Moses' father-in-law Jethro, along with Moses' wife and sons, came to him in the desert, where he was encamped at the mountain of God. Sermons
The way in which we view facts depends a great deal on the eyes through which we look at them. Here, as regards Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness, we may look on them through the eyes of Jethro, or of Zipporah, or of the children; for a change let us use the children's eyes, and enquire how they transmit the facts to us. Sketch previous history of the children, their stay in Midian, and journey to the camp. Notice: - I. WHAT THE CHILDREN SAW AND HEARD. As they came they would notice, first, the mountains, then the camp in the plain, then, perhaps, people moving about and cloudy pillar suspended over all. At last, one man comes to meet them; their father is the leader of the host. 1. A new flock. In the old days Gershom must often have looked out for his coming home; then (cf. Exodus 3:1) he had sheep to care for, now his flock is of another kind (Psalm 77:20). No longer Jethro's shepherd, but the shepherd of Jehovah. Not really changed his profession - still the same kind of work - only, having served his apprenticeship with Jethro, he has been called to a higher grade of service. 2. A memorable spot. How had he come to change his service? The very place would remind them of the answer. There is the rough hill-side - there, perhaps, the very bush where the angel appeared. The whole scene a fulfilment of God's promise and a pledge of his faithfulness (cf. Exodus 3:12). 3. New-found relatives. A new uncle and aunt, never seen before - could tell them about the old life in Egypt, their father's birth and escape - the cruel slavery of their kindred - all the past would seem more real now that they were confronted by these witnesses to its reality. Comparing the past with the present, a suggestive commentary on Eliezer's name; Moses had good reason for saying, "my God is a help." II. PARALLEL WITH OURSELVES. (Cf. Hebrews 12:22-24.) We, too, like the sons of Moses, have been brought into new relations with our Father. As we approach him, what may we see and hear? 1. We find him in a holy place. Not a camp of wanderers in the wilderness, but a holy city, one which hath foundations, the settled home of its redeemed inhabitants. Pleasant for Gershom and his brother to find their father, but they still had to look on to the day when they should find their home; for us homo is our Father's house in the holy city upon the holy mountain. 2. He introduces us to holy fellowships. As Moses' children found new relatives, so do we: "an innumerable company, the general assembly of the angels, and the Church of the first-born, and the spirits of the justified." We may picture the interest with which Gershom and Eliezer must have viewed the camp and listened to the story of deliverance; but the company to which they had come was very different to that to which we have come; the deliverance of which they heard was but a first step to freedom. They, no doubt, learnt to sing, perhaps from Miriam, the song of Moses; from those with whom we have communion we may learn the song of the Lamb. Conclusion. After all, the children, amid all the new sights, would rejoice most at meeting their father - at seeing him, and remaining with him. As Jethro led them towards the mount, their father was, doubtless, the subject of their talk; all else derived its interest only from its relation to him. Just so, too, with us. Heaven is our Father's house; it is our Father's presence that makes it home to us. As our Lord leads us thitherward, it is still of the Father whom he speaks. Those whom the Father has given into his care he will bring to their' journey's end in safety. - G. Thou wilt surely wear away. Various lessons may be gathered from the fact that Moses was wearing himself away by undue application to the duties of his office, and that by adopting Jethro's suggestion and dividing the labour he was able to spare himself and nevertheless equally secure the administration of justice. I. We see the goodness of God in His dealings with our race in the fact THAT LABOUR MAY BE SO DIVIDED THAT MAN'S STRENGTH SHALL NOT BE OVERPASSED, but cannot be so divided that man's strength shall be dispensed with. II. It is a principle sufficiently evident in the infirmity of man that he cannot give himself incessantly to labour, whether bodily or mental, BUT MUST HAVE SEASONS OF REPOSE. We shrink from the thought and the mention of suicide, but there are other modes of self-destruction than that of laying hands on one's own person. There is the suicide of intemperance; there is also the suicide of overlabour. It is as much our duty to relax when we feel our strength overpassed, as to persevere while that strength is sufficient. III. God has, with tender consideration, PROVIDED INTERVALS OF REPOSE, and so made it man's own fault if he sink beneath excessive labour. What a beautiful ordinance is that of day and night! What a gracious appointment is that of Sunday! When the Sabbath is spent in the duties that belong to it, its influence gives fresh edge to the blunted human powers. IV. EACH ONE OF US IS APT TO BE ENGROSSED WITH WORLDLY THINGS. It is well that some Jethro, some rough man from the wilderness, perhaps some startling calamity, should approach us with the message, "The thing that thou doest is not good; thou wilt surely wear away." V. AT LAST WE MUST ALL WEAR AWAY, but our comfort is that, though the outer man perish, the inner man shall be renewed day by day. () I. THE POWER WHICH MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL SHOULD HAVE. "Be thou for the people to God-ward." II. THE WORK WHICH MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL SHOULD DO. 1. Conduct Divine worship and establish suitable rules for the government of their people. 