So Pharaoh
brushed his tears out of his eyes, gathered his army and set out after
the departing children of Israel.

I see the bustle and hurry of the setting out. I see the look of hate
on the king's face as he comes within sight of his one time slaves. He
laughs a mirthless laugh as he sees their predicament. They are shut
in on either side. The sea is in front and he and his army in the
rear. What a sweet revenge he is going to have.

But look. Something has happened. There is a path through the sea.
These hunted slaves are marching in. But it doesn't matter. Wherever
Israel can go, the Egyptians can go. So he and his army march in
behind. They keep the Israelites in sight. Now in the distance they
see that the last Israelite has reached dry land.

And then there is a great shriek that is quickly choked. The waters
have come together again. The sea waves roar about these struggling
soldiers like liquid hate. The King is forgotten. His men are madly
trying to save themselves. A jeweled hand flashes in the light for a
moment. There is an oath, a cry for help, a gulp, and silence. And
the hungry sea has its prey.

Pharaoh, why are you here? And if those dead lips could speak he would
say, "I am here because I persistently refused to obey God. He offered
me the best and I spurned it and spurned it again till at last He threw
me here. He did it because I made it impossible for Him to do anything
else." And as I look at this wreck I think how different the story
might have ended. This man might have had a part in the making of a
great people. He might have been associated with Moses in giving to
the world a new nation. He might even now be in the fellowship of
Moses among the tall sons of the morning. For the difference between
this man and the great man Moses is not in the fact that God purposed
evil for the one and good for the other. It is in this, that one was
obedient unto the heavenly vision, that one could say, "The grace that
was bestowed upon me was not in vain," and the other resisted and kept
resisting till he ran by every blockade that God could put in his path
and plunged headlong into destruction.

IX

A SON OF SHAME--JEPHTHAH

_Judges 11:35_

"I have opened my mouth unto the Lord and I cannot go back." I like
these big words. There is a ring of sterling strength in them. They
have a robust masculinity that grips my heart. They are not the words
of a weakling.