The Pulpit Commentary — Exodus — Volume 1 — Section 65

II. THE OVERRULING" PROVIDENCE OF Uon. "There's a divinity that shapes our l!nds, rougli-hew them as we will." The apparently wasted years not really wasted- no needless dela.y, only preparation and Divine discipline. Moses had learnt much, but he needed to learn more. God takes him from the school of Egypt, and places him in the university of Nature, with Time and Solitude and the Desert as his tutors. What did they teach him? 1. The value of the knowledge gained alrea,d,y. Well " to be learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians." But wisdom improves by keeping-it needs time and solitude to ripen it. Intellectually and spiritually we are ruminants; silonce and solitude are needed to appropriate and digest knowledge. 2. New knowledge. Few books, if any, of man's making, but the books of Nature invited study. The knowledge of the desert would be needed by-and-bye, together with much other know- ledge which could be gained nowhere else. 3. Meekness. He not merely became a wiser man, he grew to be also a better man. The old self-confidence yielded place to entire dependence upon the will of God. God had delivered him from the sword of Pharaoh ( cf. ver. 15 with eh. xviii. 3), and would help him still, though in a strange land. Nothing makes a man so meek as faith; the more he realises God's presence and confides in him, the more utterly does the "consuming fire" burn out of him all pride and selfishness . .Application :-Turning the pages of the book of memory, what records of delay occasioned by impatience I Yet how do the same pages testify to the way in which all along God has shaped our ends ! It is a mercy that we are in such good hands, and not left to our own devices. Trusting in God, we can hope to make the best even of our errors. He can restore--ay, more than restore----even years which the locust bath eaten (Joel ii. 25).-G. Vers. 11-15.-Mistake in life's morning. "He supposed his brethren would have," etc. (Acts vii. 25). The heart-abandonment of the throne must have taken place before Moses went out from the palace of the princess to inquire, and therefore before the enforced flight, Place therefore " the crisis of being" between Exod. ii. 10 and 11. Let no one fear to face this error in the life of the Lord's servant. Admit frankly that Moses was wrong. We are embarrassed by a notion that clings to us, that the Bible is a repertory of good examples. It is not so. Only One perfect. All other men and women in the Bible are imperfect and sinful, the subjects of God's grace, pardoning, correcting, sanctifying, glorifying. Never lower the moral standard to defend a Bible character. It gives occasion to the adversary, and brings no satisfaction to the believer. In this chapter of the biography of Moses observe in his conduct- !. THE RIGHT. 1. Inquiry. No inclination to shrink from responsibility under the plea of want of knowledge. See the striking passage, Prov. xxiv. 11, 12. Moses going out to investigate for himself, argues that either his mother or his people, or boih, had opened and maintained communication with him, informing him of his origin, teaching the doctrine of the true God, and awakening concern. 2. Sympathy. "He looked on their burdens." 3. Indignation. We may be angry and sin ; but it is also true that we may not be angry, and sin even yet more deeply. For illustration cite modem instances of cruel oppression. II. THE WRONG. 1. Excess of indignant feeling. 2. Murder. The "supposition" of Stephen is no justification, even if true; but it may not be true, or may be only partially true ; for the utterance of Stephen, based on tradition, is not to be confounded with the inspired dictum of God. That furtive look " this way and that way" does not indicate an assured conscience. Note the true meaning and spirit of Rom. xiv. 23. III. THE IM.MEDIATE RESULTS. Failure-Peril-Fear-Flight-Delay of Israers deliverance. IV. THE FINAL OVERRULING. God originates no wrong, but, being done, lays on it the hand of the mighty. That enforced life in the desert became as important a part of the training of Moses as life at Avaris; acquainted him with "the Wilderness of the Wandering," its resources, mode of life ; those other children of Abraham-the Midianites; gave him to wife a descendant of Abraham; led to an important policy for all the future of Israel (Ex. xviii.); and furnished an all-but-indispensable human helper and guide (Num. x. 29-31). Thus does the Eternal Mercy overrule and countervail the errors, even the sins, of penitent believers,-R.  t6 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [ OIi, II, lG-22,