2. Give the right impetus to the moral and religious life of their people. 3. Explain to their people the duties devolving upon them. III. THE HELPS WHICH MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL HAVE (vers. 21, 22). IV. THE QUALIFICATIONS WHICH MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL SHOULD POSSESS. 1. Devout piety. 2. Truthfulness. 3. Disinterestedness. 4. Freedom. () 2. The most morally good government may not be good in natural or civil respects (ver. 17). 3. Imprudential over-acting in doing judgment may consume rulers and people. 4. Good and righteous work may be too heavy for the best and strongest shoulders. 5. Solitariness in dealing judgment may carry great weakness in it. 6. It is good prudence to undertake burdens proportionable for strength and no more (ver. 18). () 1. Supreme governors had need of subordinate to carry on the burden of government.2. Men entrusted with government should be eminently qualified with wisdom, knowledge, courage, etc. Each endowment may give a special observation. 3. Variety of bounds for power are requisite to the various capacities of rulers (ver. 21). 4. Men so designed to rule ought all times reasonably to attend on judgment. 5. Matters of greatest moment have a just way of appeal from lesser to superior judges. 6. Smaller matters are reasonably to be concluded by lesser hands. 7. Such distribution of work in government maketh the burden more easy (ver. 22). 8. Supreme rulers managing their affairs by others according to God's command, walk safely. 9. Prosperity to prince and people may be well expected by keeping God's commands (ver. 23). () I. IT CAUSES AN UNDUE STRAIN UPON THE SOLITARY INDIVIDUAL. Wicked men sometimes kill themselves by excess of pleasure. Good men should not kill themselves by excess of work even in the service of God. Many great lives are lost to the Church through excessive toils. The Divine Judge can never grow weary in His administration of the universe.II. IT INTERFERES WITH THE EXECUTION OF THE HIGHER PART OF THE JUDICIAL OFFICE. How often are ministers engaged with the technical and local when they might be engaged in the spiritual and universal. Justice needs more than administrative power; it needs spiritual discernment and those qualities of moral character which are the outcome of moral nearness to God; hence it requires men to be for the people God ward. Jesus Christ is now for the people God-ward, the one Mediator between God and man. III. IT LEAVES UNUTILIZED A VAST NUMBER OF ABLE MEN QUITE EQUAL TO THE ORDINARY REQUIREMENTS OF JUSTICE. Ministers should not do all the work of the Church; they should call out latent talent for it. Society has many unrecognized judges. IV. THAT THIS FOLLY IS EVIDENT TO WISE OLD MEN WHO SEE SOLITARY JUDGESHIPS IN OPERATION. Others can form a more correct estimate of our work than we can. We are too near it to take the perspective of it. We are too much interested in it to form unprejudiced judgments concerning it. Let us be open to the voice of wise old men who often speak to young men as in the fear of God. Lessons: — 1. That positions of trust should not be monopolized by the few. 2. That the common crowds of men have unsuspected abilities. 3. That good men should not be prodigal of their physical and mental energy to the shortening of their lives. () I.OTHERS VIEW OUR ACTS.II.OTHERS CAN OFTEN SEE FAULTS WHERE WE CANNOT.III.OTHERS REPROVING US MAY LEAD TO A BETTER COURSE OF ACTION.OR —I.MEN SHOULD INTEREST THEMSELVES IN THE ACTS OF THEIR RELATIVES.II.MEN SHOULD BE FAITHFUL IN GIVING REPROOF AND ADVICE.OR —I.THE WISEST HAVE SOME DEFECTS IN THEIR CONDUCT.II.THE WISEST MAY BE BENEFITED BY THE ADVICE OF OTHERS.() Here is the archetype or first draught of magistracy. Scripture is the best man of counsel for the greatest statesman in the world.1. It first gives order for the care and circumspection in the choice. "Provide." 2. Secondly, it directs the choice by four essential characters of magistrates: — (1)Men of ability.(2)Fearing God.(3)Men of truth.(4)Hating covetousness.3. Thirdly, it applies these four to magistrates of all degrees, in aa exact distribution of them, by way of gradation, descending step by step, from the highest to the lowest. "And place such over them to be rulers" — (1)Of thousands;(2)of hundreds;(3)of fifties;(4)of tens.4. Fourthly, it prescribes to the magistrates, thus qualified and chosen, their offices, viz., to judge the people in the smaller causes, etc., and their assiduity and industry therein. "And let them judge the people at all seasons, etc. And it shall be that they shall bring every great matter to thee, but every small matter they shall judge." 