Exodus 4:31
and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD had attended to the Israelites and had seen their affliction, they bowed down and worshiped.
Sermons
Bowed HeadsCharles Leach.Exodus 4:31
Confidence in GodW. Baxendale.Exodus 4:31
Faith Easy When in the Line of DesireH. C. Trumbull.Exodus 4:31
Human and Divine AttitudesJ. S. Exell, M. A.Exodus 4:31
LessonsG. Hughes, B. D.Exodus 4:31
The Believing PeopleDr. Fowler.Exodus 4:31
Facing EgyptH.T. Robjohns Exodus 4:18-31
The Three MeetingsJ. Urquhart Exodus 4:24-31
Preaching and FaithJ. Orr Exodus 4:29-31














I. THE WORD SPOKEN.

1. Should be the Word of God. The preacher is not set to deliver his own speculations, but to convey a message.

2. Should be exhibited with its appropriate evidence.

3. Should be declared to all.

II. THE WORD BELIEVED. The people -

1. Appreciated the value of the word.

2. Believed the word.

3. Worshipped; a token of gratitude, submission, and obedience. - J.O.

The people believed.
1. The people's faith should closely follow upon God's word ministered, and by His works confirmed. A good connection.

2. Where God promiseth success to His ministers in the faith of others, there they shall believe (Exodus 3:18).

3. All professed believers, receive not God's word with the same faith.

4. Hearing is the usual sense of bringing in faith and the fruits of it.

5. God's gracious visitation of His Church, and providential sight of its afflictions, is very good to be heard by them.

6. Such hearing of God's visiting love and redeeming providence must affect God's Israel.

7. Faith working by this sense stirs up souls to suitable returns unto God.

8. The humblest and sincerest worship in body and spirit is the most suitable return to God for His redemption.

(G. Hughes, B. D.)

I. THE ATTITUDES PREDICATED OF THE PEOPLE.

1. Their belief.

2. Their reverence.

3. Their devotion.

II. THE ATTITUDES PREDICATED OF GOD.

1. He saw the affliction of Israel.

2. Visited Israel.

(J. S. Exell, M. A.)

People are a great deal more apt to receive a message as from God when it is in the line of their own longings. The Israelites were quick to receive from God a promise of relief from Egyptian brick-making, readier to worship than when they wanted water or meat on the desert and failed to find it ready at hand for them. And they were very much like the rest of us in all this. How we should bow our heads and worship if the one inner longing of our hearts at this moment were granted to us, or even promised of God, all of a sudden! But how is it while God keeps back from us that which we long for, and we know that He is prompted to His course by both wisdom and love? Do we bow our heads and worship, all the same? Well, we bow our heads; but not always to worship.

(H. C. Trumbull.)

The Roman noblemen could give no greater proof of their confidence in their city and army, than when they bought the land on which their Carthaginian enemies were encamped around the city. And we can give no greater proof of our confidence in God, than by trusting Him in the land which our enemies, darkness and sickness and trouble, seem to possess, and acting as if He were their master, and mightier than they all.

(W. Baxendale.)

I. God always furnishes sufficient evidence to justify belief. Moses was a stranger to the people; Aaron doubtless well known. He had a welcome message — deliverance. Miracles in outward form: miracles typical in character: rod changed to a serpent and back, Moses changed from a shepherd to a ruler; cleansing of leprosy, the purifying of the human for Divine use.

II. HEARING PRECEDES BELIEVING. God sent Aaron to speak. Ministers sent to preach.

III. THE ISRAELITES MANIFEST THEIR FAITH PUBLICLY. We must confess Christ in token of faith.

IV. GOD PREPARES THE WAY FOR THE RECEPTION OF HIS TRUTH. Aaron called to meet Moses. God's Spirit precedes and accompanies the truth we utter.

V. FAITH SECURES DELIVERANCE. By it the Israelites secured theirs. So must we by ours. It is unto us according to our faith.

(Dr. Fowler.)

