New Park Street Pulpit · Sermon No. 309
Delivered on Sabbath Morning, April 22nd, 1860, Exeter Hall, Strand.
“There shall not a hoof be left behind.”—Exodus 10:26.
THE CONTROVERSY between Jehovah, the God of the whole earth, and Pharaoh, king of Egypt, was intended to be remembered, and spoken of throughout all generations. On that occasion, God permitted human nature to arrive at its highest degree of stubbornness and obstinacy; but he, nevertheless, cowed it, and overcame it. He did indeed raise up Pharaoh for this purpose, that he might show forth his power in him. Pharaoh, as an absolute monarch, is permitted to go to the utmost degree of hardness of heart, and yet the Lord would show to all coming generations that his decrees shall stand, and he will do all his pleasure. You will remember that the quarrel was on this wise—God had sent his people into Egypt in the olden times, there to dwell in the land of Goshen. They had multiplied exceedingly, they had been favourably treated by succeeding kings, till at length a new king arose who knew not Joseph. He began to oppress the people, but the more he oppressed hem, the more they increased. He made their lives bitter with hard bondage. In mortar and in rick, and ina ll manner of service of the field, did he make hem to serve with rigour. Probably they were employed in building many of those mighty piles, the pyramids, which now stand upon the plains of Egypt. He subjected hem to the most rigorous tasks; they worked under the whip continually, and had to make bricks without straw, the hardest possible exaction that even a tyrant could have imagined. At last the cry of the people went up to their God in heaven. He saw their affliction, he heard their cry, he knew their sorrows, and he determined, with his own bare arm, to be avenged on Pharaoh, and to bring out all his people, the seed of Jacob, from their house of bondage. He raised up Moses, and he sent him in with this message to Pharaoh, “Thus saith the Lord, let my people go, that they may serve me.” Pharaoh laughs at it; “Ye are idle,” saith he, “ye are idle, ye shall not go.” A plague at once is God’s answer to Pharaoh’s laughter; he turns their water into blood, and the fish that was in the river died. Pharaoh gives way a little; for, if he must yield, it must be by degrees. “You shall have,” says he, “two or three days of rest, to serve your God, but it must be in this land.” “Nay,” says Moses, “We cannot serve our God in this land, we must go forth into the wilderness.” Pharaoh bids them begone. Another plague, and yet another. And now Pharaoh yields thus far. “They may go into the wilderness, but they must not go very far.” “Nay, but,” says Moses, “we will have no such stipulation.” Pharaoh, therefore, again deals deceitfully, again refuses, again grows angry, and waxes proud; and God smites the land with lice, with flies, with a very grievous murrain, with all manner of plagues. Then Pharaoh says, “You may go, you may go into the wilderness; but only the strong men among you shall go; ye shall leave your wives, and your little ones.” “Nay,” says Moses, “we must all go, with our wives, and with our little ones, must we serve the Lord our God.” Pharaoh again refuses; his heart is hardened; he will not yield. Moses, at the command of the Lord, then stretched forth his hand toward heaven, and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt, even darkness that might be felt. Then Pharaoh’s subjects clamoured to him, “Let these men go.” Pharaoh yields this, “For,” he says, “You shall go, your wives, and your little ones, but you shall leave your cattle and your goods behind.” “Nay,” saith Moses, “We must have all or none; not a hoof shall be left behind.” Not a single sheep shall stay in Egypt; the whole of God’s host, and all they have, their sick, their young, their aged, and all their possessions must go forth out of Egypt. And you will remember, that the Lord never yielded a single point to Pharaoh, but exacted all of him, and at last buried him with his horses, and his riders, in he depths of the sea.
Now, it seems to me, that this grand quarrel of old is but a picture of God’s continual contest with the powers of darkness. The mandate has gone forth to earth and hell: “Thus saith the Lord, let my people go that they may serve me.” “No,” saith Satan, “they shall not.” And if he be compelled to yield one point, he still retains his hold upon another. If he must give way, it shall be inch by inch. Evil is hard in dying; it will not readily be overcome. But this is the demand of God, and to he last will he have it. “All my people;” the whole of, ever one of them, and all that my people have possessed, all shall come out of the land of Egypt. Christ will have the whole; he will not be contented with a part, and this he vows to accomplish. “Not a hoof shall be left behind.”
I think you will now see the drift of the discourse. I use the text as an aphorism, which I hope to be enabled to illustrate. God bless it to our souls. “Not a hoof shall be left behind.” Christ will have all that he has died to purchase; all that he has bought with blood he will have; not a fraction of the purchased possession will he lose.