from the God of Israel to Pharaoh, he pleads as an apology for his reluctance to undertake the dangerous task, the want of this quality so necessary for a popular leader:* And that he did not possess, or at least that he did not display, any military prowess, appears from his employing Joshua to head the Jewish troops, in the very first battle they had occasion to fight, while he stood on an eminence to secure to them divine aid, by holding up his hands to heaven.+ But notwithstanding these defects, it is not improbable that, in the vigour of manhood, and the ardour of his honest indignation, at the sufferings of his people, he may have conceived the project of rousing them against their oppressors, and rescuing them from Egypt. His religious principles were shocked with the idolatry and vices of the Egyptian court, as his humanity and patriotism revolted at the cruelty exercised against his wretched countrymen. He trusted that God would assist his praiseworthy intentions, and by him accomplish the promised deliverance. "By faith," says the Apostle,‡ "Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the "son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction "with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ" (the seed in whom all the nations of the earth were to be blessed, and to which he looked as the sure pledge of his nation's deliverance) "as greater "riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he had respect unto the 66 recompence of the reward.” Thus animated, he seems to have attempted that deliverance he hoped for. "When he was "full forty years old," says Saint Stephen,§ "it came into his "heart, to visit his brethren the Children of Israel. And see❝ing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged "him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian: for he sup"posed his brethren would have understood, how that God, "by his hand, would deliver them: but they understood not." Indeed, this attempt, prematurely undertaken, and utterly unsuccessful, terminated in such a manner as seems to have banished every such idea totally from his thoughts, and to have rendered any such attempt in future, to all human judgment, desperate and impracticable. For, "the next day he "showed himself unto two of his countrymen, as they strove, "and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are. *Exod. iv. 10. † Ibid. xvii. 8—12. Heh. xi 24-26. § Acts, vii. 23—25.

"brethren; why do ye wrong one to another? But he that did "his neighbour wrong, thrust him away, saying, Who made “thee a ruler and a judge over us? Wilt thou kill me, as thou "killedst the Egyptian yesterday?"*"And Moses feared, and “said, Surely this thing is known. And when Pharaoh heard "this, he sought to slay him; but he fled from the face of “Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian.”†

Thus exiled from his nation, his life exposed to the most imminent hazard should he presume to return to Egypt; forsaken by his countrymen, and persecuted by their enemies; he appears to have relinquished all hope of effecting their deliverance, and to have abandoned every idea of personal ambition or public enterprise. He marries, two sons are born to him, and he devotes forty years, the prime and vigour of his days, to the humble and peaceful employments of rural life. His family and his flocks occupy the entire attention of the patriarch and the shepherd.

If we exclude the idea of a divine interposition, we must believe that at the end of forty years, without any outward change of circumstances, merely from a rash and sudden impulse, this exile, so long appearing to have forgotten his people, and to have been by them forgot, resumes at the age of fourscore, § the project which, in the full vigour of manhood, and the yet unabated ardour of youthful confidence, he had been compelled to abandon as desperate. He forsakes his family and his property, revisits his nation, determined again to offer him self for their leader, and to attempt their deliverance. Yet he appears not to have cultivated in the interval, a single talent, and not to have formed a single preparation to facilitate his enterprise. Of eloquence, he confesses himself destitute; of military skill or prowess, he never made any display; he appears to have formed no party among the Jews, no alliance with any foreign power; he had certainly prepared no force.

But it will be said, he employed an engine more powerful than eloquence or arms, with an unenlightened people, who looked upon themselves as the favourites of heaven, and who long had hoped for their deliverance by a divine interposition,

*Acts, vii. 26-28.

† Exod. ii. 14, 15.

Compare Exod. ii. 11-23, with vii. 7, and Acts, vii. 23 and 30.

Exod. vii. 7.

He claimed the character of an ambassador commissioned by the God of their fathers, to free them from the bondage under which they groaned; he supported his claim by some artful deceptions and mysterious juggling, which his former acquaintance with Egyptian magic enabled him to practise; and this was sufficient to gain the faith and command the obedience of a superstitious race, always credulous, and now eager to be convinced, of what they wished to be true. Thus we may account

for his success.

