And when some shepherds came along and drove them away, Moses rose up to help them and watered their flock. Sermons I. AN INSTANCE OF CHIVALRY. We have in the incident - 1. The weak pushed aside by the strong. Rude, ill-mannered fellows thrust aside the daughters of the priest of Midian from the sheep-troughs, and shamelessly appropriate the water with which they had diligently filled them. 2. Brave championship of the weak. Moses takes their part, stands up to help them, and compels the shepherds to give way. Not content with this, he gives the maidens what assistance he is able. The two dispositions stand in fine contrast: the one all that is unmanly and contemptible, the other all that is chivalrous and noble. The instance teaches - 1. That the chivalrous disposition is also helpful. The one grace sets off the other. But the bully is a churl, helping nobody, and filching from the weak. 2. That the bully is to boot a coward. He will insult a woman, but cringes in the presence of her vindicator. No true man need be afraid to beard him. 3. That acts of kindness to the defenceless are often repaid in unexpected ways. They are indeed their own reward. It revives one's spirit to maintain the cause of the needy. Moses, like Jesus, sat by the well; but this little act of kindness, like the Saviour's conversation with the woman of Samaria, did more to refresh his spirit than the sweetest draught he could have taken from it. It was good for him, defeated in resisting tyranny in Egypt, and discouraged by the reception he had met with from his brethren, to have this opportunity of reasserting his crushed manhood, and of feeling that he was still useful. It taught him, and it teaches us - (1) Not to despair of doing good. Tyranny has many phases, and when it cannot be resisted in one form, it may in another. And it taught him (2) Not to despair of human nature. Gratitude had not vanished from the earth, because his brethren had proved ungrateful. Hearts were still to be found, sensitive to the magic touch of kindness; capable of responding to it; ready to repay it by love. For the little deed of chivalry led to unexpected and welcome results. It prepared the way for the hospitable reception of Moses by Reuel; found for him a home in Midian; gave him a wife; provided him with suitable occupation. II. THE RESIDENCE IN MIDIAN. Notice on this - 1. The place of it. In or near the Peninsula of Sinai. Solitude and grandeur. Fit place for education of thought and heart. Much alone with God - with Nature in her more awful aspects - with his own thoughts. 2. The society of it. He had probably few companions beyond his immediate circle: his wife; her father, sheikh and priest, - pious, hospitable, kindly-natured; the sisters. His life simple and unartificial, a wholesome corrective to the luxury of Egypt. 3. The occupation of it. He kept flocks (Exodus 3:1). The shepherd's life, besides giving him a valuable knowledge of the topography of the desert, was very suitable for developing qualities important in a leader - watchfulness, skill, caution, self-reliance, bravery, tenderness, etc. So David was taken "from the sheepcote, from following the sheep," to be ruler over God's people, over Israel (2 Samuel 7:8). It lets in light on Moses' character that he was willing to stoop to, and did not spurn, this lowly toil. He that could so humble himself was fit to be exalted. By faithfulnesss in that which was least, he served an apprenticeship for being faithful also in much (Luke 16:10). 4. The duration of it. Forty years was a long time, but not too long for the training God was giving him. The richest characters are slowest in coming to maturity, and Moses was all this while developing in humility, and in knowledge of God, of man, and, of his own heart. The whole subject teaches us valuable lessons. Learn - 1. God's dealings with his servants are often mysterious. Moses in Midian seems an instance of the highest gifts thrown uselessly away. Is this, we ask in surprise, the only use God can find for a man so richly gifted, so remarkably preserved, and on whom have been lavished all the treasures of Egypt's wisdom? Any ordinary man might be a shepherd, but how few could do the work of a Moses? Moses himself, in the meditations of these forty years, must often have wondered at the strange irony of his life. Yet how clear it was all made to him at last! Trust God to know better what is good for you than you do yourself. 2. How little a man has, after all, to do with the shaping of his own history! In one sense he has much, yea everything, to do with it. Had Moses, e.g., not so rashly slain the Egyptian, his whole future would doubtless have borne a different complexion. Man is responsible for his acts, but once he has done them, they are taken in spite of himself out of his hands, and shaped in their consequences by overruling Providence. He who sent the princess to the river, sent also the priest's daughters to the well. 3. It is man's wisdom to study contentment with his lot. It may be humble, and not the lot we like, or had counted on. It may be a lot to which we never expected to be reduced. We may feel as if our gifts and powers were being wasted in it. Yet if it is our lot - the one meanwhile providentialiy marked out for us ? our wisdom is cheerfully to accept of it, and make the best of the tasks which belong to it, J.O.
