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children. Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she 8 may nurse the child for thee? And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child's 9 mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy IO wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it. And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.

a large amount of Japhetic (?) blood in their veins. They classified mankind as white, red or brown (Semitic), and black. Hebrews (see under i. 8). 7-9. The word for maid here (almah) involves puberty. If this be Miriam, she must be at least twelve years older than Moses (under ii. 4). Nursenurse: lit. suckler—suckle;—so that a wet-nurse is what is in question. (Clever Miriam has no doubt made up her mind, which.) The child's mother (cp. 2 Sa. xxi. 8, 10): she may have been on the watch, and planned for this; perhaps knowing the princess's heart. For me-thy wages: this makes the foundling to be hers; but also, because she is good, makes her to be his (adoptive mother). Apparently the circumstances of this adoption were made no secret, from Moses or others. 10. Grew: not necessarily, to manhood; but perhaps, till the weaning time; which in the case of an Hebrew child may have been, for several years. He became her son! (perhaps by formal) adoption. The New Testament has no adoption but of sons (huiothesia, "son-making "); -e.g., not, of citizens (" naturalization" to the state). She might have made him only, a favoured slave; but (1 Jn. iii. 1) she does her "level best" for him. There is nothing to show that this matter was concealed from the king. See note under Exercise 2. Egyptian princesses had large freedom (monuments show); might have palaces and establishments of their own. In ii. 15, the (then) Pharaoh is seen going cautiously to work, as if Moses had then come to be an important personage. She called-water. Moses is said to be good Egyptian for "drawn out." But there is a Hebrew derivation to the same effect; so that the name may have been proposed by his (nurse-) mother. The giving of a name, when thus recorded, is significant (Re. ii. 17).

Exercise 4.

1. What are the three great "Rivers in Israel's history? What places have they respectively in the life of the world? (Cp. Re. xxii. 1.)

2. Love at first sight on the part of royal personages,--Give three Scripture cases as follows, (1) On the part of a pagan, (2) on the part of an Israelite, (3) on the part of a Teacher.

3. Give from history other cases of infancy notably saved for future greatness. NOTE. Every infant has in it a reality of greatness, to be saved or lost, beyond the value of a world; and a possibility of special greatness (Lu. i. 15) even among the sons of God. In Luther's boyhood there was a Master who would take off his Doctor's cap in salutation of the boys, because one of them (poor thing!) might be a future Doctor. N.B.-As there is no word of Aaron's having been hid, nor look of the family's having been harassed before Moses' birth, it may be inferred that the infanticidal oppression had not lasted three years (a "brief madness"?).

I l

And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one 12 of his brethren. And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian,

(ii. 11-15.) THE CRISIS AT MATURITY.-At this time (cp. Acts vii. 23) Moses was "full forty years old." He was (ver. 22) "instructed" (Revised Version) in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and mighty in words and deeds. There is a tradition of his having achieved reputation as military leader of an expedition against the Ethiopians. The authentic fact is, that he received the best education which the civilised world could give, and was known as a capable man in speech and action. The royal heart which pitied him in his perilous cradle had thus been faithful to her voluntary trust. It may have been a nail of his cross ("the reproach of Christ," He. xi.) to wound that kind heart in breaking with Egypt. His home in that heart may have differed from his second forty years' experience of Zipporah. Happily, though a poet, he was not sentimental.

II. In those days (Sept. in those many days-which is not translation, but speculative commentary); that past-time. Grown: the process in ver. 10 is now completed ("a grown person "). Brethren: there is an arbitrary fancy, that up to this time he did not know who or what he was (see under ii. 10). His mother (nurse) was not sworn to secrecy; and was Miriam repressible? Going out (inaugural exodus) here (cp. He. xi. 23) appears, of deliberate purpose, with a view, under power of Israelitish religious conviction, at the cost of worldly prospects and of natural affections (to those who had befriended him, the princess and others). The royal residence may have been on the Nile's (Tanaitic) bank; and to the (Goshen) Israelites he may have been personally a stranger. Brethren: mark the emphasis of iteration: cp. "thy brother" in Lu. xv. The whole question of life may turn on this (Mat. xxv. 40). The new kingdom is always a family (He. xiii. 1), though it may expand through nationality into the widest imperialism (1 Co. i. 2; Eph. iii. 15). Their burdens. Painful sight to one who honoured them as sons of God! The word for burdens here (sibhlôth) is found (cp. "riches") only in plur. ; and means (see under i. 13, 14), wearing oppressive labours. Moses may have seen the condition at its worst, when he was fresh from "the treasures of Egypt." That what he was embracing (Mat. xvi. 18-26). He spied: looked on (so in Rev. Vers.). An--brother. (1) A blow, to a man, as if it had been a dog. (2) This to a son of Abraham, a child of the covenant, a brother-prince with Moses in the royalty of heaven. And that (3) by an Egyptian, an unclean outsider! to the face of Moses, as if in insulting defiance to the Hebrew favourite of the princess. looked: lit. faced or turned: perhaps we see here, agitation of a strong sensitive nature. Slew: smote. A common word for smite has here the effect of slew, because in this case it is, like the laws, "a dead hand." Buried: hid. Not regularly interred, but simply concealed. A sand-storm, which chokes a man, may thus bury him in drift. If the work was a quarry, there might be a mass of shingle and sand as tailing." Moses might hope,

