THE LORD'S FORBEARANCE.
By G.
AFTER the infliction of nine plagues upon the land and people of Egypt, the king and his advisers still refused to let the Israelites go. Pharaoh had become exceedingly insolent by this time, and threatened that Moses should die if he came before him again. But the Lord had still another message for the arrogant king. He said to Moses, “Yet will I bring one plague more upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt.” And Moses took the warning to the king that all the first-born in the land should die, “from the first-born of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the first-born of the maid-servant that is behind the mill; and all the first-born of beasts.” The children of Israel had been warned concerning this plague, and directed how to escape its infliction upon them. Moreover, all the preceding plagues had been in the nature of a warning to Pharaoh against this one. And herein is shown the wonderful forbearance of the Lord. At the first appearance of Moses and Aaron before the king, they had told him this same thing: “Thus saith the Lord, Israel is My son, even My first-born; and I say unto thee, Let My son go, that he may serve Me; and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy first-born.” The Lord knew that it would come to this, yet in His long-suffering mercy He would give every possible opportunity to the Egyptians to escape. He would show them His power and wisdom and majesty, His great superiority over the gods of Egypt, and withal His leniency and tender mercy toward His enemies, giving them opportunity to turn unto Him and enjoy His blessing. So when Pharaoh first refused to let the Israelites go, the Lord did not bring upon Egypt the full penalty. He first sought to convince the king that the gods of Egypt were powerless. The first plague came upon the river, which they worshiped, turning it to blood. It was powerless to throw off the plague, and none of the Egyptian gods could bring relief. The second plague was worse than the first; for it afflicted all the land, and even infested the houses, with frogs. Neither was there any power among the Egyptians or with their gods to remove the pest. It was a plague of gods; for the frogs were objects of worship, and the Egyptians did not dare to kill them. This was followed by the plague of lice, which was even more annoying. The very dust turned to lice, and they were upon man and beast. Even the magicians acknowledged to Pharaoh that this was the finger of God. There was no longer any excuse for regarding these wonders as merely the superior magical work of Moses and Aaron. There was no longer even the semblance of an excuse for supposing that God was not able to carry out the judgment at first announced. But because He did not do so, the king presumed upon His mercy and hardened his heart. Not to do the worst in face of Pharaoh's repeated refusal to obey seems to have encouraged further resistance. Mercy was regarded as weakness, and gave hope of final failure to carry out the threatened judgment. Then came the plague of flies, from which the land of Goshen, where for the most part the Israelites dwelt, was exempt. In connection with this plague the Lord repeats the object of these chastisements,—“to the end thou mayest know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth.” The Lord would not only deliver Israel, but He wanted to convert and save the Egyptians. Then, as now, He was “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” Hence His long-suffering patience. From this standpoint, it is easy to see that, severe as the first nine plagues appear, they were but merciful warnings that a continued refusal to obey the mandate of the God of Israel, and let His people go, would result in the judgment at first proclaimed by Moses and Aaron. The fifth plague afflicted still other objects of Egyptian adoration. The murrain fell upon the cattle, horses, asses, camels, and sheep. The ox and the cow were symbols of Osiris and Isis, and were deemed sacred by the Egyptians; as also the sheep, which was a symbol of their great god Amon. But the humiliation of these deities failed to soften the heart of Pharaoh more than to create a desire to be relieved of the plagues. The succeeding plagues were such as to show the utter inability of any god of Egypt to relieve from any evil attack, or to impart any blessing. These were boils and blains, hail with fearful thunder and lightning, clouds of locusts, and three days of darkness so dense that it could be felt. These were followed by the one that was at first declared, the warning of which Pharaoh had especially ignored, namely, the slaying of all the first-born of both man and beast. And so it was demonstrated that “he, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.” Prov. 29:1.