Bible Heaven/Bible Heaven.iso/online/mhcc09/v09500

Text File | 1994-03-02 | 11KB | 197 lines

09505
 #15-22 The Egyptians tried to destroy Israel by the murder of
 their children. The enmity that is in the seed of the serpent,
 against the Seed of the woman, makes men forget all pity. It is
 plain that the Hebrews were now under an uncommon blessing. And
 we see that the services done for God's Israel are often repaid
 in kind. Pharaoh gave orders to drown all the male children of
 the Hebrews. The enemy who, by Pharaoh, attempted to destroy the
 church in this its infant state, is busy to stifle the rise of
 serious reflections in the heart of man. Let those who would
 escape, be afraid of sinning, and cry directly and fervently to
 the Lord for assistance.
09513
 * Moses is born, and exposed on the river. (1-4) He is found,
 and brought up by Pharaoh's daughter. (5-10) Moses slays an
 Egyptian, and flees to Midian. (11-15) Moses marries the
 daughter of Jethro. (16-22) God hears the Israelites. (23-25)

 #1-4 Observe the order of Providence: just at the time when
 Pharaoh's cruelty rose to its height by ordering the Hebrew
 children to be drowned, the deliverer was born. When men are
 contriving the ruin of the church, God is preparing for its
 salvation. The parents of Moses saw he was a goodly child. A
 lively faith can take encouragement from the least hint of the
 Divine favour. It is said, #Heb 11:23|, that the parents of
 Moses hid him by faith; they had the promise that Israel should
 be preserved, which they relied upon. Faith in God's promise
 quickens to the use of lawful means for obtaining mercy. Duty is
 ours, events are God's. Faith in God will set us above the fear
 of man. At three months' end, when they could not hide the
 infant any longer, they put him in an ark of bulrushes by the
 river's brink, and set his sister to watch. And if the weak
 affection of a mother were thus careful, what shall we think of
 Him, whose love, whose compassion is, as himself, boundless.
 Moses never had a stronger protection about him, no, not when
 all the Israelites were round his tent in the wilderness, than
 now, when he lay alone, a helpless babe upon the waves. No
 water, no Egyptian can hurt him. When we seem most neglected and
 forlorn, God is most present with us.

09517
 #5-10 Come, see the place where that great man, Moses, lay, when
 he was a little child; it was in a bulrush basket by the river's
 side. Had he been left there long, he must have perished. But
 Providence brings Pharaoh's daughter to the place where this
 poor forlorn infant lay, and inclines her heart to pity it,
 which she dares do, when none else durst. God's care of us in
 our infancy ought to be often mentioned by us to his praise.
 Pharaoh cruelly sought to destroy Israel, but his own daughter
 had pity on a Hebrew child, and not only so, but, without
 knowing it, preserved Israel's deliverer, and provided Moses
 with a good nurse, even his own mother. That he should have a
 Hebrew nurse, the sister of Moses brought the mother into the
 place of a nurse. Moses was treated as the son of Pharaoh's
 daughter. Many who, by their birth, are obscure and poor, by
 surprising events of Providence, are raised high in the world,
 to make men know that God rules.

09523
 #11-15 Moses boldly owned the cause of God's people. It is plain
 from #Heb 11|. that this was done in faith, with the full
 purpose of leaving the honours, wealth, and pleasures of his
 rank among the Egyptians. By the grace of God he was a partaker
 of faith in Christ, which overcomes the world. He was willing,
 not only to risk all, but to suffer for his sake; being assured
 that Israel were the people of God. By special warrant from
 Heaven, which makes no rule for other cases, Moses slew an
 Egyptian, and rescued an oppressed Israelites. Also, he tried to
 end a dispute between two Hebrews. The reproof Moses gave, may
 still be of use. May we not apply it to disputants, who, by
 their fierce debates, divide and weaken the Christian church?
 They forget that they are brethren. He that did wrong quarrelled
 with Moses. It is a sign of guilt to be angry at reproof. Men
 know not what they do, nor what enemies they are to themselves,
 when they resist and despise faithful reproofs and reprovers.
 Moses might have said, if this be the spirit of the Hebrews, I
 will go to court again, and be the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
 But we must take heed of being set against the ways and people
 of God, by the follies and peevishness of some persons that
 profess religion. Moses was obliged to flee into the land of
 Midian. God ordered this for wise and holy ends.

09528
 #16-22 Moses found shelter in Midian. He was ready to help
 Reuel's daughters to water their flocks, although bred in
 learning and at court. Moses loved to be doing justice, and to
 act in defence of such as he saw injured, which every man ought
 to do, as far as it is in his power. He loved to be doing good;
 wherever the providence of God casts us, we should desire and
 try to be useful; and when we cannot do the good we would, we
 must be ready to do the good we can. Moses commended himself to
 the prince of Midian; who married one of his daughters to Moses,
 by whom he had a son, called Gershom, "a stranger there," that
 he might keep in remembrance the land in which he had been a
 stranger.

