PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Expositor's Bible: The Book of Exodus
Chadwick, G. A. (George Alexander) · 133,337 words · 210 reading sections
Preface.
Produced by Marcia Brooks, Colin Bell, Nigel Blower and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) [Transcriber's Note: This e-text is intended for users whose text readers cannot display t…
662 wordsSECTION 2Chapter I.
THE PROLOGUE, i. 1-6. Books linked by conjunction "And:" Scripture history a connected whole, 1.--So is secular history organic: "Philosophy of history." The Pentateuch being a still closer unity, Exodus rehearses the descent into Egypt, 2.--Heredity: the family of Jacob, 3.--Death of Joseph. Influence of Egypt on the…
274 wordsSECTION 3Chapter Iii.
THE RESCUE OF MOSES, ii. 1-10. Importance of the individual, 26.--A man _versus_ "the Time-spirit," 27.--The parents of Moses, 28.--Their family: their goodly child, 29.--Emotion helps faith, 30.--The ark in the bulrushes, 31.--Pharaoh's daughter and Miriam, 32.--Guidance for good emotions: the Church for humanity, 33…
345 wordsSECTION 4Chapter Vi.
MOSES HESITATES, iv. 1-17. Scripture is impartial: Josephus, 70.--Hindrance from his own people. The rod, 71.--The serpent: the leprosy, 72.--"I am not eloquent," 73.--God with us. Aaron the Levite, 74.--Responsibility of _not_ working. The errors of Moses, 75.--Power of fellowship. Vague fears, 76.--With his brother,…
302 wordsSECTION 5Chapter Ix.
THE HARDENING OF PHARAOH'S HEART, vii. 3-13. The assertion offends many, 112.--Was he a free agent? When hardened. A.V. incorrect, 113.--He resists five plagues spontaneously. The last five are penal, 114.--Not "hardened" in wickedness, but in nerve. A.V. confuses three words: His heart is (_a_) "hardened," 115.--(_b_…
345 wordsSECTION 6Chapter Xii.
THE EIGHTH PLAGUE, x. 1-20. Moses encouraged, 154.--Deliverances should be remembered. A sterner rebuke. Locusts in Egypt, 155.--Their effect. The court interferes. Yet "their hearts hardened" also, 156--Infatuation of Pharaoh. Parallel of Napoleon, 157.--Women and little ones did share in festivals, 158.--A gentle wi…
379 wordsSECTION 7Chapter Xvi.
THE LAW OF THE FIRSTBORN, xiii, 1. The consecration of the firstborn, 199.--The Levite. "They are Mine," 200.--Joy is hopeful. Tradition? 201.--Phylacteries. The ass, 202.--The Philistines. No spiritual miracle, 203.--Education, 204. THE BONES OF JOSEPH, xiii. 19. Joseph influenced Moses, 204.--His faith, 205.--Circ…
331 wordsSECTION 8Chapter Xix.
MERIBAH, xvii. 1-7. A greater strain. What if Israel had stood it? 249.--They murmured against Moses. The position of Aaron. An exaggerated outcry, 250.--Witnesses to the miracle. The rock in Horeb, 251.--The rod. Privilege is not acceptance, 252. AMALEK, xvii. 8-16. A water-raid, 252.--God's sheep must become His w…
283 wordsSECTION 9Chapter Xx.
THE LAW, xx. 1-17. What the law did. It could not justify. It reveals obligation, 280.--It convicts, not enables. It is an organic whole. And a challenge, 281.--The Spirit enables: love is fulfilment of law. Luther's paradox, 283.--Law and Gospel contrasted. Its spiritual beauty: two noble failures, 283.--The Jewish a…
507 wordsSECTION 10Chapter Xxiv.
II. RIGHTS OF THE PERSON, xxi. 1-32. The Hebrew slave. The seventh year. Year of jubilee. His family, 340.--The ear pierced. St. Paul's "marks of the Lord." Assaults, 341.--The Gentile slave, 342. The female slave, 342-3.--Murder and blood-fiends, 343.--Parents. Kidnappers, 344.--Eye for eye. Mitigations of _lex talio…
303 wordsSECTION 11Chapter Xxx.
