying all service is a question not so much of the intellect as of the heart. We should spoil fewer things if our love was deeper [City Temple].
The power of a mother’s love:—
1. To control its impulse.
2. To school its utterance.
3. To make self-denial for the good of her child.
4. To enter into the method of Providence concerning the future of her boy.
A beautiful pattern of self-control:—
1. Not arising from indifference.
2. Not arising from hard-heartedness.
3. But arising from the calm indwelling of faith.
This mother a model nurse:—
1. Because she taught her son to have sympathy with the slave.
2. Because she taught him to despise injustice (Exodus 2:12).
3. Because she taught him the folly of anger (Exodus 2:13).
4. Because she taught him to defend the weak (Exodus 2:17).
A mother the best nurse:—
1. Because she has truest sympathy with the circumstances of the child’s life.
2. Because she is more truly concerned for the right developement of its moral character.
3. Because then she will have gladdening memories, of its infancy and childhood.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Exodus 2:1-10 Stronger far than education—going on before education can commence, possibly from the very first moments of consciousness, parents begin to impress themselves on their children. Our character, voice, features, qualities—modified, no doubt, by entering into a new being, and ruling a different organization—are impressed upon our children. Not the inculcation of opinions, but much rather the formation of principles, and of the tone of character, the derivation of qualities. Physiologists tell us of the derivation of the mental qualities from the father, and of the moral from the mother. But, be this as it may, there is scarcely one here who cannot trace back his present religious character to some impression in early life, from one or other of his parents—a tone, a look, a word, a habit, or even, it may be, a bitter exclamation of remorse [F. W. Robertson].
What if God should place in your hand a diamond, and tell you to inscribe on it a sentence which should be read at the last day, and be shown then as an index of your own thoughts and feelings? What care—what caution would you exercise in the selection. Now, this is what God has done. He has placed before you the immortal minds of your children, more imperishable than the diamond, on which you are about to inscribe every day and every hours by your instructions, by your spirit, or by your example, something which will remain, and be exhibited for or against you at the judgment day [Dr. Payson].
Even as a plant will sooner take nourishment and thrive better in the soil where it first grew and sprung up than in any other ground, because it liketh its own soil best: so, likewise, children will sooner take instruction and good nurture from their parents, whom they best like, and from whom they had their being, than from any other [Cawdray].
Exodus 2:5-9. The wheels in a clock or a watch move contrary one to another, some one way, some another, yet all serve the intent of the workman, to show the time, or to make the clock to strike. So in the world, the providence of God may seem to run cross to His promises: One man takes this way, another runs that way; good men go one way, wicked men another; yet all in conclusion accomplish the will and centre in the purpose of God, the great Creator of all things [Sibb’s Sermon].