09535
 #23-25 The Israelites' bondage in Egypt continued, though the
 murdering of their infants did not continue. Sometimes the Lord
 suffers the rod of the wicked to lie very long and very heavy on
 the lot of the righteous. At last they began to think of God
 under their troubles. It is a sign that the Lord is coming
 towards us with deliverance, when he inclines and enables us to
 cry to him for it. God heard their groaning; he made it to
 appear that he took notice of their complaints. He remembered
 his covenant, of which he is ever mindful. He considered this,
 and not any merit of theirs. He looked upon the children of
 Israel. Moses looked upon them, and pitied them; but now God
 looked upon them, and helped them. He had respect unto them. His
 eyes are now fixed upon Israel, to show himself in their behalf.
 God is ever thus, a very present help in trouble. Take courage
 then, ye who, conscious of guilt and thraldom, are looking to
 Him for deliverance. God in Christ Jesus is also looking upon
 you. A call of love is joined with a promise of the Redeemer.
 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will
 give you rest, #Mt 11:28|.
09538
 * God appears to Moses in a burning bush. (1-6) God sends Moses
 to deliver Israel. (7-10) The name Jehovah. (11-15) The
 deliverance of the Israelites promised. (16-22)

 #1-6 The years of the life of Moses are divided into three
 forties; the first forty he spent as a prince in Pharaoh's
 court, the second as a shepherd in Midian, the third as a king
 in Jeshurun. How changeable is the life of man! The first
 appearance of God to Moses, found him tending sheep. This seems
 a poor employment for a man of his parts and education, yet he
 rests satisfied with it; and thus learns meekness and
 contentment, for which he is more noted in sacred writ, than for
 all his learning. Satan loves to find us idle; God is pleased
 when he finds us employed. Being alone, is a good friend to our
 communion with God. To his great surprise, Moses saw a bush
 burning without fire to kindle it. The bush burned, and yet did
 not burn away; an emblem of the church in bondage in Egypt. And
 it fitly reminds us of the church in every age, under its
 severest persecutions kept by the presence of God from being
 destroyed. Fire is an emblem, in Scripture, of the Divine
 holiness and justice, also of the afflictions and trials with
 which God proves and purifies his people, and even of that
 baptism of the Holy Ghost, by which sinful affections are
 consumed, and the soul changed into the Divine nature and image.
 God gave Moses a gracious call, to which he returned a ready
 answer. Those that would have communion with God, must attend
 upon him in the ordinances wherein he is pleased to manifest
 himself and his glory, though it be in a bush. Putting off the
 shoe was a token of respect and submission. We ought to draw
 nigh to God with a solemn pause and preparation, carefully
 avoiding every thing that looks light and rude, and unbecoming
 his service. God does not say, I was the God of Abraham, Isaac,
 and Jacob, but I am. The patriarchs still live, so many years
 after their bodies have been in the grave. No length of time can
 separate the souls of the just from their Maker. By this, God
 instructed Moses as to another world, and strengthened his
 belief of a future state. Thus it is interpreted by our Lord
 Jesus, who, from hence, proves that the dead are raised, #Lu
 20:37|. Moses hid his face, as if both ashamed and afraid to
 look upon God. The more we see of God, and his grace, and
 covenant love, the more cause we shall see to worship him with
 reverence and godly fear.

09544
 #7-10 God notices the afflictions of Israel. Their sorrows; even
 the secret sorrows of God's people are known to him. Their cry;
 God hears the cries of his afflicted people. The oppression they
 endured; the highest and greatest of their oppressors are not
 above him. God promises speedy deliverance by methods out of the
 common ways of providence. Those whom God, by his grace,
 delivers out of a spiritual Egypt, he will bring to a heavenly
 Canaan.

09548
 #11-15 Formerly Moses thought himself able to deliver Israel,
 and set himself to the work too hastily. Now, when the fittest
 person on earth for it, he knows his own weakness. This was the
 effect of more knowledge of God and of himself. Formerly,
 self-confidence mingled with strong faith and great zeal, now
 sinful distrust of God crept in under the garb of humility; so
 defective are the strongest graces and the best duties of the
 most eminent saints. But all objections are answered in,
 Certainly I will be with thee. That is enough. Two names God
 would now be known by. A name that denotes what he is in
 himself, I AM THAT I AM. This explains his name Jehovah, and
 signifies, 1. That he is self-existent: he has his being of
 himself. 2. That he is eternal and unchangeable, and always the
 same, yesterday, to-day, and for ever. 3. That he is
 incomprehensible; we cannot by searching find him out: this name
 checks all bold and curious inquiries concerning God. 4. That he
 is faithful and true to all his promises, unchangeable in his
 word as well as in his nature; let Israel know this, I AM hath
 sent me unto you. I am, and there is none else besides me. All
 else have their being from God, and are wholly dependent upon
 him. Also, here is a name that denotes what God is to his
 people. The Lord God of your fathers sent me unto you. Moses
 must revive among them the religion of their fathers, which was
 almost lost; and then they might expect the speedy performance
 of the promises made unto their fathers.