1. Some heads are bowed with business cares. During the last four years many homes have been broken, and others sadly reduced, not so much through men's own folly, as from the long and serious depression in trade.

2. Some heads are bowed with sorrow over sinful children. That never-fading picture of the Prodigal Son, painted by a master hand, is often too truly representative of our own families. Young men, think of all the pain and anguish you cause for those dear parents by your lives of sin.

3. Some heads are bowed with bereavement. To many of us there have come dark days of sorrow and pain. Roses have withered in our domestic gardens; buds have been nipped before they had time to bloom; lights we loved have gone out.

(Charles Leach.).

People
Aaron, Isaac, Israelites, Jacob, Jethro, Moses, Pharaoh, Zipporah
Places
Egypt, Horeb, Midian, Nile River
Topics
Affliction, Believe, Believed, Bent, Bow, Bowed, Cause, Concerned, Faith, Heads, Hearing, Low, Misery, Obeisance, Remembered, Sons, Troubles, Visited, Worship, Worshiped, Worshipped
Outline
1. Moses's rod is turned into a serpent.
6. His hand is leprous.
10. He loathes his calling.
13. Aaron is appointed to assist him.
18. Moses departs from Jethro.
21. God's message to Pharaoh.
24. Zipporah circumcises her son.
27. Aaron is sent to meet Moses.
29. The people believe them.

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Exodus 4:31

     5138   bowing
     5767   attitudes, in prayer

Exodus 4:29-31

     5727   old age, attitudes
     8624   worship, reasons

Exodus 4:30-31

     1416   miracles, nature of

Library
January 13. "Thou Shalt be to Him Instead of God" (Ex. Iv. 16).
"Thou shalt be to him instead of God" (Ex. iv. 16). Such was God's promise to Moses, and such the high character that Moses was to assume toward Aaron, his brother. May it not suggest a high and glorious place that each of us may occupy toward all whom we meet, instead of God? What a dignity and glory it would give our lives, could we uniformly realize this high calling! How it would lead us to act toward our fellow-men! God can always be depended upon. God is without variableness or shadow of turning.
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

May the Eleventh but -- --!
"And Moses answered and said, But----" --EXODUS iv. 1-9. We know that "but." God has heard it from our lips a thousand times. It is the response of unbelief to the divine call. It is the reply of fear to the divine command. It is the suggestion that the resources are inadequate. It is a hint that God may not have looked all round. He has overlooked something which our own eyes have seen. The human "buts" in the Scriptural stories make an appalling record. "Lord, I will follow Thee, but----" There
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

May the Twelfth Mouth and Matter
"Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth." --EXODUS iv. 10-17. And what a promise that is for anyone who is commissioned to proclaim the King's decrees. Here can teachers and preachers find their strength. God will be with their mouths. He will control their speech, and order their words like troops. He does not promise to make us eloquent, but to endow our words with the "demonstration of power." "And I will teach thee what thou shall say." The Lord will not only be with our mouths,
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

A Bundle of Myrrh is My Well-Beloved unto Me; He Shall Abide Between My Breasts.
When the Bride, or rather the lover (for she is not yet a bride), has found her Bridegroom, she is so transported with joy, that she is eager to be instantly united to Him. But the union of perpetual enjoyment is not yet arrived. He is mine, she says, I cannot doubt that He gives Himself to me this moment, since I feel it, but He is to me, as it were, a bundle of myrrh. He is not yet a Bridegroom whom I may embrace in the nuptial bed, but a bundle of crosses, pains and mortifications; a bloody husband
Madame Guyon—Song of Songs of Solomon

Preaching (I. ).
Earthen vessels, frail and slight, Yet the golden Lamp we bear; Master, break us, that the light So may fire the murky air; Skill and wisdom none we claim, Only seek to lift Thy Name. I have on purpose reserved the subject of Preaching for our closing pages. Preaching is, from many points of view, the goal and summing up of all other parts and works of the Ministry. What we have said already about the Clergyman's life and labour, in secret, in society, in the parish; what we have said about his
Handley C. G. Moule—To My Younger Brethren

