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The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 4:24-26
Neglect of the covenant on its human side. In Genesis 17:1-27. we find the covenant between God and Abram stated with great particularity and emphasis. On God's side there were large promises to Abram of an' abundant po…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 4:25
Zipporah took a sharp stone. Literally "a stone." Stone knives were commonly used in Egypt for making the incisions necessary when bodies were embalmed, and were regarded as purer than iron or bronze ones. Joshua ordere…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 4:26
So he let him go. i.e. "God let Moses go"—allowed him to escape death, accepted Zipporah's tardy act as a removal of the cause of offence, and gave her husband back to her. Then she said, etc. This is not a second addre…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 4:27
God does not stint his help when he visits man. It might have seemed that God had now done enough to set on foot the deliverance of his people. He had appeared to Moses, overcome his reluctance to be leader, given him t…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 4:27-28
EXPOSITION Exodus 4:27, Exodus 4:28 The scene suddenly shifts. Moses is left in the wilderness to recover his strength and make such arrangements with respect to his wife and children as he thinks best under the circums…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 4:27
Go into the wilderness. It is scarcely possible that this can have been the whole of the direction given, since the wilderness extended from the shores of the Mediterranean to the extreme point of the Sinaitic peninsula…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 4:28
Full confidence necessary between fellow-workers. Moses told Aaron "all the words of the Lord"—made "a clean breast" to him, kept back none of the counsel of God, so far as he had been made acquainted with it. A kind, a…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 4:28
Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord. Perfect confidence between the two brothers was absolutely necessary for the success of their enterprise; and Moses wisely, at their very first interview, made Aaron acquainte…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 4:29-31
The blessing on obedience. Moses and Aaron, on their return to Egypt in company, carried out exactly the Divine directions, doing neither less nor more. They summoned the elders as commanded (Exodus 3:16); they delivere…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 4:29-31
Preaching and faith. I. THE WORD SPOKEN. 1. Should be the Word of God. The preacher is not set to deliver his own speculations, but to convey a message. 2. Should be exhibited with its appropriate evidence. 3. Should be…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 4:29-31
EXPOSITION
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 4:29-31
Moses seems to have parted with Zipporah and his children in Horeb, and to have sent them back to Jethro (Exodus 18:2), perhaps because they might have interfered with the work which he had to do, perhaps because he tho…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 4:29
On the elders of Israel, see note upon Exodus 3:16. It is clear that the Israelitish nation, though in bondage to the Egyptians, had a certain internal organisation of its own, and possessed a set of native officers. Th…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 4:30
Aaron spake. Aaron at once entered on his office of "spokesman" (Exodus 4:16), declaring to the elders all God's dealings with his brother. Aaron also, and not Moses, us we should have expected (Exodus 4:17), did the si…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 4:31
The people believed. This ready faith stands in strong contrast with the ordinary incredulous temper of the Israelitish people, who were "a faithless and stubborn generation"—a generation that "believed not in God, and…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 4:31
Worship the proper outcome of thankfulness. Israel, down-trodden, oppressed, crushed beneath an intolerable tyranny, no sooner hears the promise of deliverance, than it displays its gratitude by "bowing the head and wor…
Matthew Henry on Exodus 5:1-9
God will own his people, though poor and despised, and will find a time to plead their cause. Pharaoh treated all he had heard with contempt. He had no knowledge of Jehovah, no fear of him, no love to him, and therefore…
Sufferings of the Israelites Increased. (b. c. 1491.)
SUFFERINGS OF THE ISRAELITES INCREASED. (B. C. 1491.) Moses and Aaron, having delivered their message to the elders of Israel, with whom they found good acceptance, are now to deal with Pharaoh, to whom they come in per…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 5:1-5
FIRST APPEAL OF MOSES TO PHARAOH, AND INCREASE OF THE OPPRESSION. EXPOSITION
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 5:1-5
Having secured the adhesion of the Israelitish people, Moses and Aaron sought an interview with the Egyptian monarch who was now in possession of the throne. According to the bulk of modern authorities, and according to…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 5:1
And afterward. The interposition of some not inconsiderable space of time seems to be implied. Menephthah resided partly at Memphis, partly at Zoan (Tanis). Moses and Aaron may have had to wait until he returned from hi…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 5:1-5
God's will often opposed by the great of the earth, and his servants rebuffed. Encouraged by their success with the elders and with the people (Exodus 4:29-31), Moses and Aaron would stop boldly into the presence of Pha…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 5:1-21
Failure. "I know not Jehovah," etc.: Exodus 5:2. We now come face to face with the king. As the king here becomes very prominent, we will keep him conspicuous in the outlining of this address. I. AUDIENCE WITH THE KING.…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 5:1-23
The people of Jehovah detained and oppressed by the representative of the prince of this world; no doubt as to the strength of the latter—is it possible for his spoils to be wrested from him? The strong man armed has th…