And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle.
Israel left Egypt in haste yet in order at dawn, a vast company marching in divisions from lifelong bondage after God judged their oppressors with plagues and mighty signs under Moses as leader. Their flocks and herds and very much cattle were their own property grown from what Jacob and his sons had brought in, carried out with the wealth of the Egyptians who hastened them and paid them for unpaid labor, fulfilling the promise to Abraham of leaving bondage with great substance. The mixed multitude who went up with them were Egyptians who saw the signs and the slaying of the firstborn, professed to choose Israel's God and were welcomed in, many from desire to escape the plagues or from excitement rather than true faith, while they are also understood as Hebrews who had intermarried with Egyptians. They remained corrupted by idolatry and irreverence, grew impatient at Sinai and demanded a visible god, and became first in murmuring and first in apostasy, stirring strife through the camp as a continual snare and hindrance to the faithful. God's purpose in bringing His people out was to separate them from the world's customs and bring them near to Himself at Sinai to hear His law, that their lives would reveal His goodness and justice, a deliverance to be remembered with gratitude and trust on the way to the heavenly Canaan.
Departure from Egypt
Israel went out from bondage at dawn as a vast and exceedingly numerous company, moving in haste yet in order, divided into companies with a leader for each. The march came after dwelling in Goshen and the country around it, when God in pity broke the yoke of slavery and brought His people out with power and mighty signs and wonders. He judged the Egyptians with plagues and placed Moses at their head to lead them through the wilderness to the promised land.
The flocks and herds and very much cattle that went up were the property of the Israelites themselves, who had never sold their possessions to Pharaoh the king. They came from what Jacob and his sons had brought into Egypt, and had greatly increased there alongside the people, who had themselves become exceedingly numerous. God made the Egyptians hasten His people out with all they possessed, urging them to leave. In doing so they gave them recompense for unpaid labor, so that Israel departed carrying the wealth of their former oppressors.
That departure with a mixed multitude and abundant livestock fulfilled God's prophecy to Abraham that his descendants would leave their place of bondage with great substance. It was the grand march from the land of bondage that followed the sprinkled blood and the death-dealing angel. Those who made it were coming out of lifelong slavery with little preparation, knowledge of God, or faith, and they needed instruction and discipline to be ready to work with God.
Mixed Multitude Explained
A mixed multitude went up from Egypt with Israel, including Hebrews who had intermarried with Egyptians. They were also Egyptians who had been led by the signs and wonders to acknowledge that the God of the Hebrews was the only true God and that their own gods were without knowledge and had no power to save or destroy. On the fearful night when the destroying angel slew the firstborn, they with their families entreated permission to come into the houses of the Israelites for protection, pledged to choose the God of Israel as their God from that time on, and decided to leave Egypt to worship Him, and they were welcomed in.
Some among them had faith in Israel's God, but many joined chiefly to escape the plagues or followed out of excitement and curiosity. These believing Egyptians were professedly turned from idolatry yet still corrupted by it. They professed to have given up idolatry and to worship the true God, but upbringing had shaped habits and character that remained corrupted by idolatry and irreverence toward God. While Moses was receiving instruction from God on the mount, this multitude at its foot still held the gods of Egypt in mind, and when he did not return as soon as expected after ascending into the cloud with the summit in flames, they grew impatient and claimed he had been slain by the burning flame. They gathered around Aaron to demand something visible to resemble God, and under Satan's tempting to imitate Egyptian idolatry urged making an idol that could lead them back to Egypt and gain favor with the Egyptians, becoming the principal movers in dreadful departure from God. Stirred first by Satan to seditious murmurings, they became a hindrance and a snare to Israel, repeatedly stirring up strife, complaining first, and spreading idolatrous practices and murmuring through the camp as a continual source of temptation and trouble.
Like the heathen who later married into Judah, they were not whole-hearted in serving God and became a source of constant trouble. When God's work called for sacrifice they were ready to break solemn promises and commitments of cooperation and support, weakening and discouraging those who faithfully worked for it. That mixed multitude is found in every congregation in our day in many professing godliness who openly transgress the law of God, claiming to be righteous while they do not the things God has commanded. They are like the self-righteous Pharisees who say and do not and stand aloof from their fellow men, showing the power of the adversary upon the human mind, and loyalty or disloyalty is proved by whether they keep Christ's commandments out of love for Him.