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12. He

13 and hid him in the sand.

And when he went out the second

day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou 14 thy fellow? And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is 15 known. Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.

if there should be discovery, that the death would be ascribed to accident. But-13. And when-behold: and he went out the following day-and lo! ("events thicken"). That did the wrong: "Satan rebuking sin.' Thy fellow: thy neighbour (the word in Tenth Commandment). Moses (the law) makes the point, equality of right. Sometimes this is better than appeal to claim upon affection in brotherhood. God is not "the husband" of the widow, but her "judge." 14. Made thee: set thee. Prince here may mean, vaguely, a great person ("grandee"), with reference to official title to meddle. The judge (Shôphet) appears to be an Hebrew official. Though Pharaoh's taskmasters were over them for revenue purposes (cp. the N. T. "publicans"), the Hebrews may, as in Palestine under the Romans, have been allowed to keep order among themselves by means of their own constitutions. The killing here is plainly murder, under the Sixth Commandment: that is, a private person killing one under the protection of the law. Thou killedst: a Hebrew slave, with a loose tongue, and an angry envious heart, is in the circumstances a dangerous acquaintance, making unsafe residence in Pharaoh's land. Feared-known. There was an Egyptian law which made it a capital crime-as if accessory to the fact-to look at a murder without attempting to save the violated life. But this plea might not clear Moses :-(1) The sufferer may not have been threatened with death by his assailant; (2) The assailant may have been his owner, with power of life and death by law; (3) Can a slave have any rights? and (4), and above all, Ought not the Hebrews to be repressed in every way? To an Egyptian judge or jury, these reasons might be strong. 15. Sought to slay Moses. The turn of expression has a look of cautious planning, not imperial; as if Moses really were an important personage. The expression in ver. 14 may not represent merely the petulance of an insolent slave, having a fling about "beggars on horseback." It may have been genuine envy, on account of a real grandeur, which the mean heart hates to see in a brother, and which nevertheless the blinding hatred cannot conceal from the self-torturing baseness.

I.

Exercise 5.

'Killing no murder." (1) Would Moses have been justified by foreseeing his own magistracy; and why? (2) Would the Good Samaritan have been justified in hanging the thieves; and why?

2. "Brother" and "fellow," love and right. (1) Distinguish between duties of "perfect obligation" and those of "imperfect obligation." (2) Show how judge" may be better than a "husband," and a policeman than Miss Nightingale.

a

3. As to impelling motives: (1) State what may have been the real feelings of

16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their Moses which broke out in this action. (2) State what, as compared with these, may have been his real feelings on an occasion of his literally "breaking" the law. (3) What natural character may have appeared in those two lawless actions? And what spiritual affections?

NOTE.-In Egypt the grand problem of humanity, to get men to regard one another as brethren, was artificially aggravated in difficulty by a strong system of caste; and the religion gave its force on the side of inhumanity. Moses, who so ardently loved Israel, appears to have experienced little of true personal friendship. His "soul was like a star, and dwelt apart." His theology seems to have created him in the image of God, in respect of a sovereign affection toward those who were not naturally lovely. His first word is about equity. His first action was justice (unauthorized). His great work was law. And he passionately loved. All the elements came to be harmonized in him. But he took a long time to "grow" (vers. 10, 11); more than twice forty years.

