Now the duration of the Israelites' stay in Egypt was 430 years. Sermons
I. AS AN EMANCIPATION OF SLAVES. God is the sworn foe of the slave-holder. Only in a very modified sense was slavery tolerated in Israel; and the laws were such as gradually to undermine the system. Historically, God's religion has proved itself the great slave-liberator. 1. In Egypt. Here were two millions of a slave population set free in a single night. 2. In Israel. Consider the effect on the abolition of the slave system of the single precept in ver. 44 of this chapter. The slave sat down with his master on equal terms at the board of the passover. The same thing happened in the Christian Church. When the Lord's Supper was dispensed, the Christian slave remained; the master, if he was only a catechumen or a penitent, retired. 3. In Christian countries. Christianity, it is true, did not preach a crusade against slavery - a course which would only have led to a slave-revolt - but it inculcated truths and principles which undermined the system. Slavery was the corner-stone of the ancient civilisations. Philosophers defended it. The pagan religions did nothing to overthrow it. But the Christian Church took up from the very first the cause of the slave. The master who ill-treated his slave was excommunicated. He was compelled to marry the female slave whom he had seduced. He sat with his slave at the Lord's table. The slave might hold office in the church, and thus become, in a spiritual point of view, the superior of his master. The influence of the Church was used to secure the liberation of the slave. Under Domitian, a prefect of Rome, named Chromatius, freed one thousand four hundred slaves who had become Christians, saying, "Those who have become the children of God ought to be no longer slaves of men." Says J. S. Mill, "In an age when the weak were prostrate at the feet of the strong, who was there but the Church to plead to the strong for the weak?" (Dissert. 2:155). The emancipation of four millions of American slaves - so long a blot on a so-called Christian civilisation - has been accomplished in our sight, a second exodus. "We can say to-day that, with some trifling exceptions, the soil of Christian nations is free from the disgrace of slavery. Under what influences have the efforts been produced which have brought about such a result? We have only to look at recent facts, and we see the whole clearly. What men, in the middle of last century, were the first to advocate and emancipate slaves? The Quakers of America, who held that bondage was contrary to the Gospel. What men have pleaded in the English Parliament with the most power and perseverance? Decided Christians - Wilberforce and Buxton. What spirit animated the book called Uncle Tom, which acted so powerfully upon opinion in favour of the slaves? A spirit steadfastly Christian. To what sentiment did the Czar of Russia appeal, when he gave liberty to twenty millions of men? Read his proclamation of Feb. 19th, 1864." (Ernest Naville.) Revealed religion - the religion of the Bible, is thus the great liberator of the slave. II. As, TEMPORAL DELIVERANCE OF THE CHURCH. Many such deliverances has the Church, both in Old and in New Testament times, experienced since. Deliverances under the Judges; destruction of Sennacherib; edict of Cyrus, and return from captivity; Maccabaean Era. Read Christian Church history. See the Church emerging triumphant, laden with the spoils of the foe, from the days of persecution under the Roman Emperors. Later instances in the Albigenses, in the Lollards of England, in the Huguenots of France, in the Covenanters of Scotland, etc. III. As A TYPE OF A GREATER DELIVERANCE THAN ITSELF. Redemption from sin and wrath through Christ. See previous Homilies. - J.O.
All the hosts of the Lord went out. I. WE CANNOT TREAT THE EXODUS AS AN ISOLATED FACT IN HISTORY. Egypt is the type of the cunning, careless, wanton world, out of which in all ages God is calling His sons. The Exodus remained a living fact in history. The infant Jesus went down into Egypt, as the infant Israel went down, not to repeat the Exodus, but to illume afresh its fading lines.1. The Children of Israel were an elect race, because they were of the seed of Abraham: that constituted their distinctity. You are of the race of the second Adam, of the same flesh and blood as Jesus; and all who wear a human form and understand a human voice, God calls forth from Egypt; His voice calls to His sons, "Come forth to freedom, life, and heaven." 2. You, like the Israelites, are called forth to the desert, the fiery pillar, the manna, the spiritual rock; and while you aim at Canaan, His will, His heart, are on your side. II. NOTE THE MORAL FEATURES OF THE EXODUS. 1. There was a life in Egypt which had become insupportable to a man. That bondage is the picture of a soul round which the devil's toils are closing. 2. The Israelites saw the stroke of heaven fall oil all that adorns, enriches, and nourishes a worldly life. 3. They had a Divine leader, a man commissioned and inspired by God. We have the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who, in the house and the work in which Moses wrought as a servant, represents God as the Son. 4. We discern a condition of utter dependence on the strength and faithfulness of God. They and we were delivered by a Divine work. 5. Notice, lastly, the freedom of the delivered Israelites; a broad, deep sea flowing between them and the ]and of bondage, and the tyrants dead upon the shore. Such is the glorious sense of liberty, of wealth, of life, when the deep sea of Divine forgiving love sweeps over the past and obliterates its shame. (J. B. Brown, B. A.) 1. When the Children of Israel went out of Egypt it is a remarkable thing that they were forced out by the Egyptians. The dove fleeth not to his cote unless the eagle doth pursue it; so sins, like eagles, pursue the timid soul, making it fly into the clefts of the Rock Christ Jesus to hide itself. Once, our sins kept us from Christ; but now every sin drives us to Him for pardon. I had not known Christ if I had not known sin; I had not known a deliverer, if I had not smarted under the Egyptians. The Holy Spirit drives us to Christ, just as the Egyptians drove the people out of Egypt. 