5. Lastly, it propounds the blessed fruit and emolument that will necessarily ensue thereupon.(1) To Moses himself, "So shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee, and thou shalt be able to endure."(2) To the people, "And all this people shall go to their place in peace." () What heroical spirit had he need have, that must encounter the Hydra of sin, oppose the current of the times, and the torrent of vice, that must turn the wheel over the wicked; especially such roaring monsters, and rebellious Korahs, such lawless sons of Belial, wherewith our times swarm, who stick not to oppose with crest and breast, whosoever stand in the way of their burnouts and lusts! Surely if Jethro called for courage in those modest primitive times, and among a people newly tamed with Egyptian yokes, what do our audacious and fore-headless swaggerers require? Our lees and dregs of time, not unlike to those wherein God was fain to raise up extraordinary judges to smite hip and thigh, etc. What Atlas shall support the state of the ruinous and tottering world, in these perilous ends of time? For all these fore-named purposes, how unapt is a man of soft, timorous, and flexible nature I for whom it is as possible to steer a right course, without swerving to the left hand or right, for fear or favour, as it is for a cock-boat to keep head against wind and tide, without help of oars or sails: experience ever making this good, that cowards are slaves to their superiors, fellow-fools to their equals, tyrants to their inferiors, and windmills to popular breath, not being able to any of these to say so much as No!() How valuable is a little common-sense — and how scarce! Here was Moses, a man trained in kings' palaces, deeply skilled in all the wisdom of Egypt, and yet he has to wait till Jethro comes — a mere man of the desert, before to a self-evident evil he can apply a self-evident remedy. Labour is good; but if we labour unwisely, so as to overtask and enervate our faculties, the labour which in itself is good becomes, through our perversity, an evil.I. LABOUR IS AN ORDINANCE OF GOD. There is work for all, and need for every man's work, of whatever sort it may be — from thinking the thoughts or pursuing the scientific discoveries which clear the road along which the world is to advance, down to working a loom or digging a field; from managing a large estate so as to develop all its manifold capabilities of service, down to trimming its hedges or hauling its coal. II. THE DIVISION OF LABOUR IS AN ORDINANCE OF GOD. It is the wise division and distribution of labour to which we owe all the services and comforts of civilized life; and the wiser the distribution, the higher the civilization. It is this division of labour which multiplies the products of labour, and not only sets men free to invent improved methods of labour, but also puts them in the way of inventing them. If, for instance, one man could make a tent in ten days, ten men, each of whom was trained to make his separate part, would turn out not ten, but fifty or a hundred tents in the same time; and each of the ten, always handling the same tools and working on the same substance — canvas, or wood for poles and pegs, or palm fibre or hemp for ropes — would naturally improve his tools to save his pains, and discover qualities and capabilities in the substance which only long familiarity could detect. From such simple beginnings as these has risen that division of the whole civilized community into separate trades and professions, and these trades and professions again into many component elements and specialities, which multiplies its productive power to an almost infinite extent, and keeps the discovery of our means and appliances of labour up to the level of our growing numbers and wants. III. THE INTROMISSION OF LABOUR IS AN ORDINANCE OF GOD. Not only has He given us an inward monitor which warns us when mental or vital powers are overtasked, to seek out holiday mirth and recreative sports, to change the air we breathe and the scenes on which we look if perchance we may thus change the wearing current of our thoughts; He has also fixed the bounds to our labour beyond which we cannot or ought not to pass. Seven times a week the day draws to to an end, and the night comes on in which most of us, at least, are compelled to rest. Once every week, too, there returns the Day of Rest, on which we cease from our toils, and withdraw our minds from the noisy labours and corroding anxieties of traffic. And when we are over eager in our labours for present good, or what we think good, God sends some rugged Jethro — some warning sickness or calamitous loss, some sorrow that, passing through all our defences, smites and cleaves our very heart. Not because He grudges our prosperity, or would abate our happiness, but because He would have us rise to that sacred rest and satisfying peace which even adversity cannot take away, He often sends a chastening whose message, if we will hear it, is, "The thing thou doest is not good. Thou wilt surely wear thyself away, and wastefully expend thy life on things which perish as you handle them. Turn ye at My reproof; for why should ye die?" () I. THE GIVER OF THIS ADVICE. Jethro.1. An old man. The father-in-law of Moses, who was now fully eighty years of age. Age has had experience of life. Time for observation. Old men have seen and noted causes of success and failure. Less likely than the young to give bad advice. Are less moved by passion. Taught by memory. Are near to eternity. 