Moses said to Hobab, the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are journeying to the place of which Yahweh said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will treat you well; for Yahweh has spoken good concerning Israel.”
Parallel Translations
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Moses said to Hobab, the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are journeying to the place of which Yahweh said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will treat you well; for Yahweh has spoken good concerning Israel.”
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And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite, Moses’ father in law, We are journeying unto the place of which the LORD said, I will give it you: come thou with us, and we will do thee good: for the LORD hath spoken good concerning Israel.
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And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses' father-in-law: 'We are journeying unto the place of which the LORD said: I will give it you; come thou with us, and we will do thee good; for the LORD hath spoken good concerning Israel.'
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Cross-references (22)
Passages linked to Numbers 10:29 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 12:7 Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” He built an altar there to Yahweh, who had appeared to him.
- Exodus 2:18 When they came to Reuel, their father, he said, “How is it that you have returned so early today?”
- Exodus 3:1 Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to God’s mountain, to Horeb.
- Judges 4:11 Now Heber the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, even from the children of Hobab, Moses’ brother-in-law, and had pitched his tent as far as the oak in Zaanannim, which is by Kedesh.
- Exodus 6:7-8 I will take you to myself for a people. I will be your God; and you shall know that I am Yahweh your God, who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it to you for a heritage: I am Yahweh.’ ”
- Psalms 34:8 Oh taste and see that Yahweh is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
- Genesis 32:12 You said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which can’t be counted because there are so many.’ ”
- Exodus 3:8 I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
- Numbers 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should repent. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not make it good?
- Judges 1:16 The children of the Kenite, Moses’ brother-in-law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which is in the south of Arad; and they went and lived with the people.
- Genesis 13:15 for I will give all the land which you see to you and to your offspring forever.
- Genesis 15:18 In that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, “I have given this land to your offspring, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:
- Exodus 18:1 Now Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses, and for Israel his people, how Yahweh had brought Israel out of Egypt.
- Exodus 18:27 Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went his way into his own land.
- 1 Samuel 15:6 Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart, go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them; for you showed kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.
- Isaiah 2:3 Many peoples shall go and say, “Come, let’s go up to the mountain of Yahweh, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For the law shall go out of Zion, and Yahweh’s word from Jerusalem.
- Jeremiah 50:5 They will inquire concerning Zion with their faces turned toward it, saying, ‘Come, and join yourselves to Yahweh in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.’
- Zechariah 8:21-23 and the inhabitants of one shall go to another, saying, ‘Let’s go speedily to entreat the favor of Yahweh, and to seek Yahweh of Armies. I will go also.’ Yes, many peoples and strong nations will come to seek Yahweh of Armies in Jerusalem, and to entreat the favor of Yahweh.” Yahweh of Armies says: “In those days, ten men will take hold, out of all the languages of the nations, they will take hold of the skirt of him who is a Jew, saying, ‘We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’ ”
- Acts 7:5 He gave him no inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on. He promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his offspring after him, when he still had no child.
- Titus 1:2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who can’t lie, promised before time began;
- Hebrews 6:18 that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to take hold of the hope set before us.
- Revelation 22:17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” He who hears, let him say, “Come!” He who is thirsty, let him come. He who desires, let him take the water of life freely.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Some think that Reuel, Jethro, Hobab, and Keni were…
Some think that Reuel, Jethro, Hobab, and Keni were all one: Kimhi saith, that Reuel was Jethro’s father: so Hobab was Moses’ father-in-law, see Exod. 2:18, 3:1, 4:18, 18:1, and Judg. 4:11.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Num 10:29 And Moses said unto Hobab, the son…
Num 10:29 And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite, Moses’ father in law, We are journeying unto the place of which the LORD said, I will give it you: come thou with us, and we will do thee good: for the LORD hath spoken good concerning Israel.
Ver. 29. And Moses said.] Or, Moses had said, viz., in Exo 18:1-2.
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Unto Hobab the son of Raguel.] Rabbi Solomon telleth us, that Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, had seven names, viz., Ruguel, Jether, Jethro, Hobab, Heber, Cinaeus, and Phutiel.
For the Lord hath spoken good.] And God’s promises he knew to be good surehold.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Raguel, called also Reuel, Exo 2:18, who seems to…
Raguel, called also Reuel, Exo 2:18, who seems to be the same who is called Jethro, Exo 3:1, it being usual in Scripture for one person to have two or three names. And therefore this Hobab is not Jethro, but his son, which may seem more probable, because Jethro was old and unfit for travel, and desirous, as may well be thought, to die in his own country, whither he returned, Exo 18:27; but Hobab was young and fitter for these journeys, and therefore entreated by Moses to stay and bear them company.
Moses’s father-in-law; which words are ambiguous, but seem to belong to Raguel, or Reuel, not to Hobab, though others are of another mind.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain Here is, I. An account of what passed between…
Here is, I. An account of what passed between Moses and Hobab, now upon this advance which the camp of Israel made towards Canaan. Some think that Hobab was the same with Jethro, Moses's father-in-law, and that the story, Ex. 18, should come in here; it seems more probable that Hobab was the son of Jethro, alias Reuel, or Raguel (Exo 2:18), and that when the father, being aged, went to his own land (Exo 18:27), he left his son Hobab with Moses, as Barzillai left Chimham with David; and the same word signifies both a father-in-law and a brother-in-law. Now this Hobab staid contentedly with Israel while they encamped at mount Sinai, near his own country; but, now that they were removing, he was for going back to his own country and kindred, and his father's house. Here is, 1. The kind invitation Moses gives him to go forward with them to Canaan, Num 10:29. He tempts him with a promise that they would certainly be kind to him, and puts God's word in for security: The Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel. As if he had said, "Come, cast in thy lot among us, and thou shalt fare as we fare; and we have the promise of God that we shall fare well." Note, Those that are bound for the heavenly Canaan should invite and encourage all their friends to go along with them, for we shall have never the less of the treasures of the covenant, and the joys of heaven, for others coming in to share with us. And what argument can be more powerful with us to take God's people for our people than this, that God hath spoken good concerning them? It is good having fellowship with those that have fellowship with God (Jo1 1:3), and going with those with whom God is, Zac 8:23. 2. Hobab's inclination, and present resolution, to go back to his own country, Num 10:30. One would have thought that he who had seen so much of the special presence of God with Israel, and such surprising tokens of his favour to them, would not have needed much invitation to embark with them. But his refusal must be imputed to the affection he had for his native air and soil, which was not overpowered, as it ought to have been, by a believing regard to the promise of God and a value for covenant blessings. He was indeed a son of Abraham's loins (for the Midianites descended from Abraham by Keturah), but not an heir of Abraham's faith (Heb 11:8), else he would not have given Moses this answer. Note, The things of this world, which are seen, draw strongly from the pursuit of the things of the other world, which are not seen. The magnetic virtue of this earth prevails with most people above the attractives of heaven itself. 3. The great importunity Moses used with him to alter his resolution, Num 10:31, Num 10:32. He urges, (1.) That he might be serviceable to them: "We are to encamp in the wilderness" (a country well known to Hobab), "and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes, not to show us where we must encamp, nor what way we must march" (which the cloud was to direct), "but to show us the conveniences and inconveniences of the place we march through and encamp in, that we may make the best use we can of the conveniences, and the best fence we can against the inconveniences." Note, It will very well consist with our trust in God's providence to make use of the help of our friends in those things wherein they are capable of being serviceable to us. Even those that were led by miracle must not slight the ordinary means of direction. Some think that Moses suggests this to Hobab, not because he expected much benefit from his information, but to please him with the thought of being some way useful to so great a body, and so to draw him on with them, by inspiring him with an ambition to obtain that honour. Calvin gives quite another sense of this place, very agreeably with the original, which yet I do not find taken notice of by any since. "Leave us not, I pray thee, but come along, to share with us in the promised land, for therefore hast thou known our encampment in the wilderness, and hast been to us instead of eyes; and we cannot make thee amends for sharing with us in our hardships, and doing us so many good offices, unless thou go with us to Canaan. Surely for this reason thou didst set out with us that thou mightest go on with us." Note, Those that have begun well should use that as a reason for their persevering, because otherwise they lose the benefit and recompence of all they have done and suffered. (2.) That they would be kind to him: What goodness the Lord shall do to us, the same we will do to thee, Num 10:32. Note, [1.] We can give only what we receive. We can do no more service and kindness to our friends than God is pleased to put it into the power of our hand to do. This is all we dare promise, to do good as God shall enable us. [2.] Those that share with God's Israel in their labours and hardships shall share with them in their comforts and honours. Those that are wiling to take their lot with them in the wilderness shall have their lot with them in Canaan; if we suffer with them we shall reign with them, Ti2 2:12; Luk 22:28, Luk 22:29.
We do not find any reply that Hobab here made to Moses, and therefore we hope that his silence gave consent, and he did not leave them, but that, when he perceived he might be useful, he preferred that before the gratifying of his own inclination; in this case he left us a good example. And we find (Jdg 1:16; Sa1 15:6) that his family was no loser by it.
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II. An account of the communion between God and Israel in this removal. They left the mount of the Lord (Num 10:33), that Mount Sinai where they had seen his glory and heard his voice, and had been taken into covenant with him (they must not expect that such appearances of God to them as they had there been blessed with should be constant); they departed from that celebrated mountain, which we never read of in scripture any more, unless with reference to these past stories; now farewell, Sinai; Zion is the mountain of which God has said. This is my rest for ever (Psa 132:14), and of which we must say so. But when they left the mount of the Lord they took with them the ark of the covenant of the Lord, by which their stated communion with God was to be kept up. For,
1. By it God did direct their paths. The ark of the covenant went before them, some think in place, at least in this removal; others think only in influence; though it was carried in the midst of the camp, yet the cloud that hovered over it directed all their motions. The ark (that is, the God of the ark) is said to search out a resting place for them; not that God's infinite wisdom and knowledge need to make searches, but every place they were directed to was as convenient for them as if the wisest man they had among them had been employed to go before them, and mark out their camp to the best advantage. thus Canaan is said to be a land which God spied out, Eze 20:6.
2. By it they did in all their ways acknowledge God, looking upon it as a token of God's presence; when that moved, or rested, they had their eye up unto God. Moses, as the mouth of the congregation, lifted up a prayer, both at the removing and at the resting of the ark; thus their going out and coming in were sanctified by prayer, and it is an example to us to begin and end every day's journey, and every day's work, with prayer.
(1.) Here is his prayer when the ark set forward: Rise up, Lord, and let thy enemies be scattered, Num 10:35. They were now in a desolate country, but they were marching towards an enemy's country, and their dependence was upon God for success and victory in their wars, as well as for direction and supply in the wilderness. David used this prayer long after (Psa 68:1), for he also fought the Lords' battles. Note, [1.] There are those in the world that are enemies to God, and haters of him: secret and open enemies; enemies to his truths, his laws, his ordinances, his people. [2.] The scattering and defeating of God's enemies is a thing to be earnestly desired, and believingly expected, by all the Lord's people. This prayer is a prophecy. Those that persist in rebellion against God are hasting towards their own ruin. [3.] For the scattering and defeating of God's enemies, there needs no more but God's arising. When God arose to judgment, the work was soon done, Psa 76:8, Psa 76:9. "Rise, Lord, as the sun riseth to scatter the shadows of the night." Christ's rising from the dead scattered his enemies, Psa 68:18.
(2.) His prayer when the ark rested, Num 10:36. [1.] That God would cause his people to rest. So some read it, "Return, O Lord, the many thousands of Israel, return them to their rest again after this fatigue." Thus it is said (Isa 63:14), The Spirit of the Lord caused him to rest. Thus he prays that God would give Israel success and victory abroad, and peace and tranquillity at home. [2.] That God himself would take up his rest among them. So we read it: Return to the thousands of Israel, the ten thousand thousand, so the word is. Note, First, The church of God is a great body; there are many thousands belonging to God's Israel. Secondly, We ought in our prayers to concern ourselves for this body. Thirdly, The welfare and happiness of the Israel of God consist in the continual presence of God among them. Their safety consists not in their numbers, though they are thousands, many thousands, but in the favour of God, and his gracious return to them and residence with them. These thousands are cyphers; he is the figure: and upon this account, Happy art thou, O Israel! who is like unto thee, O people!
