CRITICAL NOTES.—
Exodus 5:23. Neither has thou delivered thy people at all] This, though strong, is scarcely so bold as the original, which here makes an effective use of its preplaced infinitive absolute: “and—as for delivering—thou has not delivered thy people.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Exodus 5:20-23
CHRISTIAN WORKERS; THEIR DIFFICULTIES AND DISCOURAGEMENT
We do not as a rule fully appreciate the difficulties with which Christian workers have to contend. We are apt to imagine that their toil is comparatively easy, that they are aided in it by the ministry of heaven, and that therefore everything yields to their touch. Any man who talks thus shows that he has never been engaged in moral service, or his own experience would have taught him otherwise. Christian work is more difficult and perplexing than any other; it requires and calls into exercise the higher faculties of our being, which in most men are but feebly and partially developed; it brings into complicated social relationships; and often ends in apparent failure. The Christian worker must be permanently a man of faith, or he will despair in his toil, as nearly all that is seen is in opposition to his mission. Also, he is uncertain as to the time of his success; he knows not when he will come to the glad termination of his work. The men who toil in the secular spheres of life for their daily bread, and for the accommodation of society, know almost to an hour when their task will be completed. They have to deal with the inanimate things of nature, with wood and stone, which have no power of resistance, or remonstrance, These lifeless blocks must yield to the piercing of the chisel and the stroke of the hammer. But not so with the material on which Christian workers try their art. Human souls are not inanimate. They have the power of thought, of emotion, of will, and can resist, not only the earnest efforts of man, but also the influences of the Divine Spirit, when He strives to make them new creatures in Christ Jesus. Hence, when God calls Moses, or any other man, from ordinary toil to undertake some special mission for the moral welfare of humanity, He calls him to a task at once the most difficult and honourable. Let us then endeavour to appreciate and sympathize more with the perplexities of Christian service than we have hitherto done, that we may be patient, calmly awaiting the outcome of Divine Providence in its relation to the conduct of men. We observe:—
I. That Christian workers have frequently to contend with the obstinacy and ridicule of men in high positions. Moses and Aaron had to contend with the moral obstinacy of Pharaoh, the King of Egypt. And not only had they to conflict with his obstinacy, but also with his ridicule, and with his misrepresentation of their motive and conduct. He said that the design of these holy men, in their demand of freedom, was to indulge the indolence of Israel. And how frequently, in the history of Christian and philanthropic service, have kings and those in authority been the greatest hindrance to its progress. When the godly heroes of the Church have sought the emancipation of men, the pride of some haughty king, or the prejudice of some ignorant nobleman, or the vested interest of some rich autocrat, have thwarted their efforts. It is hard for a desert shepherd to contend with an impious king; the latter will have many allies, the former will rather have the legions of heaven to aid him than those of earth, as his cause is more popular with angels than men. Nor is it easy to endure the ridicule of those in high position, for when a king laughs and mocks at religious service, there are always a lot of servile spirits who will try to imitate his grin and raillery at our toil. We imagine that ridicule is almost the severest trial the Christian worker has to endure Thus we see that it is not the Divine plan to shield men from the ridicule and insult incurred by their effort of moral service, but rather to give grace that they may endure as serving him who is invisible. The ocean of Christian service is rocky and stormy, but we have a good pilot and a safe chart to guide us to our destined port.
II. That Christian workers have frequently to contend with the discouragement of a first defeat, and apparent failure. Moses and Aaron had been to Pharaoh according to the Divine command, and had met with a severe repulse. Their God was rejected. Their requirement of Israel’s freedom was haughtily refused. Their visit was followed by a servitude of increased rigour. It was to them a great failure They had no doubt, after the revelation God had made to them and the words He had spoken to them, but that they would meet with immediate success. But at once the fires of their enthusiasm were extinguished; their best efforts were without effect upon the king. Their statement of fact was useless. Their arguments were futile. Their entreaties were vain. The proud monarch defies them, and their God. All Christian workers will be able to enter into the bitter experiences of these two men. Their disappointment has often been yours. You heard the call of God; went forth to noble toil on behalf of the moral welfare of humanity, your heart was warm with glad excitement, visions of grand freedom came upon your soul, but they were all dispelled by the first attempt to snap the fetter. You were disappointed.20 You were sad. Your energy was gone, and you found it difficult to summon enough strength to make a second effort. Failure is always a woeful experience. It is to the scholar. It is to the voyager. It is to the soldier. It is especially so to the Christian worker. Never be disheartened by apparent failure; it may be but the shutting of a door, which will open widely upon your next approach.