2. Thoughtful. His advice shows his thoughtfulness. Thought founded on observation. He saw the labour of Moses and the extent of the camp. 3. Affectionate. He was a relative of Moses. Looked kindly also on this great host of fugitives. Near relatives, amongst those who are most anxious for our welfare. 4. Disinterested. He had nothing to gain personally by giving it, save the satisfaction of his own mind and conscience. 5. Pious. Priest of Midian. Had a respect for the God of Israel. "Rejoiced for all the goodness which the Lord had done to Israel" (Acts 11:22-24). The advice of men that fear God, who are men of prayer, and love the Bible, not to be slighted; it will be agreeable to the mind of God. II. THE RECEIVER OF THIS ADVICE. Moses. He did not slight Jethro's advice, although — 1. He was in direct communication with God. And we should respect the words of good men, although we have also the Word of God. We have need to be reminded of words, precepts, and promises, that we may overlook; or of laws, etc., that we may not understand. 2. He had been eminently successful. Such a man, if not humble, might have been very self-reliant; and have spurned the advice of another. Success makes some unmanageable and proud. 3. He was himself an aged man. Might have thought himself too old to be taught. As competent to give advice as Jethro. Inexperienced youth often puffed up by a little knowledge. The more one really knows the more one feels his ignorance. 4. He doubtless laid the advice he received before the Lord. Jethro made this a condition (ver. 23). Are we willing that the advice we give should be tested by the Word of God? Do we so test the advice we receive? 5. He acted upon it, and benefited by doing so. Much good advice is lost in this world. Evaded, though good, because of trouble, or indifference, or pride. The character of the adviser, or his opinion on other matters, made an excuse for neglecting his words. Will God excuse the neglecter?Learn — 1. To do good by word and deed, as we have opportunity, unto all men. 2. To get good, from all men, as opportunity offers. () Dr. Holland, after Mr. Bowles's death, wrote as follows: "As I think of my old associate and the earnest, exhausting work he was doing when I was with him, he seems to me like a great golden vessel, rich in colour and roughly embossed, filled with the elixir of life, which he poured out without the slightest stint for the consumption of this people. We did not know when we tasted it, and found it so charged with zest, that we were tasting heart's blood, but that was the priceless element that commended it to our appetites. A pale man, weary and nervous, crept home at midnight, or at one, two, or three o'clock in the morning, and while all nature was fresh and the birds were singing, and the eyes of thousands were bending eagerly over the results of his night's labour, he was tossing and trying to sleep. Yet this work, so terrible in its exactions and its consequences, was the joy of this man's life — it was his life."() After Marcus Valerius had gained two great victories over the Sabines, in one of which he did not lose a single soldier, he was rewarded with a triumph, and a house was built for him upon Mount Palatine. The doors of the Roman houses generally opened inwards, but this was built to open outwards, to show that he who dwelt there was ready to listen to any proposal made to him for the public good.One of Stonewall Jackson's peculiarities was to select for his chief of staff, not a military man, but a Presbyterian clergyman, a professor in a theological seminary, and to clothe him with the power of carrying out his mysterious orders when he was temporarily absent. In this he acted as did the greatest of all English commanders — Oliver Cromwell; who always surrounded himself with men of prayer.() Christian Age. One of the best qualifications of a minister is the ability to set the membership at work. It is said that Mr. Spurgeon asks every person seeking admission to membership in his church. "Well, if you are received, what individual work are you going to take up and carry on for the Lord?" As a result, he has now enrolled in his church register, 5,756 communicants, who represent just so many willing workers under his leadership. He saves his own strength by doing nothing that his hearers can do equally well. And every minister who tries can carry the same rule into practice with a membership of one hundred as well as five thousand. Many ministers fritter away valuable time in doing what the laity might do as well, and sometimes better, for them.