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And they departed from the mount of the Lord…
And they departed from the mount of the Lord three days' journey,...., From Mount Sinai, so called, because the Lord descended upon it, and gave the law from it; so the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan,"from the mount on which the glory of the Lord (or of his Shechinah or divine Majesty) was revealed.''This they left, after they had been nearly twelve months about it, and travelled three days' journey from it before the cloud rested, so as to abide, otherwise is stopped no doubt to give them time to eat their food, and take sleep and rest. The Targum of Jonathan expressly says, they went thirty six miles on that day; but, according to Bunting (o), Taberah or Kibrothhattaavah, to which the children of Israel first came, and where they abode a month, was but eight miles from Sinai; wherefore the three days' journey were not successively one after another, but the first day's journey was to Taberah, where they continued a month; the second day's journey was to Hazeroth, where they stayed seven days; and the third day's journey was to the wilderness of Paran, and there the cloud rested, Num 10:12; and there was their resting place, for there they continued long, from whence the spies were sent to the good land, and whither they returned after forty days, Num 13:1,
and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them in the three days' journey, to search out a resting place for them; the ark being carried by the Kohathites, must proceed in the middle of the camps, after the camps of Judah and Reuben, and before the camps of Ephraim and Dan, according to the order of the marches of the children of Israel, Num 10:21; wherefore Aben Ezra thinks, that this three days' journey was different from all their other journeys; and that in this the ark went before them, which in other journeys was carried in the midst of them; yet others think it may be said to go before, though in the middle; just as a general of an army may be said to go before, and lead his army, though he is not directly in the front of it; so the cloud being always over the ark, directing the march, it may be said to go before and point out a convenient place to rest in; for searching cannot be properly ascribed to the ark, nor even to the Lord himself, and can only signify pointing out or discovering a proper place to take up their abode in: this ark of the covenant, so called because the covenant or law was laid up in it, was a type of Christ the end of the law for righteousness, and who is the forerunner of his people, is gone before them to prepare a place for them; and the three days' journey may have respect to his resurrection from the dead on the third day for their justification, which is the foundation of their rest, peace, and joy.
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(o) Travels of the Patriarchs, &c. p. 82.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Raguel - Called also Reuel, Exod. ii, 18, who…
Raguel - Called also Reuel, Exod. ii, 18, who seems to be the same with Jethro; it being usual in scripture for one person to have two or three names. And therefore this Hobab is not Jethro, but his son, which may seem more probable, because Jethro was old and unfit to travel, and desirous, as may well be thought, to die in his own country, whither he returned, Exod. xviii, 27, but Hobab was young and fitter for these journeys, and therefore entreated by Moses to stay and bear them company.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 29. Moses said unto Hobab] For a circumstantial…
Verse 29. Moses said unto Hobab] For a circumstantial account of this person see the notes on Ex 2:15-16; Ex 2:18; Ex 3:1; Ex 4:20; Ex 4:24; and for the transaction recorded here, and which is probably out of its place, see Ex 18:5, where the subject is discussed at large.
We are journeying] God has brought us out of thraldom, and we are thus far on our way through the wilderness, travelling towards the place of rest which he has appointed us, trusting in his promise, guided by his presence, and supported by his power. Come thou with us, and we will do thee good. Those who wish to enjoy the heavenly inheritance must walk in the way towards it, and associate with the people who are going in that way. True religion is ever benevolent. They who know most of the goodness of God are the most forward to invite others to partake of that goodness. That religion which excludes all others from salvation, unless they believe a particular creed, and worship in a particular way, is not of God. Even Hobab, the Arab, according to the opinion of Moses, might receive the same blessings which God had promised to Israel, provided he accompanied them in the same way.
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The Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel.] The name Israel is taken in a general sense to signify the followers of God, and to them all the promises in the Bible are made. God has spoken good of them, and he has spoken good to them; and not one word that he hath spoken shall fail. Reader, hast thou left thy unhallowed connections in life? Hast thou got into the camp of the Most High? Then continue to follow God with Israel, and thou shalt be incorporated in the heavenly family, and share in Israel's benedictions.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Num 10:29. Raguel — Called also Reul, Exo 2:18,…
Num 10:29. Raguel — Called also Reul, Exo 2:18, who seems to be the same with Jethro; it being usual in Scripture for one person to have two or three names. And therefore this Hobab is not Jethro, but his son, which may seem more probable, because Jethro was old and unfit to travel, and desirous, as may well be thought, to die in his own country, whither he returned, Exo 18:27; but Hobab was young, and fitter for these journeys, and therefore entreated by Moses to stay and bear them company.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Hobab, the son of Raguel - Or Reuel Exo…
Hobab, the son of Raguel - Or Reuel Exo 2:18. Reuel was probably not identical with Jethro: and Hobab was the brother-in-law, not the father-in-law, of Moses; the Hebrew word translated in the King James Version “father-in-law,” signifying simply any relation by marriage (Exo 3:1 note). Hobab Jdg 1:16; Jdg 4:11 eventually accompanied the Israelites and obtained a settlement with them in the land of Canaan. Hobab and Jethro may have been brethren and sons of Reuel.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Hobab; probably the brother of Sephora, and son of…
Hobab; probably the brother of Sephora, and son of Raguel or Jethro, who had departed, leaving this son for a guide to Moses. Though God directed the marches of the Hebrews, he would not have them to neglect human means. --- Kinsman. The Hebrew clothen, and Greek gambros, are not more determinate, as they signify either father, son, or brother-in-law (see Exodus ii. 18.; Calmet); or in general a relation. (St. Jerome) (Du Hamel)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite--called also Reuel…
Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite--called also Reuel (the same as Jethro [Exo 2:18, Margin]). Hobab, the son of this Midianite chief and brother-in-law to Moses, seems to have sojourned among the Israelites during the whole period of their encampment at Sinai and now on their removal proposed returning to his own abode. Moses urged him to remain, both for his own benefit from a religious point of view, and for the useful services his nomad habits could enable him to render.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain HOBAB INVITED BY MOSES, Num_10:29-32.
HOBAB INVITED BY MOSES, Num_10:29-32.
Though this interview is placed between the setting out and the march itself, as subordinate to the main events, it preceded the departure in the order of time.
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29. Hobab — See concluding note to Exodus chap. 2.
Raguel — This is an unfortunate translation of Reuel. Both forms have only one corresponding word in the Hebrew.
Father-in-law — Any relation by marriage, like the Greek γαμβρος. “The identity of Jethro and Hobab may be regarded as possible, but by no means certain. Jethro returned to his own land before the promulgation of the law on Sinai, nor does his name occur afterward. Hobab appears to have accompanied Moses on his journey, casting in his lot with Israel. Jdg_4:11. He very probably was a younger brother of Jethro, not bound like him to his own tribe by the duties of an hereditary priesthood. This theory seems to meet all the conditions of the narrative, which would otherwise present serious if not insuperable difficulties.” — Canon F.C. Cook. It is highly improbable that Reuel, Hobab, and Jethro are three names of one person, as the Mohammedan legends intimate rather than expressly declare.
The Midianite — See Exo_2:15, note.
We will do thee good — Moses urges two motives in the order in which similar motives should be presented to the sinner to become a member of the household of faith: (1) his own well being, and (2) his usefulness. Num_10:31.
Spoken good concerning Israel — In addition to temporal blessings, such as guidance in the way, rapid increase, and the inheritance of Canaan. spiritual good was promised in the pledge of Jehovah’s presence and benediction.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 29. Hobab, the son of Reuel … Moses’ father…
29. Hobab, the son of Reuel … Moses’ father in law] These words do not make it clear whether Moses’ father-in-law is Ḥobab or Reuel. In Exo_2:18 he is Reuel; and accordingly in Jdg_4:11 Ḥobab is described (in R.V. ) as ‘the brother-in-law of Moses’ (and cf. Jdg_1:16). But ‘brother-in-law’ and ‘father-in-law’ are renderings of the same Heb. word ḥôthçn; and it would be strange to find the father and the brother of the same man’s wife described by the same term. Moreover Exo_2:16 appears to imply that Moses’ father-in-law had no sons. It seems probable that ‘Reuel’ is a late insertion in Exo_2:18 by some one who misunderstood the present passage, and that Ḥobab was really the name of Moses’ father-in-law in J . In E the name Jethro is used (Exo_3:1; Exo_4:18; Exo_18:1-2; Exo_18:5-6; Exo_18:9-11). The form Raguel (A.V. from the Vulg. ) for Reuel is due to the LXX. Ῥαγουήλ, where the γ represents the guttural ‛ayin in the Heb. word.
The narrative of the incident is only fragmentary, for the account of Ḥobab’s arrival at Sinai (to which the parallel in E is found in Exodus 18) is omitted, and also the answer which he made to Moses’ intreaty. It may be gathered, however, from Jdg_1:16; Jdg_4:11 that he yielded and went with them.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (29) Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite, Moses’…
(29) Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite, Moses’ father in law.—Raguel is the same as Reuel (Exo_2:18), and the orthography should be the same in all places. Reuel is commonly supposed to be identical with Jether (Exo_4:18), or Jethro (Exo_3:1), who is frequently described as the hothen (in the Authorised Version, “father-in-law”) of Moses (Num_18:2; Num_18:5-6, &c.). But, according to the ordinary rules of Hebrew syntax, Hobab, not Jethro, is here spoken of as the hothen of Moses; and in Jdg_4:11 he is expressly so called. Inasmuch, however, as the cognate noun hathan is used to designate any near relation by marriage—as, e.g., the sons-in-law of Lot (Gen_19:14)—the word hothen may here and in Jdg_4:11 be rendered brother-in-law. Some, however, think that Hobab, whether identical with Jethro or not, was the son of Reuel, and that Zipporah was the daughter of Hobab. But when it is remembered that more than forty years had elapsed since Moses left the land of Egypt and came into that of Midian, and that he was now upwards of eighty years of age, it is much more probable that he should seek the aid of a guide through the wilderness amongst those of the same generation with Zipporah than amongst those of a generation above her. Whether Hobab accompanied Jethro on the occasion of the visit to Moses which is recorded in Exodus 18, whilst the Israelites were encamped at Sinai, and remained with them after Jethro’s departure (Num_10:27), or whether the Israelites had already commenced their journey (compare the words of Moses, “We are journeying,” or, setting forward, with the concluding words of Num_10:28, and they set forward, and were at this time passing through the territory in which Hobab, as the chief of a nomad tribe, was living, cannot positively be determined.
We are journeying unto the place . . . —These words imply a strong faith in God’s promise on the part of Moses, and a desire, not indeed altogether devoid of reference to mutual advantages, that those with whom he was connected by ties of earthly relationship should be partakers with himself and his people in the peculiar blessings which were promised to the chosen people of God. In any case, the invitation of Moses, when viewed as the mouthpiece of the Jewish Church, may be regarded in the light of an instructive lesson to the Church of Christ in all ages. It is alike the duty and the privilege of all who have heard and obeyed the Gospel invitation themselves to become the instruments of its communication to others. “The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come” (Rev_22:17).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain THE INVITATION TO HOBAB (verses Jud_1:4:11. The older opinion,…
THE INVITATION TO HOBAB (verses Jud_1:4:11. The older opinion, followed by the A.V, identified Hobab with Jethro, and Jethro with Reuel the "priest of Midian," and father of Zipporah, Moses" wife. It is, of course, no real objection to this opinion that Hobab is here called the "son of Reuel;" for the name may quite well have been a hereditary one, like Abimelech and so many others. Nor need the multiplicity of names given to one individual astonish us, for it is of frequent occurrence in the Old Testament, and not infrequent in the New.
