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Not One
Hoof!
When Moses first went before Pharaoh to petition the monarch for the
release of God’s enslaved people, he was handed this reply: “Who is the
LORD, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go?” (Exodus 5:2).
Pharaoh’s answer smacked of arrogant infidelity.
Those who have read the Bible’s account of the ten plagues know
that the dictator was soon to be ‘worn down.’ Though God’s initial
demand had hardened Pharaoh’s heart, divinely ordained plague after
plague soon worked to soften it. Following the plague of the flies,
Pharaoh said, “I will let you go” -- but qualified his permission with,
“only you shall not go very far away” (8:28). Before the plague of
locusts he told Moses, “Go now” -- but tempered his words with, “only
the men may go” (I.e., no children). Then, after the plague of darkness,
he submitted this offer: “Go, serve the LORD… Let your little ones also
go with you.” However, not everything was to go -- rather, “ let your
flocks and your herds be kept back (10:24).
Listen now to Moses’ answer to this last plea for compromise from
the king: “Our livestock also shall go with us; not a hoof shall
be left behind (10:25).
This uncompromising spirit is worthy of note. Moses was telling
this upstart king that he and the Israelites would do everything and
take everything the Lord had commanded them. They were not going to move
one inch toward the middle. And they didn’t! When all was said and done,
Pharaoh was pleading for Moses to “rise and go out from among my people,
both you and the children of Israel… Also take your flocks and your
herds, as you have said, and be gone” (12:31ff).
NOT A HOOF! Beloved, that unbending spirit demonstrated by that
proclamation is the same spirit we today must exhibit towards man’s
appeals to compromise God’s truth.
Are there some realms in life in which compromise is beneficial?
Surely so. For instance, a married couple may have different ideas about
how to spend their tax refund. (She wants to remodel the kitchen while
he’s got his eye on a new bass boat.) Both of them giving in a little
and ‘meeting in the middle’ might be suggested. And there are other
realms (politics, business, etc.) where this can be illustrated as well.
One realm, however, in which compromise is not the solution is
when men are faced with the doing vs. the non-doing of God’s will. Such
is not the time or area to ‘meet in the middle.’
The apostle Paul taught the Galatians just such a lesson when
writing to them about a past run-in with some Judaizing teachers. These
teachers had been circulating their false doctrine, and would have loved
a ‘coming together’ on the matter, but Paul was steadfast. He recounted
how that “to whom we did not yield submission for an hour.” And why this
uncompromising spirit? -- “that the truth of the gospel might continue
with you,” he told them (Galatians 2:5). Paul was not about to give in
to those who were in fact “bewitching” the Galatians, to those who were
“hindering [them] from obeying the truth” (3:1; 5:7).
Beloved, we do the Lord’s cause not one bit of good when we seek
to bring truth and error to the negotiating table for a round of ‘give
and take.’
“Not a hoof!” Moses cried. And may the Lord help us today to have
that same spirit towards man’s efforts to compromise God’s will. We
might think that a concession here or there will get us ‘out of Egypt’ a
little quicker, but if we assume the Lord won’t care about our playing
fast and loose with His word, we’d better think again.
--Mike Noble
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