The Pulpit Commentary — Exodus — Volume 1 — Section 244

bR.St.ening, as with one consent, t-0 beg I\ timely submission from their master, 2. Tlie,'8 ,·s the extmordi11ai·y yi'.clrling of Pha,·aoh to these ea;postulations. Nothing less thnn extraordinary CI\D it be called. His yicldings hitherto have been under actual chastise- ment. He has w11ited for the blow to be struck before he begged for mercy. But now 1t'f'071 O,e mere threrrte-nifl<fl of the blow, he is moved to make overtures of submission'. ·we shall h1l\'e Lo m1tice of what a partial and worthless sort this submission was , at present, the main thing to mark is that there was a submission at all. He could not afford to trifle with the warnings of his servants. Hitherto, in all probability they had been largely fla.tterers, men who fooled Pharaoh to the top of his bent ,vith c~mpli- ments as to his absolute power; but now they are turned into speakers of plain and bitter truth; and though Pha.raoh may not like it, the very fact that he is thus addressed is enough to show him that he must arrange terms of surrender before another battle has even begun. Thus, by merely studying the conduct of Pharaoh and his servants before the locusts ea.me, we see very clearly what a terrible plague they were. The plague of the locusts was a great deal more than a variation from the plagues of the frogs, the gnats and the flies. III. Consider how, in spite of all the dread inspired by the thought of these locusts PHARA.OH'S PRIDE STILL HINDERS COMPLETE SUBMISSION. It was in an emergency of bis government, and under pressure from his panic-stricken servants, that he consented to treat with Moses. Moses comes, and Pharaoh makes him an offer, which Moses of course cannot accept, seeing that he really has no power to treat ; he has but the one unchangeable demand ; it is a righteous demand, and therefore the rio-htoous Jehovah cannot permit it to be diminished. But the rejection of Pharaoh's off~r o-ives him a convenient loophole of escape into his former stubbornness. He can turn ~ his servants and say, " See what an unreasonable man this is. He comes expecting that in the terms of peace I am to yield all, and he is to yield nothing. Better to risk the locusts, and if need be, perish in the midst of our desolated fields, than live dishonoured by Jielding up all Israel at his inexorable request." Speaking in some such spirit as this, we may well believe that Pharaoh stirred np his servants, and won them to support him in continuing his dogged resistance. It is a noble principle to die with honour rather than live with shame ; it is the very principle that in its holiest illustra- tion has crowded the ranks of Christian martyrdom. But when a principle of this sort gets into the mouth of a Pharaoh, he may so pervert it as to bring about the worst results. There is no manlier way of closing life than to· die for truth and Christ; but it is a poor thing to become, as Pharaoh evidently would have his servants become, the victims of a degraded patriotism. It was all very well to talk loud and drive Moses and Aaron from his presence; but what was the good? the locusts were coming none the less. The fact is, that all suggestions of prudent and timely surrender were cast to the winds. The- pride of the tyrant is touched, and it makes him blind to everything else. He rushes ahead, reckless of what may come on the morrow, if only he can gain the passionate satisfaction of driving Moses out of his presence to-day. There is no reasoning with a man in a passion ; all arguments are alike to him. IV. CoNSIDER PliAllA.OH'S ULTIMATE SUBMISSION A.ND THE 00NSEQUENCE OF IT, He drove Moses and Aaron out of his presence, but nevertheless he had to yield, and that in a peculiarly humiliating way. When he saw the locusts actually at work, then he came face to face with reality ; and reality sobers a man. He had to send in haste for the men whom he had driven away, for the locusts were in haste. Every minute h~ delayed brought Egypt nearer and nearer to starvation. Oh, foolish Pharooh I just for the pleasure, the sweet, momentary pleasure of driving Moses out of your presence, to risk the horrors of this ravaging host. Notice further, for it is a remarkable thing, that wMle Pharaoh begs most humbly for mercy, J,e makes no formal promise of libera- tion. The promise, we feel. was really there, all the more emphatic and more evidently uncondition&l, just because unspoken. AIJ.y way, the time had come when formal promises from Pharaoh mattered little, seeing they were never kept. The great thing was that he should be made to feel the.,pressure of God's hand upon him, so that he CIJuld not but cry to escape from it. Every time he thus cried and begged, as he here so i,iteously does--all his stubbornness for the time melted away into invisibility-he showed io tbe clearest manner the power of Jehovah. Jehovah's end, in this particular plague uf tLe locusts, was gained when Pharaoh begged that they might he driven away-Y Oil, L 1-20.] THE BOOK OF EXODUS. 235