NOTES
THE BOOK or EXODUS.
UNIVERSITY
1 He led them forth byihe right way."
(Psalm cvii. 7.)
NEW YORK:
LOIZEAUX BROTHERS, 96 FOURTH AVENUE.
1880.
PKEFATOKY NOTE
TO THE AMERICAN EDITION.
As several persons in America have, without any au-
thority whatever from me, undertaken to publish my
four volumes of " Notes," I deem it my duty to inform
the reader that I have given full permission to Messrs.
LOIZEAUX BROTHERS to publish an edition of those books
in such form as they shall consider most suitable.
C. II. MACKINTOSH.
6 West Park Terrace, Scarborough.
May 1st, 1879.
PEEFACE TO THE THIED EDITION.
rriHE writer cannot suffer a new edition of this volume
to issue from the press without a line or two of deep
thankfulness to the Lord for His grace in making use of
such a feeble instrumentality in the furtherance of His
truth and the edification of His people. Blessed be His
name, when He takes up a book or a tract, He can make it
effectual in the accomplishment of His gracious ends. He
can clothe with spiritual power pages and paragraphs
which to us might seem pointless and powerless. May He
continue to own and bless this service, and His name shall
have all the praise.
C. H. M.
Dublin, April, 1862.
PEEFAOE.
F manuscript and proof-sheets, we have been traveling
over a deeply instructive and most interesting portion
of the Word of God THE BOOK OF EXODUS.
Redemption by blood occupies a prominent place there-
in, it characterizes the book. God's many mercies to Jlis
redeemed, in the display of His power, the patience of His
love, and the riches of His grace, flow from it. The great
question of Israel's relationship to God is settled by the
blood of the lamb. It changes their condition entirely.
Israel within the blood-sprinkled door-posts was God's
redeemed, blood-bought people.
God being holy, and Israel guilty^ no happy relationship
could exist between them till judgment had been accom-
plished. Sin must be judged. A happy friendship once
existed between God and man, on the ground of innocence ;
but sin having entered and snapped the link asunder, there
can be no reconciliation but through the full expression of
the moral judgment of God against sin. We can only have
''life through death." God is the God of holiness, and He
must judge sin. In saving the sinner, He condemns his
sin. The cross is the full and perfect expression of this.
Typically, this was the great question, on "the evening
of the fourteenth day of the first, month; namely, How can
God exempt from judgment , and receive into His favor, those
whom His holiness condemns ? To this most solemn ques-
tion, there was but one answer that would satisfy the de-
mands of the God of holiness, and that was the blood of the
Lamb of His own providing. "When I see the blood, I
will pass over you." This settled the all-important ques-
VI PREFACE.
tion. It was one of life or death, of deliverance or judg-
ment. The blood-sprinkled door-post was a perfect answer
to all the claims of holiness, and to all the need of the
congregation. All was settled now. God was glorified,
sin judged and put away, and Israel saved through the
blood of the lamb.
Blessed truth ! Israel was now at peace with God, a
sheltered, saved, and happy people, though still in Egypt
the land of death ajid judgment. God was now pledged
to deliver Israel, precious type of the perfect security of
all who are trusting to the blood of Christ ! They were
securely and peacefully feeding on the roasted lamb, when,
"at midnight, the Lord smote all the first-born in the land
of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on his
throne, unto the first-born of the captive that was in the
dungeon, and all the first-born of cattle. And Pharaoh
rose up in the night, he and all his servants, and all the
Egyptians ; and there was a great cry in Egypt ; for there
was not a house where there was not one dead" (xii. 29,
30.). "But against any of the children of Israel shall not
a dog move his tongue, against man or beast ; that ye may
know how that the Lord doth put a difference between the
Egyptians and Israel." (xi. 7.)
But why, some may ask, put this difference ? The Israel-
ites were sinners as well as the Egyptians. True, on this
ground there was "no difference ; " but, in type, the judg-
ment of God against sin had been expressed in the death
of the unblemished lamb. The blood "on the lintel and
the two side-posts " was the proof of this. It proclaimed,
with a loud voice, that the lamb was slain, the ransom
paid, the captive freed, justice satisfied, and the hour of
Israel's deliverance fully come. It was the blood that made
the difference, and nothing else; "for all have sinned and
come short of the glory of God." (Rom. iii. 23.)
But oh, what a difference ! The one, divinely shielded
from the sword of judgment; the other, defenceless and
PREFACE. V1L
slain by it: the one, feasting on the rich provisions of
grace ; the other, compelled to taste the bitterness of the
cup of wrath. The destroying angel entered every house,
throughout all the land of Egypt, that was not sprinkled
with the blood. The first-born of Pharaoh on the throne,
and the first-born of the captive in the dungeon, fell
together.
No rank, age, or character escaped. The day of God's
long-suffering was ended, and the hour of His judgment
was come. One thing alone guided the angel of death on
that dark and dreadful night, and that was, WHERE
THERE IS NO BLOOD, THERE IS NO SALVATION.
Dear reader, this is as true now as it was then ! Where
there is no blood, there is no salvation, "without shed-
ding of blood is no remission." Can any question be of
such importance to you as this one : Am I shielded by the
blood of Jesus? Oh! have you fled for refuge to the blood
that was shed on Calvary? There, "^Christ, our passover,
was sacrificed for us." His blood is represented as being
sprinkled on "the mercy-seat above." There, God's eye
ever sees the blood of our trueipaschal Lamb. Have you
faith in that precious blood ? Though deeply sensible of
your guilt, can you say in truth, This is my only hiding-
place: I do depend upon the blood? Then rest assured
that you are perfectly safe that you are eternally saved.
You have God's own word for it "When I see the blood,
I will pass over you." "We have redemption through His
blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of
His grace." "But now, in Christ Jesus, ye who some-
times were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ."
"Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through
faith in His blood." (Eph. i. 7; ii. 13; Rom. iii. 25.)
"Happy they who trust in Jesus,
Sweet their portion is and sure."
But, on the other hand, if the blood of Jesus is neglected
or despised, there can be no' security, no peace, and no sal-
Vlll PREFACE.
vation. "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salva-
tion ?" (Heb. ii. 3.) Unless the destroying angel sees the
blood, he enters as the judge of sin. Every sin must be
punished, either in the person of the sinner, or the sinner's
substitute. This is a deeply solemn truth ; but how blessed
to know that "Christ hath once suffered for sins, the just
for the unjust, that He might bring us to God." " For He
hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that W T C
might be made the righteousness of God in Him." (1 Peter
iii. 18; 2 Cor. v. 21.) To neglect this divine Substitute,
and the shelter which He has provided, is to expose the
soul to the unrelenting judgment of God. No sin, however
small, can escape judgment, either on the cross of Christ,
or in the lake of fire. Oh, the priceless value of that blood
which "cleanseth us from ALL sin"! which makes us
clean enough for heaven !
[Redemption being now accomplished, and Israel divinely
prepared, they commence their journey. But observe, in
passing, how they start. Before taking one step, cvory
question between the conscience and God is divinely
settled. They are forgiven, justified, and accepted, in His
sight. Hence it is written, "When Israel was a child, then
I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt." (Hosea xi.
1.) Blessed type of the real condition in which every true
believer begins his Christian course ! He may not see this
blessed truth, or he may have a very feeble apprehension
of it, as Israel had, but that does not alter the fact. God
acts according to His own knowledge of the relationship,
and the affections which belong to it. We see this in the
glorious deliverance of His beloved people at the Red Sea,
in the manna from heaven, the water from the flinty rock,
and in the pillar of His presence, which accompanied them
in all their wanderings. He ever acts according to the
purposes of His love, and the value of the blood of
Jesus.
Once more, dear reader, allow me to ask, Arc you sure
PREFACE. IX
that you are under the safe shelter, the secure refuge, the
blessed hiding-place, of the Redeemer's blood ?
But I must now leave my reader, earnestly recommend-
ing him to pursue the journey across the wilderness in
company with God and His redeemed. He will find the
"Notes" most useful. They convey truth, agreeably and
intelligently to the heart, the conscience, and the under-
standing. May many find them to be a real oasis in the
desert. The journey will prove a most profitable one if
we thereby learn more of the natural unbelief of our own
heart and the abiding faithfulness of God's. He never
changes, blessed be His name ; and the blood of the slain
Lamb never loses its efficacy.
"Blest Lamb of God ! Thy precious blood
Shall never loco its power,
Till every ransomed saint of God
Be saved to sin no more."
May the Lord graciously own and use the following
"Notes" for His own glory and the blessing of many
souls.
A. M.
.London.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I, -
" II. 1-10, -
" II. 11-25,
III, -
IV,
" V. & VI, -
" VII. XI,
XII, - .-
" XIII,
XIV,-
" XV,
" XVI,-
" XVII, -
" XVIII,
XIX, -
" XX, -
" % xxi. xxnr,
XXIV,
" XXV, -
XXVI,
" XXVII,-
" XXVIII. & XXIX, -
" XXX, -
XXXI,
" XXXII,-
" XXXIII. & XXXIV,
" XXXV. XL,
OF THE
NOTES
ON
THE BOOK OF EXODUS,
CHAPTER I.
WE now approach, by the mercy of God, the
study of the Book of Exodus, of which the
great prominent theme is redemption. The first five
verses recall to the mind the closing scenes of the
preceding book. The favored objects of God's
electing love are brought before us ; and we find
ourselves very speedily conducted, by the inspired
penman, into the action of the book.
In our meditations on the Book of Genesis, we
were led to see that the conduct of Joseph's breth-
ren toward him was that which led to their being
brought down into Egypt. This fact is to be looked
at in two ways. In the first place, we can read
therein a deeply solemn lesson, as taught in Israel's
actings toward God ; and, secondly, we have therein
unfolded an encouraging lesson, as taught in God's
actings toward Israel.
And, first, as to Israel's actings toward God, what
can be more deeply solemn than to follow out the
results of their treatment of him who stands before
2 EXODUS.
the spiritual mind as the marked type of the Lord
Jesus Christ ? They, utterly regardless of the an-
guish of his soul, consigned Joseph into the hands
of the uncircumcised. And what was the issue,
as regards them ? They were carried down into
Egypt, there to experience the deep and painful
exercises of heart which are so graphically and
touchingly presented in the .closing chapters of
Genesis. Nor was this all. A long and dreary
season awaited their offspring in that very land in
which Joseph had found a dungeon.
But then God was in all this, as well as man ; aid
it is His prerogative to bring good out of evil.
Joseph's brethren might sell him to the Ishmaelites,
and the Ishmaelites might sell him to Potiphar, and
Potiphar might cast him into prison ; but Jehovah
was above all, and He was accomplishing His own
mighty ends. "The wrath of man shall praise
Him." The time had not arrived in which the heirs
were ready for the inheritance and the inheritance
for the heirs. The brick-kilns of Egypt were to
furnish a rigid school for the seed of Abraham,
while as yet "the iniquity of the Amorites" was
rising to a head amid the " hills and valleys" of
the promised land..
All this is deeply interesting and instructive.
There are "wheels within wheels" in the govern-
ment of God. He makes use of an endless variety
of agencies in the accomplishment of His unsearch-
able designs. Potiphar's wife, Pharaoh's butler,
Pharaoh's dreams, Pharaoh himself, the dungeon,
CHAPTER I. 6
the throne, the fetter, the royal signet, the famine
all are at His sovereign disposal, and all are made
instrumental in the development of His stupendous
counsels. The spiritual mind delights to dwell upon
this, it delights to range through the wide domain
of creation and providence,, and to recognize, in all,
the machinery which an All- wise and an Almighty
God is using for the purpose of unfolding His coun-
sels of redeeming love. True, we may see many
traces of the serpent, many deep and well-defined
footprints of the enemy of God and man, many
things which we cannot explain nor even compre-
hend ; suffering innocence and successful" wicked-
ness may furnish an apparent basis for the infidel
reasoning of the sceptic mind ; but the true believer
can piously repose in the assurance that "the Judge
of all the earth shall do right." He knows* right
well that^-
" Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan His ways in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain."
. Blessed be God for the consolation and encour-
agement flowing out of such reflections as these.
We need them every hour while passing through an
evil world, in which the enemy has wrought such
appalling mischief, in which the lusts and passions-
of men produce such bitter fruits, and in which the
path of the true disciple presents roughnesses which
mere nature could never endure. Faith knows, of a
surety, that there is One behind the scenes whom
4 EXODUS.
the world sees not nor regards ; and, in the con-
sciousness of this, it can calmly say, "It is well,"
and, "It shall be well."
The above train of thought is distinctly suggested
by the opening lines of our book. " God's counsel
shall stand, and He will do all His pleasure." The
'enemy may oppose, but God will ever prove Himself
to be above him ; and all we need is a spirit of simple,
childlike confidence and repose in the divine purpose.
Unbelief will rather look at the enemy's efforts to
countervail than at God's power to accomplish. It
is on the latter that faith fixes its eye. Thus it ob-
tains victory and enjoys abiding peace. It has to
do with God and His infallible faithfulness. It rests
not upon the ever-shifting sands of human affairs
and earthly influences, but upon the immovable rock
of Gold's eternal Word. That is faith's holy and
solid resting-place. Come what may, it abides in
that sanctuary of strength. "Joseph died, and all
his brethren, and all that generation." What then ?
Could death affect the counsels of the living God ?
Surely not. He only waited for the appointed m<
ment the due time, and then the most hostile influ-
ences were made instrumental in the developmen
of His purposes.
"Now there arose up a new king over Egypt,
which knew not Joseph. And he said unto his peo-
ple, ' Behold the people of the children of Israel are
more and mightier than we: come on, let us deal
wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to
pass that when there falleth out any war they join
CHAPTER I.
also unto our enemies and fight against us, and so
get them up out of the land." (Yer. 8-10.) All
this is the reasoning of a heart that had never learnt
to take God into its calculations. The unrenewed
heart never can do so ; and hence, the moment you
introduce God, all its reasonings fall to the ground.
Apart from, or independent of, Him, they may seem
very wise ; but only bring Him in, and they are
proved to be perfect folly.
But why should we allow our minds to be, in any
wise, influenced by reasonings and calculations
which depend, for their apparent truth, upon the
total exclusion of God ? To do so is, in principle,
and according to its measure, practical atheism.
In Pharaoh's case, we see that he could accurately
recount the various contingencies of human affairs,
the multiplying of the people, the falling oat of
war, their joining with the enemy, their escape out
of the land. All these circumstances he could, with
uncommon sagacity, put into the scale ; but it never
once occurred to him that God could have anything
whatever to do in the matter. Had he only thought
of this, it would have upset his entire reasoning,
and have written folly upon all his schemes.
Now, it is well to see that it is ever thus with the
reasonings of man's sceptic mind. God is entirely
shut out ; yea, the truth and consistency thereof de-
pend upon His being kept out. The death-blow to
all scepticism and infidelity is the introduction of
God into the scene. Till He is seen, they may strut
up and down upon the stage with. an amazing show
6 EXODUS.
of wisdom and cleverness ; but the moment the eye
catches even the faintest glimpse of that blessed
One, they are stripped of their cloak, and disclo^d
in all their nakedness and deformity.
In reference to the king of Egypt, it may assur-
edly be said, he did "greatly err," not knowing
God or His changeless counsels. He knew not that,
hundreds of years back, before ever he had breathed
the breath of mortal life, God's word and oath
"two immutable things" had infallibly secured
the full and glorious deliverance of that very people
whom he was going, in his wisdom, to crush. All
this was unknown to him, and therefore all his
thoughts and plans were founded upon ignorance of
that grand foundation-truth of all truths, namely,
that GOD IS. He vainly imagined that he, by his
management, could prevent the increase of those
concerning whom God had said, "They shall be as
the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon
the sea-shore." His wise dealing, therefore, was
simply madness and folly.
The wildest misfake which a man can possibly fall
into is to act without taking God into his account.
Sooner or later, the thought of God will force itself
upon him, and then comes the awful crash of all his
schemes and calculations. At best, everything that
is undertaken independently of God, can last but
for the present time. It cannot, by any possibility,
stretch itself into eternity. All that is merely hu-
man, however solid, however brilliant, or however
attractive, must fall into the cold grasp of death,
CHAPTER I. 7
and moulder in the dark, silent tomb. The clod of
the valley must^ cover man's highest excellencies
and brightest glories ; mortality is engraved upon
IJL . ,-jrow, and all his schemes are evanescent. On
the contrary, that which is connected with, and
based upon, God, shall endure forever. "His name
shall endure forever, and His memorial to all gen-
erations."
What a sad mistake, therefore, for a feeble mortal
to set himself up against the eternal God, to "rush
upon the thick bosses of the shield of the Almighty" !
As well might the monarch of Egypt have sought to
stem, with his puny hand, the ocean's tide, as to
prevent the increase of those who were the subjects
of Jehovah's everlasting purpose. Hence, although
4 ' they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them
with their burdens," yet, "the more they afflicted
them, the more they multiplied and grew." Thus
it must ever be. "He that sitteth in the heavens
shall laugh ; the Lord shall have them in derision."
(Ps. ii. 4.) Eternal confusion shall be inscribed
upon all the opposition of men and devils. This
gives sweet rest to the heart in the midst of a scene
where all is apparently so contrary to God and so
contrary to faith. Were it not for the settled assur-
ance that "the wrath of man shall praise" the Lord,
the spirit would often be cast down while contem-
plating the circumstances and influences which sur-
round one in the world. Thank God, "we look not
at the things which are seen, but at the things which
are not seen : for the things which are seen are
O EXODUS.
temporal ; but the things which are not seen are
eternal." (2 Cor. iv. 18.) In the power of this, we
may well say, "Itest in the Lord, and ivait patiently
for Him : fret not thyself because of him who pros-
pereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth
wicked devices to pass." (Ps. xxxvii. 7.) How
fully might the truth of this be seen in the case of
both the oppressed and the oppressor, as set before
us in our chapter ! Had Israel ' ' looked at the things
that are seen," what were they ? Pharaoh's wrath,
stern taskmasters, afflictive burdens, rigorous serv-
ice, hard bondage, mortar and brick. But, then,
"the things which are not seen," what were they?
God's eternal purpose, His unfailing promise, the
approaching dawn of a day of salvation, the "burn-
ing lamp" of Jehovah's deliverance. Wondrous
contrast ! Faith alone could enter into it. Naught
save that precious principle could enable any poor,
oppressed Israelite to look from out the smoking
furnace of Egypt, to the green fields and vine-clad
mountains of the land of Canaan. Faith alone
could recognize in those oppressed slaves, toiling in
the brick-kilns of Egypt, the heirs of salvation, aud
the objects of Heaven's peculiar interest and favor.
Thus it was then, and thus it is now. "We walk
by faith, not by sight." (2 Cor. v. 7.) "It doth
not yet appear what we shall be." (1 John iii. 2.)
We are "here in the body pent," "absent from the
Lord." As to fact, we are in Egypt, yet, in spirit,
we are in the heavenly Canaan. Faith brings the
heart into the power cf divine and unseen things,
CHAPTER II. 1-10. 9
and thus enables it to mount above everything down
here, in this place "where death and darkness reign."
O, for that simple childlike faith that sits beside the
pure and eternal fountain o.f truth, there to drink
those deep and refreshing draughts which lift up the
fainting spirit and impart energy to the new man,
in its upward and onward course !
The closing verses of this section of our book
present an edifying lesson in the conduct of those
God-fearing women, Shiprah and Puah. They would
not carry out the king's cruel scheme, but braved
his wrath, and hence God made them houses.
"Them that honor Me I will honor, and they that
despise Me shall be lightly esteemed." (1 Sam. ii.
30. ) May we ever remember this, andact for God,
under all circumstances !
CHAPTER II. V-
THIS section of our book abounds in the weighti-
est principles of divine truth principles which
range themselves under the three following heads, ft
namely, the power of Satan, the power of God, and U
the power of faith. *
In the last verse of the previous chapter, we read,
"And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, 'Every
son that is born ye shall cast into the river. ' " This
was Satan's power. The river was the place of
10 EXODUS.
death ; and, by death, the enemy sought to frustrate
the purpose of God. It has ever been thus. The
serpent has -at all times watched with malignant eye
those instruments which God was about to use for
His own gracious ends. Look at the case of Abel,
in Genesis iv. What was that but the serpent watch-
ing God's vessel and seeking to put it out of the
way by death ? Look at the case of Joseph, in
Genesis xxxvii. There you have the enemy seeking
to put the man of God's purpose in the place of
death. Look at the case of "the seed royal," in
2 Chronicles xxii ; the act of Herod, in Matthew ii ;
the death of Christ, in Matthew xxvii. In all these
cases, you find the enemy seeking, by death, to in-
terrupt the current of divine action.
But, blessed be God, there is something beyond
death. The entire sphere of divine action, as con-
nected with redemption, lies beyond the limits cf
death's domain. When Satan has exhausted his
power, then God begins to show Himself. The
grave is the limit of Satan's activity ; but there it
is that divine activity begins. This is a glorious
truth. Satan has the power of death ; but God is
the God of the living, and He gives life beyond the
reach and power of death a life which Satan can-
not touch. The heart finds sweet? relief in such a
truth as this, in the midst of a scene where death
reigns. Faith can stand and look on at Satan put-
ting forth the plenitude of his power. It can stay
itself upon God's mighty instrumentality of resur-
rection. It can take its stand at the grave which
CHAPTER II. 1-10. 11
has closed over a beloved object, and drink in, from
the lips of Him who is "the resurrection and the
life," the elevating assurance of a glorious immor-
tality. It knows that God is stronger than Satan,
and it can therefore quietly wait for the full mani-
festation of that superior strength, and, in thus
waiting, find its victory and its settled peace. We
have a noble example of this power of faith in tke
opening verses of our chapter.
"And there went a man of the house of Levi,
and took to wife a daughter of Levi. And the
woman conceived and bare a son ; and when she
saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him
three months. And when she could no longer hide
him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes and
daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the
child therein ; and she laid it in the flags by the
river's brink. And his sister stood afar off, to wit
what would be done to him." (Chap. ii. 1-4.) Here
we have a scene of touching interest, in whatever
way we contemplate it. In point of fact, it was
simply faith triumphing over the influences of nature
and death, and leaving room for the God of resur-
rection to act in His own proper sphere and charac-
ter. True, the enemy's power is apparent, in the
circumstance that the child had to be placed in such
position a position of death, in principle. And,
moreover, a sword was piercing through the mother's
heart in thus beholding her precious offspring laid,
as it were, in death. Satan might act, and nature
might weep ; but the Quickener of the dead was
12 EXODUS.
behind the dark cloud, and faith beheld Him there,
gilding heaven's side of that cloud with His bright
and life-giving beams. "By faith Moses, when he
was born, was hid three months of his parents, be-
cause they saw he was a proper child ; and they
were not afraid of the king's commandment."
(Heb. xi. 23.)
Thus this honored daughter of Levi teaches us a
holy lesson. Her "ark of bulrushes, daubed with
slime and pitch," declares her confidence in the
truth that there was a something which could keep
out the waters of death, in the case of this "proper
child," as w r ell as in the case of Noah, "the preacher
of righteousness." Are we to suppose, for a mo-
ment, that this "ark" was the invention of mere
nature ? Was it nature's forethought that devised
it ? or nature's ingenuity that constructed it ? Was
the babe placed in the ark at the suggestion of a
mother's heart, cherishing the fond but visionary
hope of thereby saving her treasure from the ruthless
. hand of death ? Were we to reply to the above in-
quiries in the affirmative, we should, I believe, lose
the beauteous teaching of this entire scene. How
could we ever suppose that the " ark" was devised
by one who saw no other portion or destiny for her
child but death by drowning 9 Impossible. We
can only look upon that significant structure as
faith's drafb handed in at the treasury of the God
of resurrection. It was devised by the hand of
faith, as a vessel of mercy, to carry "a proper
child" safely over death's dark waters, into the
CHAPTER II. 1-10. 13
place assigned him by the immutable purpose of the
living God. When we behold this daughter of Levi
bending over that "ark of bulrushes," which her
faith had constructed, and depositing therein her
babe, we see her "walking in the steps of that faith
of her father Abraham, which he had," when "he
rose up from before his dead," and purchased the
cave of Machpelah from the sons of Heth. (Gen.
xxiii.) We do not recognize in her the energy of
mere nature, hanging over the object of its affec-
tions, about to fall into the iron grasp of the king of
terrors. No; but we trace in her the energy of a
faith which enabled her to stand, as a conqueror, at
the margin of death's cold flood, and behold the
chosen servant of Jehovah in safety at the other side.
Yes, my reader, faith can take those bold and
lofty flights into regions far removed from this land
of death and wide-spread desolation. Its eagle gaze
can pierce the gloomy clouds which gather arouuad
the tomb, and behold the God of resurrection dis-
playing the results of His everlasting counsels, in
the midst of a sphere which no arrow of death can
reach. It can take its stand upon the top of the
Rock of Ages, and listen, in holy triumph, while
the surges of death are lashing its base.
And what, let me ask, was "the king's command-
ment" to one who was in possession of this heaven-
born principle ? What weight had that command-
ment with one who could calmly stand beside her
"ark of bulrushes" and look death straight in the
face? The Holy Ghost replies, "They were not
14 EXODUS.
afraid of the king's commandment." The spirit
that knows aught of communion with Him who
quickens the dead, is not afraid of anything. * Such
an one can take up the triumphant language of
1 Cor. xv, and say, "O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory ? The sting of death
is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But
thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ." He can give forth
these words of triumph over a martyred Abel ; over
Joseph in the pit ; over Moses in the ark of bul-
rushes ; in the midst of "the seed royal, ".slain by
the hand of Athaliah ; amid the babes of Bethlehem,
murdered by the hand of the cruel Herod ; and far
above all, he can utter them at the -tomb of the
Captain of our salvation.
Now, it may be there are some who cannot trace
the activities of faith, in the matter of the ark of
bulrushes. Many may not be able to travel beyond
the measure of Moses' sister, when u she stood afar
off, to wit what would be done to him." It is very
evident that ' ' his sister ' ' was not up to c ' the meas-
ure of faith" possessed by "his mother." No
doubt she possessed deep interest and true affection,
such as we may trace in "Mary Magdalene and the
other Mary sitting over against the sepulchre"
(Matt, xxvii. 61.); but there was something far
beyond either interest or affection in the maker of
the "ark." True, she did not "stand afar off, to
wit what would be clone to" her child, and hence,
what frequently happens, the dignity of faith might
CHAPTER II. 1-10. 15
seem like indifference, on her part. It was not,
however, indifference, but true elevation the eleva-
tion of faith. If natural affection did not cause her
to linger near the scene of death, it was only be-
cause the power of faith was furnishing her with
nobler work in the presence of the God of resurrec-
tion. Her faith had cleared the stage for Him, and
most gloriously did He show Himself thereon.
"And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to
wash herself at the river ; and her maidens walked
along by the river's side : and when she saw the ark
among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. And
when she had opened it, she saw the child ; and,
behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion
on him, and said, 'This is one of the Hebrews'
children.' ' Here, then, the divine response begins
to break, in sweetest accents, on the ear of faith.
God was in all this. Rationalism, or scepticism, or
infidelity, or atheism, may laugh at such an idea.
And faith can laugh also ; but the two kinds of
laughter are very different. The former laughs, in
cold contempt,, at the thought of divine interference
in the trifling affair of a ix^al maiden's walk by the
river's side: the latter laughs, with real heartfelt
gladness, at. the thought that God is in everything.
And;, assuredly, if ever God was in anything, He
was in this walk of Pharaoh's daughter, though she
knew it not.
The renewed mind enjoys one of its sweetest
exercises while tracing the divine footsteps in cir-
cumstances and events in which a thoughtless spirit
1G EXODUS.
sees only blind chance or rigid fate. The most tri-
fling matter may, at times, turn out to be a most
important link in a chain of events by which the
Almighty God is helping forward the development
of His grand designs. Look, for instance, at Esther
vi. 1, and what do you see ? A heathen monarch
spending a restless night. No uncommon circum-
stance, we may suppose ; and yet, this very circum-
stance was a link in a great chain of providences at
the end of which you find the marvelous deliver-
ance of the oppressed seed of Israel.
Thus was it with the daughter of Pharaoh, in her
walk b}^ the river's side. Little did she think that
she was helping forward the purpose of "the Lord
God of the Hebrews." How little idea had she that
the weeping babe in that ark of bulrushes was yet to
be Jehovah's instrument in shaking the land of Egypt
to its very centre ! Yet so it was. The Lord can
make the wrath of man to praise Him, and restrain
the remainder. How plainly the truth of this ap-
pears in the following passage !
"Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter,
'Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew
women, that she may nurse the child for thee ? '
And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, 'Go.' And
the maid went and called the child's mother. And
Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, 'Take this child
away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy
wages.' And the woman took the child and nursed
it. And the child grew, and she brought him unto
Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And
CHAPTER II. 11-25. 17
she called his name Moses; and she said, 'Because
I drew him out of the water.' " (Chap. ii. 7-10.)
The beautiful faith of Moses' mother here meets its
full reward ; Satan is confounded ; and the marvel-
ous wisdom of God is displayed. Who would have
thought that the one who had said, " If it be a son,
then ye shall kill him," and, again, "Every son that
is born ye shall cast into the river," should have in
his court one of those very sons, and such u a son."
The devil was foiled by his own weapon, inasmuch
as Pharaoh, whom he was using to frustrate the pur-
pose of God, is used of God to nourish and bring
up Moses, who was to be His instrument in con-
founding the power of Satan. Remarkable provi-
dence ! Admirable wisdom ! Truly, Jehtfvah is
"wonderful in counsel and excellent in working."
May we learn to trust Him with more artless sim-
plicity, and thus our path shall be more brilliant,
and our testimony more effective.
CHAPTER II. 1125.
IN considering the history of Moses, we must look
at him in two ways, namely, personally and
typically.
First, in his personal character, there is much,
very much, for us to learn. God had not only to
raise him up, but also to train him, in one way or
another, for the lengthened period of eighty years ;
18 EXODUS.
first in the house of Pharaoh's daughter, and then
at "the backside of the desert." This, to our shal-
low thoughts, would seem an immense space of time
to devote to the education of a minister of God.
But then God's thoughts are not as our thoughts.
He knew the need of those forty years twice told,
in the preparation of His chosen vessel. When God
educates, He educates in a manner worthy of Him-
self and His most holy service. He will not have
a novice to do His work. The servant of Christ has
to learn many a lesson, to undergo many an exercise,
to pass through many a conflict, in secret, ere he is
really qualified to act in public. Nature does not
like this. It would rather figure in public than learn
in private, it would rather be gazed upon and ad-
mired by the eye of man than be disciplined by the
hand of God. But it will not do. We must take
God's way. Nature may rush into the scene of
operation ; but God does not want it there.. It must
be withered, crushed, set aside. The place of death
is the place for nature. If it' will be active, God
will so order matters, in His infallible faithfulness
and perfect wisdom, that the results of its activity
will prove its utter defeat and confusion. He knows
what to do with nature, where to put it, and where
to keep it. O, that we may all be in deeper com-
munion with the mind of God, in reference to self
and all that pertains thereto ! Then shall we make
fewer mistakes ; then shall our path be steady and
elevated, our spirit tranquil, and our service effective.
" And it came to pass in those days, when Moses
CHAPTER II. 11-25. 19
was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and
looked on their burdens ; and he spied an Egyptian
smiting a Hebrew, one of his brethren. And he
looked this way and that way, and when he saw
there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid
him in the sand." This was zeal for his brethren ;
but it was "not according to knowledge." God's
time was not yet come for judging Egypt and deliv-
ering Israel ; and the intelligent servant will ever
wait for God's time. " Moses was grown," and "he
was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians;"
and, moreover, "he supposed his brethren would
have understood how that God by his hand would
deliver them." All this was true ; yet he evidently
ran before the time, and when one does this, failure
mast be the issue.*
*Iii Stephen's address to the council at Jerusalem, there is an
allusion to Moses' acting, to which it may be Avell to advert. "And
when he was lull forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his
brethren the children of Israel. And seeing one of them suffer
wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and
smote the Egyptian; for he supposed his brethren would have un-
derstood how that God by his hand would deliver them; but they
understood not." (Acts vii. 23-25.) It is evident that Stephen's
object, in his entire address, was to bring the history of the nation
to bear upon the consciences of those whom he had before him;
and it would have been quite foreign to this object, and at variance
with the Spirit's rule in the New Testament, to raise a question as
to whether Moses had not acted before the divinely appointed time.
Moreover, he merely says, " it came into his heart to visit his
brethren." He does not say that God sent him, at that time. Nor
does this, in the least, touch the question of the moral condition of
those who rejected him. "They understood not." This was the
fact as to them, whatever Moses might have personally to learn in
the matter. The spiritual mind can have no difficulty in appre-
hending this.
Looking at Moses typically, we can see the mission of Christ to
20 EXODUS.
And not only is there failure in the end, but also
manifest uncertainty, and lack of calm elevation and
holy independence in the progress of a work begun
before God's time. Moses "looked this ivay and
that ivay." There is no need of this when a man is
acting with and for God, and in the full intelligence
of His mind, as to the detail of his work. If God's
time had really come, and if Moses was conscious
of being divinely commissioned to execute judgment
upon the Egyptian, and if he felt assured of the
divine presence with him, he would not have "looked
this way and that way."
This action teaches a deep practical lesson to all
the servants of God. .There are two things by which
it is superinduced, namely, the fear of man's wrath,
and the hope of man's favor. The servant of the
living God should neither regard the one nor the
other. What avails the wrath or favor of a poor
mortal to one who holds the divine commission and
enjoys the divine presence ? It is, in the judgment
of such an one, less than the small dust of the bal-
ance. "Have not I commanded tliee? Be strong
and of a good courage ; be not afraid, neither be
thou dismayed : for the Lord thy God is with thee
whithersoever thou goest." (Joshua i. 9.) "Thou,
therefore, gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak
Israel, and their rejection of Him, and refusal to have Him to reign
over them. On the other hand, looking at Moses personally, we
find that he, like others, made mistakes and displayed infirmities,
sometimes went too fast and sometimes too slow. All this is easily
understood, and only tends to magnify the infinite grace and
exhaustless patience of God.
CHAPTER II. 11-25. 21
unto them all that I command thee : be not dismayed
at their faces, lest I confound thee before them.
For, behold, I have made thee this clay a defenced
city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls against the
whole land, against the kings of Jndah, against the
princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and
against the people of the land. And they shall fight
against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee ;
for / am ivith thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee."
(Jer. i. 17-19.)
When the servant of Christ stands upon the ele-
vated ground set forth in the above quotations, he
will not "look this way and that way ; " he will act
on wisdom's heavenly counsel Ci Let thine eyes look
straight on, and thine eyelids look straight before
thee." Divine intelligence will ever lead us to look
upward and onward. Whenever we look around to
shun a mortal's frown or catch his smile, we may
rest assured there is something wrong ; we are off
the proper ground of divine service. We lack the
assurance of holding the divine commission and of
enjoying the divine presence, both of which are
absolutely essential.
True, there are many who, through profound ig-
norance, or excessive self-confidence, stand forward
in a sphere of service for which God never intended
them, and for which He therefore never qualified
them. And not only do they thus stand forward,
but they exhibit an amount of coolness and self-
possession perfectly amazing to those who are cap-
able of forming an impartial judgment about their
22 EXODUS.
gifts and merits. But all this will very speedily find
its level ; nor does it in the least interfere with the
integrity of the principle that nothing can effectually
deliver a man from the tendency to "look this way
and that way" save the consciousness of the divine
commission and the divine presence. When these
are possessed, there is entire deliverance from human
influence, and consequent independence. No man
is in a position to serve others who is not wholly
independent of them ; but a man who knows his
proper place can stoop and wash his brethren's feet.
When we turn away our eyes from man, and fix
them upon the only true and perfect Servant, we do
not find Him looking this way and that way, for this
simple reason, that He never had His eye upon men,
; but always upon God. He feared not the wrath of
man, nor sought his favor. He never opened His
lips to elicit human applause, nor kept them closed
to avoid human censure. This gave holy stability
and elevation to all He said and did. Of Him alone
could it be truly said, " His leaf shall not wither, and
ivkatsoever he cloeth shall prosper." Everything He
did turned to profitable account, because everything
was done to God. Every action, every word, every
movement, every look, every thought, was like a
beauteous cluster of fruit, sent up to refresh the
heart of God. He was never afraid of the results of
His work, because He always acted with and for
God, and in the full intelligence of His mind. His
own will, though divinely perfect, never once mingled
itself in aught that He did, as a man, on the earth.
CHAPTER II. 11-25. 23
He could say, "I came down from heaven, not to do
Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me."
Hence, He brought forth fruit "in its season.' 9 He
did ' ' always those things which pleased the Father, ' '
and therefore never had any occasion to ' ' fear, ' ' to
"repent," or to "look this way and that way."
Now in this, as in everything else, the blessed
Master stands in marked contrast with His most
honored and eminent servants. Even a Moses
"feared," and a Paul "repented;" but the Lord
Jesus never did either. He never had to retrace a
step, to recall a word, or correct a thought. All
was absolutely 'perfect : all was "fruit in season."
The current of His holy and heavenly life flowed on-
ward without a ripple and without a curve. His will
was divinely subject. The best and most devoted
men make mistakes ; but it is perfectly certain that
the more we are enabled, through grace, to mortify
our own will, the fewer our mistakes will be. Truly
happy it is when, in the main, our path is really a
path of faith and single-eyed devotedness to Christ.
Thus it was with Moses. He was a man of faith
a man who drank deeply into the spirit of his
Master, and walked with marvelous steadiness in
His footprints. True, he anticipated, as has been
remarked, by forty years, the Lord's time of judg-
ment on Egypt and deliverance for Israel ; ^yet, when
we turn to the inspired commentary, in Hebrews xi,
we find nothing about this ; we there find only the
divine principle upon which, in the main, his course
was founded. "By faith Moses, when he was come
24 EXODUS.
to years , refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's
daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the
people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for
a season ; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater
riches than the treasures in Egypt ; for he had re-
spect unto the recompense of the reward. By faith
he forsook Eg} T pt, not fearing the wrath of the king ;
for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible."
(Ver. 24-27.)
This quotation furnishes a most gracious view of
the actings of Moses. It is ever thus the Holy
Ghost deals with the history of Old Testanient
saints. When He writes a man's history, He pre-
sents him to us as he is, and faithfully sets forth all
his failures and imperfections. But when, in the
New Testament, He comments upon such histoiy,
He merely gives the real principle and main result
of a man's life. Hence, though we read, in Exodus,
that "Moses looked this way and that way" that
"he feared and said, ' Surely this thing is known,' '
and, finally, "Moses fled from the face of Pha-
raoh;" yet we are taught, in Hebrews, that what
he did, he did "by faith" that he did not fear
"the wrath of the king" that "he endured as
seeing Him who is invisible."
Thus will it be, by and by, "when the Lord comes,
who both will bring to light the hidden things of
darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the
hearts: and then shall every man have praise of
God." (1 Cor. iv. 5.) This is a precious and con-
solatory truth for every upright mind and every
CHAPTER II. 11-25. 25
loyal heart. Many a "counsel" the "heart" may
form, which, from various causes, the hand may not
be able to execute. All such "counsels" will be
made c ' manifest ' ' when ' ' the Lord comes. ' ' Blessed
be the grace that has told us so ! The affectionate
counsels of the heart are far more precious to Christ
than the most elaborate works of the hand. The
latter may shine before the eye of man ; the former
are designed only for the heart of Jesus. The latter
may be spoken of amongst men ; the former will be
made manifest before God and His holy angels.
May all the servants of Christ have their hearts un-
dividedly occupied with His person, and their eyes
steadily fixed upon His advent.
In contemplating the path of Moses, we observe
how that faith led him entirely athwart the ordinary
course of nature. It led him to despise all the
pleasures, the attractions, and the honors of Pha-
raoh's court. And not only that, but also to re-
linquish an apparently wide sphere of usefulness.
Human expediency would have conducted him along
quite an opposite path. It would have led him to
use his influence on behalf of the people of God
to act /or them instead of suffering with them. Ac-
cording to man's judgment, providence would seem
to have opened for Moses a wide and most important
sphere of labor ; and surely, if ever the hand of God
was manifest in placing a man in a distinct position,
it was in his case. By a most marvelous interposi-
tion by a most unaccountable chain of circum-
stances, every link of which displayed the finger of
2G EXODUS.
the Almighty by an order of events which no hu-
man foresight could have arranged, had the daughter
of Pharaoh been made the instrument of drawing
Moses out of the water, and of nourishing and edu-
cating him until he was "full forty years old."
With all these circumstances in his view, to abandon
his high, honorable, and influential position, could
only be regarded as the result of a misguided zeal
which no sound judgment could approve.
Thus might poor blind nature reason. But faith
thought differently ; for nature and faith are always
at issue. They cannot agree upon a single point.
Nor is there anything, perhaps, in reference to which
they differ so widely as what are commonly called
4 ' openings of providence. ' ' Nature will constantly
regard such openings as warrants for self-indul-
gence ; whereas faith will find in them opportunities
for self-denial. Jonah might have deemed it a very
remarkable opening of providence to find a ship go-
ing to Tarshish ; but, in truth, it was an opening
through which he slipped off the path of obedience.
No doubt it is the Christian's privilege to see his
Father's hand, and hear His voice, in everything;
but he is not to be guided by circumstances. A
Christian so guided is like a vessel at sea without
rudder or compass ; she is at the mercy of the waves
and the winds. God's promise to His child is, "I
will guide thee with Mine eye." (Ps. xxxii. 8.) His
warning is, u Be not as the horse or as the mule,
which have no understanding ; whose mouth must
be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near
CHAPTER II. 11-25. 27
unto thee." It is much better to be guided by our
Father's eye than by the bit and bridle of circum-
stances ; and we know that, in the ordinary accepta-
tion of the term, "providence" is only another
word for the impulse of circumstances.
Now, the. power of faith may constantly be seen
in refusing and forsaking the apparent openings of
providence. It was so in the case of Moses. "By
faith he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's
daughter, ' ' and ' ' by faith he forsook Egypt. ' ' Had
he judged according to the sight of his eyes, he
would have grasped at the proffered dignity, as the
manifest gift of a, kind providence, and he would
have remained in the court of Pharaoh as in a sphere
of usefulness plainly thrown open to him by the hand
of God. But, then, he walked by faith, and not by
the sight of his eyes ; and hence he forsook all.
Noble example ! May we have grace to follow it !
And observe what it was that Moses "esteemed
greater riches than the treasures in Egypt ; " it was
the "reproach of Christ.'* It was not merely re-
proach for Christ. ' ' The reproaches of them that
reproached Thee have fallen upon Me." The Lord
Jesus, in perfect grace, identified Himself with His
people. He came down from heaven, leaving His
Father's bosom, and laying aside all His glory, He
took His people's place, confessed their sins, and
bore their judgment on the cursed tree. Such was
His voluntary devotedness ; He not merely acted for
us, but made Himself one with us, thus perfectly de-
livering us from all that was or could be against us.
28 EXODUS.
Hence we see how much in sympathy Moses was
with the spirit and mind of Christ in reference to
the people of God. He was in the midst of all the
ease, the pomp, and dignity of Pharaoh's house,
where "the pleasures of sin," and "the treasures of
Egypt," lay scattered around him in richest pro-
fusion. All these things he might have enjoyed if
he would. He could have lived and died in the
midst of wealth and splendor ; his entire path, from
first to last, might, if he had chosen, have been en-
lightened by the sunshine of royal favor: but that
would not have been "faith;" it would not have
been Christlike. From his elevated position, he saw
his brethren bowed down beneath their heavy burden,
and faith led him to see that his place was to be with
them. Yes ; with them, in all their reproach, their
bondage, their degradation, and their sorrow. Had
he been actuated by mere benevolence, philanthropy,
or patriotism, he might have used his personal influ-
ence on behalf of his brethren. He might have
succeeded in inducing Pharaoh to lighten their .bur-
den, and render their path somewhat smoother, by
royal grants in their favor ; but this would never do,
never satisfy a heart that had a single pulsation in
common with the heart of Christ. Such a heart
Moses, by the grace of God, carried in his bosom ;
and, therefore, with all the energies and all the affec-
tions of that heart, he threw himself, body, soul, and
spirit, into the very midst of his oppressed brethren.
He " chose rather to suffer affliction with the people
of God." And, moreover, he did this by "faith."
CHAPTER II. 11-25. 29
Let my reader ponder this deeply. We must not
be satisfied with wishing well to, doing service for,
or speaking kindly on behalf of, the people of God.
We ought to be fully identified loith them, no matter
how despised or reproached they may be. It is, in
a measure, an agreeable thing to be a benevolent
and generous spirit, to patronize Christianity ; but
it is a wholly different thing to be identified with
Christians, or to suffer with Christ. A patron is one
thing, a martyr is quite another. This distinction
is apparent throughout the entire book of God.
Obadiah took care of God's witnesses, but Elijah
was a witness for God. Darius was so attached to
Daniel that he lost a night's rest on his account, but
Daniel spent that self-same night in the lion's den,
as a witness for the truth of God. Nicodemus ven-
tured to speak a word for Christ, but a more ma-
tured discipleship would have led him to identify
himself with Christ.
These considerations are eminently practical. The
Lord Jesus does not want patronage ; He wants fel-
lowship. The truth concerning Him is declared to
us, not that we might patronize His cause on earth,
but have fellowship with His Person in heaven. He
identified Himself with us, at the heavy cost of all
that love could give. He might have avoided this.
He might have continued to enjoy His eternal place
"in the bosom of the Father." But how, then,
could that mighty tide of love, which was pent up
in His heart, flow down to us guilty and hell-deserv-
ing sinners ? Between Him and us there could be
30 EXODUS.
no oneness, save on conditions which involved the
surrender of everything on His part. But, blessed,
throughout the everlasting ages, be His adorable
name, that surrender was voluntarily made. " He
gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from
all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar peo-
ple, zealous of good works." (Titus ii. 14.) He
would not enjoy His glory alone. His loving heart
would gratify itself by associating "many sons " with
Him in that glory. "Father," He says, " I will that
they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me
where I am ; that they may behold My glory, which
Thou hast given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before
the foundation of the world." (John xvii. 24.) Such
were the thoughts of Christ in reference to His peo-
ple ; and we can easily see how much in sympathy
with these precious thoughts was the heart of Moses.
He unquestionably partook largely of his Master's
spirit ; and he manifested that excellent spirit in
freely sacrificing every personal consideration, and
associating himself, unreservedly, with the people
of God.
The personal character and actings of this hon-
ored servant of God will come before us again in
the next section of our book. We shall here briefly
consider him as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That he was a type of Him is evident from the fol-
lowing passage, "The Lord thy God will raise up
unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy
brethren, like unto me ; unto Him ye shall hearken."
(Deut. xviii. 15.) We are not, therefore, trafficking
CHAPTER II. 11-25. . 31
in human imagination in viewing Moses as a type ;
it is the plain teaching of Scripture, and in the clos-
ing verses of Exodus ii. we see this type in a double
way : first, in the matter of his rejection by Israel ;
and secondly, in his union with a stranger in the
land of Midian.
These points 'have already been, in some measure,
developed in the history of Joseph, \vho, being cast
out by his brethren according to the flesh, forms an
alliance with an Egyptian bride. Here, as in the
case of Moses, we see shadowed forth Christ's re-
jection by Israel, and His union with the Church,
but in a different phase. In Joseph's case, we have
the exhibition of positive enmity against his person :
in Moses, it is the rejection of his mission. In
Joseph's case, we read, "They hated him, and could
not speak peaceably unto him." (Gen. xxxvii. 4.)
In the case of Moses, the word is, "Who made
tliee a prince and a judge over us ? ' ' In short, the
former was personally hated ; the latter, officially
refused.
So also in the mode in which the great mystery of
tho Church is exemplified in the history of those
two Old Testament saints. "Asenath" presents
quite a different phase of the Church "from that which
we have in the person of "Zipporah." The former
was united to Joseph in the time of his exaltation ;
the latter was the companion of Moses in the obscu-
rity of his desert life. (Comp. Gen. xli. 41-45 with
Exod. ii. 15; iii. 1.) True, both Joseph and Moses
were, at the time of their union with a stranger, re-
32 EXODUS.
jected by their brethren ; yet the former was "gov-
ernor over all the land of Egypt ; " whereas the latter
tended a few sheep at "the backside of the desert."
Whether, therefore, we contemplate Christ as
manifested in gloiy, or as hidden from the world's
gaze, the Church is intimately associated with Him.
And now, inasmuch as the world Seeth Him not,
neither can it take knowledge of that body which is*
wholly one with Him. "The world knoweth us not,
because it knew Him not." (1 John iii. 1.) By and
by, Christ will appear in His glory, and the Church
witli Him. "When Christ our life shall appear, then
shall ye also appear witli Him in glory." (Col iii. 4.)
And again, "The glory which Thou gavest Me I
have given them ; that they may be one, even as We
are one : I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may
be made perfect in one ; and that the world may
know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them
as Thou hast loved Me." (John xvii. 22, 23.)*
Such, then, is the Church's high and holy position.
She is one with Him who is cast out by this world,
but who occupies the throne of the Majesty in the
heavens. The Lord Jesus made Himself responsible
for her on the cross, in order that she might share
with Him His present rejection and His future glory.
Would that all who form a part of such a highly
* There are two distinct unities spoken of in John xvii. 21, 23.
The lirst is that unity which the Church is responsible to have
maintained, but in Avhich she has utterly failed. The second is that
unity which God will infallibly accomplish, and which He will
manifest in glory. If the reader will turn to the passage, he will at
once see the difference, both as to character and result, of the two.
CHAPTER III. 33
privileged body were more impressed with a sense
of what becomes them as to course and character
down here ! Assuredly, there should be a fuller and
clearer response, on the part of all the children of
God, to that love wherewith He has loved -them, to
that salvation wherewith He lias saved them, and to
that dignity wherewith He has invested them. The
walk of the Christian should ever be the natural
result of realized privilege, and not the constrained
result of legal vows and resolutions, the proper
fruit of a position known and enjoyed by faith, and
not the fruit of one's own efforts to reach a position
"by works of law." All true believers are a part
of the bride of Christ ; hence, they owe Him those
affections which become that relation. The relation-
ship is not obtained because of the affections, but
the affections flow out of the relationship.
So let it be, O Lord, with all Thy beloved and
blood-bought people 1
CHAPTEK III.
WE shall now resume the personal history of
Moses, and contemplate him during that
deeply interesting period of his career which he
spent in retirement a period including, as we
should say, forty of his very best years the prime
of life. This is full of meaning. The Lord had
graciously, wisely, and faithfully led His dear serv-
ant apart from the eyes and thoughts of men, in
34 EXODUS.
order that He might train him under His own imme-
ate hand. Moses needed this. True, he had spent
forty years in the house of Pharaoh ; and, while his
sojourn there was not without its influence and value,
yet was it as nothing when compared with his so-
journ in the desert. The former might be valuable ;
but the latter was indispensable.
Nothing can possibly make up for the lack of
secret communion with God, or the training and
discipline of His school. "All the wisdom of the
Egyptians ' ' would not have qualified Moses for his
future path. He might have pursued a most bril-
liant course through the schools and colleges of
Egypt. He might have come forth laden with lit-
erary honors his intellect stored with learning, and
his heart full of pride and self-sufficiency. He might
have taken out his degree in the school of man, arid
yet have to learn his alphabet in the school of God.
Mere human wisdom and learning, how valuable so-
ever in themselves, can never constitute any one a
servant of God, nor equip him for any department
of divine service. Such things may qualify unre-
newed nature to figure before the world ; but the
man whom God will use must be endowed with
widely-different qualifications such qualifications as
can alone be found in the deep and hallowed retire-
ment of the Lord's presence.
All God's servants have been made to know and
experience the truth of these statements. Moses at
Horeb, Elijah at Cherith, Ezekiel at Chebar, Paul in
Arabia, and John at Patmos, are all striking exam-
CHAPTER III. 35
pies of the immense practical importance of being
alone with God. And when we look at the Divine
Servant, we find that the time Pie spent in private
was nearly ten times as long as that which He spent
in public. He, though perfect in understanding and 1 ,
in will, spent nearly thirty years in the obscurity of
a carpenter's house at Nazareth ere He made His
appearance in public. And even when He had en-
tered upon His public career, how oft did He retreat
from the gaze of men, to enjoy the sweet and sacred
retirement of the divine presence !
Now we may feel disposed to ask, How could the
urgent demand for workmen ever be met if all need
such protracted training, in secret, ere they come
forth to their work ? This is the Master's care not
ours. He can provide the workmen, and He can
train them also. This is not man's work. God
alone can provide and prepare a true minister. Nor
is it a question with Him as ,to the length of time
needful for the education of such an one. We know
He could educate him in a moment, if it were His
will to do so. One thing is evident, namely, that
God has had all His servants very much alone with
Himself, both before and after their entrance upon
their public work ; nor will any one ever get on with-
out this. The absence of secret training and 'dis-
cipline will necessarily leave us barren, superficial,
and theoretic. A man who ventures forth upon a
public career ere he has duly weighed himself in the
balances of the sanctuary, or measured himself in
the presence of God, is like a ship putting out to
36 EXODUS.
sea without proper ballast : lie will doubtless overset
with the first stiff breeze. On the contrary, there is
a depth, a solidity, and a steadiness flowing from
our having passed from form to form in the school
of God, which are essential elements in the forma-
tion of the character of a true and effective servant
of God.
Hence, therefore, when we find Moses, at the age
of forty years, taken apart from all the dignity and
splendor of a court, for the purpose of spending
forty years in the obscurity of a desert, we are led
to expect a remarkable course of service ; nor are
we disappointed. The man whom God educates is
educated, and none other. It lies not within the
range of man to prepare an instrument for the serv-
ice of God. The hand of man could never mould
"a vessel meet for the Master's use." The One
wiio is to use the vessel can alone prepare it ; and
we have before us a singularly beautiful sample of
His mode of preparation.
"Now, Moses kept the flock of Jethro, his father-
in-law, the priest of Midian ; and he led the flock to
the backside of the desert, and came to the mount-
ain of God, even to Horeb." (Exod. iii. 1.) Here,
then, we have a marvelous change of circumstances.
In Genesis, chapter xlvi. 31, we read, "Every shep-
herd is an abomination to the Egyptians ; " and yet
'Moses, who was "learned in all the wisdom of the
Egyptians," is transferred from the Egyptian court
to the back of a mountain to tend a flock of sheep,
and to be educated for the service of God. Assur-
CHAPTER III. 37
edly, this is not "the manner of man/' This is not
nature's line of things. Flesh and blood could not
understand this. We should have thought that
Moses' education was finished when he had become
master of all Egypt's wisdom, and that, moreover,
in immediate connection with the rare advantages
which a court life affords. We should have expected
to find in one so highly favored, not only a solid and
varied education, but also such an exquisite polish
as would fit him for any sphere of action to which
he might be called. But then, to find such a man
with such attainments, called away from such a
position to mind sheep at the back of a mountain,
is something entirely be}^ond the utmost stretch of
human thought and feeling. It lays prostrate in the
dust all man's pride and glory. It declares plainly
that this world's appliances are of little value in the
divine estimation; yea, they are as "dung and
dross," not only in the eyes of the Lord, but also
in the eyes of all those who have been taught in His
school.
There is a very wide difference between human
and divine education. The former has for its end
the refinement and exaltation of nature ; the latter
begins with withering it up and setting it aside.
u The natural man receiveth not the things of the
Spirit of God ; for they are foolishness unto him ;
neither can he know them, because they are spiritu-
ally discerned." (1 Cor. ii. 14.) Educate the "nat-
ural man" as much as you please, and you cannot
make him a "spiritual man." "That which is born
38 EXODUS.
of the flesh is flesh ; and that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit." (John iii. G.) If ever an educated
"natural man" might look for success in the service
of God, Moses might have counted upon it ; he was
4 'grown," he was u learned," he was "mighty in
word and deed," and yet he had to learn something
at "the backside of the desert" which Egypt's
schools could never have taught him. Paul learnt
more in Arabia than ever he had learnt at the feet
of Gamaliel.* None can teach like God; and all
who will learn of Him must be alone with Him.
"In the desert God will teach thee."
There it was that Moses learnt his sweetest, deepest,
most influential and enduring lessons. Thither, too,
must all repair who mean to be educated for the
ministry.
Beloved reader, may you prove, in your own deep
experience, the real meaning of "the backside of the
desert" that sacred spot where nature is laid in the
dust, and God alone exalted. There it is that men
*Let not my reader suppose for a moment that the design of the
above remarks is to detract from the value of really useful informa-
tion, or the proper culture of the mental powers. By no means.
If, for example, he is a parent, let him store his child's mind with
useful knowledge; let him teach him everything which may, here-
after, turn, to account in the Master's service: let him not burden
him with aught which he would have to "lay aside" in running
his Christian course, nor conduct him, for educational purposes,
through a region from which it is well-nigh impossible to come
forth with an unsoiled mind. You might just as well shut him up
for ten years in a coal mine in order to qualify him for discussing
the properties of light and shade, as cause him to wade through
the mire of a heathen mythology in order to fit him for the inter-
pretation of the oracles of God, or prepare him for feeding the
flock of Christ.
CHAPTER III. 39
and things, the world and self, present circum-
stances and their influences, are all valued at what
they are really worth. There it is, and there alone,
that you will find a divinely- adjusted balance in
which to weigh all within and all around. There are
no false colors, no borrowed plumes, no empty pre-
tentions there. The enemy of your soul cannot gild
the sand of that place. All is reality there. The
heart that has found itself in the presence of God,
at ' ' the backside of the desert, ' ' has right thoughts
about everything. It is raised far above the excit-
ing influence of this world's schemes. The din and
noise, the bustle and confusion of Egypt do not fall
upon the ear in that distant place. The crash in the
monetary and commercial world is not heard there ;
the sigh of ambition is riot heaved there ; this world's
fading laurels do not tempt there ; the thirst for gold
is not felt there ; the eye is never dimmed with lust,
nor the heart swollen with pride there ; human ap-
plause does not elate, nor human censure depress
there. In a word, everything is set aside save the
stillness and light of the divine presence. God's
voice alone is heard, His light enjoyed, His thoughts
received. This is the place to which all must go to
be educated for the ministry ; and there all must
remain if they would succeed in the ministry.
Would that all who come forward to serve in
public knew more of what it is to breathe the atmos-
phere of this place. We should then have far less
vapid attempts at ministry, but far more effective
Christ-honoring service.
40 EXODUS.
Let us now inquire what Moses saw and what he
heard at "the backside of the desert/ 7 We shall
find him learning lessons which lay far bej'ond the
reach of Egypt's most gifted masters. It might
appear, in the eyes of human reason, a strange loss
of time for a man like Moses to spend forty }^ears
doing nothing save to keep a few sheep in the wil-
derness. But he was there with God, and the time
that is thus spent is never lost. It is salutaiy for
us to remember that there is something more than
mere doing necessary on the part of a true servant.
A man who is always doing will be apt to do too
much. Such an one would need to ponder over the
deeply-practical words of the perfect Servant, "He
wakeneth morning by morning, He wakeneth Mine
ear to hear as the learned." (Is. 1. 4.) This is an
indispensable part of the servant's business. The
servant must frequently stand in his master's pres-
ence, in order that he may know what he has to do.
The "ear" and the "tongue" are intimately con-
nected, in more ways than one ; but, in a spiritual
or moral point of view, if my ear be closed and my
tongue loose, I shall be sure to talk a great deal of
folly. "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every
man be swift to hear, slow to speak.' 1 (James i. 19.)
This seasonable admonition is based upon two fads,
namely, that everything good comes from above,
and that the heart is brimful of naughtiness, ready
to flow over. Hence the need of keeping the ear
open and the tongue quiet, rare and admirable
attainments ! attainments in which Moses made
CHAPTER III. 41
great proficiency at "the backside of the desert,"
and which all can acquire if only they are disposed
to learn in that school.
44 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him
in a flame of fire, out of the midst of a bush : and
he looked, and behold the bush burned with fire, and
the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, 'I
will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why
the bush is not burnt/ " (Chap. iii. 2, 3.) This was
truly "a great sight" a bush burning, } T et not
burnt. The palace of Pharaoh could never have
afforded such a sight. But it was a gracious sight
as well as a great sight, for therein was strikingly
exhibited the condition of God's elect. They were
in the furnace of Egypt ; and Jehovah reveals Him-
self in a burning bush. But as the bush was not
consumed, so neither were they^ for God was there.
"The Lord of hosts is with us, the God cf Jacob is
our refuge." (Psalrn xlvi.) Here is strength and
security victory and peace. God with us, God in
ns, and God for us. This is ample provision for
every exigence.
