The Pulpit Commentary — Exodus — Volume 2 — Section 28

to subordinate place~. Besides these, the entourage of Moses consists of Hur, Miriam'e husband; Jethro for guide; a.nd Joshua., a. sort of body servant. All over the de8ert are names witnessing to this hour to the sole supremacy of Moses. 2. Divine Guidanca did 'not impair his i11divt"duality. Inspiration a.nd the "Cloud and Fire" did not so lead as to leave no room for the exercise of judgment or the spontaneity of consecrated genius. Lesson :-God does not cru,;h individuality, Ind develops it into fulne88 and power. 3. Moses brought Israel, quu;ldy from proximity to Egypt, and even from the SCl!me of vutory. [See Heb. verb, to ea.use the ca.mp to remove.] The last cadences of the song, the last sound of dancing had hardly died away; Miriam's timbrel was scarcely out of her hand, before " Fonvard I" Out of this, two lessons. Leave behind: -1. The memory of Egypt; of old sins, of old sorrows. 2. The 'TNmWry of victory. As in common life, so in spiritual, e.g., the schoolboy. (John Singleton Copley, a painter's l!OD, had for motto "ffitra pergere," and became Lord Lyndhurst.) Graduate at University. Young tradesman. So with things spiritual, each. victory the point of a new departure, even with the aged. "Christian progress by oblivion of the past." Phil. iii. 13, 14. II. FIRST ST AGES IN :i-"EW Cllil'TERS OF LIFE'S HISTORY ARE TEDIOUS. Look here at: - 1. The experience of Israel,. They had left behind many sights, they, even though slaves, would greatly miss; the Nile and its green line of fertility; cities in all their splendour; life in all its rich variety. Now, the hardship and silence of the desert, only trumpet-broken at morn and eve. And this first stage was terrible. (For accurate idea of this road, see "Forty days in the desert," pp. 30, 31.) Nothing so bad as this further on-further on oases, wells, filmy streams, tamarisk, palm, mountain shadows, and even cultivated regions. Excitement perhaps of the first day, the experience novel, the sea in view; but on the second and third, plodding, fainting, and disgust. 2. The present reality. So is it with all new chapters in life; the first steps are tedious, e.g., child going to school; boy to college ; :first steps in business; so with every serious break-up and change in life's pil.,,urimage. 'l'he first steps are arduous. And so too is spiritual life-to break with sin, to stand ridicule, to keep advancing in spite of com- parative ignorance, et.c. 3. The f,emptation. Many fail to stand it. Young men yield and go back to the fleshpot.s of Egypt-loneliness with duty and God does not suit them. If we can march from the sea to Marah, all may be well. 4. The encouragement. 'l'o say nothing of truths like these, that the way was right, the guidance sufficient, the land of Promise was before them ; there was a nearer benediction. " The far horizon in front was bounded, not by a line of level sand, but by sharp mountain summits, tossing their peaks into the sky in wild disorder, and suggesting irresistibly the thought of torrents and glens, the shadow of great rocks, and groves of palms." The view was of the range of Sinai, and there Israel was to have nearly a year of high communion with Goel IIL DISAPPOINTMD.-,- WAITS us ON OUR WAY. The high-wrought expectation of the people: and lo! the spring is bitter. So with life. So much is this the case, that men of genius have described life as one long illusion. Things are never what they seemed. 1'either school nor college, courtship nor marriage, home nor church, business nor 1>leasure. So much the worse for those who have ideality large. IV. INTO DISAPPOTh"TMU"T COMES HEALING. All through nature, it is probable, that every poison has its antidote, every evil its corrective, every disappointment its com- pensation. "Dr. Johnston, in his' Chemistry of Common Things,' explains at length how the bark of a certain tree has power to precipitate the mineral particles, which embitter the waters, and to make them sweet and clear." Did God" show" this secret thing to Moses? Let every man examine his own life, and he will find by the side of C\'ery disappointment a compensating mercy ; and more, that out of every such has come a lesson to sweeten life. It is as when (to take the most striking illustration of all) the Saviour came down into human nature, turned to bitterness by sin, and wade the bitter sweet. V. LIFE u; ONE LONG PROBATION. This is a truth illustrated by the journey tu, and by the incidents at Marah. There Qod laid down a Fixed Principle (ph], an<i. one that was absolutely Rigl,twus. [t:ip~]. I. Israel was to hear (i.e. believe) and do. 2. And then Jehovah would be to .L;ra.el, what the "wood" had been to the water, their Healer.- -.B.. en. XVI. 1-3.) TIIE IlOOK OF EXODT.;S. 29