Notes on the book of Exodus

by Charles Henry Mackintosh

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 Pharaoh'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 faithful he is to his heavenly Master, the more he walks in 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, unheeded, or rejected by those who are themselves the specific objects thereof. When such is the case, he needs to be much with 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 commission, 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 abhorred 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 become most discouraging, at the very moment when deliverance seemed at hand; just as, in nature, the darkest hour of the night is often that which immediately 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 was 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 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 answer 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 endowed 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, "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 Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers. And I have also heard the groaning 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-existing 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 displays God acting for His own glory, and taking up His oppressed people in order to show forth in them that glory.

"Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, '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; and 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 you out from under the burdens of 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, richest 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 reminded of all this, as we read in the book of Deuteronomy,—"The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: but because the Lord loved you, and because He would keep the oath which He had sworn onto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the 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 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 "do His pleasure," should come down for the purpose of taking up a number of bond-slaves with whom He condescended to connect 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 people 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 behind. "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.)