Ver. 1-11.-Man's interposition with good advice may come too late. It is im- possible to say what effect the opposition and remonstrances of his nobles and chief officers might not have had upon Pharaoh, if they ha.cl been persistently offered from the first. Dut his magicians had for some· time aided and abetted his resistance to God's will, as declared by Moses; and had even used the arts whereof they were masters to makeuthe miracles which Moses wrought seem trifles. And the rest of the Court officials had held their peace, neither actively supporting the monarch, nor opposing him. It was only when the land had been afflicted by seven p!a,,"1.les, and an eighth was impending, that they summoned courage to express disapproval of the king's past conduct, and to reco=end a different course. " How long shall this man be a snare unto us? Let the -men go," they said. Dut the advice came too late. Pharaoh ha.cl, so to speak, co=itted himself. He had engaged in-ra contest from which he could not retire without disgrace. He had become heated and hardened; and, the more the conviction came home to him that be must yield the main demand, the more did it seem to him a point of honour not to grant the whole of what had beeu asked. But practically, this was the same thing as granting nothing, since Moses would not be content with less than the whole. The interposition of the Court officials was therefore futile. Let those whose position entitles them to offer advice to men in power bear in mind four things-{]) The importance of promptness in bringing their influence to bear ; (2) the advantage of taking a consistent line from first to last; (3) the danger of inaction and neutrality; and (4) the necessity of pressing their advice when it has been once given, and of not allowing it to be set aside. If the" servants of Pharaoh" had followed up the interposition recorded in verse 7 by fw-ther representations and remonstrances, they would have had some slight chance of producing an effect. Dut a single isolated remonstrance was valueless.
Vers. 12-15.-The terribleness of Gocls severer Judgments. "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." "Our God is a consuming fire." "If the wicked turn not, God will whet his sword; he bath bent his bow and made it ready. He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death ; be ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors" (Ps. vii. 11-13). Every calamity which can visit man is at his disposal. God's punishments are terrible- I. BEOAUSE HE IS OMNIPOTENT. He can smite with a thousand weapons-with all the varieties of physical paio-aches, sores, wounds, boils, nerve affections, infla=ation, short hreath, imperfect heart action, faintings, palpitations, weakness, cramps, chill~, shiverinas-with mental sufferings, bad spirits, depression, desponde_ncy, g_ rief, angui,h, fear, w:nt of brain power, loss of self-control, distaste for el!;ertion, &c.; with Q 2 228 THE BOOK OF EXODUS.
misfortunes-sickness, mutilation, loss of friends, ill-health, bereavement, death. lie can Accumulate Rorrows, reiterate blows, allow no respite, proceed from bad to worse utterly crush and destroy those who have offended him and made themselves hi; cnem.ie11. IT. BECAUSE HE rs ABSOLUTELY JUST. God's judgments are the outcome of his justice and therefore most terrible. What have we not deserved at his hands? If, after all hi; gentle teRchings, all his mild persuadings, the preaching of his ministers, the promptings of his Holy Spirit, the "'arnings furnished by the circumstances of life, the special chRsti~cments sent to evoke repentance, men continue obdurate-what remains but a "fearful looking for of judgment and of fiery indignation, which shall devour the ad,·ersaries"? (Heb. x. 2i.) If each sin committed is to receive its full, due and nppropriate penalty, what suffering can be sufficient? Even in this life, the veno-e~nces that ha "c overtaken the impenitent, ha'l"e sometimes been most fearful ; what m~st the full t~lc be if we take in the consideration of another? I II. BECAUSE HE IS FAITHFUL, A~'D cA~'NOT Lm OR REPENT. God in his Word has Jilainly, clearly, unmistakably, over and over again, declared that the impenitent sinner shall be punished everlastingly. In vain men attempt to escape the manifest force of tho words and ~o turn them to another ~can in~ . As surely as the life of the blessed is never- endmg, so 1s the" dea.th" of the wicked. vainly says one, that he would willin"IY o'ive up his hope of everlasting life, if so be that by such sacrifice he could end the°ete~nal sufferings of the lost ones. It is not what man feels, what be thinks be would do or even what he would e.ctually do, were it in his power, that proves anything ; the qu~stion is one of fact. God tells us what he is about to do, and he will assuredly do it, whatever we may think or feel. "'l'hese (the wicked) shall go into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life everlasting" (Matt. x.xv. 46). Oh l terrible voice of most just jud,,"ID.ent which shall be pronounced on those to whom it shall he said, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matt. x.xv. 41) ! 'l'he crowning terror of the judgment of God is the perpetuity which he has declared attaches to it.