III. That Christian workers have frequently to contend with the misapprehension of those whom they seek to benefit. Moses and Aaron had not merely to contend with the ridicule and resistance of Pharaoh; with their own sad consciousness of failure; but also with the misrepresentation and ungrateful reproaches of the slaves they sought to free. This is certainly one of the most remarkable features of Christian service. We should have thought that the Israelites would have been so tired and oppressed by their long-continued slavery, that they would have joyfully welcomed any agency likely to release them from it. But so far from this, they reproach Moses and Aaron upon the very first opportunity, accusing them of having augmented their burdens rather than relieved them. These Israelites had not the judgment to discern that this severe oppression was but the prelude to their release. They had not the patience to wait for the Divine Advent which would be the signal of their freedom. They had not the fortitude to endure their suffering calmly, even for a while. They immediately give vent to reproachful language, even to those who have given up all to relieve them in their trying circumstances. And this picture finds its reproduction in connection with much of the Christian service of our own day. How many of the slaves of sin, whose lives are full of misery and woe, resent any Christian effort that is made to recover them to purity and peace, because of the momentary increase of pain that is occasioned by the effort to become morally better. They desire, in response to our call, to leave King Satan, and to enjoy the freedom of King Jesus; hence Satan becomes more fierce in his temptations, he endeavours to make more secure their fetters, to increase their burdens; and in bitterness of soul they are liable to indulge in ungrateful words, and regard their expected deliverer as their foe. An increase of slavery generally precedes freedom, hence the slaves of sin should be prepared for anguish before they can chant the sweet anthem of liberty. These misrepresentations are however hard for the Christian worker to endure; they are not merely ungrateful, they are cruel, they wound his soul. Happy if they lead him to God in prayerful spirit.
IV That Christian workers have frequently to contend with their own misconception of the Divine method of working, and their inability to rightly interpret the meaning of events in relation thereto. Moses and Aaron no doubt thought that when Pharaoh had rejected their message, and when the Israelites had reproached their conduct, that their mission was at an end, and that it was a failure.21 This is evident from the prayer of the next verse or two. They could not interpret the meaning of events; they could not understand the increased burden of Israel’s slavery. They could not look beneath the surface of their daily history; and only few men can. Hence the difficulties of Christian workers. They have not the power to interpret events. They lack intuitive perception and penetration. They cannot work out historical problems; from the given equation of to-day they cannot find out the unknown quantity of to-morrow. Hence they err. They imagine that increased burdens mean failure, when in reality they are the first indications of success. For if the monarch did not fear that he would soon lose his slaves, he would not require more work from them than usual. So, the Christian worker has to contend with the many disadvantages occasioned by his own misreading of daily history. LESSONS:—
1. Not to be discouraged by apparent failures in Christian service.
2. Not to yield to the scorn of the Mighty in our attempt to improve the moral condition of men.
3. To interpret the reproach of the slave in the light of his augmented slavery, and not to be dismayed by it.
4. To prayerfully study daily events, so as to find God’s purposes of freedom developing themselves therein.
THE APPARENT FAILURE OF CHRISTIAN SERVICE
I. Our surprise that Christian Service should be a failure. It is a matter of surprise:—
1. Because the workers had been Divinely sent, and prepared for their toil. Had Moses and Aaron undertaken the emancipation of Israel at their own wish, or at the instigation of their friends, we could not have been astonished at their failure; but they were sent by God. They had been instructed by vision. They had been enriched by life’s discipline. They had gathered impulse from holy communion with heaven. They were invested with the power to work miracles. They were given the message which they were to deliver unto Pharaoh. We cannot but wonder at this failure.
2. Because the workers had received all the accompaniments necessary to their toil. They did not go a warfare in their own charges. They did not go in poverty. All the resources of heaven went with them. The two brothers found glad companionship in each other, and their all in God. We should have imagined that as the Divine Being had so equipped them for their mission, that he would have given them immediate success. Hence our surprise at their apparent failure.
3. Because the workers had arisen to a moral fortitude needful to the work. Once they were cowardly, and shrank from the mission, but their cowardice had broken unto heroism; their tremor was removed by the promise of God. Their objections to the service were removed. They went to it with brave heart. They were brave, because they had confidence in God. Hence we should have expected them to have succeeded at once, as a brave soul is never far from victory.