Moses was content to dwell with the man. I. THE HOSPITALITY OF A KIND FAMILY (ver. 20).1. This hospitality was much needed by Moses. 2. This hospitality was prompted by parental inquiry. A good and considerate father often turns his home into a sanctuary for the servants of God. By welcoming an heroic stranger to it, he may bring himself into harmony with great histories, and sublime providences. II. EMPLOYMENT FOR EVERY-DAY LIFE. When a young man is thus welcomed by a kind family he must expect to share their .work, as also their food. The study of Moses in Egypt had not raised him above hard work. III. A WIFE (ver. 21). A man who will defend a woman is worthy of a wife. The greatest and most important events of our lives depend upon little deeds of kindness. IV. ANOTHER ADVANCE IN THE INTENTION OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. Moses has finished his education of the palace. He now commences that of the desert. (J. S. Exell, M. A.) 2. Again, Moses in Midian is to us a pattern of a wise conformity. He did not stand aloof from the people among whom he lived in a proud superciliousness or an offensive singularity; nor did he waste his time in an idle regretting of the past, and an uncomfortable repining at the unpleasant change of his condition. He made the best of the state into which God's providence had called him, and so was neither odious nor unhappy in it. Our Lord was much of a conformist in His time, and the Pharisees called Him a "friend of publicans and sinners." He was their friend, but not in the Pharisees' sense. And what He practised He recommended. He said to His disciples, "When ye enter into a house, salute it," "and in the same house abide, eating such things as they set before you." So, too, the great apostle, St. Paul, tells us that he "was made all things unto all men," and says, "To the Jews I became as a Jew that I might gain the Jews; to them that are without law as without law, that I might gain them that are without law." This is worldly wisdom, and it is religious wisdom too. We are not to rebel against our circumstances, not to dwell upon lost good. 3. Finally, we see in Moses in Midian the example of a wise patience. Forty years elapsed during which his great undertaking was in abeyance, and gave no signs of an approaching resumption. He knew that "to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven," and that "it is not for us to know the times and the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power." He had nothing to do but to wait, and he did wait, and uncomplainingly. How different is this from the course of many reformers, patriots, philanthropists, of whom, like some of old, it may well be said, "I have not sent them, yet they ran: I have not spoken unto them, yet they prophesied"; whose haste outruns the dilatory motion of the chariot of God, and whose eagerness chides God's delay by devices of their own,' and headstrong enterprises and efforts, on which God has never promised His blessing, nor have they asked it. Good things we have purposed, good things we have hoped for, do not come as rapidly as our impetuous wishes are fain to anticipate. "Tarry thou the Lord's leisure; be strong, and He shall comfort thine heart; and put thou thy trust in the Lord." (R. A. Hallam, D. D.) (J. J. Van Oosterzee, D. D.) 1. Of sacred station.2. Of womanly influence. 3. Of industrious activity. (J. S. Exell, M. A.) 1. The employment of true womanhood.2. The test of true womanhood. 3. The glory of true womanhood. (J. S. Exell, M. A.) The former —1. Oppose the honest. 2. Persecute the industrious. 3. Hinder the diligent.The latter — 1. Co-operate with the weak. 2. Sympathize with the persecuted. 3. Defend the imperilled. 4. Win the victory. 5. Receive hospitality. (J. S. Exell, M. A.) This question may be asked in reference to the world's philanthropists, preachers, who are striving to defend the weak.1. Is it because you do not understand him? 2. Is it because you do not believe in him? 3. Is it because you are selfish? 4. Is it because you have not been taught better? 5. Fetch him to your home as soon as possible (J. S. Exell, M. A.) 1. A wondrous sight — accustomed to a palace.2. A happy sight — pastoral toil. 3. A scarce sight — men are restless.He was content — 1. With his daily companionships. 2. With his daily occupation. 3. With the scene of his residence. 4. With his matrimonial alliance. (J. S. Exell, M. A.) 1. Good for their health.2. Good for their moral training. 3. Good for their moral usefulness. 