that "Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians;" which leads us to infer, that during his early life he was placed under the care of some of the greatest teachers of the land, probably the Priests, and initiated in the various arts practised by the people. It was this, doubtless, which prepared him for the task he was afterwards to undertake, and enabled him to withstand successfully the magicians of the King, when they attempted to imitate his miracles by their deceitful tricks. (Exodus vii. 11, 12, &c.) But was he not in danger of being led into idolatry? Would he not, whilst yet a child, be conducted into some of Egypt's temples, and there be fascinated with the ceremonies he would witness? and would he not thus become a worshipper of RA and KNEPH, gods of the Egyptians, instead of the true God, the God of Israel? That he was in no danger from the position in which he was placed, we will not affirm; but it is highly probable that his mother Jochebed would, as the nurse of the adopted child of Pharaoh's daughter, be received as an inmate into the palace, and would, in consequence, have frequent intercourse with her son. And she would tell him who he was, and would inform him of his history and of the history of the Israelites, and would guard him against the temptations to which he would be exposed. And how indignant would he be at the conduct of Pharaoh towards his people! Little sympathy would he have with the royal family when he learned that they were the oppressors of the Hebrews; and for the glitter of the court, and the splendour of the temple, he would imbibe nothing but contempt. What, therefore, was the result? "When he was come to years, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season," &c. (Heb. xi. 24-26.) It is supposed by some historians of Egypt that Pharaoh's daughter was heiress to the crown, and that she ultimately became Queen of the country. She had, however, no children of her own, so that her adopted son Moses would, in all probability, have succeeded her in the government, and have ultimately worn the diadem of the Pharaohs. But he knew that to remain in the family of the King would involve the necessity of his bowing down to Egypt's gods; and though pleasures were within his reach, yet they were sinful pleasures, and but of temporary duration; and he therefore resolved to spurn them all, and to share the lot of the afflicted Israelites. Nay, he even "esteemed the reproach of Christ" that is, of the promised Seed of Abraham, whose people the Israelites were "greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward,”the land of Canaan, in the first instance, into which he knew his people would be one day led, and the heavenly Canaan, in the second, of which the earthly Canaan was a type. And he fled into the land of Midian, where, after forty years, God appeared to him in Horeb in the burning bush, and called him to be the deliverer of His people from the house of bondage. (Exodus iii. 1-10.) What a lesson is there for us here! "Them that honour Me I will honour," saith the Lord; and far greater did Moses become by rejecting the treasures of the Egyptian court, than he would have become had he grasped them all. Be it yours, youthful reader, to choose, not the pomp, and glory, and riches of the world, all which are transitory and vain, but rather a place among the people of God, who, though often a despised and suffering people, are, nevertheless, anticipating an inheritance that shall never fade away. London: R. Needham, Printer, Paternoster-Row. |