Exodus 10:26

THE CONTROVERSY between Jehovah, the God of the whole earth, and Pharaoh, king of Egypt, was intended to be remembered, and spoken of throughout all generations. On that occasion, God permitted human nature to arrive at its highest degree of stubbornness and obstinacy; but he, nevertheless, cowed it, and overcame it. He did indeed raise up Pharaoh for this purpose, that he might show forth his power in him. Pharaoh, as an absolute monarch, is permitted to go to the utmost degree of hardness of heart, and yet the Lord would show to all coming generations that his decrees shall stand, and he will do all his pleasure. You will remember that the quarrel was on this wise—God had sent his people into Egypt in the olden times, there to dwell in the land of Goshen. They had multiplied exceedingly, they had been favourably treated by succeeding kings, till at length a new king arose who knew not Joseph. He began to oppress the people, but the more he oppressed hem, the more they increased. He made their lives bitter with hard bondage. In mortar and in rick, and ina ll manner of service of the field, did he make hem to serve with rigour. Probably they were employed in building many of those mighty piles, the pyramids, which now stand upon the plains of Egypt. He subjected hem to the most rigorous tasks; they worked under the whip continually, and had to make bricks without straw, the hardest possible exaction that even a tyrant could have imagined. At last the cry of the people went up to their God in heaven. He saw their affliction, he heard their cry, he knew their sorrows, and he determined, with his own bare arm, to be avenged on Pharaoh, and to bring out all his people, the seed of Jacob, from their house of bondage.

THE CONTROVERSY between Jehovah, the God of the whole earth, and Pharaoh, king of Egypt, was intended to be remembered, and spoken of throughout all generations. On that occasion, God permitted human nature to arrive at its highest degree of stubbornness and obstinacy; but he, nevertheless, cowed it, and overcame it. He did indeed raise up Pharaoh for this purpose, that he might show forth his power in him.

I SHALL have five texts—one of them a good one, the other four bad. The first text is good. It is God's text. That is God's text and the whole sermon will illustrate it by exposing the compromises with which it was met. The other four are Pharaoh's texts, or, if you like, the devil's, for that is exactly what the devil says to men. Exodus 8:25— "Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go you, sacrifice to your God in the land." That is his first proposal. Then we find him saying, at the 28th verse, "I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only you shall not go very far away." That is the second of his compromises. In the 10th chapter, at the 8th verse, you have the third. He said to them, "Go, serve the Lord your God: but who are they that shall go?" Adding, "Go now, you that are men, and serve the Lord." And Pharaoh's fourth and last proposal is in the 24th verse of that same 10th chapter— "Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, Only let your flocks and your herds be stayed." Satan is very loath to give up his hold on men. He is quite as loath as Pharaoh and he must be driven to it by force of arms—I mean by force of Divine Grace—before he will let God's people go. Having once got them under his power through the Fall, through their sin and through their hardness of heart, he will not lose his subjects if he can help it. He will put forth all his craft and all his strength, if possible, to hold them in his accursed sway! Many of Satan's slaves altogether disregard the voice of God. For them there are no Sabbaths, no Bibles, no religion. Practically, they say, "Who is Jehovah that we should obey His voice?" Now, when God means to save men—when the eternal purpose so runs and the Divine determination is to be accomplished, He soon puts an end to this.

We know not with what we must serve the Lord, etc. - The law was not yet given; the ordinances concerning the different kinds of sacrifices and offerings not known. What kind and what number of animals God should require to be sacrificed, even Moses himself could not as yet tell. He therefore very properly insists on taking the whole of their herds with them, and not leaving even one hoof behind.