4. Good for the enlargement of their social friendships. (J. S. Exell, M. A.) Wesleyan S. S. Magazine. A young lad came from school late, and with a flushed countenance. His mother inquired into the cause. A number of thoughtless and wicked boys were teasing a child of a helpless widow, in order to provoke those bursts of imbecile passion for which she was remarkable. Contrary to expectation, the widow remained unmoved, merely hastening her footsteps and those of her little daughter. This led the boys to increase their efforts, till they inflicted positive injury on the child. John, the lad alluded to above, remonstrated, and finally fought one of the boys in defence of the widow's child. He went home with the widow, and received her thanks. He then set out for home, but was doubtful how his conduct would be viewed by his mother. She had taught him to avoid all broils. He stated the case to her, and received her warm commendation for his sympathy with the oppressed, and his bravery in their defence. That commendation made him for life the generous and fearless friend and defender of the oppressed.(Wesleyan S. S. Magazine.) The Countess of Huntingdon once told Mr. topldy, the author of "Rock of Ages," that when she visited Dr. Watts on one occaision he thus accosted her: "Madam, your ladyship is come to see me on a very memorable day." "Why so remarkable"? she asked. "This day thirty years," he replied, "I came hither to the house of my good friend Sir Thomas Abney, intending to spend but one single week under his friendly roof; and I have extended my visit to the length of exactly thirty years." "Sir," added Lady Abney, "what you have termed a long thirty years' visit, I consider as the shortest my family ever received."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 taken out his degree in the school of man, and yet have to learn his alphabet in the school of God. Mere human wisdom and learning, how valuable soever in themselves, can never constitute any one a servant of God, nor equip him for any department of Divine service. Such things may qualify unrenewed nature to figure before the world; but the man whom God will use most must be endowed with widely-different qualifications — such qualifications as can alone be found in the deep and hallowed retirement 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 examples of the immense practical importance of being alone with God. And when we look at the Divine Servant, we find that the time He spent in private was nearly ten times as long as that which He spent in public. He, though perfect in understanding and 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 entered 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. That 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 how 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 without this. The absence of secret training and discipline will, necessarily, leave us barren, superficial, and theoretic.(C. H. Mackintosh.) There was much in the solitude of his shepherd life that would stimulate him to devout meditation. Here amidst "the sleep that is among the lovely hills," he communed with himself, with nature, and with God; facing for himself those "obstinate questionings" which continually arise when one seeks to fathom the mysteries of being. A very different university was this from that at which he studied among the worshippers of the sun at Heliopolis; yet more helpful to him even than the education which he had received in Egypt, would be his musings upon the mountain sides, as he rose from the thunder-riven peaks to Him who before the mountains were brought forth is, from everlasting to everlasting, God. Like the Scottish boy, who in the intervals of his shepherd life mapped out for himself with beads the distances of the stars, and designated himself "God Almighty's scholar," Moses was now under the special tuition of the Lord. His books were the silent stars and giant hills; the shrubs that grew at his feet, and the flocks that went on beside him, browsing on the grass; and often and often would he pore lovingly over the pages of man's first Bible — Nature. But most frequently, perhaps, he would look within and try to read himself; and after awhile there was to come to him the vision which would open to him as a scroll "the marvel of the everlasting will."(William M. Taylor, D. D.) The flight of Moses from Egypt introduced him into a new training school. At Pharaoh's court he had learned much that was required to fit him for his vocation, as the deliverer and leader of Israel, as the mediator of the ancient covenant and founder of the theocracy, and also as a prophet and lawgiver. But his education there had been of a very partial character. He had learned to rule, but not to serve, and the latter was as necessary, if not more so than the former. He possessed the fiery zeal of youth, but not the circumspection, the patience, or the firmness of age. A consciousness of his vocation had been aroused within him when in Egypt; but it was mixed with selfishness, pride, and ambition, with headstrong zeal, but yet with a pusillanimity which was soon daunted. He did not understand the art of being still and enduring, of waiting and listening for the direction of God, an art so indispensable for all who labour in the kingdom of God. In the school of Egyptian wisdom his mind had been enriched with all the treasures of man's wisdom, but his heart was still the rebellious unbelieving heart of the natural man, and therefore but little adapted for the reception of Divine wisdom, and by no means fitted for performing the works of God. And even the habit of sifting and selecting, of pondering and testing, acquired by a man of learning and experience, must certainly have been far from securing anything like the mature wisdom and steadfastness demanded by his vocation. All this he had yet to acquire. Persecution and affliction, want and exile, nature and solitude, were now to be his tutors, and complete his education, before he entered upon the duties of his Divine vocation.