Nothing can be more interesting or instructive
than the mode in which Jehovah was pleased to re-
veal Himself to Moses, as presented in the above
quotation. He was about to furnish him with his
commission to lead forth His people out of Egypt,
that they might be His assembly His dwelling-
place, in the wilderness and in the land of Canaan ;
and the place from which He speaks is a burning
bush. Apt, solemn, and beautiful symbol of Jeho-
42 EXODUS.
vah dwelling in the midst of His elect and redeemed
congregation! "Our God is a consuming fire,"
not to consume us, but to consume all in us and
about us whicb is contrary to His holiness, and, as
such, subversive of our true and permanent happi-
ness. "Thy testimonies are very sure; holiness
becometh Thy house, O Lord, forever."
There are various instances, both in the Old and
New Testaments, in which we find God displaying
Himself as "a consuming fire." Look, for exam-
ple, at the case of Nadab and Abihu, in Leviticus x.
This was a deeply solemn occasion. God was dwell-
ing in the midst of His people, and He would keep
them in a condition worthy of Himself. He could
not do otherwise.- It would neither be for His glory
nor for their profit were He to tolerate aught in them
inconsistent with the purity of His presence. God's
dwelling-place must be holy.
So, also, in Joshua vii. we have another striking
proof, in the case of Achan, that Jehovah could not
possibly sanction, by His presence, evil, in any
shape or form, how covert soever that evil might be.
He was "a consuming fire," and as such He should
act, in reference to any attempt to defile that assem-
bly in the midst of which He dwelt. To seek to
connect God's presence with evil unjudged is the
very highest character of wickedness.
Again, in Acts v, Ananias and Sapphira teach us
the same solemn lesson. God the Holy Ghost was
dwelling in the midst of the Church, not merely as
an influence, but as a divine Person, in such a way
CHAPTER III. 43
as that one could lie to Him. The Church was, and
is still, His dwelling-place ; and He must rule and
judge in the midst thereof. Men may walk in com-
pany with deceit, covetousness, and hypocrisy ; but
God cannot. If God is going to walk with us, we
must judge our waj^s, or He will judge them for us.
(See also 1 Cor. xi. 29-32.)
In all these cases, and many more which might be
adduced, we see the force of that solemn word,
''Holiness becometh Thy house, O Lord, forever."
The moral eifect of this will ever be similar to that
produced in the case of Moses, as recorded in our
chapter. "Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes
from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest
is holy ground." (Verse 5.) The place of God's
presence is holy, and can only be trodden with un-
shod feet. God, dwelling in the midst of His people,
imparts a character of holiness to their assembly,
which is the basis of every holy affection and every
holy activity. The character of the dwelling-place
takes its stamp from the character of the Occupant.
The application of this to the Church, which is
now the habitation of God, through the Spirit, is of
the very utmost practical importance. While it is
blessedly true that God, by His Spirit, inhabits each
individual member of the Church, thereby impart-
ing a character of holiness to the individual ; it is
equally true that He dwells in the assembly, and
hence the assembly must be holy. The centre round
which the members are gathered is nothing less than
the Person of a living, victorious, and glorified
44 EXODUS.
Christ, The energy by which they are gathered is
nothing less than God the Holy Ghost; and the
Lord God Almighty dwells in them and walks in
them. (See Matt, xviii. 20; 1 Cor. vi. 19; iii. 16,
17 ; Eph. ii. 21, 22.) Such being the holy elevation
belonging to God's dwelling-place, it is evident that
nothing which is unholy, either in principle or prac-
tice, must be tolerated. Each one connected there-
with should feel the weight and solemnity of that
word, "The place whereon thou standest is holy
ground." "If any man defile the temple of God,
him shall God destroy." (1 Cor. iii. 17.) Most
weighty words these, for every member of God's
assembly for every stone in His holy temple ! May
we all learn to tread Jehovah's courts with unshod
feet!
However, the visions of Hor.eb bear witness to the
grace of the God of Israel as well as to His holiness.
If God's holiness is infinite, His grace is infinite
also; and while the manner in which He -revealed
Himself to Moses declared the former, the very fact
of His revealing Himself at all evidenced the latter.
He came down because He was gracious ; but when
come down, He should reveal . Himself as holy.
"Moreover he said, C I am the God of thy father,
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the
God of Jacob.' And Moses hid his face; for he
was afraid to look upon God." (Verse 6.) The
effect of the divine presence must ever be to make
nature hide itself; and when we stand before God
with unshod feet and covered head i.e.. -in the atti-
CHAPTER III. 45
tude of soul which those acts so aptly and beauti-
fully express, we are prepared to hearken to the
sweet accents of grace. When man takes his suited
place, God can speak in the language of unmingled
mercy.
"And the Lord said, C I have surely seen the
affliction of My people which are in Egypt, and have
heard the,ir cry "by reason of their taskmasters ; for
I know their sorrows ; and I am come down to de-
liver them out of the hand of the Eg} T ptians, and to
bring them np out of that land unto a good land and
a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. .
Now, therefore, behold, the cry of the
children of Israel is come unto Me ; and I have also
seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress
them.' " (Ver. 7-9.) Here the absolute, free, un-
conditional grace of the God of Abraham, and the
God of Abraham's seed, shines forth in all its native
brightness, unhindered 1^ the u ifs" and u buts,"
the vows, resolutions, and conditions of man's legal
spirit. God had come down to display Himself, in
sovereign grace, to do the whole work of salvation,
to accomplish His promise made to Abraham, and
repeated to Isaac and Jacob. He had not come
down to see if, indeed, the subjects of His, promise
were in such a condition as to merit His salvation :
it was sufficient for Him that they needed it. Their
oppressed state, their sorrows, their tears, their
sighs, their heavy bondage, had all come in review
before Him ; for, blessed be His name, He counts
His people's sighs, and puts their tears into His
4G EXODUS.
bottle. He was not attracted by their excellencies
or their virtues. It was not on the ground of aught
that was good in them, either seen or foreseen, that
He was about to visit them, for He knew what was
in them. In one word, we have the true ground of
His gracious acting set before us in the words, U I
am the God of Abraham," and "I have seen the
affliction of My people."
These words reveal a great fundamental principle
in the ways of God. It is on the ground of what
He is that He ever acts. "I AM," secures all for
"MY PEOPLE." Assuredly, He was not going -to
leave His people amid the brick-kilns of Egj^pt, and
under the lash of Pharaoh's taskmasters. They
were His people, and He would act toward them in
a manner worthy of Himself. To be His people,
to be the favored objects of Jehovah's electing love
the subjects of IJis unconditional promise, settled
everything. Nothing should hinder the public dis-
play of His relationship with those for whom His
eternal purpose had secured the land of Canaan.
He had come down to deliver them ; and the com-
bined power of earth and hell could not hold them
in captivity one hour beyond His appointed time.
He might and did use Egypt as a school, and Pha-
raoh as a schoolmaster ; but when the needed work
was accomplished, both the school and the school-
master were set aside, and His people were brought
forth with a high hand and an outstretched arm.
Such, then, was the double character of the reve-
lation made to Moses at Mount Horeb. What he
CHAPTER III. 47
saw and what he heard combined the two elements
of holiness and grace, elements which, as we know,
enter into and distinctly characterize all the ways
and all the relationships of the blessed God, and
which should also mark the ways of all those who
in any wise act for, or have fellowship with, Him.
Every true servant is sent forth from the immediate
presence of God, with all its holiness and all its
grace ; and he is called to be holy and gracious he
is called to be the reflection of the grace and holi-
ness of the divine character ; and, in order that he
may be so, he should not only start from the imme-
diate presence of God at the first, but abide there,
in spirit, habitually. This is the true secret of
effectual service.
" Childlike, attend what Thou wilt say,
Go forth and do it, while 'tis day,
Yet never leave my sweet retreat."
The spiritual man alone can understand the meaning
of the two things, "go forth and do," and, "yet
never leave." In order to act for God outside, I
should be with Him inside. I must be in the secret
sanctuary of His presence, else I shall utterly fail.
Very many break down on this point. There is
the greatest possible danger of getting out of the
solemnity and calmness of the divine presence, amid
the bustle of intercourse with men, and the excite-
ment of active service. This is to be carefully
guarded against. If we lose that hallowed tone of
spirit which is expressed in "the unshod foot," our
service will very speedily become vapid and unprofit-
48 EXODUS.
able. If I allow my work to get between my heart
and the Master, it will be little worth. We can only
effectually serve Christ as we are enjoying Him. It
is while the heart dwells upon His powerful attrac-
tions that the hands perform the most acceptable
service to His name ; nor is there any one who can
minister Christ with unction, freshness, and power
to others, if he be not feeding upon Christ, in the
secret of his own soul. True, he may preach a
sermon, deliver a lecture, utter prayers, write a
book, and go through the entire routine of outward
service, and yet not minister Christ. The man who
will present Christ to others must be occupied with
Christ for himself.
Happy is the man who ministers thus, whatever be
the success or reception of his ministry. For should
his ministry fail to attract attention, to command
influence, or to produce apparent results, lie has his
sweet re treat and his unfailing portion in Christ, of
which nothing can deprive him. Whereas, the man
who is merely feeding upon the fruits of his ministry,
who delights in the gratification which it affords, or
the attention and interest which it commands, is like
a mere pipe, conveying water to others, and retain-
ing only rust itself. This is a most deplorable con-
dition to be in ; and } T et is it the actual condition of
every servant vilio is more occupied with his work
and its results, than with the Master and His glory.
This is a matter which calls for the most rigid self-
judgment. The heart is deceitful, and the enemy is
crafty ; and hence there is great need to hearken to
CHAPTER III. 49
the word of exhortation, u Be sober, be vigilant."
It is when the soul is awakened to a sense of the
varied and manifold dangers which beset the serv-
ant's path, that it is, in any measure, able to under-
stand the need there is for being much alone with
God : it is there one is secure and happy. It is
when we begin, continue, and end our work at the
Master's feet, that our service will be of the right
kind.
From all that has been said, it must be evident to
my reader that every servant of Christ will find the
air of "the backside of the desert" most salutary.
Horeb is really the starting-post for all w r hom God
sends forth to act for Him. It was at Horeb that
Moses learnt to put off his shoes and hide his face.
Forty years before, he had gone to work ; but his
movement was premature. It was amid the flesh-
subduing solitudes of the mount of God, and forth
from the burning bush, that the divine commission
fell on the servant's ear, "Come now, therefore, and
I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest
bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of
Egypt." (Yer. 10.) Here was real authority. There
is avast difference between God sending a man, and
a man running unsent. But it is very manifest that
Moses was not ripe for service when first he set about
acting. If forty years of secret training were need-
ful for him, how could he have got on without it ?
Impossible ! He had to be divinely educated and
divinely commissioned ; and so must all who go
forth upon a path of service or testimony for Christ.
50 EXODUS.
O," that these holy lessons may be deeply graven on
all our hearts, that so our every work may wear
upon it the stamp of the Master's authority and
the Master's approval.
However, we have something further to learn at
the foot of Mount Horeb. The soul finds it season-
able to linger in this place. "It is good to be here."
The presence of God is ever a, deeply practical place ;
the heart is sure to be laid open there. The light
that shines in that holy place makes everything
manifest ; and this is what is so much needed in the
midst of the hollow pretension around us, and the
pride and self-complacency within.
We might be disposed to think that the very mo-
ment the divine commission was given to Moses, his
reply would be, Here am I, or, Lord, what wilt
Thou have me to do ? But no ; he had yet to be
brought to this. Doubtless, he was affected by the
remembrance of his former failure. If a man acts
in anything without God, he is sure to be discour-
aged, even when God is sending him. "And Moses
said unto God, 'Who am I that I should go unto
Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children
of Israel out of Egypt ?' " (Ver. 11.) This is very
unlike the man who, forty years before, "supposed
that his brethren would have understood how that
God by his hand would deliver -them." Such is
man ! at one time too hasty; at another time too
slow. Moses had learnt a great deal since the day
in which he smote the Egyptian. He had grown in
the knowledge of himself, and this produced diffi-
CHAPTER III. 51
dence and timidity. But then he manifestly lacked
confidence in God. If I am merely looking at my-
self, I shall do "nothing;" but if I am looking at
Christ, ' ' I can do all things. ' ' Thus, when diffidence
and timidity led Moses to say, "Who am I ?" God's
answer was, "Certainly I will be with thee." (Yer.
12.) This ought to have been sufficient. If God
be with me, it makes very little matter who I am, or
what I am. When God says, " I will send thee,"
and "I will be with thee," the servant is amply
furnished with divine authority and divine power;
and he ought, therefore, to be perfectly satisfied to
go forth.
But Moses puts another question ; for the human
heart is full of questions. "And Moses said unto
God, 'Behold, when I come unto the children of
Israel and shall say unto them, The God of your
fathers hath sent me unto you ; and they shall say
to me, What is His name ? what shall I say unto
them ? ' ' It is marvelous to see how the human
heart reasons and questions, when unhesitating obe-
dience is that which is due to God ; and still more
marvelous is the grace that bears with all the reason-
ings and answers all the questions. Each question
seems but to elicit some new feature of divine grace.
"And God said unto Moses, 'I AM THAT I
AM;' and He said, 'Thus shalt thou say unto the
children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.' '
(Ver. 14.) The title which God here gives Himself
is one of wondrous significancy. In tracing through
Scripture the various names which God takes, we
52 EXODUS.
find them intimately connected with the varied need
. of those with whom He was in relation. " Jehovah-
jireh" (the Lord will provide), " Jehovah-nissi"
(the Lord my banner), " Jehovah-shalom " (the
Lord send peace), " Jehovah-tsidkenu " (the Lord
our righteousness), all these His gracious titles
are unfolded to meet the necessities of His people ;
and when He calls Himself "I AM," it comprehends
them all. Jehovah, in taking this title, was furnish-
ing His people with a blank check, to be filled up to
any amount. He calls Himself "I AM," and faith
has but to write over against that ineffably precious
name whatever we want. God is the only significant
figure, and human need may add the ciphers. If we
want life, Christ says, "I AM the life ; " if we want
righteousness, He is "THE LORD OUR RIGHT-
EOUSNESS;" if we want peace, "He is our
peace;" if we want "wisdom, sanctification, and
redemption," He "is^made" all these "unto us."
In a word, we may travel through the wide range of
human necessity, in order to have a just conception
of the amazing depth and fullness of this profound
and adorable name, "I AM."
What a mercy to be called to walk in companion-
ship with One who bears such a name as this ! We
are in the wilderness, and there we have to meet
with trial, sorrow, and difficulty ; but, so long as we
have the happy privilege of betaking ourselves, at
all times and under all circumstances, to One who
reveals Himself in His manifold grace, in connection
with our every necessity and weakness, we need not
CHAPTER III. 5,')
fear the wilderness. God was about to bring His
people across the sandy desert, when He disclosed
this precious and comprehensive name ; and although
the believer now, as being endowed with the Spirit
of adoption, can cry, "Abba, Father,' 1 yet is he not
deprived of the privilege of enjoying communion
with God in each and every one of those manifesta-
tions which He has been pleased to make of Himself.
For example, the title "God" reveals Him as acting
in the solitariness of His own being, displaying His
eternal power and Godhead in the works of creation.
"The Lord God" is the title which He takes in
connection with man. Then, as "the Almighty
God," He rises before the view of His servant Abra-
ham, in order to assure his heart in reference to the
accomplishment of His promise touching the seed.
As "Jehovah," He made Himself known to Israel,
in delivering them out of the land of Egypt, and
bringing them into the land of Canaan.
Such were the various measures and various modes
in which "God spake in times past unto the fathers,
by the prophets" (Heb. i. 1.); and the believer,
under this dispensation or economy, as possessing
the Spirit of sonship, can say, It was my Father
who thus revealed Himself, thus spoke, thus acted.
Nothing can be more interesting or practically
important in its way than to follow out those great
dispensational titles of God. These titles are always
used in strict moral consistency with the circum-
stances under which they are disclosed ; but there
is, in the name "I AM," a height, a depth, a length,
5
54 EXODUS.
a breadth, which truly pass beyond the utmost
stretch of human conception.
"When God would teach mankind His name,
He calls Himself the great <I AM,'
And leaves a blank believers may
Supply those things for which they pray."
And, be it observed, it is only in connection with
His own people that He takes this name. He did
not address Pharaoh in this name. When speaking
to him, He calls Himself by that commanding and
majestic title, "The Lord God of the Hebrews;"
i.e., God, in connection with the very people whom
he was seeking to crush. This ought to have been
sufficient to show Pharaoh his awful position with
respect to God. "I AM" would have conveyed no
intelligible sound to an uncircumcised ear no divine
reality to an unbelieving heart. When God manifest
in the flesh declared to the unbelieving Jews of His
day those words, u Before Abraham was, I am,"
they took up stones to cast at Him. It is only the
true believer who can feel, in any measure, the
power, or enjoy the sweetness, of that ineffable
name, "I AM.'\ Such an one can rejoice to hear
from the lips of the blessed Lord Jesus such declar-
ations as these: "/ am that bread of life," "I am
the light of the world,"" "/am the good Shepherd,"
"/ am the resurrection and the life," "/ am the
way, the truth, and the life," "/aw the true vine,"
"/aw Alpha and Omega," "/ aw the bright arid
morning star." In a word, he can take every name
of divine excellence and beauty, and, having placed
CHAPTER III. 55
it after "I AM, find JESUS therein, and admire,
adore, and worship.
Thus, there is a sweetness, as well as a compre-
hensiveness, in the name "I AM, which is beyond
all power of expression. Each believer can find
therein that which exactly suits his own spiritual
need, whatever it be. There is not a single winding
in all the Christian's wilderness journey, not a single
phase of his soul's experience, not a single point in
his condition, which is not divinely met by this title,
for the simplest of all reasons, that whatever he
wants, he has but to place it, by faith, over against
"I AM" and find it all in Jesus. To the believer,
therefore, however feeble and faltering, there is un-
' mingled blessedness in this name.
But although it was to the elect of God that Moses
was commanded to say, "I AM hath sent me unto
you," yet is there deep solemnity and reality in that
name when looked at with reference to the unbe-
liever. If one who is yet in his sins contemplates,
for a moment, this amazing title, he cannot, surely,
avoid asking himself the question, How do I stand
as to this Being who calls Himself, "I AM THAT
I AM"? If, indeed, it be true that HE IS, then
what is He to me ? What am I to write over against
this solemn name, "I AM"? I shall not rob this
question of its characteristic weight and power by
any words of my own ; but I pray that God the Holy
Ghost may make it searching to the conscience of
any reader who really needs to be searched thereb}'.
I cannot close this section without calling the at-
56 EXODUS
tention of the Christian reader to the deeply inter-
esting declaration contained in the fifteenth verse,
"And God said, moreover, unto Moses, 'Thus shalt
thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God
of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto
you : this is My name forever, and this is My memo-
rial to all generations.' ' This statement contains a
very important truth a. truth which many profess-
ing Christians seem to forget, namety, that God's
relationship with Israel is an eternal one. He is just
as much Israel's God now as when He visited them
in the land of Egypt. Only, because of rejecting
their Messiah, they are, in His governmental dealings,
set aside for a time. But His word is clear and em-
phatic : "This is My name forever." He does not
say, This is My name for a time, so long as they con-
tinue what they ought to be. No ; ' ; This is My name
forever, and this is My memorial unto all generations."
Let my reader ponder this. ' ' God hath not cast away
His people which He foreknew. ' ' (Rom. xi. 2. ) They
arc His people still, whether obedient or disobedient,
united together or scattered abroad, manifested to
the nations or hidden from their view. They are His
people, and He is their God. Exodus iii. 15 is un-
answerable. The professing church has no warrant
whatever for ignoring a relationship which God says
is to endure "forever." Let us beware how we
tamper with this weighty word, "forever." If we
say it does not mean forever when applied to Israel,
what proof have we that it means forever when ap-
CHAPTER III. 57
plied to us ? God means what He says ; and He
will, ere long, make manifest to all the nations of
the earth that His connection with Israel is one
which shall outlive all the revolutions of time. "The
gifts and calling of God are without repentance."
When He said, "This is My name forever," He
spoke absolutely. "I AM" declared Himself to be
Israel's God forever ; and all the Gentiles shall be
made to bow to this ; and to know, moreover, that
all God's providential dealings with them, and all
their destinies, are connected, in some way or other,
with that favored and honored, though now judged
and scattered, people. "When the Most High
divided to the nations their inheritance, when He
separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of
the people according to the number of the children
of Israel. For the Lord's portion is His people;
Jacob is the lot of His inheritance." (Deut. xxxii.
8,9.)
Has this ceased to be true ? Has Jehovah given
up His "portion," and surrendered "the lot of His
inheritance"? Does His eye of tender love no
longer rest on Israel's scattered tribes, long lost to
man's vision ? Are the walls of Jerusalem no longer
before Him ? or has her dust ceased to be precious
in His sight ? To reply to these inquiries would be
to quote a large portion of the Old Testament, and
not a little of the New ; but this would not be the
place to enter elaborately upon such a subject. I
would only say, in closing this section, let not Chris-
tendom "be ignorant of this mystery, that blindness
58 EXODUS.
in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of
the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be
saved." (Rom. xi. 25, 26.)
CHAPTER IV.
WE are still called to linger at the foot of Mount
Horeb, at "the backside of the desert ; " and
truly, the air of this place is most healthful for the
spiritual constitution. Man's unbelief and God's
boundless grace are here made manifest in a strik-
ing way.
"And Moses answered and said, 'But, behold,
they will not believe- me, nor hearken unto my voice ;
for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto
thee.' " How hard it is to overcome the unbelief of
the human heart ! How difficult man ever finds it
to trust God ! How slow he is to venture upon the
naked promise of Jehovah ! Anything, for nature,
but that. The most slender reed that the human
eye can see is counted more substantial, by far, as a
basis for nature's confidence, than the unseen "Rock
of ages." Nature will rush with avidity to any
creature stream or broken cistern, rather than abide
by the unseen "Fountain of living waters."
We might suppose that Moses had seen and heard
enough to set his fears entirely aside. The consum-
ing fire in the unconsumed bush, the condescending
grace, the precious, endearing, and .comprehensive
titles, the divine commission, the assurance of the
CHAPTER IV. 59
divine presence, all these might have quelled every
anxious thought, and have imparted a settled as-
surance to the heart. Still, however, Moses raises
questions, and still God answers them ; and, as we
have remarked, each successive question brings out
fresh grace. "And the Lord said unto him, 'What
is that in thine hand?' And he said, 'A rod.''
The Lord would just take him as he was, and use
what he had in his hand. The rod with which he
had tended Jethro's sheep was about to be used to
deliver the Israel of God, to chastise the land of
Egypt, to make a way through the deep, for the
ransomed of the Lord to pass over, and to bring
forth water from the flinty rock to refresh Israel's
thirsty hosts in the desert. God takes up the weak-
est instruments to accomplish His mightiest ends.
"A rod," u a ram's horn," " a cake of barley meal,"
* ' an. earthen pitcher, " "a shepherd's sling, ' ' any-
thing, in short, when used of God, will do the ap-
pointed work. Men imagine that splendid ends can
only be reached by splendid means ; but such is not
God's way. He can use a crawling worm as well as
a scorching sun, a gourd as well as a vehement east
wind. (See Jonah.)
But Moses had to learn a deep lesson, both as to
the rod and the hand that was to use it. He had to
learn, and the people had to be convinced. "And
He said, 'Cast it on the ground.' And he cast it
on the ground, and it became a serpent ; and Moses
fled from before it. And the Lord said unto Moses,
'Put forth thine hand and take it by the tail.' And
60 EXODUS.
he put forth his hand and caught it, and it became
a rod in his hand ; ' that they may believe that the
Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath ap-
peared unto thee.' ' This is a deeply significant
sign. The rod became a serpent, so that Moses fled
from it; but, being commissioned by Jehovah, he
took the serpent by the tail, and it became a rod.
Nothing could more aptly express the idea of Satan's
power being turned against himself. This is largely
exemplified in the ways of God. Moses himself was
a striking example. The serpent is entirely under
the hand of Christ ; and when he has reached the
highest point in his mad career, he shall be hurled
into the lake of fire, there to reap the fruits of his
work throughout eternity's countless ages. "That
old serpent, the accuser, and the adversary," shall
be eternally crushed beneath the rod of God's
Anointed.
"Then the end beneath His rod,
Man's last enemy shall fall;
Hallelujah ! Christ in God,
God in Christ, is all in all."
"And the Lord said furthermore unto him, 'Put
now thine hand into thy bosom.' And he put his
hand into his bosom ; and when he took it out, be-
hold his hand was leprous as snow. And He said,
'Put thine hand into thy bosom again.' And he put
his hand into his bosom again, and plucked it out of
his bosom ; and, behold, it was turned again as his
other flesh." The leprous hand and the cleansing
CHAPTER IV. 61
thereof present to us the moral effect of sin, as also
the way in which sin has been met in the perfect
work of Christ. The clean hand, placed in the
bosom, becomes leprous ; and the leprous hand,
placed there, becomes clean. Leprosy is the well-
known type of sin ; and sin came in by the first
man and was put away by the second. "By man
came death, by man came also the resurrection of
the dead." (1 Cor. xv. 21.) Man brought in ruin,
man brought in redemption ; man brought in guilt,
man brought in pardon ; man brought in sin, man
brought in righteousness ; man filled the scene with
death, man abolished death and filled the scene with
life, righteousness, and glory. Thus, not only shall
the serpent himself be eternally defeated and con-
founded, but every trace of his abominable work
shall be eradicated and wiped away by the atoning
sacrifice of Him " who was manifested that He might
destroy the works of the devil."
"And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe
also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice,
that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and
pour it upon the dry land ; and the water which thou
takest out of the river shall become blood upon the
dry land." This was a solemn and most expressive
figure of the consequence of refusing to bow to the
divine testimony. This sign was only to be wrought
in the event of their refusing the other two. It was
first to be a sign to Israel, and afterwards a plague
upon Egypt. (Comp. chapter vii. 17.)
All this, however, fails to satisfy the heart of
62 EXODUS.
Moses. "And Moses said unto the Lord, ; O my
Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore nor since
Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant ; but I am slow
of speech, and of a slow tongue.' ' Terrible back-
wardness ! Naught save Jehovah's infinite patience
could have endured it. Surely, when God Himself
had said, "I will be with thee," it was an infallible
security, in reference to .everything which could
possibly be needed. If an eloquent tongue were
necessary, what had Moses to do but to set it over
against "I AM"? Eloquence, wisdom, might,
energy, everything was contained in that exhaust-
less treasury. "And the Lord said unto him, 'Who
hath made man's mouth ? or who maketh the dumb,
or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind ? have not I the
Lord ? Now, therefore, go, and I will be with thy
mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. ' ' Pro-
found, adorable, matchless grace ! worthy of God !
There is none like unto the Lord our God, whoso
patient grace surmounts all our difficulties, and
proves itself amply sufficient for our manifold need
and weakness. "I THE LORD" ought to silence
forever the reasonings of our carnal hearts. But,
alas! these reasonings are hard to be put down.
Again and again they rise to the surface, to the
disturbance of our peace, and the dishonor of that
blessed One, who sets Himself before our souls, in
all His own essential fullness, to be used according
to our need.
It is well to bear in mind that when we have the
Lord with us, our very deficiencies and infirmities
CHAPTER IV. G3
become an occasion for the display of His all-suffi-
cient grace and perfect patience. Had Moses re-
membered this, his want of eloquence need not have
troubled him. The apostle Paul learnt to say,
"Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my
infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon
me. Therefore / take pleasure in infirmities, in re-
proaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses
for Christ's sake;- for when I am weak, then am I
strong." (2 Cor. xii. 9, 10.) This is, assuredly,
the utterance of one who had reached an advanced
form in the school of Christ. It is the experience of
one who would not have been much troubled because
of not possessing an eloquent tongue, inasmuch as
he had found an answer to every description of need
in the precious grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The knowledge of this truth ought to have de-
livered Moses from his diffidence and inordinate
timidity. When the Lord had so graciously assured
him that He would be with his mouth, it should have
set his mind at rest as to the question of eloquence.
The Maker of man's mouth could fill that mouth
with the most commanding eloquence, if such were
needed. This, in the judgment of faith, is most
simple ; but, alas ! the poor doubting heart would
place far more confidence in an eloquent tongue than
in the One who created it. This would seem most
unaccountable, did we not know the materials of
which the natural heart is composed. That heart
cannot trust God ; and hence it is that even the
people of God, when they suffer themselves to be in
64 EXODUS.
any measure governed by nature, exhibit such a
humiliating lack of confidence in the living God.
Thus, in the scene before us, we find Moses still
demurring. "And he said, 'O my Lord, send, I
prav Thee, by the hand of him whom Thou wilt
send.' " This was, in reality, casting from him the
high honor of being Jehovah's sole messenger to
Egypt and to Israel.
It were needless to say that divinely-w T rought hu-
mility is an inestimable grace. To "be clothed with
humility" is a divine precept; and humility is un-
.questionably the most becoming dress in which a
worthless sinner can appear. But it cannot be called
humility to refuse to take . the place which God as-
signs, or to tread the path which His hand marks
out for us. That it was not true humility in Moses
is obvious from the fact that "the anger of the Lord
was kindled against him." So far from its being
humility, it had actually passed the limit of mere
weakness. So long as it wore the aspect of an
excessive timidity, however reprehensible, God's
boundless grace bore with it, and met it with re-
newed assurances ; but when it assumed the charac-
ter of unbelief and slowness of heart, it drew down
Jehovah's just displeasure; and Moses, instead of
being the sole, is made a joint, instrument in the
work of testimony and deliverance.
Nothing is more dishonoring to God, or more
dangerous for us, than a mock humility. When we
refuse to occupy a position which the grace of God
assigns us, because of our not possessing certain
CHAPTER IV. 65
virtues and qualifications, this is not humility, inas-
much as if we could but satisfy our own consciences
in reference to such virtues and qualifications, we
should then deem ourselves entitled to assume the
position. If, for instance, Moses had possessed
such a measure of eloquence as he deemed needful,
we may suppose he would have been ready to go.
Now the question is, How much eloquence would he
have needed to furnish him for his mission ? The
answer is, Without God, no amount of human elo-
quence would have availed ; but with God, the
merest stammerer would have proved an efficient
minister.
This is a great practical truth. Unbelief is not
.humility, but thorough pride. It refuses to believe
God because it does not find in self a reason for be-
lieving. This is the very height of presumption.
If, when God speaks, I refuse to believe, on the
ground of something in myself, I make Him a liar.
(I John v. 10.) When God declares His love, and
I refuse to believe because I do not deem myself a
sufficiently worthy object, I make Him a liar, and
exhibit the inherent pride of my heart. The bare
supposition that I could ever be worthy of aught
save the lowest pit of hell, can only be regarded as
the most profound ignorance of my own condition
and of God's requirements. And the refusal to
take the place which the redeeming love of God
assigns me, on the ground of the finished atonement
of Christ, is to make God a liar, and cast gross dis-
honor upon the sacrifice of the cross. God's love
66 EXODUS.
flows forth spontaneously. It is not drawn forth by
nay deserts, but by my misery. Nor is it a question
as to the place which I deserve, but which Christ
deserves. Christ took the sinner's place on the
cross, that the sinner might take His place in the
glory. Christ got what the sinner deserved, that
the sinner might get what Christ deserves. Thus
self is totally set aside, and this is true humility.
No one can be truly humble until he has reached
heaven ''s side of the cross ; but there he finds di-
vine life, divine righteousness, and divine favor.
He is done with himself forever, as regards any
expectation of goodness or righteousness, and he
feeds upon the princely wealth of another. He is
morally prepared to join in that cry which shall,
echo through the spacious vault of heaven, through-
out the everlasting ages, "Not unto us, O Lord,
not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory."
(Psalm cxv. 1.)
It would ill become us to dwell upon the mistakes
or infirmities of so honored a servant as Moses, of
whom we read that he ' fc was verily faithful in all his
house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things
which were to be spoken after." (Heb. iii. 5.) But,
though we should not dwell upon them in a spirit of
self-complacency, as if we would have acted differ-
ently in his circumstances, we should nevertheless
learn from such things those holy and seasonable
lessons which they are manifestly designed to teach.
We should learn to judge ourselves and to place
more implicit confidence in God, to set self aside,
CHAPTER IV. 67
that He might act in us, through us, and for us.
This is the true secret of power.
We have remarked that Moses forfeited the dig-
nity of being Jehovah's sole instrument in that
glorious work which He was about to accomplish.
But this was not all. "The anger of the Lord was
kindled against Moses ; and He said, ' Is not Aaron
the Levite thy brother ? I know that he can speak
well: and also, behold, he cometh forth to meet
thee ; and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his
heart. And tliou slialt speak unto Mm, and put words
in Ills mouth : and I will be with thy mouth, and
with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do.
And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people:
and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a
mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God.
And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, where-
with thou shalt do signs/ " (Chap. iv. 14-17.) This
passage contains a mine of most precious practical
instruction. We have noted the timidity and hesi-
tation of Moses, notwithstanding the varied promises
and assurances with which divine grace had furnished
him. And now, although there was nothing gained
in the way of real power, although there was no
more virtue or efficacy in one mouth than in another,
although it was Moses after all who was to speak
unto Aaron ; yet was Moses quite ready to go when
assured of the presence and co-operation of a poor
feeble mortal like himself; whereas he could not go
when assured, again and again, that Jehovah would
be with him.
68 EXODUS.
Oh ! my reader, does not all this hold up before
us a faithful mirror in which you and I can see our
hearts reflected ? Truly it does. We are more
ready to trust anything than the living God. We
move along with bold decision when we possess the
countenance and support of a poor frail mortal like
ourselves ; but we falter, hesitate, and demur when
we have the light of the Master's countenance to
cheer us, and the strength of His omnipotent arm to
support us. This should humble us deeply before
the Lord, and lead us to seek a fuller acquaintance
with Him, so that we might trust Him with a more
unmixed confidence, and walk on with a firmer step,
as having Him alone for our resource and portion.
No doubt the fellowship of a brother is most valu-
able, "Two are better than one," whether in
labor, rest, or conflict. The Lord Jesus, in sending
forth His disciples, "sent them two by two," for
unity is ever better* than isolation ; still, if our per-
sonal acquaintance with God, and our experience
of His presence, be not such as to enable us, if
needful, to walk alone, we shall find the presence of
a brother of very little use. It is not a little remark-
able that Aaron, whose companionship seemed to
satisfy Moses, was the man who afterwards made the
golden calf. (Exod. xxxir. 21.) Thus it frequently
happens, that the very person whose presence we
deem essential to our progress and success, after-
wards proves a source of deepest sorrow to our
hearts. May we ever remember this !
However, Moses at length consents to go; but
CHAPTER IT. G9
ere he is fully equipped for his work, he must pass
through another deep exercise, yea, he must have
the sentence of death inscribed by the hand of God
upon his very nature. He had learnt deep lessons
at ' ' the backside of the desert ; ' ' he is called to
learn something deeper still, "by the way in the
inn." It is no light matter to be the Lord's servant.
No ordinary education will qualify a man for such a
position. Nature must be put in the place of death,
and kept there. "We had the sentence of death in
ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but
in God which raiseth the dead." (2 Cor. i. 9.)
Every successful servant will need to know some-
thing of this. Moses was called to enter into it, in
his own experience, ere he was morally qualified.
He was about to sound in the ears of Pharaoh the
following deeply solemn message: "Thus saith the
Lord, 'Israel is My son, even My first-born: and I
say unto thee, Let My son go, that he may serve
Me : and if thou refuse to let him go, behold I will
slay thy son, even thy first-born.' " Such was to be
his message to Pharaoh, a message of death, a
-message of judgment; and, at the same time, his
message to Israel was a message of life and salva-
tion. But, be it remembered, that the man who
will speak, on God's behalf, of death and judgment,
life and salvation, must, ere he docs so, enter into
the practical power of these things in his own soul.
Thus it was with Moses. We have seen him, at the
very outset, in the place of death, typically ; but
this was a different thing from entering into the
6
70 EXODUS.
experience of death in his own person. Hence we
read, "And it came to pass, by the way in the inn,
that the Lord met him, and sought to kill him.
Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the
foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said,
'Surely, a bloody husband art thou to me.' So He
let him go : then she said, c A bloody husband thou
art, because of the circumcision.' ' This passage
lets us into a deep secret in the personal and domes-
tic history of Moses. It is very evident that Zippo-
rah' s heart had, up to this point, shrunk from the
application of the knife to that around which the
affections of nature were entwined. She had avoided
that mark which had to be set in the flesh of every
member of the Israel of God. She was not aware
that her relationship with Moses was one involving
death to nature. She recoiled from the cross. This
was natural. But Moses had yielded to her in the
matter ; and this explains to us the mysterious scene
' ' in the inn. " If Zipporah refuses to circumcise her
son, Jehovah will lay His hand upon her husband;
and if Moses spares the feelings of his wife, Jehovah
will * c seek to kill him. ' ' The sentence of death must
be written on nature ; and if we seek to avoid it in
one way, we shall have to encounter it in another.
It has been already remarked that Zipporah fur-
nishes an instructive and interesting type of the
Church. She was united to Moses during the period
of his rejection ; and from the passage just quoted,
we learn that the Church is called to know Christ
as the One related to her "by blood." It is her
CHAPTER IV. 71
privilege to drink of His cup, and be baptized with
His baptism. Being crucified with Him, she is to
be conformed to His death to mortify her members
which are on the earth to take up the cross daily,
and follow Him. Her relationship with Christ is
founded upon blood, and the manifestation of the
power of that relationship will necessarily involve
death to nature. "And ye are complete in Him,
which is the head of all principality and power ; in
whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision
made without hands, in putting off the body of the
sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ!
buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are
risen with Him through the faith of the operation of
God, who hath raised Him from the dead/' (Col.
ii. 10-12.)
Such is the doctrine as to the Church's place with
Christ, a doctrine replete with the richest privileges
for the Church, and each member thereof. Every-
thing, in short, is involved: the perfect remission
of sin, divine righteousness, complete acceptance,
everlasting securit} r , full fellowship with Christ in all
His glory. "Ye are complete in Him." This, surely,
comprehends everything. What could be added to
one who is "complete"? Could "philosophy,"
"the tradition of men," "the rudiments of the
world," "meats, drinks, holy days, new moons, or
Sabbaths " ? " Touch not ' ' this, ' ' taste not ' ' that,
"handle not" the other, "the commandments and
doctrines of men," "days, and months, and times,
and years," could any of these things, or all of
72 EXODUS.
them put together, add a single jot or tittle to one
whom God has pronounced ' c complete ' ' ? We might
just as well inquire if man could have gone forth
upon the fair creation of God, at the close of the
six days' work, to give the finishing touch to that
which God had pronounced "very good."
Nor is this completeness to be, by any means,
viewed as a matter of attainment, some point which
we have not yet reached, but after which w r e must
diligently strive, and of the possession of which we
cannot be sure until we lie upon a bed of death, or
stand before a throne of judgment. It is the portion
of the feeblest, the most inexperienced, the most
unlettered child of God. The very weakest saint is
included in the apostolic "?/e." All the people of
God "are- complete in Christ." The apostle does
not say, Ye will be, Ye may be, Hope that } T e may
be, Pray that ye may be : no ; lie, by the Holy
Ghost, states, in the most absolute and unqualified
manner, that u ye are complete." This is the true
Christian starting-post ; and for man to make a goal
of what Gocl makes a starting-post, is to upset
everything.
But, then, some will ask, Have we no sin, no fail-
ure, no imperfection ? Assuredly we have. "If we
say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and
the truth is not in us." (1 John i. 8.) We have sin
in us, but no sin on us. Moreover, our standing is
not in self, but in Christ. It is "m Him" we "are
complete." God sees the believer in Christ, with
Christ, and as Christ. This is his changeless concli-
CHAPTER IV. 73
tion his everlasting standing. "The body of the
sins of the flesh" is "put off by the circumcision of
Christ." The believer is not in the flesh, though the
flesh is in him. He is united to Christ in the power
of a new and an endless life, and that life is insep-
arably connected with divine righteousness in which
the believer stands before God. The Lord Jesus has
put away everything that was against the believer,
and He has brought him nigh to God, in the self-
same favor as that which He Himself enjoys. In a
word, Christ is his righteousness. This settles every
question, answers every objection, silences every
doubt. "Both He that sanctifieth and they who are
sanctified are all of one." (Heb. ii. ^l.)
The foregoing line of truth has flowed out of the
deeply interesting type presented to us in the rela-
tionship between Moses and Zipporah. We must
now hasten to close this section, and take our leave,
for the present, of "the backside of the desert,"
though not of its deep lessons and holy impressions,
so essential to every servant of Christ, and every
messenger of the living God. All who would serve
effectually, either in the important work of evangeli-
zation, or in the varied ministries of the house of
God which is the Church will need to imbibe the
precious instructions which Moses received at the
foot of Mount Horeb, and "by the way in the inn."
Were these things properly attended to, we should
not have so many running unsent so many rushing
into spheres of ministry for which they were never
designed. Let each one who stands up to preach,
74 EXODUS.
or teach, or exhort, or serve in any way, seriously
inquire if, indeed, he be fitted and taught and sent
of God. If not, his work will neither be owned of
God nor blessed to men, and the sooner he ceases,
the better for himself and for those upon whom he
has been imposing the heavy burden of hearkening
to him. Neither a humanly- appointed nor a self-
appointed ministry will ever suit within the hallowed
precincts of the Church of God. All must be di-
vinely gifted, divinely taught, and divinely sent.
" And the Lord said to Aaron, 'Go into the wil-
derness to meet Moses.' And he went and met him
in the mount of God, and kissed him. And Moses
told Aaron all he words of the Lord who had sent
him, and all the signs which He had commanded
him." This was a fair and beauteous scene a scene
of sweet brotherly love and union a scene which
stands in marked contrast with many of those scenes
which were afterwards enacted in the wilderness-
career of these two men. Forty years of wilderness
life are sure to make great changes in men and
things. Yet it is sweet to dwell upon those early
days of one's Christian course, before the stern
realities of desert life had, in any measure, checked
the gush of warm and generous affections, before
deceit and corruption and hypocrisy had well-nigh
dried up the springs of the heart's confidence, and
placed the whole moral being beneath the chilling
influences of a suspicious disposition.
That such results have been produced, in many
cases, by years of experience, is, alas! too true.
CHAPTER IV. 75
Happy is he who, though his eyes have been opened
to see nature in a clearer light than that which this
world supplies, can nevertheless serve his generation
by the energy of that grace which flows forth from
the bosom of God. Who ever knew the depths and
windings of the human heart as Jesus knew them ?
o
"He knew all, and needed not that any should tes-
tify of man ; for he knew what was in man." (John
ii. 24, 25.) So well did He know man, that He
could not commit Himself unto him. He could not
accredit man's professions, or endorse his preten-
sions. And } r et, who so gracious as He ? Who so
loving, so tender, so compassionate, so sympathiz-
ing ? With a heart that understood all, He could
feel for all. He did not suffer His perfect knowledge
of human worthlessness to keep Him aloof from hu-
man need. " He went about doing good." Why?
Was it because He imagined that all those who
flocked around Him were real ? No ; but "because
God was with Him." (Acts x. 38.) This is our ex-
ample. Let us follow it, though, in doing so, we
shall have to trample on self and all its interests, at
every step of the way.
Who would desire that wisdom, that knowledge of
nature, that experience, which only lead men to en-
sconce themselves within the inclosures of a hard-
hearted selfishness, from which they look forth with
an eye of dark suspicion upon everybody ? Surely,
such a result could never follow from aught of a
heavenly or excellent nature. God gives wisdom ;
but it is not a wisdom which locks the heart against
76 EXODUS.
all the appeals of human need and misery. He gives
a knowledge of nature ; but it is not a knowledge
which causes us to grasp with selfish eagerness that
which we, falsely, call "our own." He gives expe-
rience ; but it is not an experience which results in
suspecting everybody except myself. If I am walk-
ing in the footprints of Jesus, if I am imbibing, and
therefore manifesting, His excellent spirit, if, in
short, I can sa}^, "To me to live is Christ;" then,
while I walk through the world, with a knowledge of
what the world is ; while I come in contact with
man, with a knowledge of w r hat I am to expect from
him ; I am able, through grace, to manifest Christ
in the midst of it all. The springs which move me,
and the objects which animate me, are all above,
where He is, who is "the same yesterday, and to-
day, and forever." (Heb. xiii. 8.) It was this which
sustained the heart of that beloved and honored
servant, whose histoiy, even so far, has furnished us
with such deep and solid instruction. It was this
which carried him through the trying and varied
scenes of his wilderness course. And we may safely
assert that, at the close of all, notwithstanding the
trial and exercise of forty years, Moses could em-
brace his brother when he stood on Mount Hor, with
the same warmth as he had when first he met him
"in the mount of God." True, the two occasions
were very different. At "the mount of God" they
met and embraced, and started together on their
divinely-appointed mission. Upon "Mount Hor"
they met by the commandment of Jehovah, in order
CHAPTER IV. 77
that Moses might strip his brother of his priestly
robes, and see him gathered to his fathers, because
of an error in which he himself had participated.
(How solemn ! How touching ! ) Circumstances vary :
men turn away from one ; but with God "is no vari-
ableness, neither shadow of turning. ' ' (James i. 17. )
"And Moses and Aaron went and gathered to-
gether all the elders of the children of Israel ; and
Aaron spake all the words which the Lord had spok-
en unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the
people. And the people believed ; and when they
heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel,
and that He had looked upon their affliction, then
thej- bowed their heads and worshiped." (Yer. 29-
31.) When God works, every barrier must give
way. Moses had said, "The people will not believe
me." But the question was not as to whether they
would believe him, but whether they would believe
God. When a man is enabled to view himself simply
as the messenger of God, he may feel quite at ease
as to the reception of his message. It does not de-
tract, in the smallest degree, from his tender and
affectionate solicitude in reference to those whom he
addresses. Quite the contrary ; but it preserves
him from that inordinate anxiety of spirit which can
only tend to unfit him for calm, elevated, steady
testimony. The messenger of God should ever re-
member whose message he bears. When Zacharias
said to the angel, c ' Whereby shall I know this ? ' ' was
the latter perturbed by the question? Not in the
least. His calm, dignified reply was, "I am Gabriel,
78 EXODUS.
that stand in the presence of God, and am sent to
speak unto thee, and to show thee these glad
tidings." (Luke i. 18, 19.) The angel rises before
the doubting mortal, with a keen and exquisite
sense of the dignity of his message. It is as if he
would say, How can you doubt, when a messenger
has actually been dispatched from the very presence-
chamber of the Majesty of heaven ? Thus should
every messenger of God, in his measure, go forth,
and, in this spirit, deliver his message.
CHAPTERS V & VI.
THE effect of the first appeal to Pharaoh seemed
aught but encouraging. The thought of losing
Israel made him clutch them with greater eagerness
and watch them with greater vigilance; Whenever
Satan's power becomes narrowed to a point, his rage
increases. Thus it is here. The furnace is about
to be quenched by the hand of redeeming love ; but
ere it is, it blazes forth with greater fierceness and
intensity. The devil does not like to let go any one
whom he has had in his terrible grasp. He is "a
strong man armed," and while he "keepeth his
palace, his goods are in peace." But, blessed be.
God, there is "a stronger than he," who has taken
from him "his armor wherein he trusted," and
divided the spoils among the favored objects of His
everlasting love.
"And afterward, Moses and Aaron went in, and
CHAPTERS V & VI. 79
told Pharaoh, 'Thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
Let My people, go, that they may hold a feast unto
Me in the wilderness.'" (Chap. v. 1.) Such was
Jehovah's message to Pharaoh. He claimed full de-
liverance for the people on the ground of their being
His, and in order that they might hold a feast unto
Him in the wilderness. Nothing can ever satisfy
God in reference to His elect, hut their entire eman-
cipation from the } 7 oke of bondage. " Loose him
and let him go" is really the grand motto in God's
gracious dealings with those who, though held in
bondage by Satan, are nevertheless the objects of
His eternal love.
When we contemplate Israel amid the brick-kilns
of Egypt, we behold a graphic figure of the condition
of every child of Adam by nature. There they were,
crushed beneath the enemy's galling yoke, and hav-
ing no power to deliver themselves. The mere men-
tion of the word liberty only caused the oppressor to
bind his captives with a stronger fetter, and to lade
them with a still more grievous burden. It was ab-
solutely necessary that deliverance should come from
without. But from whence was it to come ! Where
were the resources to pay their ransom ? or where
was the power to break their chains ? And even weye
there both the one and the other, where was the ivill?
Who would take the trouble of delivering them ?
Alas ! there was no hope, either within or around.
They had only to look up. Their refuge was in God.
He had both the power and the will. He could ac-
complish a redemption both by price and by power.
80 EXODUS.
Iii Jehovah, and in Him alone, was there salvation
for ruined and oppressed Israel.
Thus it is in every case. "Neither is there salva-
tion in any other ; for there is none other name under
heaven, given among men, whereby we must be
saved." (Acts iv. 12.) The sinner is in the hands
of one who rules him with despotic power. He is
"sold under sin" "led captive by Satan at his
will" fast bound in the fetters of lust, passion,
and temper, c ' without strength, " " without hope, ' '
"without God." Such is the sinner's condition.
How, then, can he help himself ? What can he do ?
He is the slave of another, and everything tie does
is done in the capacity of a slave. His thoughts, his
words, his acts, are the thoughts, words, and acts of
a slave. Yea, though he should weep and sigh for
emancipation, his very tears and sighs are the mel-
ancholy proofs of his slavery. He may struggle for
freedom ; but his very struggle, though it evinces a
desire for liberty, is the positive declaration of his
bondage.
Nor is it merely a question of the sinner's condi-
tion; his very nature is radically corrupt wholly
under the power of Satan. Hence he not only needs
to be introduced into a new condition, but also to
be endowed with. a new nature. The nature and the
condition go together. If it were possible for the
sinner to better his condition, what would it avail so
long as his nature was irrecoverable bad ? A noble-
man might take a beggar off the streets and adopt
him ; he might endow him with a noble's wealth,
CHAPTERS V & VI. 81
and set him in a noble's position ; but he could not
impart to him nobility of nature ; and thus the nature
of a beggarman would never be at home in the con-
dition of a nobleman. There must be a nature to
suit the condition ; and there must be a condition
to suit the capacity, the desires, the affections, and
the tendencies of the nature.
Now, in the gospel of the grace of God, we are
taught that the believer is introduced into an entirely
new condition ; that he is no longer viewed as in his
former state of guilt and condemnation, but as in a
state of perfect and everlasting justification; that
the condition in which God now sees him is not only
one of full pardon, but it is such that infinite holi-
ness cannot find so much as a single stain. He has
been taken out of his former condition of guilt, and
placed absolutely and eternally in a new condition
of unspotted righteousness. It is not, by any means,
that his old condition is improved. This is utterly
impossible. ' c That which is crooked cannot be made
straight." "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or
the leopard his spots ? " Nothing can be more op-
posed to the fundamental truth of the gospel than
the theory of a gradual improvement in the sinner's
condition. He is born in a certain condition, and
until he is "born again" lip cannot be in any other.
He may try to improve, he may resolve to be better
for the future to "turn over a new leaf" to live a
different sort of life ; but, all the while, he has not
moved a single hair's breadth out of his real condi-
tion as a sinner. He may become "religious," as it
82 EXODUS.
is called, he may try to pray, lie may clilligently
attend to ordinances, and exhibit an appearance of
moral reform ; but none of these things can, in the
smallest degree, affect his positive condition before
God.
The case is precisely similar as to the question of
nature. How can a man alter his nature ? He may
make it undergo a process, he may try to subdue it
to place it under discipline ; but it is nature still.
"That which is born of the flesh is flesh." There
must be a new nature as well as a new condition.
And how is this to be had ? By believing God's
testimony concerning His Son. "As many as re-
ceived Him, to them gave He power to become the
sons of God, even to them that believe on His name :
which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John i.
12, 13.) Here we learn that those who believe on
the name of the only begotten Son of God, have the
right or privilege of being sons of God. They are
made partakers of a new nature : they have gotten
eternal life. "He that believeth on the Son hath
everlasting life" (John iii. 36.). "Verily, verily,
I say unto yo u, He that heareth My word, and be-
lieveth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life,
and shall not come into condemnation ; but is passed
from death unto life" (John v. 24.). "And this is
life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only
true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent"
(John xvii. 3.). "And this is the record, that God
hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His
CHAPTERS V & VI. 83
Son. He that hath the Son liatli life.'' (1 John v.
11, 12.)
Such is the plain doctrine of the Word in reference
to the momentous questions of condition and nature.
But on what is all this founded ? How is the be-
liever introduced into a condition of divine right-
eousness and made partaker of the divine nature ?
It all rests on the great truth that ".JESUS DIED
AND ROSE AGAIN." That blessed One left the
bosom of eternal 1< \ r e, the throne of glory, the man-
sions of unfading light ; came down into this world
of guilt and woe ; took upon Him the likeness of
sinful flesh ; and, having perfectly exhibited and
perfectly glorified God in all the movements of His
blessed life here below, He died upon the cross,
under the full weight of His people's transgressions.
By so doing, He divinely met all that was or could
be against us. He magnified the law and made it
honorable ; and, having done so, He became a curse
by hanging on the tree. Every claim was met, every
enemy silenced, every obstacle removed. "Mercy
and truth are met together ; righteousness and peace
have kissed each other." Infinite justice was satis-
fied, and infinite love can flow, in all its soothing
and refreshing virtues, into the broken heart of the
sinner ; while, at the same time, the cleansing and
atoning stream that flowed from the pierced side of
a crucified Christ, perfectly meets all the cravings of
a guilty and convicted conscience. The Lord Jesus,
on the cross, stood in our place. He was our repre-
sentative. He died, c ' the j ust for the unj ust. " "He
84 EXODUS.
was made sin for us." (2 Cor. v. 21 ; 1 Peter iii. 18.)
He died the sinner's death, was buried, and rose
again, having accomplished all. Hence, there is ab-
solutely nothing against the believer. He is linked
with Christ, and stands in the same condition of
righteousness. " As He is, so are we in this world."
(1 Johniv. 17.)
This gives settled peace to the conscience. If I
am no longer in a condition of guilt, but in a condi-
tion of justification, if God only sees me in Christ
and as Christ, then, clearly, my portion is perfect
peace. "Being justified by faith, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Rom. v.
1.) The blood of the Lamb has canceled all the
believer's guilt, blotted out his heavy debt, and
given him a perfectly blank page, in the presence of
that holiness which "cannot look upon sin."
But the believer has not merely found peace with
God ; he is made a child pf God, so that he can taste
the sweetness of communion with the Father and the
Son, through the power of the Holy Ghost. The
cross is to be viewed in two ways : first, as satisfy-
ing God's claims ; secondly, as expressing God's
affections. If I look at my sins in connection with
the claims of God as a Judge, I find, in the cross,
a perfect settlement of those claims. God, as a
Judge, has been divinely satisfied yea, glorified, in
the cross. But there is more than this. God had
affections as well as claims ; and, in the cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ, all those affections are sweetly
and touchingly told out into the sinner's ear ; while,
CHAPTERS V & VI. 85
at the same time, he is made partaker of a new
nature -which is capable of enjoying those affections
and having fellowship with the heart from which they
flow. "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins,
the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to
God." (1 Peter iii. 18.) Thus, we are not only
brought into a condition, but unto a Person, even
God Himself, and we are endowed with a nature
which can delight in Him. " We also joy in God,
through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have
now received the reconciliation (margin)." (Rom.
v. 11.)
What force and beauty, therefore, can we sec in
those emancipating words, "Let My people go, that
they may hold a feast unto Me in the wilderness."
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He
hath anointed Me to preach the gospel ; He hath
sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach de-
liverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to
the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised."
(Luke iv. 18.) The glad tidings of the gospel an-
nounce full deliverance from every }~oke of bondage.
Peace and liberty are the boons which that gospel
bestows on all who believe it, as God has declared it.
And mark, it is "that they may hold a feast to
Me." If they were to get done with Pharaoh, it
was that they might begin with God. This was a
great change. Instead of toiling under Pharaoh's
taskmasters, they were to feast in company with Je-
hovah ; and, although they were to pass from Egypt
into the wilderness, still the divine presence was to
86 EXODUS.
accompany them ; and if the wilderness was rough
and dreary, it was the way to the land of Canaan.
The divine purpose was, that they should hold a
feast unto the Lord in the wilderness, and in order
to do this, they should be "let go" out of Egypt.
However, Pharaoh was in no wise disposed to yield
obedience to the divine mandate. "Who is the
Lord," said he, "that I should obey His voice to let
Israel go ? I know not the Lord, neither will I let
Israel go." (Chap. v. 2.) Pharaoh most truly ex-
pressed, in these words, his real condition. His
condition was one of ignorance and consequent dis-
obedience. Both go together. If God be not known ,
He cannot be obeyed ; for obedience is ever founded
upon knowledge. When the soul is blessed with the
knowledge of God, it finds this knowledge to be life
(John xvii. 3.), and life is power; and when I get
power, I can act. It is obvious that one cannot act
without life ; and therefore it is most unintelligent
to set people upon doing certain things in order to
get that by which alone they can do anything.
But Pharaoh was as ignorant of himself as he was
of the Lord. He did not know that he was a poor,
vile worm of the earth, and that he had been raised
up for the express purpose of making known the
glory of the very One whom he said he knew not.
(Exod. ix. 16; Rom. ix. 17.) "And they said,
'The God of the Hebrews has met with us: let us
go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the desert,
and sacrifice unto the Lord our God ; lest He fall
upon us with pestilence or with the sword.' And
CHAPTERS V & VI. 87
the king of Egypt said unto them, 'Wherefore do
3 r e, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their
work ? Get you unto your burdens let
there more work be laid upon the men, that they
may labor therein ; and let them not regard vain
words.'" (Ver. 3-9.)
What a development of the secret springs of the
human heart we have here ! What complete incom-
petency to enter into the things of God ! All the
divine titles and the divine revelations were, in Pha-
raoh's estimation, ; ' vain words. ' ' What did he know
or care about "three days' journey into the wilder-
'ness," or "a feast to Jehovah"? How could he
understand the need of such a journey, or the nature
or object of such a feast ? Impossible. He could
understand burden-bearing and brick-making ; these
things had an air of reality about them, in his judg-
ment; but as to aught of God, His service, or His
worship, lie could only regard it in the light of an
idle chimera, devised by those who only wanted an
excuse to make their escape from the stern realities
of actual life.
Thus has it too often been with the wise and great
of this world. They have ever been the most for-
ward to write folly and vanity upon the divine tes-
timonies. Hearken, for example, to the estimate
which the "most noble Festus" formed of the grand
question at issue between Paul and the Jews:
u They had certain questions against him of their
own superstition, and of one Jesus, which was dead,
whom Paul affirmed to be alive." (Acts xxv. 19.)
88 EXODUS.
Alas ! how little he knew what he was saying ! How
little he knew what was involved in the question, as
to whether "Jesus" was "dead" or "alive" ! He
thought not of the solemn bearing of that momen-
tous question upon himself and his friends, Agrippa
and Bernice ; but that did not alter the matter ; he
and they know somewhat more about it now, though
in their passing moment of earthly glory they re-
garded it as a superstitious question, wholly beneath
the notice of men of common sense, and only fit to
occupy the disordered brain of visionary enthusiasts.
Yes ; the stupendous question which fixes the destiny
of every child of Adam on which is founded the
present and everlasting condition of the Church and
the world which stands connected with all the di-
vine counsels, this question was, in- the judgment
of Festus, a vain superstition.
Thus was it in Pharaoh's case. He knew nothing
of "the Lord God of the Hebrews" the great "I
AM," and hence he regarded all that Moses and
Aaron had said to him, in reference to doing sacri-
fice to God, as "vain words." The things of God
must ever seem vain, profitless, and unmeaning to
the unsanctified mind of man. His name may be
made use of as part of the flippant phraseology of a
cold and formal religiousness ; but He Himself is
not known. His precious name, which, to a be-
liever's heart, has wrapped up in it all that he can
possibly need or desire, has no significancy, no
power, no virtue for an unbeliever. All, therefore,
connected with God His words, His counsels, His
CHAPTERS V & VI. 89
thoughts, His ways, everything, in short, that treats
of or refers to Him, is regarded as "vain words."
However, the time is rapidly approaching when it
will not be thus. The judgment-seat of Christ, the
terrors of the world to come, the surges of the lake
of fire, will not be "vain words." Assuredly not;
and it should be the great aim of all who, through
grace, believe them now to be realities, to press them
upon the consciences of those who, like Pharaoh,
regard the making of bricks as the only thing worth
thinking about the only thing that can be called
real and solid.
