The Pulpit Commentary — Exodus — Volume 1 — Section 111

or enthusi~sm. (3) His plans were not to be laid before the multitude at all but before the "elders "-the cool, cautious heads of the nation, who would be sure t~ osk him for very distinct credentials before committing themsel'l"ee to a contest with Pharaoh. The inference is that there must have been a true supernatural in the founding of the Mosaic era; a.s afterwards there must have been a true supernatural in the founding of the Christian ere.. Imposture, credulity, the force of mere ideas, the commanding power of a great personality, are, together or apart, incapable of explaining all the facts. Wonders must have been wrought, alike in the accrediting of the mission of Moses and in the stupendous work of the deliverance itself.--J. 0. Vers. 1-10.-..1 trilogy of sigm. In reply to his complaint that the people would not believe him, nor hearken to his voice, God gave Moses three signs. These are to be viewed- }; As ATTESTATIONS OF ms DIVINE OOMMISSION (ver. 6, 8). Divine power is supernaturally exercised in proof of Moses' title to speak with Divine authority. This is a clear case of the use of miracles a.s credentials of a mission, and confutes those who reason that this view of miracles has no basis in Scripture. The character of the sirns was not to be disregarded, but the immediate circumstance which gave them evidential value was the fact of supernatural origin. Practically, signs of the kind wrought by Moses would be felt to be incontestable proofs of his Divine commission; and it is difficult to see how otherwise his message could have been authenticated. Why should this be objected to? Why, if the message is worthy of God, and the work of power is also worthy of God, should the work of power not be employed to add authority to the word, as indicating with certainty the source from which it comes? II. A.s SIG1''IFIC.U.""r OB PARABOLIC ACTS. This is implied in their character as "signs." '!'hey had had of themselves a" voice." They told over again what Moses had ei:pl.ained in words, while they exhibited in symbol the superiority of Jehovah to the king and gods of Egypt. 1. Sign lst.-The impotence of Pharaoh against Jehovah's messenger. This seems to be the import of the turning of the rod into the serpent (vers. 2--5). The serpent "was the symbol of the royal and divine power 011 the diadem of every Pharaoh." (1) The rod cast to the ground and changing into a serpent symbolised the effect of the challenge to Pharaoh. (2) Before this terrible apparition, with its gleaming eyes, infiated neck, hissing tongue, and vehemence of assault, Moses fled in natural terror. (3) But he is instructed not to fear it, but to i;eize it by the tail; when there is given a representation of Pharaoh's absolute power- lessness to hurt him in the reconversion of the serpent into the rod. The foe vanishes, and Moses remains master of the situation. The lesson is, that God's servants, chargetl with the ei:ecution of his mission, are more than a match for all the powers of ill that can be arrayed against them. God will bruise even Saian-" that old serpent"- under their feet shortly (Rom. xvi. 20). They wield an authority which gives them for the time a charmed existence, and ensures the defeat of those opposed to them. Cf. with this sign Mark xvi. 18; Acts :xxviii. 5 ; Rev. xii. 6; and instance Luther before the Diet of Worms. 2. Sign 2nd.-The power of Jehovah to smite and heal. 'l'he symbol of this was at the same time an instance of it-viz. the sudden smiting of Moses' hand with leprosy, followed by as instantaneous a cure (vers. 6-8). Leprosy was peculiarly the theocratic punishment (Miriam, Uzziah, Gehazi). It was probably &-common disease among the Israelites, who figure in Egyptian traditions as a nation of lepers, hateful to the gods on account of their pollutions. The obvious teaching of this sign would therefore be--(1) That Jehovah was able to smite with the most grievous plagues, yet (2) As able to heal when ~e ha;d, smitten. This conveyed both threat and promise. (1) If the people obeyed his voice, as he had healed the leprous hand, so would he heal them of their natural and spiritual disorders, and lift them out of their despised and unclean state in Egypt; while conversely, (2) If they resisted, great and sore strokes of the Divine anger would fall upon them; or, if Egypt resisted God's will, it in turn would be smitttn by hie plagues. The power in both CBBeS was omnipotent and resistlese. 'l'hus we are instructed-1. To fear the stroke of the Divine anger. 2. That God who smites can also heal (Hos. vi. 1). 3. That God is more willing to remove judgments than to send them. 4. '!'hat God can heal the leprous heart. 6. To fear, above all, that most awful fulfilment of the leprosy symbol en. 1v. 10-17.] THE BOOK OF EXODUS. 93