The Pulpit Commentary — Exodus — Volume 1 — Section 120

Vera. 10-17.-God's wrath will fall where his service is declined. I. MosE~' OBJEOTION AND Goo's ANSWER (10---12). 1. He deems himself unfit to occupy the place even of spokesman to the Lord. The objection was based upon a. real in6rmity, whkh so far God had not removed. The same objection urged as a. reason to-day for not engaging in Sunday-school work, etc. The want of power may be real, but is it a sufficient reason for refusal? 2. God's answer. (1) He points to his power. ls that realised? (21. He gives the promise of help. Our weakness will merely afford a field on which Gods might and faithfulness will be manifested. II. MosEs' REFUSAL AND Goo's ANGER (13-17). 1. The disinclination to the service which lay behind his objections is at last manifested. That very name (Adonai) "my master," by which he ad.dresses God, might have rebuked him. But Moses in this may be the type of ourselves. We acknowledge thirt all we have, that we ourselves, are his, and yet is there no service which no amount of reasoning or expostulation can prevail upon us to undertake for God? 2. God's anger. (1) A revelation of the judgment which awaits the slothful servant, Its shadows fall no.w in the withdrawal of his favour and the decay of spiritual life, (2) It left its mark upon the life of Moses although his refusal was followed by repentance. Aaron was joined with him, and where in the eye of Israel and the world there would have been one figure only, there is henceforth two. The mark of God'd anger is left in a lessened glory. III. 'l'HE POWER OF THE PAST FOB CHRISTIAN BERVIGE. "Take tbis rod "-not another. It reminded him of the time when he contended with God, and ministered humility in the moments of mightiest triumph. The Cross of Jesus the memento of our stubbornness and guilt.-U. Vers. 1-17.-Divine supplements for human infirmity. " Now therefore go, and I will be with thee," etc. (ver. 12.) It is not at all clear whether the four objections urged by Moses against receiving the Divine commission were presented at one inter- view with the manifested God, or whether the controversy recorded Ex. iii. 1-iv. 17, occupied weeks or months. The probabilities are in favour of some considerable time. See iv. 10, and specially in the Hilb. In dealing with this particular plea., viz. the lo.ck of eloquence, we must bear in mind that it is not for every man to be a Moses, or a preacher, or even a. worker. '!'rue, there is a ministry for each and all; but some a.re called to.one of patience in suffering. Treat the subject therefore a.s one of Divine supplementing of human infirmity general!y. Comp. 2 Cor. xii. 7-10. I. SHRINKING FROM: DrvrnE SERVICE. Not a. doubt of this in the ease of Moses. Earlier he was not unwilling to put himself forward as the champion of Israel -Acts vii. 25; but diffidence came with years. So Jeremia.h-Jer. i. 6. lfo all the prophets-their message a." burden "-something heavy to be carried, to which they braced themselves. So Paul, 1 Cor. ix. 16. Nor is the feeling unhealthy or undesir- able. Self-confidence looks at fir~t the best preparation for great enterprises. But is it so 'I Look at life. In all departments, to estimate aright the greatness of the work, the comparative feebleness of our resources, and yet the weight of our responsibility, is the conu.ition of success; e.g. Lord Clyde in India. The Christian minister. By the reluctance of Moses, measure the irresistible impulse upon his spirit. Nor is con• sciousness of incapacity always the reality of incapacity. II, THE EXCUSE THAT Is OFFERED. Take ver. 10, translated thus: "And Raid Moses unto Jehovah, Let it please Thee, 0 Lord, not a man of words am I, either since yester- day, or since the day before, or since the time Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant ; for heavy of mouth and heavy of tongue am I." 1. The time-hint. An intimation here of a long controversy between Moses and God. 2. The meani.ng of Moses. He was not a "man of words "-not eloquent, in the popular sense; he was heavy-doubly heavy--0f lip and tongue. A great writer of poetry and prose, but not a. speaker. '!'his self-estimate just. Yet there were compensations. He was" mighty in word." Distinguish between fluency and power. He was, too, a. man of thought. A man of action. 3. A lesson in passing : "Take heed how ye hear!"-" Take heed what ye hear." Compare the massive eloquence of the Puritan age, and the men it made, with what seems to be now the taste of many for the sensational-with pres•mt impatience of so-called "heavy" preaching. Where would Israel have been, had Israel turned its  102 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [oH. IV, 18-23,