The Pulpit Commentary — Hebrews — Section 345

treasures of Egypt." It seems beyond ooubt that ho must have lived in affiuence in Egypt; Rnd RS the son of Pharaoh's dauo-hter, be must have had prospects of great wealth ~or his _ow~ por:tion. How strong t°he fascination of riche8 is for many persona I And this fascmat10n 1s more fully rei1li:,:ed when men have reached the age of Moses than in earlier days. At the age when be me.de bis great decision it costs no small e!Tnrt to relinquish voluntarily the almost certain prospect of great wealth, Yet Moses dirl so. • III. IT Th"VOJ.VED THE PROBABILITY OF GREAT SUFFERINGS. 1. The endurance qf <''!1il treatment. Moses we.s well a.ware that by reason of his choice he would very likely have " to suffer affliction with the people of God." 'l'he Israelites were treated by the Egyptians as 1,Javes; they were an oppressed, a cruelly ill-used people. Most's knew this when be determined to cast in his lot with them. " To be evil entreated" was almost certain to be his portion; but it would be" with the people of God." An important fact that. They were a people of a pure faith, suRtained by a mighty hand, and inspired by a glorious destiny. 2. The endurance of bitter reproacl1. Moses looked forward to "the reproach of Christ" as a probable result of his choice. "He would be exposed to ridicule for bis folly in leaving his brilliant prospects at court to hecome identified with an oppressed and despised people." "The writer," says De Wette, "calls the reproach which Moses suffered the reproach of Christ, as Paul (2 Cor. i. 5; Col. i. 24) calls the sufferings of Christians the sufferings of Christ, i.e. of Christ dwelling, striving, suffering, in his Church as in his body; to which this reproach is referred according to the idea of the unity of the Old and New Testaments, and of the eternal Christ (the Logos) already living and reigning in the former." Hcproaches do not strip a man of his worldly goods or break his bones; but to some they arc even harder to bear than these things. 'l'hey enter terribly into the soul. 'l'hus David cried, "Reproach hath broken my heart." IV. IT WAS ASSOCIATED WITH A GREAT EXPECTATION. Moses "had respect unto the recompense of reward." He looked forward to the fulfilment of the promises made unto their fathers-that they should possess the land of Canaan, that they should be a great and independent nntion, and that in them all nations should be blessed. And beyond earth and time he looked for a great reward and an eternal. He had yearnings for immortality. And his hopes reached beyond the bounds of time and space to a perfection heavenly, everlasting, and Divine. This was not the grand motive for his great choice. He did not consecrate himself to the true God because of the rewards of his service. Higher and purer were the motives which determined his choice. But the prospect of these rewards encouraged him in making the choice. And as to our- selves, we should choose to believe the true, do the right, love the beautiful, and reverence the holy, even if no advantage accrued to us by so doing. But there is an advantage in godliness, there is a peerless prize for the faithful servant ; and we may take encouragement in the duties and difficulties, the sufferings and crosses of life, by the contemplation thereof. V. IT NECESSITATED A GREAT EXERCISE OF FAITH. If be had been guided by his senses, Moses would have viewed these matters in an entirely different light, and have made the directly opposite choice. He was guided by bis soul. He listened to the higher voices of his being, and complied with them. Be looked at things with the eye of faith. By faith he saw the vanity and transitoriness of the things he was renouncing, the reality and righteousness, the essential and abiding worth of the things he was em bracing, and he made the choice-the true, the wise, the blessed choice. Let those who are not yet decidedly religious copy the example of Moses. To be guided simply by siaht and sense in making the great election is irrational and ruinous. Let faith ~nd r~ason be brought into exercise, and then your choice will be hearty and earnest for the service of the Lord Jesus Christ.-W. J. Ver. 27.-Seevng the invisible One. "He endured, as seeing him who is invisible." These words suggest the following obsP.rvations. I. THAT Goo IS ESSENTIALLY INVISIBLE TO THE BENBEB. He is the invisible One. "God is a Spirit;" and the physical eye cannot behold ptlle spirit. Organs of sense hn.vt no fitness for immediate dealing with the great verities of the spiritual realm. '4'ruth, holiness, love, cannot be perceived by the selllies; for they have neither material OH. XI. 1-40.] 'l'HE EPISTLE TO THE HEllREWS. 337