Alas ! that even Christians should so frequently
be found living in the region of sight the region of
earth the region of nature as to lose the deep,
abiding, influential sense of the reality of divine and
heavenly things. We want to live more in the region
of faith the region of heaven the region of the
"new creation." Then we should see things as God
sees them, think about them as He thinks ; and our
whole course and character would be more elevated,
more disinterested, more thoroughly separated from
earth and earthly things.
But Moses' sorest trial did not arise from Pha-
raoh's judgment about his mission. The true and
whole-hearted servant of Christ must ever expect to
be looked on, by the men of this world, as a mere
visionary enthusiast. The point of view from which
they contemplate him is such as to lead us to look
for this judgment and none other. The more faith-
ful he is to his heavenly Master, the more he walks
90 EXODUS.
iii His footsteps, the more conformed he is to His
image, the more likely he is to be considered, by the
sons of earth, as one "beside himself." This,
therefore, should neither disappoint nor discourage
him. But then it is a far more painful thing when
his service and testimony are misunderstood, un-
heeded, or rejected by those who are themselves the
specific objects thereof. When such is the case, he
needs to be much w r ith God, much in the secret of
His mind, much in the power of communion, to
have his spirit sustained in the abiding reality of his
path and service. Under such trying circumstances,
if one be not fully persuaded of the divine commis-
sion, and conscious of the divine presence, he will
be almost sure to break down.
Had not Moses been thus upheld, his heart must
have utterly failed him when the augmented pressure
of Pharaoh's power elicited from the officers of the
children of Israel such desponding and depressing
words as these, "The Lord look upon you, and
judge; because ye have made our savor to be ab-
horred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of
his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay
us." This was gloomy enough; and Moses felt it
so, for "he returned unto the Lord, and said, 'Lord,
wherefore hast Thou so evil entreated this people ?
Why is it that Thou hast sent me ? For since I
came unto Pharaoh to speak in Thy name, he hath
done evil to this people ; neither hast Thou delivered
Thy people at all.' ' The aspect of things had be-
come most discouraging, at the very moment when
CHAPTERS V & VI. 91
'
deliverance seemed at hand; just as, in nature, the
darkest hour of the night is often that which imme-
diately precedes the dawn of the morning. Thus
will it assuredly be in Israel's history in the latter
day. The moment of most profound darkness and
depressing gloom will precede the bursting of "the
Sun of Righteousness" from behind the cloud, with
healing in His wings to heal eternally "the hurt
of the daughter of His people."
We may well question how far genuine faith, or a
mortified will, dictated the " wherefore ?" and the
"why?" of Moses, in the above quotation. Still,
the Lord does not rebuke a remonstrance drawn
forth by the intense pressure of the moment. He
most graciously replies, "Now shalt thou see what
I will do to Pharaoh : for with a strong hand shall
he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive
them out of his land." (Chap. vi. 1.) This reply
breathes peculiar grace. Instead of reproving the
petulance which could presume to call in question
the unsearchable ways of the great I AM, that ever-
gracious One seeks to relieve the harassed spirit of
His servant by unfolding to him what He was about
to do. This w r as worthy of the blessed God the
unupbraiding Giver of every good and every perfect
gift. "He knoweth our frame ; He remembereth
that we are dust." (Ps. ciii. 14.)
Nor is it merely in His actings that He would
cause the heart to find its solace, but in Himself in
His very name and character. This is full, divine,
and everlasting blessedness. When the heart can
92 EXODUS.
find its sweet relief in God Himself when it can
retreat into the strong tower which His name affords
when it can find, in His character, a perfect an-
swer to all its need, then, truly, it is raised far above
the region of the creature, it can turn away from
earth's fair promises, it can place the proper value
on man's lofty pretensions. The heart which is en-
dowed with an experimental knowledge of God can
not only look forth upon earth, and say, "All is
vanity;" but it can also look straight up to Him,
and say, u All my springs are in Thee."
"And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him.
'I am the Lord: and I appeared unto Abraham,
unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God
Almighty ; but by My name JEHOVAH was I not
known to them. And I have also established My
covenant with them to give them the land of Ca-
naan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they
were strangers. And I have also heard the groan-
ing of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians
keep in bondage ; and I have remembered My
covenant.'" "JEHOVAH" is the title which He
takes as the Deliverer of His people, on the
ground of His covenant of pure and sovereign
grace. He reveals Himself as the great self-exist-
ing Source of redeeming love, establishing His
counsels, fulfilling His promises, delivering His
elect people from every enemy and every evil. It
was Israel's privilege ever to abide under the safe
covert of that significant title a title which dis-
plays God acting for His own glory, and taking
CHAPTERS V & VI. 93
up His oppressed -people in order to show forth
in them that glory.
"Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, C I
am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under
the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out
of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a
stretched-out arm, and with great judgments ; arid
I will take you to Me for a people, and I will be to
you a God ; and ye shall know that I am the Lord
your God, which bringeth 3^011 out from under the
burderis~bf the Egyptians. And I will bring you in
unto the land -concerning the which I did swear to
give it unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob ; and
I will give it to you for a heritage : I am the Lord. ' '
(Ver. 6-8.) All this speaks the purest, freest, rich-
est grace. Jehovah presents Himself to the hearts
of His people as the One who was to act in them,
for them, and with them, for the display of His own
glory. Ruined and helpless as they were, He had
come down to show forth His glory, to exhibit His
grace, and to furnish a sample of His power, in their
full deliverance. His glory and their salvation were
inseparably connected. They were afterwards re-
minded of all this, as we read in the book of Deu-
teronomy, "The Lord did not set His love upon
you, nor choose you, because ye were more in num-
ber than any people ; for ye were the fewest of all
people: but because the Lord loved you, and be-
cause He would keep the oath which He had sworn
unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out
with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the
94 EXODUS.
house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh, king
of Egypt." (Chap. vii. 7, 8.)
Nothing is more calculated to assure and establish
the doubting, trembling heart than the knowledge
that God has taken us up just as we are, and in the
full intelligence of what we are ; and, moreover, that
He can never make any fresh discovery to cause an
alteration in the character and measure of His love.
"Having loved His own which were in the world, He
loved them unto the end." (John xiii.) Whom He
loves and as He loves, He loves unto the end. This
is an unspeakable comfort. God knew all about us
He knew the very worst of us, when He manifested
His love to us in the gift of His Son. He knew what
was needed, and He provided it ; He knew what was
due, and He paid it ; He knew what was to be
wrought, and He wrought it ; His own requirements
had to be met, and He met them. It is all His own
work. Hence, we find Him saying to Israel, as in
the above passage, "I will bring you out," "I will
bring you in," "I will take you to Me," "I will
give you the land," "I am Jehovah." It was all
what He would do, as founded upon what He was.
Until this great truth is fully laid hold of, until it
enters into the soul, in the power of the Holy Ghost,
there cannot be settled peace. The heart can never
be happy, or the conscience at rest, until one knows
and believes that all divine requirements have been
divinely answered.
The remainder of our section is taken up with a
record of "the heads of their fathers' houses,*" and
CHAPTERS VII-XI. 95
is very interesting, as showing us Jehovah coming
in and numbering those that belonged to Himself,
though they were still in the possession of the enemy.
Israel was God's people, and He here counts up
those on whom He had a sovereign claim. Amazing
grace ! To find an object in those who were in the
midst of all the degradation of Egyptian bondage !
This was worthy of God. The One who had made
the worlds, who was surrounded by hosts of unfallen
angels, ever ready to u do His pleasure," should
come down for the purpose of taking up a number
of bond-slaves with whom He condescended to con-
nect His name. He came down and stood amid the
brick-kilns of Egypt, and there beheld a people
groaning beneath the lash of the taskmasters, and
He uttered those memorable accents, "Let My peo-
ple go ; " and, having so said, He proceeded to count
them up, as much as to say, These are Mine ; let Me
see how many I have, that not one may be left be-
hind. "He taketh up the beggar from the dunghill,
to set him amongst the princes of His people, and
to make him inherit the throne of glory." ( 1 Sam. ii. )
CHAPTERS VII XI.
THESE five chapters form one distinct section,
the contents of which may be distributed into
the three following divisions, namely, the ten judg-
ments from the hand of Jehovah, the resistance of
" Jannes and Jambres," and the four objections of
Pharaoh.
96 EXODUS.
The whole land of Egypt was made to trem"ble
beneath the successive strokes of the rod of God.
All, from the monarch on His throne to the menial
at the mill, were made to feel the terrible weight of
that rod. "He sent Moses His servant, and Aaron
whom He had chosen. They showed His signs
among them, and wonders in the land of Ham. He
sent darkness and made it dark ; and they rebelled
not against His word. He turned their waters into
?5
blood, and slew their fish. Their land brought forth
frogs in abundance, in the chambers of their kings.
He spake, and there came divers sorts of flies and
lice in all their coasts. He gave them hail for rain,
and flaming fire in their land. He smote their vines
also, and their fig-trees ; and brake the trees of their
coasts. He spake, and their locusts came, and the
caterpillars, and that without number, and did eat
up all the herbs in their land, and devoured the
fruit of their ground. He smote also all the first-
born in their land, the chief of all their strength."
(Ps. cv. 26-36.)
Here the inspired Psalmist has given a condensed
view of those appalling inflictions which the hardness
of Pharaoh's heart brought upon his land and upon
his people. This haughty monarch had set himself
to resist the sovereign will and course of the Most
High God ; and, as a just consequence, he was given
over to judicial blindness and hardness of heart.
"And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and
he hearkened not unto them, as the Lord had spoken
unto Moses. And the Lord said unto Moses, 'Rise
CHAPTERS VII-XI. 97
up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh,
and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of the
Hebrews, Let My people go^ that they may serve Me.
For I will at this time send all My plagues upon
thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy
people ; that thou mayest know that there is none
like Me in all the earth. For now I will stretch out
My hand that I may smite thee and thy people with
pestilence ; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth.
And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee
up, for to show in thee My power, and that My name
may be declared throughout all the earth.' " (Exod.
ix. 12-16.)
In contemplating Pharaoh and his actings, the
mind is carried forward to the stirring scenes of the
book of Revelation, in which we find the last proud
oppressor of the people of God bringing down upon
his kingdom and upon himself the seven vials of the
wrath of the Almighty. It is God's purpose that
Israel shall be pre-eminent in the earth ; and, there-
fore, every one who presumes to stand in the way of
that pre-eminence must be set aside. Divine grace
must find its object ; and every one who would act
as a barrier in the way of that grace, must be taken
out of the way, whether it be Egypt, Babylon, or
"the beast that was, is not, and yet is," it matters
not. Divine power will clear the channel for divine
grace to flow, and eternal woe be to all who stand in
the way. They shall taste, throughout the everlast-
ing course of ages, the bitter fruit of having exalted
themselves against " the Lord God of the Hebrews."
98 EXODUS.
He lias said to His people, "No weapon that is
formed against tliee shall prosper," and His infalli-
ble faithfulness will assuredly make good what His
infinite grace hath promised.
Thus, in Pharaoh case, when he persisted in hold-
ing, with an iron grasp, the Israel of God, the vials
of divine wrath were poured forth upon him ; and
the land of Egypt was covered, throughout its entire
length and breadth, with darkness, disease, and des-
olation. So will it be by and by, when the last great
oppressor shall emerge from the bottomless pit,
armed with satanic power, to crush beneath his
"foot of pride" the favored objects of Jehovah's
choice. His throne shall be overturned, his kingdom
devastated by the seven last plagues, and, finally,
he himself plunged, not in the Red Sea, but "in the
lake that burneth with fire and brimstone." (Comp.
Eev. xvii. 8; xx. 10.)
Not one jot or one tittle of what God has prom-
ised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob shall fail. He
will accomplish all. Notwithstanding all. that has
been said and done to the contrary, God remembers
His promises, and He will fulfill them. They are all
"yea and amen in Christ." Dynasties have risen
and acted on the stage of this world ; thrones have
been erected on the apparent ruins of Jerusalem's
ancient glory ; empires have flourished for a time, and
then fallen to decay ; ambitious potentates have con-
tended for the possession of "the land of promise"
all these things have taken place ; but Jehovah has
said concerning Palestine, "The land shall not be
CHAPTERS VII-XI. 99
sold forever: for the land is Mine." (Lev. xxv. 23.)
No one, therefore, shall ever finally possess that land
but Jehovah Himself, and He will inherit it through
the seed of Abraham. One plain passage of Scripture
is quite sufficient to establish the mind in reference
to this or any other subject. The land of Canaan is
for the seed of Abraham, and the seed of Abraham
for the land of Canaan ; nor can any power of earth
or hell ever reverse this divine order. The eternal
God has pledged His word, and the blood of the
everlasting covenant has flowed to ratify that word.
Who, then, shall make it void ? " Heaven and earth
shall pass away, but that word shall never pass
away." Truly, " there is none like unto the God of
Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in, thy help,
and in His excellency on the sky. The eternal God
is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting
arms ; and He shall thrust out the enemy from before
thee ; and shall say, Destroy them. Israel then shall
dwell in safety alone : the fountain of Jacob shall be
upon a land of corn and wine ; also his heavens shall
drop down dew. Happy art thou, O Israel, who is
like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the
shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy ex-
cellency ! and thy enemies shall be found liars unto
thee ; and thou shalt tread upon their high places."
(Deut. xxxiii. 26-29.)
We shall now consider, in the- second place, the
opposition of u Jannes and Jambres," the magicians
of Egypt. We should not have known the names of
these ancient opposers of the truth of God, had they
100 EXODUS.
not been recorded by the Holy Ghost, in connection
with "the perilous times" of which the apostle Paul
warns his son Timothy. It is important that the
Christian reader should clearly understand the real
nature of the opposition given to Moses by those
magicians, and in order that he may have the subject
fully before him, I shall quote the entire passage
from St. Paul's epistle to Timothy. It is one of
deep and awful solemnity.
"This know also, that in the last days perilous
times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their
own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers,
disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without
natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, in-
continent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures
rather than lovers of God ; having a form of godli-
ness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn
away. For of this sort are they which creep into
houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins,
led away with divers lusts, ever learning, and never
able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now
as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these
also resist the truth : men of corrupt minds, repro-
bate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed
no further ; for their folly shall be manifest unto all,
as theirs also was." (2 Tim. iii. 1-9.)
Now, it is peculiarly solemn to mark the nature of
this resistance to the truth. The mode in which
"Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses" was simply
by imitating, as far as they were able, whatever he
CHAPTERS VII XI. 101
did. We do not find that they attributed his actings
to a false or evil energy, but rather that they sought
to neutralize their power upon the conscience, by
doing the same things. What Moses did they could
do, so that after all there was no great difference.
One was as good as the other. A miracle is a mir-
acle. If Moses wrought miracles to get the people
out of Egypt, they could work miracles to keep them
in ; so where was the difference ?
From all this we learn the solmen truth that the
most satanic resistance to God's testimony in the
world is offered by those who, though they imitate
the effects of the truth, have but "the form of god-
liness," and "deny the power thereof." Persons of
this class can do the same things, adopt the same
habits and forms, use the same phraseology, profess
the same opinions as others. If the true Christian,
constrained by the love of Christ, feeds the hungry,
clothes the naked, visits the sick, circulates the
Scriptures, distributes tracts, supports the gospel,
engages in prayer, sings praise, preaches the gospel,
the formalist can do every one of these things ; and
this, be it observed, is the special character of the
resistance offered to the truth "in the last days"
this is the spirit of "Jannes and Jambres." How
needful to understand this ! How important tore-
member that, "as Jannes and Jambres withstood
Moses, so do" those self-loving, world -seeking,
pleasure-hunting professors 4 'resist the truth. ' ' They
would not be without "a form of godliness;" but,
while adopting "the form," because it is customary,
102 EXODUS.
they hate "the power," because it involves self-
denial. "The power" of godliness involves the
recognition of God's claims, the implanting of His
kingdom in the heart, and the consequent exhibition
thereof in the whole life and character ; but the
formalist knows nothing of this. "The power" of
godliness could never comport with any one of those
hideous features set forth in the foregoing quotation ;
but "the form," while it covers them over, leaves
them wholly unsubdued ; and this the formalist likes.
He does not want his lusts subdued, his pleasures
interfered with, his passions curbed, his affections
governed, his heart purified. He wants just as much
religion as w r ill enable him "to make the best of both
worlds." He knows nothing of giving up the world
that is, because of having found " the world to
come."
In marking the forms of Satan's opposition to the
truth of God, we find that his method has ever been,
first, to oppose it by violence ; and then, if that did
not succeed, to corrupt it by producing a counter-
feit. Hence, lie first sought to slay Moses (Chap,
ii. 15.), and having failed to accomplish his purpose,
he sought to imitate his works.
Thus, too, has it been in reference to the truth
committed to the Church of God. Satan's early
efforts showed themselves in connection with the
wrath of the chief priests and elders, the judgment-
seat, the prison, and the sword. But in the passage
just quoted from 2 Timothy, we find no reference to
any such agencj^. Open violence has made way for
CHAPTERS VII-XI. 103
the far more wily and dangerous instrumentality of
a powerless form, an empty profession, a human
counterfeit. The enemy, instead of appearing with
the sword of persecution in his hand, walks about
with the cloak of profession on his shoulders. He
professes and imitates that which he once opposed
and persecuted ; and, by so doing, gains most ap-
palling advantages for the time being. The fearful
forms of moral. evil which, from age to age, have
stained the page of human history, instead of being
found only where we might naturally look for them,
amid the dens and caves of human darkness, are to
be found carefully arranged beneath the drapery of
a cold, powerless, uninfluential profession ; and this
is one of Satan's grand masterpieces.
That man, as a fallen, corrupt creature, should
love himself, be covetous, boastful, proud, and the
like, is natural ; but that he should be all these be-
neath the fair covering of "a form of godliness,"
marks the special energy of Satan in his resistance
to the truth in "the last da}'s." That man should
stand forth in the bold exhibition of those hideous
vices, lusts, and passions which are the necessary
results of departure from the source of infinite holi-
ness and purity, is only what might be expected, for
man will be what he is to the end of the chapter.
But on the other hand, when we rind the holy name
of the Lord Jesus Christ connected with man's
wickedness and deadly evil, when we find holy
principles connected with unholy practices, when
we find all the characteristics of Gentile corruption,
104 EXODUS.
referred to in the first chapter of Romans, associated
with u a form of godliness," then, truly, we may
say , these are the terrible features of ' ' the last days ' '
this is the resistance of " Jannes and Jambres."
However, there were only three things in which
the magicians of Egypt were able to imitate the
servants of the true and living God, namely, in turn-
ing their rods into serpents (Chap. vii. 12.), turning
the water into blood (Chap. vii. 22.), and bringing
up the frogs (Chap. viii. 7.); but in the fourth,
which involved the exhibition of life, in connection
with the display of nature's humiliation, they were
totally confounded, and obliged to own, "This is
the finger of God." (Chap. viii. 16-19.) Thus it
is also with the latter-day resisters of the truth. All
that they do is by the direct energy of Satan, and
lies within the range of his power. Moreover, its
specific object is to " resist the truth."
The three things which " Jannes and Jambres"
were able to accomplish were characterized by sa-
tanic energy, death, and uncleanness ; that is to say,
the serpents, the blood, and the frogs. Thus it was
they "withstood Moses;" and "so do these also
resist the truth," and hinder its moral weight and
action upon the conscience. There is nothing which
so tends to deaden the power of the truth as the fact
that persons who are not under its influences at all,
do the self-same things as those who are. This is
Satan's agency just now. He seeks to have all
regarded as Christians. He would fain make ns be-
lieve ourselves surrounded by "a Christian world ; "
CHAPTERS VII -XI. . 105
but it is counterfeit Christianity, which, so far from
being a testimony to the truth, is designed by the
enemy of the truth, to withstand its purifying and
elevating influence.
In short, the servant of Christ and the witness for
the truth is surrounded, on all sides, by the spirit
of u Jannes and Jambres ; " and it is well for him to
remember this to know thoroughly the evil with
which he has to grapple to bear in mind that it is
Satan's imitation of God's reality, produced, not
by the wand of an openly- wicked magician, but by
the actings of false professors, who have "a form
of godliness, but deny the po\ver thereof," who do
tilings apparently right and good, but who have
neither the life of Christ in their souls, the love of
God in their hearts, nor the power of the Word in
their consciences.
"But," adds the inspired apostle, "they shall
proceed no further, for their folly shall be mani-
fested unto all, as theirs also was." Truly the
"folly" of u Jannes and Jambres" was manifest
unto all, when they not only failed to imitate the
further actings of Moses and Aaron, but actually
became involved in the judgments of God. This is
a solemn point. The folly of all who arc merely
possessed of the form will, in like manner, be made
inanifest. They will not only be quite unable to
imitate the full and proper effects cf divine life and
power, but they themselves become the subjects of
those judgments which will result from the rejection
of that truth which they have resisted.
100 EXODUS.
Will any one say that all this has no voice for a
day of powerless profession ? Assuredly it has. It
should speak to each conscience in living power ; it
should tell on each heart, in accents of impressive
solemnity. It should lead each one to inquire seri-
ously whether he is testifying for the truth, by walk-
ing in the power of godliness, or hindering it, and
neutralizing its action, by having only the form. The
effect of the power of godliness will be seen by our
"continuing in the things. which we have learned."
None will continue, save those who are taught of
God; those, by the power of the Spirit of God,
have drunk in divine principle, at the pure fountain
of inspiration.
Blessed be God, there are many such throughout
the various sections of the professing Church. There
are manjr, here and there, whose consciences have
been bathed in the atoning blood of "the Lamb of
God," whose hearts beat high with genuine attach-
ment to His Person, and whose spirits are cheered
by "that blessed hope" of seeing Him as He is, and
of being eternally conformed to His image. It is
encouraging to think of such. It is an unspeakable
mercy to have fellowship with those who can give a
reason of the hope that is in them, and for the posi-
tion which they occupy. May the Lord add to their
number daily. May the power of godliness spread'
far and wide in these last days, so that a bright and
well-sustained testimony may be raised to the name
of Him who is worthy.
The third point in our section yet remains to be
CHAPTERS, VII-XI. 107
considered, namely, Pharaoh's four subtle objections
to the full deliverance and complete separation of
God's people from the land of Egypt. The first of
these we have in chapter viii. 25. "And Pharaoh
called for Moses and Aaron, and said, 'Go ye, sacri-
fice to your God in the land. " ' It is needless to remark
here, that whether the magicians withstood, or Pha-
raoh objected, it w r as, in reality, Satan that stood
behind the scenes ; and his manifest object, in this
proposal of Pharaoh, was to hinder the testimony to
the Lord's name a testimony connected with the
thorough separation of His people from Egypt.
There could evidently be no such testimony had they
remained in Egypt, even though they were to sac-
rifice to Him. They would -have taken common
ground with the uncircumcised Egyptians, and put
Jehovah on a level with the gods of Egypt. In this
case, an Egyptian could have said to an Israelite,
I see no difference between us ; you have your wor-
ship and we have ours ; it is all alike.
As a matter of course, men think it quite right
for every one to have a religion, let it be what it
may. Provided we are sincere, and do not interfere
with our neighbor's creed, it does not matter what
shape our religion may happen to wear. Such are
the thoughts of men in reference to what they call
religion ; but it is very obvious that the glory of the
name of Jesus finds no place, in all this. The de-
mand for separation is that which the enemy will
ever oppose, and which the lieart of man cannot
understand. The heart may crave religiousness, be^
108 EXODUS.
cause conscience testifies that all is not right ; but
it craves the world as well. It would like to "sac-
rifice to God in the land;" and Satan's object is
gained when people accept of a worldly religion, and
refuse to "come out and be separate." (2 Cor. vi.)
His unvarying purpose from the beginning has been
to hinder the testimony to God's name on the earth.
Such was the dark tendency of the proposal, "Go
ye, sacrifice to your God in the land." What a com-
plete damper to the testimony, had this proposal
been acceded to ! God's people in Egypt and God
Himself linked with ttie idols of Egypt ! Terrible
blasphemy !
Reader, we should deeply ponder this. The effort
to induce Israel to worship God in Egypt reveals a
far deeper principle than we might, at first sight,
imagine. The enemy would rejoice, at any time,
by any means, or under any circumstances, to get
even the semblance of divine sanction for the world's
religion. He has no objections to such religion. He
gains his end as effectually by what is termed "the
religious world" as by any other agency; and
hence, when he can succeed in getting a true Chris-
tian to accredit the religion of the day, he gains a
grand point. As a matter of actual fact, one knows
that nothing elicits such intense indignation as the
divine principle of separation from this present evil
world. You may hold the same opinions, preach
the same doctrines, do the same work ; but if you
only attempt, in ever so feeble a manner, to act
upon the divine commands, "From such turn away"
CHAPTEKS VII-XI. 109
(2 Tim. iii. 5.), and "Come out from among them"
(2 Cor. vi. 17.), you may reckon assuredly upon the
most vigorous opposition. Now how is this to be
accounted for ? Mainly by the fact that Christians,
in separation from this world's hollow religiousness,
bear a testimony for Christ which they never can
bear while connected with it.
There is a very wide difference between human
religion and Christ. A poor, benighted Hindoo
might talk to you of his religion, but he knows no-
thing of Christ. The apostle does not say, If there
be any consolation in religion ; though, doubtless,
the votaries of each kind of religion find what they
deem consolation therein. Paul, on the other hand,
found his consolation in Christ, having fully proved
the worthlessness of religion, and that, too, in its
fairest and most imposing form. (Comp. Gal. i. 13,
14; Phil. iii. 4-11.)
True, the Spirit of God speaks to us. of "pure
religion and undefined;" but the unregenerate man
cannot, by any means, participate therein ; for how
could he possibly take part in aught that is c fc pure
and undefiled"? This religion is from heaven, the
source of all that is pure and lovely ; it is exclusively
before the eye of "God and the Father;" it is for
the exercise of the functions of that new nature with
which all are endowed who believe on the name of
the Son of God. (John i. 12, 13 ; James i. 18 ;
1 Peter i. 23 ; 1 John v. 1.) Finally, it ranges
itself under the two comprehensive heads of act-
ive benevolence and personal holiness, "To visit
110 EXODUS.
the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and
to keep himself unspotted from the world." (James
i. 27.)
Now, if you go through the entire catalogue of the
genuine fruits of Christianity, you will find them all
classed under these two heads ; and it is deeply
interesting to observe that, whether we turn to the
eighth of Exodus or to the first of James, we find
separation from the world put forward as an indis-
pensable quality in the true service of God. Nothing
could be acceptable before God nothing could re-
ceive from His hand the stamp of "pure and unde-
filed," which was polluted by contact with an "evil
world." " 'Come out from among them, and be ye
separate,' saith the Lord, c and touch not the unclean
thing ; and I will receive you, and will be a Father
unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters,'
saith the Lord Almighty." (2 Cor. vi. 17, 18.)
There was no meeting-place for Jehovah and His
redeemed in Egypt ; yea, with them, redemption
and separation from Egypt were one and the same
thing. God had said, "I am come down to deliver
them," and nothing short of this could either satisfy
or glorify Him. A salvation which would have left
them still in Egypt could not possibly be God's
salvation. Moreover, we must bear in mind that
Jehovah's purpose in the salvation of Israel, as well
as in the destruction of Pharaoh, was, that u His
name might be declared throughout all the earth ; "
and what declaration could there be of that name or
character were His people to attempt to worship Him
CHAPTERS VII-XI. Ill
in Egypt ? Either none whatever or an utterly false
one. Wherefore it was essentially necessary, in
order to the full and faithful declaration of God's
character, that His people should be wholly delivered
and completely separated from Egypt ; and it is as
essentially necessary now, in order to a clear and
unequivocal, testimony for the Son of God, that all
who are really His should be separated from this
present world. Such is the will of* God; and for
this end Christ gave Himself. u Grace unto you
and peace from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus
Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might
deliver us from this present evil world, according to
the will of God and our Father ; to whom be glory
forever and ever. Amen." (Gal. i. 3-5.)
The Galatians were beginning to accredit a carnal
and worldly religion a religion of ordinances a
religion of "days, and months, and times, and
years;" and the apostle commences his epistle by
telling them that the Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself
for the purpose of delivering His people from that
very thing. God's people must be separate, not, by
any means., on the ground of their superior personal
sanctity, but because they are His people, and in
order that they may rightly and intelligently answer
His gracious end in taking them into connection
with Himself, and attaching His name to them. A
people still amid the defilements and abominations
of Egypt could not have been a witness for the Holy
One ; nor can any one now, while mixed up with the
defilements of a corrupt worldly religion, possibly
112 EXODUS.
be a bright and steady witness for a crucified and
risen Christ.
The answer given by Moses to Pharaoh's first
objection was a truly memorable one. "And Moses
said, 'It is not meet so to do ; for we shall sacrifice
the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our
God ; lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the
Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone
us ? We will go three days' journey into the wilder-
ness, and sacrifice to the Lord our God, as He shall
command us.' " (Chap. viii. 2G, 27.) Here is true
separation from Egypt "three days' journey."
Nothing less than this could satisfy faith. The
Israel of God must be separated from the land of
death and darkness, in the power of resurrection.
The waters of the Red Sea must roll between God's
redeemed and Eg3^pt ere they can properly sacrifice
to Jehovah. Had they remained in Egypt, they
would have to sacrifice to the Lord the very objects
of Egypt's abominable worship.* This would never
do. There could be no tabernacle, no temple, no
altar, in Egypt. It had no site, throughout its entire
limits, for aught of that kind. In point of fact, as
we shall see further on, Israel never presented so
much as a single note of praise until the whole con-
gregation stood, in the full power of an accomplished
redemption, on Canaan's side of the Red Sea. Ex-
actly so is it now. The believer must know where
the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ
*The word "abomination" has reference to that which the
Egyptians worshiped.
CHAPTERS VIT-XI. 113
have forever set him, ere he c|
worshiper, an acceptable
witness.
It is not a question of beir
as such, a saved person.
God are very far from knowing
regards themselves, of the death and resurrection of
Christ. They do not apprehend the precious truth,
that the death of Christ has made an end of their
sins forever, and that they are the happy partakers
of His resurrection life, with which sin can have
nothing whatever to do. Christ became a curse for
us, not, as some would teach us, by being born under
the curse of a broken law, but by hanging on a tree.
(Compare, attentively, Deut. xxi. 23; Gal. iii. 13.)
We were under the curse because we had not kept
the law ; but Christ, the perfect Man, having magni-
fied the law and made it honorable, by the very fact
of His obeying it perfectly, became a curse for us
by hanging on the tree. Thus, in His life He mag-
nified God's law, and in His death He bore our
curse. There is therefore now no guilt, no curse,
no wrath, no condemnation for the believer ; and,
albeit, he must be manifested before the judgment-
seat of Christ; but even there the question of sin'
is not raised. The cross of Christ has settled that
forever ; so that it is written of those that believe,
"And their sins and iniquities will I remember no
more." (Heb. x. 17.) The Christian's whole course
must indeed be manifested before the judgment-
seat of Christ ; but the Judge Himself has put away
114 EXODUS.
all his sins, and is his righteousness, so that the
judgment-seat cannot but be friendly to him. He
surely will not condemn His own work. The right-
eousness that was required, God Himself has pro-
vided it. He surely will not find any flaw therein.
The light of the judgment-seat will be bright enough
to disperse every mist and cloud which might tend
to obscure the matchless glories and eternal virtues
which belong to the cross, and to show that the
believer is "clean every whit." (John xiii. 10;
xv. 3; Eph. v. 27.)
It is because these foundation,- truths are not laid
hold of in the simplicity of faith that many of the
children of God complain of their lack of settled
peace the constant variation in their spiritual con-
dition the continual ups and downs in their experi-
ence. Every doubt in the heart of a Christian is a
dishonor done to the Word of God and the sacrifice
of Christ. It is because he does not, even now, bask
in the light which shines from the cross of Christ,
that he is ever afflicted with a doubt or a fear.
And yet those tilings which so many have to deplore
those fluctuations and waverings are but trifling
consequences, comparatively, inasmuch as they mere-
ly affect their experience. The effect produced upon
their worship, their service, and their testimony, is
far more serious, inasmuch as the Lord's honor is
concerned. But, alas ! this latter is but little thought
of, generally speaking, simply because personal sal-
vation is the grand object the aim and end with
the majority of professing Christians. We are prone
CHAPTERS VII-XI. 115
to look upon everything that affects ourselves as
essential ; whereas, all that merely affects the glory of
Christ in and by us is counted non-essential.
However, it is well to see with distinctness, that
the same truth which gives the soul settled peace,
puts it also into the position of intelligent worship,
acceptable service, and effectual testimony. In the
fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians; the apostle sets
forth the death and resurrection of Christ as the
grand foundation of everything. " Moreover, breth-
ren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached
unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein
ye stand ; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in
memory what I preached unto you, unless } T e have
believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of
all that which I also received, how that Christ died
for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He
was buried, and that He rose again the third day
according to the Scriptures." (Ver. 1-4.) Here is
the gospel in one brief and comprehensive statement.
A dead and risen Christ is the ground- work of sal-
vation. 4; He was delivered for our offences, and
raised again, for our justification." (Rom. iv. 25.)
To see Jesus, by the eye of faith, nailed to the cross,
and seated on the throne, must give solid peace to
the conscience and perfect liberty to the heart. We
can look into the tomb, and see it empty ; we can
look up to the throne, and see it occupied, and go
on our way rejoicing. The Lord Jesus settled every-
thing on the cross on behalf of His people ; and the
proof of this settlement is that He is now at the
116 EXODUS.
right hand of God. A risen Christ is the eternal
proof of an accomplished redemption ; and if re-
demption is an accomplished fact, the believer's
peace is a settled reality. We did not make peace,
and never could make it ; indeed, any effort on our
part to make peace could only tend more fully to
manifest us as peace-breakers. But Christ, having
made peace by the blood of His cross, has taken His
seat on high, triumphant over every enemy. By Him,
God preaches peace. The word of the gospel con-
veys this peace ; and the soul that believes the gospel,
has peace settled peace before God, for Christ is
his peace. (See Acts x. 36 ; Rom. v. 1 ; Eph. ii. 14 ;
Col. i. 20.) In this way, God has not only satisfied
His own claims, but, in doing so, He lias found out
a divinely righteous vent through which His bound-
less affections may flow down to the guiltiest of
Adam's guilty prog*eny.
Then, as to the practical result of all this. The
cross of Christ has not only put away the believer's
sins, but also dissolved forever his connection with
the world ; and, on the ground of this, he is privi-
leged to regard the world as a crucified thing, and to
be regarded by it as a crucified one. Thus it stands
with the believer and the world, it is crucified to
him and he to it. . This is the real, dignified position
of every true Christian. The world's judgment
about Christ was expressed in the position in which
it deliberately placed Him. It got its choice as to
whether it would have a murderer or Christ. It
allowed the murderer to go free, but nailed Christ to
CHAPTERS VII-XI. 117
the cross, between two thieves. Now, if the believer
walks in the footprints of Christ if he drinks into
and manifests His spirit, he will occupy the very
same place in the world's estimation ; and, in this
wa} T , he will not merely know that, as to standing
before God, he is crucified with Christ, but be led to
realize it in his walk and experience every day.
But while the cross has thus effectually cut the
connection between the believer and the world, the
resurrection has brought him into the power of new
ties and associations. If in the cross we see the
world's judgment about Christ, in resurrection we
see God's judgment. The world crucified Him, but
"God hath highly exalted Him." Man gave Him
the very lowest, God the very highest, place ; and,
inasmuch as the believer is called into full fellowship
with God in His thoughts about Christ, he is enabled
to turn the tables upon the world, and look upon it
as a crucified thing. If, therefore, the believer is on
one cross and the world on another, the moral dis-
tance between the two is vast indeed. And if it is
vast in principle, so should it be in practice. The
world and the Christian should have absolutely
nothing in common ; nor will they, except so far as
he denies his Lord and Master. The believer proves
himself false to Christ to the very same degree that
he has fellowship with the world.
All this is plain enough ; but, my beloved Chris-
tian reader, where does it put us as regards this
world ? Truly, it puts us outside, and that com-
pletely. We are dead to the world and alive with
9
118 EXODUS.
Christ. We are at once partakers of His rejection
by earth and His acceptance in heaven ; and the joy
of the latter makes us count as nothing the trial
connected with the former. To be cast out of earth,
without knowing that I have a place and a portion
on high, would be intolerable ; but when the glories
of heaven fill the soul's vision, a little of earth goes
a great way.
But some may feel led to ask, What is the world?
It would be difficult to find a term more inaccurately
defined than "world," or " worldliness ; " for we are
generally disposed to make worldliness begin a point
or two above where we are ourselves. The Word of
God, however, has, with perfect precision, defined
what "the world" is, when it marks it as that which
is "not of the Father." Hence, the deeper my
fellowship with the Father, the keener will be my
sense of what is worldly. This is the -divine way of
teaching. The more you delight in the Father's
love, "the more you reject the world. But who re-
veals the Father ? The Son. How ? By the power
of the Holy Ghost. Wherefore, the more I am en-
abled, in the power of an ungrieved Spirit, to drink
in the Son's revelation of the Father, the more accu-
rate does my judgment become as to what is of the
woild. It is as the limits of God's kingdom expand
in the heart, that the judgment as to worldliness
becomes refined. You can hardly attempt to define
worldliness. It is, as some one has said, "shaded
off gradually from white to jet black." This is most
true. You cannot place a bound and say, Here is
CHAPTERS VII-XI. 119
where worldliriesa begins; but the keen and exqui-
site sensibilities of the divine nature recoil from it ;
and all we need is, to walk in the power of that
nature, in order to keep aloof from every form of
worldliness. "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not
fulfill the lusts of the flesh.'' Walk with God, and
ye shall not walk with the world. Cold distinctions
and rigid rules will avail nothing. The power of
the divine life is what we want. We want to under-
stand the meaning and spiritual application of the
"three days' journey into the wilderness," whereby
we are separated forever, not only from Egypt's
brick-kilns and taskmasters, but also from its tem-
ples and altars.
Pharaoh's second objection partook very much of
the character and tendency of the first. "And
Pharaoh said, 'I will let you go, that ye may sacri-
fice unto the Lord your God in the wilderness ; only
ye shall not go very far away. 1 " (Chap. viii. 28.) If
he could not keep them in Egypt, he would at least
seek to keep them nearii, so that he might act upon
them by its varied influences. In this way, they
might be brought back again, and the testimony
more effectually quashed than if they had never left
Egypt at all. There is always much more serious
damage done to the cause of Christ by persons
seeming to give up the world and returning to it
again, than if they had remained entirely of it ; for
they virtually confess that, having tried heavenly
things, they have discovered that earthly things are
better and more satisfying.
120 EXODUS.
Nor is this all. The moral effect of truth upon
the conscience of unconverted people is sadly inter-
fered with, by the example of professors going back
again into those tilings which they seemed to have
left. Not that such cases afford the slightest war-
rant to any one for the rejection of God's truth,
inasmuch as each one is personally responsible and
will have to give account of himself to God. Still,
however, the effect in this, as well as in everything
else, is bad. "For if after they have escaped the
pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of
the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again
entangled therein and overcome, the latter end is
worse with them than the beginning. For it would
have been better for them not to have known the
way of righteousness than, after t^hey have known it,
to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto
them." (2 Peter li. 20, 21.)
Wherefore, if people do not "go very far away,"
they had better not go at all. The enemy knew this
well ; and hence his second objection. The main-
tenance of a border position suits his purpose amaz-
ingly. Those who occupy this ground are neither
one thing nor the other ; arid, in point of fact, what-
ever influence they possess, telis entirely in the
wrong direction.
It is deeply important to see that Satan's design,
in all these objections, was to hinder that testimony
to the name of the God of Israel, which could only
be rendered by a " three days' journey into the
wilderness." This was, in good truth, going "very
CHAPTERS VII-XT. 121
far away.'* It was much farther than Pharaoh could
form any idea of, or than he could follow them.
And oh ! how happy it would be if all who profess
to set out from Egypt would really, in the spirit of
their minds and in the tone of their character, go
thus far away from it ; if they would intelligently
recognize the cross and grave of Christ as forming
the boundary between them and the world ! No
man, in the mere energy of nature, can take this
ground. The Psalmist could say, "Enter not into
judgment with Thy servant, for in Thy sight shall no
man living be justified." (Ps. cxliii. 2.) So also is
it with regard to true and effectual separation from
the world. "No man living" can enter into it. It
is only as "dead with Christ," and "risen again with
Him, through faith of the operation of God," that
any one can either be "justified" before God, or
separated from the world. This is what we may call
going "very far away." May all who profess and
call themselves Christians go jthns far. Then will
their lamp yield a steady light. Then would their
trumpet give a certain sound. Their path would be
elevated ; their experience deep and rich ; their peace
would flow as a river ; their affections would be heav-
enly and their garments unspotted. And, far above
all, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ would be
magnified in them, by the power of the Holy Ghost,
according to the will of God their Father.
The third objection demands our most special
attention. "And Moses and Aaron were brought
again unto Pharaoh : and he said unto them, 'Go,
122 EXODUS.
serve the Lord your God ; "but who are they that
shall go ? ' And Moses said, 'We will go with our
young and with our old, with our sons and with our
daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will
we go; for we must hold a feast unto the Lord.'
And he said unto them, 'Let the Lord be so with
you, as I will let you go, and your little ones: look
to it ; for evil is before you. Not so ; go now ye
that are men, and serve the Lord ; for that ye did
desire.' And they were driven out from Pharaoh's
presence." (Chap. x. 8-11.) Here, again, we have
the enemy aiming a deadly blow at the testimony to
the name of the God of Israel. Parents in the wil-
derness and their children in Egypt ! Terrible anom-
aly ! This would only have been a half deliverance,
at once useless to Israel and dishonoring to Israel's
God. This could not be. If the children remained
in Egypt, the parents could not possibly be said to
have left it, inasmuch as their children were part of
themselves. The most that could be said in such a
case was, that in part they were serving Jehovah,
and in part Pharaoh. But Jehovah could have no
part with Pharaoh. He should either have all or
nothing. This is a weighty principle for Christian
parents. May we lay it deeply to heart ! It is our
happy privilege to count on God for our children,
and to "bring them np in the nurture and admoni-
tion of the Lord." (Eph. vi.) We should not be
satisfied with any other portion for "our little ones "
than that which we ourselves enjoy.
Pharaoh's fourth and last objection had reference
CHAPTERS V1T-XI. * 123
to the flocks and herds. "And Pharaoh called unto
Moses, and said, 4 Go ye, serve the Lord ; only let
your flocks and herds be stayed : let your little ones
also go with you/ " (Chap. x. 24.) With what per-
severance did Satan dispute every inch of Israel's
way out of the land of Egypt ! He first sought to
keep them in the land, then to keep them near the
land, next to keep part of themselves in the land,
and finally, when he could not succeed in any of
these three, he sought to send them forth without
any ability to serve the Lord. If he could not keep
the servants, he would seek to keep their ability to
serve, which would answer much the same end. If
he could not induce them to sacrifice in the land, he
would send them out of the land without sacrifices.
In Moses' reply to this last objection, we are fur-
nished with a fine statement of the Lord's paramount
claim upon His people and all pertaining to them.
"And Moses said, l Thou must give us also sacrifices
and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice unto the
Lord our God. Our cattle also shall go with us ;
there shall not a hoof be left behind: for thereof must
we take to serve the Lord our God ; and we know
not with what we must serve the Lord until we come
thither.' " (Ver. 25, 2G.) It is only when the people
of God take their stand, in simple childlike faith,
upon that elevated ground on which death and res-
urrection set them, that they can have anything like
an adequate sense of His claims upon them. "We
know not with what we must serve the Lord until we
come thither." That is, they had no knowledge of
124 EXODUS.
the divine claim, or their responsibility, until they
had gone "three days' journey." These things could
not be known amid the dense and polluted atmos-
phere of Egypt. Redemption must be known as an
accomplished fact, ere there can be any just or full
perception of responsibility. All this is perfect and
beautiful. "If any man will do His will, he shall
know of the doctrine." I must be up out of Egypt,
in the power of death and resurrection, and then,
but not until then, shall I know what the Lord's
service really is. It is when we take our stand, by
faith, in that "large room," that wealthy place into
which the precious blood of Christ introduces us,
when we look around us and survey the rich, rare,
and manifold results of redeeming love, when we
gaze upon the Person of Him who has brought us
into this place, and endowed us with these riches,
then we are constrained to say, in the language of
one of our own poets,
"Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were an offering far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my heart, my life, my all."
"There shall not a hoof be left behind." Noble
words ! Egypt is not the place for aught that per-
tains to God's redeemed. He is worthy of all
"body, soul, and spirit ; " all we are and all we have
belongs to Him. "We are not our own, we are
bought with a price ; ' ' and it is our happy privilege
to consecrate ourselves and all that we possess to
Him whose we are, and Him whom we are called to
CHAPTERS VII-XI. 125
serve. There is naught of a legal spirit in this. The
words, " until we come thither," furnish a divine
guard against this horrible evil. We have traveled
the " three days' journey," ere a word concerning
sacrifice can be heard or understood. We are put
in full and undisputed possession of resurrection
life and eternal righteousness. We have left that
land of death and darkness ; we have been brought
' O
to God Himself, so that we may enjoy Him, in the
energy of that life with which we are endowed, and
in the sphere of righteousness in which we are placed :
thus it is our joy to serve. There is not an affection
in the heart of which He is not worthy ; there is not
a sacrifice in all the flock too costly for His altar.
The more closely we walk with Him, the more we
shall esteem it to be our meat and drink to do His
blessed will. The believer counts it his highest
privilege to serve the Lord. He delights in every
exercise and every manifestation of the divine nature.
He does not move up and down with a grievous yoke
upon his neck, or an intolerable weight upon his
shoulder. The yoke is broken "because of the
anointing," the burden has been forever removed
by the blood of the cross, while he himself walks
abroad, "redeemed, regenerated, and disenthralled,"
in pursuance of those soul-stirring words, "LET
MY PEOPLE GO."
NOTE. We shall consider the contents of chapter xi. in con-
nection with the security of Israel, under the shelter of the
blood of the paschal lamb.
CHAPTER XII.
M 4 KD the Lord said unto Moses, 'Yet will I bring
^JL one plague more upon Pharaoh, and upon
Egypt ; afterwards he will let you go hence : when
he shall let you go, he shall surely thrust you out
hence altogether.' " (Chap. xi. 1.) One more heavy
blow must fall upon this hard-hearted monarch and
his land ere he will be compelled to let go the favored
objects of Jehovah's sovereign grace.
How utterly vain it is for man to harden and exalt
himself against God ; for, truly, He can grind to
powder the hardest heart, and bring down to the
dust the haughtiest spirit. " Those that walk in
pride He is able to abase." (Dan. iv. 37.) Man
may fancy himself to be something ; he may lift up
his head, in pomp and vainglory, as though he were
his own master. Vain man ! how little he knows of
his real condition and character ! He is but the tool
of Satan, taken up and used by him, in his malignant
efforts to counteract the purposes of God. The most
splendid intellect, the most commanding genius, the
most indomitable energy, if not under the direct
control of the Spirit of God, are but so many instru-
ments in Satan's hand to carry forward his dark
designs. No man is his own master ; he is either
governed by Christ or governed by Satan. The king
of Egypt might fancy himself to be a free agent, yet
he was but a tool in the hands of another. Satan
CHAPTER XII. 127
was behind the throne ; and, as the result of Pha-
raoh's having set himself to resist the purposes of
God, he was judicially handed over to the blinding
and hardening influence of his self-chosen master.
This will explain to us an expression occurring
very frequently throughout the earlier chapters of
this book, "The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart."
There is no need whatever for any one to seek to
avoid the full, plain sense of this most solemn state-
ment. If man resists the light of divine testimony,
he is shut up to judicial blindness and hardness of
heart. God leaves him to himself, and then Satan
comes in and carries him headlong to perdition.
There was abundant light for Pharaoh, to show him
the extravagant folly of his course in seeking to
detain those whom God had commanded him to let
go. But the real disposition of his heart was to act
against God, and therefore God left him to himself,
and made him a monument for the display of His
glory "through all the earth." There is no difficulty
in this to any, save those whose desire is to argue
against God "to rush upon the thick bosses of the
shield of the Almighty" to ruin their own immortal
souls.
God gives people, at times, according to the real
bent of their hearts' desire. ". . . . because of
this, God shall send them strong delusion, that they
should believe a lie ; that they all might be damned
who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in un-
righteousness." (2 Thess. ii. 11. 12.) If men will
not have the truth when it is put before them, they
128 EXODUS.
shall assuredly have a lie. If they will not have.
Christ, they shall have Satan ; if they will not have
heaven, they shall have hell.* Will the infidel mind
find fault with this ? Ere it does so, let it prove that
all who are thus judicially dealt with have fully an-
swered their responsibilities. Let it, for instance,
prove, in Pharaoh's case, that he acted, in any
measure, up to the light he possessed. The same is
to be proved in every case. Unquestionably, the
task of proving rests on those who are disposed to
quarrel with God's mode of dealing with the rejecters
of His truth. The simple-hearted child of God will
justify Him, in view of the most inscrutable dispen-
sations ; and even if he cannot meet and satisfac-
torily solve the difficult questions of a sceptical
mind, he can rest perfectly satisfied with this word,
"Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?"
There is far more wisdom in this method of settling
an apparent difficulty, than in the most elaborate
argument ; for it is perfectly certain that the heart
which is in a condition to "reply against God,"
* There is a vast difference between the divine method of dealing
with the heathen (Rom. i.) and with the rejecters of the gospel.
(2 Thess. i. ii.) In reference to the former, we read, "And even as
they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them
over to a reprobate mind : " but with respect to the latter, the word
is, "Because they received not the love of the truth that they might
te saved, God shall send them strong delusion, that they
should believe a lie; that they all might be damned." The heathen
refuse the testimony of creation, and are therefore left to them-
selves. The rejecters of the gospel refuse the full blaze of light
which shines from the cross, and therefore "a strong delusion"
will, ere long, be sent from God upon them. This is deeply solemn
for an age like this, in the which there is so much light and so
much profession.
CHAPTER XII. 129
will not be convinced by the arguments of man.
However, it is God's prerogative to answer all the
proud reasonings, and bring down the lofty imagina-
tions of the human mind. He can write the sentence
of death upon nature, in its fairest forms. "It is
appointed unto men once to die." This cannot be
avoided. Man may seek to hide his humiliation in
various ways, to cover his retreat through the
valley of death in the most heroic manner possible,
to call the last humiliating stage of his career by
the most honorable titles he can devise, to gild the
bed of death with a false light, to adorn the funeral
procession and the grave with the appearance of
pomp, pageantry, and glory, to raise above the
mouldering ashes a splendid monument, on which
are engraven the records of human shame, all these
things he may do ; but death is death after all, and
he cannot keep it off for a moment, or make it aught
else than what it is, namely, "the wages of sin."
The foregoing thoughts are suggested by the
opening verse of chapter xi "One plague more ! "
Solemn word! It signed the death-warrant of
Egypt's first-born "the chief of all their strength."
"And Moses said, 'Thus saith the Lord, About
midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt ; and
all the first-born in the land of Egypt shall die, from
the first-born of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne,
even unto the first-born of the maid-servant that is
behind the mill ; and all the first-born of beasts.
And there shall be a great fry throughout all the
land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor
130 EXODUS.
shall be like it any more.' " (Chap. xi. 4-6.) This
was to be the final plague death in every house.
"But against any of the children of Israel shall not
a dog move his tongue, against man or beast ; that
ye may know how that the Lord doth put a difference
between the Egyptians and Israel." It is the Lord
alone who can, "put a difference" between those
who are His and those who are not. It is not our
province to say to any one, "Stand by thyself; I am
holier than thou: " this is the language of a Phari-
see. "But when God puts a difference," we are
bound to inquire what that difference is ; and, in the
case before us, we see it to be a simple question of
life or death. This is God's grand "difference."
He draws a line of demarkation, and on one side of
this line is "life," on the other "death." Many of
Egypt's first-born might have been as fair and at-
tractive as those of Israel, and much more so ; but
Israel had life and light, founded upon God's coun-
sels of redeeming love, established, as we shall see
presently, by the blood of the lamb. This was
Israel's happy position ; while, on the other hand,
throughout the length and breadth of the land of
Egypt, from the monarch on the throne to the menial
behind the mill, nothing was to be seen but death;
nothing to be heard but the cry of bitter anguish,
elicited by the heavy stroke of Jehovah's rod. God
can bring down the haughty spirit of man. He can
make the wrath of man to praise Him, and restrain
the remainder. "And all these .thy servants shall
come down unto me, and bow down themselves
CHAPTER XII. 131
unto me, saying, Get thee out, and all the people
that follow thee: and after that I will go out."
God will accomplish His own ends. His schemes
of mercy must be carried out at all cost, and con-
fusion of face must be the portion of all who stand
in the way. " O, give thanks unto the Lord; for
lie is good : for His mercy endureth forever. . . .
. . . To Him that smote Egypt in their first-born ;
for His mercy endureth forever: and brought out
Israel from among them ; for His mercy endureth
forever : with a strong hand and with a stretched-olit
arm ; for His mercy endureth forever. "(I* 8 - cxxxvi.)
" And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in
the land of Eg}'pt, saying, 'This month shall be unto
you the beginning of months : it shall be the first
month of the year to you.' " (Chap. xii. 1, 2. ) There
is here a very interesting change in the order of
time. The common or civil year was rolling on in
its ordinary course, when Jehovah interrupted it in
reference to His people, and thus, in principle, taught
them that they were to begin a new era in company
with Him ; their previous history was henceforth to
be regarded as a blank. Redemption was to consti-
tute the first step in real life.
This teaches a plain truth. A man's life is really
of no account until he begins to walk with God, in
the knowledge of full salvation and settled peace,
through the precious blood of the Lamb. Previous
to this, he is, in the judgment of God, and in the
language of Scripture, "dead in trespasses and sins ;"
4 c alienated from the life of God. ' ' His whole history
132 EXODUS.
is a complete blank, even though, in man's account,
it may have been one uninterrupted scene of bus-
tling activity. All that which engages the attention
of the man of this world the honors, the riches,
the pleasures, the attractions of life, so called all,
when examined in the light of the judgment of God,
when weighed in the balances of the sanctuary, must
be accounted as a dismal blank, a worthless void,
utterly unworthy of a place in the records of the
Holy Ghost. "He that believeth not the Son shall
not see life." (John iii. 36.) Men speak of "seeing
life" when they launch forth into society, travel
hither and thither, and see all that is to be seen ;
but they forget that the only true, the only real, the
only divine way to "see life," is to "believe on the
Son of God."
How little do men think of this ! They imagine
that 4 c real life " is at an end when a man becomes a
Christian, in truth and reality, not merely in name and
outward profession ; whereas God's Word teaches us ,
that it is only then we can see life and taste true
happiness. "He that hath the Son, hath life."
(1 John v. 12.) And, again, "Happy is he whose
transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered."
(Ps. xxxii. 1.) We can get life and happiness only
in Christ. Apart from Him, all is death and misery,
in Heaven's judgment, whatever the outward appear-
ance may be. It is when the thick vail of unbelief
is removed from the heart, and we are enabled to
behold, with the eye of faith, the bleeding Lamb,
bearing our heavy burden of guilt upon the cursed
CHAPTER XII. . 133
tree, that we enter upon the path of life, and par-
take of the cup of divine happiness, a life which
begins at the cross, and flows onward into an eternity
of glory, a happiness which, each day, becomes
deeper and purer, more connected with God and
founded on Christ, until we reach its proper sphere,
in the presence of God and the Lamb. To seek life
and happiness in any other way is A r ainer work by
far than seeking to make bricks without straw.
True, the enemy of souls spreads a gilding over
this passing scene, in order that men may imagine
it to be all gold. He sets up many a puppet-show
to elicit the hollow laugh from a thoughtless multi-
tude, who will not remember that it is Satan who is
in the box, and that his object is to keep them from
Christ, and clrag them down into eternal perdition.
There is nothing real, nothing solid, nothing satisfy-
ing, but in Christ. Outside of Him, "all is vanity
and vexation of spirit." In Him alone true and
eternal joys are to be found ; and we only begin to
live when we begin to live m, live o?i, live with, and.
live for Him. "This month shall be unto you the
beginning of months : it shall be the first month of
the year to you." The time spent in the brick-kilns
and by the flesh-pots must be ignored. It is hence-
forth to be of no account, save that the remembrance
thereof should ever and anon serve to quicken and
deepen their sense of what divine grace had accom-
plished on their behalf.
"Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel,
saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall
10
134 EXODUS.
take to them every man a lamb according to the
house of their fathers, a lamb for a house
Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the
first year ; ye shall take it out from the sheep or from
the goats : and ye shall keep it up until the four-
teenth day of the same month; and the whole
assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in
the evening." Here we have the redemption of the
people founded upon the blood of the lamb, in pur-
suance of God's eternal purpose. This imparts to
it all its divine stability. Redemption was no after-
thought with God. Before the world was, or Satan,
or sin before ever the voice of God was heard
breaking the silence of eternity, and calling worlds
into existence, He had His deep counsels of love ;
and these counsels could never find a sufficiently
solid basis in creation. All the blessings, the privi-
leges, and the dignities of creation were founded
upon a creature's obedience, and the moment that
failed, all was gone. But then, Satan's attempt to
mar creation only opened the way for the manifesta-
tion of God's deeper purposes of redemption.
This beautiful truth is typically presented to us in
the circumstance of the lamb's being "kept up"
from the "tenth" to "the fourteenth da}-." That
this lamb pointed to Christ is unquestionable.
1 Cor. v. 7 settles the application of this interesting
type beyond all question, "For even Christ our
passover is sacrificed for us." We have, in the first
epistle of Peter, an allusion to the keeping up of the
lamb, "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not
CHAPTER XII. 135
redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold,
from your vain conversation, received by tradition
from your fathers ; but with the precious blood of
Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without
spot : who verily was foreordained before the founda-
tion of the world, but was manifest in these last times
for you." (Chap. i. 18-20.)
All God's purposes from everlasting had reference
to Christ, and no effort of the enemy^ could possibly
interfere with those counsels ; yea, his efforts only
tended to the display of the unfathomable wisdom
and immovable stability thereof. If the "Lamb
without blemish and without spot" was "foreor-
dained before the foundation of the world," then,
assuredly, redemption must have been in the mind
of God before the foundation of the world. The
blessed One had not to pause in order to devise
some plan to remedy the terrible evil which the
enemy had introduced into His fair creation. No ;
He had only to bring forth, from the unexplored
treasury of His precious counsels, the truth con-
cerning the spotless Lamb, who was foreordained
from everlasting, and to be "manifest in these last
times for us."
There was no need for the blood of the Lamb in
creation as it came fresh from the hand of the
Creator, exhibiting, in every stage and every depart-
ment of it, the beauteous impress of His hand "the
infallible proofs" of "His eternal power and God-
head" (Eom. i.); but when, "by one man," sin
was introduced into the world, then came out the
136 EXODUS.
higher, richer, fuller, deeper thought of redemption
by the blood of the Lamb. This glorious truth first
broke through the thick clouds which surrounded
our first parents, as they retreated from the garden
of Eden ; its glimmerings appear in the types and
shadows of the Mosaic economy ; it burst upon the
world in full brightness when "the dayspring from
on high" appeared in the Person of "God manifest
in the flesh;" and its rich and rare results will be
realized when the white- robed, palm-bearing multi-
tude shall cluster round the throne of God and the
Lamb, and the whole creation shall rest beneath the
peaceful sceptre of the Son of David.
Now, the lamb taken on the tenth day, and kept
up until the fourteenth day, shows us Christ fore-
ordained of God from eternit}^, but manifest for us
in time. God's eternal purpose in Christ becomes
the foundation of the believer's peace. Nothing
short of this would do. We are carried back far
beyond creation, beyond the bounds of time, beyond
the entrance in of sin and eveiything that could
possibly affect the ground-work of our peace. The
expression, "foreordained before the foundation of
the world," conducts us back into the unfathomed
depths of eternity, and shows us God forming His
own counsels of redeeming love, and basing them
all upon the atoning blood of His own precious,
spotless Lamb. Christ was ever the primary thought
in the divine mind ; and hence, the moment He be-
gan to speak or act, He took occasion to shadow
forth that One who occupied the highest place in His
CHAPTER XII. 137
counsels and affections ; and, as we pass along the
current of inspiration, we find that every ceremony,
every rite, every ordinance, and every sacrifice
pointed forward to "the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of the world," and not one more strik-
ingly than the passover. The paschal lamb, with all
the attendant circumstances, forms one of the most
profoundly interesting and deeply instructive types
of Scripture.
