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He Was A Goodly Child.
--EXOD. 2:1-10.--NOV. 17--
"Train up a child in the way he should go;
and when
he is old he will not depart from it."--Prov. 22:6.
EVERY CHILD is not born a Moses, and no amount
of training would make him his equal as a man. We have everything to say in
accord with the Golden Text, and not a word in opposition; nevertheless, the
foundation for greatness must be laid before the birth. It is a great mistake
made by many--and one to which they are assisted by false theological
views--that each child is a special creation of God, so that, if an idiot, God
may be blamed; and if well endowed and balanced mentally and physically, God
receives the credit. The Scriptural proposition is to the contrary of this,
viz., that all God's work is perfect (Deut.
32:4)--that Adam was his workmanship, and that he is not responsible
for the defects and imperfections which more or less mar every member of our
race. In a sense, of course, all that we have, even though imperfect, is of
God, since he is the author of all life and indirectly our Creator. --Exod. 4:11.
But our defects are explained to us in the
Scriptures to be the results of sin, and the natural development of its death
penalty, working in the race under the laws of heredity. We are all born in
sin, shapen in iniquity, in sin did our mothers conceive us. (Psa.
51:5.) But we are not all born in the same degree of degradation. While
fallen parents cannot bring forth a perfect offspring they can, and sometimes
do, produce types higher than themselves. This is accomplished by a law of
nature affecting the mental conditions of the parents, and especially of the
mother (and she is always susceptible to favorable or unfavorable mental and
moral influences from her husband) during the period of gestation.
According to this divine law, therefore, parents
are to a considerable degree responsible for the prominent traits of character
in their children. If this matter were more thoroughly understood, more fully
appreciated by parents, the result would be a great improvement in the natural
quality of the children born. The husband would endeavor to make the
surroundings favorable to the highest emotions and sentiments and aspirations
on the part of his wife; who, in turn, would co-operate and set her affections
on noble and good and pure and generous things, with meekness; and the result
would surely be the birth of children much more resembling Moses than the
majority do--in nobleness of character combined with humility.
Nothing herein stated, however, is intended to
encourage the begetting of children by the Lord's [R2902
: page 346] consecrated people living in this "harvest" time.
That begotten and born of the flesh is flesh; while that begotten and born of
the spirit is spirit. (John 3:6.) The "new
creatures" in Christ Jesus have a still higher and grander work before
them than the producing of even perfect children, were such a matter
possible. They have the privilege of co-operation with God in the development
of the "new creatures," the spiritual sons of God: and like our Lord
and the apostles they prefer this highest of all privileges. Not that we
dispute for a moment the Apostle's word: "Marriage is honorable in
all;" but that we emphasize with him that he that marrieth doeth well, but he that marrieth not doeth better. (1 Cor. 7:38;
Heb. 13:4.) So now we emphasize that he that
brings forth natural children of the highest type does well, but he that
co-operates with God for the begetting of spiritual sons does better.
Our information respecting the birth and
childhood of Moses is very meager. We know that his father's name was Amram,
which signifies "Noble people." His mother's name was Jochebed, which
signifies, "Jehovah is glorious." Though they were Hebrews, and as a
race in bondage to the Egyptians, these names imply that this family of the
tribe of Levi were persons of moral and religious sentiments-- noble people in
the proper sense of the word. This is implied also in the Apostle's statement,
that they acted from faith.--Heb. 11:23.
As we saw in a previous lesson, the Egyptian
rulers of the new dynasty were fearful that the rapid increase of the Hebrews
would ultimately mean that they would become the dominant race, or else that
they would take their departure--as, indeed, they expected to do, according to
the traditions which they reverenced, and which instructed them respecting the
time of their sojourn in Egypt, and of the promise of God respecting their
ultimate deliverance, by the interposition of his power. The Egyptians did not
wish to lose the Hebrew people, as their efficiency as laborers had been
demonstrated, and as they were profitable to the Egyptians in the way of trade.
They neither wished to drive them away nor to kill them off. What they did
desire was that they should not increase so rapidly. To hinder this phenomenal
increase various expedients were tried, none of them effective; and finally, as
a repressive measure, an edict went forth that all the male children of the
Hebrews should be put to death, the intention evidently being the curtailment
of the race for a time only, permitting children to be born later on.
It was about this time that Moses was born;
evidently there had been no such restriction at the time Aaron, his elder
brother, was born. Moses was the third in the family; his sister, Miriam, the
second, was the little maid mentioned in our lesson. The babe Moses was
secreted by his mother for three months, in violation of the king's command,
and at the risk of her own life as well as his; and the reason given is that
she perceived that he was a goodly child --fine-looking, giving promise of the
great man which he afterward became. The Apostle declares that the parents had
faith--not faith in the child, nor yet in themselves, nor in the king; but
faith in God, that he would bless and preserve the child; and we cannot doubt
that this faith was accompanied by prayer to the Lord. We cannot doubt that
even before the child was born, under such peculiar circumstances, the godly,
faithful parents consecrated it to the Lord, to be trained for him, and
instructed to the best of their ability, and to be the Lord's servant to
whatever extent he would be pleased to use him. Without some such hopes and
prayers the faith which the Apostle mentions would be inappropriate.
