Israel in Egypt: the Rise of Moses
E. Johnson Acts 7:17-29 But when the time of the promise drew near, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,… We may view these events as typical of the Christian time or as expressive of an inner meaning, a Divine logic of history. We may learn, then, from this passage - I. THAT DIVINE BEGINNINGS IN HISTORY ARE NEVER WITHOUT STRUGGLES, The people grew and increased, but a sudden check was given to their prosperity by the accession of a new king. Israel might have settled in Egypt and have achieved no great thing for the world, had not persecution compelled her to struggle for existence and for liberty. Times of national danger throw the nation back upon its true consciousness. They vivify and purify that consciousness. It was England's struggle against a tyrant two centuries and a half ago which made England. So the War of Independence made America into a nation. The truth applies to the individual also. We may depend upon it that permanent good must sooner or later be struggled for - either that it may be gained, or, if gained, that it may be kept. II. THAT THE EXTREME HOUR OF HUMAN NEED IS THE HOUR FOR DIVINE INTERPOSITION; or, man's extremity is God's opportunity. "When the tale of bricks is full," says the proverb, "then comes Moses." Great stirrings among the people, movements towards liberty and purity of religion, seem to produce at the right moment the patriotic leader and the reformer. When the hour comes the man is not wanting. It may be argued that until the leader appears the movement is not ripe. God reveals his will for change in the words and work of great men. III. THE SIGNIFICANT PERSONALITY OF GREAT MEN. The child was divinely fair. He was wonderfully preserved from death; rescued by the very daughter of the persecutor, and cradled in the very house of his foes. His education among one of the most richly civilized of ancient peoples was complete; and the influence of his person was most commanding. God does not bestow such graces for nothing. Whenever we see such a one marked out by beauty, knowledge, intellectual power above his fellows, we are entitled to ask - What is his significance for the world? What does God mean to do with him for the good of mankind? Again, the life-ideas in such great men are often of slow ripening. Not till he was forty years of age did his thoughts turn to the condition of his nation, and the delivering purpose come to fruit in his heart. Some men conceive much earlier the ambition and the call of their life, and move toward the goal with extraordinary velocity and energy. Others appear to be long dormant, like the oak that tarries to put forth its leaf in the woodland. Great careers have been run, great works achieved, by the age of thirty-seven: Alexander, Raphael, Byron, arc well-known examples. Cromwell, on the other hand, was about the age of Moses when God called him from the fens of Huntingdon to save our nation. The age matters little; men in this respect resemble plants - "Ripeness is all." IV. GREAT TRAINS OF EVENTS SPRING FROM SLIGHT VISIBLE CAUSES. A single spark is sufficient to fire the train of powder which is to explode the mine. When the mind is full of an idea, a trifling circumstance may stimulate all its energies to action. A forming purpose waits only for the decisive action to fix and crystallize it. Thus the act of Moses in delivering the individual Israelite from his oppressor fixed him in his national design. In everything let us follow the lead of God. Let us remember that we are here first to be acted upon by him, that we may then act from him upon others. If we are really in earnest, the opportunity will never be wanting. God makes his servants ready for great enterprises by first inspiring them for lesser duties. The large and distant project may hold the mere visionary's view; but the practical and really useful man begins with his neighbor next door. The man who actually helps his friend in need is the man who may be trusted to help a community or a nation. But how many dreamers are there whose projects of amelioration begin and end with eloquent speeches or articles in newspapers! The old lesson comes back from Moses' life to all who would do and be something in the world: "Do the thing that lies nearest to thee; the second will have already become clearer." V. MOSES EXAMPLE WAS THAT OF LOYALTY UNDER MISCONCEPTION. There is much pathos in the simple word that he thought his brethren understood that God was delivering them by his band; but they did not understand. So mighty is the strength derived from the sympathy of numbers, the common soldier becomes a hero at its electric touch. So chilling is misconception and want of sympathy on the part of friends, it damps the spirit of the Heaven-born leader. For this reason, when we sift the examples of moral courage presented by any time, those are the bravest and the greatest, and most prove their call of God, who show that they can go on, if needs be, not merely in spite of their open enemies, but in spite of their friends. The misconstruction of friends will be most felt when the action is in the conscience known to be most disinterested and sincere. Moses aims to reconcile contending brethren; unity among themselves is now above all necessary. His action is misconstrued as ambition (ver. 28). Thus does the sick man turn on the kindly physician, the subject on his prince, the slave on his deliverer. Man often ignores the day of his salvation. Moses, like his great Antitype, was baffled in his saving designs by the ignorance and folly of those who would not be blessed. But he simply uses prudence and waits for a future opportunity. We can hardly construe the flight of Moses otherwise than as an act of prudence. He saw his life and with it his design endangered. To have remained would have been foolhardiness, often confounded with true courage. He took the course of prudence, which is the course of the higher courage. Far easier to rush on an heroic death than to nourish a noble purpose under disappointment, solitude, and exile. The history of a nation's greatness is summed up in that of its great men. And in the life trials and struggles of great men God reveals himself from age to age as the persevering, unvanquishable, and loving Savior of mankind. His undying purpose, manifested in all his heroes, is to set us free; and this in the knowledge of him and obedience to his laws. - J. Parallel Verses KJV: But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, WEB: "But as the time of the promise came close which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,