Schoolmaster to Christ
EXODUS CHAPTER 1
Schoolmaster to Christ
EXODUS CHAPTER 1
Scripture Reading: Exodus 1 (KJV)
We now attempt a brief study of Exodus, of which the prominent theme is redemption. The first five verses recall the closing scenes of the preceding book. The favored objects of God's love are brought before us; and we find ourselves quickly conducted by the inspired penman into the section of the book.
In our meditations of Genesis, we were led to see that the conduct of Joseph's brethren toward him led them into Egypt. This fact should be looked at in two ways. First, a deeply solemn lesson as taught in Israel's actions toward God; secondly, an encouraging lesson in God's actions toward Israel.
Regarding Israel's actions toward God, what can be more deeply solemn than to follow the results of their treatment of him who stands before the spiritual mind as the marked type of the Lord Jesus Christ? Utterly regardless of the anguish of his soul, they consigned Joseph into the hands of the uncircumcised. And what happened to them? They were carried into Egypt, and experienced those deep and painful exercises of heart that are so graphically and touchingly presented in the closing chapters of Genesis. This was not all. A long and dreary season awaited their offspring in that very land in which Joseph had found a dungeon.
But then God was in all this; and it is His prerogative to bring good out of evil. Joseph's brethren might sell him to the Ishmaelites, and the Ishmaelites might sell him to Potiphar, and Potiphar might cast him into prison; but Jehovah was above all, and He will always accomplish His own mighty ends. "The wrath of man shall praise him." The time had not arrived in which the heirs were ready for the inheritance, and the inheritance for the heirs. The brickkilns of Egypt were to furnish a rigid school for the seed of Abraham, while "the iniquity of the Amorites" was rising to a head amid the "hills and valleys" of the Promised Land.
All this is deeply instructive. There are "wheels within wheels" in the government of God. He makes use of an endless variety of agencies in the accomplishment of His unsearchable designs. Potiphar's wife, Pharaoh's butler, Pharaoh's dreams, Pharaoh himself, the dungeon, the throne, the fetters, the royal signet, the famine – all are at His sovereign disposal, and all are instrumental in the development of His stupendous counsels. The spiritual mind delights to range through the wide domain of creation and providence, recognizing that an All-wise and Almighty God is using all the machinery for the purpose of unfolding His counsels of redeeming love. True, we may see many traces of the serpent; many deep and well-defined footprints of the enemy of God and man; many things that we cannot explain or even comprehend; suffering innocence and successful wickedness may furnish an apparent basis for the infidel-reasoning of the skeptic mind; but the true believer can piously repose in the assurance that "the Judge of all the earth shall do right."
Blessed be God for the flowing out of such reflections as these. We need such consolation and encouragement while passing through an evil world, in which the enemy has wrought such appalling mischief, in which the lusts and passions of men produce such bitter fruits, and in which the path of the true disciple presents roughnesses that mere human nature could never endure. Faith knows that there is One behind the scenes Whom the world sees not or regards; and faith calmly says, "it is well," and, "it shall be well."
The above thought is suggested by the opening lines of our book. "God's counsel shall stand, and he will do all his pleasure." The enemy may oppose; but God will always prove Himself to be above him; and all we need is a spirit of simple, child-like confidence and repose in the Divine purpose. Unbelief looks at the enemy's efforts to countervail, rather than at God's power to accomplish. It is on the latter that faith fixes its eye. Thus it obtains victory, because faith has to do with God and His infallible faithfulness, resting not on the ever shifting sands of human affairs and earthly influences, but on the immovable rock of God's eternal Word – faith's holy and solid resting-place. Come what may, it abides in that sanctuary of strength. "Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation." What then? Could death affect the counsels of the living God? No; He waited only for the Appointed moment when the most hostile influences were made instrumental in the development of His purposes.
"Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: come on, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to pass that when there falleth out any war they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land" (vv. 8-10).
This is the reasoning of a heart that had never learned to put God into its calculations. The unrenewed heart never can do so; therefore, the moment you introduce God, all its reasonings fall to the ground. Apart from, or independent of Him, they may seem wise; but, when God enters, they are proved to be perfect folly.
