The Pulpit Commentary — Exodus — Volume 1 — Section 61

m1mifest his spirit and his sympathies; shows to nR in a very impressive way much that wns good, and much also that was evil. I. CONSIDER THE OONDUOT OF MosEB HERE Al! OABTING LIGHT UPON CERTAIN Q"CiALIFI- OJ\'l'IONB FOR THE WORK TO WIDOH HE WAS AFTERWARDS CALLED. 1. Though he harl been brought up <IITTl,id Jlgyptian surrowndings, he remained an Israelite in heart. Very early he must have been made acqlllLinted, in some way or other, with the strange romance that belonged to his infancy. Whatever Pharaoh's daughter brought to bear on him in the way of Egyptian influence one day, would be neutralised by what he heard from his own mother the next. For it was not likely that, after he was able to understand it, his nurse would long conceal the fact that she was his true mother. Perhaps the very ark of bulrushes had become one of his treasured posses- sions. His name, once explained, was a continual memento of infantile peril and deliverance. And as he grew onward to manhood, he would be inclined to reproach himself again and a.gain for living so easily and comfortably with Pharaoh's daughter, while her father was treating with such harshness and injustice his own people, his own hlnsfol.k-.Ae.ron his own brother being probably among them. Thus there was every- thing to keep the state of Israel incessantly in his mind ; everything in the way of good soil to make the seed of patriotism grow, if only the seed were in his nature to begin with. And there it unquestionably was, growing with his growth and strengthening with his strength. 2. It is very important to notice how clearly the vicarious element comes out in the relation of Moses to Israel during the years he spent with Pharaoh's daughter. In one sense, he did not suffer himself. His life was not made "bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field." No taskmaster ever smote him. And yet, in another sense, he suffered perhaps even more than any of the Israelites. There are burde!l.S of the spirit which produce a groaning an<l prostration far worse than those of any bodily toil. There is a laceration of the heart more painful, and harder to heal, than that of any bodily wound. Moses felt the sorrows of Israel as if they were his own. In all their affliction he was afflicted. Not one of them smarted more under a sense of the injustice with which they were treated than he did. It is a most precious, ennobling and fruitful feeling to have in the heart-this feeling which links the unsuffering to the suffering in a bond not to be broken. It brings together those who have the opportunity to deliver, and those who, fastened hand and foot, can do nothing for themselves. ,ve find this feeling, in its purest, most operative, and most valuable expression in Jesus, in him who knew no sin, no defiling thoughts, no torture of conscience for his ()Wn wrong-doing; and who yet came to feel so deeply the misery and helplessness of a fallen world, that he descended into it for its deliverance, having a.n unspeakably keener sense of its calamities than the most observant and meditative of its own children. It is a grand thing to have this element of vicarious suffering in our hearts; for the more we have it the more we are able to follow Jesus in serving our needy fellow-men. Moses had this element; the prophets had it ; Paul had it; every true and successful apostle and evangelist must have it (Rom. ix. 1-5). Every Christian in process of salvation should have this element as he looks round on those still ignorant and out of the way. The civilised should have it as he looks on the savage ; the freeman as he looks on the slave ; the healthy as he looks on the sick ; the man a~ ho looks on the brute creation. 'l'his element of vicarious suffering has been at the root of some of the noblest and most useful lives in all ages, and not least in mc,dern times. .A thousand times let us run the risk of being called sentimental and maudlin, rather than lack the element or cripple it in its vigorous growth. Certain it is, that we shall do but little for Christ without it. 3. We have a very suggestive intimation of the superiority of Moses to the people whom he was about to deliver; this superiority being not a mere matter of greater social advantages, but arising out of personal character. The brother whom he succoured treated him but badly in return. He did not mean to treat him badly; but simple thoughtlessness makes untold mischief. He must have known that Moses wished the act kept a secret, yet in a few hours it is known far and wide through lsrael. Not all might have been so inconsiderate, but assuredly most would; and so this man may be taken as representative of his people. He had not the courage and energy to return the Egyptian's blow himself; nor had he the activity and forethought of mind to shelter the generous champion who did return  THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [ OH, ll, 13--15,