In the interpretation of Exodus xii, we have to do
with one assembly and one sacrifice. "The whole
assembly of the congregation of- Israel shall kill it
in the evening." (Ver. G.) It is not so much a
number of families with several lambs a thing quite
true in itself as one assembly and one lamb. Each
house was but the local expression of the whole
assembly gathered round the lamb. The antitype
of this we have in the whole Church of God, gath-
ered by the Holy Ghost, in the name of Jesus, of
which each separate assembly, wherever convened,
should be the local expression.
" And they shall take of the blood, and strike it
on the two side-posts and on the upper door-post of
the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall
cat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and un-
leavened bread ; and with bitter herbs they shall eat
it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water,
but roast with fire ; his head with his legs, and with
the purtenance thereof." (Ver. 7-0.) We have to
contemplate the paschal lamb in two aspects, namely,
as the ground of peace, and the centre of unity.
138 EXODUS.
The blood on the lintel secured Israel's peace.
4 'When I see the blood, I will pass over you."
(Ver. 13.) There was nothing more required in
order to enjoy settled peace, in reference to the
destroying angel, than the application of the blood
of sprinkling. Death had to do its work in every
house throughout the land of Egypt. "It is ap-
pointed unto men once to die." But God, in His
great mercy, found an unblemished substitute for
Israel, on which the sentence of death was executed.
Thus God's claims and Israel's need were met by
one and the same thing, namely, the blood of the
lamb. That blood outside proved that all was
perfectly, because divinely, settled; and therefore
perfect peace reigned within. A shade of doubt in
the bosom of an Israelite would have been a dishonor
offered to the divinely appointed ground of peace
the blood of atonement.
True it is that each one within the blood-sprinkled
door would necessarily feel that 'were he to receive
his due reward, the sword of the destroyer should
most assuredly find its object in him ; but then the
lamb was treated in his stead. This was the solid
foundation of his peace. The judgment that was
due to him fell upon a divinely appointed victim ;
and believing this, he could feed in peace within. A
single doubt would have made Jehovah a liar ; for
He had said, "When /see the blood, I will pass over
you." This was enough. It was no question of
personal worthiness. Self had nothing whatever to
do in the matter. All under the cover of the blood
CHAPTER XII. 139
were safe. They were not merely in a salvable state ;
they were saved. They were not hoping or praying
to be saved ; they knew it as an assured fact, on the
authority of that Word which shall endure through-
out all generations. Moreover, they were not partly
saved and partly exposed .to judgment; they were
wholly saved. The blood of the lamb and the word
of the Lord formed the foundation of Israel's peace
on that terrible night in which Egypt's first-born
were, laid low. If a hair of an Israelite's head could
be touched, it would have proved Jehovah's word
void, and the blood of the lamb valueless.
It is most needful to be simple and clear as to
what constitutes the ground of a sinner's peace in
the presence of God. So many things are mixed
up with the finished work of Christ, that souls are
plunged into darkness and uncertainty as to their
acceptance. They do not see the absolutely settled
character of redemption through the blood of Christ,
in its application to themselves. They seem not to
be aware that full forgiveness of sin rests upon the
simple fact that a full atonement has been offered,
a fact attested, in the view of all created intelligence,
by the resurrection of the sinner's Surety from the
dead. They know that there is no other way of
being saved but by the blood of the cross (but the
devils know this, yet it avails them naught). What
is so much needed is to know that we are saved. The
Israelite not merely knew that there was safety in
the blood ; he knew that he was safe. And why safe ?
Was it because of anything that he had done, or felt,
140 EXODUS.
or thought ? By no means ; but because God had
said, u When I see the blood, I will pass over you."
He rested upon God's testimony: he believed what
God said, because God said it: "he set to his seal
that God was true."
And, observe, my reader, it w r as not by his own
thoughts, feelings, or experiences, respecting the
blood, that the Israelite rested. This would have
been a poor, sandy foundation to rest upon. His
thoughts and feelings might be deep or they might be
shallow ; but, deep or shallow, they had nothing to
do with. the ground of his peace. It was not said,
When you see the blood, and value it as you ought,
I will pass over you. This would have been suffi-
cient to plunge him in dark despair about himself,
inasmuch as it was quite impossible that the human
mind could ever sufficiently appreciate the precious
blood of the lamb. What gave peace was the fact
that Jehovah's eye rested upon the blood, and that
He knew its worth. This tranquilized the heart.
The blood was outside, and the Israelite inside, so
that he could not possibly see it ; but God saw it,
and that was quite enough.
The application of this to the question of a sinner's
peace is very plain. The Lord Jesus Christ having
shed His' precious blood, as a perfect atonement for
sin, has taken it into the presence of God, and
sprinkled it there ; and God's testimony assures the
believing sinner that everything is settled on his
behalf settled not by his estimate of the blood, but
by the blood itself, which God estimates so highly,
CHAPTER XII. 141
that because of it, without a single jot or tittle added
thereto, He can righteously forgive all sin, and accept
the sinner as perfectly righteous in Christ. How
can any one ever enjoy settled peace if his peace
depends upon his estimate of the blood ? Impos-
sible ! The loftiest estimate which the human mind
can form of the blood must fall infinitely short of its
divine preciousness ; and therefore, if our peace
were to depend upon our valuing it as we ought, we
could no more enjoy settled peace than if we were
seeking it by "works of law." There must either
be a sufficient ground of peace in the blood alone,
or we can never have peace. To mix up our estimate
with it, is to upset the entire fabric of Christianity,
just as effectually as if we were to conduct the sinner
to the foot of mount Sinai, and put him under a
covenant of works. Either Christ's atoning sacrifice
is sufficient or it is not. If it is sufficient, why those
doubts and fears ? The words of our lips profess
that the work i3 finished ; but the doubts and fears
of the heart declare that it is not. Every one who
doubts his full and everlasting forgiveness, denies,
so far as he is concerned, the completeness of the
sacrifice of Christ.
But there are very many who would shrink from
the idea of deliberately and avowedly calling in
question the efficacy of the blood of Christ, who,
nevertheless, have not settled peace. Such persons
profess to be quite assured of the sufficiency of the
blood, ?/ only they were sure of an interest therein
if only they had the right kind of faith. There are
142 EXODUS.
many precious souls in this unhappy condition.
They are occupied with their interest and their faith,
instead of with Christ's blood and God's w'ord. In
other words, they are looking in at self, instead of
out at Christ. This is not faith ; and, as a conse-
quence, they have not peace. An Israelite within
the blood-stained lintel could teach such souls a
most seasonable lesson. He was not saved by his
interest in, or his thoughts about, the blood, but
simply by the blood. No doubt lie had a blessed
interest in it, and he would have his thoughts like-
wise ; but then God did not say, When I see your
interest in the blood, I will pass over you. Oh, no!
THE BLOOD, in all its solitary dignity and divine
efficacy, was set before Israel ; and had they at-
tempted to place even a morsel of unleavened bread
beside the blood, as a ground of security, they would
have made Jehovah a liar, and denied the sufficiency
of His remedy.
We are ever prone to look at something in or
connected with ourselves as ne'cessary, in order to
make up, with the blood of Christ, the ground-work
of our peace. There is a sad lack of clearness and
soundness on this vital point, as is evident from
the doubts and fears with which so many of the
people of God are afflicted. We are apt to regard
the fruits of the Spirit in us, rather than the work of
Christ for us, as the foundation of peace. We shall
see, presently, the place which the work of the Holy
Spirit occupies in Christianity ; but it is never set
forth in Scripture as being that on which our peace
CHAPTER XII. 143
reposes. The Holy Ghost did not make peace, but
Christ did. The Holy Ghost is not said to be our
peace, but Christ is. God did not send preaching
peace by the Holy Ghost, but by Jesus Christ.
(Comp. Acts x. 36 ; Eph. ii. 14, 17 ; Col, i. 20.) My
reader cannot be too simple in his apprehension of
this important distinction. It is the blood of Christ
which gives peace, imparts perfect justification
divine righteousness, purges the conscience, brings
us into the holiest of all; justifies God in receiving
the believing sinner, and constitutes our title to all
the joys, the dignities, and the glories of heaven.
(See Rom. iii. 24-26; v. 9; Eph. ii. 13-18; Col. i.
20-22; Heb. ix. 14; x. 19 ; 1 Peter i. 19; ii. 24;
1 Johni. 7; Rev. vii. 14-17.)
It will not, I fondly hope, be supposed that, in
seeking to put "the precious blood of Christ" in
its divinely appointed place, I would w r rite a single
line which might N seem to detract from the value
of the Spirit's operations. God forbid. The Holy
Ghost reveals Christ ; makes us to know, enjoy, and
feed upon Christ ; He bears witness to Christ ; He
takes of the things of Christ and shows them unto
us. He is the power of communion, the seal, the
witness, the earnest, the unction. In short, His
blessed operations are absolutely essential. Without
Him, we can neither see, hear, know, feel, experience,
enjoy, nor exhibit aught of Christ. This is plain.
The doctrine of the Spirit's operations is clearly laid
down in the Word, and is understood and admitted
by every true and rightly-instructed Christian.
144 EXODUS.
Yet, notwithstanding all this, the work of the
Spirit is not the ground of peace ; for, if it were, we
could not have settled peace until Christ's coming,
inasmuch as the work of the Spirit, in the Church,
will not, properly speaking, be complete till then.
He still carries on His work in the believer. "He"
maketh intercession with groanings which cannot be
uttered." (Rom. viii.) He labors to bring us up to
the predestinated standard, namely, perfect con-
formity, in all things, to the image of "the Son."
He is the sole Author of every right desire, every
holy aspiration, every pure affection, every divine
experience, every sound conviction ; but, clearly,
His work in us will not be complete until we have
left this present scene and taken our place with
Christ in the gloiy. Just as, in the case of Abra-
ham's servant, his work was not complete, in the
matter of Rebecca, until he had presented her to
Isaac.
Not so the work of Christ for us. That is abso-
lutely and eternally complete. He could say, "I
have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to
do." (John xvii. 4.) And, again, "It is finished."
(John xix. 30.) The Holy Ghost cannot yet say He
has finished His work. As the true Vicar of Christ
upon earth, He still labors amid" the varied hostile
influences which surround the sphere of His opera-
tions. He works in the hearts of the people of God
to bring them up, practically and experimentally,
to the divinely appointed standard ; but He never
teaches a soul to lean on His work for peace in the
CHAPTER XII. 145
presence of God. His office is to speak of Jesus.
He does not speak of Himself. u He," says Christ,
"shall receive of Mine and shall show it unto you."
(John xvi. 13, 14.) If, then, it is only by the Spirit's
teaching that any one can understand the true ground
of peace, and if the Spirit never speaks of Himself,
it is obvious that He can only present Christ's work
as the foundation on which the soul must rest for-
ever ; yea, it is in virtue of that work that He takes
up His abode and carries on His marvelous operations
in the believer. He is not our title, though He reveals
that title and enables us to understand and enjoy it.
Hence, therefore, the paschal lamb, as the ground
of Israel's peace, is a marked and beautiful type of
Christ as the ground of the believer's peace. There
was nothing to be added to the blood on the lintel ;
neither is there anything to be added to the blood
on 'the mercy-seat. The "unleavened bread" and
"bitter herbs" were necessary, but not as forming,
either in whole or in part, the ground of peace. They
were for the inside of the house, and formed the
characteristics of the communion there ; but THE
BLOOD OF 'THE LAMB WAS THE FOUNDA-
TION OF EVERYTHING. It saved them from
death, and introduced them into a scene of life, >
light, and peace. It formed the link between God
and His redeemed people. As a people linked with
God, on the ground of accomplished redemption, it
was their high privilege to meet certain responsibili-
ties ; but these responsibilities did not form the link,
but merely flowed out of it.
146 EXODUS.
And I would farther remind my reader that the
obedient life of Christ is not set forth in Scripture as
the procuring cause of our forgiveness. It was His
death upon the cross that opened those everlasting
floodgates of love which else should have remained
pent up forever. If He had remained to this very
hour, going through the cities of Israel, "doing
good/' the vail of the temple would continue tmrent,
to bar the worshiper's approach to God. It was His
death that rent that mysterious curtain "from top to
bottom." It is "by His stripes," not by His obedi-
ent life, that "we are healed ; " and those "stripes"
He endured on the cross, and no where else. His
own words, during the progress of His blessed life,
are quite sufficient to settle this point. "I have a
baptism to be baptized with; and how am I strait-
ened till it be accomplished." (Luke xii. 50.) To
what does this refer but to His death upon the cross,
which was the accomplishment of His baptism and
the opening up of a righteous vent through which
His love might freely flow out to the guilty sons of
Adam ? Again, He says, "Except a corn cf wheat
fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone."
(John xii. 24.) He was that precious "corn of
wheat ; " and He should have remained forever
"alone," even though incarnate, had He not, by
His death upon the accursed tree, removed out of
the way everything that could have hindered the
union of His people with Him in resurrection. "If
it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."
My reader cannot too carefully ponder this subject.
CHAPTER XII. 117
It is one of immense weight and importance. He has
to remember two points in reference to this entire
question, namely, that there could be no union with
Christ, save in resurrection ; and that Christ only
suffered for sins on the cross. We are not to suppose
that incarnation was, by any .means, Christ taking
us into union with Himself. This could not be. How
could sinful flesh be thus united ? The body of sin
had to be destroyed by death. Sin had to be put
away according to the divine requirement ; all the
power of the enemy had to be abolished. How was
all this to be done ? Only by the precious, spotless
Lamb of God submitting to the death of the cross.
"It became Him, for whom are all things, and by
whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto
glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect
through sufferings." (Heb. ii. 10.) " Behold, least
out devils, and I do cures to-day and to-morrow,
and the third day I shall be perfected. ' ' (Luke xiii. 32. )
The expressions "perfect" and "perfected" in the
above passages, do not refer to Christ in His own
Person abstractedly, for He was perfect from all eter-
nity, as Son of God ; and as to His humanity, He
was absolutely perfect likewise. Bwt then, as "the
Captain of salvation" as "bringing many sons unto
glory" as "bringing forth much fruit" as asso-
ciating a redeemed people with Himself, He had to
reach "the third day" in order to be "perfected."
He went down alone into the ' ' horrible pit, and miry
clay ; " but directly He plants His "foot on the rock"
of resurrection, He associates with Himself the
148 EXODUS.
c c many sons. ' ' (Psalm xl. 1-3. ) He fought the fight
alone ; but, as the mighty Conqueror, He scatters
around Him, in rich profusion, the spoils of victory,
that we might gather them up and enjoy them forever.
Moreover, we are not to regard the cross of Christ
as a mere circumstance in a life of sin-bearing. It
was the grand and only scene of sin-bearing. "His
own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree."
(1 Peter ii. 24.) He did not bear them any where
else. He did not bear them in the manger, nor in
the wilderness, nor in the garden ; but ONLY "ON
THE TREE." He never had aught to say to sin,
save on the cross ; and there He bowed His head,
and yielded up His precious life, under the accumu-
lated weight of His people's sins. Neither did He
ever suffer at the hand of God, save on the cross ;
and there Jehovah hid His face from Him because
He was "made sin." (2 Cor. v.)
The above train of thought, and the various pas-
sages of Scripture referred to, may perhaps enable
my reader to enter more fully into the divine power
of the words, " When I see the Uood, I will pass over
you." The lamb needed to be without blemish, no
doubt, for what else could meet the holy eye of
Jehovah ? But had the blood not been shed, there
could have been no passing over, for "without shed-
ding of blood is no remission." (Heb. ix. 22.) This
subject will, the Lord permitting, come more fully
and appropriately before us in the t}^pes of Leviticus.
It demands the prayerful attention of every one who
loves our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.
CHAPTER XII. 149
We shall now consider the second aspect of the
passover, as the centre round which the assembly was
gathered, in peaceful, holy, happy fellowship. Israel
saved by the blood was one thing, and Israel feeding
on the lamb was quite another. They were saved
only by the blood ; but the object round which they
were gathered was, manifestly, the roasted lamb.
This is not, by any means, a distinction without a
difference. The blood of the lamb forms the foun-
dation both of our connection with God, and our
connection with one another. It is as those who are
washed in that blood, that we are introduced to God
and to one another. Apart from the perfect atone-
ment of Christ, there could obviously be no fellowship
either with God or His assembly. Still we must
remember that it is to a living Christ in heaven that
believers are gathered by the Holy Ghost. It is with
a living Head we are connected to "a living stone"
we have come. He is our centre. Having found
peace through His blood, we own Him as our grand
gathering-point and connecting link. "Where two
or three are gathered together in My name, there am
I in the midst of them. ' ' (Matt, xviii. 20. ) The Holy
Ghost is the only Gatherer ; Christ Himself is the
only object to which we are gathered ; and our as-
sembly, when thus convened, is to be characterized
by holiness, so that the Lord our God may dwell
among us. The Holy Ghost can only gather to
Christ. He cannot gather to a system, a name, a
doctrine, or an ordinance. He gathers to a Person,
and that Person is a glorified Christ in heaven. This
11
150 EXODUS.
must stamp a peculiar character on God's assembly.
Men may associate on any ground, round any centre,
or for any object they please ; but when the Holy
Ghost associates, it is on the ground of accomplished
redemption, around the Person of Christ, in order
to form a holy dwelling-place for God.(l Cor. iii. 16.
17 ; vi. 19 ; Eph. ii. 21, 22 ; 1 Pet. ii. 4, 5.)
We shall now look in detail at the principles
brought before us in the paschal feast. The assem-
bly, of Israel, as under the cover of the blood, was
to be ordered by Jehovah in a manner worthy of
Himself. In the matter of safety from judgment,
as we have already seen, nothing was needed but
the blood ; but in the fellowship which flowed out of
this safety, other things were needed which could
not be neglected with impunity.
And first, then, we read, "They shall eat the flesh
in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bre.ad ;
and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of
it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with
fire ; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance
thereof." (Yer. 8, 9.)' The lamb round which the
congregation was assembled, and on which it feasted,
was a roasted lamb a lamb which had undergone
the action of fire. In this we see "Christ our pass-
over" presenting Himself to the action of the fire
of divine holiness and judgment which found in Him
a perfect material. He could say, "Thou hast
proved mine heart ; tliDu hast visited me in the
flight ;. thou hast tried me and shalt find nothing : I
am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress."
CHAPTER XII. 151
(Psalm xvii. 3.) All in Him was perfect. The fire
tried Him, and there was no dross. u His head with
his legs and with the purtenance thereof." That is
to say, the seat of His understanding, His outward
walk, with all that pertained thereto all was sub-
mitted to the action of the fire, and all was entirely
perfect. The process of roasting was therefore deeply
significant, as is every circumstance in the ordinances
of God. Nothing should be passed over, because all
is pregnant with meaning.
"Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water."
Had it been eaten thus, there would have been no
expression of the great truth which it was the divine
purpose to shadow forth ; namely, that our paschal
Lamb was to endure, on the cross, the fire of Jeho-
vah's righteous wrath, a truth of infinite precious-
ness to the soul. We are not merely under the shelter
of the blood of the Lamb, but we feed, by faith,
upon the Person of the Lamb. Many, of us ceme
short here. We are apt to rest satisfied with being
saved by what Christ has done for us, without culti-
vating holy communion with Himself. His loving
heart could never be satisfied with this. He has
brought us nigh to Himself, that we might enjoy Him,
that we might feed on Him, and delight in Him. He
presents Himself to us as the One who has endured,
to the uttermost, the intense fire of the wrath of God,
that He may, in this wondrous character, be the food
of our ransomed souls.
But how was this lamb to be eaten? "With
unleavened bread and bitter herbs." Leaven is in-
152 EXODUS.
variably used, throughout Scripture, as emblematical
of evil. Neither in the Old nor in the New Testament
is it ever used to set forth anything pure, holy, or
good. Thus, in this chapter, c 'the feast of unleavened
bread ' ' is the type of that practical separation from
evil which is the proper result of being washed from
our sins in the blood of the Lamb, and the proper
accompaniment of communion with His sufferings.
Naught but unleavened bread could at all comport
with a roasted lamb. A single particle of that which
was the marked type of evil, would have destroyed
the moral character of the entire ordinance. How
could w^e connect any species of evil with our fellow-
ship with a suffering Christ? Impossible. All who
enter, by the power of the Holy Ghost, into the
meaning of the cross will assuredly, by the same
power, put away leaven from all their borders. c ' For
even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us : there-
fore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither
with the leaven of malice and wickedness ; but with
the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. "(1 Cor.
v. 7, 8.) The feast spoken of in this passage is that
which, in the life and conduct of the Church, corre-
sponds with the feast of unleavened bread. This
latter lasted "seven days ; " and the Church collect-
ively, and the believer individually, are called to walk
in practical holiness, during the seven days, or entire
period, of their course here below ; and this, more-
over, as the direct result of being washed in the blood,
and having communion with the sufferings of Christ.
The Israelite did not put away leaven in order to
CHAPTER XII. 153
be saved, but because he was saved ; and if lie failed
to put away leaven, it did not raise the question of
security through the blood, but simply of fellowship
with the assembly. "Seven days shall there be no
leaven found in your houses : for whosoever eateth
that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off
from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a
stranger, or born in the land." (Ver. 19.) The
cutting off of an Israelite from the congregation
answers precisely to the suspension of a Christian's
fellowship, if he be indulging in that which is contrary
to the holiness of the divine presence. God cannot
tolerate evil. A single unholy thought will interrupt
the soul's communion ; and until the soil contracted
by any such thought is got rid of by confession,
founded on the advocacy of Christ, the communion
cannot possibly be restored. (See 1 John i. 5-10.)
The true-hearted Christian rejoices in this. He can
ever "give thanks at the remembrance of God's
holiness." He would not, if he could, lower the
standard a single hair's breadth. It is his exceeding
joy to walk in company with One who wall not go on,
for a moment, with a single jot or tittle of "leaven."
Blessed be Gocl, we know that nothing can ever
snap asunder the link which binds the true believer
to Him. \Ve are "saved in the Lord/' not with a
temporary or conditional, but "with an everlasting
salvation." But then salvation and communion are
not the same thing. Many are saved who do not
know it ; and many, also, who do not enjoy it. It
is quite impossible that I can enjoy a blood-stained
154 EXODUS.
lintel if I have leavened borders. This is an axiom
in the divine life. May it be written on our hearts !
Practical holiness, though not the basis of our salva-
tion, is intimately connected with our enjoyment
thereof. An Israelite was not saved by unleavened
bread, but by the blood ; and yet leaven would have
cut him off from communion. And as to the Chris-
tian, he is not saved by his practical holiness, but
by the blood ; but if he indulges in evil, in thought,
word, or deed, he will have no true enjoyment of
salvation, and no true communion with the Person
of the Lamb.
This, I cannot doubt, is the secret of much of the
spiritual barrenness and lack of settled peace which
one finds amongst the children of God. They are
not cultivating holiness ; they are not keeping "the
feast of unleavened bread." The blood is on the
lintel, but the leaven within their borders keeps
them from enjoying the security which the blood
provides. The allowance of evil destroys our fellow-
ship, though it does not break the link which binds
our souls eternally to God. Those who belong to
God's assembly must be holy. They have not only
been delivered from the guilt and consequences of
sin, but also from the practice of it, the power of it,
and the love of it. The very fact of being delivered
by the blood of the paschal lamb, rendered Israel
responsible to put away leaven from all their quarters.
They could not say, in the frightful language of the
antinomian, Now that we are delivered, we may
conduct ourselves as we please. By no means. If
CHAPTER XII. 155
they were saved by grace, they were saved to holiness.
The soul that can take occasion, from the freedom
of divine grace and the completeness of the redemp-
tion which is in Christ Jesus, to "continue in sin,"
proves very distinctly that he understands neither
the one nor the other.
Grace not only saves the soul with an everlasting
salvation, but also imparts a nature which delights
in everything that belongs to God, because it is
divine. We are made partakers of the divine nature,
which cannot sin, because it is born of God. To
walk in the energy of this nature is, in reality, to
" keep " the feast of unleavened bread. There is no
"old leaven" nor "leaven of malice and wickedness"
in the new nature, because it is of God, and God is
holy, and "God is love." Hence it is evident that
we do not put away evil from us in order to better
our old nature, which is irremediable ; nor yet to
obtain the new nature, but because we have it. We
have life, and, in the power of that life, we put away
evil. It is only when w r e are delivered from the
guilt of sin that we can understand or exhibit the
true power of holiness. . To attempt it in any other
way is hopeless labor. The feast of unleavened
bread can only be kept beneath the perfect shelter
of the blood.
We may perceive equal significancy and moral
propriety in that which was to accompany the un-
leavened bread, namely, the "bitter herbs." We
cannot enjoy communion with the sufferings of
Christ without remembering what it was which
156 EXODUS.
rendered those sufferings needful, and this remem-
brance must necessarily produce a chastened and
subdued tone of spirit, which is aptly expressed by
the bitter herbs in the paschal feast. If the roasted
lamb expressed Christ's endurance of the wrath of
God in His own Person, on the cross, the bitter
herbs express the believer's recognition of the truth
that He " suffered for us. " "The chastisement of
our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we
are healed." (Isaiah liii. 5.) It is well, owing to
the excessive levity of our hearts, to understand the
deep meaning of the bitter herbs. Who can read
such psalms as the sixth, twenty-second, thirty-
eighth, sixty-ninth, eighty-eighth, and one hundred
and ninth, and not enter, in some measure, into the
meaning of the unleavened bread with bitter herbs ?
Practical holiness of life, with deep subduedness of
soul, must flow from real communion with Christ's
sufferings ; for it is quite impossible that moral evil
and levity of spirit can exist in view of those
Bufferings.
But, it may be asked, is there not a deep joy for
the soul in the consciousness that Christ has borne
our sins ; that He has fully drained, on our behalf,
the cup of God's righteous wrath? Unquestionably.
This is the solid foundation of all our joy. But can
we ever forget that it was for ' 'our sins" He suffered ?
Can we ever lose sight of the soul-subduing truth
that the blessed Lamb of God bowed His head be-
neath the weight of our transgressions ? Surely riot.
We must eat our lamb with bitter herbs, which, be
CHAPTER XII. 157
it remembered, do not set forth the tears of a worth-
less and shallow sentimentality, but the deep and
real experiences of a soul that enters, with spiritual
intelligence and power, into the meaning and into
the practical effect of the cross.
In contemplating the cross, we find in it that which
cancels all our guilt. This imparts sweet peace and
joy. But we find in it also the complete setting
aside of nature the crucifixion of u the flesh" the
death of "the old man." (See Eom. vi. 6 ; Gal. ii.
20; vi. 14; Col. ii. 11.) This, in its practical re-
sults, will involve much that is "bitter" to nature.
It will call for self-denial the mortification of our
members which are on the earth (Col. iii. 5.) the
reckoning of self to be dead indeed unto sin (Rom.
vi.). All these things may seem terrible to look at ;
but when one gets inside the blood-stained door-post,
he thinks quite differently. The very herbs which
to an Egyptian's taste would no doubt have seemed
so bitter, formed an integral part of Israel's redemp-
tion feast. Those who are redeemed by the blood
of the Lamb, who know the joy of fellowship with
Him, esteem it a "feast" to put away evil and to
keep nature in the place of death.
"And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the
morning ; and that which remaineth of it until the
morning ye shall burn with fire." (Yer. 10. ) In this
command, we are taught that the communion of the
congregation was in no wise to be separated from
the sacrifice on which that communion was founded.
The heart must ever cherish the vivid remembrance
158 EXODUS.
that all true fellowship is inseparably connected
with accomplished redemption. To think of having
communion with God on any other ground is to
imagine that He could have fellowship with our evil,
and to think of fellowship with man on any other
ground is but to form an unholy club, from which
nothing could issue but confusion and iniquity. In
a word, all must be founded upon, and inseparably
linked with, the blood. This is the simple meaning
of eating the paschal lamb the same night on which
the blood was shed. The fellowship must not be
separated from its foundation.
What a beauteous picture, then, we have in the
blood-sheltered assembly of Israel, feeding peace-
fully on the roasted lamb, with unleavened bread and
bitter herbs ! No fear of judgment, no fear of the
wrath of Jehovah, no fear of the terrible hurricane
of righteous vengeance which was sweeping vehe-
mently over the land of Egypt, at the midnight hour.
All was profound peace within the blood-stained
lintel. They had no need to fear anything from
without; and nothing within could trouble them,
save leaven, which would have proved a death-blow
to all their peace and blessedness. What a picture
for the Church ! What a picture for the Christian !
May we gaze upon it with an enlightened eye and a
teachable spirit !
However, we are not yet done with this most
instructive ordinance. We have been looking at
Israel's position, and Israel's food, let us now look
at Israel's habit.
CHAPTER XII. 159
"And thus shall ye cat it : with your loins girded,
your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your
hand; and ye shall cat it in haste; it is. the Lord's
passover. ' ' ( Ver. 11.) They were to eat it as a people
prepared to leave behind them the land of death and
darkness, wrath and judgment, to move onward
toward the land of promise their destined inherit-
ance. The blood which had preserved -them from
the fate of Egypt's first-born was also the foundation
of their deliverance from Egypt's bondage ; and
they were now to set out and walk with God toward
the land that flowed with milk and honey. True,
they had not yet crossed the Red Sea, they had not
yet gone the "three days' journey ; " still they were,
in principle, a redeemed people, a separated people,
a pilgrim people, an expectant people, a dependent
people ; and their entire habit was to be in keeping
with their present position and future destiny. The
girded loins bespoke intense separation from all
around them, together with a readiness to serve.
' O
The shod feet declared their preparedness to leave
that scene ; ivhilc the staff was the expressive emblem
of a pilgrim people, in the attitude of leaning on
something outside themselves. Precious character-
istics ! Would that they were more exhibited by
every member of God's redeemed famity.
Beloved Christian reader, let us "meditate on
these things." We have tasted, through grace, the
cleansing efficacy of the blood of Jesus ; as such, it
is our privilege to feed upon His adorable Person
and delight ourselves in His "unsearchable riches ;"
1GO EXODUS.
to have fellowship in His sufferings, and be made
conformable to His death. Oh ! let us, therefore,
be seen with the unleavened bread and bitter herbs,
the girded loins, the shoes and staff. In a word, let
us be marked as a holy people, a crucified people, a
watchful and diligent people, a people manifestly
' 'on our way to God' ' on our way to glory ' 'bound
for the kingdom/' May God grant us to enter into
the depth and power of all these things, so that they
may not be mere theories in our intellects mere
principles of scriptural knowledge and interpretation,
but living, divine realities, known by experience, and
exhibited in the life, to the glory of God.
We shall close this section by glancing, for a mo-
ment, at verses 43-49. Here we are taught that
' - O
while it was the place and privilege of every true
Israelite to eat the passover, yet no uncircumcised
stranger should participate therein. "There shall
no stranger eat thereof all the congrega-
tion of Israel shall keep it." Circumcision was
necessary ere the passover could be eaten. In other
words, the sentence of death must be written upon
nature ere we can intelligently feed upon Christ,
either as the ground of peace or the centre of unhVv.
Circumcision has its antitype in the cross. The male
alone was circumcised ; the female was represented
in the male. So, in the cross, Christ represented
His Church, and hence the Church is crucified with
Christ ; nevertheless she lives by the life of Christ,
known and exhibited on earth, through the power of
the Holy Ghost. ' 'And when a stranger shall sojourn
CHAPTER XII. 161
with thee, and will keep the passover unto the Lord,
let all his males be circumcised, and then let him
come near and keep it ; and he shall be as one that
is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person
shall eat thereof. " ; ' They that are in the flesh can-
not please God." (Rom. viii. 8.)
The ordinance of circumcision formed the grand
boundary' line between the Israel of God and all the
nations that were upon the face of the earth ; and the
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ forms the boundary
between the Church and the world. It matters not,
in the smallest degree, what advantages of person or
position a man possessed, he could have no part
with Israel until he submitted to that flesh-cutting
operation. A circumcised beggar was nearer to God
than an uncircumcised king. So, also, now, there can
be no participation in the joys of God's redeemed,
save by the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ ; and that
cross sweeps away all pretensions, levels all distinc-
tions, and unites all in one holy congregation of
blood- washed worshipers. The cross forms a bound-
ary so lofty, and a defense so impenetrable, that
not a single atom of earth or of nature can cross
over or pass through to mingle itself with ' ' the new
creation." "All things arc of God, who hath
reconciled us to Himself." (2 Cor. v. 18.)
But not only was Israel's separation from all
strangers strictly maintained, in the institution of the
passover ; Israel's unity was also as clearly enforced.
"In one house shall it be eaten : thou shalt not carry
forth aught of the flesh abroad out of the house :
162 EXODUS.
neither shall ye break a bone thereof." (Yer. 4G.)
Here is as fair and beauteous a type as we could have
of the c ' one body and one Spirit. ' ' The Church of
God is one. God sees it as such, maintains it as such,
and will manifest it as such, in the view of angels,
men, and devils, notwithstanding all that has been
done to interfere with that hallowed unity. Blessed
be God, the unity of His Church is as much in His
keeping as is her justification, acceptance, and eter-
nal security. "He keepeth all his bones; not one
of them is broken." (Ps. xxxiv. 20.) And again,
"A bone of Him shall not be broken." (John
xix. 36. ) Despite the rudeness and hard-heartedness
of Rome's soldiery, and despite all the hostile influ-
ences which have been set to work, from a^e to age,
t O O '
the body of Christ is one and its divine unity can
never be broken. "THERE IS ONE BODY AND
ONE SPIRIT ; " and that, moreover, down here on
this very earth. Happy are they who have got faith
to recognize this precious truth, and faithfulness to
carry it out, in these last days, notwithstanding the
almost insuperable difficulties which attend upon
their profession and their practice. I believe God
will own and honor such.
The Lord deliver us from that spirit of unbelief
which would lead us to judge by the sight of our
eyes, instead of by the light of His changeless
Word.
CHAPTER XIII.
In the opening verses of this chapter we are taught,^
clearly and distinctly, that personal devotedness and
personal holiness are fruits which redeeming love
produces in those who are the happy subjects thereof.
The dedication of the first-born and the feast of un-
leavened bread are here set forth in their immediate
connection with the deliverance of the people out
of the land of Egypt. " 'Sanctify unto Me all the
first-born, whatsoever openeth the womb among the
children of Israel, both of man and of beast : it is
Mine.' And Moses said unto the people, 'Remem-
ber this day, in which ye came out from Eg} 7 pt, out
of the house of bondage ; for by strength of hand
the Lord brought you out from this place : there
shall no leavened bread be eaten/ ' And again,
"Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and
in the seventh day shall be a feast unto the Lord.
Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days ; and
there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee ;
neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all"
thy quarters."
Then we have the reason of both these significant
observances laid down. "And thou shalt show thy
son in that day, saying, This is done because of that
which the Lord did unto me when I came forth out
of Egypt." And again, "It shall be, when thy son
asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this ?
164 EXODUS.
that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand
the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the house
of bondage. And it came to pass, when Pharaoh
would hardly let us go, that the Lord slew all the
first-born in the land of Egypt, both the first-born
of man and the first-born of beast ; therefore I sac-
rifice to the Lord all that openeth the matrix, being
males ; but all the first-born of my children I
redeem."
The more fully we enter, by the power of the
Spirit of God, into the redemption which is in Christ
Jesus, the more decided will be our separation, and
the more whole-hearted will be our devotedness. The
effort to produce either the one or the other, until
redemption is known, will prove the most hopeless
labor possible. All our doings must be "because of
that which the Lord hath done," and not in order to
get anything from Him. Efforts after life and peace
prove that we are, as yet, strangers to the power of
the blood ; whereas the pure fruits of an experienced
redemption are to the praise of Him who has re-
deemed us. "For by grace are ye saved through
faith ; and that not of jmirselves : it is the gift of
God : not of works, lest any man should boast. For
we arc His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
unto good works, which God hath before prepared
that we should walk in them." (Eph. ii. 8-10.) God
has already prepared a path of good works for us to
walk in ; and He, by grace, prepares us to walk
therein. It is only as saved that w r e can walk in
such a path. Were it otherwise, we might boast;
CHAPTER XIII. 165
but seeing that we ourselves are as much God's
workmanship as the path in which we walk, there is
no room whatever for boasting.
True Christianity is but the manifestation of the
life of Christ, implanted in us by the operation of
the Holy Ghost, in pursuance of God's eternal
counsels of sovereign grace ; and all our doings
previous to the implantation of this life are but
"dead works," from which we need to have our
consciences purged just as much as from " wicked
works." (Heb. ix. 14.) The term "dead works"
comprehends all works which men do with the direct
object of getting life. If a man is seeking for life,
it is very evident that he has not yet gotten it. He
may be very sincere in seeking it, but his very sin-
cerity only makes it the more obvious that, as yet,
he has not consciously reached it. Hence, therefore,
everything done in order to get life is a dead work,
inasmuch as it is done without life the life of
Christ, the only true life, the only source from
whence good works can flow. And, observe, it is
not a question of "wicked works;" no one would
think of getting life by such. No ; you will find, on
the contrary, that persons continually have recourse
to "dead works," in order to ease their consciences,
under the sense of "wicked works," whereas divine
revelation teaches us that the conscience needs to be
purged from the one as well as the other.
Again, as to righteousness, we read that "all our
righteousnesses are as filthy rags." It is not said
that all our wickednesses, merely, are as filthy rags.
12
16G EXODUS.
This would at once be admitted. Bat the fact is,
that the very best fruit which we can produce, in the
shape of religiousness and righteousness, is repre-
sented, on the page of eternal truth, as "dead
works," and "filthy rags." Our very efforts after
life do but prove us to be dead, and our very efforts
after righteousness do but prove us to be enwrapped
in filthy rags. It is only as the actual possessors of
eternal life and divine righteousness that we can
walk in the divinely prepared path of good works.
Dead works and filthy rags could never be suffered
to appear in such a path. None but "the redeemed
of the Lord ' ' can walk therein. It was as a redeemed
people that Israel kept the feast of unleavened bread,
and dedicated their first-born to Jehovah. The for-
mer of these observances we have already considered ;
as to the latter, it contains a rich mine of instruction.
The destroying angel passed through the land of
Egypt to destroy all the first-born ; but Israel's
first-born escaped through the death of a divinely
provided substitute. Accordingly, these latter ap-
pear before us, in this chapter, as a living people,
dedicated to God. Saved by the blood of the lamb,
they are privileged to consecrate their ransomed life
to Him who had ransomed it. Thus it was only as
redeemed that they possessed life. The grace of
God alone had made them to differ, and had given
them the place of living men in His presence. In
their case, assuredly, there was no room for boast-
ing ; for, as to any personal merit or worthiness, we
learn from this chapter that they were put on a level
CHAPTER XIII. 167
with an unclean and worthless thing. "Every first-
ling of an ass thou slialt redeem with a lamb ; and
if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his
neck ; and all the first-born of man among thy chil-
dren shalt thou redeem." (Ver. 13.) There were
two classes the clean and the unclean, and man
was classed with the latter. The lamb was to answer
for the unclean ; and if the ass were not redeemed,
his neck was to be broken ; so that an unredeemed
man was put upon a level with an unclean animal,
and that, moreover, in a condition than which no-
thing could be more worthless and unsightly. What
a humiliating picture of man in his natural condition !
O, that our poor proud hearts could enter more into
it ! Then should we rejoice more unfcignedly in the
happy privilege of being washed from our guilt in
the blood of the Lamb, and having all our personal
vileness left behind forever, in the tomb where our
Surety lay buried.
Christ was the Lamb the clean, the spotless
Lamb : we were unclean ; but (forever adored be
His matchless name!) He took our position, and,
o?i the cross, was made sUi, and treated as such.
That which we should have endured throughout the
countless ages of eternity, He endured for us on the
tree. He bore all that was due to us, there and
then, in order that we might enjoy what is due to
Him, forever. He got our deserts that we might
get His. The clean took, for a time, the place of
the unclean, in order that the unclean might take
forever the place of the clean. Thus, whereas by
168 EXODUS.
nature we are represented by the loathsome figure
of an ass with his neck broken, by grace we are
represented by a risen and glorified Christ in heaven.
Amazing contrast ! It lays man's glory in the dust,
and magnifies the riches of redeeming love. It
silences man's empty boastings, and puts into his
mouth a hymn of praise to God and the Lamb, which
shall swell throughout the courts of heaven during
the everlasting ages.*
How forcibly is one here reminded of the apostle's
memorable and weighty words to the Romans, "Now
if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall
also live with Him : knowing that Christ being raised
from the dead dieth no more ; death hath no more
dominion over Him. For in that He died, He died
unto sin once ; but in that He liveth, He liveth unto
God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead
indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in
your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the
*It is interesting to see that by nature we are ranked with an
unclean animal; by grace we are associated with Christ the
spotless Lamb. There can be ^othing lower than the place which
belongs to us by nature : nothing higher than that which belongs
to us by grace. Look, for example, at an ass with his neck broken ;
there is what an unredeemed man is worth. Look at " the precious
blood of Christ;" there is what a redeemed man is worth. "Unto
you that believe is the preciousness." That is, all who arc washed
in the blood partake of Christ's preciousness. As He is "a living
stone," they are " living stones ; " as He is " a precious stone," they
are "precious stones." They get life and preciousness all from
Him and in Him. They are as He is. Every stone in the edifice
is precious, because purchased at no less a price than "the blood
of the Lamb." May the people of God know more fully their place
and privileges in Christ !
CHAPTER XIII. 169
lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as
instruments of unrighteousness unto sin ; but } T ield
yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from
the dead, and your members as instruments of
righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have
dominion over you ; for ye are not under the law,
but under grace." (Rom. vi. 8-14.) We arc not
only ransomed from the power of death and the
grave, but also united to Him who has ransomed us
at the heavy cost of His own precious life, that we
might, in the energy of the Holy Ghost, dedicate
our new life, with all its powers, to His service, so
that His worthy name may be glorified in us accord-
ing to the will of God and our Father.
We are furnished, in the last few verses of Exodus
xiii, with a touching and beautiful example of the
Lord's tender consideration of His people's need.
4 ' He knoweth our frame ; He remembereth that we
are dust." (Psalm ciii. 14.) When He redeemed
Israel and took them into relationship with Himself,
He, in His unfathomed and infinite grace, charged
Himself with all their need and weakness. It mat-
tered not what they were or what they needed when
I AM was with them, in all the exhaustless treasures
of that name. He had to conduct them from Egypt
to Canaan, and we here find Him occupying Himself
in selecting a suitable path for them. "And it came
to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that
God led them not through the way of the land of the
Philistines, although that was near; for God said,
4 Lest perad venture the people repent when they see
170 EXODUS.
war, and they return to Egypt;' but God led the
people about through the way of the wilderness of
the Eed Sea." (Ver. 17, 18.)
The Lord, in His condescending grace, so orders
for His people that they do not, at their first setting
out, encounter heavy trials, which might have the
effect of discouraging their hearts and driving them
back. "The way of the wilderness" was a much
more protracted route ; but God had deep and varied
lessons to teach His people, which could only be
learnt in the desert. They were afterwards reminded
of this fact, in the following passage: "And thou
shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God
led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to
humble thee, and to. prove thee, to know what was
in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep His com-
mandments or no. And He humbled thee, and
suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna,
which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers
know ; that He might make thee know that man doth
not live by bread only, but by every word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man
live. Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither
did thy foot swell, these forty years." (Deut. viii.
2-4.) Such precious lessons as these could never
have been learnt in "the way of the land of the
Philistines." In that way, they might have learnt
what ivar was, at an early stage of their career ; but
"in the way of the wilderness," they learnt what
flesh was, in all its crookedness, unbelief, and rebel-
lion. But I AM was there, in all His patient grace,
CHAPTER XIII. 171
unerring wisdom, and infinite power. None but
Himself could have met the demand ; none but He
could endure the opening up of the depths of a
human heart. To have my heart unlocked any
where, save in the presence of infinite grace, would
plunge me in hopeless despair. The heart of man
is but a little hell. What boundless mercy, then, to
be delivered 'from its terrible depths !
U 0h, to grace liow great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be !
Let that grace, Lord, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee !"
"And they took their journey from Succoth, and
encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness.
And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar
of a cloud, to lead them the way ; and by night in a
pillar of fire, to give them light ; to go by day and
night : He took not away the pillar of the cloud by
day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the
people." Jehovah not only selected a path for His
people, but He also came down to walk with them
therein, and make Himself known to them according
to their, need. He not only conducted them safely
outside the bounds of Egypt, but He also came
down, as it were, in His traveling chariot, to be their
Companion through all the vicissitudes of their wil-
derness journey. This was divine grace. They
were not merely delivered out of the furnace of
Egypt and then allowed to make the best of their
way to Canaan such was not God's manner toward
them. He knew that they had a toilsome and per-
172 EXODUS.
ilous journey before them, through serpents and
scorpions, snares and difficulties, drought and bar-
renness ; and He, blessed be His name forever,
would not suffer them to go alone. He would be
the Companion of all their toils and dangers ; yea,
"He went before them." He was "a guide, a
glory, a defense, to save from every fear." Alas !
that they should ever have grieved that blessed One
by their hardness of heart. Had they only walked
humbly, contentedly, and confidingly with Him,
their march would have been a triumphant one from
first to last. With Jehovah in their forefront, no
power could have interrupted their onward progress
from Egypt to Canaan. He would have carried them
through and planted them in the mountain of His
inheritance, according to His promise, and by the
power of His right hand ; nor should as much as a
single Canaanite have been allowed to remain therein
to be a thorn in their side. Thus will it be by and
by, when Jehovah shall set His hand a second time
to deliver His people from under the power of all
their oppressors. May the Lord hasten the time !
CHAPTER XIV.
M nHHEY that go down to the sea in ships, that do
business in great waters ; these see the works
of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep." (Psalm
cvii. 23, 24. ) How true is this ! and yet our coward
hearts do so shrink from those " great waters." We
CHAPTER XIV. 173
prefer carrying on our traffic in the shallows, and,
as a result, we fail to see "the works" and "won-
ders' 7 of our God ; for these can only be seen and
known u in the, deep."
It is in the day of trial and difficulty that the soul
experiences something of the deep and untold bless-
edness of being able to count on God. Were all to
go on smoothly, this would not be so. It is not in
gliding along the surface of a tranquil lake that the
reality of the Master's presence is felt ; but actually
when the tempest roars, and the waves roll over the
ship. The Lord does not hold out to us the prospect
of exemption from trial and tribulation ; quite the
opposite : He tells us we shall have to meet both the
one and the other ; but He promises to be with us in
them, and this is infinitely better. God's presence
in the trial is much better than exemption from the
trial. The sympathy of His heart ivith us is sweeter
far than the power of His hand for us. The Master's
presence with His faithful servants while passing
through the furnace was better far than the display
of His power to keep them out of it. (Dan. iii.)
We would frequently desire to be allowed to pass on
our way without trial, but this would involve serious
loss. The Lord's presence is never so sweet as in
moments of appalling difficulty.
Thus it was in Israel's case, as recorded in this
chapter. They are brought into an overwhelming
difficulty: they are called to "do business in great
waters: " "they are at their wit's end." Pharaoh,
repenting himself of having let them go out of his
174 EXODUS.
land, determines to make one desperate effort to
recover them. "And he made ready his chariot,
and took his people with him ; and he took six
hundred chosen chariots, and all tbe chariots of
Egypt, and captains over every one of them. . . .
And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel
lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians
marched after them ; and they were sore afraid :
and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord."
Here was a deeply trying scene one in which
human effort could avail nothing. As well might
they have attempted to put back with a straw the
ocean's mighty tide, as seek to extricate themselves
by aught that they could do. The sea was before
them, Pharaoh's hosts behind them, and the mount-
ains around them. And all this, be it observed,
permitted and ordered of God. He had marked out
their position before " Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol
and the sea, over against Baal-zephon." Moreover,
He permitted Pharaoh to come upon them. And
why? Just to display Himself in the salvation of
His people, and the total overthrow of their enemies.
"To Him that divided the Eed Sea into parts: for
His mercy endureth forever: and made Israel to
pass through the midst of it : for His mercy endur-
eth forever : but overthrew Pharaoh and his host in
the Red Sea: for His mercy' endureth forever."
(Ps. cxxxvi.)
There is not so much as a single position in all the
desert-wanderings of God's redeemed, the bound-
aries of which are not marked off, with studious ac-
CHAPTER XIV. 175
curacy, by the hand of unerring wisdom and infinite
love. The special bearings and peculiar influences
of each position are carefully arranged. The Pi-
hahiroths and the Migdols are all ordered with im-
mediate reference to the moral condition of those
whom God is conducting through the windings and
O c? O
labyrinths of the wilderness, and also to the display
of His own character. Unbelief may ofttimes sug-
gest the inquiry, Why is it thus ? God knows why ;
and He will, without doubt, reveal the why whenever
the revelation would promote His glory and His
people's good. How often do we feel disposed to
question as to the why and the wherefore of our
being placed in such and such circumstances ! How
often do we perplex ourselves as to the reason of
our being exposed to such and such trials ! How
much better to bow our heads in meek subjection,
and say, "It is well," and "it shall be well"!
When God fixes our position for us, we may rest
assured it is a wise and salutary one ; and even
when we foolishly and willfully choose a position for
ourselves, He most graciously overrules pur folly,
and causes the influences of our self-chosen circum-
stances to work for our spiritual benefit.
It is when the people of God are brought into the
greatest straits and difficulties, that' they are favored
with the finest displays of God's character and act-
ings ; and for this reason He ofttimes leads them
into a trying position, in order that He may the
more markedly show Himself. He could have con-
ducted Israel through the Red Sea, and far beyond
176 EXODUS.
the reach of Pharaoh's hosts, before ever the latter
had started from Eg} T pt; but that would not have
so fully glorified His own name, or so entirely con-
founded the enemy, upon whom He designed to
"get Him honor." We too frequently lose sight of
this great truth, and the consequence is that our
hearts give way in the time of trial. If we could
only look upon a difficult crisis as an occasion of
bringing out, on our behalf, the sufficiency of divine
grace, it would enable us to preserve the balance of
our souls, and to glorify God, even in the deepest
waters.
We feel disposed, it ma}^ be, to marvel at Israel's
language on the occasion now before us. We may
feel at a loss to account for it ; but the more we
know of our own evil hearts of unbelief, the more
we shall see how marvelously like them we are.
They would seem to have forgotten the recent dis-
play of divine power on their behalf. They had
seen the gods of Eg} T pt judged, and the power of
Egypt laid prostrate beneath the stroke of Jehovah's
omnipotent hand ; they had seen the iron chain of
Egyptian bondage riven, and the furnace quenched
by th6 same hand ; all these things they had seen,
and yet the moment a dark cloud appeared upon
their horizon, their confidence gave way, their hearts
failed, and they gave utterance to their unbelieving
murmurings in the following language: "Because
there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us
away to die in the wilderness ? Wherefore hast thou
dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt !
CHAPTER XIV. 177
It had been better for us to serve the
Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness."
(Ver. 11, 12.) Thus is "blind unbelief" ever "sure
to err, and scan God's ways in vain." This unbelief
is the same in all ages. It led David, in an evil hour,
to say, "I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul ;
there is nothing better for me than that I should
speedily escape into the land of the Philistines."
(1 Sam. xxvii. 1.) And how did it turn out ? Saul
fell on Mount Gilboa, and David's throne was estab-
lished forever. Again, it led Elijah the Tishbite, in
a moment of deep' depression, to flee for his life
from the wrathful threatenings of Jezebel. How
did it turn out ? Jezebel was dashed to pieces on
the pavement, an<* Elijah was taken in a chariot of
fire to heaven.
So it was with Israel in their very first moment of
trial. They really thought that the Lord had taken
such pains to deliver them out of Egypt merely to
let them die in the wilderness. They imagined that
they had been preserved by the blood of the paschal
lamb in order that they might be buried in the wil-
derness. Thus it is that unbelief ever reasons. It
leads us to interpret God in the presence of the
difficulty, instead of interpreting the difficulty in the
presence of God. Faith gets behind the difficulty,
and there finds God, in all His faithfulness, love,
and power. It is the believer's privilege ever to be
in the presence of God. He has been introduced
thither by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
nothing should be suffered to take him thence. The
178 EXODUS.
place itself he never can lose, inasmuch as his Head
and Representative, Christ, occupies it on his behalf.
But although he cannot lose the thing itself, he can
very easily lose the enjoyment of it the experience
and power of it. Whenever his difficulties come
between his heart and the Lord, he is evidently not
enjoying the Lord's presence, but suffering in the
presence of his difficulties. Just as when a cloud
comes between us and the sun, it robs us, for the
time, of the enjoyment of his beams. It does not
prevent him from shining, it 'merely hinders our
enjoyment of him. Exactly so is it when we allow
trials and sorrows, difficulties and perplexities, to
hide from our souls the bright beams of our Father's
countenance, which ever shine, wkh changeless lus-
tre, in the face of Jesus Christ. There is no difficulty
too great for our God ; yea, the greater the difficult}',
the more room there is for Him to act in His proper
character, as the God of all power and grace. No
doubt Israel's position, in the opening of our chap-
ter, was a deeply trying one, to flesh and blood,
perfectly overwhelming ; but then the Maker of
heaven and earth was there, and they had but to
use Him.
Yet, alas ! my reader, how speedily we fail when
trial arises ! These sentiments sound very nicely
on the ear, and look very well upon paper (and,
blessed be God, they are divinely true) ; but then
the thing is to practice them when opportunity offers.
It is in the practice of them that their power and
blessedness are really proved. "If any man will do
CHAPTER XIV. 179
His will, lie shall know of the doctrine, whether it
be of God." (John vii. 17.)
"And Moses said unto the people, 'Fear ye not,
stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which
He will show to you to-day ; for the Eg}' ptians whom
ye have "seen to-day ye shall see them again no more
forever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall
hold your peace.' " (Ver. 13, 14.) Here is the first
attitude which faith takes in the presence of a trial.
' c Stand still. ' ' This is impossible to flesh and blood.
All who know*, in any measure, the restlessness of the
human heart under anticipated trial and difficulty,
will be able to form some conception of what is
involved in standing still. Nature must be doing
something. It will rush hither and thither. It would '
fain have some hand in the matter. And although it
may attempt to justify and sanctify its worthless
doings, by bestowing upon them the imposing and
popular title of u a legitimate use of means," yet
are they the plain and positive fruits of unbelief,
which always shuts out God, and sees naught save
the dark cloud of its own creation. Unbelief creates
or magnifies difficulties, and then sets us about re-
moving them by our own bustling and fruitless act-
ivities, which, in reality, do but raise a dust around
us which prevents our seeing God's salvation.
Faith, on the contrary, raises the soul above the
difficulty, straight to God Himself, and enables one
to "stand still." We gain nothing by our restless
and anxious efforts. "We cannot make one hair
white or black," nor "add one cubit to our stature."
180 EXODUS.
What could Israel do at the Red Sea ? Could they
dry it up ? Could they level the mountains ? Could
they annihilate the hosts of Eg}~pt ? Impossible !
There they were, inclosed within an impenetrable
wall of difficulties, in view of which nature could but
tremble and feel its own perfect impotency. But
this was just the time for God to act. When unbelief
is driven from the scene, then God can enter; and,
in order to get a proper view of His actings, we must
"stand still." Every movement of nature is, so far
as it goes, a positive hindrance to our ^rception and
enjoyment of divine interference on our behalf.
This is true of us in every single stage of our his-
tory. It is true of us as sinners when, tinder the
uneasy sense of sin upon the conscience, we are
tempted to resort to our own doings in order to ob-
tain relief. Then, truly, we must "stand still" in
order to u see the salvation of God." For what
could we do in the matter of making an atonement
for sin ? Could we have stood with the Son of God
upon the cross ? Could we have accompanied Him
down into the "horrible pit and the miry clay"?
Could we have forced our passage upward to that
eternal rock on which, in resurrection, He has taken
His stand ? Every right mind will at once pronounce
the thought to be a daring blasphemy. God is alone
in redemption ; and as for us, we have but to "stand
still, and see the salvation of God." The very fact
of. its being God's salvation proves that man has
naught to do in it.
The same is true of us, from the moment we have
CHAPTER XIV. 181
entered upon our Christian career. In every fresh
difficulty, be it great or small, our wisdom is to stand
still to cease from our own works, and find our
sweet repose in God's salvation. Nor can we make
any distinction as to difficulties. We cannot say
that there are some trifling difficulties which we
ourselves can compass, while there are others in
which naught save the hand of God can avail. No ;
all are alike beyond us. We are as little able to
change the color of a hair as to remove a mountain,
to form a blade of grass as to create a world. All
are alike to us, and all arc alike to God. We have
only, therefore, in confiding faith, to cast ourselves
on Him who "humbleth Himself [alike] to behold the
things that are in heaven and on earth." We some-
times find ourselves carried triumphantly through
the heaviest trials, while at other times we quail,
falter, and break clown under the most ordinary dis-
pensations. Why is this ? Because, in the former,
we are constrained to roll our burden over on the
Lord ; whereas,, in the latter, we foolishly attempt
to carry it ourselves. The Christian is, in himself,
if he only realized it, like an exhausted receiver, in
which a guinea and a feather have equal momenta.
"The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold
your peace." Precious assurance! How eminently
calculated to tranquilize the spirit in view of the
most appalling difficulties and dangers ! The Lord
not only places Himself between us and our sins,
but also between us and our circumstances. By
doing the former, He gives us peace of conscience ;
13
182 EXODUS.
by doing the latter, He gives us peace of heart.
That the two things are perfectly distinct, every
experienced Christian knows. Very many have
peace of conscience, who have not peace of heart.
They have, through grace and by faith, found Christ,
in the divine efficacy of His blood, between them
and all their sins ; but they are net able, in the same
simple way, to realize Him as standing, in His divine
wisdom, love, and power, between them and their
circumstances. This makes a material difference in
the practical condition of the soul, as well as in the
character of one's testimony. Nothing tends more
to glorify the name of Jesus than that quiet repose
of spirit which results from having Him between us
and everything that could be a matter of anxiety to
our hearts. "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth
in Thee."
But some feel disposed to ask the question, " Are
we not to do anything ?" This may be answered by
asking another, namely, What can *ve do ? All who
really know themselves must answer, Nothing. If,
therefore, we can do nothing, had we not better
"stand still" ? If the Lord is acting for us, had we
not better stand back ? Shall we run before Him ?
Shall we busily intrude ourselves upon His sphere
of action ? Shall we come in His way ? There can
be no possible use in two acting, when one is so
perfectly competent to do all. No one would think
of bringing a lighted candle to add brightness to the
sun at midday : and yet the man who would do so
CHAPTER XIV. 183
might well be accounted wise, in comparison with
him who attempts to assist God by his bustling
officiotisness.
However, when God, in His great mercy, opens the
way, faith can walk therein. It only ceases from
man's way in order to walk in God's. "And the
Lord said unto Moses, ' Wherefore criest thou unto
Me ? Speak unto the children of Israel that they go
forward. " ' It is only when we have learnt to 4 ' stand
still" that we are able effectually to go forward. To
attempt the latter until we have learnt the former
is sure to issue in the exposure of our folly and
weakness. It is therefore true wisdom, in all times
of difficulty and perplexity, to "stand still" to
wait only upon God, and He will assuredly open a
way for us ; and then we can peacefully and happily
"go forward." There is no uncertainty when God
makes a way for us ; but every self-devised path
must prove a path of doubt and hesitation. The un-
regenerate man may move along with great apparent
firmness and decision in his own ways ; but one of
the most distinct elements in the new creation is
self-distrust, and the element which answers thereto
is confidence in God. It is when our eyes have seen
God's salvation that we can walk therein ; but this
can never be distinctly seen until we have been
brought to the end of -our own poor doings.
There is peculiar force and beauty in the expres-
sion, "See the salvation of God." The very fact of
our being called to "see" God's salvation, proves
that the salvation is a complete one. It teaches that
184 EXODUS.
salvation is a thing wrought out and revealed by
God, to be seen and enjoyed by us. It is not a
thing made up partly of God's doing and partly of
man's. Were it so, it could not be called God's
salvation. In order to be His, it must be wholly
divested of everything pertaining to man. The only
possible effect of human efforts is to raise a dust
which obscures the view of God's salvation.
"Speak to the children of Israel that they go for-
ward." Moses himself seems to have been brought
to a stand, as it appears from the Lord's question
' ' Wherefore criest thou to Me ? ' ' Moses could tell
the people to u stand still, and see the salvation of
God," while his own spirit was giving forth its
exercises in an earnest cry to God. However, there
is no use in crying when we ought to be acting ; just
as there is no use in acting when we ought to be
waiting. Yet such is ever our way. We attempt to
move forward when we ought to stand still, and we
stand 'still when we ought to move forward. In
Israel's case, the question might spring up in the
heart, Whither are we to go? To all appearance,
there lay an insurmountable barrier in the way of
any movement forward. How were they to go
through the sea? This was the point. Nature could
never solve this question. But we may rest assured
that God never gives a command without, at the same
time, communicating the power to obey. The real
condition of the heart may be tested by the com-
mand ; but the soul that is, by grace, disposed to
obey, receives power .from above to do so. When
CHAPTER XIV. 185
Christ commanded the man with the withered hand
to stretch it forth, the man might naturally have said,
How can I stretch* forth an arm which hangs dead
by my side ? But he did not raise any question
whatever, for with the command, and from the same
source, came the power to obey.