(ii. 16-22.) THE SECLUSION OF MIDDLE LIFE.—This is the first of three famous forties, measuring periods of seclusion: the last, being that of the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness; and the second, being that of the only prophet who is named in the same breath with Moses; the one who is associated with him in a certain mystery of disappearance from the world, and of reappearance "in glory" upon the Mount of Transfiguration, conversing with Christ (Mk. ix.) about His exodus ("decease," Lu. ix. 32) which He should accomplish at Jerusalem. Only, the Mosaic Seclusion was of long days (years), while that of Christ and of Elias extended only to the short days. The long period may have been profitable for subduing the Mosaic temperament; Nu. xii. 3—where “meek” may really mean, sat upon," which, however, did not attain to the mellow sweetness of St. Peter: "Old age ne'er cooled the Douglas' blood," cp. De. xxxiv. 7. But irrespectively of any speciality of the individual temperament of Moses, we know that seclusion often goes before great action: the arrow is drawn backward before it is launched by the bowman.

16. Midian (under xviii. 1, 27). Moses was here among kinsfolk, as the Midianites were sprung from Abraham. Their land-country or region— lay mainly beyond the Ailanitic Gulf, on the east of the Sinaitic Peninsula (see in Introduction, "Theatre of Events"). Moses must have taken some such route through Sinai from Goshen as Israel took forty years after. He did not need to pass through the Red Sea : he could go round the head of it along the Isthmus of Suez; when he may for once have touched the soil of Canaan, in the South. Those Midianites whom Moses joined are supposed to have resided mainly beyond the Akabah Gulf; which is narrow as a Scottish Highland salt-water "Loch." There may, by ferrying across, or travelling round the head of this gulf, have been continuous connection with the Peninsula on the west side of the gulf, where Moses will be found shepherding forty years after. One individual or tribe might have flocks on both sides of the narrow Or the same flock might be taken from the one side to the other for convenience of pasturage. The largest conceivable amount of transportation in that condensed neighbourhood would be as nothing in comparison with

sea.

17 father's flock. And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered 18 their flock. And when they came to Reuel their father, he 19 said, How is it that ye are come so soon to-day? And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew water enough for us, and watered the 20 flock.

And he said unto his daughters, And where is he? why is it that ye have left the man? call him, that he may 21 eat bread. And Moses was content to dwell with the man: 22 and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter. And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.

what is familiar in more spacious domains. But great history can go into little space in humble guise (-a manger). Dwelt--sat down. The same word in both places: lit. sat: thus our "sit" passes both into "set" and into "settle." A well lit. "the well." Perhaps "the well known to those who knew that region. Or perhaps simply (like "the post-office") "the well" of a township or encampment or pastoral station. In any case, it was where Moses naturally rested from his journeying (cp. Jn. iv. 1-42). 17. The incident here is substantially a recurrence of Jacob's experience in Ge. xxix. I, etc. It may not have been of very rare occurrence in that condition of society. Priest to suggest prince is needless here. The word (cohen) is the customary one for priest; and there is nothing to forbid the supposition that Raguel was distinctively the priest of Midian, or a priest of Midian; as Melchisedek had been of Salem. And there is nothing to necessitate the supposition that he was, like Melchisedek, a king; a supposition which may seem to be excluded by the conduct of the shepherds; though not by the occupation of his daughters; for, in those lands, shepherding was not and is not reckoned unfit for daughters of such a local grandee, whether priest or prince (Imâm or Sheykh). Our distinction between "priest" and "prince" has hardly any meaning in a patriarchal society, where the chief is sacred head in all things. Reuel: lit. friend (or fellow) of God. From this and other circumstances it has been thought that Raguel, like Melchisedek, served the true God; Moses may thus have found himself spiritually at home among Midianites. (On Raguel, Jethro, Hobab, see under iii. I.) 18, 19. Egyptian-say, in dress, manners, speech (Mk. xiv. 70). In Egypt a Hebrew could be distinguished from an Egyptian in Midian they might see no difference, as in France they may see no difference between an Englishman and a Scotchman. Out of the hands; not literally. The enough is not expressly in the Heb. 20. And whereman? In the Heb. there is energetic rapidity ("on hospitable thoughts intent"): thus,-But his where? What for this-ye have left the man? Eat bread (cp. Lu. xiv. 15 and Lu. xv. 2). Bread is for the whole feast: "denominatio fit a majori." 21. Was content: consented. No doubt, he was requested. Zipporah: lit. bird. She does not make a pleasing impression. When her husband was in desperate trouble with God, she wounded him he sent her back to her friends, who afterwards sent her back to him. Was there ungenial hardness, as well as maidenly reserve, in what occasioned her father's rebuke, ver. 20? Gershom. It is now supposed that this is

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