To the Saddest of the Sad
I often wonder what those preachers do who feel called to make up their message as they go on; for if they fail, their failure must be attributed in great measure to their want of ability to make up a moving tale. They have to spread their sails to the breeze of the age, and to pick up a gospel that comes floating down to them on the stream of time, altering every week in the year; and they must have an endless task to catch this new idea, or, as they put it, to keep abreast of the age. Unless, indeed,
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 34: 1888

The Sweet Uses of Adversity
Now, I propose to address myself to the two classes of persons who are making use of this question. First, I shall speak to the tried saint; and then I shall speak to the seeking sinner, who has been seeking peace and pardon through Christ, but who has not as yet found it, but, on the contrary, has been buffeted by the law, and driven away from the mercy-seat in despair. I. First, then, to THE CHILD OF GOD. I have--I know I have--in this great assembly, some who have come to Job's position. They
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 5: 1859

"For if Ye Live after the Flesh, Ye Shall Die; but if Ye through the Spirit do Mortify the Deeds of the Body, Ye Shall Live.
Rom. viii. s 13, 14.--"For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." The life and being of many things consists in union,--separate them, and they remain not the same, or they lose their virtue. It is much more thus in Christianity, the power and life of it consists in the union of these things that God hath conjoined, so that if any man pretend to
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Hardening in the Sacred Scripture.
"He hath hardened their heart."-- John xii. 40. The Scripture teaches positively that the hardening and "darkening of their foolish heart" is a divine, intentional act. This is plainly evident from God's charge to Moses concerning the king of Egypt: "Thou shalt speak all that I command thee; and I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply My signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh shall not harken unto you, and I will lay My hand upon Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

The Quotation in Matt. Ii. 6.
Several interpreters, Paulus especially, have asserted that the interpretation of Micah which is here given, was that of the Sanhedrim only, and not of the Evangelist, who merely recorded what happened and was said. But this assertion is at once refuted when we consider the object which Matthew has in view in his entire representation of the early life of Jesus. His object in recording the early life of Jesus is not like that of Luke, viz., to communicate historical information to his readers.
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Flight into Egypt and Slaughter of the Bethlehem Children.
(Bethlehem and Road Thence to Egypt, b.c. 4.) ^A Matt. II. 13-18. ^a 13 Now when they were departed [The text favors the idea that the arrival and departure of the magi and the departure of Joseph for Egypt, all occurred in one night. If so, the people of Bethlehem knew nothing of these matters], behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise [this command calls for immediate departure] and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt [This land was ever the
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Appendix xii. The Baptism of Proselytes
ONLY those who have made study of it can have any idea how large, and sometimes bewildering, is the literature on the subject of Jewish Proselytes and their Baptism. Our present remarks will be confined to the Baptism of Proselytes. 1. Generally, as regards proselytes (Gerim) we have to distinguish between the Ger ha-Shaar (proselyte of the gate) and Ger Toshabh (sojourner,' settled among Israel), and again the Ger hatstsedeq (proselyte of righteousness) and Ger habberith (proselyte of the covenant).
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

A Canticle of Love
It is not only when He is about to send me some trial that Our Lord gives me warning and awakens my desire for it. For years I had cherished a longing which seemed impossible of realisation--to have a brother a Priest. I often used to think that if my little brothers had not gone to Heaven, I should have had the happiness of seeing them at the Altar. I greatly regretted being deprived of this joy. Yet God went beyond my dream; I only asked for one brother who would remember me each day at the Holy
Therese Martin (of Lisieux)—The Story of a Soul

Exodus
The book of Exodus--so named in the Greek version from the march of Israel out of Egypt--opens upon a scene of oppression very different from the prosperity and triumph in which Genesis had closed. Israel is being cruelly crushed by the new dynasty which has arisen in Egypt (i.) and the story of the book is the story of her redemption. Ultimately it is Israel's God that is her redeemer, but He operates largely by human means; and the first step is the preparation of a deliverer, Moses, whose parentage,
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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