Divine Purpose Remembered
God's purpose in bringing Israel out of Egypt was to separate them from the customs, habits, and practices of the world and to bring them nearer to Himself that He might make known to them His will. In life and character they were to manifest the principles of His kingdom and reveal His goodness, mercy, justice, and love, giving the world a representation of His character. His purpose for His people today is the same, that when the law of God is exemplified in the life even the world will recognize the superiority of those who love and fear and serve God above every other people in the world.
The Lord called His people out of Egypt in order to bring them to Sinai to hear the proclamation of the law that had been given in Eden. The deliverance was for the purpose of hearing the Ten Commandments proclaimed to the children of Israel by God with His own voice, demonstrating their fundamental importance. That same pity that moved God to break the yoke of their bondage in slavery in Egypt and place Moses at their head to lead them through the wilderness to the promised land is not indifferent to the suffering of the colored people in America. Though freed from slavery in one sense, they are still in the slavery of ignorance, living in sin and degradation, because more favored men and women have not taken pains to lift them, and that pity calls upon those who name His name to take up the work they have neglected.
That mighty work of God in delivering Israel from Egyptian bondage is to be remembered with gratitude and firm trust in God when trials come on the way to the heavenly Canaan. Forgetting it leads to distrust of God, mourning and lamenting over self, desperation, and repeating the sin of murmuring and rebellious Israel stirred up by the discouraging words of the unfaithful spies. The grand march from the land of bondage that followed the sprinkled blood and the death-dealing angel was rehearsed in solemn silence in the night assembly of the paschal service at Jerusalem, with men with girded loins, shoes on feet, and staff in hand eating the hasty meal of lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs, to stir the imagination and impress the heart. On the journey to Jerusalem Hebrew children learned the same march through recounting of past experiences, singing of the songs that had cheered the wilderness wandering, and chanting of God's commandments amid nature and kindly human association, fixing them forever in memory. It belongs to the setting of a people coming out of lifelong slavery, with little preparation, knowledge of God, or faith, who needed instruction and discipline to be ready to work with God in teaching their children.
Israel left Egypt in haste yet in order at dawn, a vast company marching in divisions from lifelong bondage after God judged their oppressors with plagues and mighty signs under Moses as leader. Their flocks and herds and very much cattle were their own property grown from what Jacob and his sons had brought in, carried out with the wealth of the Egyptians who hastened them and paid them for unpaid labor, fulfilling the promise to Abraham of leaving bondage with great substance. The mixed multitude who went up with them were Egyptians who saw the signs and the slaying of the firstborn, professed to choose Israel's God and were welcomed in, many from desire to escape the plagues or from excitement rather than true faith, while they are also understood as Hebrews who had intermarried with Egyptians. They remained corrupted by idolatry and irreverence, grew impatient at Sinai and demanded a visible god, and became first in murmuring and first in apostasy, stirring strife through the camp as a continual snare and hindrance to the faithful. God's purpose in bringing His people out was to separate them from the world's customs and bring them near to Himself at Sinai to hear His law, that their lives would reveal His goodness and justice, a deliverance to be remembered with gratitude and trust on the way to the heavenly Canaan.
Departure from Egypt
Israel went out from bondage at dawn as a vast and exceedingly numerous company, moving in haste yet in order, divided into companies with a leader for each. The march came after dwelling in Goshen and the country around it, when God in pity broke the yoke of slavery and brought His people out with power and mighty signs and wonders. He judged the Egyptians with plagues and placed Moses at their head to lead them through the wilderness to the promised land.
The flocks and herds and very much cattle that went up were the property of the Israelites themselves, who had never sold their possessions to Pharaoh the king. They came from what Jacob and his sons had brought into Egypt, and had greatly increased there alongside the people, who had themselves become exceedingly numerous. God made the Egyptians hasten His people out with all they possessed, urging them to leave. In doing so they gave them recompense for unpaid labor, so that Israel departed carrying the wealth of their former oppressors.
That departure with a mixed multitude and abundant livestock fulfilled God's prophecy to Abraham that his descendants would leave their place of bondage with great substance. It was the grand march from the land of bondage that followed the sprinkled blood and the death-dealing angel. Those who made it were coming out of lifelong slavery with little preparation, knowledge of God, or faith, and they needed instruction and discipline to be ready to work with God.