The father-in-law of Moses was a priest, holding (probably by right of birth) the patriarchal dignity of tribal priest, as Job did on a smaller, and Melchizedec on a larger, scale. He may very well, therefore, have had one or more "official" names in addition to his personal name. If this is accepted, then it may serve as one instance amongst many to remind us how extremely careless the inspired writers are about names not in the sense of not caring whether they are right or wrong, but in the sense of not betraying and not feeling the least anxiety to avoid the appearance and suspicion of inaccuracy. Even in the lists of the twelve apostles we arc forced to believe that "Judas the brother of James" is the same person as "Lebbaeus" and "Thaddaeus;" and it is a matter of endless discussion whether or no "Bartholomew" was the same as "Nathanael." On the face of it Scripture proclaims that it uses no arts, that it takes no pains to preserve an appearance of accuracy that appearance which is so easily simulated for the purposes of falsehood. Holy Scripture may therefore fairly claim to be read without that captiousness, without that demand for minute carefulness and obvious consistency, which we rightly apply to one of our own histories. The modem historian avowedly tells his story as a witness does in the presence of a hostile counsel; the sacred historian tells his as a man does to the children round his knee. Surely such an obvious fact should disarm a good deal of the petty criticism which carps at the sacred narrative.
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Many, however, will think that the balance of probability is against the older opinion. It is certain that the word translated "father-in-law" has no such definiteness either in the Hebrew or in the Septuagint. It means simply a "marriage relation," and is even used by Zipporah of Moses himself. (Exo_4:25, 26 Hebrew. The Septuagint avoids the word) It,is just as likely to mean "brother-in-law" when applied to Hobab. As Moses was already eighty years old when Jethro is first mentioned, (Exo_3:1) it may seem probable that his father-in-law was by that time dead, and succeeded in his priestly office by his eldest son. In that case Hobab would be a younger son of Reuel, and as such free to leave the home of his ancestors and to join himself to his sister"s people.
Vers. 29-32. The friendly invitation.
Spiritually, we have here the voice of the saints calling to the wavering and undecided to cast in their lot with them, and to be partakers with them in those good things which God hath prepared for them that love him. Thereupon we have the voice of the wavering and undecided urging the ties and affections of this world as supreme. Then again the voice of the saints holding up the prospect at once of greater usefulness and of higher reward in the service of God. Finally (in the subsequent history), we have the assurance that these persuasions prevailed, and that these promises were made good. Consider
I THAT THE INVITATION WAS ADDRESSED TO HOBAB. This Hobab was
1. A child of the desert, a "Kenite," whose home was in the wild country outside the promised land: a country which had a certain wild freedom and a precarious abundance, but withal full of dangers, of drought, and of the shadow of death.
2. A child of a patriarchal family; his father, "the priest of Midian," and a worshipper of the true God according to tradition.
3. A child of Reuel, "Moses" father-in-law," and therefore connected by family ties with Israel, and moreover an eye-witness to some extent of the power and mercy of the God of Israel. Hobab is the child of this world, whose home is amidst the precarious beauties and fading hopes of time; who has a knowledge of God by tradition, and a knowledge of religion by observation, yet of both rather as belonging to others than to himself.
II THAT THE INVITATION CAME FROM THE ISRAEL OF GOD. "Come with us." From a people redeemed and separated, and sanctified, a "holy nation, a royal priesthood," whom God had chosen to be the peculiar instruments of his glory, the peculiar recipients of his bounty. The Israel of God are we who are indeed in this world, but not of it, having our true and certain home beyond the reach of chance and change. Note, that countless individuals amongst the tribes of Israel never reached that land, and never tried to but the people, as a people, reached it; even so, countless numbers of professing Christians will never get to heaven, and do not try to, but the Church of God, as a Church, will attain to eternal life. Therefore, "come with us.
III THAT THE INVITATION WAS TO GO WITH THEM, i.e.,
1. To be partner and partaker in their pilgrimage, their toils, and trials;
2. To be partner and partaker in their promised home to which they were journeying, in the blessings unto which they were called. As God "would have all men to be saved," so is it the chiefest desire of our hearts that all around us (and especially those connected with us) should share our blessings and our hopes, should be partakers with us (if need be) of that "light affliction" which worketh an "eternal weight of glory". (cf. Rom_9:3 and Rom_10:2)
IV THAT THE INDUCEMENT WAS, "WE WILL DO THEE GOOD." Not of their own ability, or of their own abundance, but by communicating unto him the good things which God should bestow on them. We may fearlessly say to the child of this world, "we will do thee good." Christianity is not individualism, but we are called "in one body," and spiritual blessings flow chiefly in one way or another through human channels. As a fact men find peace, support, sympathy, consolation here heaven hereafter in the society of the faithful, not out of it. (cf. Mar_10:30)
V THAT THE HINDRANCE TO HIS GOING WAS THE PRIOR CLAIM OF AN EARTHLY HOME AND KINDRED. "To mine own land, and to my kindred." His own land, although not half so good as the promised land, was familiar and accustomed. So were his relations, although they could not do half so much for him as Moses and the elders of Israel. Even so the great hindrance to a really religious walk are to be found in the habits of life which are so familiar, and in the associates who have so much influence. Many find an insuperable difficulty in breaking with the evil or vain traditions of their home, their education, their "set" or class: they would go but the bondage of custom is too strong for them. (cf. Luk_9:59-62 Luk_14:25, Luk_14:26)
VI THAT THE FURTHER AND (AS IT SEEMS) THE PREVAILING INDUCEMENT WITH HIM TO GO WAS THE HELP HE MIGHT AFFORD, THE GOOD HE MIGHT DO. Perhaps it was after all as much for Hobab"s sake as for the people"s, that Moses suggested to him of how much use he might be; but no doubt his training and qualifications did fit him for this service, and he felt that it was so. Even so there is a nobler, and often more potent, incentive to a religious life than even the glory which is to come. The prospect of being really useful to others, of making the utmost of all their gifts and acquirements and that in the service of the Most High is the great ambition which we ought to set before the eyes of men. A worldly life is a wasted life; a religious life is (or at least may be, and ought to be) a life of unselfish activity; and this, of all prospects and attractions, has the strongest charm for each nobler soul. (cf. Mat_4:19 Luk_19:31, 34 Act_9:16 Act_26:16-18) Consider, also
VII THAT HOBAB"S WORK AND SERVICE ON THE MARCH WERE NOT SUPERFLUOUS IF RENDERED, NOR YET ESSENTIAL IF DENIED. The supernatural guidance vouchsafed to Israel left plenty of room for his human skill and experience; but if Israel had been deprived of them, no doubt the supernatural guidance would somehow have sufficed. Even so there is room in the work of salvation of souls for all human effort and wisdom, however Divine a matter it appears; and yet if any man withhold his co-operation the work shall not therefore be really injured. (cf. 1Co_1:27, 28 2:7, 9)
HOMILIES BY W. BINNIE Vers. 29-32. Hobab invited; or, the Church"s call to them that are without.
This incident carries one back in thought to the day, one and forty years ago, when Moses, a fugitive from Egypt, arrived at the well in Midian, and there met with the daughter of Jethro. At the expiry of forty years the call of the Lord constrained Moses to forsake Midian, that he might be the leader of Israel; but it did not finally sever him from all connection with the house of his Midianite father-in-law. When Israel, on the march from Egypt, arrived at the border of the wilderness of Sinai, Jethro came out to meet him, and to welcome him. This done, he returned to his own house and sheep-walks. But his son Hobab stayed behind, and witnessed the giving of the law. When the march was about to be resumed, Hobab proposed to bid farewell to his sister and Moses. But Moses would not hear of it. Reminding Hobab of the inheritance awaiting Israel in the land of the Canaanites, be, in his own name, and in the name of the whole people, invited him to join himself to their company, and share in all the goodness which the Lord was about to do to them in fulfillment of his promise. This invitation, addressed by Moses and the congregation to one who did not belong to the seed of Jacob, is of no small interest historically. And its practical interest is still greater; for it exhibits a bright example of a desire which ought always to find place in the hearts of the faithful the desire to allure into their fellowship "them that are without," whether these are the heathen abroad, or the careless and vicious at home. Viewing the text in this light, it presents three topics which claim consideration.
I THE CHURCH"S PROFESSION OF FAITH AND HOPE. "We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you The Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel." On the lips of Moses and the congregation this was really a profession and utterance of faith. From the day that God called Abraham, he and his seed were taught to expect Canaan as their inheritance; and it was faith"s business to embrace the promise and look for its accomplishment. In the faith of this promise Abraham and Isaac and Jacob lived and died. In the faith of it Joseph, when he died, gave commandment concerning his bones. In the faith of it Moses forsook Pharaoh"s house. In the faith of it he refused to cast in his lot with Jethro"s Midianites, and called the son born to him in Midian Gershom, "a stranger there." In the faith of the same promise Israel was now resuming the march towards Canaan. It is no idle fancy which sees in all this a parable of the Christian faith and the Christian profession. We also look for an inheritance and rest. "We believe that we shall be saved." We have been begotten to a living hope by the resurrection of Christ. As truly as the tribes in the wilderness, we (unless we have believed in vain) have turned our backs upon Egypt, and have set our faces towards the better country. We are journeying. We are strangers and pilgrims. I admit that among professing Christians there are many who have no real hope of the kind described; many, also, whose hope is anything but bright and strong". Nevertheless, the world is certainly mistaken when it persuades itself that the Christian hope is an empty boast. There are tens of thousands whose lives are sustained and controlled by it continually.
II THE CHURCH"S INVITATION TO THEM THAT ARE WITHOUT. "Come thou with us." The words remind us of a truth too often forgotten, namely, that even under the Old Testament the Church was by no means the exclusive body which some take it to have been. It had an open door and a welcome for all who desired to enter. In point of fact, a considerable proportion of those who constituted the Hebrew commonwealth at any given time were of Gentile descent. Moses did not act without warrant when he invited Hobab to come in he and all his. At the same time it is to be remembered that the gospel Church is not to be contented with simply maintaining the attitude of the Old Testament Church towards them that are without. We are not only to keep an open door and make applicants welcome, we are to go forth and compel them to come in. Christ"s Church is a missionary Church. A religious society which neglects this function which refuses to obey the command to go and preach the gospel to every creature lacks one of the notes of the Christian Church. We are to charge ourselves with the duty of sending the gospel to the far-off heathen. As for the careless and ungodly who are our neighbours, we are not only to send to them the word, but ought personally to invite them to come with us.
III THE ARGUMENTS WITH WHICH THE INVITATION IS FORTIFIED. I refer especially to those urged by Moses and the congregation here.
1. It will be well for Hobab and his house if he will come (verse 32). No doubt the man who follows Christ must be prepared to take up the cross must be ready to suffer reproach, to encounter tribulation, to take in hand self-denying work. These things are not pleasant to flesh and blood. Yet after all, Wisdom"s ways are the ways of pleasantness. Compared with the devil"s yoke, the yoke of Christ is easy. Godliness has the promise of both worlds. Those who have given Christ"s service a fair trial would not for the world change masters.
2. Hobab is to come, for the Lord hath need of him (verses 30, 31). It seems that Moses" brother-in-law feared he might be an intruder and a burden. No such thing. A son of the desert would be of manifold service to the congregation in the desert. There is great wisdom in this argument. It is a great mistake to suppose that people seriously inquiring after salvation will attach themselves most readily to the Church which will give them nothing to do. The nobler sort will be attracted rather by the prospect of being serviceable. To sum up the argument which will carry the greatest weight with unbelievers and despisers of God is that which utters itself in the Church"s profession of its own faith and hope. A Church whose faith is weak and whose hope is dim will be found to have little power to rouse the careless and draw them into its fellowship. Men are most likely to be gained to Christ and the way of salvation by the Church whose members manifest by their words and lives the presence in theist hearts of a bright and living hope of eternal life. B.
HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG Vers. 29-32. Moses and Hobab.
I THE WONDERFUL CHANGES GOD MAKES IN HUMAN LIFE. What men do themselves, the history of self-made men, is often very astonishing, yet nothing to the history of God-made men. For forty years Moses had been a shepherd in this wilderness; as we may conjecture, an oft companion with Hobab in these very scenes, Suddenly he goes away to Egypt to visit his brethren, and in the course of a few months returns to the wilderness with over 600, 000 fighting men, beside women and children. So in the Scriptures we find many other wonderful God-made changes in human life. Joseph leaving his brethren a slave his brethren finding him again prime minister to Pharaoh. The lad David brought from the recluse pastoral scene to stand before armies and slay the dreaded foe of Israel. Jesus visiting Nazareth to be a wonderment and stumbling-block to those who had known him from infancy. Saul among the persecutors when he left Jerusalem among the persecuted when he returns.
II THESE WONDERFUL CHANGES MAY BE EXHIBITED SO AS TO MAKE OTHERS THE SUBJECTS OF THEM. Hobab had probably been much with Moses, for old acquaintance" sake, while the people of God were round about Sinai. The recollections of the past were comparatively fresh, and Moses had a natural interest in a kinsman. But now the time has come to move, and what must Hobab do? The necessities of God"s kingdom bring a separation sooner or later in all friendship, unless both parties are in the kingdom. It is the critical moment of Hobab"s life, and he must decide at once. Not but what he might change his mind, and follow afterwards, only the chances were that it was now or never. Thus Hobab is the illustration of all who are asked and pressed to join the people of God. To such persons every narration of God"s experienced grace to others brings a cordial invitation in the very telling of it. It is our own fault if we be mere spectators of the cloud, hearers of the trumpet. God had made most gracious provision for the stranger to come into Israel. No word could be more cordial and pressing than that of Moses here. It was not hatred of outsiders as outsiders, but as abominably wicked, that brought God"s vengeance on them.
III THESE WONDERFUL CHANGES MAY BE EXHIBITED WITHOUT PRODUCING SYMPATHY AND APPRECIATION. The reply of Hobab illustrates the natural man in his want of sympathy with spiritual struggles. "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God." How many there have been of such spectators in every age, those who have seen some old companion suddenly borne away, come under the influence of new powers, and turn what is called fanatic and enthusiast! The old ties are all broken, or, if any remain, there is no substance in them. Believer and unbeliever may continue to meet in the commerce of the world, but in closer relations they can meet no longer. When Pitt was told of the great religious change that had passed over Wilberforce, he suggested to his friend that he was out of spirits, and that company and conversation would be the best way of dissipating his impressions. Hobab was quite contented with his sheep in the desert. He did not want to be circumcised, and held in with such rigorous restrictions. Doubtless he had a warm place in his heart for Moses, but he could not say as Buxton once signed himself in a letter to J.J. Gurney, "Yours, in the threefold cord of taste, affection, and religion. Y.
A right feeling and a Christian invitation.
I THE FEELING WHICH SHOULD BE IN ALL CHRISTIAN HEARTS. "We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you." Thus our view of the future should be regulated as a future not of our achieving, but of God"s giving. The end is definite and assured, however devious and tedious the way may be. The end is one not to be reached immediately; the place which God will give us must be at a secure distance from spiritual Egypt, with its bondage and tyranny. The feeling which we entertain with respect to this place must be a confident one, and expressed in a manner corresponding. The feeling thus entertained and expressed must have all our actions in harmony with it. Our closest connections with earth should be as nothing more than the pegs of the Israelite tents, here to-day and gone to-morrow. (Joh_14:1-3 Joh_17:24 2Co_5:1-9 Heb_4:11 Heb_11:13-16 Heb_12:27 1Pe_1:3, 1Pe_1:4)
II THE INVITATION WHICH SHOULD COME FROM ALL CHRISTIAN LIPS. "Come thou with us, and we will do thee good." Addressed to those who may think they have a true home among things seen and temporal, but who are as really without a home as is the Christian. If Christians are sure they are going onward to the true home chosen, secured, and enriched by God, what is more Christ-like than that they should ask their Hobab-neighbours to join their well-protected, well-provisioned caravan? If even now sweet influences from the rest that remaineth for the people of God possess our souls, these should be used to win others from the illusions of this passing scene. What a blessed occupation to be drawing human spirits into that sphere of the unseen and eternal which alone gives them a fitting service here, and a true rest and reward hereafter! The invitation must be a loving and constraining one. To promise good to others, we must feel and show that we have got good ourselves. The invitation can only come when we ourselves feel that we are m the right Way to the desired end.
III THE REASON BY WHICH THE INVITATION IS ENFORCED. "The Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel." Concerning Israel. Concerning other nations he had spoken ill for their idolatries and abominations. Sodom was a witness to his consuming wrath, and his hand had been laid heavily on Egypt. But concerning Israel he had spoken good in a large and loving way. (Exo_3:6-8 Exo_6:6-8 Exo_23:20-33) The stranger then must cease to be a stranger, and enter by circumcision of the heart into the spiritual Israel. The force of the invitations does not depend on our sanguine anticipations. Others are as well able to consider what the Lord has spoken as we are. His word is the guarantee. If even the Jewish nation, the typical Israel, has still to have prophecies fulfilled, how much more its antitype, the spiritual Israel, those who are Jews inwardly! Consider for yourselves then all the good that God has spoken concerning Israel. Y.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Moses said unto Hobab . . . Come thou…
Num_10:29-32
Moses said unto Hobab . . . Come thou with us.
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A generous proposal
I. First, then, what are the characteristics of a true church as it is pictured by Israel in the wilderness? We might prolong the answer to this question with many minute features, but it will be unnecessary to do more than give you a simple broad outline.
1. The people in the wilderness were a redeemed people. They had been redeemed by blood and redeemed by power. So, all the true members of Gods Church understand what the blood of sprinkling means. They have enjoyed a passover through it. And the Holy Spirit has entered into their hearts, and made them hate their former sins, has delivered them from the dominant power of their inward corruptions, has set them free and brought them out of the bondage of sin. Thus they have also been redeemed by power, and no one has any right to think himself a member of Christs Church unless by faith he has seen himself redeemed by blood, and in his experience has also been redeemed by the power of the Holy Spirit.
2. The Israelites were a people who were passing through a land wherein they found no rest, neither did they desire any, for they were journeying to another country, the promised land, the Canaan. Now, here is another description of the true Church of God. They are not of the world, even as Christ is not of the world. This is not their rest. Here they have no continuing city.
3. Israel in the wilderness was a people walking by faith as to the future, for if you remember, the words are, They were going to the place of which the Lord said, I will give it to you. And such are Gods people now. As for joys to come, they have not tasted them, but they are looking for them, because God has promised them.
4. These people, also, as to their present circumstances were walking by faith. It was not merely faith which sang to them of Canaan, but it was faith that told them of the manna which fell day by day, and the water which flowed from the rock, which stream followed them in their journeyings. So also in this world the Christian man has to live by faith upon God as to present things. As to temporal necessities he must cast all his care on Him who careth for us, but especially as to all spiritual supplies the Christian has no stock of grace.
5. These people found, wherever they went, that they were surrounded by foes. So will you find it if you are a child of God. All places are full of snares. Events, prosperous or adverse, expose you to temptation. All things that happen to you, though God makes them work for good, in themselves would work for evil. While here on this earth the world is no friend to grace to help you on to God.
II. It is the duty of the christian church to invite suitable persons to join with it.
1. As you read--Come thou with us, and we will do thee good--say if these are not the terms in which any Church should invite a suitable pastor to unite with it?
2. Take the words as significant of the manner in which Churches should invite suitable persons to come among them as private members. Are there not those who go in and out merely as visitors worshipping with you, who have never joined hands with you in covenant? They meet with you as mere hearers, under the same ministry, but they have not identified themselves with the brotherhood to sit down and feast with you at the table of the Lord. To such as these the proposal may be made, and the welcome proffered.
3. Let me call your attention to a certain sense in which Christian men may address this invitation to all that they meet with, Come thou with us, and we will do thee good. Not come and join our Church, not come and be members, not come and put on a profession of faith. You cannot say that to any but to those in whom you see the fruits of the Spirit, but you may say, and you ought to say, to all persons of all classes on all sides, Come away from the seed of evil doers, cast in your lot with the people of God; leave the world, come on pilgrimage to the better country; forsake the pursuit of vanities, lay hold on eternal life; waste not all your thoughts upon the bootless cares of time, think about the momentous matters of eternity. Why will you be companions of those who are upon the wrong side, and whose cause is the cause of evil? Why will you remain an enemy to God? We, by Gods grace, have cast in our lot with Christ and with His cause; we desire to live to His glory. Come and cast in your lot with us--that is, believe; that is, trust a Saviour slain; that is, put your soul into the custody of Christ the Intercessor; that is, press forward through a life of holiness on earth to a home of happiness in heaven. Come thou with us, and we will do thee good.
III. The main argument--the most powerful incentive we can ever use is--that association with the church of christ will do those who enter it good. I am sure it will, for I speak from experience; and if I were to call upon many hundreds in this house they would all bear the same testimony, that union with the people of God has done them good.
1. The Church of God may say this, first, because she can offer to those who join with her good company.
2. Come with us, the Church of God may say, and you shall have good instruction, for it is in the true Church of God that the doctrines of grace are preached, the Person of Christ is extolled, the work of the Spirit is magnified, &c.
3. Come thou with us, and we will do thee good, in the best sense, for thou shalt feel in our midst the good presence of God.
4. Come with us again, for you shall participate in all the good offices of the Church. That is to say, if thou wilt cast in thy lot with us, if there be prayer thou shalt have thy share in it. We will pray for thee in thy trouble, and trial, and anguish.
5. But the good that Hobab was to get was not only on the road. The main good he got was this--he went into the promised land with Gods people. So, the main blessing that you get from being united with the invisible Church of Christ, through being part and parcel of the body of Christ, is reserved for the hereafter.
IV. Lest we should be found mere pretenders, let all of us who belong to Christs church take care to make this argument true. I speak to many who have long been joined to the visible Church of God, and I put this interrogatory to them--How have you carried out this silent compact which has been made with the friends of Christ? You have promised to do them good; have you fulfilled your pledges? I am afraid few of us have done good to our fellow Christians up to the measure that we might have done, or that we ought to have done. Some professors, I fear, have forgotten the compact altogether. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
True pilgrim life
1. The life of all is a pilgrimage.
(1) Life as a journey is constant. There is no pausing a moment; whether asleep or awake we are moving on.
(2) It is irretraceable. We cannot go back a step.
(3) It is resistless.
2. But whilst the life of all is a pilgrimage, all are not taking the same course, and moving to the same destination. Morally there is a true and a false pilgrimage. We take the text to illustrate the life of a true pilgrim.
I. It is a life to a glorious destiny. The true Canaan of humanity is moral perfection. The true soul marches on through life not in quest of some outward good, as did the Israelites of old, but in quest of holiness.
1. It is the gift of God.
2. It is a motive for exertion.
II. It is a life of social benevolence.
1. The language of a true life is that of invitation. Come with us.
2. The spirit of a true life is that of kindness. We will do thee good.
III. It is a life under the benediction of heaven. God has spoken good concerning all the holy and the true; all who are the genuine disciples of His Blessed Son. What has He said to them?
1. That they are His friends.
2. That He is always with them.
3. That He has mansions prepared for them in the future. (Homilist.)
The journey to heaven
I. The Christians destination. He is not at home on earth, but is a stranger and a pilgrim. He desires something better, and this desire is not to be disappointed. Heaven is something promised. The prospect is delightful.
