"Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one another?" (Acts 7:26).
It is evident that though Moses' interference may savor of fleshly activity, he keenly felt the unseemly conduct of these two brethren in Israel who strove together-a sad testimony surely to the Egyptians about them.
Stephen says, "He supposed his brethren would have understood how God by his hand would deliver them (from the servitude under which they groaned) but they understood not." We cannot say how far the faith of Moses carried him at this time, but one thing is evident, he felt how unbecoming was their conduct, and reproved their unbrotherly ways.
A similar incident occurred when the herdmen of Abram and Lot strove together. The man of faith said, "Let there be no strife between me and thee…/or we be brethren" (Gen. 13:8), and Abram, to whom the land belonged by virtue of God's promise (see Gen. 12:7), relinquished his claim, and gave up his rights in favor of Lot-blesssed spirit of loving surrender and self-abnegation! What an effectual way to eliminate strife, which would soon gender a "root of bitterness" and defile many. Abram's faith in God produced a moral elevation raising him above the petty bickerings of the herdmen. At all times God will defend the cause of those who commit their way to Him.
Moses sought to impress upon them the fact of their relationship, "Ye are brethren." How unseemly, therefore, was their conduct! As the apostle tells us that "whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning" (Rom. 15:4), Moses' appeal has a voice for us also. United, we can stand against external foes, but internal strife will surely bring disintegration, and this seems to be the special effort of the enemy's attack to-day against the assemblies of God's people.
With purpose the Spirit of God has written, "Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled" (Heb. 12:15). Let us, then, be careful not to harbor envious thoughts, suspicions, pride, jealousies -all of which spring from the flesh, which came under God's judgment in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us assiduously watch against the little differences which arise, remembering that "the beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water" (Prov. 17:14) which may soon become uncontrollable and devastating.
A seed of discord had evidently come up in the assembly at Philippi (chap. 4:2). What a delicate task lay before the apostle! They had ministered to his necessities, and while his heart rejoiced in their fellowship in the gospel (chap. 1:5) he felt the need of admonishing them. But how tenderly, how lovingly, he deals with this difficulty in their midst! No harsh criticism, no thought of "settling things" by apostolic power, but he called God to record how greatly he "longed after them all in the bowels of Jesus Christ."
The great antidote to strife he gives in the second chapter (vers. 3-5); "Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves, regarding not each his own [qualities] but each those of others also" (2:4, New Trans.).
"Let this mind be in you -which was also in Christ Jesus." How constantly we need to have this blessed example before us! He, before whom all heaven bowed, God's well beloved, came here in lowly grace to serve; humbling Himself He "became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." This was His "mind;" and shall we, the objects of such grace and love, vaunt ourselves, or seek a place where our Lord humbled Himself? "Strife" and "vain glory" are surely unbecoming the followers of Him who is "meek and lowly of heart." We owe our all to the One who died upon a gibbet, how this should humble our pride!
How natural it is for us to assert ourselves and to resent anything that might touch our prestige; how foreign to the flesh to "esteem other better than ourselves," but what a blessed mark of the Spirit's work when this precept characterizes the saints of God. What a healer of breaches!
Finally, says Peter, "be ye all of one mind; having compassion one of another; love as brethren; be pitiful, be courteous, not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, but contrariwise blessing, knowing that thereunto ye are called, that ye should inherit a blessing" (2 Pet. 3:8). J. W. H. N.