Mixed Multitude Explained
A mixed multitude went up from Egypt with Israel, including Hebrews who had intermarried with Egyptians. They were also Egyptians who had been led by the signs and wonders to acknowledge that the God of the Hebrews was the only true God and that their own gods were without knowledge and had no power to save or destroy. On the fearful night when the destroying angel slew the firstborn, they with their families entreated permission to come into the houses of the Israelites for protection, pledged to choose the God of Israel as their God from that time on, and decided to leave Egypt to worship Him, and they were welcomed in.
Some among them had faith in Israel's God, but many joined chiefly to escape the plagues or followed out of excitement and curiosity. These believing Egyptians were professedly turned from idolatry yet still corrupted by it. They professed to have given up idolatry and to worship the true God, but upbringing had shaped habits and character that remained corrupted by idolatry and irreverence toward God. While Moses was receiving instruction from God on the mount, this multitude at its foot still held the gods of Egypt in mind, and when he did not return as soon as expected after ascending into the cloud with the summit in flames, they grew impatient and claimed he had been slain by the burning flame. They gathered around Aaron to demand something visible to resemble God, and under Satan's tempting to imitate Egyptian idolatry urged making an idol that could lead them back to Egypt and gain favor with the Egyptians, becoming the principal movers in dreadful departure from God. Stirred first by Satan to seditious murmurings, they became a hindrance and a snare to Israel, repeatedly stirring up strife, complaining first, and spreading idolatrous practices and murmuring through the camp as a continual source of temptation and trouble.
Like the heathen who later married into Judah, they were not whole-hearted in serving God and became a source of constant trouble. When God's work called for sacrifice they were ready to break solemn promises and commitments of cooperation and support, weakening and discouraging those who faithfully worked for it. That mixed multitude is found in every congregation in our day in many professing godliness who openly transgress the law of God, claiming to be righteous while they do not the things God has commanded. They are like the self-righteous Pharisees who say and do not and stand aloof from their fellow men, showing the power of the adversary upon the human mind, and loyalty or disloyalty is proved by whether they keep Christ's commandments out of love for Him.
Divine Purpose Remembered
God's purpose in bringing Israel out of Egypt was to separate them from the customs, habits, and practices of the world and to bring them nearer to Himself that He might make known to them His will. In life and character they were to manifest the principles of His kingdom and reveal His goodness, mercy, justice, and love, giving the world a representation of His character. His purpose for His people today is the same, that when the law of God is exemplified in the life even the world will recognize the superiority of those who love and fear and serve God above every other people in the world.
The Lord called His people out of Egypt in order to bring them to Sinai to hear the proclamation of the law that had been given in Eden. The deliverance was for the purpose of hearing the Ten Commandments proclaimed to the children of Israel by God with His own voice, demonstrating their fundamental importance. That same pity that moved God to break the yoke of their bondage in slavery in Egypt and place Moses at their head to lead them through the wilderness to the promised land is not indifferent to the suffering of the colored people in America. Though freed from slavery in one sense, they are still in the slavery of ignorance, living in sin and degradation, because more favored men and women have not taken pains to lift them, and that pity calls upon those who name His name to take up the work they have neglected.
That mighty work of God in delivering Israel from Egyptian bondage is to be remembered with gratitude and firm trust in God when trials come on the way to the heavenly Canaan. Forgetting it leads to distrust of God, mourning and lamenting over self, desperation, and repeating the sin of murmuring and rebellious Israel stirred up by the discouraging words of the unfaithful spies. The grand march from the land of bondage that followed the sprinkled blood and the death-dealing angel was rehearsed in solemn silence in the night assembly of the paschal service at Jerusalem, with men with girded loins, shoes on feet, and staff in hand eating the hasty meal of lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs, to stir the imagination and impress the heart. On the journey to Jerusalem Hebrew children learned the same march through recounting of past experiences, singing of the songs that had cheered the wilderness wandering, and chanting of God's commandments amid nature and kindly human association, fixing them forever in memory. It belongs to the setting of a people coming out of lifelong slavery, with little preparation, knowledge of God, or faith, who needed instruction and discipline to be ready to work with God in teaching their children.