Thus, too, in Israel's case, we see that with the
command to go forward came the provision of grace.
4 'But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thy hand
over the sea, and divide it; and the children of
Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of
the sea." Here was the path of faith. The hand
of God opens the way for us to take the first step,
and this is all that faith ever asks. God never gives
guidance for two steps at a time. I must take one
step, and then I get light for the next. This keeps
the heart in abiding dependence upon God. "By
faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry
land." It is evident that the sea was not divided
throughout at once. Had it been so, it would have
been u sight" and not u faith." It does not require
faith to begin a journey when I can see all the way
through ; but to begin when I can merely see the
first step, this is faith. The sea opened as Israel
moved forward, so that for every fresh step they
needed to be cast upon God. Such was the path
along which the redeemed of the Lord moved, under
His own conducting hand. They passed through
the dark waters of death, and found these very
waters to be u a wall unto them, on their right hand
and on their left."
186 EXODUS.
The Egyptians could not move in such a path as
this. They moved on because they saw the way
open before them : with them it was sight, and not
faith, " Which the Eg}^ptians assaying to do were
drowned." When people assay to do what faith
alone can accomplish, they only encounter defeat
and confusion. The path along which God calls
His people to walk is one which nature can never
tread. " Flesh and blood cannot inherit the king-
dom of God" (1 Cor. xv. 50.), neither can it walk
in the ways of God. Faith is the great character-
istic principle of God's kingdom, and faith alone
can enable us to walk in God's ways. "Without
faith it is impossible to please God." (Heb. xi.) It
glorifies God exceedingly when we move on with
Him, as it were, blindfold. It proves that we have
more confidence in His eyesight than in our own.
If I know that God is looking out for me, I may
well close my eyes, and move on in holy calmness
and stability. In human affairs, we know that when
there is a sentinel or watchman at his post, others
can sleep quietly. How much more may we rest in
perfect security when we know that He who neither
slumbers nor sleeps has His eye upon us, and His
everlasting arms around us !
"And the angel of God which went before the
camp of Israel, removed and went behind them ;
and the pillar of the cloud went from before their
face, and stood behind them. And 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
CHAPTER XIV. 187
light by night to these ; so that the one came not
near the other all the night." (Ver. 19, 20.) Jeho-
vah placed Himself right between Israel and the
enemy : this was protection indeed. Before ever
Pharaoh could touch a hair of Israel's head, he
should make his way through the very pavilion of
the Almighty yea, through the Almighty Himself.
Thus it is that God ever places Himself between His
people and every enemy, so that c ' no weapon formed
against them can prosper." He has placed Himself
between us and our sins ; and it is our happy priv-
ilege to find Him between us and every one and
every thing that could be against us. This is the
true way in which to find both peace of heart and
peace of conscience. The believer may institute a
diligent and anxious search for his sins, but lit) can-
not find them. Why ? Because God is between
him and them. He has cast all our sins behind His
back, while, at the same time, He sheds forth upon
us the light of His reconciled countenance.
In the same manner, the believer may look for his
difficulties, and not find them, because God is be-
tween him and them. If, therefore, the eye, instead
of resting on our sins and sorrows, could rest only
upon Christ, it would sweeten many a bitter cup,
and enlighten many a gloomy hour. But one finds
constantly that nine-tenths of our trials and sorrows
are made up of anticipated or imaginary evils, which
only exist in our own disordered, because unbeliev-
ing, minds. May my reader know the solid peace,
both of heart and conscience, which results from
188 EXODUS.
having Christ, in all His fullness, between him and
all his sins and all his sorrows.
It is at once most solemn and interesting to note
the double aspect of the "pillar" in this chapter.
"It was a cloud and darkness" to the Egj^ptians,
but "it gave light by night" to Israel. How like
the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ ! Truly, that
cross has a double aspect likewise. It forms the
foundation of the believer's peace, and, at the same
time, seals the condemnation of a guilty world. The
self-same blood which purges the believer's con-
science and gives him perfect peace, stains this earth
and consummates its guilt. The very mission of the
Son of God which strips the world of its cloak, and
leaves it wholly without excuse, clothes the Church
with & fair mantle of righteousness, and fills her
mouth with ceaseless praise. The very same Lamb
who will terrify, by His unmitigated wrath, all tribes
and classes of earth, will lead, by His gentle hand,
His blood-bought flock through the green pastures
and beside the still waters forever. (Compare Rev.
vi. 15-17 with vii. 13-17.)
The close of our chapter shows us Israel triumph-
ant on the shore of the Red Sea, and Pharaoh's hosts
submerged beneath its waves. The fears of the
former and the boastings of the latter had both alike
been proved utterly groundless : Jehovah's glorious
work had annihilated both the one and the other.
The same waters which formed a wall for God's re-
deemed, formed a grave for Pharaoh. Thus it is
ever: those who walk by faith find a path to walk
CHAPTER XIV. 189
in, while all who assay to do so find a grave. This
is a solemn truth, which is not in any wise weakened
by the fact that Pharaoh was acting in avowed and
positive hostility to God when he c c assayed ' ' to pass
through the Red Sea. It will ever be found true
that all who attempt to imitate faith's actings will
be confounded. Happy are they who are enabled,
however feebly, to walk by faith. They are moving
along a path of unspeakable blessedness, a path
which, though it may be marked by failure and in-
firmity, is nevertheless "begun, continued, and
ended in God." O, that we may all enter more
fully into the divine reality, the calm elevation, and
the holy independence of this path !
We ought not to turn from this fruitful section of
our book without a reference to 1 Cor. x, in which
we have an allusion to "the cloud and the sea."
"Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should
be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the
cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all
baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea."
(Ver. 1, 2.) There is much deep and precious
instruction for the Christian in this passage. The
apostle goes on to say, "Now these things were our
types," thus furnishing us with a divine warrant for
interpreting Israel's baptism "in the cloud and in
the sea" in a typical way; and, assuredly, nothing
could be more deeply significant or practical. It
was as a people thus baptized that they entered
upon their wilderness journey, for which provision
was made in "the spiritual meat" and "spiritual
190 EXODUS.
drink" provided by the hand of love. In other
words, they were typically a people dead to Egypt
and all pertaining thereto. The cloud and the sea
were to them what the cross and grave of Christ ai e
to us. The cloud secured them from their enemies ;
the sea separated them from Egypt: the cross, in
like manner, shields us from all that could be against
us, and we stand at heaven's side of the empty tomb
of Jesus. Here we commence our wilderness jour-
ney, here we begin to taste the heavenly Manna,
and to drink of the streams which emanate from
"that spiritual Rock," while, as a pilgrim people,
we make our way onward to that land of rest of the
which God has spoken to us.
I would further add here, that my reader should
seek to understand the difference between the Red
Sea and Jordan. They both have their antitype in
the death of Christ ; but in the former we see sepa-
ration from Eg} T pt ; in the latter, introduction into
the land of Canaan. The believer is not merely
separated from this present evil world by the cross
of Christ, but he is quickened out of the grave of
Christ, raised up together, and made to sit together
in Christ, in the heavenlies. (Eph. ii. 5, 6.) Hence,
though surrounded by the things of Egypt, he is, as
to his actual experience, in the wilderness ; while,
at the same time, he is borne upward, by the energy
of faith, to that place where Jesus sits, at the right
hand of God. Thus, the believer is not merely
"forgiven all trespasses," but actually associated
with a risen Christ in heaven ; he is not merely
CHAPTER XV . 191
saved by Christ, but linked with Him forever. No-
thing short of this could either satisfy God's affections
or actualize His purposes in reference to the Church.
Reader, do we understand these things ? do we
believe them ? are we realizing them ? do we mani-
fest the power of them ? Blessed be the grace that
has made them unalterably true with respect to
every member of the body of Christ, whether it be
an eye or an eye-lash, a hand or a foot. Their truth,
therefore, does not depend upon our manifestation,
our realization, or our understanding, but upon
"THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST," which
has canceled all our guilt and laid the foundation of
all God's counsels respecting us. Here is true rest
for every broken heart and every burdened con-
science.
CHAPTER X.V.
THIS chapter opens with Israel's magnificent song
of triumph on the shore of the Red Sea, when
they had seen "that great work which the Lord did
upon the Egyptians." They had seen God's salva-
tion, and they therefore sing His praise and recount
His mighty acts. "Then sang Moses and the chil-
dren of Israel this song unto the Lord." Up to
this moment, we have not heard so much as a single
note of praise. We have heard their cry of deep
sorrow as they toiled amid the brick-kilns of Egypt,
we have hearkened to their cry of unbelief when
192 EXODUS.
surrounded by what they deemed insuperable diffi-
culties, but, until now, we have heard no song of
praise. It was not until, as a saved people, they
found themselves surrounded by the fruits of God's
salvation, that the triumphal hymn burst forth from
the whole redeemed assembly. It was when they
emerged from their significant baptism "in the cloud
and in the sea," and were able to gaze upon the rich
spoils of victory which lay scattered around them,
that six hundred thousand voices were heard chant-
ing the song of victor} 7 . The waters of the Eed Sea
rolled between them and Egypt, and they stood on
the shore as a fully delivered people, and therefore
they were able to praise Jehovah.
In this, as in everything else, they were our types.
We, too, must know ourselves as saved, in the power
of death and resurrection, before ever we can pre-
sent clear and intelligent worship. There will alwaj^s
be reserve and hesitancy in the soul, proceeding, no
doubt, from positive inability to enter into the ac-
complished redemption which is in Christ Jesus.
There may be the acknowledgment of the fact that
there is salvation in Christ, and in none other ; but
this is a very different thing from apprehending, by
faith, the true character and ground of that salvation,
and realizing it as ours. The Spirit of God reveals,
with unmistakable clearness, in the Word, that the
Church is united to Christ in death and resurrection ;
and, moreover, that a risen Christ, at God's right
hand, is the measure and pledge of the ChurcB's
acceptance. When this is believed, it conducts the
CHAPTER XV. 193
soul entirely beyond the region of doubt and uncer-
tainty. How can the Christian doubt when he knows
that he is continually represented before the throne
of God by an Advocate, even u Jesus Christ the
righteous " ? It is the privilege of the very feeblest
member of the Church of God to know that lie was
represented by Christ on the cross, that all his sins
were confessed, borne, judged, and atoned for there.
This is a divine reality, and, when laid hold of by
faith, must give peace ; but nothing short of it ever
can give peace. There may be earnest, anxious,
and most sincere desires after God, there may be
the most pious and devout attendance upon all the
ordinances, offices, and forms of religion ; but there
is no other possible way in which to get the sense of
sin entirely removed from the conscience, but seeing
it judged in the Person of Christ, as a sin-offering,
on the cursed tree. If it was judged there once for
all, it is now by the believer to be regarded as a
divinely, and therefore eternally, settled question ;
and that it was so judged is proved by the resurrec-
tion of the Surety. "I know that whatsoever God
doeth it shall be forever : nothing can be put to it
nor anything taken from it: and God doeth it that
men should fear before Him." (Ecc. iii. 14.)
However, wliile it is generally admitted that all
this is true in reference to the Church collectively,
many find considerable difficulty in making a per-
sonal application thereof. They are ready to say,
with the Psalmist, "Truly, God is good to Israel,
even to such as are of a clean heart. But as for
194 EXODUS.
we," etc. (Ps. Ixxiii. 1, 2.) They arc looking at
themselves instead of at Christ in death and Christ
in resurrection ; they are occupied rather with their
appropriation of Christ than with Christ Himself;
they are thinking of their capacity rather than their
title. Thus they are kept in a state of the most
distressing uncertainty, and, as a consequence, they
are never able to take the place of happy, intelligent
worshipers. They are praying for salvation instead
of rejoicing in the conscious possession of it; they
are looking at their imperfect fruits instead of
Christ's perfect atonement.
Now in looking through the various notes of this
song in Exodus xv, we do not find a single note
about se//, its doings, its sayings, its feelings, or its
fruits ; it is all about Jehovah, from beginning to
end. It begins with, "I will sing unto the Lord, for
He hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his
rider hath He thrown into the Sea." This is a spec-
imen of the entire song. It is a simple record of
the attributes and actings of Jehovah. In chapter
xiv, the hearts of the people had, as it were, been
pent up by the excessive pressure of their circum-
stances ; but in chapter xv, the pressure is removed,
and their hearts find full vent in a sweet song of
praise. Self is forgotten ; circumstances are lost
sight of; one object, and but one, fills their vision,
and that object is the Lord Himself, in His character
and ways. They were able to say, "Thou, Lord,
hast made me glad through Thy work ; I will triumph
in the works of Thy hands." (Ps. xcii. 4.) This is
CHAPTER XV. 195
true worship. It is when poor, worthless self, with
all its belongings, is lost sight of, and Christ alone
fills the heart, that we present proper worship.
There is no need for the efforts of a fleshly pietism
to awaken in the sonl feelings of devotion ; nor is
there any demand whatever for the adventitious ap-
pliances of religion, so called, to kindle in the soul
the flame of acceptable worship. Oh, no ! Let but
the heart be occupied with the Person of Christ, and
"songs of praise" will be the natural result. It is
impossible for the eye to rest on Him and the spirit
not be bowed in holy worship. If we contemplate
the worship of the hosts which surround the throne
of God and the Lamb, we shall find that it is ever
evoked by the presentation of some special feature
of divine excellence or divine acting. Thus should
it be with the Church on earth ; and when it is not
so, it is because we allow things to intrude upon us
which have no place in the regions of unclouded
light and unalktyed blessedness. In all true worship,
God Himself is at once the object of worship, the
subject of worship, and the power of worship.
Hence Exodus xv. is a fine specimen of a song of
praise. It is the language of a redeemed people
celebrating the worthy praise of Him who had
redeemed them. "The Lord is my strength and
song, and He is become my salvation : He is my
God, and I will prepare Him a habitation ; my
father's God, and I will exalt Him. The Lord is a
man of war: the Lord is His name Thy
right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power:
196 EXODUS.
Thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the
enemy. .... Who is like unto Thee, O Lord,
among the gods ? who is like Thee, glorious in holi-
ness, fearful in praises, doing wonders ? . . . Thou
in Thy mercy hast led forth the people which Thou
hast redeemed: Thou hast guided them in Thy
strength unto Thy holy habitation. .... The
Lord shall reign forever and ever." How compre-
hensive is the range of this sons; ! It begins with
O O O
redemption and ends with the glory. It begins with
the cross and ends with the kingdom. It is like a
beauteous rainbow, of which one end dips in l c the
sufferings," and the other in "the glory that should
follow." It is all about Jehovah. It is an outpour-
ing of soul produced by a view of God and His
gracious and glorious actings.
Moreover, it does not stop short of the actual
accomplishment of the divine purpose, as we read,
"Thou hast guided them in Thy strength unto Thy
holy habitation." The people were able to say this,
though they had but just planted their foot on the
margin of the desert. It was not the expression of
a vague hope, it was not feeding upon poor, blind
chance. Oh, no ! When the soul is wholly occupied
with God, it is enabled to launch out into all the full-
ness of His grace, to bask in the sunshine of His
countenance, and delight itself in the rich abundance
of His mercy and loving-kindness. There is not a
cloud upon the prospect when the believing soul,
taking its stand upon the eternal rock on which
redeeming love has set it in association with a risen
CHAPTER XV. 197
Christ, looks up into the spacious vault of God's
infinite plans and purposes, and dwells upon the
effulgence of that glory which God has prepared for
all those who have washed their robes and made
them white in the blood of the Lamb.
This will account for the peculiarly brilliant, ele-
vated, and unqualified character of all those bursts
of praise which we find throughout sacred Scripture.
The creature is set aside : God is the object. He
fills the entire sphere of the soul's vision. There is
nothing of man, his feelings, or his experiences, and
therefore the stream of praise flows copiously and
uninterruptedly forth. How different is this from
some of the hymns we so often hear sung in Chris-
tian assemblies, so fall of our failings, our feebleness,
our shortcomings. The fact is, we can never sing
with real, spiritual intelligence and power when we
are looking at ourselves. We shall ever be discover-
ing something within which will act as a drawback
to our worship. Indeed, with many, it seems to be
accounted a Christian grace to be in n continual state
of doubt and hesitation ; and, as a consequence,
their hymns are quite in character with their condi-
tion. Such persons, however sincere and pious, have
never }^et, in the actual experience of their souls,
entered upon the proper ground of worship. They
have not 3~et got done with themselves, they have
not passed through the sea, and, as a spiritually
baptized people, taken their stand on the shore, in
the power of resurrection. They are still, in some
way or another, occupied with celf : they do not re-
14
198 EXODUS.
gard self as a crucified thing, with which God is
forever clone.
May the Holy Ghost lead all God's people into
fuller, clearer, and worthier apprehensions of their
place and privilege as those who, being washed from
their sins in the blood of Christ, are presented before
God in all that infinite and unclouded acceptance
in which He stands, as the risen and glorified Head
of His Church. Doubts and fears do not become
them, for their divine Surety has not left a shadow
of a foundation on which to build a doubt or a fear.
Their place is within the vail. They "have boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus."
(Heb. x. 19.) Are there any doubts or fears in the
holiest? Is it not evident that a doubting spirit
virtually calls in question the perfectness of Christ's
work a work which has been attested, in the view
of all created intelligence, by the resurrection of
Christ from the dead ? That blessed One could not
have left the tomb unless all ground of doubting
and fearing had been perfectly removed on behalf
of His people. Wherefore it is the Christian's sweet
privilege ever to triumph in a full salvation. The
Lord Himself has become his salvation ; and he
has only to enjoy the fruits of that which God has
wrought for him, and to walk to His praise while
waiting for that. time when "Jehovah shall reign
forever and ever."
But there is one note in this song to which I shall
just invite my reader's attention. "He is my God,
and I will prepare Him a habitation." It is worthy
CHAPTER XV. 199
of note that when the heart was full to overflowing
with the joy of redemption, it gives expression to
its devoted purpose in reference to u a habitation for
God." Let the Christian reader ponder this. God
dwelling with man is a grand thought pervading
Scripture from Exodus xv. to Revelation. Hearken
to the following utterance of a devoted heart :
4 'Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my
house, nor go up into my bed ; I will not give sleep
to mine eyes, nor slumber to mine eyelids, until I
find out a place for the Lord, a habitation for the
mighty God of Jacob." (Ps. cxxxii. 3-5.) Again,
"For the zeal of Thine house hath eaten me up."
(Ps. Ixix. 9 ; John ii. 17. ) I do not attempt to pursue
this subject here ; but I would fain awaken such an
interest concerning it in the breast of my reader as
shall lead him to pursue it, prayerfully, for himself,
from the very earliest notice of it in the Word until
he arrives at that soul-stirrino; announcement, "Be-
~ i
hold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will
dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and
God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."
(Rev. xxi. 3, 4.)
" So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea ; and
they went out into the wilderness of Shur : and they
went three days into the wilderness and found no
water." (Yer. 22.) It is when we get into wilder-
ness experience that we are put to the test as to the
real measure of our acquaintance with God and with
our own hearts. There is a freshness and an exu-
200 EXODUS.
berarice of joy connected with the opening of our
Christian career, which very soon receives a check
from the keen blast of the desert ; and then, unless
there is n deep sense of what God is to us, above
and beyond everything else, we are apt to break
clown, and, "in our hearts, turn back again into
Eg} r pt." The discipline of the wilderness is need-
ful, not to furnish us with a title to Canaan, but to
make us acquainted with God and with our own
hearts ; to enable us to enter into the power of our
relationship, and to enlarge our capacity for the
enjoyment of Canaan when we actually get there.
(See Dent, viii. 2-5.)
The greenness, freshness, and luxuriance of spring-
have peculiar charms, which all pass away before the
scorching heat of summer; but then, with proper
care, that very heat which removes the fair traces of
spring, produces the mellowed and matured fruits
of autumn. Thus it is also in the Christian life ;
for there is, as we know, a striking and deeply
instructive analogy between the principles which
obtain in the kingdom of nature and those which
characterize the kingdom of grace, seeing it is the
same God whose handiwork meets our view in both.
There are three distinct positions in which we may
contemplate Israel, namely, in Egypt, in the wilder-
ness, and in the land of Canaan. In all these, they
are "our types ;" but we are in all three together.
This may seem paradoxical, but it is true. As a
matter of actual fact, we are in Egypt, surrounded
by natural things, which are entirely adapted to
CHAPTER XV. 201
the natural heart. But, inasmuch as we have been
called by God's grace into fellowship with His Son
Jesus Christ, we, according to the affections and
desires of the new nature, necessarily find our place
outside of all that which belongs to Egypt* {i.e..
"There is a wide moral difference between Egypt and Babylon,
which it is important to understand. Egypt was that out of which
Israel came; Babylon was that into which they were afterwards
carried. (Comp. Amos v. 25-27 with Acts yii. 42, 43.) Egypt ex-
presses what man has made of the world; Babylon expresses what
Satan has made, is making, or will make, of the professing church.
Hence, we are not only surrounded with the circumstances of
Egypt, but also by the moral principles of Babylon.
This renders our "days" what the Holy Ghost has termed
" perilous " (}[a.A.7toi "difficult")-. It demands a special energy
of the Spirit of God, and complete subjection to the authority of
the Word, to enable one to meet the combined influence of the
realities of Egypt and the spirit and principles of Babylon. The
former meet the natural desires of the heart; while the latter con-
nect themselves with, and address themselves to, the religiousness
of nature, which gives them a peculiar hold upon the heart. Man
is a religious being, and peculiarly susceptible of the influences
which arise from music, sculpture, painting, and pompous rites and
ceremonies. When these things stand connected with the full
supply of all his natural wants yea, with all the ease and luxury
of life, nothing but the mighty power of God's Word and Spirit can
keep one true to Christ.
We should also remark that there is a vast difference between
the destinies of Egypt and those of Babylon. The nineteenth of
Isaiah sets before us the blessings that are in store for Egypt. It
concludes thus : "And the Lord shall smite Egypt; He shall smite
and heal it; and they shall return even to the Lord, and He shall
be entreated of them, ancj shall heal them In that day
shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a bless-
ing in the midst of the land ; whom the Lord of Hosts shall bless,
saying, Blessed be Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My
hands, and Israel Mine inheritance." (Ver. 22-25.)
Very different is the close of Babylon's history, whether viewed
as a literal city or a spiritual system. "I will also make it a pos-
session for the bittern, and pools of water; and I will sweep it with
the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of Hosts." (Isaiah xiv. 23.)
"It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from gen-
202 EXODUS.
the world in its natural state), and this causes us to*
taste of wilderness experience, or, in other words,
it places us, as a matter of experience, in the wil-
derness. The divine nature earnestly breathes after
a different order of things after a purer atmosphere
than that with which we find ourselves surrounded,
and thus it causes us to feel Egypt to be a moral
desert.
But then, inasmuch as we are, in God's view,
eternally associated with Him who has passed right
through into the heavenlies, and taken His seat there
in triumph and majesty, it is our happy privilege
to know ourselves, by faith, as "sitting together in
Him" there. (Eph. ii.) So that although we are,
as to our bodies, in Egypt, we are, as to our expe-
eration to generation." (Isaiah xiii. 20.) So much for Babylon
literally; and looking at it from a mystic or spiritual point of view,
we read its destiny in Rev. xviii. The entire chapter is a descrip-
tion of Babylon, and it concludes thus : "A strong angel took up a
stone, like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, ' Thus,
with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and
shall be found no more at all.' " (Ver. 21.)
With what immense solemnity should those words fall upon the
ears of all who are in any wise connected with Babylon that is to
say, with the false, professing church, "Come out of her, My
people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that yc receive
not of her plagues"! (Rev. xviii. 5.) The "power" of the Holy
Ghost will necessarily produce, or express itself in, a certain
"form," and the enemy's aim has ever been to rob the professing
church of the power, while he leads her to cling to and perpetuate
the form to stereotype the form when all the spirit and life has
passed away. Thus he builds the spiritual Babylon. The stones
of which this city is built are lifeless professors ; and the slime or
mortar which binds these stones together is "a form of godliness
without the power."
Oh ! my beloved reader, let us see to it that we fully, clearly, and
iniluentially understand these things.
CHAPTER XV. 203
rience, in the wilderness, while, at the same time,
faith conducts us, in spirit, into Canaan, and enables
us to feed upon "the old corn of the land," i.e.,
upon Christ, not as One come down to earth
merely, but as One gone back to heaven and seated
there in gloiy.
The concluding verses of this fifteenth chapter
show us Israel in the wilderness. Up to this point,
it seemed to them to be all fair sailing. Heavy
j udgments poured upon Egypt, but Israel perfectly
exempt, the army of Egypt dead upon the sea
shore, but Israel in triumph. All this was well
enough ; but, alas ! the aspect of things speedily
changed. The notes of praise were soon exchanged
for the accents of discontent. "When they came
to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of
Marah, for they were bitter ; therefore the name of
it was called Marah. And the people murmured
against Moses, saying, 'What shall we drink?'."
Again, "The whole congregation of the children of
Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the
wilderness ; and the children cf Israel said unto
them, 'Would to God we had died by the hand of
the Lord in the land cf Egypt, when we sat by the
flesh-pots, and when we did eat bread to the full !
for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness to
kill this whole assembly with hunger.' '
Here were the trials of the wilderness. "What
shall we eat?" and "What shall we drink?" The
waters of Marah tested the heart of Israel and
developed their murmuring spirit ; but the Lord
204 EXODUS.
showed them that there was no bitterness which He
could not sweeten with the provision of His own
grace. "And the Lord showed him a tree, which
when he had cast into the waters, the waters were
made sweet ; there lie made for them a statute and
an ordinance, and there lie proved them." Beau-
teous figure this of Him who was, in infinite grace,
cast into the bitter waters of death, in order that
those waters might yield naught but sweetness to us
forever! We can truly say, u The bitterness of
death is past," and nothing remains for us but the
eternal sweets of resurrection.
Verse 2G sets before us the momentous character
of this first stage of God's redeemed in the wilder-
ness. We are in great danger, at this point, of
falling into a fretful, impatient, murmuring spirit.
The only remedy for this is to keep the eye steadily
fixed on Jesus c ' looking unto Jesus. ' ' He, blessed
be. His name, ever unfolds Himself according to the
need of His people ; and they, instead of complain-
ing of their circumstances, should only make their
circumstances an occasion of drawing afresh upon
Him. Thus it is that the wilderness ministers to our
experience of what God is. It is a school, in which
we learn His patient grace and ample resources.
"Forty years suffered He their manners in the wil-
derness." (Acts xiii. 18.) The spiritual mind will
ever own that it is worth having bitter waters for
God to sweeten. "We glory in tribulations also:
knowing that tribulation worketh patience ; and pa-
tience, experience ; and experience, hope ; and hope
CHAPTER XV. 205
make th not ashamed ; because the love of God is
shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which
is given unto us." (Rom. v. 3-5.)
However, the wilderness has its Elims as well as
its Marahs, its wells and palm trees, as well as its
bitter waters. "And they came to Elim, where were
twelve w r ells of water, and threescore and ten palm
trees; and they encamped there by the waters."
(Ver. 27.) The Lord graciously and tenderly pro-
vides green spots in the desert for His journeying
people ; and though they are, at best, but oases, yet
are they refreshing to the spirit and encouraging to
the heart. The sojourn at Elim was eminently cal-
culated to soothe the hearts of the people, and hush
their murmurings. The grateful shade of its palm
trees, and the refreshing of its wells, came in sweetly
and seasonably after the trial of Marah, and signifi-
cantly set forth, in our view, the precious virtues
of that spiritual ministry which God provides for
His people down here. "The twelve" and "the
seventy" are numbers intimately associated with
ministry.
But Elim was not Canaan. Its wells and palm
trees were but foretastes of that happy land which
lay beyond the bounds of the sterile desert on which
the redeemed had j ust entered. It furnished refresh-
ment, no doubt, but it was wilderness refreshment.
It was but for a passing moment, designed, in grace,
to encourage their depressed spirits, and nerve them
for their onward march to Canaan. Thus it is, as
we know, with ministry in the Church. It is a gra-
206 EXODUS.
cious provision for our need, designed to refresh,
strengthen, and encourage our hearts, u until we all
come to the fullness of the measure of the stature of
Christ." (Eph. iv.)
CHAPTER XVI.
^ 4 ND they took their journey from Elim, and all
"- the congregation of the children of Israel came
unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and
Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after
their departure out of the land of Egypt." (Chap,
xvi. 1.) Here we find Israel in a very marked and
interesting position. It is still the wilderness, no
doubt, but it is a most important and significant
stage thereof, namely, "between Elim and Sinai."
The former was the place where they had so recently
experienced the refreshing springs of divine ministry ;
the latter was the place where they entirely got off
'the ground of free and sovereign grace, and placed
themselves under a covenant of works. These facts
render "the wilderness of Sin a singularly interest-
ing portion of Israel's journey. Its features and
influences are as strongly marked as those of any
point in their whole career. They are here seen as
the subjects of the same grace which had brought
them up out of the land of Egypt, and therefore all
their murmurings are instantly met by divine sup-
plies. When God acts in the display of Plis grace,
there is no hindrance. The streams of blessing
CHAPTER XVI. 207
which emanate from Him, flow onward without in-
terruption. It is only when man puts himself under
law that he forfeits everything ; for then God must
allow him to prove how much he can claim on the
ground of his own works.
When God visited and redeemed His people, and
brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, it
assuredly was not for the purpose of suffering them
to die of hunger and thirst in the wilderness. They
should have known this. They ought to have trusted
Him, and walked in the confidence of that love which
had so gloriously delivered them from the horrors of
Egyptian bondage. They should have remembered
that it was infinitely better to be in the desert with
God than in the brick-kilns with Pharaoh. But no ;
the human heart finds it immensely difficult to give
God credit for pure and perfect love. It has far
more confidence in Satan than God. Look, for a
moment, at all the sorrow and suffering, the misery
and degradation, which man has endured by reason
of his having hearkened to the voice of Satan ; and
yet he never gives utterance to a word of complaint
of his service, or of desire to escape from under his
hand. He is not discontented with Satan, or weary
of serving him. Again and again he reaps bitter
fruits in those fields which Satan has thrown open to
him, and yet again and again he may be seen sowing
the self-same seed, and undergoing the self-same
labors.
How different it is in reference to God ! When
we have set out to walk in His ways, we are ready,
208 EXODUS.
at the earliest appearance of pressure or trial, to
murmur and. rebel. Indeed, there is nothing in
which we so signally fail as in the cultivation of a
confiding and thankful spirit. Ten thousand mercies
are forgotten in the presence of a single trifling pri-
vation. We have been frankly forgiven all our sins,
" accepted in the Beloved/' made heirs of God and
joint-heirs with Christ, the expectants of eternal
glory, and, in addition to all, our path through the
desert is strewed with coivhtless mercies ; and yet '
let but a cloud the size of a man's hand appear on
the horizon, and we at once forget the rich mercies
of the past in view of this single cloud, which, after
all, may only "break in blessings on our head."
The thought of this should humble us deeply in the
presence of God. How unlike we are in this, as
in every other respect, to our blessed Exemplar!
Look at Him the true Israel in the wilderness
surrounded by wild beasts, and fasting forty days.
How did He carry Himself? Did He murmur ? did
He complain of His lot ? did He wish Himself in
other circumstances ? Ah, no. God was the por-
tion of His cup and the lot of His inheritance (Ps.
xvi.) ; and, therefore, when the tempter approached
and offered Him the necessaries, the glories, the
distinctions, and the honors of this life, He refused
them all, and tenaciously held fast the position of
absolute dependence upon God and implicit obedi-
ence to His word. He would only take bread from
God, and glory from Him likewise.
Very different was it with Israel after the flesh !
CHAPTER XVI. 209
No sooner did they feel the pressure of hunger than
"they murmured against Moses and Aaron in the
wilderness." .They seemed to have actually lost the
sense of having been delivered by the hand of Jeho-
vah, for they said, " Ye have brought us forth into
this wilderness." And again, in chapter xvii, "the
people murmured against Moses, and said, 'Where-
fore is this that thou hast brought us up out of
Egypt to kill us and our children and our cattle with
thirst?' ' ' Thus did they, on every occasion, evince
a fretful, murmuring spirit, and prove how little they
realized the presence and the hand of their almighty
and infinitely gracious Deliverer.
Now, nothing is more dishonoring to God than the
manifestation of a complaining spirit on the part of
those that belong to Him. The apostle gives it as a
special mark of Gentile corruption that, "when they
knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither
were thankful." Then follows the practical result of
this unthankful spirit, "They became vain in their
imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened."
(Rom. i. 21.) The heart that ceases to retain a
thankful sense of God's goodness will speedily be-
come "dark." Thus Israel lost the sense of being
in God's hands ; and this led, as might be expected,
to still thicker darkness, for we find them, further on
in their history, saying, ' ' Wherefore hath the Lord
brought us into this land, to fall ~by the sword, that
our wives and our children shall be a prey?" (Numb,
xiv. 3.) Such is the line alon^ which a soul out of
/ o
communion will travel. It first loses the sense of
210 EXODUS.
being in God's hands for good, and finally begins
to deem itself in His hands for evil. Melancholy
progress this !
However, the people, being so far the subjects of
grace, are provided for ; and our chapter furnishes
the marvelous account of this provision, " Then
said the Lord unto Moses, 'Behold, I will rain bread
from heaven for you.' ' They, when enveloped in
the chilling cloud of their unbelief, had said, "Would
to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the
land of Eg3 r pt, when we sat by the flesh-pots, and
when we did eat bread to the full." But now the
word is, "Bread from heaven." Blessed contrast !
How amazing the difference between the flesh pots,
the leeks, onions, and garlic of Egypt, and this heav-
enly manna c ' angels' food ' ' ! The former belonged
to earth, the latter to heaven.
But then this heavenly food was, of necessity, a
test of Israel's condition, as we read, "That I may
prove them, whether they will walk in My law or no. "
It needed a heart weaned from Eg}-pt's influences,
to be satisfied with or enjoy "bread from heaven."
In point of fact, we know that the people were not
satisfied with it, but despised it, pronounced it "light
food, ' ' and lusted for flesh. Thus they proved how lit-
tle their hearts were delivered from Eg}^pt, or disposed
to \valk in God's law. "In their hearts they turned
back again into Egypt." (Acts vii. 39. ) But instead
of getting back thither, they were ultimately carried
away beyond Babylon. (Acts vii. 43. ) This is a solemn
and salutary lesson for Christians. If those who are
CHAPTER XVI. 211
redeemed from this present evil world do not walk
with God in thankfulness of heart, satisfied with His
provision for the redeemed in the wilderness, they
are in danger of falling into the snare of Babylonish
influences. This is a serious consideration. It de-
mands a heavenly taste to feed on bread from heaven.
Nature cannot relish such food ; it will ever yearn
after Egypt, and therefore it must be kept down. It
is our privilege, as those who have been baptized
unto Christ's death, and "risen again through the
faith of the operation of God," to feed upon Christ
as u the bread of life which came down from heaven."
This is our wilderness food Christ as ministered by
the Holy Ghost, through the written Word ; while,
for our spiritual refreshment, the Holy Ghost has
come down as the precious fruit of the smitten
Rock Christ, as smitten for us. Such is our rare
portion in this desert world.
Now, it is obvious that, in order to. enjoy such a
portion as this, our hearts must be weaned from
everything in this present evil world from all that
would address itself to us as natural men as men
alive in the flesh. A worldly heart a carnal mind,
would neither find Christ in the Word, nor enjoy Him
if found. The manna was so pure and delicate that
it could not bear contact with earth. It fell upon
the dew (see Numb. xi. 9.), and had to be gathered
ere the sun was up. Each one, therefore, had to
rise early and seek his daily portion. So it is
with the people of God now. The heavenly Manna
must be gathered fresh every morning. Yesterday's
212 EXODUS.
Manna will not do for to-da}~, nor to-day's for to-
morrow. We must feed upon Christ every day, with
fresh energy of the Spirit, else we shall cease to
grow. Moreover, we must make Christ our primary
object. We must seek Him "early," before "other
things " have had time to take possession of our pool-
susceptible hearts. Many of us, alas ! fail in this.
We give Christ a secondary place, and the conse-
quence is, we are left feeble and barren. The enemy,
ever watchful, takes advantage of our excessive spir-
iritual indolence to rob us of the blessedness and
strength which flow from feeding upon Christ. The
new life in the believer can only be nourished and
sustained by Christ. "As the living Father hath
sent Me, and I live by the Father ; so he that eateth
Me, even he shall live by Me." (John vi. 57.)
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the One
who came down from heaven to be His people's
food, is ineffably precious to the renewed soul ; but,
in order to enjoy Him thus, we need to realize our-
selves as in the wilderness, separated to God in the
power of accomplished redemption. If I am walk-
ing with God through the desert, I shall be satisfied
with the food which He provides, and that is, Christ
as come down from heaven. "The old corn of the
land of Canaan" has its antitype in Christ ascended
up on high, and seated in the glory. As such, He is
the proper food of those who, by faith, know them-
selves as raised up together, and seated together
in Him in the heavenlies. But the Manna, that is,
Christ as come down from heaven, is for the people
CHAPTER XVI. 213
of God in their wilderness life and experience. As a
people journeying down here, we need a Christ who
also journeyed down here ; as a people seated in
spirit up there, we have a Christ who is seated
up there. This may help to explain the difference
between the manna and the old corn of the land. It
is not a question of redemption ; that we have in the
blood of the cross, and there alone. It is simply the
provision which God has made for His people, ac-
cording to their varied attitudes, whether as actually
toiling in the desert, or in spirit taking possession of
the heavenly inheritance.
What a striking picture is presented by Israel in
the wilderness ! Egj-pt was behind them, Canaan
before them, and the sand of the desert around
them ; while they themselves were called to look up
to heaven for their daily supply. The wilderness
afforded not one blade of grass nor one drop of
water for the Israel of God. In Jehovah alone was
their portion. Most touching illustration of God's
pilgrim people in this wilderness world ! They have
nothing here. Their life, being heavenly, can only
be sustained by heavenly things. Though in the
world, they are not of it, for Christ lias chosen
them out of it. As a heaven-born people, they are
on their way to their birth-place, and sustained by
food sent from thence. Theirs is an upward and
onward course. The glory leads only thus. It is
utterly vain to cast the eye backward in the direction
of Egypt ; not a ray of the glory can there be dis-
cerned. "They looked toward the ivilderness, and
15
214 EXODUS.
behold the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud."
4 'Jehovah's chariot was in the wilderness, and all
who desired companionship with Him should be there
likewise ; and if there, the heavenly manna should
be their food, and that alone.
True, this manna was strange sustenance, such as
an Egyptian could never understand, appreciate, or
live upon ; but those who had been c ' baptized in the
cloud and in the sea" could, if walking in consist-
ency with that significant baptism, enjoy and be
nourished by it. Thus is it now in the case of the
true believer. The worldling cannot understand how
he lives. Both his life and that which sustains it
lie entirely beyond the range of nature's keenest
vision. Christ is his life, and on Christ he lives.
He feeds, by faith, upon the powerful attractions of
One who, though being "God over all, blessed for-
ever," u took upon Him the form of a servant, and
was made in the likeness of men." (Phil. ii. 7.)
He traces Him from the bosom of the Father to the
cross, and from the cross to the throne, and finds
Him, in every stage of His journey, and in every
attitude of His life, to be most precious food for his
new man. All around, though, in fact, Egypt, is
morally a waste howling wilderness, affording no-
thing for the renewed mind ; and just in proportion
as the Christian finds any material to feed upon
must his spiritual man be hindered in his progress.
The only provision which God has made is the
heavenly Manna, and on this the true believer
should ever feed.
CHAPTER XVI. 215
It is truly deplorable to find Christians seeking
after the things of this world. It proves, very
distinctly, that they arc "loathing" the heavenly
Manna, and esteeming it "light food;" they are
ministering to that which they ought to mortify.
The activities of the new life will ever show them-
selves in connection with the subjugation of u the
old man with his deeds;" and the more that is
accomplished, the more will we desire to feed upon
the "Bread which strengthens man's heart." As
in nature, the more we exercise, the better the
appetite, so in grace ; the more our renewed faculties
arc called into play, the more we feel the need of
feeding, each day, upon Christ. It is one thing to
know that we have life in Christ, together with full
forgiveness and acceptance before God, and it is
quite another to be in habitual communion with
Him feeding upon Him by faith making Him the
exclusive food of our souls. Very many profess to
have found pardon and peace in Jesus, who, in
reality, are feeding upon a variety of things which
have no connection with Him. They feed their
minds with the newspapers and the varied frivolous
and vapid literature of the day. Will they find
Christ there ? Is it by such instrumentality that the
Holy Ghost ministers Christ to the soul ? Are these
the pure dew-drops on which the heavenly Manna
descends for the sustenance of God's redeemed in
the desert ? Alas ! no ; they are the gross materials
in which the carnal mind delights. How, then, can
a true Christian live upon such ? We know, by the
216 EXODUS.
teaching of God's Word, that he carries about with
him two natures ; and it may be asked, Which of
the two is it that feeds upon the world's news and
the world's literature ? Is it the old, or the new ?
There can be but one reply. Well, then, which of
the. two arn I desirous of cherishing ? Assuredly
my conduct will afford the truest answer to this
inquiry. If I sincerely desire to grow in the divine
life if my one grand object is to be assimilated
and devoted to Christ if I am earnestly breathing
after an extension of God's kingdom within, I shall,
without doubt, seek continually that character of
nourishment which is designed of God to promote
my spiritual growth. This is plain. A man's acts
are always the truest index of his desires and pur-
poses. Hence, if I find a professing Christian neg-
lecting his Bible, yet finding abundance of time
yea, some of his choicest hours for the newspaper,
I can be at no loss to decide as to the true condition
of his soul. I am sure he cannot be spiritual
cannot be feeding upon, living for, or witnessing to,
Christ.
If an Israelite neglected to gather, in the fresh-
ness of the morning hour, his daily portion of the
divinely appointed food, he would speedily have
become lacking in strength for his journey. Thus is
it with us. We must make Christ the paramount
object of our soul's pursuit, else our spiritual life
will inevitably decline. We cannot even feed upon
feelings and experiences connected with Christ, for
they, inasmuch as they are fluctuating, cannot form
CHAPTER XVI. 217
our spiritual nourishment. It was Christ yesterday,
and it must be Christ to-day, and Christ forever.
Moreover, it will not do to feed partly on Christ and
partly on other things. As in the matter of life it
is Christ alone, so in the matter of living it must be
Christ alone. As we cannot mingle any thing with
that which imparts life, so neither can we mingle
any thing with that which sustains it.
It is quite true that, in spirit, and by faith, we
can even now feed upon a risen and glorified Christ,
ascended up to heaven in virtue of accomplished
redemption, as prefigured by "the old corn of the
land." (See Joshua v.) And not only so, but we
know that when God's redeemed shall have entered
upon those fields of glory, rest, and immortality
which lie beyond the Jordan, they shall, in actual
fact, be done with wilderness food ; but they will
not be done with Christ, nor with the remembrance
of that which constitutes the specific nourishment
of their desert, life.
Israel were never to forget, amid the milk and
honey of the land of Canaan, that which had sus-
tained them during their forty years' sojourn in the
wilderness. "This is the thing which the Lord
commandeth: 'Fill an omer of it to be kept for
your generations ; that they may see the bread
wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness, when I
brought you forth from the land of Egypt.' ....
As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up
before the testimony, to be kept." (Ver. 32-34.)
Most precious memorial of the faithfulness of God !
218 EXODUS.
He did not suffer them to die of hunger, as their
foolish hearts had unbelievingly anticipated. He
rained bread from heaven for them, fed them with
angels' food, watched over them with all the tender-
ness of a nurse, bore with them, carried them on
eagles' wings, and, had they only continued on the
proper ground of grace, He would have put them in
eternal possession of all the promises made to their
fathers. The pot of manna, therefore, containing,
as it did, a man's daily portion, and laid up before
the Lord, furnishes a volume of truth. There was
no worm therein, nor aught of taint. It was the
record of Jehovah's faithfulness in providing for
those whom He had redeemed out of the hand of
the cnem3 r .
Not so, however, when man hoarded it up for
himself. Then the symptoms of corruptibility soon
made their appearance. We cannot, if entering into
the truth and reality of our position, hoard up. It
is our privilege, day by day, to enter into the prc-
ciousness of Christ, as the One who came down from
heaven to give life unto the world. But if any, in
forgetfulness of this, should be found hoarding up
for to-morrow, that is, laying up truth beyond his
present need, instead of turning it to profit in the
way of renewing strength, it will surely become
corrupt. This is a salutary lesson for us. It is a
deeply solemn thing to learn truth ; for there is not
a principle which we profess to have learnt which we
shall not have to prove practically. God will not
have us theorists. One often trembles to hear per-
CHAPTER XVI. 219
sons make high professions and use expressions of
intense devotedness, whether in prayer or otherwise,
lest, when the hour of trial comes, there may not
be the needed spiritual power to carry out what the
lips have uttered.
There is a great danger of the intellect's outstrip-
ping the conscience and the affections. Hence it is
that so many seem, at first, to make such rapid
progress up to a certain point ; but there they stop
short and appear -to retrograde. Like an Israelite
gathering up more manna than he required for one
day's food. He might appear to be accumulating
the heavenly food far more diligently than others ;
yet every particle beyond the day's supply was not
only useless, but far worse than useless, inasmuch as
it c ' bred worms. ' ' Thus is it with the Christian. He
must use what he gets, he must feed upon Christ
as a matter of actual need, and the need is brought
out in actual service. The character and ways of
God, the preciousness and beauty of Christ, and the
living depths of the Word, are only unfolded to faith
and need. It is as we use what we receive that more
will be given. The path of the believer is to be a
practical one ; and here it is that so many of us come
short. It will often be found that those who get on
most rapidly in theory are the slowest in the practi-
cal and experimental elements, because it is more a
work of intellect than of heart and conscience. We
should ever remember that Christianity is not a set
of opinions, a system of dogmas, or a number of
views ; it is pre-eminently a living reality, a per-
220 EXODUS.
sonal, practical, powerful thing, telling itself out in
all the scenes and circumstances of daily life, shed-
ding its hallowed influence over the entire character
and course, and imparting its heavenly tone to every
relationship which one may be called of God to fill.
In a word, it is that which flows from being associa-
ted and occupied with Christ. This is Christianity.
There may be clear views, correct notions, sound
principles, without any fellowship with Jesus ; but
an orthodox creed without Christ will prove a cold,
barren, dead thing.
Christian reader, see carefully to it that you are
not only saved by Christ, but also living on Him.
Make Him the daily portion of 3^011 r soul. Seek
Him "early," seek him "-only." When any thing-
solicits your attention, ask the question, Will this
bring Christ to my heart ? Will it unfold Him to
my affections, or draw me near to His Person ? If
not, reject it at once : } T es, reject it, though it present
itself under the most specious appearance and with
the most commanding authority. If your honest
purpose be to get on in the divine life, to progress
in spirituality, to cultivate personal acquaintance
with Christ, then challenge your heart solemnly and
faithfully as to this. Halve Christ your habitual
food. Go, gather the Manna that falls on the dew-
drops, and feed upon it with an appetite sharpened
by a diligent walk with God through the desert.
May the rich grace of God the Holy Ghost abund-
antly strengthen you in all this ! *
*My reader will find it profitable to turn to the sixth of John, and
CHAPTER XVI. 221
There is one point more in our chapter which we
shall notice, namely, the institution of the Sabbath,
in its connection with the manna and Israel's posi-
tion as here set forth. From the second chapter of
Genesis down to the chapter now before us, we find
no mention made of this institution. This is re-
markable. Abel's sacrifice, Enoch's walk with God,
Noah's preaching, Abraham's call, together with the
detailed history of Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, are all
presented ; but there is no allusion to the Sabbath
until we find Israel recognized as a people in rela-
tionship and consequent responsibility to Jehovah.
The Sabbath was interrupted in Eden ; and here we
find it again instituted for Israel in the wilderness.
But, alas! man has no heart for God's rest. And
it came to pass that "there went out some of the
people on the seventh day for to gather, and they
found none. And the Lord said unto Moses, 'How
long refuse ye to keep My commandments and My
laws ? See, for that the Lord hath given you the Sab-
bath, therefore He giveth you on the sixth day the
bread of two days : abide ye every man in his place ;
prayerfully meditate upon it, in connection with the subject of the
manna. The passover being near, Jesus feeds the multitude, and
then takes His departure to a mountain, there to be alone. From
thence He comes to the relief of His distressed people tossed upon
the troubled waters. After this, Ho unfolds the doctrine of His
Terson and work, and declares how Ho was to give His flesh for
the life of the world, and that none could have life sava by eating
His flesh and drinking His blood. Finally, He speaks of Himself
as ascending up where He was before and of the quickening power
of the Holy Ghost. It is, indeed, a rich and copious chapter, in
which the spiritual reader will flnd a vast fund of truth for the
comfort and edification of his soul.
222 EXODUS.
let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.' '
(Ver. 27-29.) God would have His people enjoying
sweet repose with Himself. He would give them
rest, food, and refreshment, even in the wilderness.
But man's heart is not disposed to rest with God.
The people could remember and speak of the time
when they "sat by the flesh pots" in Egypt, but
they could not appreciate the blessedness of sitting
in their tents, enjoying with God "the rest of the
holy Sabbath," feeding upon the heavenly manna.
And, be it remarked, that the Sabbath is here
presented as a matter of gift. ' ' The Lord hath given
you the Sabbath. Further on in this book we shall
find it put in the form of a law, with a curse and a
judgment attached to it in the case of disobedience.
But whether fallen man gets a privilege or a law, a
blessing or a curse, it is all alike. His nature is bad.
He can neither rest with nor work for God. If God
works and makes a rest for him, he will not keep it ;
and if God tells him to work, he will not do it. Such
is man. He has no heart for God. He can make
use of the name of the Sabbath as a something to
exalt himself, or as the badge of his own religious-
ness ; but when we turn to Exodus xvi, we find that
he cannot prize God's Sabbath as a gift, and when
we turn to Numbers xv. 32-36, we find he cannot
keep it as a law.
Now, 'we know that the Sabbath, as well as the
manna, was a type. In itself, it was a real blessing
a sweet mercy from the hand of a loving and
gracious God, who would relieve the toil and travail
CHAPTER XVI. 223
of a sin-stricken earth by the refreshment of one day
of rest out of the seven. Whatever way we look at
the institution of the Sabbath, we must see it to be
pregnant with richest mercy, whether we view it
in reference to man or to the animal creation. And,
albeit, that Christians observe the first day of the
week the Lord's day and attach to it its proper
principles, yet is the gracious providence equally
observable, nor would any mind at all governed by
right feelings, seek, for a moment, to interfere with
such a signal mercy. "The Sabbath was made
for man ; " and although man never lias kept it, ac-
cording to the divine thought about it, that does not
detract from the grace which shines in the appoint-
ment of it, nor divest it of its deep significancy as a
type of that eternal rest which remains for the people
of God, or as a shadow of that substance which faith
now enjoys in the Person and work of a risen Christ.
Let not the reader therefore suppose that in any
thing which has been or may be stated in these pages
the object is to touch, in the slightest degree, the
merciful provision of one day's rest for man and the
animal creation, much less to interfere with the dis-
tinct place which the Lord's day occupies in the New
Testament. Nothing is further from the writer's
thoughts. As a man he values the former, and as
a Christian he rejoices in the latter, far too deeply
to admit of his penning or uttering a single syllable
which would interfere with either the one or the
other. He would only ask the reader to weigh,
with a dispassionate mind, in the balance of Holy
224 EXODUS.
Scripture, every line and every statement, and not
form any harsh judgment beforehand.
This subject will come before us again, in our
further meditations, if the Lord will. May we learn
to value more the rest which our God has provided
for us in Christ, and while enjoying Him as our rest,
may we feed upon Him as the u hidden Manna,"
laid up, in the power of resurrection, in the inner
sanctuary, the record of what God has accom-
plished, on our behalf, by coming down into this
world, in His infinite grace, in order that we might
be before Him according to the perfectness of Christ,
and feed on His unsearchable riches forever.
CHAPTER XVII.
^ A ND all the congregation of the children of
fj- Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin,
after their journeys, according to the commandment
of the Lord, and pitched in Rephidim :, and there
was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore
the people did chide with Moses, and said, 'Give us
water that we may drink.' And Moses said unto
them, 'Why chide ye with me? Wherefore do ye
tempt the Lord?' " (Chap. xvii. 1, 2.) Did we not
know something of the humiliating evil of our own
hearts, we should be quite at a loss to account for
Israel's marvelous insensibility to all the Lord's
goodness, faithfulness, and mighty acts. They had
just seen bread descending from heaven to feed six
CHAPTER XVII. 225
hundred thousand people in the wilderness ; and
now they are "ready to stone" Moses for bringing
them out into the wilderness to kill them with thirst.
Nothing can exceed the desperate unbelief and wick-
edness of the human heart save the superabouncling
grace of God. In that grace alone can any one find
relief under the growing sense of his evil nature
which circumstances tend to make manifest. Had
Israel been transported directly from Egypt to Ca-
naan, they would not have made such sad exhibitions
of what the human heart is, and, as a consequence,
they would not have proved such admirable ensam-
ples or types for us ; but their forty years' wander-
ing in the desert furnishes us with a volume of
warning, admonition, and instruction, fruitful be-
yond conception. From it we learn, amongst many
other things, the unvarying tendency of the heart
to distrust God. Any thing, in short, for it but
God. It would rather lean upon a cobweb of human
resources than upon the arm of an omnipotent, all-
wise, and infinitely gracious God ; and the smallest
cloud is more than sufficient to hide from its view
the light of His blessed countenance. Well, there-
fore, may it be termed "an evil heart of unbelief,"
which will ever show itself ready to "depart from
the living God."
It is interesting to note the two great questions
raised by unbelief in this and the preceding chapter.
They are precisely similar to those which spring up
within and around us every day, namely, ^What
shall we eat ? and What shall we drink ? We do
226 EXODUS.
not find the people raising the third question in the
category "Wherewithal shall we be clothed?"
But here are the questions of the wilderness
"What?" "Where?" "How?" Faith has a brief
but comprehensive answer to all the three, namely,
GOD ! Precious, perfect answer ! O that the
writer and the reader were more thoroughly ac-
quainted with its force and fullness ! We assuredly
need to remember, when placed in a position of
trial, that "there hath no temptation taken us but
such as is common to man : but God is faithful,
who will not suffer 3^011 to be tempted above that ye
are able ; but will with the temptation also make a
way to escape, [or, an "issue" cx/ladir,'] that ye
may be able to bear it." (1 Cor. x. 13.) Whenever
we get into trial, we may feel confident that with
the trial there is an issue, and all we need is a
broken will and a single eye to see it.
"And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, 'What
shall I do unto this people ? they be almost ready
to stone me.' And the Lord said unto Moses, 'Go
on before the people, and take with thee of the elders
of Israel; and thy rod, where with thou smotest the
river, take in thine hand, and go. Behold, I will
stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb,
and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come
water out of it, that the people may drink.' And
Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel."
(Ver. 4-6.) Thus all is met by the most perfect
grace. Every murmur brings out a fresh display:
Here we have the refreshing stream gushing from
CHAPTER XVII. 227
the smitten rock beauteous type of the Spirit given
as the fruit of Christ's accomplished sacrifice. In
chapter xvi, we have a type of Christ coming down
from heaven to give life to the world. In chapter
xvii, we have a type of the Holy Ghost, "shed
forth" in virtue of Christ's finished work. "They
drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them,
and that Rock was Christ." (1 Cor. x. 4.) But
who could drink till the Rock was smitten ? Israel
might have gazed on that rock and died of thirst
while gazing ; but until smitten by the rod of God,
it could yield no refreshment. This is plain enough.
The Lord Jesus Christ was the centre and foundation
of all God's counsels of love and mercy. Through
Him all blessing was to flow to man. The streams
of grace were designed to gush forth from "the
Lamb of God;" but then it was needful that the
Lamb should be slain that the work of the cross
should be an accomplished fact ere any of these
things could be actualized. It was when the Rock
of Ages was cleft by the hand of Jehovah that the
flood-gates of eternal love were thrown wide open,
and perishing sinners invited, by the testimony of the
Holy Ghost, to "drink abundantly," drink deeply,
drink freely. "The gift of the Holy Ghost" is the
result of the Son's accomplished work upon the cross.
"The promise of the Father" could not be fulfilled
until Christ had taken His seat at the right hand of
the Majesty in the heavens, having wrought out
perfect righteousness, answered all the claims of
holiness, magnified the law and made it honorable,
228 EXODUS.
borne the unmitigated wrath, of God against sin,
exhausted the power of death, and deprived the
grave of its victory. He, having done all this,
"ascended tip on high, led captivity captive, and
gave gifts unto men. Now that lie ascended, what
is it but that He also descended first into the lower
parts of the earth ? He that descended is the same
also that ascended up far above all heavens, that
He might fill all things." (Eph. iv. 8-10.)
This is the true foundation of the Church's peace,
blessedness, and glory forever. Until the rock was
smitten, the stream was pent up, and man could do
nothing. What human hand could bring forth water
from a flinty rock ? And so we may ask, What
human righteousness could afford a warrant for
opening the flood-gates of divine love ? This is the
true way in which to test jnan's competency. He
could not, by his doings, his sayings, or his feelings,
furnish a ground for the mission of the Holy Ghost.
Let him be or do what he may, he could not do this.
But thank God, it is done ; Christ has finished -the
work; the true Rock has been smitten, and the
refreshing stream has issued forth, so that thirsty
souls may drink. "The water that I shall give
him," says Christ, "shall be in him a well of water,
springing up into everlasting life." (John iv. 14.)
Again : "In the last cla}^, that great day of the feast,
Jesus stood and cried, saying, 'If any man thirst,
let him come unto Me and drink. He that believeth
on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly
shall flow rivers of living water.' (But this spake
CHAPTER XVII. 229
He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him
should receive ; for the Holy Ghost was not yet
given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)"
(John vii. 37-39 ; compare, also, Acts xix. 2.)
Thus, as in the manna we have a type of Christ,
so in the stream gushing from the rock we have a
type of the Holy Ghost. "If thou knewest the gift
of God [&'.<?., Christ], .... thou wouldest have
asked of Him, and He would have given thee living
water [i.e. the Spirit]."
Such, then, is the teaching conveyed to the spirit-
ual mind by the smitten rock ; but the name of the
place in which this significant type was presented is
a standing memorial of man's unbelief. "He called
the name of the place Massah [i.e., Temptation],
and Meribah [7.e., Chiding], because of the chiding
of the children of Israel, and because they tempted
the Lord, saying, 'Is the Lord among us, or not?' '
(Ver. 7.) After such repeated assurances and evi-
dences of Jehovah's presence,* to raise such an in-
quiry proves the deep-seated unbelief of the human
heart. It was, in point of fact, tempting Him.
Thus did the Jews, in the day of Christ's presence
amongst them, seek of Him a sign from heaven,
tempting Him. Faith never acts thus ; it believes
in and enjo} T s the divine presence, not by a sign,
but by the knowledge of Himself. It knows He is>
there to be enjoyed, and it enjoys Him. Lord,
grant us a more artless spirit of confidence !
The next point suggested by our chapter is one of
special interest to us. "Then came Amalek and
16
230 EXODUS.
fought with Israel in Rephiclim. And Moses said
unto .Joshua, 'Choose us out men, and go out, fight
with Amalek : to-morrow I will stand on the top of
the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.' " (Ver.
8, 9.) The gift of the Holy Ghost leads to conflict.
The light rebukes and conflicts with the darkness.
Where all is dark there is no struggle ; but the very
feeblest struggle bespeaks the presence of light.
"The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit
against the flesh ; and these are contrary the one to
the other, so that ye should not do the things that yc
would." (Gal. v. 17.) Thus it is in the chapter
before us ; we have the rock smitten and the water
flowing forth, and immediately we read, "Then came
Amalek and fought with Israel."
This is the first time that Israel are seen in conflict
with an external foe. Up to this point, the Lord had
f tfugkt for them, as we read in chapter xiv, "The
Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your
peace." But now the word is, "Choose us out
men. 19 True, God must now fight in Israel, as,
before, He had fought for them. This marks the
difference, as to the type ; and as to the antitype,
we know that there is an immense difference between
Christ's battles for us, and the Holy Ghost's battles
in us. The former, blessed be God, are all over,
the victory gained, and a glorious and an everlasting
peace secured : the latter, on the contrary, are still
going on.
