"Please, Lord," Moses replied, "I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since You have spoken to Your servant, for I am slow of speech and tongue." Sermons I. A FELT INFIRMITY. Moses was doubtless right in what he said of his natural difficulty of speech. But his error lay - 1. In exaggerating the value of a gift of mere eloquence. He did not possess it - though Stephen calls him "mighty in words" (Acts 7:22) - and he was apt to overrate its influence. He forgot that the man of deep silent nature has a power of his own, which expresses itself through the very ruggedness and concentration of his speech; and that oratory, while valuable for some purposes, is not the most essential gift in carrying through movements which are to leave a permanent impress on history. What is chiefly wanted is not power of speech, but power of action; and when it is felt that a man can act, a very limited amount of speech will serve his purpose (Cromwell, William the Silent, Bismarck, etc.). The smooth persuasive tongue, though pleasant to listen to, is not the weightiest in counsel. 2. In forgetting that God knew of this infirmity when he called him to the work. God knew all about his slowness of speech, and yet had sent him on this mission. Did not this carry with it the promise that whatever help he needed would be graciously vouchsafed? God has a purpose in sometimes calling to his service men who seem destitute of the gifts - the outward gifts - needful for his work. 1. The work is more conspicuously his own. 2. His power is glorified in man's weakness. 3. The infirmity is often of advantage to the servant himself - keeping him humbled giving him to prayer, teaching him to rely on Divine grace, rousing him to effort, etc. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). Paul was a man "rude in speech" (2 Corinthians 11:6), and came not with eloq II. A GRACIOUS PROMISE. God would be with his mouth, and teach him what to say (ver. 11). The Maker of speech, he might be trusted to aid its powers, when these were needed in his service. So Christ promises his disciples to give them in their hour of need what they shall speak (Matthew 10:19). Lips touched by Divine grace possess a simple, natural eloquence of their own, far excelling the attempts of studied oratory. Then there is the other fact, that gifts of speech are often latent till grace comes to evoke them. Moses' original awkwardness was no index to what, assisted by God's grace, he might ultimately have become, even as a speaker. His gift would probably have grown with the necessity. The greatest preachers of the Gospel, with Paul at their head, have not been men naturally eloquent. If they became so afterwards, it was grace that made them. Thus, we are told of Luther that at first he dared not enter the pulpit. "Luther, who subsequently preached with so much power, - who gave a new direction, and a force and elevation never before attained, to the whole system of German preaching, - who is still the unparalleled master of all who hope to effect more by the internal demonstrativeness of a discourse than by its external ornamentation, - this Luther was too humble, too modest, to take the place of a preacher. It was only at the solicitatlon of Slauptitz that he finally consented to preach - at first in the oratory of the convent, and afterwards in church" (Hagenbach). Knox was equally diffident about the exercise of his gifts, and when an unexpected appeal was made to him, at the age of forty-two - "the said John, abashed, burst forth in most abundant tears, and withdrew himself to his chamber" (Knox's 'History'). All may not be eloquent like these; but anyone possessed of earnest feeling and intense convictions, who is content to deliver a plain message with directness and simplicity, will be surprised at what God can sometimes make oven of rude and unskilled lips. III. A SINFUL SHRINKING FROM DUTY (ver. 13). The continued reluctance of Moses, after so gracious an assurance, was not to be excused. It was a direct act of disobedience, and argued, besides a want of faith, a certain measure of stubbornness. God was angry with him, yet forbore with his infirmity. And if God forbore with Moses, it is surely not for us to blame him, who are so often in "the same condemnation." Let him who has never shrunk from unwelcome duties, or who has never stumbled in believing that Divine grace will, under trying circumstances, be made sufficient for his needs, cast the first stone. Admire rather in this