() S. S. Chronicle. In one of the police courts up town in New York, one morning not long since, a very small boy in knickerbockers appeared. He had a dilapidated cap in one hand, and a green cotton bag in the other. Behind him came a big policeman, with a grin on his face. "Please, sir, are you the judge?" he asked in a voice that had a queer little quiver in it. "I am, my boy. What can I do for you?" asked the justice, as he looked wonderingly down at the mite before him. "If you please, sir, I'm Johnny Moore. I'm seven years old, and I live in One Hundred and Twenty-third street, near the avenue; and the only good place to play miggles on is in the front of a lot near our house, where the ground is smooth. But a butcher on the corner, that hasn't any more right to the place than we have, keeps his waggon standing there; and this morning we were playing at miggles there, and he drove us away, and took six of mine, and threw them away off over the fence into the lot. And I went to the police-station; and they laughed at me and told me to come here and tell you about it." The big policeman and the spectators began to laugh, and the complainant at the bar trembled so violently with mingled indignation and fright that the marbles in his little green bag rattled together. The justice, however, rapped sharply on the desk, and quickly brought everybody to dead silence. "You did perfectly right, my boy," said he, gravely, "to come here and tell me about it. You have as much right to your six marbles as the richest man in this city has to his bank account. If every American citizen had as much regard for his rights as you show, there would be far less crime. And you, sir," he added, turning to the big policeman, "you go with this little man to that butcher and make him pay for those marbles, or else arrest him and bring him here." You see this boy knew that his rights had been interfered with, and he went to the one having authority to redress his wrongs. He did not throw stones or say naughty words, but in a manly, dignified way demanded his rights.() It is an honourable memorial that James the Fifth, King of Scots, hath left behind him, that he was called the poor man's king; and it is said of Radolphus Hapsburgius, that seeing some of his guard repulsing divers poor persons that made towards him for relief, was very much displeased, and charged them to suffer the poorest to have access unto him, saying, that he was called to the empire not to be shut up in a chest, as reserved for some few, but to be where all might have freedom of resort unto him.() Jethro counselled Moses to be "for the people God-ward, that he might bring the causes unto God." The highest of all vocations is the spiritual. It is greater to pray than to rule. Moses was to set himself at the highest end of the individual, political, and religious life of Israel, and to occupy the position of intercessor. He was to be the living link between the people and their God. Is not this the proper calling of the preacher? He is not to be a mere politician in the Church, he is not to enter into the detail of organization with the scrupulous care of a conscientious hireling: he is deeply and lovingly to study the truth as it is in Jesus, that he may be prepared to enrich the minds and stimulate the graces of those who hear him. He is to live so closely with God, that his voice shall be to them as the voice of no other man, a voice from the better world, calling the heart to worship, to trust, and to hope, and through the medium of devotion to prepare men for all the engagements of common life. The preacher is to live apart from the people, in order that he may in spiritual sympathy live the more truly with them. He is not to stand afar off as an unsympathetic priest, but to live in the secret places of the Most High, that he may from time to time most correctly repronounce the will of God to all who wait upon his ministry. When preachers live thus, the pulpit will reclaim its ancient power, and fill all rivalry with confusion and shame. Let the people themselves manage all subordinate affairs; call up all the business talent that is in the Church, and honour all its successful and well-meant experiments; give every man to feel that he has an obligation to answer. When you have done this, go yourself, O man of God, to the temple of the Living One, and acquaint yourself deeply with the wisdom and grace of God, that you may be as an angel from heaven when you come to speak the word of life to men who are worn by the anxieties and weakened by the temptations of a cruel world. Many a man inquires, half in petulance and half in self-justification, "What more can I possibly do than I am already doing?" Let the case of Moses be the answer. The question in his case was not whether he was doing enough, but whether he was not doing too much in one special direction. Some of the talent that is given to business might be more profitably given to devotion, Rule less, and pray more. Spare time from the business meeting that you may have leisure for communion with God.