Pharaoh and Amalek represent two different pow-
ers or influences. Pharaoh represents the hindrance
CHAPTER XVII. 231
to Israel's deliverance from Eg}^pt: Am alek repre-
sents the hindrance to their walk with God through
the wilderness. Pharaoh used the things of Egypt
to keep Israel from serving the Lord ; he therefore
prefigures Satan, who uses "this present evil world"
against the people of God: Amalek, on the other
hand, stands before us as the type of the flesh. He
was the grandson of Esau, who preferred a mess of
pottage to the birthright. (See Gen. xxxvi. 12.) He
was the first who opposed Israel after their baptism
' ' in the cloud and in the sea. ' ' These facts serve to
fix his character with great distinctness ; and, in
addition to these, we know that Saul was set aside
from the kingdom of Israel in consequence of his
failing to destroy Amalek. (1 Sam. xv.) And
further, we find that Haman is the last of the Ama-
lekites of whom we find any notice in Scripture.
He was hanged on a gallows in consequence of his
wicked attempt against the seed of Israel. (See
Esther.) No Amalekite could obtain entrance into
the congregation of the Lord. And finally, in the
chapter now before us, the Lord declares perpetual
war with Amalek.
All these circumstances may be regarded as fur-
nishing conclusive evidence of the fact that Amalek
is a type of the flesh. The connection between his
conflict with Israel and the water flowing out of the
rock is most marked and instructive, and in full
keeping with the believer's conflict with his evil
nature, which conflict is, as we know, consequent
upon his having the new nature, and the Holy Ghost
232 EXODUS.
dwelling therein. Israel's conflict began when they
stood in the full power of redemption, and had
tasted "that spiritual meat, and drunk of that
spiritual Rock." Until they met Amalek, they had
nothing to do. They did not cope with Pharaoh ;
' they did not break the power of Egypt, nor snap
asunder the chains of its thraldom ; they did not
divide the sea, nor submerge Pharaoh's hosts be-
neath its waves ; they did not bring down bread
from heaven, nor draw forth water out of the flinty
rock ; they neither had done, nor could they do,
any of these things ; but now they are called to
fight with Amalek. All the previous conflict had
been between Jehovah and the enemy. They had
but to "stand still" and gaze upon the mighty
triumphs of Jehovah's outstretched arm, and enjoy
the fruits of victory. The Lord had fought for
them ; but now He fights in or % them.
Thus is it also with the Church of God. The
victories on which her eternal peace and blessedness
are founded were gained, single-handed, by Christ
for her. He was alone on the cross, alone in the
tomb. The Church had to stand aside, for how
could she be there? how could she vanquish Satar,
endure the wrath of God, or rob death of its sting?
Impossible. These things lay far beyond the reach
of sinners, but not beyond the reach of Him who
came to save them, and who alone was able to bear
upon His shoulder the ponderous weight of all their
sins, and roll the burden away forever, by His in-
finite sacrifice, so that God the Holy Ghost, pro-
CHAPTER XVII. 233
ceeding from God the Father, in virtue of the
perfect atonement of God the Son, can take up
His abode in the Church collectively, and in each
member thereof individually.
Now it is when the Holy Ghost thus takes up His
abode in us, consequent upon Christ's death and
resurrection, that our conflict begins. Christ has
fought for us ; the Holy Ghost fights in us. The
very fact of our enjoying this first rich spoil of
victory, puts us into direct conflict with the foe;
but the comfort is that we are victors ere we enter
upon the field of conflict at all. The believer ap-
proaches to the battle singing, "Thanks be to God
which give th us the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ." (1 Cor. xv. 57.) We do not, therefore,
fight uncertainly, or as those that beat the air, while
we seek to keep under the body and bring it into
subjection. (1 Cor. ix. 26, 27.) "We are more
than conquerors through Him that loved us." (Rom.
viii. 37.) The grace in which we stand renders the
flesh utterly void of power to lord it over us. (See
Rom. vi, passim.) If the law is "the strength of
Gin," grace is the weakness thereof. The former
gives sin power over us ; the latter gives us power
over sin.
"And Moses said unto Joshua, 'Choose us out
men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to-morrow I
will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God
in mine hand.' So Joshua did as Moses had said
unto him, and fought with Amalek; and Moses,
Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And
234 EXODUS.
it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that
Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand,
Amalek prevailed. Bat Moses' hands were heavy ;
and they took a stone and put it under him, and
he sat thereon ; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his
hands, the one on the one side and the other on the
other side ; and his hands were steady until the
going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited
Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword."
(Verses 9-13.)
We have here two distinct things, namely, conflict
and intercession. Christ is on high for us, while the
Holy Ghost carries on the, mighty struggle in us.
The two things go together. It is as we enter by
faith into the prevalency of Christ's intercession on
our "behalf that we make head against our evil nature.
Some there arc who seek to overlook the fact of
the Christian's conflict with the flesh. They look
upon regeneration as a total change or renewal of
the old nature. Upon this principle it would neces-
sarily follow that the believer has nothing to strug-
gle with. If my nature is renewed, what have I to
contend with ? Nothing. There is nothing within,
inasmuch as my old nature is made new ; and no-
thing without can affect me, inasmuch as there is no
response from within. The world lias no charms
for one whose flesh is entirely changed, and Satan
has nothing by or on which to act. To all who
maintain such a theoiy, it may be said that they
seem to forget the place which Amalek occupies in
the history of the people of God. Had Israel con-
CHAPTER XVII. 235
ceived the idea that when Pharaoh's hosts were
gone their conflict was at an end, they would have
been sadly put about when Amalek came upon them.
The fact is, theirs only then began. Thus it is with
the believer, for "all these things happened unto
Israel for ensamples, and they are written for our
admonition." (1 Cor. x. 11.) But there could be
no "type," no "ensample," no "admonition," in
"these things" for one whose old nature is made
new. Indeed, such an one can have but little need
of any of those gracious provisions which God has
made in His kingdom for those who are the subjects
thereof.
We are distinctly taught in the Word that the
believer carries about with him that which answers
to Amalek, that is, "the flesh" "the old man"
"the carnal mind." (Rom. vi. G ; viii. 7 ; Gal. v. 17.)
Now, if the Christian, upon perceiving the stirrings
of his evil nature, begins to doubt his being a Chris-
tian, he will not only render himself exceedingly
unhappy, but also deprive himself of his vantage-
ground against the enemy. The flesh exists in the
believer and will be there to the end of the chapter.
The Ploly Ghost fully recognizes it as existing, as
we may easily see, from various parts of the New
Testament. In Romars vi. we read, "Let not sin
therefore reign in your mortal bodies." Such a
precept would be entirely uncalled for if the flesh
were not existing in the believer. It would be out
of character to tell us not to let sin reign, if it were
not actually dwelling in us. There is a great differ-
236 EXODUS.
ence between dwelling and reigning. It dwells in a
believer, but it reigns in an unbeliever.
However, though it dwells in us, we have, thank
God, a principle of power over it. "Sin shall not
have dominion over you ; for ye are not under the
law, but under grace." The grace which, by the
blood of the cross, has put .away sin, insures us the
victoiy, and gives us present power over its indwell-
ing principle.
We have died to sin, and hence it has no claim
over us. "He that has died is justified from sin."
"Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified
with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed,
that henceforth we should not serve sin." (Rom.
vi. G.) "And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his
people with the edge of the sword." All was
victory; and Jehovah's banner floated over the
triumphant host, bearing the sweet and heart-sus-
taining inscription, " Jehovah-nissi" (the Lord my
banner). The assurance of' victory should be as
complete as the sense of forgiveness, seeing both
alike are founded upon the great fact that Jesus
died and rose again. It h in the power of this that
the believer enjoys a purged conscience and sub-
dues indwelling sin. The death of Christ having
answered all the claims of God in reference to our
sins, His resurrection becomes the spring of- power
in all the details of conflict afterwards. He died/or
us, and now He lives in us. The former gives us
peace, the latter gives us power.
It is edifying to remark the contrast between
CHAPTER XVII. 237
Moses on the hill and Christ on the throne. The
hands of our great Intercessor can never hang down.
His intercession never fluctuates. u He ever liveth
to make intercession for us." (Heb. vii.) His in-
tercession is never-ceasing and all-prevailing. Hav-
ing taken His place on high, in the power of divine
righteousness, He acts for us according to what He
is, and according to the infinite perfectness of what
He has done. His hands can never hang down, nor
can He need any one to hold them up. His perfect
advocacy is founded upon His perfect sacrifice. He
presents us before God, clothed in His own perfec-
tions, so that though we may ever have to keep our
faces in the dust, in the sense of what we are, yet
the Spirit can only testify to^us of what He is before
God for us, and of what we are in Him. "We are
not in the flesh, but in the Spirit." (Rom. viii. ) We
are in the body, as to the fact of our condition ; but
we are not in the flesli, as to the principle of our
standing. Moreover, the flesh is in us, though we
are dead to it ; but we are not in the flesh, because
we are alive with Christ.
We may further remark, on this chapter, that
Moses had the rod of God w r ith him on the hill the
rod with which he had smitten the rock. This rod
was the expression or symbol of the power of God,
which is seen alike in atonement and intercession.
When the work of atonement was accomplished,
Christ took His seat in heaven, and sent down the
Holy Ghost to take up His abode in the Church ; so
that there is an inseparable connection between the
238 EXODUS.
work of Christ and the work of the Spirit. There
is the application of the power of God in each.
CHAPTER XVIII.
WE here arrive at the close of a very marked
division of the book of Exodus. We have
seen God, in the exercise of His perfect grace,
visiting and redeeming His people, bringing them
forth out of the land of Eg} T pt, delivering them first
from the hand of Pharaoh and then from the hand
of Amalek. Furthermore, we have seen, in the
manna, a type of Christ come down from heaven ;
in the rock, a type of Christ smitten for His people ;
and in the gushing stream, a type of the Spirit given.
Then follows, in striking and beautiful order, a pic-
ture of the future glory, divided into its three grand
departments, namely, "the Jew, the Gentile, and
the Church of God."
During the period of Moses' rejection by his
brethren, he was taken apart and presented with a
bride the companion of his rejection. We were
led to see, at the opening of this book, the charac-
ter of Moses' relationship with this bride. He was
"a husband by blood" to her. This is precisely
what Christ is to the Church. Her connection with
Him is founded upon death and resurrection ; and
she is called to fellowship with His sufferings. It
is, as we know, during the period of Israel's un-
belief and of Christ's rejection that the Church is
CHAPTER XVIII. 239
called out ; and when the Church is complete,
according to the divine counsels when the "full-
ness of the Gentiles is come in" Israel shall again
be brought into notice.
Thus it was with Zipporah and Israel of old.
Moses had sent her back during the period of his
mission to Israel ; and when the latter were brought
forth as a fully delivered people, we read thaf'Jeth-
ro, Moses' father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses' wife,
after he had sent her back, and her two sons, of
which the name of the one was Gershom ; 'For,' he
said, 'I have been an alien in a strange land ; ' and
the name of the other was Eliezer ; ' For the God of
my fathers,' said he, 'was mine help, and delivered
me from the sword of Pharaoh.' And Jethro, Moses'
father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife unto
Moses into the wilderness, where he encamped at
the mount of God. And he said unto Moses, 'I,
thy father-in-law, Jethro, am come unto thee, and
thy wife and her two sons with her.' And Moses
went out to meet his father-in-law, and did obei-
sance, and kissed him ; and they asked each other
of their welfare ; and they came into the tent. And
Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had
done unto Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's
sake, and all the travail that had come upon them
by the way, and how the Lord delivered them. And
Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which the Lord
had done to Israel, whom He had delivered from
the hand of the Egyptians. And Jethro said,
'Blessed be the Lord, who hath delivered you out
240 EXODUS.
of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand
of Pharaoh ; who hath delivered the people from
under the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know
that the Lord is greater than all gods ; for in the
thing wherein they dealt proudly He was above
them.' And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took a
burnt-offering and sacrifices for God ; and Aaron
came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread
with Moses' father-in-law before God." (Chap.xviii.
2-12.)
This is a deeply interesting scene. The whole
congregation assembled in triumph before the Lord,
the Gentile presenting sacrifice, and in addition,
to complete the picture, the bride of the deliverer,
together with the children whom God had given
him, are all introduced. It is, in short, a singularly
striking foreshadowing of the coming kingdom.
u The Lord will give grace and gloiy." We have
already seen, in what we have traveled over of this
book, very much of the actings of "grace;" and
here we have, from the pencil of the Holy Ghost, a
beauteous picture of "glory," a picture which
must be regarded as peculiarly important, as ex-
hibiting the varied fields in which that glory shall
be manifested.
"The Jew, the Gentile, and the Church of God"
are scriptural distinctions which can never be over-
looked without marring that perfect range of truth
which God has revealed in His holy Word. They
have existed ever since the mystery of the Church
was fully developed by the ministry of the apostle
CHAPTER XVIII. 241
Paul, and they shall exist throughout the millennial
age. Hence, every spiritual student of Scripture
will give them their due place in his mind.
The apostle expressly teaches us, in his epistle to
the Ephesians, that the mystery of the Church had
not been made known, in other ages, to the sons of
men, as it was revealed to him. But though not
directly revealed, it had been shadowed forth in one
way or another ; as, for example, in Joseph's mar-
riage with an Egyptian, and in Moses' marriage
with an Ethiopian. The type or shadow of a truth
is a very different thing from a direct and positive
revelation of it. The great mystery of the Church
was not revealed until Christ, in heavenly glory,
revealed it to Saul of Tarsus. Hence, all who look
for the full unfolding of this mystery in the law,
the prophets, or the psalms, will find themselves
engaged in unintelligent labor. When, however,
they find it distinctly revealed in the epistle to
the Ephesians, they will be able, with interest and
profit, to trace its foreshadowing in Old Testament
Scripture.
Thus we have, in the opening of our chapter, a
millennial scene. All the fields of glory lie open in
vision before us. "The Jew" stands forth as the
great earthly witness of Jehovah's faithfulness, His
mercy, and His power. This is what the Jew has
been in bygone ages, it is what he is now, and what
he will be, world without end. ' ' The Gentile ' ' reads,
in the book of God's dealings with the Jew, his
deepest lessons. He traces the marvelous history
242 EXODUS.
of that peculiar and elect people "a people terrible
from their beginning hitherto ; " he sees thrones and
empires overturned, nations shaken to their centre,
every one and every thing compelled to give waj r , in
order to establish the supremacy of that people on
whom Jehovah has set His love. "Now I know,"
he says, "that the Lord is greater than all gods ; for
in the thing wherein they dealt proudly He was
above them." (Ver. 11.) Such is the confession of
"the Gentile" when the wondrous page of Jewish
history lies open before him.
Lastly, "the Church of God" collectively, as pre-
figured by Zipporah, and the members thereof indi-
vidually, as seen in Zipporah' s sons, are presented
as occupying the most intimate relationship with
the deliverer. All this is perfect in its "way. We
may be asked for our proofs. The answer is, "I
speak as unto wise men: judge ye what I say."
We can never build a doctrine upon a type ; but
when a doctrine is revealed, a type thereof may be
discerned with accuracy and studied with profit. In
every case, a spiritual mind is essentially necessary,
either to understand the doctrine or discern the type.
"The natural man receiveth not the things of the
Spirit of God ; for they arc foolishness unto him ;
neither can he know them, because they are spirit-
ually discerned."(l Cor. ii. 14.)
From verse 13 to the end cf our chapter, we have
the appointment of rulers, who were to assist Moses
in the management of the affairs of the congregation.
This was the suggestion of Jethro, who feared that
CHAPTER XVIII. 243
Moses would "wear away" in consequence of his
labors. In connection with this, it may "be profitable
to look at the appointment of the seventy elders in
Numbers xi. Here we find the spirit of Moses
crushed beneath the ponderous responsibility which
devolved upon him, and he gives utterance to the
anguish of his heart in the following accents : "And
Moses said unto the Lord, 'Wherefore hast Thou
afflicted Thy servant ? And wherefore have I not
found favor in Thy sight, that Thou layest the bur-
den of all this people upon me ? Have I conceived
all this people? have I begotten them, that Thou
shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as
a nursing father beareth the suckling child, unto the
land which Thou swarest unto their fathers ? . . .
I am not able to bear all this people alone, because
it is too heavy for me. And if Thou deal thus with
me, kill me, I pray Thee, out of hand, if I have
found favor in Thy sight ; and let me not see my
wretchedness." (Numb. xi. 11-15.)
In all this we see Moses evidently retiring from a
post of honor. If God were pleased to make him
the sole instrument in managing the assembly, it
was only so much the more dignity and privilege
conferred upon him. True, the responsibility was
immense ; but faith would own that God was amply
sufficient for that. Here, however, the heart of
Moses failed him (blessed servant as he was), and
he says, "I am not able to bear this people alone,
because it is to heavy for me." But he was not
asked to bear them alone, for God was with him.
244 EXODUS.
They were not too heavy for God. It was He that
was bearing them ; Moses was but the instrument.
He might just as well have spoken of his rod as
bearing the people ; for what was he but a mere in-
strument in God's hand, as the rod was in his ? It
is here the servants of Christ constantly fail ; and
the failure is all the more dangerous because it wears
the appearance of humility. It seems like distrust
of one's self, and deep lowliness of spirit, to shrink
frcim heavy responsibility ; but all we need to inquire
is, Has God imposed that responsibility? If so, He
will assuredly be with me in sustaining it ; and
having Him with me, I can sustain any thing. With
Him, the weight of a mountain is nothing; without
Him, the weight of a feather is overwhelming. It
is a totally different thing if a man, in the vanity of
his mind, thrust himself forward and take a burden
upon his shoulder which God never intended him to
bear, and therefore never fitted him to bear it ; we
may then surely expect to see him crushed beneath
the weight : but if God lays it upon him, Pie will
qualify and strengthen him to carry it.
It is never the fruit of humility to depart from a
divinely-appointed post. On the contrary, the deep-
est humility will express itself by remaining there in
simple dependence upon God. It is a sure evidence
of being occupied about self when we shrink from
service on the ground of inability. God does not
call us unto service on the ground of our ability,
but of His own ; hence, unless I am filled with
thoughts about myself, or with positive distrust of
CHAPTER XVIII. 245
Him, I need not relinquish any position of service
or testimony because of the heavy responsibilities
attaching thereto. All power belongs to God, and
it is quite the same whether that power acts through
one agent or through seventy the power is still the
same ; but if one agent refuse the dignity, it is only
so much the worse for him. God will not force
people to abide in a place of honor if they cannot
trust Him to sustain them there. The way lies
always open to them to step down from their dig-
nity, and sink into the place where base unbelief is
sure to put us.
Thus it was with Moses. He complained of the
burden, and the burden was speedily removed ; but
with it the high honor of being allowed to carry
it. "And the Lord said unto Moses, 'Gather unto
Me seventy men of the elders of Israel whom thou
knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers
over them ; and bring them unto the tabernacle of
the congregation, that they may stand there with
thee. And -I will come down and talk with thee
there : and I will take of the spirit which is upon
thee, and will put it upon them ; and they shall bear
the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear
it not thyself alone." (Numb. xi. 16, 17.) There
was no fresh power introduced. It was the same
spirit, whether in one or in seventy. There was no
more value or virtue in the flesh of seventy men
than in the flesh of one man. "It is the spirit that
quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth nothing." (John vi.
63. ) There was nothing in the way of power gained,
17
24 G EXODUS.
but a great deal in the way of dignity lost, by this
movement on the part of Moses.
In the after-part of Numbers xi, we find Moses
giving utterance to accents of unbelief, which called
O vD 7
forth from the Lord a sharp rebuke. "Is the Lord's
hand waxed short? Thou shalt see now whether My
word shall come to pass unto thee, or not." If my
reader will compare verses 11-15 with verses 21, 22,
he will sec a marked and solemn connection. The
man who shrinks from responsibility, on the ground
of his own feebleness, is in great danger of calling
in question the fullness and sufficiency of God's
resources. This entire scene teaches a most valua-
ble lesson to every servant of Christ who may be
tempted to feel himself alone or overburdened in
his work. Let such an one bear in mind that, where
the Holy Ghost is working, one instrument is as
good and as efficient as seventy ; and where He is
not working, seventy arc of no more value than one.
It all depends upon the energy of the Holy Ghost.
With Him, one man can do all, endure all, sustain
all ; without Him, seventy men can do nothing.
Let the lonely servant remember, for the comfort
and encouragement of his sinking heart, that, pro-
vided he has the presence and power of the Holy
Ghost with him, he need not complain of his burden
nor sigh for a division of labor. If God honor a
man by giving him a great deal of work to do, let
him rejoice therein and not murmur ; for if he mur-
mur, he can very speedily lose his honor. God is
at no loss for instruments. He could from the
CHAPTER XIX. 247
stones raise up children unto Abraham, and He
can raise up from the same the needed agents to
carry on His glorious work.
O for a heart to serve Him! a patient, humble,
self-emptied, devoted heart, a heart ready to serve
in company, ready to serve alone, a heart so filled
with love to Christ that it will find its joy, its chief
joy, in serving Him, let the sphere or character of
service be what it may! This assuredly is the spe-
cial need of the day in which our lot is cast. May
the Holy Ghost stir up our hearts to a deeper sense
of the exceeding preciousness of. the name of Jesus,
and enable us to yield a fuller, clearer, more un-
equivocal response to the changeless love of His
heart !
CHAPTER XIX.
WE have now arrived at a most momentous point
in Israel's history. We are called to behold
them standing at the foot of "the mount that might
be touched, and that burned with fire." The fair
millennial scene which opened before us in the pre-
ceding chapter has passed away. It was but a brief
moment of sunshine in which a very vivid picture of
the kingdom was afforded ; but the sunshine was
speedily followed by the heavy clouds which gathered
around that "palpable mount/' where Israel, in a
spirit of dark and senseless legalit} r , abandoned
Jehovah's covenant of pure grace for man's cove-
nant of works. Disastrous movement ! A movement
248
fraught with the most dismal results. Hitherto, as
we have seen, no enemy could stand before Israel,
no obstacle was suffered to interrupt their onward
and victorious march. Pharaoh's hosts were over-
thrown, Amalek and his people were discomfited
with the edge of the sword : all was victory, because
God was acting on behalf of His people, in pur-
suance of His promise to Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob.
In the opening verses of the chapter now before
us, the Lord recapitulates His actings toward Israel
in the following touching and beautiful language :
"Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and
tell the children of Israel: Ye have seen what I
did unto the Egyptians, and how I- bare you on
eagles' wings, and brought you unto Myself. Now,
therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep
My covenant, then } r e shall be a peculiar treasure
unto Me above all people ; for all the earth is Mine.
And ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests and
a holy nation." (Ver. 3-6.) Observe," it is "My
voice ' ' and ' ' My covenant. ' ' What was the utterance
of that "voice"? and what did that "covenant"
involve ? Had Jehovah's voice made itself heard
for the purpose of laying down the rules and regu-
lations of a severe and unbending lawgiver ? By
no means. It had spoken to demand freedom for
the captive, to provide a refuge from the sword of
the destroyer, to make a way for the ransomed to
pass over, to bring down bread from heaven, to
draw forth water out of the flinty rock ; such had
CHAPTER XIX. 249
been the gracious and intelligible utterances of Je-
hovah's "voice" up to the moment at which "Israel
camped before the mount."
And as to His "covenant," it was one of un-
mingled grace. It proposed no condition, it made
no demands, it put no } T oke on the ne.ck, no burden
on the shoulder. When ' ' the God of glory appeared
unto Abraham," in Ur of the Chaldees, He certainly
did not address him* in such words as, Thou shalt
do this, and Thou shalt not do that. Ah, no ; such
language was not according to the heart of God. It
suits Him far better to place u a fair mitre" upon a
sinner's head than to "put a yoke upon his neck."
His word to Abraham was, "I WILL GIVE." The
land of Canaan was not to be purchased by man's
doings, but to be given by God's grace. Thus it
stood ; and in the opening of the book of Exodus,
we see God coming down in grace to make good
His promise to Abraham's seed. The condition in
which He found that seed made no difference, inas-
much as the blood of the lamb furnished Him with
a perfectly righteous ground on which to make good
His promise. He evidently had not promised the
land of Canaan to Abraham's seed on the ground
of aught that He foresaw in them, for this would
have totally destroyed the real nature of a promise,
it would have made it a compact and not a prom-
ise ; "but God gave it to Abraham by promise,"
and not by compact. (Read Gal. iii.)
Hence, in the opening of this nineteenth chapter,
the people are reminded of the grace in which Jeho-
250 EXODUS.
vah had hitherto dealt with them ; and they are also
assured of what they should yet be, provided they
continued to hearken to Mercy's heavenly "voice,"
and to abide in the "covenant "of free and absolute
grace. "Ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me
above all people." How could they be this ? Was
it by stumbling up the ladder of self-righteousness
and legalism ? Would they be " a peculiar treasure"
when blasted by the curses of a broken law a law
which they had broken before ever they received
it ? Surely not. How, then, were they to be this
"peculiar treasure" ? By standing in that position
in which Jehovah surveyed them when he compelled
the covetous prophet to exclaim, "How goodly are
thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel !
As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by
the river's side, as the trees of lign aloes which the
Lord hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the
waters. He shall pour the water out of his buckets,
and his seed shall be in many waters, and his king
shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall
be exalted. God brought him forth out of Egypt ;
he hath, as it were, the strength of an unicorn."
(Numb. xxiv. 5-8.)
However, Israel was not disposed to occupy this
blessed position. Instead of rejoicing in God's
"holy promise," they undertook to make the most
presumptuous vow that moral lips could utter. "All
the people answered together, and said, ''All that the
Lord hath spoken, .we will do.'" (Chap. xix. 8.)
This was bold language. They did not even say, We
CHAPTER XIX. 251
hope to do, or We will endeavor to do. This would
have expressed a measure of self-distrust. But 110 ;
they took the most absolute ground. "We will do."
Nor was this the language of a few vain self-confident
spirits who presumed to single themselves out from
the whole congregation. No; "aZZ the people an-
swered together. 1 " They were unanimous in the
abandonment of the "holy promise" the "holy
covenant. ' '
And now, observe the result. The moment Israel
uttered their "singular vow," the moment they un-
dertook to "do," there was a total alteration in the
aspect of things. "And the Lord said unto Moses,
'Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud. . . . And
thou shalt set bounds unto the people, round about,
Baying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up
into the mount, or touch the border of it : whosoever
toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death/ '
This was a very marked change. The One who had
just said, "I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought
you unto Myself," now envelopes Himself "in a
thick cloud," and says, "Set bounds unto the people,
round about." The sweet accents of grace and
mercy are exchanged for the "thunderings and light-
nings" of the fiery mount. Man had presumed to
talk of his miserable doings in the presence of God's
magnificent grace. Israel had said, "We will do,"
and they must be put at a distance in order that it
may be fully seen what they are able to do. God
takes the place of moral distance ; and the people are
but too well disposed to have it so, for they are filled
252 EXODUS.
with fear and trembling ; and no marvel, for the sight
was "terrible," "so terrible, that Moses said, 'I
exceedingly fear and quake.' ' Who could endure
the sight of that "devouring fire," which was the
apt expression of divine holiness ? ' ' The Lord came
from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them ; He
shined forth from Paran, and He came with ten
thousand of His saints ; from His right hand went
a fiery law for them." (Deut. xxxiii. 2.) The term
"fiery," as applied to the law, is expressive of its
holiness, "Our God is a consuming fire" per-
fectly intolerant of evil, in thought, word, and
deed.
Thus, then, Israel made a fatal mistake in saying,
"We will do." It was taking upon themselves a
vow which they were not able, even were they will-
ing, to pay ; and we know who has said, "Better that
thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest
vow and not pay. " It is of the very essence of a
vow that it assumes the competency to fulfill ; and
where is man's competency? As well might a bank-
rupt draw a check on the bank, as a helpless sinner
make a vow. A man who makes a vow denies the
truth as to his nature and condition. He is ruined,
what can he do? He is utterly without strength,
and can neither will nor do any thing good. Did
Israel keep their vow ? Did they do ' ' all that the
Lord commanded?" Witness the golden calf, the
broken tables, the desecrated Sabbath, the despised
and neglected ordinances, the stoned messengers,
the rejected and crucified Christ, the resisted Spirit.
CHAPTER XIX. 253
Such are the overwhelming evidences of man's dis-
honored vows. Thus must it ever be when fallen
humanity undertakes to vow.
Christian reader, do }'ou not rejoice in the fact
that your eternal salvation, rests not on your poor
shadowy vows and resolutions, but on "the one
offering of Jesus Christ once"? Oh, yes, "this is
our joy, which ne'er can fail." Christ has taken all
our vows upon Himself, and gloriously discharged
them forever. His resurrection-life flows through
His members and produces in them results which
legal vow r s and leo;al claims never could effect. He
o ~
is our life, and He is our righteousness. May His
name be precious to our hearts. May His cause
ever command our energies. May it be our meat
and our drink to spend and be spent in His dear
service.
I cannot close this chapter without noticing, in
connection, a passage in the book of Deuteronomy
which may present a difficulty to some minds. It
has direct reference to the subject on which we have
been dwelling. "And the Lord heard the voice of
your words, when ye spake unto me ; and the Lord
said unto me, ' I have heard the voice of the words
of this people, which they have spoken unto thee :
they have well said all that they have spoken. 1 " (Deut.
v. 28.) From this passage it might seem as though
the Lord approved of their making a vow ; but if
my reader will take the trouble of reading the entire
context, from verse twenty-four to twenty-seven, he
will see at once that it has nothing whatever to say
254 EXODUS.
to the vow, but that it contains the expression of
their terror at the consequences of their vow. They
were notable to endure that which was commanded.
"If" said they, "we hear the voice of the Lord our
God any more, then we shall die. For who is there
of all flesh that hath heard the voice of the living
God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we
have, and lived? Go thou near, and hear all that
the Lord our God shall say ; and speak thou unto
us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee,
and we will hear it and do it." It was the confes-
sion of their own inability to encounter Jehovah in
that awful aspect which their proud legality had led
Him to assume. It is impossible that the Lord could
ever commend an abandonment of free and change-
less grace for a sandy foundation of " works of law."
CHAPTER XX.
IT is of the utmost importance to understand the
true character and object of the moral law, as
set forth in this chapter. There is a tendency in.
the mind to confound the principles of law and
grace, so that neither the one nor the other can
be rightly understood. Law is shorn of its stern
and unbending majesty, and grace is robbed of all
its divine attractions. God's holy claims remain
unanswered, and the sinner's deep and manifold
necessities remain unreached, by the anomalous sys-
tem framed by those who attempt to mingle law and
CHAPTER XX. 255
grace. In point of fact, they can never be made to
coalesce, for they are as distinct as any two things
can be. Law sets forth what man ought to be,
grace exhibits what God is. How can these ever be
wrought up into one system ? How can the sinner
ever be saved by a system made up of half law, half
grace ? Impossible. It must be either the one or
the other.
TheJaw has sometimes been termed "the transcript
of the mind of God." This definition is entirely
defective. Were we to term it a transcript of the
mind of God as to what man ought to be, we should
be nearer the truth. If I am to regard the ten com-
mandments as the transcript of the mind of God,
then, I ask, is there nothing in the mind of God
save " Thou shalt " and " Thou shalt not " ? Is there
no grace ? no mercy ? no loving-kindness ? Is God
not to manifest what He is ? Is He not to tell out
the deep secrets of that love which dwells in His
bosom ? Is there naught in the divine character but
stern requirement and prohibition ? Were this so,
we should have to say, God is law, instead of u God
is love." But, blessed be His name, there is more
in His heart than could ever be wrapped up in the
* ' ten wof ds ' ' uttered on the fiery mount. If I want to
see what God is, I must look at Christ ; "for in Him
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily."
(Col. ii. 9.) "The law was given by Moses, but
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." (Johni. 17.)
Assuredly there was a measure of truth in the law ;
it contained the truth as to what man ought to be.
25 G EXODUS.
Like everything else emanating from God, it was
perfect so far as it went perfect for the object for
which it was administered ; but that object was not,
by any means, to unfold, in the view of guilty sin-
ners, the nature and character of God. There was
no grace, no mercy. "He that despised Moses' law
died without mercy." (Heb. x. 28.) "The man that
cloeth these things shall live by them." (Lev. xviii.
5 ; Rom. x. 5.) "Cursed is every one that contin-
neth not in all things that are written in the book of
the law to do them." (Dent, xxvii. 26 ; Gal. iii. 10.)
This was not grace. Indeed, Mount Sinai was not
the place to look for any such thing. There Jeho-
vah revealed Himself in awful majesty, amid black-
ness, darkness, tempest, thunderings, and lightnings.
These were not the attendant circumstances of an
economy of grace and mercy ; but they were well
suited to one of truth and righteousness, and the
law was that and nothing else.
In the law, God sets forth what a man ought to
' O
be, and pronounces a curse upon him if he is not
that. But then a man finds, when he looks at him-
self in the light of the law, that he actually is the
very thing which the law condemns. How then is
he to get life by it? It proposes life and righteous-
ness as the ends to be attained by keeping it ; but it
proves, at the very outset, that we are in a state
of death and unrighteousness. We want the very
things at the beginning which the law proposed to
be gained at the end. How, therefore, are we to
gain them ? In order to do what the law requires,
CHAPTETR XX. 257
I must have life ; and in order to be what the law
requires, I must have righteousness ; and if I have
not both the one and the other, I am "cursed."
But the fact is, I have neither. What am I to do?
This is the question. Let those who "desire to be
teachers of the law" furnish an answer. Let them
furnish a satisfactory reply to an upright conscience,
bowed down under the double sense of the spirit-
uality and inflexibility of the law and its own hope-
less carnality.
The truth is, as the apostle teaches us, "the law
entered that the offense might abound." (Rom. v.
20.) This shows us very distinctly the real object
of the law. It came in by the way in order to set
forth the exceeding sinfulness of sin. (Rom.vii. 13.)
It was, in a certain sense, like a perfect mirror let
down from heaven to reveal to man his moral de-
rangement. If I present myself with deranged
habit before a mirror, it shows me the derangement,
but does not set it right. If I measure a crooked
wall with a perfect plumb-line, it reveals the crook-
edness, but does not remove it. If I take out a
lamp on a dark night, it reveals to me all the hin-
drances and disagreeables in the way, but it does
not remove them. Moreover, the mirror, the plumb-
line, and the lamp do not create the evils which they
severally point out ; they neither create nor remove,
but simply reveal. Thus it is with the law ; it does
not create the evil in man's heart, neither does it
remove it ; but, with unerring accuracy, it reveals it.
' ' What shall we say then ? Is the law sin ? God
258 EXODUS.
forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law ;
for I had not known lust, except the law had said,
'Thou shalt not covet.'" (Rom. vii. 7.) He does
not say that he would not have had "lust." No;
but merely that he "had not known" it. The
"lust" was there ; but he was in the dark about it
until the law, as "the candle of the Almighty,"
shone in upon the dark chambers of his heart and
revealed the evil that was there. Like a man in a
dark room, who may be surrounded with dust and
confusion, but he cannot see aught thereof by rea-
son of the darkness. Let the beams of the sun dart
in upon him, and he quickly perceives all. Do the
sunbeams create the dust ? Surely not. The dust
is there, and they only detect and reveal it. This is
a simple illustration of the effect of the law. It
judges man's character and condition; it proves
. him to be a sinner, and shuts him up under the
curse ; it comes to judge what he is, and curses him
if he is not what it tells him he ought to be.
It is therefore a manifest impossibility that any
one can get life and righteousness by that which can
only curse him ; and unless the condition of the
sinner, and the character of the law are totally
changed, it can do naught else but curse him. It
makes no allowance for infirmities, and knows no-
thing of sincere, though imperfect, obedience. Were
it to do so, it would not be what it is :"holy, just,
arid good." It is just because the law is what it is
that the sinner cannot get life by it. If he could get
life by it, it would not be perfect, or else he would
CHAPTER XX. 259
not be a sinner. It is impossible that a sinner can
get life by a perfect law, for inasmuch as it is per-
fect, it must needs condemn him. Its absolute
perfectness makes manifest and seals man's abso-
lute ruin and condemnation. "Therefore, by deeds
of law shall no flesh living be justified in His sight ;
for by the law is the knowledge of sin." (Rom. iii.
20.) He does not say, By the law is sin, but only
"the knowledge of sin." "For until the law, sin
was in the world ; but sin is not imputed when there
is no law." (Rom. v. 13.) Sin was there, and it
only needed law to develop it in the form of c ' trans-
gression." It is as if I say to my child, You must
not touch that knife. My very prohibition reveals
the tendency in his heart to do his own will. It
does not create the tendency, but only reveals it.
The apostle John says that "sin is lawlessness."
(1 John iii. 4.) The word "transgression" does
not develop the true idea of the Spirit in this pas-
sage. In order to have "transgression," I must
have a definite rule or line laid down. Transgres-
sion means a passing across a prohibited line ; such
a line I have in the law. I take any one of its
prohibitions, such as, "Thou shalt not kill," "Thou
shalt not commit adultery," "Thou shalt not steal."
Here I have a rule or line set before me ; but I find
I have within me the very principles against which
these prohibitions are expressly directed. Yea, the
very fact of my being told not to commit murder
shows that I have murder in my nature. There
would be no necessity to tell me not to do a thing
260 EXODUS.
which I had no tendency to do ; but the exhibition
of God's will as to what I ought to be makes mani-
fest the tendency of my will to be what I ought not.
This is plain enough, and is in full keeping with the
whole of the apostolic reasoning on the point.
Many % however, will admit that we cannot get life
by the law ; but they maintain, at the same time,
that the law is our rule of life. Now, the apostle
declares that u as many as are of works of law are
under the curse." (Gal. iii. 10.) It matters not
who they are, if they occupy the ground of law,
they are, of necessity, under the curse. A man
may say, I am regenerate, and therefore not exposed
to the curse. This will not do. If regeneration
does not take one off the ground of law, it cannot
take him beyond the range of the curse of the law.
If the Christian be under the former, he is, of
necessity, exposed to the latter. But what has the
law to do with regeneration ? where do we find any
thing about it in Exodus xx ? The law has but one
question to put to a man, a brief, solemn, pointed
question, namely, Are you what you ought to be ?
If he answer in the negative, it can but hurl its
terrible anathema at him and slay him. And who
will so readily and emphatically admit that, in him-
self, he is any thing but what he ought to be, as the
really regenerate man ? Wherefore, if he is under
the law, he must inevitably be under the curse.
The law cannot possibly lower its standard, nor yet
amalgamate with grace. Men do constantly seek to
lower its standard ; they feel that they cannot get
CHAPTER XX. 261
up to it, and they therefore seek to bring it down to
them ; but the effort is in vain : it stands forth in
all its purity, majesty, and stern inflexibility, and
will not accept a single hair's breadth short of per-
fect obedience ; and where as the man, regenerate
or unregerierate, that can undertake to produce
that ? It will be said, We have perfection in Christ.
True ; but that is not by the law, but by grace ; and
we cannot possibly confound the two economies.
Scripture largely and distinctly teaches that we are
not justified by the law ; nor is the law our rule of
life.. That which can only curse can never justify,
and that which can only kill can never be a rule of
life. As well might a man attempt to make a for-
tune by a deed of bankruptcy filed against him.
If my reader will turn to the fifteenth of Acts, he
will see how the attempt to put Gentile believers
under the law as a rule of life was met by the Holy
Ghost. "There rose up certain of the sect of the
Pharisees which believed, saying, that it was needful
to circumcise them, and to command them to keep
the law of Moses." This was nothing else than the
hiss of the old serpent, making itself heard in the
dark and depressing suggestion of those early legal-
ists. But let us see how it was met by the mighty
energy of the Holy Ghost, and the unanimous voice
of the tw r elve apostles and the whole Church. "And
when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up,
and said unto them, 'Men and brethren, ye know
how that a good while ago God made choice among
us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear' "
18
262 EXODUS.
what ? Was it the requirements and the curses of
the law of Moses ? No. Blessed be God, these are
not what He would. have falling on the ears of help-
less sinners. Hear what, then ? "SHOULD HEAR
THE WORD OF THE GOSPEL, AND BE-
LIEVE." This was what suited the nature and
character of God. He never would have troubled
men with the dismal accents of requirement and
prohibition. These Pharisees were not His messen-
gers ; far -from it. They were not the bearers of
glad tidings, nor the publishers of peace, and there-
fore their "feet" were aught but "beautiful" in the
ej^es of One who only delights in mercy.
"Now, therefore," continues the apostle, "why
tempt }-e God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the
disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able
to bear?" This was strong, earnest language.
God did not want "to put a yoke upon the neck"
of those whose hearts had been set free by the
gospel of peace. He would rather exhort them to
stand fast in the liberty of Christ, and not be "en-
tangled again with the }'oke of bondage." He would
not send those whom He had received to His bosom
of love to be terrified by the "blackness and dark-
ness and tempest" of "the mount that might be
touched." How could we ever admit the thought
that those, whom God had received in grace He
would rule by law ? Impossible. "We believe,"
says Peter, "that through the GRACE OF THE
LORD JESUS CHRIST we shall be saved, even as
they." Both the Jews, who had received the law,
CHAPTER XX. 263
and the Gentiles, who never had, were now to be
"saved through grace." And not only were they to
be "saved" by grace, but they were to "stand" in
grace (Rom. v. 2.) and to "grow in grace" (2 Pet.
iii. 18.). To teach any thing else was to "tempt
God." Those Pharisees were subverting the very
foundations of the Christian faith ; and so are all
those who seek to put believers under the law.
There is no evil or error more abominable in the
sight of the Lord than legalism. Hearken to the
strong language the accents of righteous indigna-
tion which fell from the Holy Ghost in reference
to those teachers of the law, "I would they were
even cut off which trouble you." (Gal. v. 12.)
And, let me ask, are the thoughts of the Holy
Ghost changed in reference to this question ? Has
it ceased to be a tempting of God to place the yoke
of legality upon a sinner's neck ? Is ifc now in ac-
cordance with His gracious will that the law should
be read out in the ears of sinners ? Let my reader
reply to these inquiries in the light of the fifteenth
of Acts and the epistle to the Galatians. These
scriptures, were there no other, are amply sufficient
to prove that God never intended that the c c Gentiles
should hear the word ' ' of the law. Had He so in-
tended, He would assuredly have "made choice" of
some one to proclaim it in their ears. But no ; when
He sent forth His ' ' fiery law, ' ' He spoke only in one
tongue; but when He proclaimed the glad tidings
of salvation through the blood of the Lamb, He
spoke in the language "of every nation under heav-
264 . EXODUS.
en." He spoke in such a way as that "every man
in his own tongue, wherein he ivas born,' 9 might hear
the sweet story of grace. (Acts ii. 1-11.)
Farther, when He was giving forth, from Mount
Sinai, the stern requirements of the covenant of
works, He addressed Himself exclusively to one
people. His voice was only heard within the narrow
inclosures of the Jewish nation ; but when, on the
plains of Bethlehem, u the angel of the Lord" de-
clared "good tidings of great joy," He added those
characteristic words, "which shall be to all people.' 9
And again, when the risen Christ was sending forth
His heralds of salvation, His commission ran thus:
u Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to
every creature.' 9 (Mark xvi. 15; Luke ii. 10.) The
mighty tide of grace, which had its source in the
bosom of God, and its channel in the blood of the
Lamb, was designed to rise, in the resistless energy
of the Holy Ghost, far above the narrow inclosures
of Israel, and roll through the length and breadth
of a sin-stained world. "Every creature" mast
hear, "in his own tongue," the message of peace
the word of the gospel the record of salvation
through the blood of the cross.
Finally, that nothing might be lacking to prove
to our poor legal hearts that Mount Sinai was not,
by any means, the spot where the deep secrets of
the bosom of God were told out, the Holy Ghost has
said, both by the mouth of a prophet and an apostle,
"How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the
gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good
CHAPTER XX. 265
things!" (Isa. iii. 7; Rom. x. 15.) But of those
who sought to be teachers of the law, the same
Holy Ghost has said, "I would they were even cut
off which trouble 3^011."
Thus, then, it is obvious that the law is neither
the ground of life to the sinner nor the rule of life
to the Christian: Christ is both the one and the
other, He is our life and He is our rule of life.
The law can only curse and slay. Christ is our life
and righteousness. He became a curse for us by
hanging on a tree. He went down into the place
where the sinner lay into the place of death and
judgment; and having, by His death, entirely dis-
charged all that was or could be against us, He
became, in resurrection, the source of life and the
ground of righteousness to all who believe in His
name. Having thus life and righteousness in Him,
we are called to walk not merely as the law directs,
but to "walk even as He walked.' 7 It will hardly
be deemed needful to assert that it is directly con-
trary to Christian ethics to kill, commit adultery, or
steal. But were a Christian to shape his way ac-
cording to these commands, or according to the
entire decalogue, would he yield the rare and deli-
cate fruits which the epistle to the Ephesians sets
forth ? Would the ten commandments ever cause a
thief to give up stealing, and go to work that he
might have to give ? would they ever transform a
thief into a laborious and liberal man ? Assuredly
not. The law says, "Thou shalt not steal;" but
does it say, Go and give to him that needeth, Go,
266 EXODUS.
feed, clothe, and bless your enemy, Go, gladden
by your benevolent feelings and your beneficent acts
the heart of him who only and always seeks your
hurt? By no means; and yet, were I under the
law, as a rule, it could only curse me and slay me.
How is this, when the standard in the New Testa-
ment is so much higher? Because I am weak, and
the law gives me no strength and shows me no
mercy. The law demands strength from one. that-
has none, and curses him if he cannot display it.
The gospel gives strength to one that has none, and
blesses him in the exhibition of it. The law proposes
life as the end of obedience, the gospel gives life as
the only proper ground of obedience.
But that I may not weary the reader with argu-
ments, let me ask, If the law be indeed the rule of
a believer's life, where are we to find it so presented
in the New Testament? The inspired apostle evi-
dently had no thought of its being the rule when he
penned the following words : "For in Christ Jesus
neither circumcision availeth any thing nor imcir-
cumcision, but a new creation. And as many as
walk according to this rule, peace be on 1 them, and
mercy, and oil the Israel of God." (Gal.vi. 15, 16.)
What "rule" ? The law? No ; but the "new crea-
tion." Where shall we find this in Exodus xx ? It
speaks not a word about "new creation." On the
contrary, it addresses itself to man as he is in his
natural or old-creation state and puts him to the
test as to what he is really able to do. Now if the
law were the rule by which believers are to walk,
CHAPTER XX. 267
why does the apostle pronounce his benediction on
those who walk by another rule altogether? Why
does he not say, As many as walk according to the
rule of the ten commandments ? Is it not evident,
from this one passage, that the Church of God has
a higher rule by which to walk ? Unquestionably.
The ten commandments, though forming, as all true
Christians admit, a part of the canon of inspiration,
could never be the rule of life to one who has,
through infinite grace, been introduced into the
new creation one who has received new life in
Christ.
But some may ask, Is not the law perfect ? and
if perfect, what more would you have ? The law is
divinely perfect. Yea, it is the very perfection of
the law which causes it to curse and slay those who
are not perfect if they attempt to stand before it.
"The law is spiritual, but I am carnal." It is
utterly impossible to form an adequate idea of the
infinite perfectness and spirituality of the law. But
then this perfect law coming in contact with fallen
humanity this spiritual law coming in contact with
"the carnal mind," could only "work wrath" and
"enmity." (Rom. iv. 15; viii. 7.) Why? Is it
because the law is not perfect ? No, but because it
is, and man is a sinner. If man were perfect, he
would carry out the law in all its spiritual perfect-
ness ; and even in the case of true believers, though
they still carry about with them an evil nature, the
apostle teaches us "that the righteousness of the
law is fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh,
268 EXODUS.
but after the Spirit/' (Rom. viii. 4.) "He that
loveth another hath fulfilled the law Love
worketh no ill to his neighbor ; therefore love is the
fulfilling of the law." (Rom. xiii. 8-10.) If I love
a man, I shall not steal his property nay, I shall
seek to do him all the good I can. All this is plain,
and easily understood .by the spiritual mind ; but it
leaves entirely untouched the question of the law,
whether as the ground of life to a sinner or the rule
of life to the believer.
If we look at the law, in its two grand divisions,
it tells a man to love God with all his heart, and
.with all his soul, and with all his mind ; and to love
his neighbor as himself. This is the sum of the
law: this, and not a tittle less, is what the law
demands. But where has this demand ever been
responded to by any member of Adam's fallen
posterity ? Where is the man who could say he
loves God after such a fashion ? "The carnal mind
[i.e., the mind which we have by nature] is enmity
against God." Man hates God and His ways. God
came, in the Person of Christ, and showed Himself
to man showed Himself, not in the overwhelming
brightness of His majesty, but in all the charm
and sweetness of perfect grace and condescension.
What was the result? Man hated God. "Now
have they both seen and hated both Me and My
Father." (John xv. 24.) But, it may be said, man
ought to love God. No doubt, and he deserves
death and eternal perdition if he does no't ; but
can the law produce this love in man's heart ? was
CHAPTER XX. 269
that its design? By no means, "for the law worketh
wrath." The law finds man in a state of enmity
against God ; and without ever altering that state
(for that was not its province), it commands him to
love God with all his heart, and curses him if he
does not. It was not the province of the law to
alter or improve man's nature ; nor yet could it
impart any power to carry out its righteous de-
mands. It said, "This do, and thou shalt live."
It commanded man to love God. It did not reveal
what God was to man, even in his guilt and ruin ;
but it told man what he ought to be toward God.
This was dismal work. It was not the unfolding of
the powerful attractions of the divine character,
producing in man true repentance toward God,
melting his icy heart, and elevating his soul in
genuine affection and worship. No: it was an in-
flexible command to love God ; and, instead of pro-
ducing love, it "worked wrath;" not because God
ought not to be loved, but because man was a sinner.
Again, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."
Can "the natural man" do this ? Does he love his
neighbor as himself? Is this the principle which
obtains in the chambers of commerce, the exchanges}
the banks, the marts, the fairs, and the. markets of
this world ? Alas ! no. Man does not love his
neighbor as he loves himself. No doubt he ought ;
and if he were right, he would ; but then he is
all wrong totally wrong and unless he is "born
again" of the Word and the Spirit of God, he can-
not "see nor enter the kingdom of God." The law
270 EXODUS.
cannot produce this new birth. It kills "the old
man," but dees not, and cannot, create "the new."
As an actual fact, we know that the Lord Jesus
Christ embodied, in His glorious Person, both God
and our neighbor, inasmuch as He was, according
to the foundation-truth of the Christian religion,
"God manifest in the flesh." How did man treat
Him ? Did he love Him with all his heart, or as
himself? The very reverse. He crucified Him
between two thieves, having previously' preferred a
murderer and a robber to that blessed One who had
gone about doing good who had come forth from
the eternal dwelling-place cf light and love Him-
self the very living personification of that light and
love whose bosom had ever heaved with purest
sympathy with human need whose hand had ever
been ready to dry the sinner's tears and alleviate his
sorrows. Thus we stand and gaze upon the cross
of Christ, and behold in it an unanswerable demon-
stration of the fact that it is not within the range of
man's nature or capacity to keep the law.*
It is peculiarly interesting to the spiritual mind,
after all that has passed before us, to observe the
relative position of God and the sinner at the close
of this memorable chapter. "And the Lord said
unto Moses, 'Thus thou shalt say unto the children
of Israel . * . . An altar of earth thou shalt make
unto Me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt-offer-
* For further exposition of the law, and also of the doctrine of
the Sabbath, the reader is referred to a tract entitled "A Scriptural
Inquiry into the True Nature of the Sabbath, the Law, and the
Christian Ministry."
CHAPTER XX. 271
ings and thy peace-offerings, thy sheep and thine
oxen : in all places where I record My name I WILL
COME UNTO THEE, AND I WILL BLESS THEE. And if
thou wilt make Me an altar of stone, thou shalt not
build it of hewn stone ; for if thou lift up thy tool
upon it, thou hast polluted it. Neither shalt thou
go up by steps unto Mine altar, that thy nakedness
be not discovered thereon.' " (Yer. 22-26.)
Here we find man not in the position of a doer,
but of a worshiper; and this, too, at the close of
Exodus xx. How plainly this teaches us that the
atmosphere of Mount Sinai is not that which God
would have the sinner breathing, that it is not the
proper meeting-place between God and man ! "In
all places where I recor$ My name I will come unto
tliee, and I will bless thee." How unlike the terrors
of the fiery mount is that spot where Jehovah records
His name, whither He "comes" to "bless" His
worshiping people !
But further, God will meet the sinner at an altar
without a hewn stone or a step a place of worship
which requires no human workmanship to erect, or
human effort to approach. The former could only
pollute, and the latter could only display human
' ' nakedness. ' ' Admirable type of the meeting-place
where God meets the sinner now, even the Person
and work of His Son, Jesus Christ, where all the
claims of law, of justice, and of conscience are
perfectly answered ! Man has, in every age and in
every clime, been prone, in one way or another, to
"lift up his tool" in the erection of his altar, or to
272 EXODUS.
approach thereto by steps of his own making ; but
the issue of all such attempts has been "pollution"
and "nakedness." "We all do fade as a leaf, and
all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." Who
will presume to approach God clad in a garment of
"filthy rags"? or who w r ill stand to worship with a
revealed "nakedness" ? What can be more prepos-
terous than to think of approaching God in a way
which necessarily involves either pollution or naked-
ness ? And 3'et thus it is in every case in which
human effort is put forth to open the sinner's way
to God. Not only is there no need of such effort,
but defilement and nakedness are stamped upon it.
God has come down so very near to the sinner, even
in the very depths of his ruin, that there is no need
for his lifting up the tool of legality, or ascending
the steps of self-righteousness, yea, to do so, is
but to expose his uncleanness and his nakedness.
Such are the principles with which the I-Ioly Ghost
closes this most remarkable section of inspiration.
May they be indelibly written upon our hearts, that
so we may more clearly and fully understand the
essential difference between LAW and GRACE.
CHAPTEKS XXI XXIII.
THE study of this section of our book is eminently
calculated to impress the heart with a sense of
God's unsearchable wisdom and infinite goodness.
It enables one to form some idea of the character
CHAPTERS XXI-XXIII. 273
of a kingdom governed by laws of divine appoint-
ment. Here, too, we may see the amazing con-
descension of Him who, though He is the great God
of heaven and earth, can, nevertheless, stoop to
adjudicate between man and man in reference to
the death of an ox, the loan of a garment, or the
loss of a servant's tooth. "Who is like unto the
Lord our God, who humble th Himself to behold the
things that are in heaven and on earth?" He gov-
erns the universe, and yet He can occupy Himself
with the provision of a covering for one of His
creatures, lie guides the angel's flight and takes
notice of a crawling worm. He humbles Himself to
regulate the movements of those countless orbs that
roll through infinite space, and to record the fall of
a sparrow.
As to the character of the judgment set forth in
the chapter before us, we may learn a double lesson.
These judgments and ordinances bear a twofold
witness : they convey to the ear a twofold message,
and present to the eye two sides of a picture. They
tell of God and they tell of man.
In the first place, on God's part, we find Him
enacting laws which exhibit strict, even-handed,
perfect justice. "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning,
wound for wound, stripe for stripe." Such was the
character of the laws, the statutes, and the judg-
ments by which God governed His earthly kingdom
of Israel. Everything was provided for, every in-
terest w r as maintained, and every claim was met.
274 EXODUS.
There was no partiality no distinction made be-
tween the rich and the poor. The balance in which
each man's claim was weighed was adjusted with
divine accuracy, so that no one could justly com-
plain of a decision. The pure robe of justice was
not to be tarnished with the foul stains of bribery,
corruption, and partiality. The eye and the hand of
a divine Legislator provided for everything, and a
divine Executive inflexibly dealt with every defaulter.
The stroke of justice fell only on the head of the
guilty, while every obedient soul was protected in
the enjoyment of all his rights and privileges.
Then, as regards man, it is impossible to read
over these laws and not be struck with the disclosure
which they indirectly, but really, make of his des-
perate depravity. The fact of Jehovah's having to
enact laws against certain crimes, proves the capa-
bility on man's part of committing those crimes.
Were the capability and the tendency not there,
there would be no need of the enactments. Now
there are many who, if the gross abominations for-
biddefi in these chapters were named to them, might
feel disposed to adopt the language of Hazael, and
say, "Is thy servant a dog that he should do this
thing?" Such persons have not yet traveled down
into the deep abyss of their own hearts. For albeit
there are crimes here forbidden which would seem
to place man, as regards his habits and tendencies,
below the level of a "dog," yet do those very stat-
utes prove, beyond all question, that the most refined
and cultivated member of the human family carries
CHAPTERS XXI-XXIII. 275
about in his bosom the seeds of the very darkest
and most horrifying abominations. For whom were
those statutes enacted ? For man. Were they need-
ful? Unquestionably. But they would have been
quite superfluous if man were incapable of commit-
ting the sins referred to. But man is capable ; and
hence we see that man is sunk to the very lowest
possible level that his nature is wholly corrupt
that from the crown of his head to the sole of his
foot there is not so much as a speck of moral
soundness.
How can such a being ever stand, without an
emotion of fear, in the full blaze of the throne of
God ? how can lie stand within the holiest ? how
can he stand on the sea of glass ? how can he enter
in by the pearly gates and tread the golden streets ?
The reply to these inquiries unfolds the amazing
depths of redeeming love and the eternal efficacy of
the blood of the Lamb. Deep as is man's ruin, the
love of God is deeper still : black as is his guilt, the
blood of Jesus can wash it all away: wide as is
the chasm separating man from God, the cross has
bridged it. God has come down to the very 'lowest
point of the sinner's condition, in order that He
might lift him up into a position of infinite favor, in
eternal association with His own Son. Well may we
exclaim, "Behold, what manner of love the Father
hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the
sons of God. " ( 1 John iii. 1. ) Nothing could fathom
man's ruin but God's love, and nothing could equal
man's guilt but the blood of Christ. But now the
276 EXODUS.
very depth of the ruin only magnifies the love that
has fathomed it, and the intensity of the guilt only
celebrates the efficacy of the blood that can cleanse
it. The very vilest sinner who believes in Jesus can
rejoice in the assurance that God sees him and pro-
nounces him "clean every whit."
Such, then, is the double character of instruction
to be gleaned from the laws and ordinances in this
section, looked at as a whole ; and the more mi-
nutely we look at them in detail, the more impressed
we shall be with a sense of their fullness and beauty.
Take, for instance, the very first ordinance that pre-
sents itself, namely, that of the Hebrew servant.
4 'Now these are the judgments which thou shalt
set before them : If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six
years he shall serve, and in the seventh he shall go
out free for nothing. If he came in by himself, he
shall go out by himself: if he were married, then
his wife shall go out with him. If his master have
given him a wife, and she have borne him sons or
daughters, the wife and her children shall be her
master's, and he shall go out by himself. And if
the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my
wife, and my children ; I will n6t go out free ; then
his master shall bring him unto the judges : he shall
also bring him to the door, or unto the door-post ;
and his master shall bore his ear through with an
awl; and he shall serve him forever." (Chap. xxi.
1-6.) The servant was perfectly free to go out, so
far as he was personally concerned. He had clis-
discharged every claim, and could therefore walk
CHAPTERS XXI-XXIII. 277
abroad in unquestioned freedom ; but because of
his love to his master, his wife, and his children, he
voluntarily bound himself to perpetual servitude ;
and not only so, but he was also willing to bear, in
his own person, the marks of that servitude.
The application of this to the Lord Jesus Christ
will be obvious to the intelligent reader. In Him
we behold the One who dwelt in the bosom of the
Father before all worlds the object of His eternal
delight who might have occupied, throughout eter-
nity, this His personal and entirely peculiar place,
inasmuch as there lay upon Him no obligation (save
that which ineffable love created and ineffable love
incurred) to abandon that place. Such, however,
was His love to the Father, whose counsels were
involved, and for the Church collectively and each
individual member thereof, whose salvation was in-
volved, that He voluntarily came down to earth,
emptied Himself, and made Himself of no reputa-
tion, took upon Him the form of a servant and the
marks of perpetual service. To these marks we
probably have a striking allusion in the Psalms.
"Mine ears hast Thou digged." (Ps. xl. G, marg.)