incident - 1. The patience and forbearance of God in stooping to his servant's weakness, and 2. The "exceeding greatness" of the power which accomplished such mighty results by so unwilling an instrumentality. Nothing proves more clearly that the work of Israel's deliverance was not of man, but of God, than this almost stubborn reluctance of Moses to have anything to do with it. IV. A SECOND-BEST ARRANGEMENT (vers. 14-17). The appointment of Aaron as spokesman to his brother, while in one view of it an act of condescension, and a removal of Moses' difficulty, was in another aspect of it a punishment of his disobedience. It took from Moses the privilege of speaking for God in his own person, and committed the delivery of the message to more eloquent, perhaps, but also to less sanctified, lips. 1. The arrangement had its advantages. (1) It supplied one's defect by another's gift. (2) It utilised a talent lying unemployed. (3) It gave Aaron a share in the honour of being God's messenger. (4) It formed a new link of sympathy between the brothers. But - 2. It was not the best: (1) It prevented the development of the gift of speech in Moses himself. Had he relied on God's promise, he would doubtless have acquired a power of speech to which he was at first a stranger. (2) The message would lose in force by being delivered through an intermediary. This of necessity. How much of the power of speech lies in its being a direct emanation from the mind and heart of the speaker - something instinct with his own personality! As delivered by Aaron, the messages of God would lose much of their impressiveness. Fluency has its disadvantages. A mind burdened with its message, and struggling with words to give it utterance, conveys a greater impression of force than ready delivery charged with a message that is not its own. (3) Moses would be hampered in his work by the constancy of his dependence on Aaron. It limits a man, when he cannot act without continually calling in another to his assistance. (4) It divided Moses' authority, and gave Aaron an undue influence with the people (cf. Exodus 32.). (5) It was a temptation to Aaron himself to assume, or at least aspire to, greater authority than of right belonged to him (cf. Numbers 12.). Learn - 1. That it is not always good for us to have our wishes granted. 2. That God sometimes punishes by granting us our wishes (cf. Hosea 13:11). 3. That God's way is ever the best. - J.O.
O my Lord, I am not eloquent. I. THESE OBJECTIONS WERE MADE AFTER GOD HAD GIVEN HIM A FULL INSIGHT INTO THE NATURE OF THE SERVICE REQUIRED.1. The insight given into the nature of this service was infallible. 2. It was forceful. 3. It was sympathetic. II. THESE OBJECTIONS FREQUENTLY ARISE FROM AN UNDUE CONSCIOUSNESS OF SELF. 1. From a consciousness of natural infirmity. This ought to inspire within them a more thorough determination to seek Divine help. Silence is often more eloquent and valuable than speech. 2. From a supposition of moral incapacity. The call of God is calculated to educate all the sublime tendencies of the soul, and renders men fit for the toil allotted to them. 3. That, rather than self, God must be the supreme idea of the soul when about to enter upon religious service. Our hearts should be a temple in which every act of service should be rendered to the infinite. III. THESE OBJECTIONS DO NOT SUFFICIENTLY REGARD THE EFFICACY OF THE DIVINE HELP THAT IS PROMISED IN THE SERVICE. "Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say." 1. The Divine help is adapted to our natural infirmity. It is far better to have God joined to our infirmity, than to have the eloquent tongue without Him. Thus there are times when an infirmity may be an inestimable advantage to a Christian worker. 2. The Divine help is adapted to our full requirement. God did not merely promise to aid the speech of Moses, but also to teach him what he should say. So in the Christian service of to-day, good men are not merely aided in the line of their natural infirmity, but also along the entire line of their requirement. IV. THESE OBJECTIONS ARE A REFLECTION ON THE PROPRIETY OF THE DIVINE SELECTION FOR THE SERVICE. "And the Lord said unto him, who hath made man's mouth," etc. 1. This method of conduct is ungrateful. 2. Irreverent. V. THESE OBJECTIONS DO NOT SUFFICIENTLY RECOGNIZE THE DIGNITY AND HONOUR THE SERVICE WILL COMMAND. 1. There was the honour of achieving the freedom of a vast nation. 