2. Again: the Children of Israel went out of Egypt covered with jewels and arranged in their best garments. Ah! that is just how a child of God comes out of Egypt. He does not come out of his bondage with his old garments of self-righteousness on: oh! no; as long as he wears those he will always keep in Egypt; but he marches out with the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ upon him, and adorned with the goodly graces of the Holy Spirit. 3. Note, moreover, that these people obtained their jewels from the Egyptians. God's people never lose anything by going to the house of bondage. They win their choicest jewels from the Egyptians. "Strangely true it is, sins do me good," said an old writer once, "because they drive me to the Saviour; and so I get good by them." Ask the humble Christian where he get his humility, and ten to one he will say that he got it in the furnace of deep sorrow on account of sin. See another who is tender in conscience: where did he get that jewel from? It came from Egypt, I'll be bound. We get more by being in bondage, under conviction of sin, than we often do by liberty. 4. They came out in haste. I never met with a poor sinner under a sense of sin who was not in haste to get his burden off his back. No man has a broken heart, unless he wants to have it bound up directly. "To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your heart," says the Holy Ghost; He never says to-morrow; to-day is His continual cry, and every true-born Israelite will pant to get out of Egypt, whenever he has the opportunity. II. THE MAGNITUDE OF THIS DELIVERANCE. I would have you particularly remember one thing; and that is, that great as this emigration was, and enormous as were the multitudes that quitted Egypt, it was only one Passover that set them all free. One agonizing sacrifice, one death on Calvary, one bloody sweat on Gethsemane, one shriek of "It is finished " consummated all the work of redemption. III. THE COMPLETENESS OF THEIR DELIVERANCE. As Moses said, "Not an hoof shall be left behind." They were to have all their goods, as well as their persons. What does this teach us? Why, not only that all God's people shall be saved, but that all that God's people ever had shall be restored. All that Jacob ever took down to Egypt shall be brought out again. Have I lost a perfect righteousness in Adam? I shall have a perfect righteousness in Christ. Have I lost happiness on earth in Adam? God will give me much happiness here below in Christ. Have I lost heaven in Adam? I shall have heaven in Christ; for Christ came not only to seek and to save the people that were lost, but that which was lost: that is, all the inheritance, as well as the people; all their property. IV. THE TIME WHEN THE ISRAELITES CAME OUT OF EGYPT. God had promised to Abraham that His people should be in bondage four hundred and thirty years, and they were not in bondage one day more. As soon as God's bond became due, though it had been drawn four hundred and thirty years before, He paid the bill; He required no more time to do it in, but He did it at once. Christopher Ness says, they had to tarry for the fulfilment of the promise till the night came; for though He fulfilled it the selfsame day, He made them stay to the end of it, to prove their faith. He was wrong there, because Scripture days begin at night. "The evening and the morning were the second day." So that God did not make them wait, but paid them at once. As soon as the day came, beginning with our night, as the Jewish day does now, and the Scriptural day always did — as soon as the clock struck — God paid His bond. ( C. H. Spurgeon.) People Aaron, Egyptians, Israelites, Moses, PharaohPlaces Egypt, Rameses, SuccothTopics 430, Dwelt, Egypt, Hundred, Israelite, Resided, Residence, Sojourning, Sons, ThirtyOutline 1. The beginning of the year is changed3. The Passover is instituted 11. The import of the rite of the Passover 15. Unleavened bread 29. The firstborn are slain 31. The Israelites are driven out of the land 37. They come to Succoth 41. The time of their sojourning 43. The ordinance of the Passover Dictionary of Bible Themes Exodus 12:40Library The Passover: an Expiation and a Feast, a Memorial and a Prophecy'And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2. This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. 3. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: 4. And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of … Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture The Exodus A Question for Communicants The Blood The Birthnight of Freedom Of the Practice of Piety in Holy Feasting. Of Preparation. The Reaction against Egypt The Typical Significance of the Scriptures Declare their Divine Authorship Preparation for Passover. Disciples Contend for Precedence. Bread and Wine Appendix xii. The Baptism of Proselytes The Johannine Writings Circumcision, Temple Service, and Naming of Jesus. Opposition to Messiah in Vain Sundry Exhortations. Peaceable Principles and True: Or, a Brief Answer to Mr. D'Anver's and Mr. Paul's Books against My Confession of Faith, and Differences in Judgment About Baptism no Bar to Communion. Solomon's Temple Spiritualized Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners: Jesus Living at Nazareth and visiting Jerusalem in his Twelfth Year. The Prophet Amos. The Scriptures Jesus, My Rock. Links Exodus 12:40 NIVExodus 12:40 NLT Exodus 12:40 ESV Exodus 12:40 NASB Exodus 12:40 KJV Exodus 12:40 Bible Apps Exodus 12:40 Parallel Exodus 12:40 Biblia Paralela Exodus 12:40 Chinese Bible Exodus 12:40 French Bible Exodus 12:40 German Bible Exodus 12:40 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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