Exodus 2:10 And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said… I. THE CHILD OF POVERTY. You and I will draw near and look upon this strange nest and nestling. He was a foundling, that is, a child left by its parents and found by some passer-by. His name means water-saved. I knew a foundling who was called Horace Nelson, because he was found, one winter morning, on Glasgow Green near Nelson's menu. ment. He was named from the monument, which was not harder than his mother's heart; and so Moses was named from the water out of which he was drawn. Each seemed to be nobody's child; and so the one was named as the child of the water, and the other as the child of the monument. That slave's child in the ark seems the poorest of the poor. Left as a prey to flood and famine, to crocodiles and vultures, was ever poor child in sadder plight? Yet his fame now fills the world as the man of men next to the Messias, the Conqueror of Pharaoh, the Leader of Israel, and the Giver of the Law to all mankind. At Moses' cradle learn never to scorn a poor child because he is poor. Often the child of poverty has, like Moses, stood before kings, and proved himself kinglier than they. Let not the poor be discouraged; let not the rich be proud. But it is very sinful as well as very senseless to despise the poor. God never does so. Before leaving it, take another look at Moses' cradle. Ah, the baby's beauty makes us glad! 'Tis the human face divine. He is "a goodly child"; "exceeding fair"; he has an heavenly beauty. I have come to know hundreds of our poorest children, and have often been struck with their beauty, which shone through all their hardships. What fine powers of body and mind and heart many of them have! What cleverness! what wit! what kindly feeling I In their beautiful eyes you may notice the beamings of a promising soul. Indeed, I have sometimes wondered whether God's bounty had not endowed them so richly with these better gifts in order to make up for the want of what money can buy. Imitate Pharaoh's daughter whom you bless and admire. Turn not proudly or coldly away from the forsaken child. II. THE CHILD OF PROVIDENCE. God's providence is God's forethought, or foresight; His kind care over us in all things. I wish you would think about the wonders of providence. Take an instance from your school books. This nineteenth century has been shaped by the battle of Waterloo. And God did it all with a few drops of rain. The rain on the night before the battle made the clayey soil slippery, so that the French could not get their guns forward till the sun had dried the ground. But for the rain, Napoleon would probably have won. God's providence brings about the greatest things by means of the smallest. The dangers around the child Moses were very great. The Nile might drown him; the sun by day or the moon by night might smite him; the crocodiles were around, and the vultures above him; there seemed no hope for the darling boy. The dangers around the most favoured children are perhaps as great, though not so easily seen. Believe firmly, then, that God is on earth as well as in heaven, and that His hand is in small things no less than in great. And think how much you owe to His fatherly providence. Your mother may have done all a mother could, your Miriam may have watched over you, but it was God's providence that placed you in the ark of safety which has carried you on to this good hour. And you should thank Him also for unseen and unknown deliverances. The whole web of your life is woven with mercies. III. THE CHILD OF GRACE. Grace saved him from his greatest dangers. Through the palace a dark river ran, drowning men's souls in perdition. Vices more deadly than the crocodiles were rife around him. He found plagues in Pharaoh's court more frightful than any he afterwards sent into it. I imagine that no youth ever had greater temptations than Moses (Hebrews 11:24). His character was formed by that choice: his blessed life was a harvest from that one seed. The choice you make between Christ and the world, makes you. Notice that Moses' choice was most reasonable, though to the Egyptians it seemed sheer madness. Moses' was also a joyous choice. Think not that he was the most wretched youth in Egypt when he forsook Egypt's gods. Ah, no. His choice would pain him in many ways; but then he had the deep satisfaction of having done what was right. He had better joys than the Egyptians dreamt of. And he must have made in his boyhood this choice which he publicly confessed as soon as he came of age. Like him, choose Christ in youth, and declare your choice. You gather fresh flowers for your friends; and will you offer Christ only an old withered flower, that has lost all its beauty and perfume? (J. Wells.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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