t through
faith the babe was hidden, and through faith the man refused Egyptian
rank. Stephen tells us that he expected his brethren to know that God by
his hand was giving them deliverance. But the narrative in Exodus is
wholly untheological. If Moses were the author, we can see why he
avoided reflections which directly tended to glorify himself. But if the
story were a subsequent invention, why is the tone so cold, the light so
colourless?

Now, it is well that we are invited to look at all these things from
their human side, observing the play of human affection, innocent
subtlety, and pity. God commonly works through the heart and brain which
He has given us, and we do not glorify Him at all by ignoring these. If
in this case there were visible a desire to suppress the human agents,
in favour of the Divine Preserver, we might suppose that a different
historian would have given a less wonderful account of the plagues, the
crossing of the Sea, and the revelation from Sinai. But since full
weight is allowed to second causes in the early life of Moses, the story
is entitled to the greater credit when it tells of the burning bush and
the flaming mountain.

Let us, however, put together the various narratives and their lessons.
At the outset we read of a marriage celebrated between kinsfolk, when
the storm of persecution was rising. And hence we infer that courage or
strong affection made the parents worthy of him through whom God should
show mercy unto thousands. The first child was a girl, and therefore
safe; but we may suppose, although silence in Scripture proves little,
that Aaron, three years before the birth of Moses, had not come into
equal peril with him. Moses was therefore born just when the last
atrocity was devised, when trouble was at its height.

"At this time Moses was born," said Stephen. Edifying inferences have
been drawn from the statement in Exodus that "the woman ... hid him."
Perhaps the stronger man quailed, but the maternal instinct was not at
fault, and it was rewarded abundantly. From which we only learn, in
reality, not to overstrain the words of Scripture; since the Epistle to
the Hebrews distinctly says that he "was hid three months by his
parents"--both of them, while naturally the mother is the active agent.

All the accounts agree that he was thus hidden, "because they saw that
he was a goodly child" (Heb. xi. 23). It is a pathetic phrase. We see
them, before the crisis, vaguely submit