The Pulpit Commentary — Exodus — Volume 1 — Section 38

obt.aine~ ~n lln?ther_. Like Balak (Num. xxii. x.xiii.), they would outwit God; or rathor not reahsmg Ins ex1st.en?e, they would force fortune by a combination of inventiveness, perseverance, and audamty. Whe1;1- one means fail_s, they do not lay aside their design, hut_ seek another means. And their second plan 1s almost always more wicked than their first. Pharaoh fo)lows _up the cruel thought of grinding oppression by the still m?re cruel resoh·e to eflect h1~ purpose through murder. And not liking to incur the odm1:Il of open murd~r, he d~vises a secret system, a crypteia,, which shall rid him of a ce_rtam number of his _enem1~s, and yet keep him clear, even of suspicion. The mid- wn•es, had they C?me mto his_ plan, would of course have said that the children they murdered were stillborn, or died from natural causes. Ilut this crafty scheme like- v.ise fails; anc. the~ what follows? His subtle brain invents a third plan, and it is the cruelest and wickedest of all. Grown shameless, he openly avows himself a murderer, t:akes his whole people into his confidence, compels them, so far as he can, to be a n~t10n of murderers, a~d extends his homicidal project to all the males. "Every son that 1s born ye shall ~st mto the river." The Nile,,according to his owu religion, was a god. :i-nd no EgyptiaII: corpse ever_ defiled it ; but everything must give way that the kmg may work his Wicked will, and the restraints of the national creed are as little regarded as those of natural morality. Facilis descensus .Averni; the steps by which men go down the road to hell are easy; each is in advance of the other, 3: little furthe~ on in guilt; there is no startling transition; and so, by little and little, advance 1s made, and the neophyte becomes a graduate in the school of crime. Ver. 17.-Duty of opposing authority when its commands are against God's Law. Few lessons are taught in Holy Scripture more plainly than this, that the wrongful commands of legitimate authority are to be disobeyed. "Saul spake to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants that they should kill David" (1 Sam. xix. 1). But Jonathan positively refused. and rebuked his father: "Wherefore wilt thou sin a,,,"'3.inst innocent blood?" (ib. ver. 5). Uzziah would have usurped the priest's office; but .A.za.ria.h the priest "withstood him" (2 Chr. xxvi. 16-21), and God signified his approval by smiting the king with leprosy. .Ahasuerus commanded that a "reverence" trenching upon God's honour ,;hould be done to Haman (Esth. iii. 2). Mordecai "transgressed the king's commandment," and it is recorded of him to his credit. The "Three Children" disobeyed Nebuchadnezzar when he would have had them "worship the golden image which he had set up" (Dan. iii. 18) on the plain of Dura. Daniel disobeyed Darius the Mede when required to discontinue his daily prayers. The Apostles disobeyed the Sanhedrim, when forbidden "to preach at all or teach in the name of Jesus" ( Acts iv. 18). God's law is paramount ; and no human authority may require anything to be done which it forbids, or anything to be left undone which it commands. The argument is unanswerable: "Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God. judge ye" (ib. ver. 19). So the midwives, because they "feared God," disobeyed the king. No doubt the lesson is to be applied with caution. We are not to be always flying in the face of authority, and claiming it as a. merit. More especially, in States calling themselves Christian and retaining even partially a Christian character, opposition to the law is a serious matter, and. if resorted to, should only be resorted to under a. clea.r and distinct conviction that the Divine law and the human are in absolute opposition. " Whatsoever is not of faith, is sin." If we are not sure of the Divine obligation we mu.st accept the human one. Still, as the good man struggling against adversity is admitted to be one of the noblest of sights, so there is nothing grander, nothing finer, nothing more heroic, than the conscientious resistance of religious persons to the wicked and tyrannical commands of men, whether they be kings, or judges, or mobs. Daniel refusing to obey Darius, Peter and John rejecting the orders of the Sanhedrim, Socrates declining to take part in the arrests of the Thirty, the Seven Bishops refusing to read the proclamation of King James II., are among the most admirable and inspiriting facts of history. The men who rightfully resist authority are "the salt of the earth." They save the world from a rapid and complete corruption. The remembrance of their acts continues, and is a warning to authorities, preventing hundreds of iniquitous laws and orders, which would otherwise have been enjoined and enacted. Their example is an undying one, and encourages others on fitting occasion to do the like. All honour then OD, I, 1/3-22.J 'l'HE BOOK OF EXODUS. 19