EXPOSITION. Vcrs. 15-19.-Smnrting under the sense probably here alluded to. To Pharaoh. Seo of injustice, the Israelite officers "came the "Introductory paragraph " at the begin- ancl cried to Pharaoh" (ver. 15), supposing ning of the chapter, where it has been noticed that complainants had free access to the pre- that he could not have intended such manifest sence of Egyptian kings. unfairness and cruelty. They were conscious Ver. 16.-They say to ns. Or, "they keep to themselves of having done their utmost, saying to ns." The participle is used, which and of having failed simply because the implies continuance or repetition. The fault thing required was impossible. Surely the is in thine own people. Literally, " Thine own people is in fault," or" sins." king would understand this, if they pointed Ver. 17.-Ye are idle, etc. Compare ver. 8. it out, and would either allow straw as before, Pharaoh is evidently pleased with his "happy or diminish the nwnber of the bricks. But thought." It seems to him clever, witty, the king had no desire for justice, and did humorous, to tax overworked people with not even pretend to it. He asked for no par- idleness; and equally clever to ~ay to religious pcopl e-" Your religion is a mere pretence. ticulars, ordered no inqwry into the ground of You do not want to worship. You want a complaint; but turned upon the complainants holiday." We may remark further that idle- with the cuckoo cry-" Idle, idle yourselves- ness and hypocrisy were two sins of the deep- else ye had no time to come here ; go, worlr- est dye, according to Egyptian notions. go, work." Then the officers felt that they Ver. 18.-Go therefore now a.nd work-i.e. " Off with you to the bnckfields at once, and get were indeed "in evil case" (ver. 19)-the to your own special work of superintendence, king was determined not to do justice-no which you are neglecting so long as yon re- hope remained-they must be beaten again main here. It is useless to remain. I reject and again, until they died of the punishment both of your requests. Straw shall not be (ver. 21). given; and the tale of bricks required shall be no less." Ver. 15.-Came and cried. The shrill Ver. 19.-The officers ... did see that they cry" of Orientals when making complaint were in evil case. See the " Introductory has often been noticed by travellers, and is paragraph" to this section, and comp. ver. 21
HOMILETICS. Vers. 15-18.-A w-icked man's persistence in wrong-doing. Pharaoh when he first gave the order to withhold straw (ver. 7), may not have known the amount of misery he was causing. He may have meant no more than to give the people full occupation, and so prevent such gatherings as that from which Moses and Aaron had come (eh. iv. 29- 31), when they appeared before him with their demands. He may not have realised to himself the idea that he was setting his bondsmen an impossible task. But now this fact was brought home to him, and he was asked, as a matter of simple justice, either to let straw be furnished as before, or to allow some diminution in the number of the bricks. It can scarcely be doubted that he knew and felt the demand made to be just. 'l'here were the officers before him with the wheals upon their backs. Would they have incurred the severe punishment, could they by any possibility have avoided it? Pharaoh must have known that they would not. But he would not relent. As he had begun, he would continue. He had been more cruel than he meant; but he did not ea.re-it was only Hebrews and bondsmen who had suffered; what mattered their agonies? So he dismisses the complaimmts with jeers and scoffs: "Ye are idle, ye are hypocrites; go, work." So bad men almost always go on from bad to worse by a "facile descent;" severity deepens into cruelty, unkindness into injustice,• religious indifference into impiety. Stop, then, the beginnings of wrong-doing. Principiis obsta. Crush the nascent germs of vice in thy heart, 0 man! Master them, or they will master thee ! X 2 132 'l'llE BOOK OF EXODUS. [en. v. 15-20.
Yer. IG.-Suffcrin,qs, even at the hand of lawful authorities, not always deserved. "Thy servants nre bc1tten; but the fault is in thine own 1,eople." Punishment often visits the wrong back. Kings co=it injuries or follies, and their subjects ~nffer. Employers are greedy of gain, and their "hands" must work overtime, go without sleep, trench on the Sund!ly rest. ,vholesale tradesmen adulterate goods, and retail traders are blamed and lose custom. Justice itself is often at fault, and punishes the wron" person-sometimes by a mere mistake, as when the wrong .man is hanged for a murder": but sometimes also through a. defect in the law itself which judges have to administer'. as when Christians were delivered to the wild beasts for not sacrificing to the divinity of the emperor, or Protestants were burnt at the stake for denying transubstantiation. It !s not to be assumed that the l~w is always right. '.fhe law ?f any country at any timo 1s only the express10n of the will of those who are m authonty at the time, and has no more divinity or sacredness about it than they have. Those who transgress the law will, of course, be punished for it; but that fact proves nothing as to their good- or ill- desert. The greatest benefactors of mankind have had to set human law at defiance, and to endure its penalties. Their answer to the authorities who persecute them might constantly be, " Thy servints a.re beaten, but the fault is in thine own people."