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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadGreater Men and Women of the Bible by James Hastings: 163. From the Red Sea to Sinai
Subjects in this Topic:
VII
From the Red Sea to Sinai
Literature
Barton, G. A., The Roots of Christian Teaching as found in the Old Testament (1902), 130.
Chadwick, G. A., The Book of Exodus (Expositor's Bible) (1890), 195.
Driver, S. R., The Book of Exodus (Cambridge Bible) (1911), 111.
Foakes-Jackson, F. J., The Biblical History of the Hebrews (1903), 69.
Gibson, J. M., The Mosaic Era (1881), 61.
Ingram, A. F. W., Under the Dome (1902), 75.
Jones, J. D., Elims of Life (1904), 171.
Jones, J. D., The Unfettered Word (1912), 19.
Lockyer, T. F., Seeking a Country (1904), 82.
Maclaren, A., Expositions: Exodus, etc. (1906), 52.
Matheson, G., Leaves for Quiet Hours (1904), 108.
Meyer, F. B., Moses the Servant of God, 75.
Ottley, R. L., Aspects of the Old Testament (1897), 137.
Pearse, M. G., Moses: His Life and its Lessons (1894), 117.
Trumbull, H. C., Studies in Oriental Social Life (1894), 288.
After the haste and agitation of their marvellous deliverance the children of Israel seem to have halted for awhile at the only spot in the neighbourhood where there is water, known as the Ayoun Musa, or springs of Moses, to this day. There they doubtless brought into some permanent shape their rudimentary organization. There, too, their impressions were given time to deepen. They “saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea-shore,” and realized that their oppression was at an end, their chains were broken, and themselves introduced into a new life-“baptized unto Moses.” They reflected upon the difference between all other deities and the God of their fathers, who, in that deadly crisis, had looked upon them and their tyrants out of the fiery pillar. They “feared Jehovah: and they believed in Jehovah, and in his servant Moses.”
“They believed in Jehovah.” This expression is noteworthy, because they had all believed in Him already. “By faith they forsook Egypt. By faith they kept the passover and the sprinkling of blood. By faith they passed through the Red Sea.” But their former trust was poor and wavering compared with that which filled their bosoms now. So the disciples followed Jesus because they believed on Him; yet, when His first miracle manifested forth His glory, “his disciples believed on him there.” And again they said, “By this we believe that thou camest forth from God.” And after the resurrection He said, “Because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed” (Joh_2:11; Joh_16:30; Joh_20:29). Faith needs to be edified by successive experiences, as the enthusiasm of a recruit is converted into the disciplined valour of the veteran. From each new crisis of the spiritual life the soul should obtain new powers. And that is a shallow and unstable religion which is content with the level of its initial act of faith (however genuine and however important), and seeks not to go from strength to strength.