THE SHRINE AND ITS FURNITURE, xxv. 1-40. The God of Sinai will inhabit a tent. His other tabernacles, 376-7.--The furniture is typical. Altar of incense postponed, 377.--The ark enshrines His law and its sanctions, 377-8.--The mercy-seat covers it, 378-81.--Man's homage. The table of shewbread, 382-3.--The golden cand…
286 wordsSECTION 12_The Prologue._
BEZALEEL AND AHOLIAB, xxxi. 1-18. Secular gifts are sacred, 428-30.--The Sabbath. The tables and "the finger of God," 431. Sin of the people; of Aaron. God rejects them, 432.--Intercession. The Christian antitype, 433-4. The first concession. The angel, 435.--"The Tent of the Meeting," 436. To know is to desire to …
686 wordsSECTION 13_The Prologue._
"The fairest of her daughters Eve." Joseph is also reckoned, although he "was in Egypt already." Now, it must be observed that of these seventy, sixty-eight were males, and therefore the people of the Exodus must not be reckoned to have sprung in the interval from seventy, but (remembering polygamy) from more than twi…
693 wordsSECTION 14_God In History._
It is a well-known saying of Goethe that the quality for which God chose Israel was probably toughness. Perhaps the saying would better be inverted: it was among the most remarkable endowments, unto which Israel was called, and called by virtue of qualities in which Goethe himself was remarkably deficient. Now, this p…
766 wordsSECTION 15_God In History._
Now, it is to St. Paul that we turn for light upon the connection between the Old Testament and the New. And he distinctly lays down two great principles. The first is that the Old Testament is meant to educate men for the New; and especially that the sense of failure, impressed upon men's consciences by the stern dema…
698 wordsSECTION 16_God In History._
The second great principle of St. Paul is that faith in a divine help, in pardon, blessing and support, was the true spirit of the Old Testament as well as of the New. The challenge of the law was meant to produce self-despair, only that men might trust in God. Appeal was made especially to the cases of Abraham and Dav…
773 wordsSECTION 17_The Oppression._
Moreover, He treats us as the men of other ages. Instead of dealing with Moses upon exceptional and strange lines, He made known His ways unto Moses, His characteristic and habitual ways. And it is on this account that whatsoever things were written aforetime are true admonition for us also, being not violent interrupt…
675 wordsSECTION 18_The Oppression._
The great national lesson is now to be taught to Israel that the most splendid imperial force will be brought to an account for its treatment of the humblest--that there is a God Who judges in the earth. And they were bidden to apply in their own land this experience of their own, dealing kindly with the stranger in th…
835 wordsSECTION 19_The Oppression._
Now, it is instructive to observe these reappearances of wholesale crime. They warn us that the utmost achievements of human wickedness are human still; not wild and grotesque importations by a fiend, originated in the abyss, foreign to the world we live in. Satan finds the material for his master-strokes in the estran…
710 wordsSECTION 20_The Oppression._
Now, there is nothing which enfeebles the spirit and breaks the courage like religious dependence. A strong priesthood always means a feeble people, most of all when they are of different blood. And Israel was now dependent on Egypt alike for the highest and lowest needs--grass for the cattle and religion for the soul.…
815 wordsSECTION 21_The Oppression._
In the meantime, God acknowledges, and Holy Scripture celebrates, the service of these obscure and lowly heroines. Nothing done for Him goes unrewarded. To slaves it was written that "From the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: ye serve the Lord Christ" (Col. iii. 24). And what these women saved for o…
548 wordsSECTION 22_The Rescue Of Moses._
[1] Professor Curtiss quotes a volume of family memoirs which shows that 5,564 persons are known to be descended from Lieutenant John Hollister, who emigrated to America in the year 1642 (_Expositor_, Nov. 1887, p. 329). This is probably equal in ratio to the increase of Israel in Egypt. [2] J. K. Huysmans--quoted in …
671 wordsSECTION 23_The Rescue Of Moses._
As yet the parents of Moses are not named; nor is there any allusion to the close relationship which would have forbidden their union at a later period (chap. vi. 20). And throughout all the story of his youth and early manhood there is no mention whatever of God or of religion. Elsewhere it is not so. The Epistle to t…
