Notes on the book of ExodusMackintosh, Charles Henry
Religion
Notes on the book of Exodus
Mackintosh, Charles Henry
Bible. Exodus -- Commentaries
Thus this honored daughter of Levi teaches us a holy lesson. Her
"_ark_ of bulrushes, daubed with slime and _pitch_," declares her
confidence in the truth that there was a something which could keep
out the waters of death, in the case of this "proper child," as well
as in the case of Noah, "the preacher of righteousness." Are we to
suppose, for a moment, that this "ark" was the invention of mere
nature? Was it nature's forethought that devised it? or nature's
ingenuity that constructed it? Was the babe placed in the ark at the
suggestion of a mother's heart, cherishing the fond but visionary hope
of thereby saving her treasure from the ruthless hand of death? Were
we to reply to the above inquiries in the affirmative, we should, I
believe, lose the beauteous teaching of this entire scene. How could
we ever suppose that the "_ark_" was devised by one who saw no other
portion or destiny for her child but death by _drowning_? Impossible.
We can only look upon that significant structure as faith's draft
handed in at the treasury of the God of resurrection. It was devised
by the hand of faith, as a vessel of mercy, to carry "a proper child"
safely over death's dark waters, into the place assigned him by the
immutable purpose of the living God. When we behold this daughter of
Levi bending over that "ark of bulrushes," which her faith had
constructed, and depositing therein her babe, we see her "walking in
the steps of that faith of her father Abraham, which he had," when "he
rose up from before his dead," and purchased the cave of Machpelah
from the sons of Heth. (Gen. xxiii.) We do not recognize in her the
energy of mere nature, hanging over the object of its affections,
about to fall into the iron grasp of the king of terrors. No; but we
trace in her the energy of a faith which enabled her to stand, as a
conqueror, at the margin of death's cold flood, and behold the chosen
servant of Jehovah in safety at the other side.
Yes, my reader, faith can take those bold and lofty flights into
regions far removed from this land of death and wide-spread
desolation. Its eagle gaze can pierce the gloomy clouds which gather
around the tomb, and behold the God of resurrection displaying the
results of His everlasting counsels, in the midst of a sphere which no
arrow of death can reach. It can take its stand upon the top of the
Rock of Ages, and listen, in holy triumph, while the surges of death
are lashing its base.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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