2. There was the honour of conquering a tyrant king. 3. There was the honour of becoming the lawgiver of the world. VI. THESE OBJECTIONS ARE LIABLE TO AWAKEN THE DIVINE DISPLEASURE. "And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses." 1. This anger may be manifested in our removal from the service. 2. This anger may be manifested by the positive infliction of penalty. 3. This anger may occasion our eternal moral ruin.Learn: 1. Good men ought to know better than to object to the service of God. 2. That in the service of God men find the highest reward. 3. That in the service of God men attain the truest immortality. (J. S. Exell, M. A.) (Robert Hall.) ( C. H. Spurgeon.) "I am not eloquent."I. THEN TRUE ELOQUENCE MAY HAVE ITS USE. 1. To explain Divine truth. 2. To inspire men with the thought of freedom. 3. To manifest the perfection of the gift of speech. II. THEN DO NOT CONDEMN MEN WHO ARE. III. THEN DO NOT ENVY THOSE WHO ARE ACKNOWLEDGOD TO BE SO. If we have not eloquence, we have some other equally valuable talent in its place. IV. THEN THE LORD CAN USE A FEEBLE INSTRUMENTALITY. This will enhance the Divine glory. V. THEN WORDS ARE NOT THE CHIEF CONDITIONS OF SERVICE. Ideas, thoughts, emotions, and spiritual influences, occupy a more prominent place. VI. THEN DO NOT GRUMBLE, BUT SEEK THE DIVINE AID IN YOUR INFIRMITY. He will help and bless work done for Him. (J. S. Exell, M. A.) I. AN INFIRMITY.II. A DISCRETION. III. A DISCIPLINE. (J. S. Exell, M. A.) It might certainly be asked with propriety, why Moses, who was singled out by Providence as the great medium for bringing the wisdom of heaven down to the earth, for ever substituting Divine truth instead of human error, and who was gifted with such uncommon perfection of the mind and intellect, was denied the power of eloquence, apparently so indispensable for his extraordinary vocation. But it was an act of the sublime wisdom of the Almighty to withhold from Moses just the gift of persuasion, lest it should appear that he owed the triumph over the obstinacy of Pharaoh and the disbelief of the Israelites, not to the miracles of God and the intrinsic worth of the Law, but to the artifices and subtleties of oratory, which too often procure, even to fallacies and sophisms, an ephemeral victory. It was wisely designed that the power of God should the more gloriously shine through a humble and imperfect instrument. This is a remarkable and deeply interesting difference between the legislator of Israel and the founders of almost all other religions, to whom, uniformly, no quality is ascribed in a higher degree than the gift of eloquence.(M. M. Kalisch, Ph. D.) Moses has now descended from the high level of the argument, and narrowed the case into one of mere human personality. He has forgotten the promise, "Certainly I will be with thee." The moment we get away from Divine promise and forget great principles, we narrow all controversy and degrade all service. Self-consciousness is the ruin of all vocations. Let a man look into himself, and measure his work by himself, and the movement of his life will be downward and exhaustive. Let him look away from himself to the Inspirer of his life, and the Divine reward of his labours, and he will not so much as see the difficulties which may stand ever so thickly in his way. Think of Moses turning his great mission into a question which involved his own eloquence! All such reasoning admits of being turned round upon the speaker as a charge of foolish, if not of profane, vanity. See how the argument stands: "I am not eloquent, and therefore the mission cannot succeed in my hands," is equivalent to saying, "I am an eloquent man, and therefore, this undertaking must be crowned with signal success." The work had nothing whatever to do with the eloquence or ineloquence of Moses. It was not to be measured or determined by his personal gifts: the moment, therefore, that he turned to his individual talents, he lost sight of the great end which he was called instrumentally to accomplish.(J. Parker, D. D.) Moses was a thinker rather than a speaker. Fluency was not his forte. He saw too much in a moment to be able to give utterance to it all at once; and so his lack of readiness in the use of language was the result of the richness of his thought, rather than of its poverty. When the bottle is full, its contents flow out less freely by far than when it is two parts empty. So, very often, the fluency of one speaker is due to the fact that he sees only one side of a subject; while the hesitancy of another is the consequence of his taking in at a glance all the bearings of his theme, and of his desire to say nothing on it that will imperil other great principles with which it is really, but not to all minds visibly, connected.