The Pulpit Commentary — Exodus — Volume 1 — Section 154

but how much lies beyond which is involved in the hiding of his power I (Hab. iii. 4.) Our walking must be "by faith," not " by sight" (2 Cor. v. 7).-J. 0. Vore. 19-21.-Thoughtless smilers of a lrrother in adversity. This whole chapter particularly abounds in illustrations of human ignorance and error. We have seen in what dense darkness was the mind of Pharaoh; and under what utter misapprehensions he multiplied the sorrows of Israel. Now we are introduced to the leaders of Israel, treating Moses with equal injustice, because they are not able to see the difference between the human instrument and the Divine hand that holds it. No more than Pharaoh can they pierce through Moses to the mighty God behind him. It says in eh. iv. 31, that when the people saw the signs they believed; here is conduct which shows for how little their faith counted. As soon as they were set to make bricks without straw, their faith utterly vanished. Yet surely the truth of God remained. Present human cruelty, let it press ever so hard, cannot alter past manifestations of Divine power. The God who gave his Son the parable of the Sower was prepared fo,r such a lapse into unbelief on the part of his people. His signs were like the seeds which found no depth of earth; when persecution arose because of the message of Moses, the people were straightway offended. Consider- !. IN WHAT A STATE OF MIND MOSES WOULD BE WHEN THESE OFFICERS ATTACKED IIIM. We know from his own language (vers. 22, 23)what his state of mind was after the attack; but even before it he must have been a prey to deep grief and gloomy appre- hensions. We may be sure that when these officers came upon him, they did not find proofs of indifference and carelessness in his face. He must have been very popular just after he had wrought the signs; as popular as Jesus was after he had fed the five thou- sand. Aaron, doubtless, had been instructed by him to enlarge on the history of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and bring out into the boldest relief the terms of the Divine promises. Thus the confidence and expectation of the people-a reception altogether beyond his hopes-would lift him also into a confidence and expectation all the more precious because of his previous despondency. And now, as he sees the condition of his brethren, that despondency is more painful than ever. No imagination of ours can exaggerate the perplexity and sadness into which Moses would be thrown. II. THUS WE ABE CALLED TO NOTICE THE INDIFFERENCE OF MosEs' BRETHREN TO BIB PAINFUL POSITION. He thought a great deal more upon their sorrows than they did upon his. The grief of selfish people, in the reckless abandonment with which it speaks and acts, furnishes as painful evidence as we can find of the extent to which human nature has fallen from its first estate. It is a greedy, insatiable feeling. It is an awful thing to consider that the very concentration of our thoughts on our own suffer- ings makes us to increase the sufferings of others. Why, even when others are to blame, we Inight safely leave them to the observant, unforgetting God, to their own consciences, and to the ultimate harvest which every doer of wrong must reap; and very often they are not to blame at all. If only these smarting Israelites had been able, in a right spirit, to look at the heart of Moses, they would have seen occasion for supporting him with the grea.test tenderness, gratitude, and patient endurance. \Vhat right had they to complain of Moses? He had told them a coherent, straightforward story, given them the signs; e.nd they, in return, had believed him for the very works' sake. If there is any tiI!le when we should be slow to speak, it is in our sorrow. We do well then to be silent, until such times as God has purged out of our minds all selfish desires and groundless expectations. \Vhen all these are gone, and the truth which he alone can plant is also ripened, then we shall be able to say, "It was good for us to be afflicted;" at present Israel said that it was bacl-a.s bad as bad could be-and Moses was the convenient person on whom they could lay the blame. III. THESE OFFICERS HAD NOT INSIGHT ENOUGH TO LOOK BEYOls"D FIRST CONSE- QUENCES. They could not look through the pain of the present to a future which was only attainable through that present. Thus the disciples spoke in deep perplexity and disappointment. concerning their missing Master as if he had vanished like a dream of the night. "We trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel." So they spoke, not having appreciated his recent word, " Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone." We shall do well to consider in every enter• prise, thatfirst consequences are veriJ deceptive. When they bring hardship we must not, therefore, t.urn back; when they bring pleasure, we must not therefore conclude  138 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [OB. V, 22, 28,