MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Exodus 7:1-2
THE MORAL POSITION IN WHICH SOME MEN STAND TO OTHERS
God made Moses to be a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron to be a prophet. There are many good and noble men in the world to-day, who are the gods, the instructors and rulers, of their fellow-creatures.
I. This exalted moral position is the result of Divine allotment. “And the Lord said unto Moses, see, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh.”
1. Men are not to place themselves in this moral position to others. A man is not to make himself a god unto his fellows. Some ambitious spirits do this, and in the attempt become as Satans to their comrades. They become imperious. They make unjust demands on those they rule. The man divinely appointed to this position, will never usurp social influence, though he will always yield it, because it will be the natural accompaniment of his holy life. He will not pander to popular sentiment. He will speak to humanity the messages of God.
2. Men are not to be placed in this moral position merely by the suffrages of their fellow-creatures. The Israelites did not call Moses to the work of their freedom. Pharaoh did not place Moses and Aaron in these relations to himself. The appointment was of God. Society determines its own mental and social gods, and inshrines its men of wealth and genius as deities, but the moral gods of the universe are of Divine appointment. Society would make a wrong selection of gods, if left to its own choice. It would prefer the morally indulgent to the heroic and the true. It would be in danger of making a mistake and of crowning the ambitious rather than the lowly. Hence the selection must be Divine.
II. This exalted moral position involves arduous work and terrible responsibility.
1. The true gods of society have something more to do than amuse it. The visit of Moses to Pharaoh would be no great source of amusement to either party. The gods of humanity are comparatively withdrawn from the vulgar and secular matters of life, the bearing of their efforts is eminently moral. It has reference to souls, to man’s life in its relation to the Infinite. A man whose highest aim is to excite the merriment of society, is too far removed from divinity to be mistaken for a God.
2. The true gods of society find their employment in communicating to men the messages of God. Moses and Aaron were to communicate God’s message to Pharaoh. God frequently has distinct messages for individual men in reference to their moral conduct. These are carried by the divinely-appointed prophets of society. They come to teach us. To awaken us. To enable us to fulfil the will of God. Hence their work is arduous and responsible.
III. This exalted moral position is the most efficiently employed in seeking the freedom of men. But for the slavery of Israel Moses would not have been a god unto Pharaoh. The position is the outcome of a condition of things it ought to remove. It is not for self-aggrandizement. It is to give men the freedom of a divine salvation.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Exodus 7:1-2. In the Hebrew Scriptures, magistrates, as representing a portion of the jurisdiction of God, are called gods. The expression was very commonly applied to those who were possessed of dignity or official power, “Ye are gods;” and in this sense Moses is said to have been made a god unto Pharaoh; and Aaron his brother was to be his prophet. You are already aware of the reason of this distinction between the two brethren. Moses complained that he had no power of eloquence, or was of uncircumcised lip; and God’s reply to that was, “You, Moses, shall be the oracle or depository of truth; and Aaron, who has the gift of eloquence, shall unfold and express it.” God did not alter their constitutional characteristics; but he made use of their existing constitutional peculiarities to do his great work. So, still, when God employs men to execute His purposes, He does not re-create them, but He sanctifies them, He uses them as they are. Any body reading the New Testament, will see that each writer has a style of his own; so much so, that if you were to read a few verses from one or the other of the writers,. I should be able to say whether they were written by Matthew, or Paul, or Peter. God did not destroy the idiosyncracies of the sacred penman, but he retained their variety of style, and consecrated that variety to be the more elegant vehicle of important and precious truth. So, when God sent Moses and Aaron to do his work in Egypt, He did not make Moses eloquent, which he was not, nor did he make Aaron learned, which he was not; but he made Aaron the eloquent man, draw upon the stores of Moses, the learned man, and thus each did efficiently and naturally the work that God had assigned them. So, at the era of the Reformation, Luther’s eloquence and energy would have been extremely defective, if he could not have fallen back upon the rich stores of Melancthon’s learning. So in the Acts of the Apostles, the energy and boldness of Peter were shown in his speaking; and the love, patience, and piety of John, were shown in his keeping silence. God thus takes different men of different constitutional peculiarities for different purposes.—(Dr. Cumming.)
Great is God’s goodness and patience to reason with, and encourage His backward servants.
Men judging themselves as uncircumcised, may be made by Jehovah as gods.
Prophets are merely God’s mouth and lips to His Church.
God orders one instrument from another to utter His mind to worldly powers.
At God’s word poor despicable creatures command oppressing powers to release the oppressed, and it shall be done in time.
ILLUSTRATIONS
BY THE
REV. WM. ADAMSON
Divine Favour! Exodus 7:2. If we saved, remarks Faber, the life of the queen’s child, we would not easily forget the grateful look of the royal mother’s face. It would be long before her burning words of thanks died away in our ears—a sovereign’s tears, and those tears of joy, are not things to be readily forgotten. But what a very unimportant thing this is compared with being allowed to please God by obedience to His commands. There need therefore be no reluctance on our part. Let us not be backward servants. Well may we adopt as our own the dying prayer of Usher, “O Lord, forgive me my sins, especially my sins of omission.”—By such omission we become the losers—we lose the sweet approving smile of God.
I’m sure it makes a happy day,
When I can please Him any way.
—Hewitt.