II. The Christians journey. Heaven is not only a place we desire, but one to which we are rapidly advancing. Travelling does not mean a quiescent state of ease and rest; it means active exertion. The different stages of Christian life do not represent simply advancing age, but the attainment of higher degrees of Christian character and perfection.
III. The Christians desire--that others should accompany him. More especially is this the case as regards relations and friends. It is his duty to invite them. It is part of his Christian work. Well may he be eloquent when a matter of so grave importance is in the balance. Let us seek company as we journey to heaven. It will be better for us here and hereafter. (Preachers Analyst.)
The believers journey
I. The place of every true believers destination.
II. The means he is adopting to arrive at it.
III. The call which he would fain address to all his unconverted neighbours. (A. Roberts, M. A.)
Moses and Hobab
The historian does not think it worth while to tell whether Moses attempt to secure the help of a pair of sharp Bedouin eyes succeeded or failed, but passes on to describe at once how the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them to search out a resting-place for them, and how the cloud was upon them when they went out of the camp. He would teach us that it mattered little whether Israel had Hobab or not, if they had the ark and the cloud.
I. There are times and moods in which our forward look brings with it a painful sense of the unknown wilderness before us. It is a libel on Gods goodness to speak of the world as a wilderness. He has not made it so; and if anybody finds that all is vanity and vexation of spirit, it is his own fault. But still one aspect of life is truly represented by that figure. There are dangers and barren places, and a great solitude in spite of love and companionship, and many marchings and lurking foes, and grim rocks, and fierce suns, and parched wells, and shadeless sand wastes enough in every life to make us quail often and look grave always when we think of what may be before us. Who knows what we shall see when we top the next hill, or round the shoulder of the cliff that bars our way? What shout of an enemy may crash in upon the sleeping camp; or what stifling gorge of barren granite--blazing in the sun and trackless to our feet--shall we have to march through to-day?
II. We have here an illustration of the weakness that clings to human guides. There are a thousand ways in which our poor weak hearts cry out in their sense-bound unbelief for visible stays to lean upon, and guides to direct us. In so far as that is a legitimate longing, God, who never sends mouths, but He sends meat to feed them, will not leave us to cry unheard. But let us guard against that ever-present weakness which clings tremblingly to creatures and men for help and guidance, and, in proportion as it is rich when it possesses them, trembles at the prospect of losing them, and is crushed and desolate when they go. Do not put them as barriers between you and God, nor yield your own clearness of vision to them, nor say to any, Be to us instead of eyes, nor be over anxious to secure any Hobab to show you where to camp or how to march.
III. The contrast which is brought into prominence by the juxtaposition of this section and that which follows it, makes emphatic the thought of the true leader of our march. God always goes before His people. No doubt in all our lives there come times when we seem to have been brought into a blind alley, and cannot see where we are to get out; but it is very rare indeed that we do not see one step in advance, the duty which lies next us. And be sure of this, that if we are content to see but one step at a time, and take it, we shall find our way made plain. The river winds, and often we seem on a lake without an exit. Then is the time to go half-speed, and, doubtless, when we get a little farther, the overlapping hills on either bank will part, and the gorge will open out. We do not need to see it a mile off; enough if we see it when we are close upon it. It may be as narrow and grim, with slippery black cliffs towering on either side of the narrow ribbon of the stream, as the canons of American rivers, but it will float our boat into broader reaches and onward to the great sea. Do not seek to outrun Gods guidance, to see what you are to do a year hence, or to act before you are sure of what is His will; do not let your wishes get in advance of the pillar and the ark, and you will be kept from many a mistake, and led into a region of deep peace.
IV. Our craving for a human guide has been lovingly met in the gift of Christ. His life is our pattern. Our marching orders ,re brief and simple: follow your Leader, and plant your feet in His footprints. That is the sum of all ethics, and the vade mecum for practical life. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
An earnest entreaty
I. Christianity is an elevating force, filling the soul with purity and love. In this text it is exhibited in all the charms of its simplicity and power. Come with us, and we will do thee good. On a cold day one autumn I happened to be speaking to a farmer where three roads met, and we saw sitting in the hedge side a half-starved melancholy man, to whom we said, You look pale and ill, my friend. He replied, My wife and children are in the workhouse. I have sought work up and down in Manchester and have failed to find it. One has told me to go there, another to go yonder; and I came out here to see if any farmer might perhaps find me work in his fields. The good man at my side clapped his hand on the poor fellows shoulder and said, Come with me; I will give you some breakfast and then I will find you work to do. That kindly invitation and promise is an inspiration of Christianity. It is not Go here, or go there; but come with us, and we will do you good. We need a human sympathy that shall prompt us to do to others as we would have them do to us. We should imagine the feelings of others, and treat them as we should like to be treated ourselves were we in their position.
II. The christian life is an invitation. IS not the Christian like the sun that shines away the darkness? The petals of the flowers are closed up during the night, but when the sun shines upon them they open themselves to receive from his rays beauty and fragrance. So the Christian is a clear shining light in the night of the fog of sin. Even as Christ was the light of the world, so is every Christian a brilliancy.
1. Come first with us to the bar of conviction.
2. Come with us to the door of repentance.
3. Come with us to the seat of mercy.
4. Come with us, and we will lead you to the fountain for uncleanness.
5. Come with us to the Cross.
6. Come with us to the marriage of the Lamb with your soul.
III. The christian life is a trackway of beneficence, We will do thee good. The Christian shall be doing good all the days of his life. Let Christians join themselves in a huge co-operative society for beneficence. And, sinners, come with us, and we will do you good. Come and help us to help each other. (W. Birch.)
The heavenly Canaan
I. The great object which is sought by the church of God. We are seeking heaven, and its perfect felicity we hope ultimately to realise.
II. The invitation presented by the church of God to them that are without. Come with us and we will do thee good.
III. Let me show what will be the issue of the acceptance of this invitation, Most cheering is the assurance that is given unto those who go with Gods people of a positive blessing. We will do thee good, said Moses to Hobab, for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel. Now I am very anxious just to set before you this truth, that no person can be found who loves God, and who has accepted the invitation to associate with His people, without being a gainer thereby. (T. W. Aveling.)
The Christian journeying to the promised land
I. Thy place spoken of in the text is Canaan, a type of heaven, that far-distant but better country which all the Israel of God have ever regarded as the scene of their blessedness and their home.
1. A much-wished-forplace.
2. A promised place.
3. The free gift of God.
II. The conduct of the Christian with regard to this place. It is evident that this heavenly country has little or no influence on mankind in general. We profess to believe that there is such a land somewhere in the universe, but we think and act just as though it could nowhere be found. If heaven were to be blotted out from the creation, or if an impassable gulf were to be fixed between it and the earth, our dispositions, our affections, and our conduct, would, in too many instances, remain the same as they are now. But this promised land has a real and abiding influence on the people of God. They seek it; they travel towards it.
1. To be journeying to heaven implies an actual entrance into the path which leads to it.
2. To be journeying to heaven implies also perseverance in seeking it.
3. We are warranted to infer that if we are journeying to heaven, we have not only kept in the road which leads to heaven, but have actually made a progress in it; that, instead of declining we are growing in grace; that we are gradually becoming more and more meet to be partakers of heaven, the nearer we draw to it.
4. There is implied also in journeying to the heavenly Canaan, a fixed determination to arrive there. The expression intimates decision of character; a willingness to sacrifice everything, so that the soul may be saved and heaven won.
III. In thus prosecuting his journey to heaven, it is evident that the christian must necessarily separate himself from many of his brethren, with whom he would otherwise have contentedly associated. But although he is constrained by the command of his God and the very nature of the work in which he is engaged, to come out from among the ungodly, he does not consider himself as unconnected with them, nor does he cease to regard them as brethren.
1. If we regard this invitation as the advice of the Christian traveller to his fellow-sinners around him, it implies that be has a sincere and earnest desire to bring them into the path of heaven, which he has himself entered.
2. The invitation of Moses intimates also that the Christian is tenderly concerned for the spiritual welfare of his fellow-travellers, as well as for the repentance and salvation of the wandering sinner.
3. We may infer, lastly, from this invitation, that if we would ever reach the kingdom of God, we must join ourselves now to the people of God. (C. Bradley, M. A.)
The Christian invitation
I. Gods people are travelling to the celestial Canaan.
1. The journey--
(1) Commences in the day of conversion.
(2) Is continued by the soul advancing in the knowledge and love of God.
(3) Terminates at death.
2. The place to which they are journeying. This is the celestial Canaan; which is--
(1) A land of rest.
(2) A land of riches and prosperity.
(3) A land prepared for and promised to Gods spiritual Israel.
II. Gods people feel it their duty to invite others to journey with them to the promised land. Hence they say, Come thou with us, &c.
1. That there are many who are not in the way to this goodly land.
2. That there is room and freedom for more in the way to heaven.
3. That Gods people are anxious that others should join them in their way to heaven.
4. Gods people use their influence to prevail with those around them to accompany them to heaven. They practically invite them, by amiableness of disposition, sweetness of temper, righteousness of life; and thus allure them by the excellencies they manifest, and constrain them to glorify our Father who is in heaven.
III. Gods people have good reasons to assign why those around should go with them to the goodly land. The reasons in the text are two: We will do you good; and, The Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel. The first is a human reason, and therefore limited. The second is a Divine reason, and unlimited.
1. There is the promise of benevolent help.
2. There is the good declaration of God concerning Israel. The Lord hath spoken good. What has He not said? Has He not given the most precious promises and the most gracious assurances?
Learn:
1. The present state of Gods people. It is a journeying state. This is the time of their toil and suffering.
2. The happiness of Gods people. Children of God, heirs of eternal life, expectants of the glory that shall be revealed.
3. The true wisdom of those who are without. To accompany Gods people on their heavenly pilgrimage. (J. Burns, D. D.)
The invitation of Moses to Hobab
I. Gods Israel have a direct object in view, thus described, The place of which the Lord said, I will give it you. By Gods Israel I mean literally the posterity of Jacob, and spiritually all genuine Christians, who are Israelites indeed in whom there is no guile. The object which Gods ancient Israel had in view was Canaan; this is described as a place, and on several accounts it was highly desirable. Heaven is the glorious object on which Gods spiritual Israel have fixed their attention. Canaan was highly prized by the Jews--
1. As it was the end of their journey. Heaven is the termination of the Christians journey. The dangers of: that terrible wilderness, through which Israel passed, were but faintly typical of the spiritual dangers to which believers are exposed; and if Israel rejoiced at the possession of Canaan, with what exultation will Christians enter their heavenly inheritance, when their toils will be finished and their conflicts closed!
2. It was a country amply stored with provisions. But with all the enconiums bestowed upon Canaan, how low it sinks in comparison with that better country, to which we are journeying! This is indeed a land without scarceness. Here will be no lack of anything. Here every wish shall be gratified, and every desire be crowned with enjoyment.
3. It was long and repeatedly promised.
4. It was to be gratuitously bestowed. All Gods blessings are gifts.
II. Gods Israel are tending towards that object.
1. Commenced by the command of God.
2. Continued under His immediate guidance.
3. Marked by His miraculous and gracious care.
III. That Gods Israel are solicitous to secure companions for their journey. Come thou with us, &c.
1. Piety prompts them to say this. They long to bring back to God His immortal offspring, and to recover to the great Shepherd of the sheep, the souls for whom He died; and they say, Come thou with us, &c.
2. Benevolence excites them to say this. Religion inspires the most ardent attachment to God, and breathes the purest benevolence to men.
3. Self-interest induces them to say this. Gods Israel are not only capable of doing good to, but of receiving good from their fellow-travellers.
IV. Gods Israel enjoy the divine commendation. The Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel.
1. Concerning the country to which Israel are tending (Psa_87:3; Rev_21:23-26).
2. Concerning the way in which Israel are journeying. It is called a right way (1Sa_12:23); a good way (Jer_6:16); a perfect way (Psa_101:2); a way of holiness (Isa_35:8); a way of peace (Luk_1:79); a new and living way (Heb_10:20); and a way in which there is no death (Pro_12:28).
