The Expositor's Bible: The Book of Exodus

1–

y His name Jehovah was He not known, or made known, unto them. Now, it is quite clear that they were not utterly ignorant of this title, for no such theory as that it was hitherto mentioned by anticipation only, can explain the first syllable in the name of the mother of Moses himself, nor the assertion that in the time of Seth men began to call upon th

(Gen. xvii. 1). But thenceforth all the experience of the past was to reinforce the energies of the present, and men were to remember that their promises came from One who cannot change. Others, like Abraham, had been stronger in faith than Moses. But faith is not the same as insight, and Moses was the greatest of the prophets (Deut. xxxiv. 10). To him, there

ot by His name Jehovah, were not lost for want of the knowledge of His name, but saved by faith in Him, in the living Being to Whom all these names belong, and Who shall yet write upon the brows of His people some new name, hitherto undreamed by the ripest of the saints and the purest of the Churches. Meantime, let us learn the lessons of tolerance for other men's ignorance, remembering the ignorance of the father of the faithful, tolerance for difference of views, remembering how the unusual and rare name of God was really the precursor of a brighter revelation, and yet again, when our hearts are faint with longing for new light, and weary to death of the babbling of old words, let us learn a sober

e thought is that of a deliberate weighing of merits, and rendering out of measured penalties. Now, the Egyptian mythology had a very clear and solemn view of judgment after death. If king and people had grown cruel, it was because they failed to realise remote punishments, and did not believe in present judgments, here, in this life. But there is a God that judgeth in the earth. Not always, for mercy rejoiceth over judgment. We m

h belonged to rare individuals in the old time is now offered to a whole nation. Just as the heart of each man is gradually educated, learning first to love a parent and a family, and so led on to national patriotism, and at last to a world-wide philanthropy,

y to save us. He cares for us. He takes us to Himself,

gain, "My son, give Me thine heart." And so, when He carried to the uttermost these unsought, unhoped for, and, alas! unwelcomed overtures of condescension, and came among us, He would have gathered, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, those who would not. It is not man who conceives, from definite services received, t

ould fain convert us to Himself; even as the first disciples did not accost Jesus, but He turned and

o be made between a mechanical universe and a r

d its benefits, and chilled the mutual sympathies which it involved; but the fact always remained, an

call Him Father, although we are not worthy to be called His sons. We are to remember how Jesus said, "If ye being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give His Ho

at persecute you, that ye may be sons of your Father Which is in heaven" (Matt. v. 45). There is no encouragement to presumption in the assertion of the Divine Fatherhood upon such terms. For it speaks of a love which is real and deep without being feeble and indiscriminate. It appeals to faith because there is an absolute fact to lean up

is, too, is a universal law, that we shall know if we follow on to know: that the trial of our faith worketh patience, and patience experience, and we have

f the savage could be civilised, and the distorted and absurd conceptions of medi?val

ur upon domestic affection and the sacred ties of family life; but, like these, it vindicates itself, in the rest of their souls, to those who will take the yoke and le

shall know that He is Jehovah, and true

by Him Who knoweth our frame and remembereth that we are dust, and Who, in the hour of His own agony, found the excuse for His unsympathising followers that the spirit was willing although the flesh was weak. So when Elijah made request for himself that he

d upon the spirit by pampered and luxurious bodies, incapable of self-sacrifice, rebellious against the lightest of His demands. It is suggestive, that Moses, when s

of Satan, is checked and hindered more by the coldness of the Church than by the hostility of the worl

e find the faith (faith in its fulness) on the earth?" (Luke xviii. 8). But we ought to remember that our own low standard helps to form the standard of attainment for the Church at large-that when one member suffers, all the members suffer with it-that many a large sacrifice w

level of the whole Church is low, that giants of faith and of attainment may be hoped for. Nay, Christ s

orces are demanded. But all the tendency of our half-hearted, abject, semi-Christianity is to repress everything that is unconventional, abnormal, likely to embroil us with our natural enemy, the world; and who can doubt that, when the secrets of all hearts shall

ever shook the great hear

uring somewhat the briefer scheme of chronology which makes four centuries cover all the time from Abraham, and not the captivity alone. But it is certain that this is a mere recapitulation of the more important links in the genealogy. In Num. xxvi. 58, 59, six generations are reckoned instead of four; in 1 Chron. ii. 3 there are seven generations; and elsewhere in the same book (vi. 22) there are ten. It is well known that similar omissions of

e ascribed to the union of Amram with his father's sister, for su

, unless we were dealing with genuine history, which knows that the sons of Aaron inherited the lawful priesth

later struggles, should we read of the hesitation and the fears of a leader "of u

of a virtuous and heroic antiquity, a golden age. It is indeed impossible to reconcile the motives and

rael" (vii. 4, etc.), should never in the Pentateuch be called the Lord of Hosts, if that title were in common

d that He had already made His servant as a god unto Pharaoh, having armed

f speaking what he felt so deeply, in words that would satisfy his own judgment. Yet God had endowed him, even then, with a supernatural power far greater than any facility of expression. In his weakness he would thus be made strong; and the

het, being too great to reveal himself directly. It is a memorable phrase; and so lofty an assertion could never, in the myth

ly by the hope of help and achievement yet to come, but by the certainty of present endowment. And so s

of us remember that this loan implies a commission from God, as real as that of prophet and deliverer,

d inspire the prophet, and him that giveth alms, and him that showeth mercy; for all are mem

ven to Moses made him

ength. The supernatural would become visible in him. He who boasted "I know not Jehovah" would come to crouch before Him in His agent, and humble himself to the man whom once he contem

ill be ascribed to a preternatural source, but the sum total of the effect produced by a holy life will be sacred. He who said, "I have m