when we cannot do the good we would, we must be ready to do the good we can. And he that is faithful in a little, shall be entrusted with more.
2. How well he was paid for his serviceableness. When the young woman acquainted their father with the kindnesses they had received from this stranger, he sent to invite him to his house, and made much of him, v. 20. Thus God will recompense the kindnesses which are at any time shown to his children; they shall in no wise lose their reward. Moses soon recommended himself to the esteem and good affection of this prince of Midian, who took him into his house, and in process of time, married one of his daughters to him, (v. 21.) by whom he had a son, whom he called Gershom, a stranger there, (v. 22.) that if ever God should give him a home of his own, he might keep in remembrance the land in which he had been a stranger. Now this settlement of Moses in Midian, was designed by Providence, (1.) To shelter him, for the present. God will find hiding-places for his people in the day of their distress; nay, he will himself be to them a little sanctuary, and will secure them, either under heaven, or in heaven. But, (2.) It was also designed to prepare him for the great services he was further designed for. His manner of life in Midian, where he kept the flock of his father-in-law, (having none of his own to keep,) would be of use to him, [1.] To inure him to hardship and poverty, that he might learn how to want as well as how to abound. God humbles those first, whom he intends to exalt. [2.] To inure him to contemplation and devotion. Egypt accomplished him for a scholar, a gentleman, a statesman, a soldier, all which accomplishments would be afterward of use to him; but yet lacketh he one thing, in which the court of Egypt could not befriend him. He that was to do all by divine revelation, must know, by a long experience, what it was to live a life of communion with God; and in this he would be greatly furthered by the solitude and retirement of a shepherd's life in Midian. By the former he was prepared to rule in Jeshurun, but by the latter he was prepared to converse with God in Mount Horeb, near which mount he had spent much of his time. Those that know what it is to be alone with God in holy exercises, are acquainted with better delights than ever Moses tasted in the court of Pharaoh.
23. And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. 24. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.
Here is,
1. The continuance of the Israelites' bondage in Egypt, v. 23. Probably, the murdering of their infants did not continue; this part of their affliction attended only the period immediately connected with the birth of Moses, and served to signalize it. The Egyptians now were content with their increase, finding that Egypt was enriched by their labour; so that they might have them for slaves, they cared not how many they were. On this therefore they were intent, to keep them all at work, and make the best hand they could of their labour. When one Pharaoh died, another rose up in his place, that was governed by the same maxims, and was as cruel to Israel as his predecessors. If there was sometimes a little relaxation, yet it presently revived again with as much rigour as ever; and probably, as the more Israel were oppressed, the more they multiplied, so the more, they multiplied, the more they were oppressed. Note, Sometimes God suffers the rod of the wicked to lie very long and very heavy on the lot of the righteous. If Moses, in Midian, at anytime began to think how much better his condition might have, been, had he staid among the courtiers; he must of himself think this also, how much worse it would have been, if he had had his lot with his brethren: it was a great degradation to him to be keeping sheep in Midian, but better so, than making brick in Egypt. The consideration of our brethren's affliction should help to reconcile us to our own.
2. The preface to their deliverance at last.
(1.) They cried, v. 23. Now, at last, they began to think of God under their troubles, and to return to him from the idols they had served, Ezek. 20. 8. Hitherto they had fretted at the instruments of their trouble, but God was not in all their thoughts. Thus hypocrites in heart heap up wrath, they cry not when he binds them, Job 36. 13. But before God unbound them, he put it into their hearts to cry unto him, as it is explained, Num. 20. 16. Note, It is a good sign that God is coming toward us with deliverance, when he inclines and enables us to cry to him for it.
(2.) God heard, v. 24, 25. The name of God is here emphatically prefixed to four different expressions of a kind intention toward them. [1.] God heard their groaning; that is, he made it to appear that he took notice of their complaints. The groans of the oppressed cry loud in the ears of the righteous God, to whom vengeance belongs; especially the groans of God's spiritual Israel; he knows the burthens they groan under, and the blessings they groan after, and that the blessed Spirit, by these groanings, makes intercession in them. [2.] God remembered his covenant, which he seemed to have forgotten, but of which he is ever mindful. This, God had an eye to, and not to any merit of their's, in what he did for them. See Lev. 26. 42. [3.] God looked upon the children of Israel: Moses looked upon them and pitied them; (v. 11.) but now God looked upon them and helped them. [4.] God had respect unto them, a favourable respect unto them as his own. The frequent repetition of the name of God here, intimates that now we are to expect something great. Opus Deo dignum—A work worthy of God. His eyes which run to and fro through the earth, are now fixed upon Israel, to show himself strong, to show himself a God in their behalf.
CHAP. III.
As prophecy had ceased for many ages before the coming of Christ, that the revival and perfection of it in that great Prophet might be the more remarkable; so vision had ceased (for aught that appears) among the patriarchs for some ages before the coming of Moses, that God's appearances to him for Israel's salvation might be the more welcome; and, in this chapter, we have God's first appearance to him in the bush, and the conference between God and Moses in that vision. Here is, I. The discovery God was pleased to make of his glory to Moses at the bush, which Moses was forbidden to approach too near to, v. 1..5. II. A general declaration of God's grace and good-will to his people, who were beloved for their fathers' sakes, v. 6. III. A particular notification of God's purpose concerning the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt. 1. He assures Moses it should now be done, v. 7..9. 2. He gives him a commission to act in it, as his ambassador both to Pharaoh (v. 10.) and to Israel, v. 16. 3. He answers the objection Moses made of his own unworthiness, v. 11, 12. 4. He gives him full instructions what to say, both to Pharaoh and to Israel, v. 13..18. 5. He tells him beforehand what the issue would be, v. 19..22.