3. Concerning the succours afforded them in the way. Many things are necessary for travellers. Light to see the way (Pro_4:18); a consciousness of being in the right way (Isa_30:21); a guide to instruct us in the way (Psa_32:8); provision for the way (Psa_132:15); strength to walk in the way (Isa_40:29-31); and a never-failing Friend to lead us forward in the way (Isa_42:16).
4. The Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel--In the titles by which they are designated, such as children of God, sons of God, heirs of God, kings and priests unto God.
In the figures by which they are compared: Gods husbandry, Gods building, Gods heritage, sheep of Gods pasture, a royal priesthood, a spiritual house, a crown of glory, and a royal diadem, &c.--In the promises to which they are entitled; these include all things (1Co_3:21-23).
Infer:
1. The happiness of Gods people.
2. The work of Gods people.
3. The honour of Gods people.
4. The security of Gods people. (Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons.)
Hobabs opportunity:
I. What God said to Israel (see Exo_6:6-8).
II. What Moses said to Hobab.
1. An invitation.
2. A promise. Good.
3. An argument. Lord has spoken, not man.
4. An entreaty. Leave us not.
5. An appeal. Thou knowest, &c.
6. An inducement. Equal share promised.
III. What Hobab said to Moses. I will not go. Six deterring things.
1. His own land.
2. Kindred.
3. Possessions.
4. With strangers. Alien race; other habits.
5. Poor prospects.
6. Uncertainty.
What would become of him should Moses die, or if invasion should fail? All find emphatic expression--I will not go. But Moses pleads long, earnestly, willingly. Hobab yields. House of Raguel. A lot in Canaan--Jael. Rechab. Saved from doom of Midian.
IV. What I have to say to you. Same message from God. Six things--
1. Israel. Politically disbanded; exists spiritually; the seed of Abraham; the children of the promise; the Church of Christ.
2. Good. Freedom from moral Egypt. Divine layout. Life; guidance; aid from God. Inheritance in the Canaan of holiness and heaven.
3. Come. Cast in your lot with us. Turn back on Midian. It is doomed. Follow our Moses, Jesus, Captain of our salvation.
4. Leave us not. I too would entreat, beseech, persuade. We want you; your company; your help. The love of Christ constraineth us.
5. We will do, &c. We can. By prayer, brotherhood, mutual aid, and cheer. Going home.
6. I pray thee. This with my heart upon my lips, and longing for your soul. Come! Come! Come!
V. WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY TO ME. You may say--
1. I will not go. If Midian is your home Midians doom is yours.
2. I will follow by and by. By and by leads to house of Never.
3. I will think about it--which means, I will forget it.
4. Are you Israel? Go tell John the things, &c.
5. I will go with somebody else. Be quick, and God go with you.
6. I will go with you for, &c. Preachers prize; your peace; Jesus glory.
VI. What God will say to us both. I cannot answer. The day will declare it! (J. Jackson Wray.)
Moses and Hobab
The spirit displayed by Moses is displayed by every Christian man. His words also may be adopted. These words suggest--
I. Settled convictions. We are journeying, &c. How pleasant this assurance. Do you possess it?
1. Remember the time when you had not this assurance. It was a time of uncertainty--fearfulness.
2. Remember the way in which you obtained this assurance. It was after strong convictions, earnest cries, transporting joys, then came this sweet assurance.
3. Notice the great advantages of this assurance. In a rough road, dark night, &c.
II. Probable inconveniences. Persons on a journey do not expect the comforts of home. They may have--
1. Unpleasant weather. The hail and sleet of persecution. The cold snow of poverty. The fog of doubt.
2. Unpleasant conveyance. The means of grace are like vehicles to help us on. Some have to trudge on nearly all the way, others get a lift now and then. Some in comfortable carriages-good doctrine; others in tumble-down--broken springs, So.
3. Unpleasant companions. The world an inn. In the house. Shop. Church.
4. Unpleasant accommodation. The body is the tabernacle or house in which the soul dwells. Many have sickly, weak bodies, and dwell in much poverty. Never mind. We are journeying.
III. Constant progress. We cannot settle down either--
1. In the joys of home and kindred.
2. In the joys of Christian society.
3. In the joys of gospel ordinances. This should teach us--
(1) To look upon everything with the eye of travellers.
(2) To make everything subservient to our journey. The place of our abode. Our business. Our friendships.
(3) To rejoice over those who have finished their journey. They have simply got home before us.
IV. Pleasant prospects. We have in view--
1. A land of freedom.
2. A land of friendship.
3. A land of holiness.
4. A land of happiness. (The Study.)
The profitable journey
I. God hath spoken great and good things concerning the future state of his people.
II. Believers are now on their journey to take possession of this heavenly country; We are journeying, said Moses to Hobab, to the promised place.
III. Travellers to Zion should invite and encourage others to accompany them; as Moses said to Hobab, Come thou with us, and we will do thee good. Moses was related to Hobab; and certainly our relations have the first claim to our pious regards (Rom_9:1-3; Rom_10:1). And there are several methods in which we may try to do this.
1. By inviting them to hear the gospel faithfully preached.
2. We may promote the salvation of others by serious and affectionate conversation. We readily converse with our neighbours on the news of the day, whether it be good or evil. Why should we be backward to tell them the best news that ever reached our ears--the good tidings of the gospel, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners?
3. The heads of families must endeavour to do good to their households by maintaining family-worship.
4. We may promote the salvation of the rising generation by giving encouragement to Sunday-schools, and other plans for the religious education of children. Some may assist them by subscribing towards their support; and others by their personal help.
5. The distribution of religious tracts is another method in which we may easily invite many around us to come and unite with us, that we may do them good.
6. But all these means must be accompanied with prayer.
7. Above all, and together with all, let our holy, blameless, and useful lives recommend the ways of religion to men. Improvement: What influence have all the good things which God has promised in His gospel had upon us? He has set before us His well-beloved Son; and in Him, pardon and peace, holiness and heaven: all we can want to make us happy in time, happy in death, happy to all eternity. Are we drawn by these cords of love? Are we induced to forsake the sins and vanities of the world? Have we set out on our journey towards heaven, determined to be fellow-travellers with the people of God? or do we hesitate? (G. Burder.)
The Christian journey
I. Direct your meditations to the representation given in the text of all the true Israel of God; they are journeying to the place of which God has spoken.
1. Consider their setting out in the journey, and how this is begun.
2. Journeying to the goodly land of promise implies perseverance and progress in the Divine life.
3. That our journeying to Zion implies difficulties encountered, resisted and overcome. These may be expected, and will be experienced.
II. We proceed now to some illustration of the animating motive which encourages heavenly travellers to hold on their way, which motive is contained in the last part of the text, For the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel. The Father of mercies has made with us an everlasting covenant, well-ordered in all things, and sure. The Saviour of mankind has purchased for us a kingdom which fadeth not away. The Holy Spirit is our Sanctifier and our Comforter, and graciously undertakes to prepare us for the business and the bliss of heaven. Neither the legions, nor all the powers of hell, can prevent us from inheriting with the saints in light. The time, manner, and all the circumstances of our death, are arranged by unerring wisdom, and by infinite love. Again, all the promises recorded in the sacred volume, pertaining to the life which now is, and to immortal happiness beyond the grave, are yea and amen in Christ, and are ours through Him. All the threatenings recorded in the same Scriptures are transferred to our glorious Surety, and cancelled as to us. The God of glory is our perpetual defence; the Lamb in the midst of the throne our perpetual Friend; angels our kindred, and heaven our home.
III. The affectionate and salutary counsel which travellers to Zion address to others: Come with us, and we will do thee good.
1. This implies a sincere concern for the salvation of our kindred and companions.
2. This affectionate address implies also a full conviction, that it never can be well with those who have not their portion with Gods children, who worship Him not in spirit, and who rejoice not in Christ Jesus.
3. Again, this language intimates the full persuasion that there is room for the most ignorant, estranged, and hopeless of their kindred, companions, and relatives. (A. Bonar.)
The invitation
1. His invitation shows faiths happy state. It is a mirror reflecting the features of calm trust. Full faith has eagle-eye. It penetrates all earthly mists. It gazes steadily on Zions highest light. Its true affections centre round a purer scene. So daily it moves forward. And nightly realises that an upward step is made. We are journeying unto the promised place. What is this place? Faith gazes--it ever gazes with increasing rapture: but it fails fully to describe. It is rest; perfect purity; joy; sure; the gift of God.
2. This invitation shows that faith is aggressive. Come thou with us. Each heaven-set plant strives for expanse. True grace has one sure sign: it longs and labours to communicate its wealth. A saving view of Christ slays self--relaxes every icy band--widely extends embracing arms, and yearns to multiply delights. When the heart burns the life must labour. (Dean Law.)
The invitation of Moses to Hobab:
I. The people of God are travelling to the heavenly Canaan.
1. The place itself.
(1) The place of rest.
(2) The place of purity.
(3) The place of unbounded wealth.
(4) The place of unceasing enjoyment.
2. The journey.
II. It is the duty of christians to invite others to journey with them. So Moses acted.
III. The reasons assigned for a compliance with this request.
1. The promise of mutual good.
2. The Divine regard for the Church.
IV. The manner in which this invitation may be received.
1. Some give a direct negative, as Hobab did at first; I will not go. The wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God. Some, like Ephraim, are joined to idols, and cannot give them up. Is this your answer? I will not go. Then you must perish in the wilderness.
2. Some are deterred by pride and shame. They think the people of God beneath them; or what will the world, their present companions, say, if they profess Christ?
3. Some are deterred by the trials of the way. God will be your guide, and He will support you in the severest trials.
4. Some are convinced of the necessity and importance of this journey to heaven, but they procrastinate, like Felix; Go thy way, &c.
5. Some are willing to go, but have not counted the cost. This was the case with many of Christs followers, who set out, but turned back, and walked no more with Him (Joh_6:66).
6. A few have resolved to go. Like Ruth, nothing shall hinder them. The good work has commenced in their souls. The people are willing in the day of Christs power. They will go, and like Paul, they count all things but loss, &e. (Rth_1:16; Heb_11:25-26). (Helps for the Pulpit.)
Promise of good
I. Some of those good things God has spoken. He says to every Christian as to Jacob, I will surely do thee good.
1. He has called them to sustain gracious relations towards Him.
2. He secures to them special privileges.
3. He unfolds before them glorious prospects.
4. He enables them in the faith of all this to achieve noble exploits.
II. Some of the good things which god has actually done for them. Not words but deeds, might without presumption be said to be the Divine motto.
1. He has emancipated them from a most bitter dominion of sin and death.
2. He has enlightened them with saving wisdom.
3. He has watched over them. The pillar of cloud, only an emblem. The hairs of thy head. Fear not, ye are of more value than many sparrows.
4. He accounted their enemies His own. Egyptians, Philistines, Syrians, Babylonians.
Lessons:
1. Let this subject endear the Saviour.
2. Let it stamp vanity upon all the world deems great.
3. Let it encourage prayer and high expectation.
4. Let it prompt to holiness of heart and life. (Homiletic Magazine.)
Christian invitation:
I. A position is assumed. It was assumed by Moses, that the people of whom he had the care occupied a position, in regard to God and in regard to their own welfare, which was essentially favourable, and in which it was eminently desirable to participate. The same truth must be assumed by and in regard to Christians-those who live under the economy of new covenant mercy. And this will be vindicated by observing that Christians live in the actual enjoyment of Divine favour, and that they possess the prospect of invaluable blessing in the future.
II. An invitation is presented. Moses offered the invitation to his relative that he would go with them, and thus be the companion of their course; as in the preceding verse he says, Come thou with us, and we will do thee good; Leave us not, I pray thee. The invitation, we repeat, is presented, in a sense answering to the spirit of their vocation, by Christians to men who hitherto have been living apart, as votaries of sin and of the world.