796 wordsSECTION 24_The Rescue Of Moses._
Such, if we desire a real and actual salvation, is always the faith which saves. Postpone salvation to an indefinite future; make it no more than the escape from vaguely realised penalties for sins which do not seem very hateful; and you may suppose that faith in theories can obtain this indulgence; an opinion may weig…
722 wordsSECTION 25_The Rescue Of Moses._
This incident teaches us that good is never to be despaired of, since this kindly woman grew up in the family of the persecutor. And the promptitude and success of Miriam suggest a reflection. Men do pity, when it is brought home to them, the privation, suffering, and wrong, which lie around. Magnificent sums are cont…
270 wordsSECTION 26_The Choice Of Moses._
ii. 11-15. God works even His miracles by means. As He fed the multitude with barley-loaves, so He would emancipate Israel by human agency. It was therefore necessary to educate one of the trampled race "in all the learning of Egypt," and Moses was planted in the court of Pharaoh, like the German Arminius in Rome. Won…
652 wordsSECTION 27_The Choice Of Moses._
We saw that the piety of his parents was not unhelped by their emotions: they hid him by faith when they saw that he was a goodly child. Such was also the faith by which Moses broke with rank and fortune. He went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his br…
664 wordsSECTION 28_Moses In Midian._
His first act had been a kind of manifesto, a claim to lead, which he supposed that they would have understood; and yet, when he found his deed was known, he feared and fled. His false step told against him. One cannot but infer also that he was conscious of having already forfeited court favour--that he had before thi…
692 wordsSECTION 29_Moses In Midian._
And why was Moses thus energetic, fearless, and chivalrous? Because he was sustained by the presence of the Unseen: he endured as seeing Him who is invisible; and having, despite of panic, by faith forsaken Egypt, he was free from the absorbing anxieties which prevent men from caring for their fellows, free also from t…
486 wordsSECTION 30_The Burning Bush._
[3] The same word is used for Noah's ark, but not elsewhere; not, for example, of the ark in the Temple, the name of which occurs elsewhere in Scripture only of the "coffin" of Joseph, and the "chest" for the Temple revenues (Gen. 1. 26; 2 Chron. xxiv. 8, 10, 11.) [4] Or his sister, the daughter of a former Pharaoh. …
683 wordsSECTION 31_The Burning Bush._
While this anguish was being endured in Egypt, Moses was maturing for his destiny. Self-reliance, pride of place, hot and impulsive aggressiveness, were dying in his bosom. To the education of the courtier and scholar was now added that of the shepherd in the wilds, amid the most solemn and awful scenes of nature, in s…
806 wordsSECTION 32_The Burning Bush._
Man is the true image of God, and His perfect revelation was in flesh. But now that expression of Himself was perilous, and perhaps unsuitable besides; for He was to be known as the Avenger, and presently as the Giver of Law, with its inflexible conditions and its menaces. Therefore He appeared as fire, which is intens…
657 wordsSECTION 33_The Burning Bush._
The first words of Jehovah teach something more than ceremonial reverence. If the dust of common earth on the shoe of Moses may not mingle with that sacred soil, how dare we carry into the presence of our God mean passions and selfish cravings? Observe, too, that while Jacob, when he awoke from his vision, said, "How d…
843 wordsSECTION 34_The Burning Bush._
Next after the promise of this good land, the commission of Moses is announced. He is to act, because God is already active: "_I_ am come down to deliver them ... come now, therefore, and I will send _thee_ unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth My people." And let this truth encourage all who are truly sent of God…
464 wordsSECTION 35_A New Name._
iii. 14. vi. 2, 3. "God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." We cannot certainly tell why Moses asked for a new name by which to announce to his brethren the appearance of God. He may have felt that the memory of their fathers, an…
737 wordsSECTION 36_A New Name._
