The Pulpit Commentary — Exodus — Volume 1 — Section 245

Ver. 2.-'l'he talea of a grandfather.-Jehovah tells Moses, as the represcut:itive of Isrncl, that those glorious Divine o.ctions in Egypt are to be matters of carefol instruc- tion in aHer nges. Each parent is to speak of them to his children, and each grand- parent to his gro.ndchildren. And is there not something particularly sugge~tive in this expression, "thy son's son"? It brings bofore us the aged Israelite, his own part in the toil nnd strife of the world nccomplished, his strength exhausted, the scene of his occupations left to e. younger generation, and he himself quietly waiting for the close. How is he to occupy his time? Not in utter idleness, for that is good for no me.n, however long and hard he may have worked. Some part of his thoughts, it ma.y be hoped, goes out in anticipations of the full and unmixed eternity now so near; but some 11art nlso will go backward into time, not without pensive and painful interest, He looks·from the eminence he has attained, and two generations arc behind him, his children and his children's children. His own children are busy. The world is with them constantly, and its demands are very pressing. They hardly see their offspring from Monday morning till Saturday night. It is only too easy for a man to get so absorbed in seeking the good of strangers, as to have no time for his own household. The following extract from the biography of Wilberforce bears in a. very instructive way on this point. "It is ea.id that his children seldom got a. quiet minute with him during the sitting of Parliament. So long as they were infants he had not time to seek amusement from them. Even whilst they were of this age, it ma.de a deep impression on his mind when, one of them beginning to cry as he took him up, the nurse said naturally, by way of explanation,' He always is afraid of strangers.'" And if this danger of distance between him and his children came to a. man like Wilberforce, we may be sure that it comes to thousands who are less sensitive and conscientious than he was. What a field of usefulness, then, is here indicated for a. grandfather I In his retirement, and out of his long experience, he may speak of principles the soundness of which he has amply established, and errors which he has had painfully to correct; he may point to a rich harvest gathered from good seed he has been able to sow, 'l'hus the grandfather finds opportunities for useful instruction which the father, alas ! may not even seek. Of such it may be truly said, " They shall bring forth fruit in old age" (Ps. xcii. 14). Notice here two points:- I. lT IS WELL FOR THE YOUN<lEB TO LOOK FORWARD WITH CONCERN TO THE OCCU- l'ATIONB OF A POSSIBLE OLD AGE. The very fact that life is uncertain dictates the prudence of a consideration like this. Life may be shorter than we expect it to be, bui it may also be longer. We must not reckon on old age, but that is no reason why we should not prepare for it. Boys and girls can· hardly be expected to look so far ahead; but those who have come to manhood and womanhood and some exercise of reflective power, may well ask the question, " How shall I occupy old age if it comes?" And surely it is much to remember that if each stage in life is occupied as it ought to be, then this very fidelity and carefulness will help to provide congenial occupation for the last stage of all, Who would wish to spend the closing years of life in such stupor and lethargy as come over only too many, when there are sources of interest and usefulness such as Jehovah indicates to Moses here? Old age might be a brighter and more profitable scene than it usually is. Who can tell, indeed, whether much of the physical prostration, pain, and sensitive decay, which belong to the aged and tend to shut them out from the world, might not be spared, if there were but a wiser life in ero-lier years, e. life spent in obedience to the laws which God has given for life Many of the most important of these laws we either misunderstand or ignore altogether. Old age is a season into which we should not drift, but advance with a calm considera- tion of what we may be able to do in it, for the glory of God and the good of men. If we live to be old, what are our reminiscences to be 1 You who are on the climbing side of life, ask yourselves what sort of life you are making, what chapters of autobiography you may hereafter be able to write. Can anything be sadder than some autobiographies and reminiscences? There a.re such books, sad with expressed sadness, where the vanity of life is confessed and bewailed on every page. But there are other books, far sadder even than the former sort, just because of the very satisfaction with life which they contain. 'l'he men who have,written them seem to look back in much the Hamo spirit as once they looked forward. Thoy looked forward with all the eagen:•c,~ an.l enjoying power of youth, l\nd they look back without hl\ving discovered how seltLh, 23G THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [ell, X, 1-20,