Faith and prayers and consecrations usually go together, hand in hand,
anyway,--both as respects ourselves, our children, and all with which we have
to do.
It was a very shrewd device which the parents
adopted for the child's preservation, and it either shows a divine guidance or
an inventive mind, with a good knowledge of human nature, or all of these.
Moses' parents read human nature well when they concluded that the princess of
Egypt, if she found the babe at the time of the taking of her bath (perhaps a
religious rite), would be sure to be touched, and her heart appealed to by any
child, and especially by so "goodly" a boy. It was a cunning
arrangement, too, to have Miriam, his sister, nearby, at the time of the
finding of the babe in the bulrush basket, and to have her suggest the getting
of a Hebrew woman to nurse the child, and then getting his own mother.
Undoubtedly the Lord's hand and wisdom were behind the entire matter; but even
so, it teaches us the lesson that God is pleased to use human instrumentalities
in the accomplishment of his purposes. [R2903 :
page 346] The parents did right to exercise their ingenuity for the
preservation of their child, at the same time that they exercised faith in the
Lord. And so with us: our faith is not to be of the indolent kind which refuses
to act, and would thus fail to be in the way to be used of the Lord; but rather
ours also is to be a faith manifested by works. It is such faith that the Lord
is pleased to bless.
The princess is supposed to have been Neferari,
the wife of Rameses II, and daughter of the preceding monarch;--all Egyptian
kings being called Pharaoh. She adopted the waif as her own son, yet was
willing that he should be nurtured in a Hebrew home for a time--it is presumed,
until he was either seven or twelve years of age; after which she had him
brought to the royal palace and instructed in all the wisdom and learning of
the Egyptians. How apt the thought of the poet in respect to Moses' case when
he says:
"God
moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform!"
How appropriate it was that the leader of Israel
out of Egyptian bondage, as a type of the great Messiah, should be an educated
or learned man; and yet how still more necessary it was that he should first
have well fixed in his mind, in infancy and childhood, the basic principles of
religion; and how marvelously the Lord arranged for both of these elements of
his education. We cannot doubt that the parents, whose faith already had been
manifested, would instruct the boy in respect to the Abrahamic promises, in
which they trusted; viz., that as the seed of Abraham they were ultimately to
be great, and to be used as the Lord's channels for blessing all the families
of the earth; and that, as foretold to Abraham, the time [R2903
: page 347] when the Lord would bring his people forth from Egyptian
bondage with a high hand and an outstretched arm of power was well nigh up. He
was no doubt, thoroughly informed respecting his relationship to the
Israelites, and no doubt not only faith in the promises, but a patriotic
feeling of devotion to his people was liberally inculcated--because these
qualities stand out nobly throughout his entire life, as they could not do
unless they had been thoroughly implanted and cherished.
Comparatively few parents seem to realize the
privileges and responsibilities placed within their hands in connection with
their own offspring. The Christian mother who has a growing family has
certainly a wide scope for the use of all her talents, if she will but use
them, in giving instructions in righteousness and in the reverence of the Lord,
to her little ones. And it is a mistake frequently made, to suppose that
children cannot appreciate religious principles, and that therefore they should
not be given even "the milk of the word," or primary lessons along
the lines of the divine law. We believe, on the contrary, that while children
are born with a certain amount of depravity and predilection to evil,
nevertheless, their little minds are in a large measure blank pages, upon which
principles either for good or for evil are sure to be deeply engraved. If their
minds be not directed in the lines of justice and mercy and love and patience,
and if they be not taught that these are the divine requirements, and their
reasonable service, we may be sure that they will be taught the reverse of
these, as they come in contact with the various depraving influences of
life--the world, the flesh, the devil. Those parents who consider their
children to be each a little garden-spot, and who faithfully plant in these the
seeds of justice and love and patience and meekness and gentleness, and all the
fruits of the spirit, to the extent that they may be able, will be sure to find
a rich reward in the graces of character that will result, under the Lord's
blessing--especially if the children have been consecrated to him from infancy,
or better, before birth.
On the contrary, those who do not take the time
to implant the seeds which would produce these graces, these mental and moral
flowerets, will find, even as with an earthly garden, that it will not stay
vacant until maturer years have come, and a more convenient season; but,
instead, noxious weeds of evil disposition will grow, flourish, go to seed
repeatedly, and bring forth bitter fruitage, to vex not only the individual
himself, but also the parent, and society in general. Let each parent,
therefore, so far as possible, see to it that any children he may bring forth
will be "goodly," well-favored, by helpful pre-natal influences; and
let him see to it also that having assumed the responsibilities of a parent he
does good work in these little gardens, which are under his care --that the
weeds of error are promptly plucked, and that the seeds of good are liberally
sown.
