Exodus 2:11-15 - Exposition.

Moses "was grown."

According to the tradition he had already distinguished himself as a warrior — was "a prince and a judge" amongst the Egyptians, if not over the Hebrews ( Exodus 2:14 ). Learned, too, in all the wisdom of the day (cf Acts 7:22 ). At his age, forty years, with his influence, surely if ever he was to do anything for his people, now must be the time. Notice:

I . THE HASTY MISCALCULATION OF THE MAN .

1. What he did, and why he did it. "It came into his heart to visit his brethren." In the seminaries of the priests, in the palace, with the army, he had not forgotten his people; but he had scarcely realised the bitterness of their trial. Now his heart burns within him as he looks upon their burdens. He feels that he is the appointed deliverer trained for this very purpose. What is so plain to him must, he thinks, be equally plain to others ( Acts 7:25 ). A chance encounter gives him the opportunity of declaring himself; defending a Hebrew, he kills an Egyptian. The supposition that his brethren will understand proves to be a great mistake: "they understood not." Moses did that which we are all too ready to do: took it for granted that other people would look at things from his standpoint. A man may be all that he thinks himself to be; but he will fall in accomplishing his designs if he makes their success depend upon other people taking him at his own estimate; there is an unsound premiss in his practical syllogism which will certainly vitiate the conclusion. What we should do is to take pains to place ourselves at the standpoint of other people, and before assuming that they see what we see, make sure that at any rate we see what they see. Moses, the courtier, could see the weakness of the oppressor, and how little power he had if only his slaves should rise; the slaves, however, bowing beneath the tyranny, felt and exaggerated the tyrant's power — they could not see much hope from the aid of this self-constituted champion.

2. What followed from his deed. Life endangered, compulsory flight, a refuge amongst shepherds in a strange land, forty years' comparative solitude, life's prospects blighted through impatience. "More haste worse speed" is one of the world's wise proverbial generalisations. Moses illustrates the proverb — forty years' exile for an hour's hurry!

II . THE OVERRULING PROVIDENCE OF GOD . "There's a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them as we will." The apparently wasted years not really wasted — no needless delay, only preparation and Divine discipline. Moses had learnt much, but he needed to learn more. God takes him from the school of Egypt, and places him in the university of Nature, with Time and Solitude and the Desert as his tutors. What did they teach him?

1. The value of the knowledge gained already. Well "to be learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians." But wisdom improves by keeping — it needs time and solitude to ripen it. Intellectually and spiritually we are ruminants; silence and- solitude are needed to appropriate and digest knowledge.

2. New knowledge. Few books, if any, of man's making, but the books of Nature invited study. The knowledge of the desert would be needed byand-bye, together with much other knowledge which could be gained nowhere else.

3. Meekness. He not merely became a wiser man, he grew to be also a better man. The old self-confidence yielded place to entire dependence upon the will of God. God had delivered him from the sword of Pharaoh (cf. Exodus 2:15 with Exodus 18:3 ), and would help him still, though in a strange land. Nothing makes a man so meek as faith; the more he realises God's presence and confides in him, the more utterly does the "consuming fire' burn out of him all pride and selfishness.

Application: — Turning the pages of the book of memory, what records of delay occasioned by impatience! Yet how do the same pages testify to the way in which all along God has shaped our ends! It is a mercy that we are in such good hands, and not left to our own devices. Trusting in God, we can hope to make the best even of our errors. He can restore — ay, more than restore — even years which the locust hath eaten ( Joel 2:25 ). — G .

HOMILIES BY H.T. ROBJOHNS

Exodus 2:11-15 .

Mistake in life's morning.

"He supposed his brethren would have," etc. ( Acts 7:25 ). The heart-abandonment of the throne must have taken place before Moses went out from the palace of the princess to inquire, and therefore before the enforced flight. Place therefore "the crisis of being" between Exodus 2:10-11 . Let no one fear to face this error in the life of the Lord's servant. Admit frankly that Moses was wrong. We are embarrassed by a notion that clings to us, that the Bible is a repertory of good examples. It is not so. Only One perfect. All other men and women in tee Bible are imperfect and sinful, the subjects of God's grace, pardoning, correcting, sanctifying, glorifying. Never lower the moral standard to defend a Bible character. It gives occasion to the adversary, and brings no satisfaction to the believer. In this chapter of the biography of Moses observe in his conduct —

I . THE RIGHT .

1. Inquiry. No inclination to shrink from responsibility under the plea of want of knowledge. See the striking passage, Proverbs 24:11-12 . Moses going out to investigate for himself, argues that either his mother or his people, or both, had opened and maintained communication with him, informing him of his origin, teaching the doctrine of the true God, and awakening concern.

2. Sympathy. "He looked on their burdens."

3. Indignation. We may be angry and sin; but it is also true that we may not be angry, and sin even yet more deeply. For illustration cite modern instances of cruel oppression.

II . THE WRONG .

1. Excess of indignat feeling. 2. Murder.

The "supposition" of Stephen is no justification, even if true; but it may not be true, or may be only partially true; for the utterance of Stephen, based on tradition, is not to be confounded with the inspired dictum of God. That furtive look "this way and that way" does not indicate an assured conscience. Note the true meaning and spirit of Romans 14:23 .

III . THE IMMEDIATE RESULTS . Failure — Peril — Fear — Flight — Delay of Israel's deliverance.

IV . THE FINAL OVERRULING . God originates no wrong, but, being done, lays on it the hand of the mighty. That enforced life in the desert became as important a part of the training of Moses as life at Avaris; acquainted him with "the Wilderness of the Wandering," its resources, mode of life; those other children of Abraham — the Midianites; gave him to wife a descendant of Abraham; led to an important policy for all the future of Israel ( Exodus 18:1-27 .); and furnished an all-but-indispensable human helper and guide ( Numbers 10:29-31 ). Thus does the Eternal Mercy overrule and countervail the errors, even the sins, of penitent believers. — R .