() He might have thought: "what presumption in this Midianite to dictate to the ambassador of Jehovah!" But Moses was a man of a very different spirit. In Montreal, some years ago, a certain English nobleman who had been recently converted, and was preaching the gospel to large multitudes who gathered to hear him, unfortunately had his heart lifted up within him, and began to speak bitterly and scornfully of the Churches of Christ in the city. An excellent and revered Presbyterian elder approached the young nobleman in the kindest way, spoke with great appreciation of the value of his work in preaching the gospel, but suggested that it would be better for the cause if he would cease abusing Christians and Christian Churches, and confine himself to the preaching of Christ. In reply he curled his lip in scorn, and said, "I take my counsel from the Lord!" What a contrast between the grand nobleman of the olden time, and the small one of yesterday. Moses might with some reason have claimed a monopoly of Divine counsel. God had chosen him out from all other men to make known His will to him; but when Jethro, though an outsider, and one who had only good common sense on his side, makes his suggestion, Moses does not scorn to listen to his advice, and take it too. And the event showed that the Lord fully approved His servant's course.() We recognize the value of the principle of division of labour in manufactures, because there it cheapens the manufactured article, but we fail to see its importance in our own work, because there, in the first instance, it involves additional outlay. We cannot get a man competent to be the head of a department without paying him a handsome salary; for responsibility means character, and character always commands its price. So, to divide our work into so many departments, and to put over each a thoroughly capable man whom we will hold to a rigid account, requires the immediate expenditure of a large amount of money, and we say we cannot afford it. But all this is a shortsighted policy, for, in the long run, the greater amount of business done will more than reimburse the original outlay; and, in addition, you can go home, not to fret and worry over trifles, but to be the companion of your wife and the guide and director of your children. Moreover, instead of breaking down hopelessly under the strain of carrying everything on your own shoulders, and requiring to go abroad for years, or, it may be, to leave business altogether, your strength remains unimpaired — nay, perhaps it even increases; and you have the satisfaction of seeing your home happy, and your children growing up to follow in your footsteps, and to declare that their God is dearer to them because He is the God of their father.... One said to me, when I began my ministry, "Never do yourself what you can get another to do for you as well as you can do it yourself"; and though I confess that I have not acted on the maxim as much as I ought to have done, I see the wisdom of it more clearly, the longer I live. "Divide et impera," was the maxim of the old Roman general — divide and conquer; and by dividing our labour into many sections, and holding some one responsible for each, we shall do more, we shall do it better, and we shall work longer than would be otherwise possible.().
People Aaron, Egyptians, Eliezer, Gershom, Jethro, Moses, Pharaoh, ZipporahPlaces Egypt, Midian, RephidimTopics Camped, Desert, Encamped, Encamping, Father-in-law, Jethro, Law, Moses's, Mount, Mountain, Sons, Tent, Waste, Wife, WildernessOutline 1. Jethro brings his wife and two sons to Moses
7. Moses entertains him, and relates the goodness of the Lord
9. Jethro rejoices, blesses God, and offers sacrifice
13. He gives good counsel, which is accepted
27. Jethro departs
Dictionary of Bible Themes Exodus 18:3-4 5044 names, giving of Library The Ideal Statesman [Footnote: Preached on Occasion of Mr. Gladstone's Death. ]
'Thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them.'--EXODUS xviii. 21. You will have anticipated my purpose in selecting this text. I should be doing violence to your feelings and mine if I made no reference to the event which has united the Empire and the world in one sentiment. The great tree has fallen, and the crash has for the moment silenced all the sounds of the forest. Wars abroad and controversies at home are …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy ScriptureGershom and Eliezer
'The name of the one [of Moses' sons] was Gershom ... and the name of the other was Eliezer....'--EXODUS xviii. 3, 4. In old times parents often used to give expression to their hopes or their emotions in the names of their children. Very clearly that was the case in Moses' naming of his two sons, who seem to have been the whole of his family. The significance of each name is appended to it in the text. The explanation of the first is, 'For he said, I have been an alien in a strange land'; and that …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture The Origin and Growth of Law.