1. In the name of Christians we say, we invite you to believe their principles. Those principles relate not merely to the elementary truths concerning the being, the government and the attributes of God--they relate to the Divine character and mission of Him whose name we bear, Christ Jesus, the Son of God; they relate to the expiatory sacrifice He has offered for human sin, by expiring upon the Cross; they relate to the imputation of the merit and righteousness embodied in that sacrifice, through faith, as the only efficacious cause of justification and acceptance before the Father; they relate to the agency of the Holy Spirit, in His renewing grace, as requisite to apply the work of mediation to the human soul; and they relate to the duty of obedience and holiness, as the only satisfactory proof of an interest in the work of redemption and of the hope which that redemption is intended to inspire and to secure. Now these various principles are to be sincerely and cordially believed; their presence or absence decides the character and the prospects of men for ever.
2. While we invite you, on behalf of Christians, that you will embrace their principles, we invite you also that you will associate with their communities.
3. We also invite you in the name of Christians, that you will engage in their employments.
III. An assurance is pledged. The emphasis of the expressions before us will be found singularly powerful and interesting. It shall be, if thou go with us, yea, it shall be, that what goodness the Lord shall do unto us, the same will we do unto thee. And this assurance may be taken in two departments. There is an assurance from Christians, and there is an assurance by Christians, for their God.
1. Christians pledge the assurance for themselves, that to those who go with them they will render all the assistance in their power. What goodness the Lord shall do unto us, the same will we do unto thee. We will endeavour to render you participators of all our supports and enjoyments; so that you shall be found entirely as we are, both in the possessions of the present and in the prospects of the future.
2. Christians pledge the assurance for God. We believe that the moment when your decision occurs will be the moment of your ample and unreserved introduction to all the immunities of the Christian life. There is no process of discipline or preparatory trial, there is no hesitation and there is no delay; the moment when your faith is placed on the great Messiah, and when the resolution of your heart under Divine grace is taken, to devote yourselves to His honour, at that moment all that Christianity can vouchsafe to you is, from the Source of Christianity, your own. (J. Parsons.)
Come with us
Whither? Israel was going quite through the wilderness into Canaan, the land of promise. Israel of the spirit is going through earth and time to heaven. When the Church says Come thou with us to any who are hesitating and undecided, her face is heavenwards, her movement is in that way; she holds in her hand the roll of promise, the map of the better country, even the heavenly, and sees her own title to possession written there as with the finger of God. To that country her steps are all directed; into that country she is moving her ranks, as regularly as the morning dawns, as quietly as the night darkens. With the rolling of the years, with the numbering of the weeks, and even with the striking of the hours, she throws her wearied travellers into eternal rest and safety. We see the part of the company that is bright, and strong, and active, but there is always a more illustrious part of it, which we do not see, away somewhat in the distance before us, and passing in silence, through sickness, and by the dim ways of death, into the good land of immortal life and glory. And there is no time for divided purposes, for lingering delays, Come with us, quickly come, lest you should be down to the dark river long before you think; lest your eternal home, the place you are going to, should flash out upon you, and lest it should be, to your surprise and grief, a very different home from that which you are idly hoping to reach. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)
Good to be with the good
Come with us and we will do you good. It is good to be with the good. A thousand nameless gifts and precious influences are reciprocated, given and regiven, and enhanced, as they circulate among the faithful. We will do thee good is no vain boast; it is the everyday experience of the saints of God in fellowship, of the soldiers of God in conflict, of the sons of God on the way through the wilderness to their home. To be with a person in spirit-friendship is to get, in a measure, what he has in him to give away, be it good or evil, glory or disgrace. You must be changed in a degree into the same image, whatever that image may be. The effluence of his life will flow into yours, and of yours into his. The sublimest action of this principle is when the disciple is with the Master, giving nothing, but receiving all, and then men take knowledge of him that he has been with Jesus. But it is really the action substantially, of the same principle when the company of His followers, standing well together in their fellowship, and going step by step in their march, are able thus to promise to all whom they invite, We will do you good. It is good to be with the good. It is good to be aiming after goodness. The Christian recompense begins as soon as the Christian endeavour begins. (A. Raileigh, D. D.)
Keeping good company
I think it is fair to notice that there was a little in the circumstances of the time to help Hobab to say No For Moses had to say, We are journeying. They did not look at their best; all was in confusion; Gods people here below never do look at their best. You know how vexed you are if some particular friend comes and calls when you are in all the uproar and confusion of a removal. You would say, Oh, dear me! I hope this wont have a damaging effect; I hope there wont be any inferences drawn from this higgledy-piggledy condition of things. And I think Moses felt it. I feel it as the spokesman for Israel to-day, pleading with any who have not yet come to join themselves to Israel, who have not come into the camp, into the household of faith. I anticipate your objection. You may well say as Hobab perhaps further thought. Well, he might think, I do know a little about these Israelites, and I know more than what is good about them. So far as I have been able to see during the past year, they are a mixed lot. And so they were. And I have to make much the same admission as regards Christians. I do not want to spoil my case with any halter-between-two-opinions, by doing what recruiting-sergeants in the old days were given to, viz., telling lies--for that is the plain English of it. I shall not speak the language of exaggeration. You find fault with us from the outside, and I admit it. You say, Why should I come? There are, it may be, points of character on which worldlings, so far as you have met them, are superior to Christians whom you have met. Mores the pity; but I admit it. We are ofttimes a sorry lot, a miserable crowd with our bickerings, and fightings, and jealousies. We please not God, and are contrary to all men; but--but--but take us at our worst, there is a side of us that never can be exaggerated. There is a side of us, and a thing in us, for the sake of which I would advise our keenest critic to rub his eyes and look again ere he gives us up. And remember, besides, that if I choose, I can turn your argument. It is easy for you to turn round to us; it is easy for Hobab to turn to me and say, What Christians we are, and that he has found us a stupid lot, and so on. But may I not say, Are you a great deal better? Come along, and show us an example. It is not really fair to stand outside and criticise--take a turn along the road with us for a mile or two. Many a man has had great objections to being a Christian, and has discovered many faults in the Israelites so long as he was a Midianite. But when he crossed over from Midian into Israel, and tried to keep his own eyes on the pillar of cloud, and tried to rule his own conduct according to the law and the sacrifices, his head hung a bit lower, and he had less to say about his neighbours. He had glimpses within that he would never have had otherwise; of great ravines, and chasms of imperfection; tremendous face-blanching possibilities of evil revealed in himself that have made him sing to a more gracious tune, if they have not made him sing dumb altogether. So I come back: Come thou with us. I feel as though I were like a dear mother I saw down, I think, at Kings Cross, not long ago. She was standing with one foot on the carriage-board, and the other foot on the platform, and she was arguing evidently with her wayward boy. Come back, come; you will be better at home; every one is waiting for you. But he hummed and hawed, turned this way and that way, looked every way but into his mothers face, and was most uncomfortable and uneasy. And sorry am I to add that the last I saw was the conductor coming hurrying along; there was a kiss and an embrace between mother and son, and then they parted, she to step into the train, and he to go away back, as he answered, I will not go. Very like just where Moses was with Hobab, and where I am with some of you. I want you to come, I long for you to come. I know you can raise many difficulties and objections. Like that lad, you like the freedom; like Hobab, you like a desert life. But even although you should say, No, still I shall look to see you changing your mind, like Hobab. For, later on in Scripture, we have evidences that he afterwards repented and went. Let me go on with my text. We will do thee good: for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel. Will that do? We are only journeying, we have not arrived; but we have the promises of God. Yes; and we have something to show, we have our own tale to tell. We are redeemed, at any rate; we are a ransomed lot; and when you are piling together all the disparaging adjectives you can gather to describe us, dont forget the others. There is a ransomed look about us, unless we utterly belle the deepest and truest things in us. We are no longer slaves. True, we are not what we ought to be, but we are saved sinners. We have got that to begin with, and we are journeying for all the rest. We are taking God at His word, and hitherto the dullest of us, if you push him hard, is compelled to say the Lord has been, at least, as good as His word. Now, will you come? And he said, I will not go; but I will depart to my own land, and to my own kindred. Poor Hobab I Many have been kept back in that way: mine own land, mine own kindred. Now, how would you like it if to-night I brought the argument to a point by saying I dispute the word mine you have no land, you have no kindred? Hobab, you are using words that you have no right to use in any absolute sense of possession--Mine own land, mine own kindred. That is a word that this world wont allow, not to speak of Gods Word. But, Hobab, if you want true possessions, if you want true wealth, a real portion, that even death will not destroy (death will only usher you into a more abundant sense of the possession of it), then come with us. Dont look back to Midian; dont look back to Sodom; dont cast longing, lingering looks behind. Look forward. See what Christ offers you, and come. You lose nothing that would be for your good: No good thing will God withhold from them that walk uprightly. And if you have to lose; if, from a worldly point of view, from the point of view of selfishness, and self-will, and your own unhallowed ambitions--if you have to lay things on the altar, then you are a blessed man--that is the path of life, and not of death. He that loveth his life shall lose it; he that hateth his life (he that seems to fling it away) shall find it unto life eternal. And Moses pleaded with him further, and said, Leave us not, I pray thee, &c. Pardon me if I am urgent with you; let me plead with you. You can be of use to us. Will that draw some of you? We want you, frankly and freely. Are you imaginative, musical, poetical, literary? Are you a good financier? Have you certain qualities that mark you off specially as a father, or as a mother, or as a wife, or as a friend? Come with us; we need you, you will be of use to us. It is one of the sweet things about Israel that God wants every kind of person. Then come. We are journeying, we are a going concern, we are moving on, onward and upward; no stop, no stay. Nothing can resist our progress; from night to morning, from morning till night, the one thing in Gods universe that moves is His Israel; and every step is a step upward, and every fall is a fall forward. We are on the winning side, all that is enduring is with us. Come, oh, come! (John McNeill.)
The state of mind in Moses which prompted this invitation
These words afford us more than one glimpse into Mosess state of mind. More than forty years had now elapsed since he had refused to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. What enabled him to make this difficult choice? The apostle tells us, faith. But faith is a grace that does not stand alone. It soon becomes the parent of other graces. God has told us what He is; and it is the characteristic of faith to rest in Him as a present God--to enjoy Him as an all-sufficient and present portion. But God has spoken about His people s future--told them not only what He is, but what He will be to them. He hath spoken good concerning Israel. These promises kindle and sustain hope. The heart is enlarged with the joyful anticipation of things to come. Mosess invitation to Hobab shows that hope was one, it may be the prevailing, characteristic of his state of mind at this time. There was something, too, in his outward circumstances which might give an impulse to this expansive feeling. Hitherto they had been marching almost away from the land of promise; now their steps were turned, and they were about to move in a direct line for it. This had no effect whatever on the minds of the carnal and discontented Israel; present inconveniences and trials completely thrust all the promises out of their minds. But Moses pondered the promise; he anticipated the good which God had spoken concerning Israel. Hope rose high in his expecting heart, rendering more bearable the heavy burden which he had to carry--a disobedient and gainsaying people. Why is it that our hearts do not abound more in hope? Is it not that they are not occupied enough with Gods promises? That they do not realise, as Moses did, the good which God hath spoken concerning Israel? We live too much in the present or the past, and not enough in the future. Hope, then, was a feature of Mosess spirit. But another is very apparent in this invitation to Hobab--his holy benevolence. He was anxious that one related to him, though not of Israel, should share in the good promised to Israel. And this is the more beautiful, when we bear in mind that Israel of old was not called to impart to others the truths which they had been taught. The Church of the Old Testament was not in any sense, to use a common expression, a missionary Church. Its duty was to keep the oracles of God, and to live in complete separation from all the other nations of the earth: so that Moses went beyond the spirit and requirements of the law when he gave utterance to the benevolent desire of his heart, Come thou with us, and we will do thee good: for God bath spoken good concerning Israel. But we who live in the latter times, when the fulness of Divine love has burst through the barriers which for a time confined it, when the gracious command has been given, Preach the gospel to every creature, we ought to say, by the holiness of our lives, by the sympathy of our hearts, by the words of our lips, to those around us, Come with us, and we will do thee good. We see this compassionate love in Paul (Rom_10:1; 1Th_2:8). We see it in the beloved John (3Jn_1:4). But, most of all, we see it in Jesus, the fountain of all grace--For when He was come near, He beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. And how full of love are His repeated invitations- Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden. Him that cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out. Oh, we ought to be more like-minded with Jesus; and if we realised more the good which God has spoken concerning Israel, we should surely desire that relations and friends might come with us; that what goodness the Lord shall do unto us, the same He might do to them. (G. Wagner.)