This psalm is the expression cf Christ's devotedness
to God. "Then said I, 'Lo, I come : in the volume
of the book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy
will, O My God ; yea, Thy law is within My heart. ' '
He came to do the will of God, whatever that will
might be. He never once did His own will, not even
in. the reception and salvation of sinners, though
surely His loving heart, with all its affections, was
19
278 EXODUS.
most fully in that glorious work. Still He receives
and saves only as the servant of the Father's coun-
sels. "All that the Father giveth Me shall come to
Me ; and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise
cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do
Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me.
And this is the Father's will which hath sent Me,
that of all which He hath given Me I should lose
nothing, but should raise it up again at the last
day." (John vi. 37-39.)
Here we have a most interesting view of the
servant- character of the Lord Jesus Christ. He, in
perfect grace, holds Himself responsible to receive
all who come within the range of the divine coun-
sels ; and not only to receive them, but to preserve
them through all the difficulties and trials of their
devious path down here, yea, in the article of death
itself, should it come, and to raise them all up in the
last day. Oh, how secure is the -very feeblest mem-
ber of the Church of God ! He is the subject of
God's eternal counsels, which counsels the Lord
Jesus Christ is pledged to carry' out. Jesus loves
the Father, and in proportion to the intensity of
that love is the security of each member of the re-
deemed family. The salvation of the sinner who
believes on the name of the Son of God is, in, one
aspect of it, but the expression of Christ's love to
the Father. If one such could perish, through any
cause whatsoever, it would argue that the Lord
Jesus Christ was unable to carry out the will of
God, which were nothing short of positive blasphemy
CHAPTERS XXI-XXIII. 279
against His sacred name, to whom be all honor and
majesty throughout the everlasting ages.
Thus we have, in the Hebrew servant, a type of
Christ in His pure devotedness to the Father. But
there is more than this. U I love my wife and my
children." "Christ loved the Church, and gave
Himself for it ; that He might sanctify and cleanse
it with the washing of water by the Word, that He
might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not
having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing ; but that
it should be holy and without blemish." (Eph. v.
25-27.) There are various other passages of Scrip-
ture presenting Christ as the antitype of the Hebrew
servant, both in His love for the Church as a body,
and for all believers personally. In Matthew xiii,
John x and xiii, and Hebrews ii, my reader will find
special teaching on the point.
The apprehension of this love of the heart of
Jesus cannot fail to produce a spirit of fervent
devotedness to the One who could exhibit such
pure, such perfect, such disinterested love. How
could the wife and children of the Hebrew servant
fail to love one who had voluntarily surrendered his
liberty in order that he and they might be together?
And what is the love presented in the type, when
compared with that which shines in the antitype ?
It is as nothing. "The love of Christ passeth
knowledge." It led Him to think of us before all
worlds to visit us in the fullness of time to walk
deliberately to the door-post to suffer for us on the
cross, in order that He might raise us to companion-
280 EXODUS.
ship with Himself in His everlasting kingdom and
glory.
Were I to enter into a full exposition of the re-
maining statutes and judgments of this portion of
the book of Exodus, it would cany me much further
than I feel, at present, led to go.* I will merely
observe, in conclusion, that it is impossible to read
the section and not have the heart drawn out in
adoration of the profound wisdom, well-balanced
justice, and yet tender considerateness which breathe
throughout the whole. We rise up from the study of
it with this conviction deeply wrought into the soul,
that the One who speaks here is "the only true,"
"the only wise," and the infinitely gracious God.
May all our meditations on His eternal Word
have the effect of prostrating our souls in worship
before Him whose perfect waj^s and glorious attri-
butes shine there, in all their blessedness and bright-
ness, for the refreshment, the delight, and the edifi-
cation of His blood-bought people.
CHAPTEE XXIV.
HMHIS chapter opens with an expression remark-
J- ably characteristic of the entire Mosaic econ-
omy. "And He said unto Moses, 'Come up unto
*I Avould here observe, once for all, that the feasts referred to
in chapter xxiii. 14-19, and the offerings in chapter xxix, being
brought out, in all their fullness and detail, in the book of Le-
viticus, I shall reserve them until we come to dwell, upon the
contents of that singularly rich and interesting book.
CHAPTER XXIV. 281
the Lord, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abitm, and
seventy of the elders of Israel ; and worship 'ye afar
off. .... they shall not come ni(jh, neither shall
the people go up with him." We may search from
end to end of the legal ritual, and not find those two
precious words, "draw nigh. 19 Ah, no ; such words
could never be heard from the top cf Sinai, nor
from amid the shadows of the law. They could
only be uttered at heaven's side of the empty tomb
of Jesus, where the blood of the cross has opened a
perfectly cloudless prospect to the vision of faith.
The words, "afar off," are as characteristic of the
law as "draw nigh" are of the gospel. Under the
law, the work was never done which could entitle
a sinner to draw nigh. Man had not fulfilled his
promised obedience; and the "blood of calves and
goats" could not atone for the failure, or give his
guilty conscience peace. Hence, therefore, he had
to stand "afar off." Man's vows were broken and
his sin unpurged ; how, then, could he draw nigh?
The blood of ten thousand bullocks could not wipe
away one stain from the conscience, or give the
peaceful sense of nearness as being reconciled to
God.
However, the "first covenant" is here dedicated
with blood. An altar is erected at the foot of the
hill, with "twelve pillars, according to the twelve
tribes of Israel." "And he sent young men of the
children of Israel, which offered burnt-offerings, and
sacrificed peace-offerings of oxen unto the Lord.
And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in
282 EXODUS.
basins ; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the
altar And Moses took the blood, and
sprinkled it on the people, and said, 'Behold the
blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made
with you concerning all these words.' ' Although,
as the apostle teaches us, it was "impossible that
the blood of bulls and goats could take away sin,"
yet did it "sanctify to the purifying of the flesh,"
and, as "a shadow of good things to come," it
availed to maintain the people in relationship with
Jehovah.
"Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and
Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel ; and
they saw the God of Israel : and there was under
His feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone,
and as it were the body of heaven. in clearness.
And upon the nobles of the children of Israel He
laid not His hand : also they saw God and did eat
and drink." This was the manifestation of "the
God of Israel," in light and purity, majesty and
holiness. It was not the unfolding of the affections
of a Father's bosom, or the sweet accents of a
Father's voice, breathing peace and inspiring confi-
dence into the heart. No; the "paved work of a
sapphire stone" told out that unapproachable purity
and light which could only tell a sinner to keep off.
Still, "they saw God and did eat and drink."
Touching proof of divine forbearance and mercy,
as also of the power of the blood !
Looking at this entire scene as a mere illustration,
there is much to interest the heart. There is the de-
CHAPTER XXIV. 283
filed camp below and the sapphire pavement above;
but the altar, at the foot of the hill, tells us of that
way by which the sinner can make his escape from
the defilement of his own condition, and mount up
to the presence of God, there to feast and worship
in perfect peace. The blood which flowed around
the altar furnished man's only title to stand in the
presence of that glory which "was like a devouring
fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the
children of Israel."
"And Moses went into the midst of the cloud,
and gat him up into the mount ; and Moses was in
the mount forty days and forty nights." This was
truly a high and holy position for Moses. He was
called away from earth and earthly things. Ab-
stracted from natural influences, he is shut in with
God, to hear from His mouth the deep mysteries of
the Person and work of Christ ; for such, in point
of fact, we have unfolded in the tabernacle and all
its significant furniture "the patterns of things in
the heavens." The blessed One knew full well what
was about to be the end of man's covenant of
works ; but He unfolds to Moses, in types and
shadows, His own precious thoughts of love and
counsels of grace, manifested in, and secured by,
Christ.
Blessed for evermore be the grace which has not
left us under a covenant of works. Blessed be He
who has "hushed the law's loud thunders and
quenched mount Sinai's flame" by "the blood of
the everlasting covenant," and given us a peace
284 EXODUS.
which no power of earth or hell can shake. "Unto
Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in
His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests
unto God and His Father ; to Him be glory and
dominion forever and ever. Amen."
CHAPTER XXY.
THIS chapter forms the commencement of one of
the richest veins in Inspiration's exhaustless
mine a vein in which every stroke of the mattock
brings to light untold wealth. "We know the mattock
with which alone we can work in such a mine,
namely, the distinct ministry of the Holy Ghost.
Nature can do nothing here. Reason is blind, im-
agination utterly vain ; the most gigantic intellect,
instead of being able to interpret the sacred sym-
bols, appears like a bat in the sunshine, blindly
dashing itself against the objects which it is utterly
unable to discern. We must compel reason and
imagination to stand without, while, with a chas-
tened heart, a single eye, and a spiritual mind, we
enter the hallowed precincts and gaze upon the
deeply significant furniture. God the Holy Ghost
is the only One who can conduct us through the
courts of the Lord's house, and expound to our
souls the true meaning of all that there meets our
view. To attempt the exposition by the aid of
intellect's unsanctified powers, would be infinitely
more absurd than to set about the repairs of a watch
CHAPTER XXV. 285
with a blacksmith's tongs and hammer. "The pat-
tern of things in the heavens " cannot be interpreted
by the natural mind, in its most cultivated form.
They must all be read in the light of heaven : earth
has no light which could at all develop their beauties.
The One who furnished the patterns can alone ex-
plain what the patterns mean, the One who fur-
nished the beauteous symbols can alone interpret
them.
To the human eye there would seem to be a des-
ultoriness in the mode in which the Holy Ghost has
presented the furniture of the tabernacle; but. in
reality, as might be expected, there is the most
perfect order, the most remarkable precision, the
most studious accuracy. From chapter xxv. to
chapter xxx. inclusive, we have a distinct section of
the book of Exodus. This section is divided into
two parts, the first terminating at chapter xxvii. 19,
and the second at the close of chapter xxx. The
former begins with the ark of the covenant, inside
the vail, and ends with the brazen altar and the
court in which that altar stood. That is, it gives us,
in the first place, Jehovah's throne of judgment,
whereon He sat as Lord of all the earth; and it
conducts us to that place where He met the sinner,
in the credit and virtue of accomplished atonement.
Then, in the latter, we have the mode of man's
approach to God the privileges, dignities, and re-
sponsibilities of those who, as priests, were permitted
to draw nigh to the Divine Presence and enjoy wor-
ship and communion there. Thus the arrangement
286 EXODUS.
is perfect and beautiful. How could it be otherwise,
seeing that it is divine ? The ark and the brazen
altar present, as it were, two extremes. The former
was the throne of God established in ''justice and
judgment" (Ps. Ixxxix. 14.); the latter was the
place of approach for the sinner where "mercy and
truth" went before Jehovah's face. Man, in him-
self, dared not to approach the ark to meet God, for
' ' the way into the holiest of all was not yet made
manifest" (Heb. ix. 8.); but God could approach
the altar of brass, to meet man as a sinner. "Justice
and judgment" could not admit the sinner in r but
' ' mercy and truth ' ' could bring God out ; not, in-
deed, in that overwhelming brightness and majesty
in which He was wont to shine forth from between
those mystic supporters of His throne "the cheru-
bim of glory," but in that gracious ministry which
is symbolically presented to us in the furniture and
ordinances of the tabernacle.
All this may well remind us of the path trodden
by that blessed One who is the antitype of all these
types the substance of all these shadows. He
traveled from the eternal throne of God in heaven,
down to the depth's of Calvary's cross. He came
from all the glory of the former, down into all tne
shame of the latter, in order that He might conduct
His redeemed, forgiven, and accepted people back
with Himself, and present them faultless before that
very throne which He had left on their account.
The Lord Jesus fills up, in His own Person and
work, every point between the throne of God and
CHAPTER XXV. 287
the dust of death, and every point between the dust
of death and the throne of God. In Him, God has
come down, in perfect grace, to the sinner ; in Him,
the sinner is brought up, in perfect righteousness, to
God. All the way from the ark to the brazen altar
was marked with the footprints of love, and all the
way from the brazen altar to the ark of God was
sprinkled with the blood of atonement ; and as the
ransomed worshiper passes along that wondrous
path, he beholds the name of Jesus stamped on all
that meets his view. May that name be dearer to
our hearts ! Let us now proceed to examine the
chapters consecutively.
It is most interesting to note here that the first
thing which the Lord communicates to Moses is His
gracious purpose to have a sanctuary, or holy dwell-
ing-place, in the midst of His people a sanctuary
composed of materials which directly point to Christ*,
His Person, His work, and the precious fruit of that
work, as seen in the light, the power, and the varied
graces of the Holy Ghost. Moreover, these mate-
rials were the fragrant fruit of the grace of God
the voluntary offerings of devoted hearts. Jehovah,
whose majesty "the heaven, of heavens could not
contain," was graciously pleased to dwell in a
boarded and curtained tent erected for Him by
those who cherished the fond desire to hail His
presence amongst them. This tabernacle may be
viewed in two ways: first, as furnishing "a pattern
of things in the heavens," and secondly, as present-
ing a deeply significant type of the body of Christ.
288 EXODUS.
The various materials of which the tabernacle was
composed will come before us as we pass along ; we
shall therefore consider the three comprehensive
subjects put before us in. this chapter, namely, the
ark, the table, and the candlestick.
The ark of the covenant occupies the leading place
in the divine communications to Moses. Its posi-
tion, too, in the tabernacle was most marked. Shut
in within the vail, in the holiest of all, it formed the
base of Jehovah's throne. Its very name conveys
to the mind its import. An ark, so far as the Word
instructs us, is designed to preserve intact whatever
is put therein. An ark carried Noah and his family,
together with all the orders of creation, in safety
over the billows of judgment which covered the
earth: an ark, at the opening of this book, was
faith's vessel for preserving "a proper child" from
the waters of death. When, therefore, we read of
"the ark of the covenant," we are led to believe
that it was designed of God to preserve His cove-
nant unbroken in the midst of an erring people.
In it, as we know, the second set of tables were
deposited. As to the first set, they were broken
in pieces beneath the mount, showing that man's
covenant was wholly abolished that his work could
never, by any possibility, form the basis of Jeho-
vah's throne of government. "Justice and judg-
ment are the habitation of that throne," whether in
its earthly or heavenly aspect. The ark could not
contain within its hallowed inclosure broken" tables.
Man might fail to fulfill his self-chosen vow, but
CHAPTER XXV. 289
God's la^- must be preserved in its divine integrity
and perfectness. If God was to set up His throne
in the midst of His people, He could only d*o so in
a way worthy of Himself. His standard of judg-
ment and government must be perfect.
"And thou shalt make staves of shittim wood,
and overlay them with gold. And thou shalt put
the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark,
that the ark may be borne with them." The ark of
the covenant was to accompany the people in all
their wanderings. It never rested while they were
a traveling or a conflicting host; it moved from
place to place in the wilderness ; it went before them
into the midst of Jordan ; it was their grand rally-
ing-point in all the wars of Canaan ; it was the sure
and certain earnest of power wherever it went.
No power of the enemy could stand before that
which was the well-known expression of the divine
presence and power. The ark was to be Israel's
companion-in- travel in the desert, and "the staves"
and "the rings" were the apt expression of its
traveling character.
However, it was not always to be a traveler.
"The afflictions of David," as well as the wars of
Israel, were to have an end. The prayer was yet to
be breathed and answered, "Arise, O Lord, into
Thy rest: Thou and the ark of Thy strength." (Ps.
cxxxii. 8.) This most sublime petition had its par-
tial accomplishment in the palmy days of Solomon,
when c ' the priests brought in the ark of the covenant
of the Lord .unto his place, into the oracle of the
290 EXODUS.
house, to the most holy place, even under the wings
of the cherubim. For the cherubim spread forth
their two wings over the place of the ark, and the
cherubim covered the ark and the staves thereof
above. And they drew out the staves, that the ends
of the staves were seen out in the holy place before
the oracle, and they were not seen without: and
there they are unto this day." (1 Kings viii. 6-8.)
The sand of the desert was to be exchanged for the
golden floor of the temple. (1 Kings vi. 30.) The
wanderings of the ark were to have an end : there
was "neither enemy nor evil occurrent," and there-
fore "the staves were drawn out."
Nor was this the only difference between the ark
in the tabernacle and in the temple. The apostle,
speaking of the ark in its wilderness habitation,
describes it as "the ark of the covenant, overlaid
round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot
that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and
the tables of the covenant." (Heb. ix. 4.) Such
were the contents of the ark in its wilderness jour-
neyings the pot of manna, the record of Jehovah's
faithfulness in providing for His redeemed in the
desert, and Aaron's rod, "a token against the
rebels," to "take away their murmurings." (Com-
pare Exod. xvi. 32-34, and Numb. xvii. 10.) But
when the moment arrived in which "the staves"
were to be "drawn out," when the wanderings and
wars of Israel were over, when the ' ' exceeding mag-
nificial" house was completed, when the sun of Is-
rael's glory had reached, in type, its meridian, as
CHAPTER XXV. 291
marked by the wealth and splendor of Solomon's
reign, then the records of wilderness need and wil-
O 7
derness failure were unnoticed, and nothing remained
save that which constituted the eternal foundation of
the throne of the God of Israel, and of all the earth. '
" There ivas nothing in the ark save the two tables of
stone, which Moses put there at Horeb." (1 Kings
viii. 9.)
But all this brightness was soon to be overcast by
the heavy clouds of human failure and divine dis-
pleasure. The rude foot of the uncircumcised was
yet to walk across the ruins of that beautiful house,
and its faded light and departed glory was yet to
elicit the contemptuous "hiss" of the stranger.
This would not- be the place to follow out these
things in detail ; I shall only refer my reader to the
last notice which the Word of God affords us of
"the ark of the covenant," a notice which carries
us forward to a time when human folly and sin shall
no more disturb the resting-place of that ark, and
when neither a curtained tent nor yet a temple made
with hands shall contain it. "And the seventh angel
sounded ; and there were great voices in heaven, say-
ing, 'The kingdoms of this world are become the
kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ ; and He
shall reign forever and ever.' And the four and
twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats,
fell upon their faces, and worshiped God, saying,
' We give Thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which
art, and wast, and art to come ; because Thou hast
taken to Thee Thy great power, and hast reigned.
292 EXODUS.
And the nations were angry, arid Thy wrath is come,
and the time of t-he dead, that they should be j udged,
and that Thou shouldest give reward unto Thy serv-
ants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that
fear Thy name, small and great ; and shouldest de-
stroy them which destroy the earth.' And the tem-
ple of God was open in heaven, and there was seen
in His temple the ark of His covenant : and there
were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and
an earthquake, and great hail." (Rev. xi. 15-19.)
The mercy-seat comes next in order. "And thou
shalt make a mercy-seat of pure gold ; two cubits
and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit
and a half the breadth thereof. And thou shalt
make two cherubim of gold, of beaten work shalt
thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy-seat.
And make one cherub on the one end, and the other
cherub on the other end ; even of the mercy-seat
shall ye make the cherubim on the two ends thereof.
And the cherubim shall stretch forth their wings on
high, covering the mercy-seat with their wings, and
their faces shall look one to another ; toward the
mercy-seat shall the faces of the cherubim be. And
thou shalt put the mercy-seat above upon the ark ;
and in the ark shalt thou put the testimony that I
shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee',
and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-
seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon
the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will
give thee in commandment unto the children cf
Israel. ' '
CHAPTER XXV. 293
Here Jehovah gives utterance to His gracious
intention of coming down from the fiery mount to
take. His place upon the mercy-seat. This He could
do, inasmuch as the tables of testimony were pre-
served unbroken beneath, and the symbols of His
power, whether in creation or providence, rose on
the right hand and on the left the inseparable ad-
juncts of that throne on which Jehovah had seated
Himself a throne of grace founded upon divine
righteousness and supported by justice and judg-
ment. Here the glory of the God of Israel shone
forth. From hence He issued His commands, soft-
ened and sweetened by the gracious source from
whence they emanated, and the medium through
which they came like the beams of the mid-day
sun, passing through a cloud, we can enjoy their
genial and enlivening influence without being daz-
zled by their brightness. "His commandments are
not grievous," when received from off the mercy-
seat, because they come in connection with grace,
which gives the ears to hear and the power to obe} 7 .
Looking at the ark and mercy-seat together, we
may see in them a striking figure of Christ in His
Person and work. He having, in His life, magnified
the law and made it honorable, became, through
death, a propitiation (or mercy-seat) for every one
that believeth. God's mercy could only repose on
a pedestal of perfect righteousness'. "Grace reigns
through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus
Christ our Lord." (Rom. v. 21.) The only proper
meeting-place between God and man is the point
20
294 EXODUS.
where grace and righteousness meet and perfectly
harmonize. Nothing but perfect righteousness could
suit God, and nothing but perfect grace could suit
the sinner. But where could these attributes meet
in one point? Only in the cross. There it is that
"mercy and truth are met together; righteousness
and peace have kissed each other/' (Ps. Ixxxv. 10.)
Thus it is that the soul of the believing sinner finds
peace. He sees that God's righteousness and his
justification rest upon precisely the same basis,
namely, Christ's accomplished work. When man,
under the powerful action of the truth of God, takes
his place as a sinner, God can, in the exercise of
grace, take His place as a Saviour, and then every
question is settled, for the cross having answered all
the claims of divine justice, mercy's copious streams
can flow unhindered. When a righteous God and a
ruined sinner meet on a blood-sprinkled platform,
all is settled forever settled in such a way as per-
fectly glorifies God, and eternally saves the sinner.
God must be true, though every man be proved a
liar ; and when man is so thoroughly brought down
to the lowest point of his own moral condition before
God as to be willing to take the place which God's
truth assigns him, he then learns that God has re-
vealed Himself as the righteous Justifier of such an
one. This must give settled peace to the conscience ;
and not only so, but impart a capacity to commune
with God, and hearken to His holy precepts, in the
intelligence of that relationship into which divine
grace has introduced us.
CHAPTER XXV. 295
Hence, therefore, u the holiest of all" unfolds a
truly wondrous scene. The ark, the mercy-seat,
the cherubim, the glory ! What a sight for the
high-priest of Israel to behold as, once a year, he
went in within the vail ! May the Spirit of God
open the eyes of our understanding, that we may
understand more fully the deep meaning of those
precious types.
Moses is next instructed about "the table of
show-bread," or bread of presentation. On this
table stood the food of the priests of God. For
seven days those twelve loaves of "fine flour with
frankincense" were presented before the Lord, after
which, being replaced by others, they became the
food of ttie. priests, who fed upon them in the holy
place. (See Lev. xxiv. 5-9.) It is needless to say
that those twelve loaves typify "the Man Christ
Jesus." The "fine flour," of which they were
composed, marks His perfect manhood, while the
"frankincense" points out the entire devotion of
that manhood to God. If God has His priests
ministering in the holy place, He will assuredly have
a table for them, and a well-furnished table too.
Christ is the table, and Christ is the bread thereon.
The pure table and the twelve loaves shadow forth
Christ as presented before God unceasingly in all
the excellency of His spotless humanity, and ad-
ministered as food to the priestly family. The
"seven days" set forth the perfection of the divine
enjoyment of Christ, and the "twelve loaves" the
administration of that enjoyment in and by man.
296 EXODUS.
There is also, I should venture to suggest, the idea
of Christ's connection with the twelve tribes of
Israel, and the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
The candlestick of pure gold comes next in order,
for God's priests need light as well as food; and
they have both the one and the other in Christ. In
this candlestick there is no mention of any thing
but pure gold. "All of it shall be one beaten work
of pure gold." "The seven lamps" which "gave
light over against the candlestick "express the per-
fection of the light and energy of the Spirit, founded
upon and connected with the perfect efficacy of the
work of Christ. The work of the Holy Ghost can
never be separated from the work of Christ. This
is set forth in a double way in this beautiful figure
of the golden" candlestick. "The seven lamps" be-
ing connected with "the shaft" of "beaten gold,"
points us to Christ's finished work as the sole basis
of the manifestation of the Spirit in the Church.
The Holy Ghost was not given until Jesus was
glorified. (Comp. John vii. 39 with Acts xix. 2-6.)
In the third chapter of Revelation, Christ is pre-
sented to the Church in Sardis as "having the seven
Spirits." It was as "exalted to the right hand of
God" that the Lord Jesus "shed forth" the Holy
Ghost upon His Church, in order that she might
shine, according to the power and perfection of her
position, in the holy place, her proper sphere of
being, of action, and of worship.
Then, again, we find it was one of Aaron's specific
functions to light and trim those seven lamps.
CHAPTER XXV. S 2\)7
"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 'Com-
mand the children of Israel that they bring unto
thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the
lamps to burn continually. Without the vail of the
testimon}', in the tabernacle of the congregation,
shall Aaron order it from the evening unto the
morning before the Lord continually : it shall be a
statute forever in your generations. He shall order
the lamps upon the pure candlestick before the Lord
continually." (Lev. xxiv. 1-4.) Thus we may see
how the work of the Holy Ghost in the Church is
linked with Christ's work on earth and His work in
heaven. "The seven lamps" were there, no doubt ;
but priestly energy and diligence were needed in
order to keep them trimmed and lighted. The priest
would continually need "the tongs and snuff-dishes"
for the purpose of removing aught that would not
be a fit vehicle for the "pure beaten oil." Those
tongs and snuff-dishes were of "beaten gold" like-
wise, for the whole matter was the direct result of
divine operation. If the Church shine, it is only by
the energy of the Spirit, and that energy is founded
upon Christ, who, in pursuance of God's eternal
counsel, became, in His sacrifice and priesthood,
the spring and power of every thing to His Church.
All is of God. Whether we look within that mys-
terious vail, and behold the ark with its cover, and
the two significant figures attached thereto ; or if
we gaze on that which lay without the vail the pure
table and the pure candlestick, with their distinctive
vessels and instruments all speak to us of God,
298 EXODUS.
whether as revealed to us in connection with the
Son or the Holy Ghost.
Christian reader, your high calling places 3*011 in
the very midst of all these precious realities. Yow
place is not merely amid "the patterns of things in
the heavens," but amid "the heavenly things them-
selves." You have "boldness to enter into the
holiest by the blood of Jesus;" you are a priest
unto God ; "the showbread" is yours ; your place
is at "the pure table," to feed on the priestly food,
in the light of the Holy Ghost. Nothing can ever
deprive you of those divine privileges, they are
yours forever. Let it be your care to watch against
every thing that might rob 3^011 of the enjoyment of
them. Beware of all unhallowed tempers, lusts,
feelings, and imaginations. Keep nature down;
keep the world out ; keep Satan off. May the Holy
Ghost fill your whole soul with Christ. Then you
will be practically holy and abidingly happy, you
will bear fruit, and the Father will be glorified, and
your joy shall be full.
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE section of our book which now opens before
us contains the instructive description of the
curtains and coverings of the tabernacle, wherein
the spiritual eye discerns the shadows of the various
features and phases of Christ's manifested character.
' ; Moreover, thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten
CHAPTER XXVI. 299
curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple,
and scarlet: with cherubim of cunning work shalt
thou make them." Here we have the different as-
pects of ' c the Man Christ Jesus. ' ' The c ' fine twined
linen" prefigures the spotless purity of His walk
and character; while the "blue, the purple, and the
scarlet" present Him to us as "the Lord from
heaven," who is to reign according to the divine
counsels, but whose royalty is to be the result of
His sufferings. Thus we have a spotless Man, a
heavenly Man, a royal Man, a suffering Man. These
materials were not confined to the " curtains" of the
tabernacle, but were also used in making " the vail"
(ver. 31), "the hanging for the door of the tent"
(ver. 3G), "the hanging for the gate of the court"
(chap, xxvii. 16), "the cloths of service and the
holy garments of Aaron" (chap, xxxix. 1).. In a
word, it was Christ everywhere, Christ in all, Christ
alone.*
The "fine twined linen," as expressive of Christ's
spotless manhood, opens a most precious and copious
spring of thought to the spiritual mind ; it furnishes
a theme on which we' cannot meditate too profoundly.
The truth respecting Christ's humanity must be re-
ceived with scriptural accuracy > held with spiritual
energy, guarded with holy jealousy, and confessed
with heavenly power. If we are wrong as to this,
we cannot be right as to any thing. It is a grand,
*The expression, "white and clean," gives peculiar force and
beauty to the type which the Holy Ghost has presented in the
" lino twined linen." Indeed, there could not be a more appro-
priate emblem of spotless manhood.
300 EXODUS.
vital, fundamental truth ; and if it be not received,
held, guarded, and confessed as God has revealed it
in His holy Word, the entire superstructure must be
unsound. Nothing can be more deplorable than the
looseness of thought and expression which seems to
prevail in reference to this all-important doctrine.
Were there more reverence for the Word of God,
there would be more accurate acquaintance with it ;
and, in this way, we should happily avoid all those
erroneous and unguarded statements which surely
must grieve the Holy Spirit of God, whose province
it is to testify of Jesus.
When the angel had announced to Mary the glad
tidings of the Saviour's birth, she said to him,
"How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?"
Her feeble mind was utterly incompetent to enter
into, much less to fathom, the stupendous mystery
of u God manifest in the flesh." But mark carefully
the angelic reply a reply, not to a sceptic mind,
but to a pious, though ignorant, heart. "The Holy
Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the
Highest shall overshadow thee ; wherefore, also, that
holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called
the Son of God." (Luke i. 34, 35.) Mary, doubt-
less, imagined that this birth was to be according to
the principles of ordinary generation ; but the angel
corrects her mistake, and, in correcting it, enun-
ciates one of the grandest truths of revelation. He
declares to her that divine power was about to form
A KEAL MAN "the second Man the Lord from
heaven" One whose nature was divinely pure, ut-
CHAPTER XXVI. 301
terly incapable of receiving or communicating any
taint. This holy One was made ' fc in the likeness of
sinful flesh," without sin in the flesh. He partook
of real bona fide flesh and blood without a particle
or shadow of the evil thereto attaching.
This is a cardinal truth which cannot be too ac-
curately laid hold of or too tenaciously held. The
incarnation of the Son, the second Person in the
eternal Trinity His mysterious entrance into pure
and spotless flesh, formed, by the power of the
Highest, in the virgin's womb, is the foundation of
the "great mystery of godliness," of which the top-
stone is a glorified God-man in heaven, the Head,
Representative, and Model of the redeemed Church
of God. The essential purity of His manhood per-
fectly met the claims of God ; the reality thereof
met the necessities of man. He was a Man, for
none else would do to meet man's ruin. But He
was such a Man as could satisfy all the claims of the
throne of God. He was a spotless, real Man, in
whom God could perfectly delight, and on whom
man could unreservedly lean.
I need not remind the enlightened reader that all
this, if taken apart from death and resurrection, is
perfectly unavailable to us. We need not only an
incarnate, but a crucified and risen, Christ. True,
He should be incarnate to be crucified ; but it is
death and resurrection which render incarnation
available to us. It is nothing short of a deadly
error to suppose that in incarnation Christ was tak-
ing man into union with Himself. This could not
302 EXODUS.
be. He Himself expressly teaches the contrary.
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of
wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone;
but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." (John
xii. 24. ) There could be no union between sinful
and holy flesh, pure and impure, corruptible and
incorruptible, mortal and immortal. Accomplished
death is the only base of a unity between Christ and
His elect members. It is in beautiful connection
with the words, "Eise, let us go hence," that He
says, "I am the vine, ye are the branches." "We
have been planted together in the likeness of His
death." "Our old man is crucified with Him, that
the body of sin might be destroyed." "In whom
also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made
without hands, in putting oif the body of the sins
of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: buried
with Him in baptism, wherein also }-e are risen with
Him through the faith of the operation of God, who
hath raised Him from the dead." I would refer my
reader to Romans vi. and Colossians ii. as a full and
comprehensive statement of the truth on this im-
portant subject. It was only as dead and risen that
Christ and His people could become one. The true
corn of wheat had to fall into the ground and die
ere a full ear could spring up and be gathered into
the heavenly garner.
But while this is a plainly revealed truth of Scrip-
ture, it is equally plain that incarnation formed, as
it were, the first layer of the glorious superstructure ;
and the curtains of ' c fine twined linen ' ' prefigure the
CHAPTER XXVI. 303
moral purity of "the Man Christ Jesus." We have
already seen the manner of His conception ; and, as
we pass along the current of His life here below, we
meet with instance after instance of the same spot-
less purity. He was forty days in the wilderness,
tempted of the devil, but there was no response in
His pure nature to the tempters foul suggestions.
He could touch the leper and receive no taint ; He
could touch the bier and not contract the smell of
death ; He could pass unscathed through the most
polluted atmosphere. He was, as to His manhood,
like a sunbeam emanating from the fountain of light,
which can pass without a soil through the most de-
filing medium. He was perfectly unique in nature,
constitution, and character. None but He could
say, "Thou wilt not suffer Thine holy One to see
corruption." This was in reference to His human-
ity, which, as being perfectly holy and perfectly
pure, was capable of being a sin-bearer. "His own
self bare our sins in His own body on the tree."
Not to the tree, as some would teach us; but "on
the tree." It was on the cross that Christ was our
sin-bearer, and only there. "He hath made Him to
be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Cor.
v. 21.)
"Blue" is the ethereal color, and marks the heav-
enly character of Christ, who, though He had come
down into all the circumstances of actual and true
humanity (sin excepted), yet was He "the Lord
from heaven." Though He was "very man," yet
304 EXODUS.
He ever walked in the uninterrupted consciousness
of His proper dignity, as a heavenly stranger. He
never once forgot whence He had come, where He
was, or whither He was going. The spring of all His
joys was on high. Earth could neither make Him
richer nor poorer. He found this world to be "a
dry and thirsty land, where no water is," and hence
His spirit could only find its refreshment above. It
was entirely heavenly. "No man hath ascended up
to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even
the Son of Man wlio is in heaven. 79 (John iii. 13.)
" Purple" denotes royalty, and points us to Him
who "was born King of the Jews;" who offered
Himself as such to the Jewish nation, and was re-
jected ; who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good
confession, avowing Himself a king, when, to mortal
vision, there was not so much as a single trace of
royalty. "Thou sayest that I am a king." And
"hereafter ye shall see the Son of Man sitting at
the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds
of heaven." And, finally, the inscription upon His
cross, ' ' in letters of Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin ' '
the language of religion, of science, and of gov-
ernment declared Him, to the whole known world,
to be "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews."
Earth disowned His claims (so much the worse for
it), but not so heaven; there His claim was fully
recognized. He was received as a conqueror into
the eternal mansions of light, crowned with glory
and honor, and seated, amid the acclamations of
angelic hosts, on the throne of the Majesty in the
CHAPTEK XXVI. 305
heavens, there to wait until His enemies be made
His footstool. "Why do the heathen rage, and the
people imagine a vain thing ? The kings of the
earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel
together, against the Lord, and against His anointed,
saying, 'Let us break their bands asunder, and cast
away their cords from us.' He that sitteth in the
heavens shall laugh ; the Lord shall have them in
derision. Then shall He speak unto them in His
wrath, and vex them in His sore displeasure. Yet
have I set My King upon My holy hill of Zion. I
will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto
Me, 'Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten
Thee. Ask of Me, and I shall give Thee the heathen
for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the
earth for Thy possession. Thou shalt break them
with a rod of iron ; Thou shalt clash them in pieces
like a potter's vessel.' Be wise now therefore, O
ye kings; be instructed, ye judges of the earth.
Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish from
the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little.
BLESSED ARE ALL THEY THAT PUT THEIR
TRUST IN HIM." (Ps. ii.)
" Scarlet," when genuine, is produced by death ;
and this makes its application to a suffering Christ
safe and appropriate. "Christ hath suffered for us
in the flesh." Without deuth, all would have been
unavailing. We can admire " the blue" and "the
purple," but without "the scarlet" the tabernacle
would have lacked an all-important feature. It was
306 EXODUS.
by death that Christ destroyed him that had the
power of death. The Holy Ghost, in setting before
us a striking figure of Christ the true tabernacle
could not possibly omit that phase of His character
which constitutes the ground- work of His connection
with His body the Church, of His claim to the throne
of David, and the headship of all creation. In a
word, He not only unfolds the Lord Jesus to our
view, in. these significant curtains, as .a spotless
Man, a royal Man, but also a suffering Man, One
who, by death, should make good His claims to all
that to which, as man, He was entitled, in the
divine counsels.
But we have much more in the curtains of the
tabernacle than the varied and perfect phases of the
character of Christ, we have also the unity and
consistency of that character. Each phase is dis-
played in its own proper perfectness ; and one never
interferes with, or mars the exquisite beauty of,
another. All was in perfect harmony beneath the
eye of God, and was so displayed in "the pattern
which was showed to Moses on the mount," and in
the copy which was exhibited below. ' ' Every one
of the curtains shall have one measure. The five
curtains shall be coupled together one to another ;
and other five curtains shall be coupled one to
another." Such was the fair proportion and con-
sistency in all the ways of Christ, as a perfect Man,
walking on the earth, in whatever aspect or relation-
ship we vtew Him. When acting in one character,
we never find aught that is, in the very least degree,
CHAPTER XXVI. 307
inconsistent with the divine integrity of another.
He was, at all times, in all places, under all circum-
stances, the perfect Man. There was nothing out
of that fair and lovely proportion which belonged
to Him, in all His ways. "Every one of the cur-
tains shall have one measure."
The two sets of live curtains each may symbolize
the two grand aspects of Christ's character, as act-
ing toward God and toward man. We have the
s'ame two aspects in the law, namely, what was due
to God, and what was due to man ; so that as to
Christ, if we look in, we find "Thy law is within My
heart ; " and if we look at His outward character and
walk, we see those two elements adjusted with per-
fect accuracy, and not only adjusted, but inseparably
linked together by the heavenly grace and divine
energy which dwelt in His most glorious Person.
"And thou shalt make loops of blue upon the edge
of the one curtain, from the selvedge in the coupling ;
and likewise shalt thou make in the uttermost ecl^c
o
of another curtain, in the coupling of the second
.... And thou shalt make fifty taches of gold,
and couple the curtains together with the taches ;
and it shall be one tabernacle. ' ' We have here dis-
played to us, in the "loops of blue," and "taches
of gold," that heavenly grace and divine energy in
Christ which enabled Him to combine and perfectly
adjust the claims of God and man; so that in re-
sponding to both the one and the other, He never,
for a moment, marred the unity of His character.
When crafty and hypocritical men tempted Him
308 EXODUS.
with the inquiry, u ls it lawful to give tribute to
Caesar, or not?" His wise reply was, "Render to
Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the
things that are God's."
Nor was it merely Caesar, but man in every rela-
tion that had all his claims perfectly met in Christ.
As He united in His perfect Person the nature of
God and man, so He met in His perfect ways the
claims of God and man. Most interesting would it
be to trace, through the gospel narrative, the exem-
plification of the principle suggested by the "loops
of blue," and "taches of gold ; " but I must leave
my reader to pursue this study under the immediate
guidance of the Holy Ghost, who delights to expa-
tiate upon every feature and every phase of that
perfect One whom it is His unvarying purpose and
undivided object to exalt.
The curtains on which we have been dwelling were
covered with other "curtains of goats' hair." (Ver*.
7-14. ) Their beauty was hidden from those without
by that which bespoke roughness and severity. This
latter did not meet the view of those within. To all
who were privileged to enter the hallowed inclosure,
nothing was visible save "the blue, the purple, the
scarlet, and fine twined linen," the varied yet com-
bined exhibition of the virtues and excellencies of
that divine- Tabernacle in which God dwelt within
the vail that is, of Christ, through whose flesh, the
antitype of all these, the beams of the divine nature
shone so delicately that the sinner could behold with-
out being overwhelmed by their dazzling brightness.
CHAPTER XXVI. 309
As the Lord Jesus passed along this earth, how
few really knew Him ! How few had eyes anointed
with heavenly cj^e-salve to penetrate and appreciate
the deep mystery of His character ! How few saw
"the blue, the purple, the scarlet, and fine twined
linen" ! It was only when faith brought man into
His presence that He ever allowed the brightness of
what He was to shine forth ever allowed the glory
to break through the cloud. To nature's eye there
would seem to have been a reserve and a severity
about Him which were aptly prefigured by the "cov-
ering of goats' hair." All this was the result of His
profound separation and estrangement, not from
sinners personally, but from the thoughts and max-
ims of men. He had nothing in common with man
as such, nor was it within the compass of mere
nature to comprehend or enjoy Him. "No man,"
said He, "can come to Me, except the Father which
hath sent Me draw him;" and when one of those
"drawn" ones confessed His name, Pie declared
that "flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee,
but My Father which is in heaven." (Comp. John
vi. 44; Matt. xvi. 17.) He was "a root out of a
dry ground," having neither "form nor comeliness"
to attract the eye or gratify the heart of man. The
popular current could never flow in the direction of
of One who, as He passed rapidly across the stage
of this vain world, wrapped Himself up in a "cov-
ering of goats' hair." Jesus was not popular. The
multitude might follow Him for a moment, because
His ministry stood connected, in their judgment,
21
310 EXODUS.
with "the loaves and fishes" which met their need ;
but they were just as ready to cry, "Away with
Him ! " as u Hosanna to the Son of David ! " Oh,
let Christians remember this ! Let the servants of
Christ remember it ! Let all preachers of the gospel
remember it ! Let one and all of us ever seek to
bear in mind the "covering of goats 9 hair" !
But if the goats' skins expressed the severity of
Christ's separation from earth, "the rams' skins
dyed red" exhibit His intense consecration and de-
votedness to God, which was carried out even unto
death. He was the only perfect Servant that ever
stood in God's vineyard. He had one object, which
He pursued with an undeviating course from the
manger to the cross, and that was, to glorify the
Father, and finish His work. "Wist ye not that I
must be about My Father's business?" was the
language of His youth, and the accomplishment of
that "business" was the design of His life. "His
meat was to do the will of Him that sent Him, and
to finish His work." "The rams' skins dyed red"
formed as distinct a part of His ordinary habit as
the "goats' hair." His perfect devotion to God
separated Him from the habits of men.
' ' The badgers' skins ' ' may exhibit to us the holy
vigilance with which the Lord Jesus guarded against
the approach of every thing hostile to the purpose
which engrossed His whole soul. He took up His
position for God, and held it with a tenacity which
no influence of men or devils, earth or hell, could
overcome. The covering of badger's skins was
CHAPTER XXVI. 311
"above" (ver. 14), teaching us that the most
prominent feature in the character of "the Man
Christ Jesus" was an invincible determination to
stand as a witness for God on the earth. He was
the true Naboth, who gave up His life rather than
surrender the truth of God, or give up that for
which He had taken His place in this world.
The goat, the ram, and the- badger must be re-
garded as exhibiting certain natural features, and
also as symbolizing certain moral qualities ; and we
must take both into account in our application of
these figures to the character of Christ. The human
eye could only discern the former. It could see
none of the moral grace, beauty, and dignity which
lay beneath the outward form of the despised and
humble Jesus of Nazareth. When the treasures of
heavenly wisdom flowed from His lips, the inquiry
was, "Is not this the carpenter?" or, "How know-
eth this Man letters, having never learned?" When
He asserted His eternal Sonship and Godhead, the
word was, "Thou art not yet fifty years old," or,
"They took up stones to cast at Him." In short,
the acknowledgment of the Pharisees in John ix.
was true in reference to men in general. "As for
this fellow, we know not from whence He is."
It would be utterly impossible, in the compass of
a volume like this, to trace the unfoldings of those
precious features of Christ's character through the
gospel narratives. Sufficient has been said to open
up springs of spiritual thought to my reader, and to
furnish some faint idea of the rich treasures which
312 EXODUS.
are wrapped up in the curtains and coverings of the
tabernacle. Christ's hidden being, secret springs,
and inherent excellencies His outward and unat-
tractive form what He was in Himself, what He
was Godward, and what He was manward what He
was in the judgment of faith, and what in the judg-
ment of nature all is sweetly and impressively told
but, to the circumcised ear, in the " curtains of
blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen," and
the "coverings of skins."
"The boards for the tabernacle" were friade of
the same wood as was used in constructing "the
ark of the covenant." Moreover, they were upheld
by the sockets of silver formed out of the atone-
ment ; their hooks and chapiters being of the same.
(Compare attentively chap. xxx. 11-16, with chap,
xxxviii. 25-28.) The whole frame- work of the tent
of the tabernacle was based on that which spoke of
atonement or ransom, while the "hooks and chap-
iters" at the top set forth the same. The sockets
were buried in the sand, and the hooks and chapiters
were above. It matters not how deep you penetrate,
or how high you rise, that glorious and eternal truth
is emblazoned before you, "I HAVE FOUND A
RANSOM." Blessed be God, "we are not re-
deemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold,
.... but with the precious blood of Christ, as
of a lamb without blemish and without spot. ' '
The tabernacle was divided into three distinct
parts, namely, "the holy of holies," "the holy
place," and "the court of the tabernacle." The
CHAPTER XXVII. 313
entrance into each of these was of the same mate-
rials "blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen."
(Compare chapter xxvi. 31, 36; xxvii. 16.) The
interpretation of which is simply this :* Christ forms
the only doorway into the varied fields of glory which
are yet to be displayed, whether on earth, in heaven,
or in the heaven of heavens. " Every family, in
heaven and earth," will be ranged under His head-
ship, as all will be brought into everlasting felicity
and glory on the ground of His accomplished atone-
ment. This is plain enough, and needs no stretch
of the imagination to grasp it. We know it to be
true ; and when we know the truth which is shadowed
forth, the shadow is easily understood. If only our
hearts be filled with Christ, we shall not go far astray
in our interpretations of the tabernacle and its fur-
niture. It is not a head full of learned criticism
that will avail us much here, but a heart full of affec-
tion for Jesus, and a conscience at rest in the blood
of His cross.
May the Spirit of God enable us to study these
things with more interest and intelligence. May
He "open our eyes that we may behold wondrous
things out of His law."
CHAPTER XXVII.
llfE have now arrived at the brazen altar, which
T stood at the door of the tabernacle; and I
would call my. reader's most particular attention to
the order of the Holy Ghost in this portion of our
314 EXODUS.
book. We have already remarked that from chapter
xxv. to the nineteenth verse of chapter xxvii. forms
a distinct division, in which we are furnished with a
description of the ark and mercy-seat, the table and
candlestick, the curtains and the vail ; and, lastly,
the brazen altar and the court in which that altar
stood. If my reader will turn to chapter xxxv. 15,
chapter xxxvii. 25, and chapter xl. 26, he will re-
mark that the golden altar of incense is noticed, in
each of the three instances, between the candlestick
and the brazen altar ; whereas, when Jehovah is
giving directions to Moses, the brazen altar is in-
troduced immediately after the candlestick and the
curtains of the tabernacle. Now, inasmuch as there
must be a divine reason for this difference, it is the
privilege of every diligent and intelligent student of
the Word to inquire what that reason is.
Why, then, does the Lord, when giving directions
about the furniture of the "holy place," omit the
altar of incense, and pass *out to -the brazen altar
which stood at the door of the tabernacle ? The
reason, I believe, is simply this: He first describes
the mode in which He would manifest Himself to
man, and then He describes the mode of man's
approach to Him. He took His seat upon the
throne, as "the Lord of all the earth." The beams
of His glory were hidden behind the vail type
of Christ's flesh (Heb. x. 20.); but there was the
manifestation of Himself in connection with man,
as in "the pure table," and by the light and power
of the Holy Ghost, as in the candlestick. Then we
CHAPTER XXVII. 315
have the manifested character of Christ as a man
down here on this earth, as seen in the curtains and
coverings of the tabernacle. And, finally, we have
the brazen altar as the grand exhibition of the meet-
ing-place between a holy God and a sinner. This
conducts us, as it were, to the extreme point, from
which we return, in company with Aaron and his
sons, back to the holy place, the ordinary priestly
position, where stood the golden altar of incense.
Thus the order is strikingly beautiful. The golden
altar is not spoken of until there is a priest to burn
incense thereon, for Jehovah showed Moses the
patterns of things in the heavens according to the
order in which these things are to be apprehended
by faith. On the other hand, when. Moses gives
directions to the congregation (chap. xxxv. ), when
he records the labors of -"Bezaleel and Aholiab"
(chap, xxxvii. and xxxviii.), and when he sets up
the tabernacle (chap, xl.), he follows the simple
order in which the furniture w r as placed.
The prayerful investigation of this interesting
subject, and a comparison of the passages above
referred to, will amply repay my reader. We shall
now examine the brazen altar.
This altar was the place where the sinner ap-
proached God, in the power and efficacy of the
blood of atonement. It stood ' ' at the door of the
tabernacle of the tent of the congregation," and on
it all the blood was shed. It was composed of
u shittim wood and brass." The wood was the
same as that of the golden altar of incense ; but
316 EXODUS.
the metal was different, arid the reason of this dif-
ference is obvious. The altar of brass was the
place where sin was dealt with according to the
divine judgment concerning it. The altar of gold
was the place from whence the precious fragrance
of Christ's acceptableness ascended to the throne
of God. The "shittim wood," as the figure of
Christ's humanity, must be the same in each case ;
but in the brazen altar we see Christ meeting the
fire of divine justice ; in the golden altar we behold
Him feeding the divine affections. At the former,
the fire of divine wrath was quenched ; at the latter,
the fire of priestly worship is kindled. The soul
delights to find Christ in both; but the altar of
brass is what meets the need of a guilty conscience,
it is the very first thing for a poor, helpless, needy,
convicted sinner. There cannot be settled peace,
in reference to the question of sin, until the eye of
faith rests on Christ as the antitype of the brazen
altar. I must see my sin reduced to ashes in the
pan of that altar ere I can enjoy rest of conscience
in the presence of God. It is when I know, by
faith in the record of God, that He Himself has
dealt with my sin in the Person of Christ, at the
brazen altar that He has satisfied all His own
righteous claims that He has put away my sin out
of His holy presence, so that it can never come
back again it is then, but not until then, that I
can enjoy divine and everlasting peace.
I would here offer a remark as to the real meaning
of the "gold" and "brass" in the furniture of the
CHAPTER XXVII. 317
tabernacle. "Gold" is the symbol of divine right-
eousness, or the divine nature in "the Man Christ
Jesus." "Brass "is the symbol of righteousness,
demanding judgment of sin, as in the brazen altar;
or the judgment of uneleanness, as in the brazen
laver. This will account for the fact that inside the
tent of the tabernacle all was gold, the ark, the
mercy-seat, the table, the candlestick, the altar of
incense. All these were the symbols of the divine
nature the inherent personal excellejif the
Lord Jesus Christ. On the othej;
tent of the tabernacle all wa
altar and its vessels, the laver ;
The claims of righteousness^
cleanness, must be divinely met N
any enjoyment of the precious mysteriE
Person, as unfolded in the inner sanctuary of God.
It is when I see all sin and all uneleanness perfectly
judged and washed away that I can, as a priest,
draw nigh and worship in the holy place, and enjoy
the full display of all the beauty and excellency of
the God-man, Christ Jesus.
The reader can, with much profit, follow out the
application of this thought in detail, n6t merely in
the* study of the tabernacle and the temple, but also
in various passages of the Word ; for example, in
the first chapter of Revelation, Christ is seen "girt
about the paps with a golden girdle," and having
"His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in
a furnace." The "golden girdle" is the symbol of %
His intrinsic righteousness. The "feet like unto
318 EXODUS. .
fine brass" express the unmitigated judgment of
evil (lie cannot tolerate evil, but must crush it
beneath His feet).
Such is the Christ with whom we have to do. He
judges sin, but He saves the sinner. Faith sees sin
reduced to ashes at the brazen altar ; it sees all
uncleanness washed away at the brazen laver ; and,
finally, it enjoys Christ as He is unfolded, in the
secret of the divine presence, by the light and
power of the Holy Ghost. It finds Him at the
golden altar, in all the value of His intercession ;
it feeds on Him at the pure table ; it recognizes
Him in the ark and mercy-seat, as the One who
answers all the claims of justice, and, at the same
time, meets all human need ; it beholds Him in the
vail, with all its mystic figures ; it reads His pre-
cious name on every thing. O, for a heart to prize
and praise this matchless, glorious Christ !
Nothing can be of more vital importance than a
clear understanding of the doctrine of the brazen
altar ; that is to say, of the doctrine taught there.
It is from the want of clearness as to this that so
many souls go mourning all their days. They have
never had a clean, thorough settlement of the whole
matter of their guilt at the brazen altar ; they have
never really beheld, by faith, God Himself settling,
on the cross, the entire question of their sins ; they
are seeking peace for their uneasy consciences in
regeneration and its evidences, the fruits of the
Spirit, frames, feelings, experiences, things quite
right and most valuable in themselves, but they are
CHAPTERS XXVIII. & XXIX. 319
not the ground of peace. What fills the soul with
perfect peace is the knowledge of what God hath
wrought at the brazen altar. The ashes in yonder
pan tell me the peace-giving story that ALL IS
DONE. The believer's sins were all put away by
God's own hand of redeeming love. u He hath
made Christ to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in
Him." (2 Cor. v.) All sin must be judged: but
the believer's sins have been already judged in the
cross; hence, he is perfectly justified. To suppose
that there could be any thing against the very
feeblest believer, is to deny the entire work of the
cross. His sins and iniquities have been all put
away by God Himself, and therefore they must
needs be perfectly put away. They all went with
the outpoured life of the Lamb of God.
Dear Christian reader, see that 3-0111- heart is
thoroughly established in the peace which Jesus has
made "by the blood of His cross."
CHAPTERS XXVIII. & XXIX.
THESE chapters unfold to us the priesthood, in
all its value and efficacy. They are full of
deep interest. The very word "priesthood" awak-
ens in the heart feelings of the most profound
thankfulness for the ^race which has not only pro-
vided a way for us to get into the divine presence,
but also the means of keeping us there, according
320 EXODUS.
to the character and claims of that high and hoi}'
position.
The Aaronic priesthood was God's provision for a
people who were, in themselves, at a distance, and
needed one to appear for them in His presence
continually. We are taught in Hebrews vii. that
this order of priesthood belonged to the law that
it was made c ' after the law of a carnal command-
ment" that it "could not continue by reason of
death" that the priests belonging to it had infirm-
ity. It could not, therefore, impart perfection, and
hence we have to bless God that it was instituted
"without an oath." The oath of God could only
stand connected with that which was to endure
forever, even the perfect, immortal, untransferable
priesthood of our great and glorious Melchisedek,
who imparts both to His sacrifice and His priest-
hood all the value, the dignity, and the glory of His
own peerless Person. The thought of having such a
Sacrifice and such a Priest as He causes the bosom
to heave with emotions of the liveliest gratitude.
But we must proceed to the examination of the
chapters which lie before us.
In chapter xxviii. we have the robes, and in
chapter xxix. we have the sacrifices. The former
have more especial reference to the need of the
people ; the latter, on the other hand, to the claims
of God. The robes express the varied functions and
qualities of the priestly office. u The ephod" was
the great priestly robe. It was inseparably con-
nected with the shoulder-pieces and the breastplate,
CHAPTP:RS xxvin. & xxix. 321
teaching us, very distinctly, that the strength of the
priest's shoulder, and the affection of the priest's
heart, were wholly devoted to the interests of those
whom he represented, and on whose behalf he wore
the ephod that special priestly robe. This, which
was typified in Aaron, is actualized in Christ. His
omnipotent strength and infinite love are ours
ours eternally ours unquestionably. The shoulder
which sustains the universe upholds the feeblest and
most obscure member of the blood-bought congre-
gation. The heart of Jesus beats with an undying
affection with an everlasting and an all-enduring
love for the most neglected member of the redeemed
assembly.
The names of the twelve tribes, engraven on pre-
cious stones, were borne both on the shoulders and
on the breast of the high-priest. (See verses 9-12,
15-29.) The peculiar excellence of a precious
stone is seen in this, that the more intense the light
which is brought to bear upon it, the more brightly
it shines. Light can never make a precious stone
look dim ; it only increases and develops its lustre.
The twelve tribes one as well as another, the
smallest as well as the greatest were borne contin-
ually upon the breast and shoulders of Aaron before
the Lord. They were each and every one main-
tained in the divine presence in all that undimmed
lustre and unalterable beauty which belonged to the
position in which the perfect grace of the God of
Israel had set them. The people were represented
before God by the high-priest. Whatever might be
322 EXODUS.
their infirmities, their errors, or their failures, yet
their names glittered on the breastplate with unfad-
ing brilliancy. Jehovah had set them there, and
who could pluck them thence ? Jehovah had put
them thus, and who could put them otherwise ?
Who could penetrate into the holy place to snatch
from Aaron's breast the name of one of Israel's
tribes ? Who could sully the lustre which gathered
round those names, in the position which Jehovah
had placed them ? Not one. They lay beyond
the reach of every enemy beyond the influence of
every evil.
How encouraging and consolatory it is for the
tried, tempted, buffeted, and self-abased children of
God to remember that God only sees them on the
heart of Jesus ! In His view, they ever shine in all
the effulgence of Christ they are arrayed in divine
comeliness. The world cannot see them thus ; but
God does, and this makes all the difference. Men,
in looking at the people of God, see only their blots
and blemishes. They have no ability whatever to
see further, and as a consequence, their judgment
is always wrong always one-sided. They cannot
see the sparkling jewels, bearing the names of God's
redeemed, engraven by the hand of changeless love.
True it is that Christians should be most careful not
to furnish the men of the world with any just occa-
sion to speak reproachfully. They should seek, "by
patient continuance in well-doing, to put to silence
the ignorance of foolish men." If only they en-
tered, by the power of the Holy Ghost, into the
CHAPTERS XXVIII. & XXIX. 323
comeliness in which they ever shine, in God's vision,
it would assuredly lead to a walk of practical holi-
ness, moral purit}^ and elevation before the eyes of
men. The more clearly we enter, by faith, into
objective truth, or what is true of us in Christ, the
deeper, more experimental and practical will be the .
subjective work in us, and the more complete will
be the exhibition of the moral effect in our life and
character.
But, thank God, our judgment is not with men,
but with Himself; and He graciously shows us our
great Hi^h-Priest, u bearing our judgment on His
o *> o
heart before the Lord continually." This imparts
deep and settled peace a peace which nothing can
shake. We may have to confess and mourn over
our constant failures and short-comings, the eye
ma}f, at times, be so dimmed with the tears of a
genuine contrition as to be but little able to .catch
the lustre of the precious stones on which our names
are engraven, yet there they are all the while. God
sees them, and that is enough. He is glorified by
their brightness a brightness not of our attaining,
but of His imparting. We had naught save dark-
ness, dullness, and deformit} T . He has imparted
brightness, lustre, and beauty. To Him be all the
praise throughout the everlasting ages !
4i The girdle" is the well-known symbol of serv-
ice ; and Christ is the perfect Servant the Servant
of the divine counsels and affections, and of the
deep and manifold need of His people. With an
earnest spirit of devotedness, which nothing could
324 EXODUS.
damp, He girded Himself for His work ; and when
faith sees the Son of God thus girded, it judges, as-
suredly, that no occasion can be too great for Him.
We find, from the type before us, that all the virtues,
the dignities, and the glories of Christ, in His divine
and human nature, enter fully into His servant-
character. "The curious girdle of the ephod, which
is upon it, shall be of the same, according to the
work thereof; even of gold, of blue, and purple,
and scarlet, and fine twined linen." (Verse 8.) The
faith of this must meet every necessity of the soul,
and satisfy the most ardent longings of the heart.
We not only see Christ as the slain Victim at the
brazen altar, but also as the girded High-Priest over
the house of God. Well, therefore, may the inspired
apostle say, "Let us draw near," "Let us hold
fast," "Let its consider one another." (Heb. x.
19-24.)
"And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judg-
ment the Urim and the Thummim ["lights and
perfections"] ; and they shall be upon Aaron's
heart, when he goeth in before the Lord : and
Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of
Israel upon his heart before the Lord continually. ' '
We learn, from various passages of the Word, that
the "Urim" stood connected with the communica-
tion of the mind of God in reference to the various
questions which arose in the details of Israel's
history. Thus, for example, in the appointment of
Joshua, we read, "And he shall stand before Elea-
zar the priest, who shall ask counsel for him, after
CHAPTERS XXVIII. & XXIX. 325
the judgment of Urim before the Lord." (Numb,
xxvii. 21.) " And of Levi he said, 'Let thy Thum-
mim and thy Urim [thy perfections and thy lights]
be with thy holy one They shall teach
Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law.' " (Deut.
xxxiii. 8-10.) "And when Saul inquired of the
Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams,
nor by Urim, nor by prophets." (1 Sam. xxviii. 6.)
"And Tirshatha said unto them that they should
not eat of the most holy things till there stood up <ti
priest with Urim and with Thummim." (Ezra ii. G3. )
Thus we learn that the high-priest not only bore the
judgment of the congregation before the Lord, but
also communicated the judgment of the Lord to the
congregation. Solemn, weighty, and most precious
functions ! All this we have, in divine perfectness,
in our "great High-Priest, who has passed into the
heavens." He bears the judgment of His people
on His heart continually ; and He, by the Holy
Ghost, communicates to us the counsel of God, in
reference to the most minute circumstances of our
daily course. We do not want dreams or visions ;
if only we walk in the Spirit, we -shall enjoy all the
certainty which the perfect "Urim," on the breast
of our High-Priest, can afford.