(J. H. Kurtz, D. D.) The house of the Midianitish priest was, doubtless, a severe but salutary school of humiliation and affliction, of want and self-denial, to the spoiled foster-son of the king's daughter. We can understand this, if we merely picture to ourselves the contrast between the luxury of the court and the toil connected with a shepherd's life in the desert. But we have good ground for supposing that his present situation was trying and humiliating in other respects also. His marriage does not seem to have been a happy one, and his position in the house of his father-in-law was apparently somewhat subordinate and servile.(J. H. Kurtz, D. D.) Zipporah is represented as a querulous, self-willed, and passionate woman, who sets her own will in opposition to that of her husband, who will not trouble herself about his religious convictions, and, even when his life is evidently in danger, does not conceal the reluctance with which she agrees to submit, in order to save him. We might be astonished to find that a man of so much force of character as Moses possessed, could ever suffer this female government. But the circumstances in which he was placed sufficiently explain them. He had arrived there poor and helpless, as a man who was flying from pursuit. A fortunate combination of circumstances led to his receiving the Emir's daughter as his wife. It is true he could not pay the usual dowry. But the remarkable antecedents of his life, his superior mental endowments, his manly beauty, and other things, may have been regarded at first by his chosen bride and her relations as an adequate compensation for its omission. But if the character of Zipporah were such as we may conclude it to have been from Exodus 4:24 sqq., we can very well imagine that she soon began to despise all these, and made her husband feel that he was only eating the bread of charity in her father's house. Nor does he seem to have been admitted to any very intimate terms with his father-in-law; at least we might be led to this conclusion by the reserve with which he communicated to Jethro his intended departure, and the little confidence which he displayed (Exodus 4:18). Thus he was, and continued to be, a foreigner among the Midianites; kept in the background and misunderstood, even by those who were related to him by the closest ties. And if this was his condition, the sorrows arising from his exile, and his homeless and forlorn condition, must have been doubly, yea trebly severe. Under circumstances such as these, his attachment to his people, and his longing to rejoin them, instead of cooling, would grow stronger and stronger. There is something very expressive in this respect in the names which he gave to the sons who were born to him during his exile (ver. 22; 18:3, 4). They enable us to look deeply into the state of his mind at that time, for (as so frequently happened) he incorporated in them the strongest feelings and desires of his heart.(J. H. Kurtz, D. D.) People Gershom, Isaac, Israelites, Jacob, Levi, Moses, Pharaoh, Reuel, ZipporahPlaces Egypt, Midian, Nile RiverTopics Along, Ariseth, Drive, Driving, Drove, Flock, Got, Helped, Keepers, Rescue, Rose, Saveth, Sheep, Shepherds, Stood, Watered, Watereth, WateringOutline 1. Moses is born, and placed in a basket in the reeds of Nile.5. He is found, and brought up by Pharaoh's daughter; 7. who employs his mother to nurse him. 11. He kills an Egyptian. 13. He reproves a Hebrew. 15. He flees into Midian, and marries Zipporah. 22. Gershom is born. 23. God respects the Israelites' cry. Dictionary of Bible Themes Exodus 2:17Library The Ark among the Flags'And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. 2. And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. 3. And when she could not 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. 4. And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him. 5. And the daughter of Pharaoh came … Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture Home as a Stewardship. The Upbringing of Jewish Children The Secret of Its Greatness Motives to Holy Mourning The Faith of Moses. Jesus Sets Out from Judæa for Galilee. Consolations against Impatience in Sickness. Man's Misery by the Fall Genealogy According to Luke. Adoption Appendix xii. The Baptism of Proselytes Appendix ii. Philo of Alexandria and Rabbinic Theology. John the Baptist's Person and Preaching. Exodus Links Exodus 2:17 NIVExodus 2:17 NLT Exodus 2:17 ESV Exodus 2:17 NASB Exodus 2:17 KJV Exodus 2:17 Bible Apps Exodus 2:17 Parallel Exodus 2:17 Biblia Paralela Exodus 2:17 Chinese Bible Exodus 2:17 French Bible Exodus 2:17 German Bible Exodus 2:17 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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