The presence of God having remained with His chosen people while they sojourned in Canaan, it did not desert them when they were called to go down into Egypt. They did not go there of their own choice, but under divine direction, and hence the Lord prepared their way and prospered them until He saw fit to conduct them again to the land of promise.
Verse 16. “Moreover he called for a famine upon the land; he brake the whole staff of bread.” God called for the famine in the land of Canaan in the days of Jacob, just as a master calls for a servant ready to do his bidding. On the contrary, God says in Ezekiel, “I will call for the corn, and will increase it.” The Centurion with the sick servant realised the same power in Christ:- that just as he could summons or dismiss those under him, so this Christ had the same authority over sickness and disease itself. His voice both “commands the tempest forth, and stills the stormy wave.”
Verses 17-22. “He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant.” In many circumstances concerning Joseph:- in his being beloved of his father - in his being hated of his brethren - in his sufferings and deep abasement - in his being brought out of prison – in his advancement and exaltation – in his wisdom and prudence – in his providing for his father’s family – in his free forgiveness of the injuries received from his brothers – it may be truly said, we have Christ described therein, and set forth thereby, in type, figure, and representatively.
Verse 23. “Israel came into Egypt; and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.” The aged patriarch came, and with him that increasing company that bore his name. He was hard to bring there. Perhaps nothing short of the hope of seeing Joseph could have drawn him to take so long a journey from the tombs of his forefathers. But the divine will was accomplished and the church of God was removed into an enemy’s country, where for a while it was nourished. God so willed it for a time. and therefore it was safe and right; still it was only a sojourn, not a settlement. The fairest Goshen in Egypt was not the covenant blessing, neither did the Lord mean His people to think it so. Even so to us, “earth is our lodge,” but only our lodge; heaven is our home. When we are best housed on this earth we ought still to remember that here we have no continuing city. It were ill indeed for us if we were doomed to reside in “Egypt” for ever.
Verse 28. “He sent darkness, and made it dark …” Now begins the account of the plagues by which God displayed His might and delivered Israel out of Egypt: the water into blood, the frogs, the lice, and flies, the hail, the locusts etc. – right until the death of the firstborn. As A. R. Fausset remarks. “The darkness here stands at the beginning of the plagues; (not in the historical order in which it occurred,) but this is to mark how God’s wrath hung over Egypt like a dark cloud during all the plagues.”
God did not bring the same plague twice, but when there was occasion for another, it was still a new one. God has many arrows in His quiver.
Verse 37. “He brought them forth also with silver and gold: and there was not one feeble person among their tribes.” When Israel came out of Egypt “there was not one feeble person among their tribes.” So – there shall be no feeble saint go to heaven, for they shall be perfect when transported there by the angels of God, although they complain of much feebleness here. At the instant of death the least saint shoots to such a perfect knowledge of God, and such a measure of grace, as is not possible here.
Verse 39. “He spread a cloud for a covering; and fire to give light in the night.” From this verse until verse 44 the psalmist sings of God’s Mighty Acts in bringing the people through the wilderness and into Canaan at last. “He brought quails, and satisfied them with the bread of heaven. He opened the rock and the water gushed out … he remembered his holy promise, and Abraham his servant … He brought forth his people with joy …” So the psalmist concludes:- “Praise ye the Lord.” And as the Lord’s people today we may read those Acts and echo, “Amen!”