to Egypt to endure chastening and be made fit for national
independence. But in Egypt Moses was a courtier, perhaps heir to the
throne. That he may be chastened and fitted for his share of the work
which God was about to accomplish towards His people, he must be driven
out of Egypt into the wilderness. Every servant of God is sent into the
wilderness. St. Paul was three years in Arabia between his conversion
and his entrance on the work of the ministry. Jesus Himself was led up
of the Spirit into the wilderness. He learned endurance in forty days,
Moses in forty years.

It will be seen that we accept the explanation of the twenty-seventh
verse given by all expositors down to the time of De Lyra and Calvin.
But in modern times it has been customary to say that the Apostle refers
to the final departure of the children of Israel out of Egypt with a
strong hand and outstretched arm. Our reasons for preferring the other
view are these. The departure of the Israelites through the Red Sea is
mentioned subsequently; an event that occurred before the people left
Egypt is mentioned in the next verse, and it is very improbable that the
writer would refer to their departure first, then to the events that
preceded, then once more speak of their departure. Further, the word
well rendered by the Old and the Revised Versions "forsook" expresses
precisely the notion of going out alone, in despondency, as if Moses had
abandoned the hope of being the deliverer of Israel. If we have
correctly understood the Apostle's purpose in the entire passage, this
is the very notion which we should expect him to introduce. Moses
forsakes Egypt, deserts his brethren, abandons his work. He flees from
the vengeance of Pharaoh. Yet all this fear, hopelessness, and unbelief
is only the partial aspect of what, taken as a whole, is the action of
faith. He still believes in his glorious idea, and is still willing to
bear the reproach of Christ. He will not return to the court and make
his submission to the king. But the time is not come, he thinks, or he
is not the man to deliver Israel. Forty years afterwards he is still
loath to be sent. He forsook Egypt because the people did not believe
him; after forty years he asks the Lord to send another for the very
same reason; "Behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my
voice." But we should be obtuse indeed if we failed to recognise the
faith that underlies his despondency. Doubt is oftentimes partial fa