The Pulpit Commentary — Exodus — Volume 1 — Section 221

HOMILIES BY YARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 13-35.-The plague of hail. This plague was introduced with ampler remonstrance. Moses was commanded to proceed to Pharaoh, and to warn him in stronger and more decisive language than he had yet employed of the folly of this insane resistance. Ver. 15 should probably be translated, "For now indeed had I stretched forth my hand, and smitten thee and thy people with the pestilence, thou hadst then been cut off from the earth;" and then ver. 16 will give the reason why God had not cut Pharaoh off, but had "made him stand" (ma.rg.), viz. : that he might show forth in him his power. It does not follow that God would not have preferred to use Pharaoh for his glory in another way than that of destroying him. This strong representation of God's purpose was itself designed to influence the king for good, and had a spark of 5ense remained to him, it would have wrought an immediate change in his volitions. In that case God's procedure would have undergone a corresponding alteration. For God wills not the death of any sinner (Ez. xviii. 23-32), and threatenings of this kind, as shown by the case of the Ninevites, are always conditional (Jonah iv.). At the same time, God's sovereignty is seen in the way in which he utilius the wicked man whose persistence in-his wickedness is foreseen by him. "God might have ea.used Pharaoh to be born in a ea.bin., where his proud obstinacy would have been displayed with no less 5elf-will, but without any historical consequence; on the other hand, he might have placed on the throne of''Egypt at that time a weak, easy-going man, who would have yielded at the first shock. What would have happened? Pharaoh in his obscure position would not have been less arrogant and perverse, but Israel would have gone forth from Egypt without ecl,a,t . . • . God did not therefore create the indomitable pride of Pharaoh as it were to gain a point of resistance, and reflect his glory ; he was content to use it for this purpose" (Godet on Rom. iv. 17, 18). Notice-- I. THE TEB.RlllLE B.ilBING Ul' (ver. 16). We are taught, 1. That God can find a use even for the wicked (Prov. xvi. 4). 2. That God places wicked men in positions in which their true character is manifested, and his own power and righteousness a.re glorified in their judgment. 3. That this is not the primary desire of God in relation to any wicked man. He would prefer his conversion. If it be urged that the situations in which men a.re placed are not always those most favourable to their conversion, this may be conceded. But they are not placed in these positions arbitrarily, but under a system of administration which regards each individual, not simply as an end in him- self, but as a means to a yet higher end, the carrying forward of the world purpose as a whole. God cannot deal with the individual as if there were no such thing as history, or as if that individual constituted the .sum-total of humanity, or as if his salvation were the only and the all-ruling consideration in the arrangement of the world. God dispo- of the evil of the world, decrees the lines and directions of its developments, the persons in whom., and the situations under which, it will be permitted to reveal and concentrate itself"; but he neither creates the evil, nor delights in it, and is all the while working for its final and effectual overthrow. No situation in which God places man nec.essitaus him to be evil. 4. That the sinner's evil, accordingly, is his own, and his ruin self-wrought. This is shown-and notably in the case of Pharaoh-by the fact that God's dealings with him are fitted to change him if he will be changed (Matt. xxiii. 37). ll. A PLAGUE WITH APPALLING ATTENDANT CIRCUMSTANCES (verse xviii. 23-26). This plague, like many of its predecessors, was, 1. Severe in its character (var. 24). 2. Destructive in its effects (ver. 25). 3. Distinguishing in its range. It spared the !.~nd of Goshen (ver. 26). But the peculiar circumstance connected with it-t-hat which 'JII. IX, 13-36.] THE BOOK OF EXODUS.