The Way Into Liberty

There shall not an hoof be left behind. --Exodus 10:26

This was the final word of Moses in a persistent conflict against anything in the nature of compromise. Pharaoh had attempted to bring this about since after the fourth plague. Note the stages of these attempts. At the beginning he had declared that these people should not go to sacrifice to Jehovah their God. After the plague of flies, the fourth, he suggested that they might sacrifice, but they could do it without going away from the land (8:25). This Moses at once refused. Then Pharaoh suggested that if they must go, it should not be very far away (8:28). On this Moses entreated him, and the plague was removed, but he would not let them go. He proposed later, after the eighth plague (that of locusts), that they should leave the women and children behind (10:8-11). Moses refused. After the ninth plague (that of the darkness), he suggested that the cattle be left (10:24). Then Moses spoke this final word: "There shall not an hoof be left behind." That is the true attitude of the man of faith. Evil is always suggesting some compromise. To listen to it is to remain enslaved. The only way into liberty is to leave the land of evil; to go accompanied by the women and the children; and to take all property also. It is when that attitude is assumed, that men pass out from all bondage, and find the liberty which is in the purpose of God for them. The truth may be applied in individual and national life. It is equally true in each case. --G. Campbell Morgan