(W. M. Taylor, D. D.) I will be with thy mouth I. THAT GOD DOES NOT ALWAYS SEE FIT TO REMOVE NATURAL INFIRMITIES FROM THOSE WHO ARE COMMISSIONED TO IMPORTANT SERVICE.1. They keep us humble. 2. They remind us of God. 3. They prompt us to prayer. II. THAT GOD RENDERS NATURAL IMPEDIMENTS EFFECTIVE TO THE CLEAR MANIFESTATION OF HIS POWER AND GLORY. 1. Should win our submission. 2. Should gain our confidence. 3. Should inspire our praise. III. THAT GOD SO FAR COMPASSIONATES OUR NATURAL INFIRMITIES AS TO RELIEVE THEM BY CONGENIAL AND EFFICIENT HELP. 1. Fraternal. 2. Adapted to need. 3. Constant. (J. S. Exell, M. A.) I. SHOULD SILENCE THE VOICE OF COMPLAINT UNDER NATURAL INFIRMITIES.II. SHOULD BECOME AN ARGUMENT FOR THE READY PERFORMANCE OF ANY MISSION ON WHICH WE MAY BE DIVINELY SENT. III. SHOULD LEAN US REVERENTLY TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD IN THE VARIED ALLOTMENTS OF LIFE. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.) I.II. III. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.) II. EVERY CASE OF INABILITY TO SPEAK IS OF DIVINE APPOINTMENT. God has meted out to us our every endowment, whether of body or of mind; we are indebted for nothing to chance, for everything to Providence; and though it were beside our purpose to inquire into the reasons which may induce God to deny to one man the sense of sight, and to another the sense of hearing, we are as much bound to recognise His appointment in these bodily defects as in the splendid gifts of a capacious memory, a rich imagination and a sound judgment, which procure for their possessor admiration and influence. And when there shall come the grand clearing up of the mysteries and discrepancies of the present dispensation, we nothing doubt that the Almighty will show that there was a design to be answered by every deformed limb, and every sightless eyeball, and every speechless tongue, and that in regard both to the individual himself and to numbers with whom he stood associated, there has been a distinct reference to the noblest and most glorious of ends, in the closing up of the inlets of the senses, or in the yielding the members to disease or contraction. The deaf and dumb child shall be proved to have acted a part in the furtherance of the purposes of God, which it could never have performed, had it delighted its parents by hearkening to their counsels and pouring forth the music of its speech; the blind man and the cripple shall be shown to have been so placed in their pilgrimage through life, that they should have been decidedly disadvantaged, the one by sight, the other by strength. "Who maketh," then, "the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing or the blind? have not I the Lord?" Thine, O God, is the allowing upon earth the melancholy assemblage of those who seem but fractions of men; but wise and good, though unsearchable and past finding out, are all Thy ways and all Thy permissions. III. And there are two INFERENCES which you should draw from the facts thus established, and which we would press with all earnestness on your attention. 1. You discern, first of all, the extreme sinfulness of looking slightingly or with contempt on those who are afflicted with any bodily defect or deformity. Ridicule in such case, however disguised and softened down, is ridicule of an appointment of God; and to despise in the least degree a man because he possesses not the full measure of senses and powers, is to revile the Creator, who alone ordered the abstraction. 2. If we are indebted to God for every sense and every faculty, are we not laid under a mighty obligation to present our bodies a living sacrifice to our Maker? (H. Melvill, B. D.) (Prof. Gaussen.) (H. O. Mackey.) 1230 God, the Lord 5168 muteness 5102 Moses, life of 6218 provoking God May the Eleventh but -- --! May the Twelfth Mouth and Matter A Bundle of Myrrh is My Well-Beloved unto Me; He Shall Abide Between My Breasts. Preaching (I. ). To the Saddest of the Sad The Sweet Uses of Adversity "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. The Hardening in the Sacred Scripture. The Quotation in Matt. Ii. 6. Flight into Egypt and Slaughter of the Bethlehem Children. Appendix xii. The Baptism of Proselytes A Canticle of Love Exodus |
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