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Saviour, and be saved. Moses evidently had the working hand, and Aaron the eloquent tongue.

Verse 24. Moses had incurred the anger of God by delaying to undergo the initiatory rite of circumcision. Though it seems contrary to our feelings, the mother, under a special inspiration, performed hurriedly the rite or sacrament. A mother of old called a son being circumcised, a spouse or husband.

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CHAPTER V.

SECURITY OF PHARAOH.

PHARAOH.

INTERVIEW OF MOSES AND AARON WITH ROYAL DISCOURTESY. MILDNESS OF MOSES AND AARON. ROYAL TYRANNY. SEVERITY OF LABOR. DISAPPOINTMENT OF MOSES.

WE learn from the chapter we have read, that Pharaoh, the Egyptian king, sat upon his throne in possession of all the pomp and magnificence of an eastern despot, fearing no rival, and expecting no reversal. He had not the remotest idea of that great transaction that was taking place, invisible to him, between Moses, Aaron, and the Lord God of Israel, the issue of which would be his own dethronement, the destruction of his nation, and the deliverance of those very slaves whom he was grinding to the earth by oppressive tyranny and avaricious despotism. He recollected Moses, no doubt, and the very wonderful story of his early life. He had heard that he was picked up as a foundling; that he was taken home by a royal daughter of an illustrious predecessor of his own; that he was brought up in the palace, and learned there all the wisdom of the Egyptians; but that he was so foolish and headstrong a fanatic, that he had left the advantages that he had, and the splendid preferment that he enjoyed, for what Pharaoh thought a mere delusion, an idea, or sentiment, of no weight or worth when weighed against the actual advantages of a great kingdom, a splendid palace, and the power that he might wield as the chief servant of Pharaoh. He thought that this fanatic, though not dead, was too feeble and worth

less a personage, and too much carried away by his own romantic notions of religion, to at all weaken his sway over the Egyptian people.

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It appears, however, that while these thoughts may have been passing through his mind, Moses and Aaron went into the palace, and spake to Pharaoh, and said, "Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness." What a majestic preface to this humble, reasonable, and fair petition! "The God of Israel is our authority; we are simply his ambassadors, and we ask for him, and in his name, a boon that will not materially inconvenience you, and that will very materially bless our countrymen, and oblige us, that thou wouldst let the people of Israel go. We do not ask their exodus, we simply beg a respite. We do not demand their eventual escape, we simply ask that they may have a holiday, in order that they may be able to go into the desert so far as to sacrifice unto the God of Israel." It may be said, that Moses ultimately contemplated more. So he did. But if Pharaoh refused the little that he asked, he would have refused more violently all, if he had ventured to ask all. Moses asked in righteous principle, and yet with wise policy. He asked an instalment of the whole; and, if he could not obtain that instalment, he knew that he was far less likely to get the whole. Therefore, he was satisfied to ask a portion, and see what the result would be.

Now, Pharaoh's reply was neither dignified, nor courtéous: "Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice, to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go." He might have, in words at least, respected the religion of the people, even if he did not believe it. We ought to respect every man's faith, whatever it be; for it is his all. We will try to undeceive him, if he be wrong; but the way to do so is not to pour contumely upon him, or insult upon the religion that he holds; but by show

ing him, in contrast with it, the truth in love, and so persuade him to renounce his errors, and embrace what he was ignorant of, the more excellent way. But Pharaoh, with all the despotism of an eastern prince, exclaimed, “I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go." He gave an absolute refusal, without the courtesy, or even the dignity which became so great a monarch, to those who approached him in the language of suppliance, and asked what was neither unreasonable nor unfair. In all probability Pharaoh judged of the God of the Israelites by the Israelites themselves, as some do of the poor man's Lord by the poor man's state. They were degraded slaves, and must, therefore, have a feeble God. He thought there could be no moral grandeur, unless there were material circumstance. He fancied that such degraded Helots could not have a God of great power, or at least, worthy of his confidence, or his respect. Now, how did Moses and Aaron reply? Just mark the contrast between the Egyptian king, and the Hebrew or Christian messengers. Being threatened, they threatened not; reviled, they reviled not again. They took meekly his remarks; they entreated, but threatened not; for they said immediately, "The God of the Hebrews hath met with us;" speaking calmly, as if not one insulting expression had been used: "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." Let us do the duty that he enjoins, lest we suffer the consequences of neglecting that duty. Now, here is a precedent for us. If Pharaoh forgot his place, Moses and Aaron were not to forget theirs. If he laid aside the dignity of a king when he addressed them, evidently in loss of temper, as well as in irreligious language, they did not lay aside the deference that subjects owed, or the meekness that Christians felt. They spoke as if he excusably mistook their object, or was ignorant of their meaning, owing to

their imperfect expression of it. They explained, that they only wanted to go, that they might escape the righteous judgment which disobedience would incur. And they might have said, "If judgment begin at the house of God, what shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel?" It ought to have suggested to Pharaoh, If God's own people suffer for disobedience to his laws, what will be the treatment to be expected by those who insult him to his face, and blaspheme the holy Name by which they are called?

The king of Egypt was not moved, but said, "Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works?" The word "let" is used in the old Saxon sense or meaning of the expression, and is equivalent to "prevent; " "Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, prevent the people from doing their works? Get you unto your burdens. And Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye make them rest from their burdens." He turned aside with perfect contempt from Moses and Aaron, and spake to the officers and exactors, and told them to see that the people instantly attended to their work. The expression, "the people of the land now are many," evidently denotes that the produce of so many laborers' work was a very great accession to the royal treasury; and that if he were to allow them to suspend their work for a very few days, it would be the loss to him of a very great sum. He thought only of two things-filling the coffers of the state by grinding down the lives of his slaves; and of degrading a people, who he dreamed, in his folly, if they had strength and opportunity, would rise up, resist his government, and upset his throne. He therefore said, "They are many," and insisted upon their going back to their burdens; and, very much like the eastern princes still, instead of being softened by this appeal to his royal clemency, he seems to have been more exasperated against them; for he now re

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