But our present concern is with the practical message conveyed to Israel when Moses declared that Jehovah, I AM, the God of their fathers, had appeared unto him. And if we find in it a message suited for the time, and which is the basis, not the superstructure, both of later messages and also of the national character,…
816 wordsSECTION 37_A New Name._
Yet in another sense, and quite as deep a one, man is not the coarse tissue which past circumstances have woven: he is the seed of the future, as truly as the fruit of the past. Strange compound that he is of memory and hope, while half of the present depends on what is over, the other half is projected into the future…
703 wordsSECTION 38_A New Name._
To Israel, and to all the oppressed whose minds are open to receive the tidings and their faith strong to embrace it, He said, Your life is blighted, and your future is in the hand of taskmasters, yet be of good cheer, for now your deliverance is undertaken by Him Whose being and purpose are one, Who _is_ in perfection…
674 wordsSECTION 39_A New Name._
In future troubles they could appeal to Him to awake as in the ancient days, as being He who "cut Rahab and wounded the Dragon." "I am the Lord, I change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." And as the sublime and beautiful conception of a loving spiritual God was built up slowly, age by age, tier upon t…
426 wordsSECTION 40_The Commission._
iii. 10, 16-22. We have already learned from the seventh verse that God commissioned Moses, only when He had Himself descended to deliver Israel. He sends none, except with the implied or explicit promise that certainly He will be with them. But the converse is also true. If God sends no man but when He comes Himself,…
731 wordsSECTION 41_The Commission._
But the refusal answered two good ends. In the first place it joined issue on the best conceivable ground, for Israel was exhibited making the least possible demand with the greatest possible courtesy--"Let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the wilderness." Not even so much would be granted. The tyrant was …
497 wordsSECTION 42_Moses Hesitates._
[6] So much ignorant capital has been made by sceptics out of this unfortunate mistranslation, that it is worth while to inquire whether the word "borrow" would suit the context in other passages. "He _borrowed_ water and she gave him milk" (Judges v. 25). "The Lord said unto Solomon, Because thou hast _borrowed_ this …
671 wordsSECTION 43_Moses Hesitates._
Both miracles were of a menacing kind. First the rod became a serpent, to declare that at God's bidding enemies would rise up against the oppressor, even where all seemed innocuous, as in truth the waters of the river and the dust of the furnace and the winds of heaven conspired against him. Then, in the grasp of Moses…
870 wordsSECTION 44_Moses Hesitates._
Now, it is the duty of every man, to whom a special vocation presents itself, to set opposite each other two considerations. Dare I undertake this task? is a solemn question, but so is this: Dare I let this task go past me? Am I prepared for the responsibility of allowing it to drift into weaker hands? These are days w…
736 wordsSECTION 45_Moses Hesitates._
This is the principle which underlies the institution of the Church of Christ, and the conception that Christians are brothers, among whom the strong must help the weak. Such help from their fellow-mortals would perhaps decide the choice of many hesitating souls, upon the verge of the divine life, recoiling from its un…
677 wordsSECTION 46_Moses Obeys._
iv. 18-31. Moses is now commissioned: he is to go to Egypt, and Aaron is coming thence to meet him. Yet he first returns to Midian, to Jethro, who is both his employer and the head of the family, and prays him to sanction his visit to his own people. There are duties which no family resistance can possibly cancel, an…
719 wordsSECTION 47_Moses Obeys._
A much deeper meaning underlies the profound expression which God now commands Moses to employ; and although it must await consideration at a future time, the progressive education of Moses himself is meantime to be observed. At first he is taught that the Lord is the God of their fathers, in whose descendants He is th…
760 wordsSECTION 48_Moses Obeys._
Domestic unhappiness is a palliation, but not a justification, for an unserviceable life. It is a great advantage to come into action with the dew and freshness of affection upon the soul. Yet it is not once nor twice that men have carried the message of God back from the barren desert and the lonely ways of their unha…
698 wordsSECTION 49_Moses Obeys._