*

This might appear plausible, if the only thing wanting was to prevail on his countrymen to quit the land of bondage; but let it be remembered, that the great difficulty lay in the necessity of prevailing on the Egyptians to permit their departure. Supposing the Hebrew slaves were willing to encounter the difficulties of emigration, and the dangers of invading a warlike nation (a point by no means certain;) yet who shall prevail on their proud and mercenary lords to suffer themselves to be deprived of their service? Every circumstance which would enable a chief to establish his party with the one, would rouse suspicion, resentment and opposition, in the other. As to forcing their way by arms, and thus vindicating their liberty, this was an attempt so hopeless and desperate, that it appears never to have been thought of. For near three hundred years had the Hebrews submitted to the yoke of servitude, without a single struggle to shake it off; above fourscore years before, the malignity of their tyrants had proposed to destroy the nation, by cutting off all their male children, yet this cruelty had excited no revolt. The operation of this dreadful edict had been some way or other eluded, and it had, in all probability, gradually ceased. But who could hope to rouse such a people, debased and dejected with long continued "bondage, in mortar "and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field,"† against one of the most vigilant and most powerful monarchies then existing in the world; by whose forces they, their wives and their children, might be immediately cut off if they attempted to unite and to resist? At all events, their aged leader

* Vide Exod. xiv. 11, Numb. xi. 5, and Numb. xiv. 3, and xx. 5, which prove clearly how ready the Jews were to return to Egypt on any reverse of fortune, and how much they regretted the plenty and peace they enjoyed there, whenever afterwards at a loss for sustenance, or menaced by war. + Exod. i. 14.

made no such attempt; he bore no arms, but that rod by which he professed Jehovah would enable him to work miracles; and in the name of that God he applied to the Egyptian monarch, to obtain permission for his people to go and hold a feast in the wilderness.

66

The haughty tyrant unacquainted with the name, and despising the Majesty of Jehovah, rejected the demand with contempt. And Pharaoh said, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither "will I let Israel go." And he said, "Wherefore do ye, Moses "and Aaron, let the people from their work? get ye unto your "burdens. And Pharaoh commanded the task-masters of the "people, and their officers, saying, Ye shall no more give the "people straw to make brick, as heretofore; let them go and gather straw for themselves. And the tale of the bricks which "they made heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not "diminish aught thereof: for they be idle; therefore they cry, "saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God. Let there be more work laid on them that they may labour therein: and let "them not regard vain words."*

66

❝ing,

This severe command was proclaimed, and obedience to it peremptorily required: to execute it was found impracticable. But despotism roused to oprress, would not admit as an apology the impossibility of executing its will. "The officers of the "Children of Israel, whom Pharaoh's task-masters set over "them, were beaten, and demanded, Wherefore have ye not "fulfilled your works, your daily tasks, as when there was "straw? And the officers came and cried unto Pharaoh, sayWherefore dealest thou thus with thy servants? But "he said, Ye are idle; therefore ye say, Let us go and do sacrifice unto the Lord. Go therefore now and work, for there "shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye deliver the tale of "bricks. And they met Moses and Aaron, who stood in the way, as they came forth from Pharaoh, and they said unto "them, The Lord look upon you, and judge: because ye have "made our savour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, " and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hands "to slay us."+

66

On this distressing accusation, Moses, dejected with disapIbid, v. 14-21.

* Exod. v. 2-9.

pointment, and overpowered with the unexpected sufferings which he appeared to be instrumental in producing, poured forth his complaint before his God: he returned unto the Lord, and said, "Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil-entreated this people? Why is it that thou hast sent me? For since I came to Pha"raoh to speak in thy name, he hath done evil to this people; "neither hast thou delivered thy people at all."*

66

Here then is the first crisis, in which the attempt to deliver Israel from Egyptian bondage seems, if we consider human means, utterly desperate. Its author is resisted and scorned by the Egyptian monarch: deserted and almost execrated by his countrymen, for involving them in new miseries, to which yet they submit without any attempt to shake off the yoke. He stands on one side, without arms, without followers, without resources of any human kind; opposed to a mighty sovereign, surrounded by his wise men and priests, his counsellors, his officers, his armies, invested with despotic power, which he is determined to exercise, in opposition to the authority of that God, whose ambassador the Jewish legislator declares himself, and in contempt of those menaces which he denounces.

Thus the claim of Moses, to a divine mission, is rejected and scorned, and he has no resource but those magical deceptions, which he is supposed to derive from his Egyptian education; but what hope of succeeding in these, when surrounded, watched and opposed by all the masters of this art by whom he himself must have been taught, the wise men and priests and magicians of Egypt, supported by the power of their state; while their opponent is without a single associate but his own brother to support or assist him?

A very short period elapses, and what is the event? No human force is exercised, not a single Israelite lifts the sword or bends the bow; but the Egyptian monarch is humbled, his people terrified, they urge the Israelites to hasten their departure. These are now honored as the masters of their late oppressors: they demand of the Egyptians, (the idea of borrowing, which our translation expresses, and which implies the humility of a request, and an obligation to return, is wholly foreign to the original :) "The Israelites" (in obedience to the express injunction of Jehovah) "demand of the Egyptians

* Exod. v. 22, 23.