II. Our sorrow that Christian Service should be a failure. It is a matter of sorrow:—
1. Because the tyrant is unpunished. Men who in any way imprison their fellow creatures deserve the severest penalties that can be inflicted either by earth or heaven. It is a matter of regret when the agency designed for the infliction of retribution is frustrated in its stroke. Let the world rejoice when a despot is removed from his throne.
2. Because the slave is unfreed. We had anticipated the freedom of Israel from the sacred heroism of these two servants of God. We are apparently disappointed. But though the immediate effort is unsuccessful, God will achieve their freedom. The failure of moral service is only temporary.
3. Because the workers are disappointed. Moses and Aaron expected immediate success. Their communion with God had inspired them with this hope. Hence their dejection.
III. Our hope that the failure of Christian Service will not be ultimate.
1. Because the Divine call will be vindicated. Moses and Aaron were the right men to achieve the emancipation of Israel. God will demonstrate this, in the history of the world, by their success. The moral selections of heaven are capable of vindication, and one day will be vindicated to humanity.
1. Because service for the good of men cannot ultimately fail. This thought should inspire Christian workers with fortitude and patience. You are employed in a work that commands the obligation of the race, and the final blessing of God. LESSONS:—
1. Do not be alarmed at the temporary failure of Christian work.
2. The apparent failure of Christian work answers some wise purposes.
3. Those who occasion the temporary failure of Christian work are liable to the retribution of heaven.
4. Let Christian workers to hold on to the word and promise of God.22
THE COMPLAINTS OCCASIONED BY CHRISTIAN SERVICE
I. There is the complaint of the King, that the people are idle. The effort of Christian service always awakens complaint, and especially of those toward whom it is directed. Men are sure to imagine themselves injured by it, if they are to lose their slaves through it. People do not like the Gospel to interfere with them in the enjoyment of their sinful pleasures.
II. There is the complaint of the people, that they have been deluded. Moses and Aaron had inspired them with the bright hope of liberty, they were acting and living under the glad influence of this anticipation, when suddenly their slavery is rendered more intolerable by the revengeful oppression of Pharaoh. Sometimes impatient people who have been led to expect gifts from God imagine themselves deluded, because those gifts are delayed in their bestowal A true soul will wait, without a word of reproach, till heaven comes to open its prison door.23
III. There is the complaint of the workers, that they were defeated. Sometimes people, who ought to know better, complain about the ways of God. There are times when Christian service happens to please nobody but God. How many imperfections attach to the efforts of good men. We do not much wonder at the complainings of the King, or even of the Israelites, but we expected better things from Moses and Aaron. Christian men are too often found in the same attitude of soul as men of the world.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Exodus 5:20-21. Sense of evil from tyrants may make the oppressed fall into complaint against their best friends.
Providence orders his servants sometimes to meet with friends after sad usage by oppressors.
Ministers of salvation want to meet God’s afflicted, when they look not after them.
Instruments of deliverance may desire a good egress of the oppressed from tyrants, and not find it.
Sense overcharged with oppression may make men reproach God, and curse his ministers.
Unbelieving souls are ready to set God against His own word, and instruments sent by Him.
Hasty unbelievers under cross providences are ready to charge the cause upon God’s ministers.
Foolish souls charge God’s instruments of life to be causes of death.
These charges:—
1. Unbelieving.
2. Ungrateful.
3. Untruthful.
4. Unhopeful.
Thus we have seen dogs in the chase bark at their best friends.—(Trapp).
