The Pulpit Commentary — Exodus — Volume 1 — Section 346

ho does it in mercy. The temporary obscuration will advantage the soul under the_ circums~ance~. T~ere is perhaps some secular work to be clone which require~ all its attention, hko this passage, where every step had to be taken with care. Short se~arntions aro said to intensify affection; and the sense of the Divine presence is more n,ued aftor a withdrawal, like the sun's light after an eclipse. 11. 'I'llE PILLAR OF THll: CLOUD, WHICH HAD Bll:EN" WON"T TO BE ALL SMOKE, OR ALL 1r11m, WAS NOW B01'H AT ONCE. "It came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave li 6 ht by ni.,ht to these." 'I'he eye sees that which it has within itself the power of seein"'. •to the godly the prnsence of God is a joy and a delight, a brightness and a radianc~. To the ungodly it is an awful and alarming thing, a cloud which mars their enjoyment. When Jesus was on earth, there were those among the inhabitants of Palestine who" besouO'ht him to depart out of their coasts" (Matt. viii. 34). The ungodly fear to look upon God. He is to them dark, mysterious, terrible. 'I'he sense of his presence paralyses them-they cannot stir till it is removed. But to the godly, it is "light in the dark- ness "-it illuminates mind and soul and spirit--it cheers and brightens the path of life -it irradiates even the obscurest gulf that we have to traverse. Let us bear in mind that when the Divine presence is removed from before our eyes, it is still in no case far from us. If at any time we do not see God, be at all times sees us. \Ve have only to make an effort, and we can in a short time recover our perception of bis presence. III. BY MEANS OF A STRONG EAST WIND 1'HE WATERS WERE DIVIDED, !JPO:)1 MosEB B'l'RETCHING OUT HIS HAND OVER THE SEA. we may note here, 1. The weakness of the instrument. 'I'he rod of Moses, stretched over the sea, or towar<lB the sea, from some vantage-point on the shore-how small a thing was this! How incapable in itself of producing any important effect! Yet in the providence of God, it was made a link in the chain of causation by which was brought about one of the greatest events in the whole course of mundane history. Must we not conclude from this, that, when God appoints means, however weak and trivial they may be in themselves, they become at once by bis appointment matters of the highest consequence? Again we may note, 2. The employment of a natural agency, insufficient in itself to accomplish the end, yet having a natural tendency towar<lB its accomplishment. God, the author of nature, uses nature as a help towards accomplishing his en<lB, even when the help is but small. Our Lord fed the 5000 and the 4000, by means of loaves and fishes already existing, though the material which they furnished could but have gone a short way. He anointed the blind man's eyes with spittle and clay, and bade him "go, wash in the pool of Siloam," using means which were to some extent reputed salutary, but which of themselves could never have restored sight. So with the east wind. \Ve must not suppose that it divided the sea by its own natural force. God used it, as be used the spittle and the clay, and made it accomplish his purpose, not by its own force but by his own power. And so generally with the forces which seem to remove obstacles from the path of God's people in this life-they are potent through bis agency, because be sets them to work, and works through them. IV. THE SEA, ON WHICH PHARAOH COUNTED FOR THEIR DESTRUCTION, BECAME FIRST THEIR DEFENCE AND THEN THEIR AVENGER. "The waters were 11. wall unto them." But for the two bodies of water, on their right and on their left, Pharaoh's force might have outflanked the host of Israel, and fallen upon it on three sideo, or even possibly have surrounded it. God can at any time turn dangers into safeguard.s. \Vben persecutors threaten the Church, be can turn their swords against each other, and allow the Church to pass on its way in peace. When temptations assault the soul, he can give the soul such strength, that it conquers them and they become aids to its progress. And with equal ease can be make the peril which menaces his faithful ones fall, not upon them, but upon their adversaries. The furnace heated to consurui the "three children" destroyed none but those bitter persecutors who bad arrested them a.nd cast them into the fire (Dan. iii. 22). The lions of Darius the Mede devoured, not Daniel, but "those men that had accused Daniel" (ib. vi. 24). The Jews, who had souaht to destroy the infant Church by prejudicing the Romans against Christ (John xix~ 12) and bis apostles (Acts xxiv. 1-9), were themselves within forty years of Christ's death, conquered and almost exterminated by these same Romans. The ungodly are ever "falling into their own nets together," while the godly man for whom the net:. are set " escapcti I hem." z 3 I, Si2 'llIR BOOK OF EXODUS. [cl!. lt.IV, 1!J-:lt,