The Pulpit Commentary — Exodus — Volume 1 — Section 336

the see., certe.inly, would not be wHhout its difficulties. The violent gale, the thunderinge e.nd lightnings (Ps. lxxvii. 18), the darkness, the boom of the distant we.tere, the lurid light of the fiery cloud, the uneven passage, the panic and confusion, the stre.ngeness and fearfulness of the entire situation, would make it an experience never to be forgotten. But if the road was difficult, it was practicable. They could pe.ss by it. God promises to make a way for us. He does not promise that the way will always be an easy one. 3. 'l'he safe transit (ver. 22). The children of Israel got safe! v across. They were preserved in the very midst of the hostile element. Nay, the sea, which tnay had so much dreaded, became on either side a protecting wall t-0 them. The same superintending Providence which secureu, in the shipwreck of Paul, that "so it cam.i to pass, that they escaped all safe to land" (Acts xxvii. 44), doubtless brought about a like happy result in the case of the Israelites. Their deliverance became, in after days, the type of any great deliverance wrought by God for his saints. See the figure wrought out in Ps. xviii. 4--20.-J. O. Ver. ll.-Oruel words out of cowardly hearts. There was much, as we have seen, to excuse the terror of Israel ; but there is one thing not so easy to excuse, and that is the sarcastic, unjust spirit in which these terrified Israelites treat their visible leader. Formerly (eh. v. 21) they had turned on him with bitter reproaches; but their conduct then was the effect of ignorance and hasty expectations, and their language, however strong, was simply the language of reproach. But now to reproach they add sarcasm; they speak so as to set Moses in a. ridiculous as well as a painful position. We may suppose that when the question was asked, "Whatever can we have been brought here for?" some of the wits of Israel would reply, "There is no room in Egypt to bury us, and so we a.re brought to be buried here." Then this sharp speech, quickly flying from lip to lip, as clever things usually do, would in no long time become the well-nigh universal thought. We have then here to consider the evils of sarcastic speech. 'l'hat such speech may do good sometimes, and sometimes be necessary, need not be denied. But inasmuch as the temptation is almost entirely the other way, we may dismiss as needless the work of considering what benefits there may be in sarcastic speech. '!'he ills of sarcasm have so far outweighed the good, that we had better set ourselves earnestly to consider them. Is it not to be presumed that fewer such sayings would fall from our lips, if only we habitually considered all the ill effects that may flow from such a way of speaking? I. CONSIDER THE PAIN INFLICTED BY SARCASTIC SPEECH. There may be a great deal of pain inflicted where no sense of pain is expressed. Moses does not here take any notice of this bitter, clever, far-echoing word about the graves; but thereby, he only gives another illustration of his characteristic natural meekness. He may have felt, and felt deeply, even though he did not speak. If, indeed, he reckoned nothing of thesl.' words, we should hardly think so well of him. To be what is called thick- skinned is not good, if it is meant thereby that one has no perception of the insolent, inconsiderate language of others. Lack of sensibility to pain means a corresponding lack of sensibility to pleasure. We can no more avoid feeling pain when a harsh word is spoken, than when we receive a cut or a blow. No doubt it is pleasant to say sharp, clever things; but the pleasure is a momentary one, an entirely selfish one; it will not bear thinking about; and it may inflict a durable pain. Sharp words may be like barbed arrows that not all the lapse of years can work out of the memory . .Assuredly we must not shrink from inflicting pain, if duty, affection, and prudence point that way ; but we had need to be very sure of the indications. 'l'o inflict bodily pain for our own pleasure is admittedly an unchristian thing; and yet what a monstrous inconsistency is revealed in the fact that persons who would not tread on a worm, are constantly found inflicting the intensest pain by the words they speak. Knock a man down, and you might do him less harm than by the few words that pass so lightly, easily, and pleasantly between your lips. Less harm is done by the fist the.n by the tongue. II. CONSIDER THE INJUSTICE DONE BY IT. Sarcastic speeches never can be true speeches. If they were true, it would be no justification of them, but in the very nature of things they cannot be true. They must have about them, more or les~, elements of the false a.nd exaggerated. If a thiug is to be sharp at all, there ii! an  332 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [oll. XIV, 11.