But why should we allow our minds to be influenced by reasonings and calculations that depend on the exclusion of God? In Pharaoh's case, we see that he could accurately recount the various contingencies of human affairs, the multiplying of the people, the falling out of war, their joining with the enemy, and escaping out of the land. With uncommon sagacity, he could put all these circumstances into the scale; but it never once occurred to him that God could have anything whatever to do in the matter. If he had thought of this, it would have upset his entire reasoning, writing folly on all his schemes.
But, shutting God out is the reasoning of man's skeptic mind. The death-blow to skepticism and infidelity is the introduction of God into the scene. Till He is seen, they may strut up and down on the stage, with an amazing show of wisdom. But, the moment the eye catches even the faintest glimpse of that Blessed One, they are stripped of their cloak, and exposed in all their nakedness and deformity.
Regarding the king of Egypt, it may be said, he did "greatly err," not knowing God. He did not know that hundreds of years back, before he was born, God's Word and oath – "two immutable things" – had infallibly secured the full deliverance of those very people he was planning to crush. This was unknown to him; and, therefore, his thoughts and plans were founded on ignorance of that grand foundation-truth of all truths – God is. He vainly imagined that by his management he could prevent the increase of those concerning whom God had said, "they shall be as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea-shore." His wise dealing was, therefore, simply madness and folly.
The wildest mistake a man can possibly fall into is acting without taking God into account. Sooner or later, the thought of God will force itself on him, and then comes the awful crash of schemes and calculations. At best, everything undertaken that is independent of God can last only for the present time. It cannot possibility stretch itself into eternity. All that is merely human; however solid, however brilliant, or however attractive, must fall into the cold grasp of death and molder in the dark, silent tomb. The clod of the valley must cover man's highest excellencies and brightest glories; mortality is engraved on his brow, and all his schemes are evanescent. On the contrary, that which is connected with and based on God shall endure forever. "His name shall endure forever, and his memorial to all generations."
It is, therefore, a mistake for a feeble mortal to stand against the eternal God, to "rush upon the thick bosses of the shield of the Almighty!" The monarch of Egypt might have sought to stem the ocean's tide with his puny hand, as to prevent the increase of those who were the subjects of Jehovah's everlasting purpose. So, although "they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens," yet, "the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew." Thus it must always be. "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision" (Ps. 2:4). Eternal confusion shall be inscribed on all the opposition of men and devils. In the midst of a scene where so much is apparently contrary to God and faith, this gives rest to the heart. Thank God, "we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Cor. 4:18).
In the power of this, we may well say, "rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his may, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass" (Ps. 37:7). The truth of this is seen in the case of both the oppressed and oppressor in our chapter. If Israel had "looked at the things that are seen," what would they have seen? They would have seen Pharaoh's wrath, stern taskmasters, afflictive burdens, rigorous service, hard bondage, mortar and brick. But, what were "the things which are not seen"? The things not seen were God's eternal purpose, His unfailing promise, the approaching dawn of a day of salvation, the "burning lamp" of Jehovah's deliverance. What a wondrous contrast. Nothing but the precious principle of faith could enable an oppressed Israelite to look beyond the smoking furnace of Egypt to the green fields and vine-clad mountains of the land of Canaan. Who could possibly recognize in those oppressed slaves toiling in the brick-kilns of Egypt, the heirs of salvation – the objects of Heaven's peculiar interest and favor.
So it was then, and so it is now. "We walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Cor. 5:7). "It doth not yet appear what we shall be" (1 Jn. 3:2). We are "here in the body," "absent from the Lord." As to fact, we are in Egypt, yet, in spirit, we are in the heavenly Canaan. Faith brings the heart into the power of God’s unseen things, enabling it to rise above this place "where death and darkness reign."
The closing verses of this section of our book present an edifying lesson in the conduct of two God-fearing women, Shiphrah and Puah. Braving his wrath, they would not carry out the king's cruel scheme. "Them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed" (1 Sam. 2:30). May we always remember this and act for God under all circumstances.