And now the brothers meet, embrace, and exchange confidences. As Andrew, the first disciple who brought another to Jesus, found first his own brother Simon, so was Aaron the earliest convert to the mission of Moses. And that happened which so often puts our faithlessness to shame. It had seemed very hard to break his s…
409 wordsSECTION 50_Pharaoh Refuses._
[7] Tertullian appealed to the second of these miracles to illustrate the possibility of the resurrection. "The hand of Moses is changed and becomes like that of the dead, bloodless, colourless, and stiff with cold. But on the recovery of heat and restoration of its natural colour, it is the same flesh and blood.... So…
748 wordsSECTION 51_Pharaoh Refuses._
But it will be understood that this identification, concerning which there is now a very general consent of competent authorities, implies that the Pharaoh was not himself engulfed with his army. Nothing is on the other side except a poetic assertion in Psalm cxxxvi. 15, which is not that God destroyed, but that He "sh…
669 wordsSECTION 52_Pharaoh Refuses._
"They be idle, therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God." And still there are men who hold the same opinion, that time spent in devotion is wasted, as regards the duties of real life. In truth, religion means freshness, elasticity and hope: a man will be not slothful in business, but fervent in sp…
674 wordsSECTION 53_Pharaoh Refuses._
Startling to our notions of reverence are the words in which Moses addresses God. "Lord, why hast Thou evil entreated this people? Why is it that Thou hast sent me? for since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Thy name, he hath evil entreated this people; neither hast Thou delivered Thy people at all." It is almost as if hi…
790 wordsSECTION 54_The Encouragement Of Moses._
Fresh air, a balmy wind, a bright blue sky--which of us feels a thrill of conscious exultation for these cheap delights? The released prisoner, the restored invalid, feels it: "The common earth, the air, the skies, To him are opening paradise." Even so should Israel be taught to value deliverance. And now the proces…
816 wordsSECTION 55_The Encouragement Of Moses._
Again is Moses bidden to appeal to the faith of his countrymen, by a solemn repetition of the Divine promise. If the tyranny is great, they shall be redeemed with a stretched out arm, that is to say, with a palpable interposition of the power of God, "and with great judgments." It is the first appearance in Scripture o…
652 wordsSECTION 56_The Encouragement Of Moses._
To-day, the choice of the civilised world has to be made between a mechanical universe and a revealed love, for no third possibility survives. This promise establishes a relationship, which God never afterwards cancelled. Human unbelief rejected its benefits, and chilled the mutual sympathies which it involved; but th…
764 wordsSECTION 57_The Encouragement Of Moses._
But if the anguish of the body excuses much weakness of the spirit, it follows, on the other hand, that men are responsible to God for that heavy weight which is laid upon the spirit by pampered and luxurious bodies, incapable of self-sacrifice, rebellious against the lightest of His demands. It is suggestive, that Mos…
738 wordsSECTION 58_The Encouragement Of Moses._
Neither, in that case, would the birth of the great emancipator be ascribed to the union of Amram with his father's sister, for such marriages were distinctly forbidden by the law (Lev. xviii. 14). Nor would the names of the children of the founder of the nation be omitted, while those of Aaron are recorded, unless we…
652 wordsSECTION 59_The Hardening Of Pharaoh'S Heart._
The endowment thus given to Moses made him "as a god" to Pharaoh. We must not take this to mean only that he had a prophet or spokesman, or that he was made formidable, but that the peculiar nature of his prowess would be felt. It was not his own strength. The supernatural would become visible in him. He who boasted "…
680 wordsSECTION 60_The Hardening Of Pharaoh'S Heart._
After the plague of blood "Pharaoh's heart was strong" ("hardened"), and this is distinctly ascribed to his own action, because "he set his heart even to this" (vii. 22, 23). After the second plague, it was still he himself who "made his heart heavy" (viii. 15). After the third plague the magicians warned him that th…
669 wordsSource & rights
Public domain in the USA; original historical text digitized by Project Gutenberg.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.