Our readings begin with the 5th chapter of Exodus and close with the 15th. They begin with Israel in oppression and bondage, with the whole power of Egypt set against them. They close with the song of triumph of Israel on the thither side of the Red Sea with the host of Egypt overthrown. Mighty work God did in saving them. It was creative power manifest over again. Never was such work done in the saving of any nation.
The careful, earnest student who has time will search out the genesis and purpose of the various plagues brought upon Egypt. He will find that they generally come against the gods of Egypt, those things which the Egyptians worshiped. He will note this,—that while the Lord predicted that He would at last harden Pharaoh's heart, yet in all the earlier judgments it was Pharaoh who hardened his own heart, and made his own heart stubborn against God. God would have saved him as He saved Nebuchadnezzar, would have glorified His name through Pharaoh's repentance and salvation; but Pharaoh would not. And when the time came that God hardened Pharaoh's heart, it was only the withdrawing of His Holy Spirit, which Pharaoh had before rejected; and so all hearts are irretrievably hardened, by rejecting the very means which will bring salvation.
The word "borrow" in Ex. 11:2 should be "ask," as in the American Revised Version. A long time Israel had served the Egyptians in bondage as slaves, and now they are asking, or demanding, some compensation for their labor. The original bears this meaning of the word. It is well to read carefully the institution of the Passover, and its object. Note that the song of Moses was a song of triumph over earthly foes; the redeemed at last will sing not only the song of Moses, but the song of the Lamb,—redemption from earthly foes, as well as from all sin.
Psalms 16 and 17 will emphasize the readings of the week, of God's preservation of His people from trouble.