Now comes a severer trial than any which these servants of the Lord had had to go through. The Lord’s people may expect to receive hard words from the people of the world; they may expect to be regarded as troublers of Israel; they may expect to have it said of them, as it was said of the Apostles, that they have “turned the world upside down.” But there is a harder trial to the Lord’s servants, when from professors themselves they meet with such treatment as Moses and Aaron met with from the officers who were set over the people of Israel. These men meet Moses and Aaron, and they say, “It is all your fault—Pharaoh would not have done us any harm but for you.” Now, brethren, we have seen and known something of this. If the Lord’s servant is faithful, he does trouble the world. He disturbs the monotony of things. A member of a family receives the truth; his former practices are abandoned; the whole course of his life is altered. It may be worldly prospects are affected by such a change as this: it disturbs the every day worldliness of the family of which this individual is a member, and this causes more or less uneasiness to those who are not like-minded. But instead of inquiry being made as to the cause of all this—instead of asking whether it is wrong, or whether it may not, after all, be right, ill feeling is vented against the instrument, who was the means of bringing the truth home to that heart, and who was really made a blessing to that family. Brethren, the Man of God must make up his mind to this, and not only to this, but one of the most painful things a servant of God meets with is to hear it said, “He is doing damage to the Lord’s cause.” If we are told, you have no business to stand against the world and sin, we can bear that, for it is the commission we have received from our Master, but we do find it a painful trial when we are told, if you were a little more judicious in your way of stating the truth of God, you would not offend the people of the world, and your preaching would be much more acceptable than it is. Still this ought not to affect the minister of God as to his statement of the truth; for if he has learned the truth, he knows that the message never was, and never will be, recommended by anything in the instrument. If a man had the silver tongue of an angel, he would never bring a soul to Christ; nor can any disqualification on the part of the instrument hinder the Lord’s work.24—(Lectures by Rev. W. H. Krause, A.M.)
Exodus 5:22-23. The prayer of a disappointed worker:—
1. It is indicative of disappointment.
2. Of injustice on the part of God.
3. Of cruelty.
4. Of contradiction.
Unjust criminations from God’s people make the ministers of God may quail and recede from their duty.
God’s faithful instruments, though they do retreat of weakness, yet it is unto the Lord.
God’s faithful ones under pressure may charge God foolishly for doing evil to His people.25
In such workings of flesh the spirit may humbly expostulate with God by prayer.
Sad events in ministering may make God’s servants question their mission.
In such questioning, souls may humbly deprecate the frustration of their ministry.
“And Moses returned unto the Lord.” He turned aside, as it were, to speak with a friend, and to disburden him self in God’s bosom. This is the saint’s privilege.—(Trapp).
The language in this twenty-second verse is very remarkable, and explains other passages of Scripture. Moses said, “Lord, wherefore hast Thou evil entreated this people?” But it was the taskmasters who evil entreated them, not God. And this explains that passage to which I referred last Lord’s day morning, about God hardening Pharaoh’s heart. In the Hebrew idiom, God is often said to do a thing which He is only the occasion of its being done. It is said, for instance, that the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart; that is. He applied those means, that, if not successful in subduing that heart, would necessarily, by their reaction, evenuate in the hardening of that heart. So here, God did not evil entreat the people; but He used these means to effectuate their exodus, which at first added to the weight and pressure of their burdens.—(Dr. Cumming.)
The prayer of Moses:—
I. A right act.
II. Done in a wrong spirit.
III. At a serious time.
ILLUSTRATIONS
BY THE
REV. WM. ADAMSON
(20)—Christian Life!—When a man among the Grecians, writes Dr. Boyd, entered the Olympic Games to run for the prize, he had to lay aside all ideas of case and self-indulgence, and prepare himself for a severe contest. To listen to the voice of indolence and loiter by the way would cover him with deepest disgrace. And the more frequent he contended for the prize, the more experience be acquired—the more prospect had he of winning the reward. The Christian life is a struggle from first to last with the powers of darkness within and without. When the truth as it is in Jesus arises in its fullorbed grandeur upon his mind—when the chains of his bondage are snapped asunder by Him who proclaims liberty to the captive—when the burden of his guilt is removed, and sweet serenity and peace takes its place—when the soul begins to get a glimpse of its high privileges and lofty vocation, then the Christian is apt to think that this is to continue for ever. The maiden thinks that the joy of her first married experience is to be always steadfast; but she soon finds out from discipline of life that her notion is premature. So the Christian’s life becomes overcast with dark and threatening clouds—the in my collects all his forces to assail the fortress of Man-soul—the world scowls with clouds and tempests upon him—and the tyrant lets loose his hell-hounds of temptation to bring back the escaped bondsmen. As Cowper says:—
“He who knew what human hearts would prove,
How slow to learn the dictates of His love,”
ordained that the Christian life should be a continuous warfare—an unceasing struggle—an unwearied contention with evil. And thus
“Our blasted hopes, our aims and wishes crossed,
Are worth the tears and agonies they cost.”
—Taylor.
(21)—Patient Work!—In the museum at Rotterdam is the first piece painted by the renowned Rembrandt. It is rough, without marks of genius or skill, and uninteresting except to show that he began as low down as the lowest. In the same gallery is the masterpiece of the artist, counted of immense value. Work! Patience! Tears of work! Years of patience! If all have not genius, all have the power to work for the glory of God and spiritual disenthralment of man. This is greater than genius; and especially if it be the work of moral freedom—the work of a Divine call to holiness.
