mind to faco tbo dread necessity of exposure I We can imagine her being driven to decisive action at last, by seeing the agonies of some neighbouring mother, M the scrvants of Pharaoh discover her child and ruthlessly extinguish its delicate life. Here, in the sufferings of the mother of Moses, and of all the rest whom she but represents, wo have something like tho full significance set before us of that curse which first rested upon Eve. There may have been a measure of truth in what the midwives sairi concerning the ease with which the mothers in Israel had been delivered; but not so were they going to escape the curse. Their trouble only began when the man-child was born into the world. Not to them at least was the birth to be an occasion of joy, out the beginning of unspeakable solicitude (Matt. ii.16-18; xx.iv. 19; John xvi. 21). This poor woman exposed her tender infant, not because she was callous of heart, unnatural, and lacking in love; but because of the very intensity of her love. So wretched had the state of Israel become that its infants found no place so dangerous as the place that should have been safest-the warm bosom of the mother. UJ, WE HAVE A MOST IMPRESSIVE ILLUSTRATION OF WOMANLY SYMPATHY, The Scriptures, true to their character as being the fullest revelation not less of human nature than of the Divine nature, abound in illustrations of the demonstrativeness of womanly sympathy. To go no further afield, we have such an illustration in tbe previous chapter (the conduct of the midwives). But here there is an instance which is peculiarly impressive. It was the daughter of Pharaoh who showed the much-needecl sympathy. She knew ,veil how the babe came to be forsaken, and how, though it was forsaken, this waterproof ark had been so carefully provided for it. Somewhere in Israel she could see a mother anxiously speculating on the fate of this child; and she knew that all the strange discovery she had made came out of the stem, unrelenting policy of her own father. Some women indeed in her circumstances would have said, "Sad it may be that an infant should thus perish, but my father knows best. Leave it there." But compassion rose to flood-tide in her heart, and choked all thoughts of selfish policy, if they even so much as entered into her mind. Jesus says to his disciples, concerning one of the difficulties and pains of discipleship, that a man's foes shall be they of his own household. And the principle seems to hold good in the carrying out of worldly plans. If a man wants to be downright selfish, he·also may find foes in his own household, not to be conquered, bribed, or P.ersuaded.. Pharaoh thinks he is closing-up the energies of Israel in a most effective fashion; but his own. daughter opens a little window only large enough for an infant three months old to get through it, and by this in the course of time all the cunning and cruelty of her father are made utterly void. IV. We have, in all these events connected with the infancy of Moses, A CRITICAL ILLUSTRATION OF THE REALITY OF SPECIAL PROVIDENCE. Notice that there is not a word about God in the narrative; indeed, he is not mentioned as having anything directly to do with Moses, until the interview, long after, at Horeb. There is plenty of mention of human beings, in the play of their affections, their desires, and their inge- nuity. The mother, the child, the sister, the nurse, the mother by adoption, all come before us, but there is no mention of God. Yet who does not feel that the Lord of Israel, unmentioned though he be, is yet the central, co=anding, and controlling figure in all that takes place! It was he who caused Moses to be born at that particular time. It was he who sheltered the infant during these three months, when per-haps others were being snatched away in close proximity on the right hand and the left. It was he who put into the heart of the mother to dispose of her child in this particu.ar way, and taught her to make such a cradle as surely never was made before. It was he who gave the sister wisdom to act as she did-a wisdom possibly beyond her years. It was he who turned the feet of Pharaoh's daughter (of her and no one else) in that particular direction, and not in some other. All his excellent working in this matter is hidden from those who do not wish to see it; but how manifest it is, how wonderful and beautiful, to those whose eyes he himself has opened! How different is his working here from the working of the Deus ex machina in the tanglements and com- plications of classical fable. There, when things get to all appearance h!-lpelessly disordered, a deity comes in visible form and puts them right. But in this real deliverance of Moses, the God who is the only true God works in a far different way. He works through naturiil means, and so silently, so unobtrusively, that if men wise in S2 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [ err. n. 1-10.
their own conceits are determined to ignore his presence, thero is nothmg to foreo it upon them. V. This narrative, along with that of the midwives, has A VERY SPECIAL DEARING ON THE CAPADILITIES A),,'"D DUTIES OF WOMEN. We have here in the compass of somo fivo- e.nd-twenty verses a most encouraging instance of what women aro able to do. So far, in this book of the Exodu~, God is seen exalting the woman and abasing the man. Man, so far as he appears, 1s set before us a weak, thwarted creature; cruel enough in disposition, but unable to give his cruelty effect. Even a king with all his resources is baffied. But weak women set themselves to work, to shelter a helpless infant, and they succeed. Here as on other occasions the hand of God is manifest, ta.king the weak thin~ of the world to confound the strong. What a lesson, what an appeal and 'Wllrmng to women ! We a.re all only too readily inclined to say, "What can I do?"- women perhaps more than others, because of their inability to share in the bustle and strain of public life. Think then of what God enabled these women to do, simply following out the dictates of natural affection and pity. They did far more than they were conscious of. Might not women ask very earnestly if they are doing anything like what they ought to do, and have the opportunity to do, in bringing up children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord? Christian women, those who are themselves new creatures in Christ Jesus, able to have all the love and wisdom and every spiritual grace that belongs to the new creature, might do a work for the world, compared with which the work of these women whom we have been considering would look a small matter indeed.-Y.