Although Moses was born over thirty-six hundred
years ago, and therefore comparatively near to the time when the evolution
theory claims that man was only "one step above a monkey," we find
that not only was he a wonderful child and a wonderful man-- even before the
Lord specially blessed him in making him the leader of Israel, and putting his
power upon him--but we find also high standards of mental and moral attainment
amongst his people--the Hebrew Joseph, for instance. We find, additionally,
that in Moses' time there was a distinct and well-advanced civilization amongst
the Egyptians. For instance, the city of Zoan,
one of the capitals of Egypt,
near which Moses was born and reared, is shown by modern research to have been
a most wonderful city-- as compared with modern times. Of it a celebrated
writer says: "The ruins show it to have been a marvelous city, the Athens
of Egypt. An Egyptian poet of that day says of Zoan: 'She is beautiful,
beautiful! Nothing like her is found amongst the monuments of Thebes--the very secret of pleasures of life.
Her bowers bloom with gardens. Each garden is perfumed with the smell of honey.
Her granaries are full of wheat. Flowers for nosegays are in the houses. Her
ships come and go every day. The joys have fixed their seat there.'" And
concerning the development of literature and arts in that day our quotations
further on will show that they were far advanced.
If as a child Moses was remarkable and
attractive, so that Stephen calls him "exceeding fair" or margin
"fair to God" (Acts 7:20),
signifying refined, elegant; and if it be true, as Josephus says, that those
who met him as he was carried along the streets forgot their business, and
stood still to gaze at him, we may well suppose that his early training by
pious parents, in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and his subsequent
instruction "in all the learning of the Egyptians," as the adopted
son of the monarch-- the result must have been a very noble, refined and
handsome man. And yet, strange to say, that with all these accomplishments by
nature and education, he is described to us as having been "the meekest
man in all the earth." Who can doubt that this very quality of meekness
was largely inculcated by the poverty of his parents, and their subjection to
bondage, and the humble sentiments inspired by their consecration of Moses to
the Lord from the time of his begetting? Certain it is that very rarely are
those who are the natural children of princes and rulers humble-minded. Yet
this meekness was another of the qualities essential to Moses as the leader of
God's people. As it was, we find that his forty years' dealing with the
Israelites in the wilderness, as their leader and the mediator of their
covenant with God, so far overcame the meekness of Moses that he was hindered
from entering the promised land, because he took to himself, instead of
ascribing to God, some of the credit of bringing water out of the rock, saying,
"Ye rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?"--smiting the
rock.
Under all circumstances we must think it very
remarkable that a man so really great, and occupying so exalted a position for
such a length of time, should have overcome the haughty "spirit of
princes" in which he was reared, and have maintained his meekness with so
slight an exception down to the very close of his career. We may well ask
ourselves what would have been the result had God chosen for the leader of
Israel a man who was naturally haughty and proud, or any other man than one who
was very [R2903 : page 348] meek indeed. No
other than a meek character could possibly have stood such a strain as Moses so
grandly and so faithfully endured. There is a lesson for the Lord's people
here. The Mediator of the New Covenant, Jesus, was also meek and lowly of
heart, and those whom God is now calling from the world to be joint-heirs with
Jesus, members of his body--as the great anti-type of Moses, to lead mankind
out of the bondage of sin and Satan--these all must have likeness to their Lord
and Head in this quality of meekness, if they would attain to his general
character in other respects. We do well to remember continually the Apostle's
injunction, that we "Humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, so
that he may exalt us in due time"--so that we may be meet [fit] for the
inheritance, the Kingdom.
Concerning Moses and the educational
opportunities of his time, secular history gives us some intimations. The
library of Rameseum at Thebes-- over whose gate was the inscription, "For
the healing of the soul"--contained twenty thousand books, and it is
significant as indicating the intellectual activity of that time, that this
structure was built by Rameses II, by whose wife Moses is supposed to have been
adopted. Stephen declares (Acts 7:22) that
"Moses was both mighty in words and in deeds," and Stanley's [R2904
: page 348] "Jewish Church" says respecting him,--"He
learned arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, medicine and music. He invented boats,
and engines for building, instruments of war and of hydraulics, hieroglyphics,
division of lands." It declares further that he taught Orpheus, and was
hence called by the Greeks Musaeus, and by the Egyptians Hermes.
We know not how substantial is the basis for these
traditions, but we do know that they are not of accord with the Scriptural
records of Moses as a great leader. A lesson for us to learn in this connection
is that God has his own way of preparing for all the various features of his
own great plan. He knew the praying people who, at the proper time, brought
forth their son. He knew how to direct so that the child, the youth, the man,
should be an instrument ready for his own purposes; and yet in all of the
divine dealings, here as elsewhere, we notice that God does not coerce those
whom he uses for his work; but that rather he uses instruments ready, willing,
desirous of being used. Let us each, therefore, seek by humility, by zeal, by
love for the Lord and for his cause, by faith in his power, to be in that
condition of heart and mind which will make us ready to be used, and
useful in any department of the divine service to which the Lord may be pleased
to call us.
W.T. R-2902a : page 345 - 1901r