HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vera. 22-35.-I. THE TERRORS OF GoD's MIGHT. In that awful war of elements any moment might have been his last, and Pharaoh trembled. This plague evoked from him the first confession of sin. Hitherto he had reluctantly granted the request of Moses: now he casts himself as a sinner (27, 28) on God's mercy, and entreats the prayers of God's servant for himself and his people. There is a point at which the stoutest heart will be brokon, and the cry be wrung from the lips, "I have sinned." "Can thine heart endure," etc. (Ezek. xxii. 14). II. 'fHE VALUELESSNESS OF REPENTANCE BORN ONLY OF TERROR. God might thus bow all men under him, but the conquest would be worth nothing: men's hearts would 'l'HE DOOK OF EXODUS. [en. x. 1-20.
not. be won. ,,rhen the terror is gone, Pharaoh's confession fails (30, 34, 36), for it ]11U1 no root in any trne knowledge of himself. He sees the darkness of God's frown not the vileness of his transgressions. God is met with, not in the tempest and the' fire but in the still small ,oice which speaks within the breast. Many pass through gate~ of terror to hear this; but till God's voice is heard there, speaking of sin and righteous- ness and judgment, there is no true return of the soul to him. III. THE FULNESS oF Gon's MEROY. God knows the worthlessness of the confession yet he is entreated for Pharaoh and the Egyptians. God's pity rests where men wili have none upon themselves. Though they believe not, he cannot deny himself.-U.
EXPOSITION. the locosts came, if only they would have left CHAPTER X their" little ones" behind them (vers. 8-11) Ven;. 1-20.-Tm: ErGnTH PLAGUE. Not- Moses, however, could not consent to this withstanding his self-condemnation and ac- limitation ; and so the plague came in full knowledgment of the righteousness of God in severity-the locumi covered the whole face all the jndgments that had been sent upon of the earth, so that the land was darkened him ( eh. ix. 27), Pharaoh no sooner found with them (ver. 15); and ell that the hail had that the seventh plague had ceased than he left, including the whole of the wheat and reverted to his old obstinacy. He both wil- doora harvests, was destroyed. Then Pharo.oh fullv hardened his own heart (eh. ix. 34); made fresh o.cknowledgment of his sin, and and. God, by the unfailing operation of his fresh appeals for intercession-with the old moral laws, further blunted or hardened it result that the plague was removed, and that (eh. x.. 1). Accordingly, it became necessary ho remained as obdurate as ever (vers. 16- that his stubbornness should be punished by 20). one other severe infliction. Locnsm, God's Ver. 1.-Go in 11llto Pharaoh, for I have " great army," as they are elsewhere called hardened his heart. The word "I" is ex- (Joel ii. 25), were the illstrnment chosen, so pressed in the original and is emphatic. It is that once more the judgment should seem to not merely that Pharaoh has hardened himself come from heaven, and that it should be ( eh. ix. 34) ; but I have " dulled " or " har- dened " him. Therefore condescend to see exactly fitted to complete the destruction him once more, and to bear my message to which the hail had left unaccomplished (ver. him. The heart of his servants. Compo.re 5). Locnsti;, when they come in full force, eh. ix. 34. As Pharaoh's determination are among the most terrible of ell the jndg- began to waver the influence of the court meuts that can befell a country. "A fire officers increased. Hence the frequent men- tion of them in this part of the narrative. devoureth before them ; and behind them a That I might ahew them my signs. The flame burneth : the land is as the garden of " fierceness of man " was being " turned to Eden before them, and behind them a desolate God's praise." It resulted from the obstina,i;y wilderness" (Joel ii 3). They destroy every of Pharaoh that more and greater mirwTes atom of foliage-crops, vegetables, shrubs, were wrought, more wonderful signs shown, and that by these means both the Israelites trees-even the bark of the fruit-trees suffers them.selves, and the bee.then nations in contact -the staw; are injnred, the smaller branches with them, were the more deeply impressed. completely peeled and "made white" (ibid. i. Ver. 2.-That thou mayest tell in the ears 7). When Moses threatened this infliction, of thy sou, and of thy son's aon. The Psalms nis words produced at once a great effect. show how after generations dwelt in thought l'he officers of the court-" Ph.araoh's ser- upon the memory of the great deeds done in Egypt and the deliverance wronght there. vants," as they are celled-for the first time (See especially Ps. lxxviii. cv. and ovi; but endeavonred to exert an influence over the compare also Ps. lxviii. 6, 7; lxxvii. 14- K..ing-" Let the men go," they said;" know- 20; lxxxi. 5, 6; cxiv. 1-3; cxxxv. 8, 9; est thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?" cxxxvi. 10-15.) (ver. 7). And the king 60 far yielded that-- Ver. 3.-How long wilt thou refuae to humble thyHlft The confession recorded in also for the first time-he let himself be in- eh. ix. 27 had been a distinct act of self- fluenced by the mere threat of a jndgment. humiliation ; but it had been cancelled by He would have let the Israelites depart, before subsequent eelf-e.,sertion (lb. 34, 35). And, UJI, X, 1-20.] TllE BOOK OF EXODUS.