The Pulpit Commentary — Exodus — Volume 1 — Section 262

ex['<'ct.ed, and the scapegr1LCe 'l\·ho wn.s bringing a father's grey hairs with sorrow to the grave; the young man who might be the only son of his mother IIIld she a wi,\ow alike with him who was the first-born among many brethren. The first-born is the ~entrc of so many hopes and calculations, that when he is stricken there ml\y be the in- stantaneous reaction of an irretrievable despa.ir. Zachariah speaks very emphatically of those who are in bitterness for their first-born (eh. xii. 10). In many cases the first- born would also be the just-born. 3. There was an element that helped to bring decision in the TJery greatness of the ci·y that was elicited. How far the announcement made to Pharaoh had travelled we know not; but it must have gone far enough to produce a. consentaneous cry of recognition when the blow was struck. Pharaoh would know, and also his courtiers, !IIld many at different points through the city, even before they came out of their houses, that it was by no ordinary death the first-born had d.iea, Each one, thus already informed., would suspect the whole terrible truth with respect to all the first-born of the land. In this way certainty would come tho.t the prediction was fulfilled, even before information on the point was actually obtained. Bad news travels quickly, and all the quicker when special facilities have been prepared by Jeho,ah himself, as they evidently were in this instance. Remember, also, the demon- strative, vociferous mode of expressing sorrow in bereavement which prevails amona Eastern nations. There was hardly an hour of the day or night but from some horn: in Egypt there went up the wail of the bereaved; but here was a simultaneous wail from every home, and that not over the aged or the sick whose death was expected, but over those the great majority of whom would be young, strong, and vivacious. 'l'hus the very emotions which produced this extraordinary cry, the cry itself served in tum to intensify, and thus to exalt into complete mastery. What wonder, then, that from the king downward the people were swept away by their emotions, and, without thought of past gains or future losses, hurried Israel out of their land in the precipitato way here recorded! A'"a.rice, pride, worldly consequence-all the motives which holti. dominion in selfish human breasts-lost their seats for the moment. It was only for a moment, but that moment was time long enough effectually to serve the purposes of God. 4. There was the fact that with all these elements of force and terror in the tenth pla,,<TUe itself, there had been nine such serious TJisitations before it. It was like the last blow of the battering-ram, which. though it may have in it.self more force than preceding blows, yet gains not the least part of its efficiency from the shaking which these preceding blows have produced. It is by no means certain that if this destruction of the first-bom had come at first it would have had the same effect. IL Notice, as illustrated by this announcement to Pharaoh, BOW DIFFERENTLY THE SA.HE FACTS .A.RE STATED TO DIFFERENT PEOPLE. Pharaoh is plainly told., that amid all this great smiting of Egypt's first-born, Israel will continue perfectly secure. The impression we get is, that not only will there be freedom for Israel from the specific effects of this plague, but even an unusual exemption from ordinary mischances. Not a dog is to move his tongue against any living creature in Israel. The protection would be complete; the favour and discrimination of Jehovah most manifest. But whence all this came, and in what it consisted, Pharaoh cannot be informed.. The differencx between Israel and Egypt will be plain enough; but the virtue of the slain lamb and the sprinkled blood a.re hidden from his eyes-all this could not be explained to him. If it could have been explained to him, it would never have needed to be explained. In other words, Pharaoh would never have come into such an extremity as that where the death of the first-born landed him. Thus we are helped to see the reason why to some there come revelations producing security and glad:o.ess of heart, and to others nothing but tidings of disa.ster and disappointment. Every great fact o( God's dealings has a bright side and a dark side; and if we will not live so that the bright side may be revealed to us, thi,n inevitably we must come face to face with the dark one. Moses told Pharaoh that the death of the first-born was coming, but he only turned away more scornful, stubborn, and infatua.ted than ever; he told the children of Israel to make the Paschal preparations, and., minute and exact as these preparations were, they at once went away and made them. God might have told Pharaoh all about how Israel was protected, but what would have btien the use? If we would discover why great Vivine revelatio:RS are hidden from us, we must look in our own hearts. A man can CH, XI. 0, 10.] THE BOOK OF EXODUS. 2!i5