“How beautiful is genius when combined
With holiness! Oh! bow divinely swell
The tones of earthly harp, whose chords are touch’d
By the soft hand of piety, and hung
Upon religion’s shrine.
(22)—Promises!—God had said. And Moses might know that He was able to perform what He had spoken. Men’s promises may be like pie-crust, made to be broken; not so is it with those of Jehovah. What He promises, the gates of hell cannot hinder its performance. Therefore Christian workers may well stay themselves on this rock of infinite assurance: I am God, and change not. By so doing they will find to their unspeakable comfort that no music is half so sweet, no eloquence so entrancing, no picture a all so attractive, as the promises of God. Like the aurora borealis, they would shine on the frosty and sombre sky of Moses’ discouragement, tinging it with brilliant colours, and relieving it with beautiful rays; even as with the pious old slave on a Virginia plantation, who, when asked why he was always so sunny-hearted and cheerful under his bondage, responded that it was owing to his custom of “laying fiat upon the promises, and then praying straight up to my heavenly Father.” Even so with Moses, he reclines on the assurance of deliverance whilst he pleads with God. Turn thy face sunward!
“Watch though so long be the twilight delaying,
Let the first sunbeam arise on thee praying;
Fear not, for greater is God by thy side,
Than armies of Satan against thee allied.”
(23)—God’s Times.—Moses had expected an immediate deliverance; but that God had not promised. Freedom He had solemnly declared that Israel should soon enjoy, but the “when” and the “how soon” were hidden in the dark. Gurnal fitly expresses the thought that, as the herbs and flowers, which sleep all winter in their roots underground, when the time of spring approaches forthwith start forth from their beds where they had lain so long undisturbed, so the promises of God will in their season effloresce and fruiten. Every promise is dated with a mysterious character, and as the gardener knows when the different seeds will come up, and arranges accordingly, so God knows the budding-time of His promises. Moses must wait. For want of skill in God’s chronology, we are prone to think that God forgets us, when indeed we forget ourselves in being so bold to set God a time of our own, and in being angry that he comes not just as we wish and expect.
“Be patient! oh, be patient! though yet our hopes are green.
The harvest fields of freedom shall be crown’d with sunny sheen.”
(24)—Means!—Moses forgot that God does not require great means—small means—or any means. He can work by little or nothing; though He is pleased to work by means. A ship struck on a reef of rocks distant from the shore, while the wind was roaring, and the wave was raging—
“Dreadful was the rack
As earth and sky would mingle. Nor yet slept the winds
Within their stony caves, but rushed abroad
From the four hinges of the world.”
The dwellers on the land could not reach the ship, and the sailors on the sea could not reach the shore. But the captain had a little dog on board—quick and intelligent. To tie a string to its neck—point it to the distant dimly-dark beach, with its shadowy group of spectators—and to fling it into the abyss to breast the foaming billows, was the work of an instant. The tiny terrier knew its errand and loved its master, and so fought its way buoyantly. No man could have triumphed over the angry waters, but the dog did. The cord had its rope, which was pulled ashore—then a hawser—then a cradle; by which means the crew were saved. What can God not do with little means?—
“Let us be content to work
To do the thing we can, and not presume
To fret because it’s little.”
The more helpless Moses was, the more glory accrued to his God. Just as with the bridge across the Falls of the Niagara. A kite bore a cord—the cord held a rope—the rope drew a cable—the cable hauled the first material necessary for the construction of the bridge. The insignificance of the means employed only redounded to the engineer’s praise.
(25)—Discipline!—The dove in the fable, annoyed because the wind had ruffled its feathers, foolishly wished for a firmament free from air, through the empty space of which it vainly dreamed that its unimpeded wing would dart swift as the nimble lightning. Silly bird! without that air it could neither live nor soar. Do not ignobly wish every breath of opposition away. Difficulties, asserts Coley, met and mastered, upbear us to the high reaches of honour. Difficulties, Beecher notes, are God’s errands; and when we are sent upon them we should esteem it a proof of Divine confidence, as a compliment from God. As in the Napoleonic wars, the general was wont to give the post of danger, or the command of a forlorn hope, or the defence of some strategic pass or bridge to a favourite subordinate.
“He holds me that I shall not fall,
And so to him I leave it all.”
—Rediyast.