"And thou shalt make the robe of the ephod all
of blue And beneath, upon the hem of
it, thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of
purple, and of scarlet, round about the hem thereof;
and bells of gold between them round about: a
golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and
22
326 EXODUS.
a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe round
about. And it shall be upon Aaron to minister ;
and his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto
the holy place before the Lord, and when he eometh
out, that he die not." (Ver. 31-35.) The blue robe
of the ephod is expressive of the entirely heavenly
character of our High-Priest. He is gone into
heaven, He is beyond the range of mortal vision ;
but, by the power of the Holy Ghost, there is divine
testimony to the truth of His being alive, in the
presence of God ; and not only testimony, but fruit
likewise. U A golden bell and a pomegranate, a
golden bell and a pomegranate," such is the beau-
teous order. True testimony to the great truth that
Jesus ever liveth to make intercession for us will
be inseparably connected with fruitfulness in His
service. O, for a deeper understanding of these
precious and holy mysteries ! *
u And tliou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and
grave upon it, like the engravings of a signet,
HOLINESS TO THE LORD. And thou shall put
it on a bine lace, that it may be upon the mitre,
upon the forefront of the mitre it shall be. And it
shall be upon Aaron's forehead, that Aaron may
bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the
children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts ;
and it shall be always upon Ms forehead, that they
*It is needless to remark that there is divine appropriateness,
as well as eigniflcancy, in all the figures presented to us in the
Word. Thus, the "pomegranate," when opened, is found to con-
sist of a number of seeds, contained in a red fluid. Surely this
has a voice. Let spirituality, not imagination, judge.
CHAPTERS XXVIII. & XXIX. 327
may be accepted before the Lord." (Yer. 36-38.)
Here is a weighty truth for the soul. The golden
plate on Aaron's forehead was the type of the
essential holiness of the Lord Jesus Christ. "It
shall be ALWAYS upon HIS forehead, that THEY
may be accepted before the Lord." What rest for
the heart amid all the fluctuations of one's experi-
ence ! Our High-Priest is "always" in the presence
of God for us. We are represented by, and accepted
in, Him. His holiness is ours. The more deeply
we become acquainted with our own personal vile-
ness and infirmity, the more we enter into the
humiliating truth that in us dwelleth no good thing,
the more fervently shall we bless the God of all
grace for the soul-sustaining truth contained in
these words, "It shall be always upon Ms forehead,
that they may be accepted before the Lord."
If my reader should happen to be one who is
frequently tempted and harassed with doubts and
fears, tips and downs in his spiritual condition, with
a constant tendency to look inward upon his poor,
cold, wandering, wayward heart, if he be tried
with an excessive vagueness and want of holy re-
ality, oh, let him stay his whole soul upon the pre-
cious truth that this great High-Priest represents
him before the throne of God. Let him fix his eye
upon the golden plate, and read in the inscription
thereon the measure of his eternal acceptance with
God. May the Holy Ghost enable him to taste the
peculiar sweetness and sustaining power of this
divine and heavenly doctrine.
328 EXODUS.
"And for Aaron's sons thou slialt make coats,
and thou shalt make for them girdles, and bonnets
shalt thou make for them, for glory and for beauty.
. . . . And thou shalt make them linen breeches
to cover their nakedness ; . . . . and they shall
be upon Aaron, and upon his sons, when they come
in unto the tabernacle of the congregation, or when
they come near unto the altar to minister in the
holy place ; that they bear not iniquity and die."
Here we have Aaron and his sons, typifying Christ
and the Church, standing in the power of one divine
and everlasting righteousness. Aaron's priestly
robes express those inherent, essential, personal,
and eternal qualities in Christ; while the "coats"
and "bonnets" of Aaron's sons represent those
graces with which the Church is endowed, in virtue
of its association with the great Head of the
priestly family.
Thus, in all that has passed before us in this
chapter, we may see with what gracious care Jeho-
vah made provision for the need of His people, in
that He allowed them to see the one who was about
to act on their behalf, and to represent them in His
presence, clothed with all those robes which directly
met their actual condition, as known to Him. No-
thing was left out which the heart could possibly
need or desire. They might survey him from head
to foot and see that all was complete. From the
holy mitre that wreathed his brow, to the bells and
pomegranates on the hem of his garment, all was as
it should be, because all w.as according to the pat-
CHAPTERS XXVIII. & XXIX. 329
tern shown in the mount all was according to
Jehovah's estimate of the people's need and of
His own requirements.
But there is yet one point connected with Aaron's
robes which demands the reader's special attention,
and that is the mode in which the gold was intro-
duced in the making of them. This is presented
to us in chapter xxxix, but the interpretation comes
in suitably enough in this place. "And they did
beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires,
to work it in the blue, and in the purple, and in the
scarlet, and in the line linen, with cunning work."
(Ver. 3.) We have already remarked that "the
blue, the purple, the scarlet, and fine twined linen"
exhibit the various phases of Christ's manhood, and
the gold represents his divine nature. The wire of
gold was curiously insinuated into all the other
materials, so as to be inseparably connected with,
and yet perfectly distinct from, them.
The application of this striking figure to the
character of the Lord Jesus is full of interest. In
various scenes throughout the gospel narrative, we
can easily discern this rare and beauteous union of
manhood and Godhead, and, at the same time,
their mysterious distinctness.
Look, for example, at Christ on the sea of Gali-
lee. In the midst of the storm "He was asleep on
a pillow" (precious exhibition of His perfect man-
hood ! ) ; but in a moment He rises from the attitude
of real humanity into all the dignity and majesty
of Godhead, and, as the supreme Governor of the
330 EXODUS.
universe, He hushes the storm and calms the sea.
There is no effort, no haste, no girding Himself up
for an occasion. With perfect ease, He rises from
the condition of positive humanity into the sphere
of essential deity. The repose of the former is not
more natural than the activity of the latter. He is
as perfectly at home in the one as in the other.
Again, see Him in the case of the collectors of
tribute, at the close of Matthew xvii. As the "Most
High God, possessor of heaven and earth," He lays
His hand upon the treasures of the ocean, and says,
- "They are Mine ; " and, having declared that "the
sea is His, and He made It," He turns round and,
in the exhibition of perfect humanity, He links
Himself with His poor servant by those touching
words, "That take, and give unto them for Me and
thee." Gracious words ! peculiarly gracious, when
taken in connection with the miracle so entirely
expressive of the Godhead of the One who was thus
linking Himself, in infinite condescension, with a
poor, feeble worm.
Once more, see Him at the grave of Lazarus.
(John xi.) He groans and weeps, and those groans
and tears issue from the profound depths of a per-
fect manhood from that perfect human heart which
felt, as no other heart could feel, what it was to
stand in the midst of a scene in which sin had pro-
duced such terrible fruits. But then, as the Resur-
rection and the Life, as the One who held in His
omnipotent grasp "the keys of hell and of death,"
He cries, "Lazarus, come forth!" and death and
CHAPTERS XXVIII. & XXIX. 331
the grave, responsive to His authoritative voice, throw
open their massy doors and let go their captive.
My reader's mind will easily recur to other scenes,
in the gospels, illustrative of the beautiful combina-
tion of the wire of gold with "the blue, the purple,
the scarlet, and the fine-twined linen;" that is to
say, the union of the Godhead with the manhood,
in the mysterious Person of the Son of God There
is nothing new in the thought ; it has often been
noticed by those who have studied, with any amount
of care, the Scriptures of the Old Testament.
It is, however, always edifying to, have the blessed
Lord Jesus introduced to our thoughts as "very
God and very man." The Holy Ghost has, with
"cunning workmanship," wrought the two together
and presented them to the renewed mind of the
believer to be enjoyed and admired. May we have
hearts to appreciate such teaching !
Let us now, ere we close this section, look for a
moment at chapter xxix.
It has been already remarked that Aaron and his
sons represent Christ and the Church, but in the
opening verses of this chapter Aaron gets the pre-
cedency. "And Aaron and his sons thoti shalt
bring unto the door of the tabernacle of the congre-
gation, and shalt wash them with water." The
washing of water rendered Aaron t} T pically what
Christ is intrinsically holy. The Church is holy in
virtue of her being linked with Christ in resurrection
life. He is the perfect definition of what she is
before God. The ceremonial act of washing with
332 EXODUS.
water expresses the action of the Word of God.
(SeeEph. v. 26.)
"Then shalt thou take the anointing oil, and
pour it upon his head, and anoint him." (Ver. 7.)
Here we have the Spirit ; but let it be noted that
Aaron was anointed before the blood was shed, be-
cause he stands before us as the type of Christ, who,
in virtue of what He was in His own Person, was
anointed with the- Holy Ghost, long before the work
of the cross was accomplished. The sons of Aaron,
on the other hand, were not anointed until after the
blood was shed. "Then shalt thou kill the ram,
and take of his blood, and put it upon the tip of
the right ear of Aaron, and upon the tip of the right
ear of his sons, and upon the thumb of their right
hand, and upon the great toe of their right foot, and
sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about.*
And thou shalt take of the blood that is upon the
altar, and of the anointing o*7, and sprinkle it upon
Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons,
and upon the garments of his sons with him." (Ver.
20, 21.) As regards the Church, the blood of the
cross lies at the foundation of every thing. She
could not be anointed with the Holy Ghost until
her risen Head had gone into heaven, and laid upon
the throne of the divine Majesty the record of His
accomplished sacrifice. 4 4 This Jesus hath God raised
up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being
* The ear, the hand, and the foot, are all consecrated to God in
the power of accomplished atonement, and by the energy of the
Holy Ghost.
CHAPTERS XXVIII, & XXIX. 333
by the right hand of God exalted, and having re-
ceived of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost,
He hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear."
(Acts ii. 32, 33. Comp. also John vii. 39 ; Acts xix.
1-6.) From the days of Abel downward, souls
had been regenerated, influenced, 'acted upon, and
qualified for office by the Holy Ghost; but the
Church could not be anointed with the Holy Ghost
until her victorious Lord had entered heaven and
received, on her behalf, the promise of the Father.
The truth of this doctrine is taught, in the most
direct and absolute manner, throughout the New
Testament; and its strict integrity is maintained,
in the type before us, by the obvious fact that
though Aaron was anointed before the blood was
shed (ver. 7.), } T et his sons were not, and could not
be, anointed till after (ver. 21.).
But we learn more from the order of anointing
in our chapter than the important truth with respect
to the work of the Spirit and the position of the
Church ; we have also set before us the personal
pre-eminence of the Son. "Thou hast loved right-
eousness, and hated iniquity ; therefore God, even
Tlry God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of glad-
ness above Thy fellows." (Ps. xlv. 7; Heb. i. 9.)
This must ever be held fast in the convictions and
experience of the people of God. True, the infi-
nite grace of God is set forth in the marvelous fact
that guilty, hell-deserving sinners should ever be
spoken of in such terms should ever be styled the
'''"fellows" of the Son of God; but let us never for
334 EXODUS.
a moment forget the word "above." No matter
how close the union (and it is as close as God's
eternal counsels of redeeming love could make it),
yet " in all things" Christ must "have the pre-emi-
nence." It could not be otherwise. He is Head
over all, Head 'of the Church, Head of creation,
Head of angels, Lord of the universe. There is
not a single orb that rolls alon^ the heavens that
~ . 3
does not belong to Him, and move under His con-
trol ; there is not a single worm that crawls along
the earth which is not under His sleepless eye. He
is "high over all," "the first-begotten from the
dead," and "of all creation," "the beginning of
the creation of God." "Every family in heaven
and earth" must range itself, in the divine cate-
gory, under Christ. All this will ever be thankfully
owned by every spiritual mind ; yea, the very enun-
ciation of it sends a thrill through the Christian's
heart. All who are led of the Spirit will rejoice in
every unfolding of the personal glories of the Son ;
nor can they tolerate, for a single instant, any thing
derogatory thereto. Let the Church be raised to
the loftiest heights of glory, it will be her joy to
bow at the feet of Him who stooped to raise her, by
virtue of His completed sacrifice, into union with
Himself; who, having satisfied, in the fullest wa} T ,
all the claims of divine justice, can gratify all the
divine affections by making her inseparably one with
Himself, in all His infinite acceptableness with the
Father, and in His eternal glory. "He is not
ashamed to call them brethren."
CHAPTER XXX. 335
NOTE. I purposely forbear entering upon the subject of the
offerings in chapter xxix, inasmuch as we shall have the various
classes of offerings, in all their minute detail, fully before us in.
the beok of Leviticus, if the Lord will.
CHAPTER XXX.
THE priesthood being instituted, as in the two
preceding chapters, we are here introduced to
the position of true priestly worship and commun-
ion. The order is marked and instructive, and,
moreover, precisely corresponds with the order of
the believer's experience. At the brazen altar, he
sees the ashes of his sins ; he then sees himself
linked with One who, though personally pure and
spotless, so that He could be anointed without
blood, has, nevertheless, associated us with Him-
self in life, righteousness, and favor ; and, finally,
he beholds, in the golden altar, the preciousness
of Christ, as the material on which the divine affec-
tions feed.
Thus it is ever ; there must be a brazen altar and
a priest before there can be a golden altar and in-
cense. Very many of the children of God have
never passed the brazen altar ; they have never yet,
in spirit, entered into the power and reality of true
priestly worship. They do not rejoice in a full, clear,
divine sense of pardon and righteousness, they
have never reached the golden altar. They hope to
reach it when they die ; but it is their privilege to
be at it now. The work of the cross has removed
336 EXODUS.
out of the way every thing which would act as a
barrier to their free and intelligent worship. The
present position of all true believers is at the golden
altar of incense.
This altar typifies a position of wondrous blessed-
ness. There we enjoy the reality and efficacy of
Christ's intercession. Forever done with self and
all pertaining thereto, so far as any expectation of
good is concerned, we are to be occupied with what
He is before God. We shall find nothing in self
but defilement. Every exhibition of it is defiling ;
it has been condemned and set aside in the judg-
ment of God, and not a shred or particle thereof is
to be found in the pure incense and pure fire, on the
altar of pure gold : it could not be. We have been
introduced, "by the blood of Jesus," into the sanc-
tuary a sanctuary of priestly service and worship,
in which there is not so much as a trace of sin.
We see the pure table, the pure candlestick, and
the pure altar ; but there is nothing to remind us of
self and its wretchedness. Were it possible for
aught of that to meet our view, it could but prove
the death- knell of our worship, mar our priestly
food, and dim our light. Nature can have no place
in the sanctuary of God. It, together with all its
belongings, has been consumed to ashes ; and we
are now to have before our souls the fragrant odor
of Christ, ascending in grateful incense to God:
this is what God delights in. Every thing that pre-
sents Christ in His own proper excellence is sweet
and acceptable to God. Even the feeblest expres-
CHAPTER XXX. 337
sion or exhibition of Him, in the life or worship of
a saint, is an odor of a sweet smell in which God is
well pleased.
Too often, alas ! we have to be occupied with our
failures and infirmities. If ever the workings of in-
dwelling sin be suffered to rise to the surface, we
must deal with our God about them, for He cannot
go on with sin. He can forgive it, and cleanse us
from it ; He can restore our souls by the gracious
ministry of our great High-Priest ; but He cannot
go on in company with a single sinful thought. A
light or foolish thought, as well as an unclean or
covetous one, is amply sufficient to mar a Christian's
communion, and interrupt his worship. Should any
such thought spring up, it must be judged and con-
fessed, ere the elevated joys of the sanctuary can be
known afresh. A heart in which lust is working is
not enjoying the proper occupations of the sanctu-
aiy. When we are in our proper priestly condition,
nature is as though it had no existence ; then we
can feed upon Christ : we can taste the divine lux-
ury of being wholly at leisure from ourselves, and
wholly engrossed with Christ.
All this can only be produced by the power of
the Spirit. There is no need of seeking to work up
nature's devotional feelings, by the various appli-
ances of systematic religion ; there must be pure
fire as well as pure incense. (Comp. Lev. x. 1, with
xvi. 12.) All' efforts at worshiping God by the un-
hallowed powers of nature come under the head of
" strange fire." God is the object of worship;
338 EXODUS.
Christ the ground and the material of worship ;
the Holy Ghost the power of worship.
Properly speaking, then, as in the brazen altar
we have Christ in the value of His sacrifice, so in
the golden altar we have Christ in the value of His
intercession. This will furnish my reader with a
still clearer sense of the reason 'why the priestly
office is introduced between the two altars. There
is, as might be expected, an intimate connection
between the two, for Christ's intercession is founded
upon His sacrifice. "And Aaron shall make an
atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with
the blood of the sin-offering of atonements: once
in the year shall he make atonement upon it through-
out your generations: it is most holy unto the
Lord." AH rests upon the immovable foundation
of SHED BLOOD. "Almost all things are by the
law purged with blood ; and without shedding of
blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary
that the patterns of things in the heavens should be
purified with these ; but the heavenly things them-
selves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ
is not entered into the holy places made w T ith hands,
which are the figures of the true ; but into heaven
itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us."
(Heb. ix. 22-24.)
From verse 11-16 we have the atonement money
for the congregation. All were to pay alike.
"The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall
not give less, than half a shekel, when they give
an offering unto the Lord, to make an atonement
CHAPTER XXX. 33 i)
for your souls." In the matter of atonement, all
must stand on one common platform. There may
be a vast difference in knowledge, in experience,
in capacity, in attainment, in zeal, in devotedness,
but the ground of atonement is alike to all. The
great apostle of the Gentiles and the feeblest lamb
in all the flock of Christ stand on the same level as
regards atonement. This is a very simple and a
very blessed truth. All may not be alike devoted
and fruitful; but "the precious blood of Christ,"
and not devotedness or fruitfulness, is the solid
and everlasting ground of the believer's rest. The
more we enter into the truth and power of this, the
more fruitful shall we be.
In the last chapter of Leviticus we find another
kind of valuation. When any one made " a singular
vow," Moses valued him according to his age. In
other words, when any one ventured to assume the
ground of capacity, Moses, as the representative of
the claims of God, estimated him u after the shekel
of the sanctuary. ' ' If he were ' c poorer ' ' than Moses*
estimation, then he was to "present himself before
the priest," the representative of the grace of God,
who was to value him "according to his ability that
vowed."
Blessed be God, we know that all His claims have
been answered, and all our vows discharged, by One
who was at once the Representative of His claims
and the Exponent of His grace, who finished the
work of atonement upon the cross, and is now at
the right hand of God. Here is sweet rest for the
340 EXODUS.
heart and conscience. Atonement is the first thing
to get hold of, and we shall never lose sight of it.
Let our range of intelligence be ever so wide, our
fund of experience ever so rich, our tone of devo-
tion ever so elevated, we shall always have to fall
back upon the one simple, divine, unalterable, soul-
sustaining doctrine of THE BLOOD. Thus it
has ever been in the history of God's people, thus
it is, and thus it ever will be. The most deeply-
taught and gifted servants of Christ have always
rejoiced to come back to "that one well-spring of
delight," at which their thirsty spirits drank when
first they knew the Lord ; and the eternal song of
the Church in glory will be, "Unto Him that loved
us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood."
The courts of heaven will ever resound with the
glorious doctrine of the blood.
From verse 17-21 we are presented with "the
brazen laver and its foot" the vessel of washing
and the basis thereof. These two are always pre-
sented together. (See chap. xxx. 28 ; xxxviii. 8 ; xl.
11.) In this laver the priests washed their hands
and feet, and thus maintained that purity which
was essential to the proper discharge of their
priestly functions It was not, by any means, a
question of a fresh presentation of blood ; but sim-
ply that action by which they were preserved
in fitness for priestly service and worship. "When
they go into the tabernacle of the congregation,
they shall wash with water, that they die not ; or
when they come near to the altar to minister, to
CHAPTER XXX. 341
burn offering made by fire unto the Lord : so they
shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die
not."
There can be no true communion with God, save
as personal holiness is diligently maintained. "If
we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk
in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth." (1 John
i. 6.) This personal holiness can only flow from
the action of the Word of God on our works and
ways. "By the words of Thy lips I have kept me
from the paths of the destroyer." Our constant
failure in priestly ministry may be accounted for by
our neglecting the due use of the laver. If our
ways are not submitted to the purgative action of
the Word if we continue in the pursuit or practice
of that which, according to the testimony of our
own consciences, the Word distinctly condemns,
the energy of our priestly character will assuredly
be lacking. Deliberate continuance in evil and true
priestly worship are wholly incompatible. ' c Sanctify
them through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. ' ' If we
have any uncleanness upon us, we cannot enjoy the
presence of God. The effect of His presence would
then be to convict us by its holy light. But when
we are enabled, through grace, to cleanse our wa}-,
by taking heed thereto according to God's Word,
we are then morally capacitated for the enjoyment
of His presence.
My reader will at once perceive what a vast field
of practical truth is here laid open to him, and also
how largely the doctrine of the brazen laver is
23
342 EXODUS.
brought out in the New Testament. Oh that all
those who are privileged to tread the courts of the
sanctuary, in priestly robes, and to approach the
altar of God, in priestly worship, may keep their
hands and feet clean by the use of the true laver.
It may be interesting to note that the laver, with
its foot, was made "of the looking-glasses of the
women assembling, which assembled at the door of
the tabernacle of the congregation." (See chap,
xsxviii. 8. ) This fact is full of meaning. We are
ever prone to be " like a man beholding his natural
face in a glass ; for he beholdeth himself and goeth
away, and straightway forgetteth what manner of
man he was." Nature's looking-glass can never
furnish a clear and permanent view of our true con-
dition. "But whoso looketh into the perfect law
of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a
forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man
shall be blessed in his deed." ( James i. 23-25.)
The man who has constant recourse to the Word of
God, and who allows that Word to tell upon his
heart and conscience, will be maintained in the holy
activities of the divine life.
Intimately connected with the searching and
cleansing action of the Word is the efficacy of the
priestly ministry of Christ. "For the Word of God
is quick and powerful p.e., living and energetic],
and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing
even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and
of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the
thoughts and intents of the heart ; neither is there
CHAPTER XXX. 343
any creature that is not manifest in His sight ; but
all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of
Him with whom we have to do." Then the inspired
apostle immediately adds, "Seeing then that we
have a great High-Priest, that is passed into the
heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our
profession. For we have not a high-priest which
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities ;
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet
without sin.* Let us therefore come boldly unto the
throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find
grace to help in time of need." (Heb. iv. 12-16,)
The more keenly we feel the edge of the Word,
the more we shall prize the merciful and gracious
ministry of our High-Priest. The two things go
together. They are the inseparable companions of
the Christian's path. Hence, it is only as I am
making use of the laver that I can approach the
altar. Worship must ever be presented in the
power of holiness. We must lose sight of nature,
as reflected in a looking-glass, and be wholly occu-
pied with Christ, as presented in the Word. In this
way only shall the "hands and feet" the works
and ways be cleansed, according to the purification
of the sanctuary.
From verse 22-33 we have the "holy anointing
oil," with which the priests, together with all the
furniture of the tabernacle, were anointed. In
* Literally, "sin excepted" (x&)pi$ d/mapTia^; i.e., He was
tempted tested and tried in every way from without, sin ex-
cepted, for sin was not in Him.
344 EXODUS.
this we discern a type of the varied graces of the
Holy Ghost, which were found, in all their divine
fullness, in Christ. "All thy garments smell of
myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory
palaces, whereby they have made thee glad." (Ps.
xlv. 8.) "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with
the Holy Ghost and with power." (Acts x. 38.)
All the graces of the Spirit, in their perfect fra-
grance, centred in Christ ; and it is from Him
alone they can flow. He, as to His humanity,
was conceived of the Holy Ghost; and, ere He
entered upon His public ministry, He was anointed
with the Holy Ghost; and finally, when He had
taken His seat on high, in token of an accomplished
redemption, He shed forth upon His body, the
Church, the precious gifts of the Holy Ghost. (See
Matt. i. 20; iii. 16, 17; Luke iv. 18, 19; Acts ii.
33 ; x. 45, 46 ; Eph. iv. 8-13.)
It is as those who are associated with this ever-
blessed and highly- exalted Christ that believers are
partakers of the gifts and graces of the Holy Ghost ;
and, moreover, it is as they walk in habitual near-
ness to Him that they either enjoy or emit the
fragrance thereof. The unrenewed man knows no-
thing of this. "Upon man's flesh it shall not be
poured." The graces of the Spirit can never be
connected with man's flesh, for the Holy Ghost can-
not own nature. Not one of the fruits of the Spirit
was ever yet produced "in nature's barren soil."
We "must be born again." It is only as connected
with the new man, as being part of "the new
CHAPTER XXX. 345
creation," that we can know any thing of the fruits
of the Holy Ghost. It is of no possible value to
seek to imitate those fruits and graces. The fairest
fruits that ever grew in nature's fields, in their high-
est state of cultivation the most amiable traits
which nature can exhibit must be utterly disowned
in the sanctuary of God. "Upon man's flesh shall
it not be poured ; neither shall ye make any other
like it, after the composition of it : it is holy, and
it shall be holy unto you. Whosoever compoundeth
any like it, or whosoever putteth any of it upon a
stranger, shall even be cut off from his people."
There must be no counterfeit of the Spirit's work ;
all must be of the Spirit wholly, really of the Spirit.
Moreover, that which is of the Spirit must not be
attributed to man. "The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God ; for they are fool-
ishness unto him: neither can he know them, be-
cause they are spiritually discerned." (1 Cor. ii. 14.)
There is a very beautiful allusion to this c ' holy
anointing oil" in one of the "songs of degrees."
"Behold," sa} T s the Psalmist, "how good and how
pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity !
It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that
ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard ; that
went down to the skirts of his garments." (Psalms
cxxxiii. 1, 2.) The head of the priestly house being
anointed with the holy oil, the very "skirts of his
garments" must exhibit the precious effects. May
my reader experience the power of this anointing !
May he know the value of having "an unction from
346 EXODUS.
the Holy One," arid of being " sealed with that
Holy Spirit of promise " ! Nothing is of any value
in the divine estimation save that which connects
itself immediately with Christ, and whatever is so
connected can receive the holy anointing.
In the concluding paragraph of this most com-
prehensive chapter, we have the "sweet spices
tempered together, pure and holy." This surpass-
ingly precious perfume presents to us the unmeas-
ured and immeasurable perfections of Christ. There
was no special quantity of each ingredient prescribed,
because the graces that dwell in Christ, the beauties
and excellencies that are concentrated in His ador-
able Person, are without limit. Naught save the
infinite mind of Deity could scan the infinite per-
fections of Him in whom all the fullness of Deity
dwelleth ; and as eternity rolls along its course of
everlasting ages, those glorious perfections will ever
be unfolding themselves in the view of worshiping
saints and angels. Ever and anon, as some fresh
beams of light shall burst forth from that central
Sun of divine glory, the courts of heaven above,
and the wide fields of creation beneath, shall resound
with thrilling Alleluiahs to Him who was, who is,
and who ever shall be the object of praise to all
the ranks of created intelligence.
But not only was there no prescribed quantity of
the ingredients ; we also read, "Of each there shall
be a like weight." Every feature of moral excel-
lence found its due place and proper proportions in
Christ. No one quality ever displaced or interfered
CHAPTER XXX. 347
with another ; all was "tempered together, pure and
holy," and emitted an odor so fragrant that none
but God could appreciate it.
"And thou shalt beat some of it very small, and
put of it before the testimony in the tabernacle of the
congregation, where I will meet with thee: it shall
be unto you most holy." There is uncommon depth
and power in the expression "very small." It
teaches us that every little movement in the life of
Christ, every minute circumstance, every act, every
word, every look, every feature, every trait, every
lineament, emits an odor produced by an equal pro-
portion "a like weight" of all the divine graces
that compose His character. The smaller the per-
fume was beaten, the more its rare and exquisite
temper was manifested.
"And as for the perfume which thou shalt make,
ye shall not make to yourselves according to the
composition thereof; it shall be unto thee holy for
the Lord. Whosoever shall make like unto that, to
smell thereto, shall even be cut off from his people."
This fragrant perfume was designed exclusively for
Jehovah. Its place was "before the testimony."
There is that in Jesus which only God could appre-
ciate. True, every believing heart can draw nigh
to His matchless Person, and more than satisfy its
deepest and most intense longings ; still, after all
God's redeemed have drunk to the utmost of their
capacity, after angels have gazed on the peerless
glories of the Man Christ Jesus as earnestly as
their vision is capable of, after all, there will be
348 EXODUS.
that in Him which God alone can fathom and enjoy.
No human or angelic eye could duly trace the ex-
quisitely minute parts of that holy perfume "beaten
very small," nor could earth afford a proper sphere
in which to emit its divine and heavenly odor.
Thus, then, we have, in our rapid sketch, reached
the close of a clearly marked division of our book.
We began at " the ark of the covenant," and trav-
eled out to "the altar of brass ; " we returned from
"the altar of brass," and have come to the "holy
perfume ; " and, oh, what a journey is this, if only
it be traveled, not in company with the false and
flickering light of human imagination, but by the
infallible lamp of the Holy Ghost ! What a journey,
if only it be traveled, not amid the shadows of a "
by-gone dispensation, but amid the personal glories
and powerful attractions of the Son which are there
portrayed ! If my reader has so traveled it, he will
find his affections more drawn to Christ than ever ;
he will have a loftier conception of His glory, His
beauty, His preciousness, His excellency, His ability
to heal a wounded conscience and satisfy a longing
heart ; he will have his eyes more thoroughly closed
to all earth's attractions, and his ears closed to all
earth's pretensions and promises ; in one word, he
will be prepared to utter a deeper and more fervent
Amen to the words of the inspired apostle when he
says, "IF ANY MAN LOVE NOT THE LORD
JESUS CHRIST, LET HIM BE ANATHEMA
MARAN-ATHA."* (1 Cor. xvi. 22.)
*It is interesting to note the position of this most solemn and
CHAPTER XXXI.
rilHE opening of this brief chapter records the
JL divine call and the divine qualification of
"Bezaleel and Aholiab" to do the work of the
tabernacle of the congregation. "And the Lord
spake unto Moses, saying, 'See, / have called by
name Bezalcel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of
the tribe of Judah ; and I have filled him with the
spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding,
and in knowledge, and in all manner of workman-
ship .... Audi, behold, I have given with him
Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan ;
and in the hearts of all that are wise-hearted I have
put wisdom, that they may make all that / have
commanded.'' 1 Whether for "the work of the tab-
ernacle" of old, or "the work of the ministry"
now, there should be the divine selection, the divine
call, the divine qualification, the divine appoint-
startling denunciation. It occurs at the close of a long epistle in
the progress of which the apostle had to rebuke some of the gross-
est practical evils and doctrinal errors. How solemn, therefore,
how full of meaning the fact, that when he comes to pronounce
his anathema, it is not hurled at those w r ho had introduced those
errors and evils, but at the man who loves not the Lord Jesus
Christ ! Why is this ? Is it because the Spirit of God makes little
of errors and evils ? Surely not : the entire epistle unfolds His
thoughts as to these. But the truth is, when the heart is tilled
with love to the Lord Jesus Christ, there is an effectual safeguard
against all manner of false doctrine and evil practice. If a man
does not love Christ, there is no accounting for the notions he may
adopt, or the course he may pursue. Hence the form and the
position of the apostolic anathema.
350 EXODUS.
ment, and all must be done according to the divine
commandment. Man could not select, call, qualify,
or appoint to do the work of the tabernacle ; neither
can he to do the work of the ministry. Further-
more, no man could presume to appoint himself to
do the work of the tabernacle ; neither can he to do
the work of the ministry. It was, it is, it must be,
wholly and absolutely divine. Men may run as sent
of their fellow, or men may run of themselves ; but
let it be remembered that all who run without being
sent of God shall one day or other be covered with
shame and confusion of face. Such is the plain and
wholesome doctrine suggested by the words, "I
have called," "I have filled," "I have given," "I
have put," "I have commanded." The words of
the Baptist must ever hold good -" A man can re-
ceive nothing except it be given him from heaven."
(John iii. 27.) He can therefore have but little
room to boast of himself, and just as little to be
jealous of his fellow.
There is a profitable lesson to be learnt from a
comparison of this chapter with Genesis iv. "Tu-
bal-cain was an instructor of every artificer in brass
and iron." The descendants of Cain were endowed
with unhallowed skill to make a cursed and groan-
ing earth a delectable spot, without the presence of
God: u Bezaleel and Aholiab," on the contrary,
were endowed with divine skill to beautify a sanc-
tuary which was to.be hallowed and blessed by the
presence and glory of the God of Israel.
Reader, let me ask you just to pause and put this
CHAPTER XXXI. 351
solemn question to your conscience, Whether am
I devoting whatever of skill or energy I possess to
the interests of the Church which is God's dwelling-
place, or to beautify an ungodly, Christless world ?
Say not in thine heart, I am not divinely called or
divinely qualified for the work of the ministry.
Remember that though all Israel were not Bezaleels
or Aholiabs, yet all could serve the interests of the
sanctuary. There was an open door for all to com-
municate. Thus it is now. Each one has a place
to occupy, a ministry to fulfill, a responsibility to
discharge ; and you and I are at this moment either
promoting the interests of the house of God the
body of Christ the Church, or helping on the God-
less schemes of a world yet stained with the blood
of Christ and the blood of all His martyred saints.
Oh, let us deeply ponder this, as in the presence of
the great Searcher of hearts, whom none can de^
ceive to whom all are known.
Our chapter closes with a special reference to the
institution of the Sabbath. It was referred to in
chapter xvi, in connection with the manna ; it was
distinctly enjoined in chapter xx, when the people
were formally put under law ; and here we have it
again, in connection with the setting up of the tab-
ernacle. Whenever the nation of Israel is presented
in some special position, or recognized as a people
in special responsibility, then the Sabbath is intro-
duced. And let my reader carefully note both the
day and the mode in which it was to be observed,
and also the object for which it was instituted in
352 EXODUS.
Israel. u Ye shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for
it is holy unto }'ou: every one that defileth it shall
surely be put to death; for whosoever doeth any
work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among
his people. Six days may work be done ; but in
the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord :
whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, he
shall surely be put to death." This is as explicit and
absolute as any thing can be. It fixes "the seventh
day" and none other; and it positively forbids, on
pain of death, all manner of work. There can be
no avoiding the plain sense of this. And be it
remembered that there is not so much as a single
line of Scripture to prove that the Sabbath has been
changed, or the strict principles of its observance
in the smallest degree relaxed. If there be any
Scripture proof, let my reader look it out for his
own satisfaction.
Now, let us inquire if indeed professing Christians
do keep God's Sabbath on the day and after the
manner which He commanded. It were idle to lose
time in proving that they do not. Well, what are
the consequences of a single breach of the Sabbath?
"Cut off" "put to death."
But, it will be said, we "are not under law, but
under grace." Blessed be God for the sweet as-
surance ! Were we under law, there is not one
throughout the wide range of Christendom who
should not Ion & since have fallen beneath the stone
o
of judgment, even upon the one solitary point of the
Sabbath. But, if we are under grace, what is the
CHAPTER XXXI. 853
day which belongs to us ? Assuredly, ' ' the first day
of the week" "the Lord's day." This is the
Church's day the resurrection day of Jesus, who,
having spent the Sabbath in the tomb, rose triumph-
ant over all the powers of darkness ; thus leading '
His people out of the old .creation, and all that
pertains thereto, into the new creation, of which He
is the Head, and of which the first day of the week
is the apt expression.
This distinction is worthy of the serious attention
of the reader. Let him examine it prayerfully in
the light of Scripture. There may be nothing and
there may be a great deal in a mere name. In the
present instance, there is a great deal more involved
in the distinction between "the Sabbath" and "the
Lord's day" than many Christians seem to be aware
of. It is very evident that the first day of the week
gets a place in the Word of God which no other day
gets. No other- day is ever called by that majestic
and elevated title, "The Lord's da}'." Some, I am
aware, deny that Rev. i. 10 refers to the first day of
the week ; but I feel most fully assured that sound
criticism and sound exegesis do both warrant yea,
demand the application of that passage, not to the
day of Christ's advent in glory, but to the day of
His resurrection from the dead.
But, most assuredly, the Lord's day is never once
called the Sabbath. So far from this, the two days
are again and again spoken of in their proper dis-
tinctness. Hence, therefore, my reader will have to
keep clear of two extremes. In the first place, he
354 EXODUS.
will have to avoid the legalism which one finds so
much linked with the term " Sabbath ;" and, in the
second place, he will need to bear a very decided
testimony against every attempt to dishonor the
Lord's day, or lower it to the level of an ordinary
day. The believer is. delivered, most completely,
from the observance of "days, and months, and
times, and years." Association with a risen Christ
has taken him clean out of all such superstitious
observances. But, while this is most blessedly true,
we see that "the first day of the week" has a place
assigned to it in the New Testament which no other
has. Let the Christian give it that place. It is a
sweet and happy privilege, not a grievous yoke.
Space forbids my further entrance upon this in-
teresting subject. It has been gone into elsewhere,
as already intimated, in the earlier pages of this
volume. I shall close these remarks by pointing
out, in one or two particulars, the contrast between
"the Sabbath" and "the Lord's day."
1. The Sabbath was the seventh day; the Lord's
day is the first.
2. The Sabbath was a test of Israel's condition ;
the Lord's clay is the proof of the Church's accept-
ance, on wholly unconditional grounds.
3. The Sabbath belonged to the old creation ; the
Lord's clay belongs to the new.
4. The Sabbath was a day of bodily rest for the
Jew; the Lord's day is a day of spiritual rest for
the Christian.
5. If .the Jew worked on the Sabbath, he was to
CHAPTER XXXII. 355
be put to death : if the Christian does not work on
the Lord's day, he gives little proof of life; that is
to say, if he does not work for the benefit of the
souls of men, the extension of Christ's glory, and
the spread of His truth. In point of fact, the
devoted Christian who possesses any gift is gen- *
erally more fatigued on the evening of the Lord's
day than on any other in the week, for how can he
rest while souls are perishing around him ?
6. The Jew was commanded by the law to abide
in his tent ; the Christian is led by the spirit of the
gospel to go forth, whether it be to attend the public
assembly or to minister to the souls of perishing
sinners.
The Lord enable us, beloved reader, to rest more
artlessly in, and labor more vigorously /or, the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ ! We should rest in the
spirit of a child, and labor with the energy of a man.
CHAPTEK XXXII.
WE have now to contemplate something very
different from that which has hitherto en-
gaged our attention. "The patterns of things in
the heavens" has been before us Christ in His
glorious Person, gracious offices, and perfect work,
as set forth in the tabernacle and all its mystic fur-
niture. We have been, in spirit, on the mount,
hearkening to God's own words the sweet utter-
ances of Heaven's thoughts, affections, and counsels,
356 EXODUS.
of which Jesus is "the Alpha and Omega the be-
ginning and the ending the first and the last."
Now, however, we are called down to earth, to
behold the melancholy wreck which man makes of
every thing to which he puts his hand. "And when
the people saw that Moses delayed to come down
out of the mount, the people gathered themselves
together unto Aaron, and said unto him, 'Up, make
us gods, which shall go before us ; for as for this
Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land
of Eg} T pt, we wot not what is become of him.''
What degradation is here ! Make us gods ! They
were abandoning Jehovah, and placing themsehes
under the conduct of manufactured gods gods of
man's making. Dark clouds and heavy mists had
gathered round the mount. They grew weary of
waiting for the absent one, and of hanging on an
unseen but real arm. They imagined that a god
formed by ' 'graving tool" was better than Jehovah,
that a calf which they could see was better than the
invisible, yet every- where-present, God, a visible
counterfeit, than an invisible reality.
Alas ! alas ! it has ever been thus in man's his-
tory. The human heart loves something that can be
seen ; it loves that which meets and gratifies the
senses. It is only faith that can "endure as seeing
Him who is invisible." Hence, in every age, men
have been forward to set up and lean upon human
imitations of divine realities. Thus it is we see the
counterfeits of corrupt religion multiplied before
our eyes. Those things which we know, upon the
CHAPTER XXXII. 357
authority of God's Word, to be divine and heavenly
realities, the professing Church has transformed into
human and earthly imitations. Having become
weary of hanging upon an invisible arm, of trusting
in an invisible sacrifice, of having recourse to an
invisible Priest, of committing herself to the guid-
ance of an invisible Head, she has set about "mak-
ing" these things; and thus, from age to age, she
has been busily at work, with "graving tool" in
hand, graving and fashioning one thing after an-
other, until we can at length recognize as little
similarity between much that we see around us and
what we read in the Word, as between "a molten
calf" and the God of Israel.
"Make us gods!" What a thought! Man called
upon to make gods, and people willing to put their
trust in such! My reader, let us look within, and
look around, and see if we cannot detect something
of all this. We read, in 1 Cor. x., in reference to
Israel's history, that "all these things happened
unto them for ensamples [or types] ; and they are
written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of
the world are come" (ver. 11.). Let us, then,
seek to profit by the "admonition." Let us remem-
ber that although we may not just form and bow
down before "a molten calf," yet that Israel's sin
is a "type" of something into which we are in dan-
ger of falling. Whenever we turn away in heart
from leaning exclusively upon God Himself, whether
in the matter of salvation or the necessities of the
path, we are, in principle, saying, "Up, make us
24
358 EXODUS.
gods." It is needless to say we are not, in our-
selves, a whit better than Aaron or the children of
Israel ; and if they acknowledge a calf instead of
Jehovah, we are in danger of acting on the same
principle, and manifesting the same spirit. Our
only safeguard is to be much in the presence of God.
Moses knew that the "molten calf " was not Jeho-
vah, and therefore he did not acknowledge it. But
when we get out of the divine presence, there is no
accounting for the gross errors and evils into which
we may be betrayed.
We are called to live by faith ; we can see nothing
with the eye of sense. Jesus is gone up on high,
and we are told to wait patiently for His appearing.
God's word, carried home to the heart in the energy
of the Holy Ghost, is the ground of confidence in
all things temporal and spiritual, present and fu-
ture. He tells us of Christ's completed sacrifice ;
we, by grace, believe, and commit our souls to the
efficacy thereof, and know we shall never be con-
founded. He tells us of a great High-Priest, passed
into the heavens Jesus, the Son of God, whose in-
tercession is all-prevailin*g ; we, by grace, believe,
and confidingly lean upon His ability, and know we
shall be saved to the uttermost. He tells us of the
living Head to whom we are linked, in the power of
resurrection life," and from whom we can never be
severed by any influence, angelic, human, or diabol-
ical ; we, by grace, believe, and cling to that blessed
Head in simple faith, and know we shall never per-
ish. He tells us of the glorious appearing of the
CHAPTER XXXII. 359
Son from heaven ; we, through grace, believe, and
seek to prove the purifying and elevating power of
"that blessed hope," and know *ve shall not be
disappointed. He tells us of "an inheritance, in-
corruptible, undefined, and that fadeth not away,
reserved in heaven for us, who are kept by the
power of God," for entrance thereinto in due time ;
we, through grace, believe, and know we shall never
be confounded. He tells us the hairs of our head
are all numbered, and that we shall never want any
good thing ; we, through grace, believe, and enjoy
a sweetly tranquilized heart.
Thus it is, or, at least, thus our God would have
it. But' then the enemy is ever active in seeking to
make us cast away these divine realities, take up the
"graving tool" of unbelief, and "make gods" for
ourselves. Let us watch against him, pray against
him, believe against him, testify against him, act
against him : thus he shall be confounded, God glo-
rified, and we ourselves abundantly blessed.
As to Israel, in the chapter before us, their rejec-
tion of God was most complete. ' ' And Aaron said
unto them, 'Break off the golden earrings, which
are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of
your daughters, and bring them unto me/ ....
And he received them at their hand, and fashioned
it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten
calf; and they said, 4 These be thy gods, O Israel,
which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt/
And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before
it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, 'To-
360 EXODUS.
morrow is a feast unto the Lord. ' ' This was en-
tirely setting aside God, and putting a calf in His
stead. When they could say that a calf had brought
them up out of Egypt, they had evidently aban-
doned all idea of the presence and character of the
true God. How "quickly" they must "have turned
aside out of the way," to have made such a gross
and terrible mistake ! And Aaron, the brother and
yoke-fellow of Moses, led them on in this ; and, with
a calf before him, he could say, "To-morrow is a
feast unto Jehovah" ! How sad ! How deeply hum-
bling! God was displaced by an idol. A thing
"graven by art and man's device" was set in the
place of "the Lord of all the earth."
All this involved, on Israel's part, a deliberate
abandonment of their connection with Jehovah.
They had given Him up ; and, accordingly, we find
Him, as it were, taking them on their own ground.
"And the Lord said unto Moses, 'Go, get thee
down ; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of
the land of Egypt, 'have corrupted themselves : they
have turned aside quickly out of the way which I
commanded them. ... I have seen this people,
it is a stiff-necked people: now therefore let Me
alone, that My wrath may wax hot against them,
and that I may consume them : and I will make of
thee a great nation." Here was an open door for
Moses ; and here he displays uncommon grace, and
similarity of spirit to that Prophet whom the Lord
was to raise up like unto him. He refuses to be or
to have any thing without the people. He pleads
CHAPTER XXXII. 361
with God on the ground of. His own glory, and puts
the people back upon Him in these touching words,
"Lord, why doth Thy wrath wax hot against Thy
people, which Thou hast brought up out of the land
of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand ?
Wherefore should the Egyptians speak and say,
For mischief did He bring them out, to slay them
in the mountains, and to consume them from the
face of the earth? Turn from Thy fierce wrath, and
repent of this evil against Thy people. Remember
Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Thy servants, to whom
Thou swarest by Thine own self, and saiclst unto
them, 4 I will multiply your seed as the stars of
heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will
I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for-
ever.'' This was powerful pleading. The glory
of God, the vindication of His holy name, the ac-
complishment of His oath, these are the grounds
on which Moses entreats the Lord to turn from His
fierce wrath. He could not find in Israel's conduct
or character any plea or ground to go upon ; he
found it all in God Himself.
The Lord hath said unto Moses, "Thy people
which thou broughtest up;" but Moses replies to
the Lord, "Thy people which Thou hast brought
up." They were the Lord's people notwithstand-
ing all ; and His name, His glory, His oath, were
all involved in their destiny. The moment the Lord
links Himself with a people, His character is in-
volved, and faith will ever look at Him upon this
solid ground. Moses loses sight of himself entirely.
362 EXODUS.
His whole soul is engrossed with thoughts of the
Lord's glory and the Lord's people. Blessed serv-
ant ! How few like him ! And yet when we con-
template him in all this scene, we perceive how
infinitely he is below the blessed Master. He came
down from the mount, and when he saw the calf
and the dancing, his "anger waxed hot, and he cast
the tables out of his hands, and break them beneath
the mount." The covenant was broken, and the
memorials thereof shattered to pieces ; and then,
having executed judgment in righteous indignation,
he "said unto the people, 'Ye have sinned a great
sin : and now I will go up unto the Lord ; perad-
venture I shall make an atonement for your sin."
How different is this from what we see in Christ !
He came down from the bosom of the Father, not
with the tables in His hands, but with the law in His
heart. He came down, not to be made acquainted
with the condition of the people, but with a perfect
knowledge of what that condition was. Moreover,
instead of destroying the memorials of the covenant
and executing judgment, He magnified the law and
made it honorable, and bore the- judgment of His
people, in His own blessed Person, on the cross ;
and, having done all, He went back to heaven, riot
with a "per adventure I shall make an atonement for
your sin," but to lay upon the throne of the Majesty
in the highest the imperishable memorials of an
atonement already accomplished. This makes a vast
and truly glorious difference. Thank God, we need
not anxiously gaze after our Mediator, to know if
CHAPTER XXXII. 363
haply He shall accomplish redemption for us, and
reconcile offended Justice. No ; He has done it all.
His presence on high declares that the whole work is
finished. He could stand upon the confines of this
world, ready to take His departure, and, in all the
calmness of a conscious Victor (though He had yet
to encounter the darkest scene of all), say, U I have
glorified Thee on the earth : I have finished the work
which Thou gavest Me to do. " (John xvii. ) Blessed
Saviour ! we may well adore Thee, and well exult
in the place of dignity and glory in which eternal
justice has set Thee. The highest place in heaven
belongs to Thee ; and Thy saints only wait for the
time when "every knee shall bow, and every tongue
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of
God the Father." May that time speedily arrive !
At the close of this chapter, Jehovah asserts His
rights, in moral government, in the following words :
"Whosoever hath sinned against Me, him will I blot
out of My book. Therefore now go, lead the peo-
ple unto the place of which I have spoken unto
thee : behold, Mine Angel shall go before thee :
nevertheless, in the day wnen I visit I will visit
their sin upon them." This is God in government,
not God in the gospel. Here He speaks of blotting
out the sinner; in the gospel He is seen blotting out
sin. A wide difference !
The people are to be sent forward, under the
mediatorship of Moses, by the hand of an angel.
This was very unlike the condition of things which
obtained from Egypt to Sinai. They had forfeited
364 EXODUS.
all claim on the ground of law, and hence it only
remained for God to fall back upon His own sover-
eignty and say, "I will be gracious to whom I will
be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will
show mercy."
CHAPTERS XXXIII. & XXXIV.
TEHOVAH refuses to accompany. Israel to the
*J land of promise. "I will not go up in the
midst of thee, (for thou art a stiff-necked people^)
lest I consume thee in the way." At the opening
of this book, when the people were in the furnace
of Egypt, the Lord could say, ' ; I have surely seen
the affliction of My people which are in Egypt, and
have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters ;
for I know their sorrows." But now He has to say,
"I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-
necked people." An afflicted people is an object
of grace ; but a stiff-necked people must be humbled.
The cry of oppressed Israel had been answered by
the exhibition of grace ; but the song of idolatrous
Israel must be answered by the voice of stern rebuke.
u Ye are a stiff-necked people: I will come up
into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume
thee : therefore now put off thy ornaments from
thee, that I may know what to do unto thee." It
is only when we are really stripped of all nature's
ornaments that God can deal with us. A naked
sinner can be clothed ; but a sinner decked with
ornaments must be stripped. This is alwa} T s true.
CHAPTERS XXXIII. & XXXIV.' 365
We must be stripped of all that pertains to self ere
we can be clothed with that which pertains to God.
"And the children of Israel stripped themselves
of their ornaments by the mount Horeb." There
they stood, beneath that memorable mount, their
feasting and singing changed into bitter lamenta-
tions, their ornaments gone, the tables of testimony
in fragments. Such was their condition, and Moses
at once proceeds to act according to it. He could
no longer own the people in their corporate charac-
ter. The assembly had become entirely defiled,
having set up an idol of their own making in the
place of God a calf instead of Jehovah. "And
Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without
the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it 'The
tabernacle of the congregation.' ' Thus the camp
was disowned as the place of the divine presence.
God was not, could not, be there. He had been
displaced by a human invention. A new gathering-
point was therefore set up. "And it came to pass,
that every one which sought the Lord went out
unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was
without the camp."
There is here a fine principle of truth, which the
spiritual mind will readily apprehend. The place
which Christ now occupies is "without the camp,"
and we are called upon to "go forth unto Him."
It demands much subjection to the Word to be
able, with accuracy, to know what "the camp"
really is, and much spiritual power to be able to go
forth from it; and still more to be able, while "far
366 EXODUS.
off from it," to act towards those in it in the
combined power of holiness and grace ; holiness,
which separates from the defilement of the camp ;
grace, which enables us to act toward those who are
involved therein.
4 'And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face,
as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned
again into the camp ; but his servant Joshua, the
son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the
tabernacle." Moses exhibits a higher degree of
spiritual energy than his servant Joshua. It is much
easier to assume a position of separation from the
camp than to act aright towards those within.
"And Moses said unto the Lord, 'See, Thou
sayest unto me, Bring up this people ; and Thou
hast not let me know whom Thou wilt send with me ;
yet Thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou
hast also found grace in My sight.' " Moses en-
treats the accompanying presence of Jehovah, as a
proof of their having found grace in His sight.
Were it a question of mere justice, He could only
consume them by coming in their midst, because
they were " a stiff-necked people ; " but directly He
speaks of grace, in connection with the mediator,
the very stiff-neckedness of the people is made a
plea for demanding His presence. "If now I have
found grace in Thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I
pray Thee, go among us ; for it is a stiff-necked
people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and
take us for Thine inheritance." This is touchingly
beautiful. A "stiff-necked people" demanded the
CHAPTERS XXXIII. & XXXIV. 367
boundless grace and exhaustless patience of God.
None but He could bear with them.
4 'And He said, 'My presence shall go with thee,
and I will give thee rest.' ' Precious portion !
Precious hope ! The presence of God with us, all
the desert through, and everlasting rest at the end !
Grace to meet our present need, and glory as our
future portion ! Well may our satisfied hearts ex-
claim, "It is enough, my precious Lord."
In chapter xxxiv. the second set of tables is given,
not to be broken, like the first, but to be hidden in
the ark, above which, as already noticed, Jehovah
was to take His place, as Lord of all the earth, in
moral government. "And he hewed two tables of
stone like unto the first ; and Moses rose up early in
the morning, and went up unto Mount Sinai, as the
Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand
the two tables of stone. And the Lord descended
in the cloud, and stood with him there, and pro-
claimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord
passed by before him, and proclaimed, 'The Lord,
The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffer-
ing, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping
mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and trans-
gression and sin, and that will by no means clear
the guilty ; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon
the children, and upon the children's children, unto
the third and to the fourth generation.' " This, be
it remembered, is God as seen in His moral govern-
ment of the world, and not as He is seen in the
cross not as He shines in the face of Jesus Christ
368 EXODUS.
not as He is proclaimed in the gospel of His
grace. The following is an exhibition of God in the
gospel: "And all things are of God, who hath rec-
onciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given
to us the ministry of reconciliation ; to wit, that God
was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself,
NOT IMPUTING their trespasses unto them ; and
hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.' 91
(2 Cor. v. 18, 19.) "Not clearing" and "not im-
puting" present two totally different ideas of God.
"Visiting iniquities" and canceling them are not
the same thing. The former is God in government,
the latter is God in the gospel. In 2 Cor. iii. the
apostle contrasts the "ministration" recorded in
Exodus xxxiv. with "the ministration" of the
gospel. My reader would do well to study that
chapter with care. From it he will learn that any
one who regards the view of God's character given
to Moses on Mount Horeb as unfolding the gospel,
must have a very defective apprehension indeed of
what the gospel is. Neither in creation nor yet in
moral government do I or can I read the deep
secrets of the Father's bosom. Could the prodigal
have found his place in the arms of the One revealed
on Mount Sinai ? Could John have leaned his head
on the bosom of that One ? Surely not. But God
has revealed Himself in the face of Jesus Christ.
He has told out, in divine harmony, all His attri-
butes in the work of the cross. There "Mercy and
Truth have met together, Righteousness and Peace
have kissed each other." Sin is perfectly put away,
CHAPTERS XXXV. -XL. 369
and the believing sinner perfectly justified, "BY
THE BLOOD OF THE CROSS." When we get
a view of God as thus unfolded, we have only, like
Moses, to "bow our head, toward the earth and
worship;" suited attitude for a pardoned and ac-
cepted sinner in the presence of God !
CHAPTEKS XXXV. XL.
THESE chapters contain a recapitulation of the
various parts of the tabernacle and its furniture ;
and inasmuch as I have already given what I believe
to be the import of the more prominent parts, I
will not add more. There are, however, two things
in this section from which we may deduce most
profitable instruction, and these are, (first) the
voluntary devotedncss and (secondly) the implicit obe-
dience of the people with respect to the work of the
tabernacle of the congregation.
And first, as to their voluntary devotedness, we
read, "And all the congregation of the children of
Israel departed from the presence of Moses. And
they came, every one ivhose heart stirred him up, and
every one whom his spirit made willing, and they
brought the Lord's offering to the work of the tab-
ernacle of the congregation, and for all His service,
and for the holy garments. And they came, both
men and women, as many as were willing -hearted,
and brought bracelets, and earrings, and rings, and
tablets, all jewels of gold: and every man that
offered offered an offering of gold unto the Lord.
370 EXODUS.
And every man with whom was found blue, and pur-
ple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair, and
red skins of rams, and badgers' skins, brought
them. Every one that did offer an offering of silver
and brass, brought the Lord's offering: and every
man with whom was found shittim wood, for any
work of the service, brought it. And all the women
that were wise-hearted did spin with their hands,
and brought that which they had spun, both of blue,
and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen.
And all the women whose heart stirred them up in
wisdom spun goats' hair. And the rulers brought
onyx stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod, and
for the breastplate ; and spice, and oil for the light,
and for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense.
The children of Israel brought a willing offering unto
the Lord, every man and woman, whose heart made
them ivilling to bring, for all manner of work which
the Lord had commanded to be made by the hand
of Moses." (Chap. xxxv. 20-29.) And, again, we
read, "And all the wise men that wrought all the
work of the sanctuary, came every man from his
work which they made ; and they spake unto Moses,
saying, 'The people bring much more than enough
for the service of the work, which the Lord com-
manded to make.' .... For the stuff they had
was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too
much." (Yer. 4-7.)
A lovely picture this of devotedness to the work
of the sanctuary ! It needed no effort to move the
hearts of the people to give, no earnest appeals, no
CHAPTERS XXXV.-XL. 371
impressive arguments. Oh, no ! their ' ' hearts stirred
them up." This was the true way. The streams 01
voluntary devotedness flowed from within. "Rul-
ers," "men," "women," all felt it to be their
sweet privilege to give to the Lord, not with a narrow
heart or niggard hand, but after such a princely
fashion that they had "enough, and too much."
Then, as to their implicit obedience, we read, "Ac-
cording to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so the
children of Israel made all the work. And Moses
did look upon all the work, and, behold, they had
done it as the Lord had commanded, even so had they
done it : and Moses blessed them." (Chap, xxxix.42,
43.) The Lord had given the most minute instruc-
tions concerning the entire work of the tabernacle.
Every pin, every socket, every loop, every tach, was
accurately set forth. There was no room left for
man's expediency, his reason, or his common sense.
Jehovah did not give a great outline and leave man
to fill it up. He left no margin whatever in which man
might enter his regulations. By no means. " 'See/
saith He, 'that thou make all things according to the
pattern showed to thee in the mount. 9 " (Exod. xxv.
40 ; xxvi. 30 ; Heb. viii. 5.) This left no room for
human device. If man had been allowed to make
a single pin, that pin would most assuredly have
been out of place in the judgment of God. We can
see what man's "graving tool" produces in chapter
xxxii. Thank God, it had no place in the taber-
nacle. They did, in this matter, just what they
were told nothing more, nothing less. Salutary
372 EXODUS.
lesson this for the professing church ! There are
many things in the history of Israel which we should
earnestly seek to avoid, their impatient murmur-
ings, their legal vows, and their idolatry ; but in
those two things may we imitate them. May our
devotedness be more whole-hearted, and our obedi-
ence more implicit ! We may safely assert that if
all had not been done "according to the pattern
showed in the mount,'* we should' not have to read,
"then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation,
and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And
Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the
congregation, because the cloud abocle thereon, and
the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle." (Chap,
xl. 34, 35.) The tabernacle was in all respects ac-
cording to the divine pattern, and therefore it could
be filled with the divine glory.
There is a volume of instruction in this. We are
too prone to regard the Word of God as insufficient
for the most minute details connected with His wor-
ship and service. This is a great mistake a mistake
which has proved the fruitful source of evils and
errors in the professing church. The Word of God
is amply sufficient for every thing, whether as re-
gards personal salvation and walk, or the order and
rule of the assembly. "All scripture is given by
inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteous-
ness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly
furnished unto all good works." (2 Tim. iii. 16, 17.)
This settles the question. If the Word of God fur-
CHAPTERS XXXV. -XL. 373
nislies a man thoroughly unto "all good works," it
follows, as a necessary consequence, that whatever
I find not in its pages cannot possibly be a good
work. And, further, be it remembered, that the
divine glory cannot connect itself with aught that is
not according to the divine pattern.
Beloved reader, we have now traveled together
through this most precious book. We have, I
fondly hope, reaped some profit from our study. I
trust we have gathered up some refreshing thoughts
of Jesus and His sacrifice as we passed along. Fee-
ble, indeed, must be our most vigorous thoughts,
and ^shallow our deepest apprehensions, as to the
mind of God in all that this book contains. It is
happy to remember that, through grace, we are on
our way to that glory where we shall know even as we
are known, and where we shall bask in the sunshine
of His countenance who is the beginning and ending
of the ways of God, whether in creation, in provi-
dence, or redemption. To Him I do most affection-
ately commend you, in body, soul, and spirit. May
you know the deep blessedness of having your por-
tion in Christ, and be kept in patient waiting for
His glorious advent. Amen.
a. n. M.
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