MOSES' WORK AS JUDGE AND PROPHET.--Ex. 18; 1-27; 33:5-11. Parallel References. Hist. Bible I, 198-203. Prin. of Politics, Ch. VI. Maine, Ancient Law. Jehovah spake to Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend--Ex. 33: 11. And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And they judged the people at all seasons: the hard cases they brought unto Moses, but every small …
Charles Foster Kent—The Making of a Nation The Development of the Earlier Old Testament Laws
[Sidenote: First the principle, and then the detailed laws] If the canon of the New Testament had remained open as long as did that of the Old, there is little doubt that it also would have contained many laws, legal precedents, and ecclesiastical histories. From the writings of the Church Fathers and the records of the Catholic Church it is possible to conjecture what these in general would have been. The early history of Christianity illustrates the universal fact that the broad principles are …
Charles Foster Kent—The Origin & Permanent Value of the Old Testament That the Ruler Relax not his Care for the Things that are Within in his Occupation among the Things that are Without, nor Neglect to Provide
The ruler should not relax his care for the things that are within in his occupation among the things that are without, nor neglect to provide for the things that are without in his solicitude for the things that are within; lest either, given up to the things that are without, he fall away from his inmost concerns, or, occupied only with the things that are within bestow not on his neighbours outside himself what he owes them. For it is often the case that some, as if forgetting that they have …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great Opposition to Messiah Ruinous
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel T here is a species of the sublime in writing, which seems peculiar to the Scripture, and of which, properly, no subjects but those of divine revelation are capable, With us, things inconsiderable in themselves are elevated by splendid images, which give them an apparent importance beyond what they can justly claim. Thus the poet, when describing a battle among bees, by a judicious selection of epithets …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2 Easter Tuesday
Second Sermon. Same Text. Acts 13, 26-39. THE WORD AND THE RESURRECTION.[1] [Footnote 1: This sermon appeared first in the Church Postil, the Explanation of the Epistle and Gospel Texts from Easter to Advent. Printed by Hans Lufft, Wittenberg, 1559.] 1. This sermon was preached by Paul in the synagogue at Antioch of Pisidia, where were gathered with the Jews some Greek converts. Wherever in a city Jews were to be found, there also were their synagogues in which they taught and preached; and many …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II After the Scripture.
"In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God created He him."--Gen. v. 1. In the preceding pages we have shown that the translation, "in Our image," actually means, "after Our image." To make anything in an image is no language; it is unthinkable, logically untrue. We now proceed to show how it should be translated, and give our reason for it. We begin with citing some passages from the Old Testament in which occurs the preposition "B" which, in Gen. i. 27, stands before image, where …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit Appendix xii. The Baptism of Proselytes
ONLY those who have made study of it can have any idea how large, and sometimes bewildering, is the literature on the subject of Jewish Proselytes and their Baptism. Our present remarks will be confined to the Baptism of Proselytes. 1. Generally, as regards proselytes (Gerim) we have to distinguish between the Ger ha-Shaar (proselyte of the gate) and Ger Toshabh (sojourner,' settled among Israel), and again the Ger hatstsedeq (proselyte of righteousness) and Ger habberith (proselyte of the covenant). …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah Exodus
The book of Exodus--so named in the Greek version from the march of Israel out of Egypt--opens upon a scene of oppression very different from the prosperity and triumph in which Genesis had closed. Israel is being cruelly crushed by the new dynasty which has arisen in Egypt (i.) and the story of the book is the story of her redemption. Ultimately it is Israel's God that is her redeemer, but He operates largely by human means; and the first step is the preparation of a deliverer, Moses, whose parentage, …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links Exodus 18:5 NIV
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