The religion of the promise
If we are honest and genuine in our Christian believing, these words are as true for you and me as they were for Moses and his Israel. We, too, are on a journey. For us to-day, just as really as for them in days of old, the stimulus continues to be simply this--a promise. Heaven cannot be demonstrated. We simply take Gods word for it. The Christian religion is emphatically the religion of the promise. In heathen religion, the threat predominates over the promise. But in the glad faith that boasts the name of gospel, the promise predominates over the threat. Christians are men with a hope, men who have been called to inherit a blessing. The complaint that the progress of human knowledge has made it difficult to think and speak of heaven as believing men used to think and speak of it, is a complaint to which we must briefly refer. Let me observe, then, that while there is a certain grain of reasonableness in this argument for silence with respect to heaven and the things of heaven, there is by no means so much weight to be attached to it as many people seem to suppose. For after all, when we come to think of it, this changed conception of what heaven may be like is not traceable so much to any marvellous revolution that has come over the whole character of human thought since you and I were children, as it is to the changes which have taken place in our own several minds, and which necessarily take place in every mind in its progress from infancy to maturity. But let me try to strike closer home, and meet the difficulty in a more direct and helpful way. I do it by asking whether we ought not to feel ashamed of ourselves, thus to talk shout having been robbed of the promise simply because the Father of heaven has been showing us, just as fast as our poor minds could bear the strain, to how immeasurable an area the Fatherhood extends. The reality and trustworthiness of the promise are not one whir affected by this revelation of the vastness of the resources which lie at His command who makes the promise. Instead of repining because we cannot dwarf Gods universe so as to make it fit perfectly the smallness of our notions, let us turn all our energies to seeking to enlarge the capacity of our faith, so that it shall be able to hold more. It may turn out, who can tell? that heaven lies nearer to us than even in our childhood we ever ventured to suppose; that it is not only nearer than the sky, but nearer than the clouds. Be this as it may, the reasonableness of our believing in Christs promise, that in the world whither He went He would prepare a place for us, is in nowise impugned by anything that the busy wit of man has yet found out or is likely to find out. That belief rests on grounds of its own, and, far from forbidding, it encourages us to let our ideas of the fulness, the extent of the blessing promised, expand more and more. We need have no fear that, so long as we are in the flesh and on tile earth, our acquaintance with the realities of heaven will ever outrun the capacity of the Bible language about heaven to express what we may have discovered. On the contrary, let us make more and more of these great and precious promises of God. Let us resolve to think oftener of the place of which the Lord has said that He would give it us. There is no period of life from which we can afford to spare the presence of this heavenly hope. We need it in youth, to give point and purpose and direction to the newly-launched life. It would be a strange answer to give from a ship just out of the harbours mouth, in reply to the question, Whither bound?--Nowhere. But not in youth only is belief in this ancient promise of God a blessing to us. We need it in middle life. We need it to help us cover patiently that long stretch which parts youth from old age--the time of the fading out of illusions in the dry light of experience; the time when we discover the extent of our personal range, and the narrow limit of our possible achievement. We need it then, that we may be enabled to replace failing hopes with fresher ones, and neither falter nor sink under the burden and heat of the day. Above all, shall we find such a hope the staff of old age, should the pilgrimage last so long. (W. R. Huntington, D. D.)
The Christian life a journey
I. We are to view the Christian leaving the world behind him. We do not mean by this that he is to go out of the world. He may remain in it, and perform with diligence all the duties of his station, but he must give up the spirit, the tastes, the habits of the world; he must use the world without abusing it, and count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord.
II. We are to view the Christian with the cross on his back. It may appear unwise to lay a cross upon a man that is journeying, because it is apparently burthensome; but there is this difference between a temporal journey and the spiritual one: the cross does not enfeeble, it only makes us sensible of the weakness that exists. Indeed, in this journey it is generally found that he whose cross is the heaviest makes the greatest progress. With the cross on his back the Christian is less liable to wander. It keeps him steady in the right way. It is true that no chastening for the present is joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterwards it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them which are exercised thereby. The cross which the Christian carries is not selected by himself, but it is appointed by God. Sometimes it is outward affliction; sometimes inward temptations, as is best suited to the character and circumstances of the individual.
III. The Christian journeys with the bible in his hand. When a man sets out on a journey, he procures a book or map of the road, and directs his course accordingly. It is not enough that he intends or desires to go right, he must be regulated by his guide. If you were travelling through a strange country, and you knew not the various turnings and windings of the road, how anxiously would you look to your map, to see if you were right; particularly if there were certain marks by which you might know whether you were in the appointed track. The maxims of the world may deceive you; the reasonings of your own mind may perplex you; even the experience of professed Christians, being unscriptural or unsuitable, may mislead you; but the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
IV. In the spiritual journey the Christian has Christ at his side. Throughout the way, all the strength that is received is from His fulness. For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell. Christ continually sustains the believers soul. There are times with the most eminent Christian when the brightness is dimmed and dangers are multiplied; when the soul is much discouraged because of the way. In such seasons nothing but a view of Christ can cheer the soul. None ever travelled this road without feeling a humbling sense of his own weakness in the spiritual conflict. He has at times fallen, but a look at Christ, even if fallen, while it humbles, encourages.
V. The christian pilgrim keeps heaven in his view. Both the pains and the pleasures of the way stir up his heart to think of it, He hastens on, regardless of the accommodations by the way, so that he may but reach his home at last. With him the idea is not that of mere release from suffering, but of being brought to the permanent enjoyment of that Saviour with whom he has walked by faith. On this his mind is bent, nor will he be fully satisfied till that blessed time arrive. Application:
1. To you who are going quite another road. What do you expect at the end of it? You hope to be saved at last. On what are your expectations founded?
2. I would invite the young to commence this journey. It is true that the world has its pleasures, and they are placed before you in an alluring point of view; but they are deceitful. Religion has its pleasures, and they are solid and durable.
3. A word of encouragement to those who are on the road. Be grateful that while so many are travelling on in the broad road, you have, through grace, been brought to walk in this heavenly path. Gird up the loins of your mind--take up your cross cheerfully and follow Christ. (J. G. Breay, B. A.)
Persuasives and promises to pilgrims
I. A picture of the Christians pilgrimage. That wilderness wandering, so deeply indented with marks of Divine intervention, so resplendent with proofs of a present God, who went before them, cleaving the sea and the flood for them, subduing their enemies round about, is a varied type of the Church in the world.
1. The first lesson lying on the surface is that which relates to bearing testimony for Christ. There should be no hesitation about a Christian, as if he were afraid to say he was on the way to heaven. His speech or silence; his activity or quiet submission to the Divine will; his work and his worship, should boldly declare whose he is, and whom he serves.
2. A second lesson taught us here is one of mutual forbearance. Though all Christians are journeying to the one place, there is a wide diversity of experience, of capacity, of attainment. No two human faces are alike; and it may be safely affirmed that no two conversions are in all respects the same, and no two Christians, however close their affections and sympathies, grow in grace at the same rate, or in dependence on the same supplies.
II. A powerful pleading with others to join the pilgrim in his progress. There is a true ring in these words. Moses knew whom he had believed, and trusted his heavenly Father implicitly.
1. His invitation is founded on the Divine precept: The Lord hath said I will give it you. It was a poor nomadic life after all--the tribes were living in the desert--if there had been no goal to which their aspirations and their movements tended. But the word of the Lord was a sure word on which to hope. With Divine leadership, pioneering and providing, defending and protecting, and a glorious inheritance at the end of the pilgrimage, there was everything to quicken, stimulate, and strengthen. Our condition is very like theirs, for we have not yet come to the rest and the inheritance which God is to give to us, but we are on the way.
2. It is founded on a rich promise: The Lord said I will give it you, and the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel. As God promised Canaan to the tribes, so has He opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers by Jesus Christ. What though a wearisome pilgrimage lie between us and the heavenly rest, though dangers, enemies, fears manifold, are in the way, in nothing shall we be ashamed. All good is promised and not evil, what is good for body and soul, solid, enduring good, the good part that shall not be taken away, even when life departs. Canaan was the ultimate embodiment of that good to ancient Israel, as heaven and eternal felicity with Christ are to us. But those of them that were true saints and pilgrims would have a foretaste of Canaan beforehand, as we too have of heaven upon earth. What was good for Hobab in the wilderness cannot be bad for us here, with heaven in reversion.
3. The invitation contains an earnest persuasive--Come with us. True religion seeks to propagate itself by communicating its goodness to others. Persuasion and compulsion are the natural opposites of each other. The one entices, allures, woes, with sweet attention and magnetic influence: the other drives with mechanical force. Persuasion is that spirit of the gospel such as came from the living lips of Jesus when He said, Come unto Me and I will give you rest--that love which many waters could not quench, nor many floods drown. Who has not heard the fable of the sun and wind striving which of the two would compel a traveller to put off his cloak, the sun being the victor? Men will be led when they refuse to be driven. It is the love that plies persuasions, strengthened by incentives, and beautified by promises of the summum bonum, the supreme good to be got by coming over the line and coming out from the world, that conquers. (J. Blair.)
The start from Sinai
I. Moses proposal During their stay at Sinai, it is probable that deputations from neighbouring tribes visited the people, and amongst them was this chieftain of a tribe closely related to Moses by marriage. Hobab, we are told, was the son of Reuel, the Midianite, Moses father-in-law. Of course, he knew the country well, every foot of it, where the springs lay, and the pastures, and the safest, shortest routes, and so Moses approached him with the request that he would go with them, to give them the benefit of his practical knowledge. Leave us not, I pray thee, forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou shalt be to us instead of eyes. This request was, of course, most natural. Moses was a very lonely man, and it was pleasant to have one, bound to him by a blood affinity, to unburden himself to, in any special crisis. At the same time, it was at variance with the general custom, which even then must have commenced strongly to assert itself, of Israelite exclusiveness. There must have been a strong reason that prompted this invitation. And shall we not find it in that instinctive shrinking of the human heart from the strange and unknown way? How well to have a Hobab who knows the ground! We seek our Hobabs in the advice of sage, grey-haired counselors; in the formation of strong, intelligent, and wealthy committees; in a careful observance of precedent. Anything seems better than a simple reliance on a unseen guide. Now, in one sense, there is no harm in this. We have neither right nor need to cut ourselves adrift from others, who have had special experience in some new ground on which we are venturing. God often speaks to us through our fellows; they are His ministers to us for good. But there is also a great danger that we should put man before God; and that we should so cling to Hobab, as to become unmindful of the true Guide and Leader of souls. How often God is compelled to isolate us from human voices.
II. The failure of Hobab and the divine substitute. The desert chieftain was by no means enamoured of the proposal of his great relative. Several considerations may have weighed with him. It was only a month before that Aaron and his sons had been set apart for their sacred work, and the fire of God had fallen on their dedicatory sacrifices. For some violation of the sacred ritual, for personal misconduct whilst engaged in their ministry, the two young priests had been stricken dead, and Aaron forbiddin to weep. This must have struck an awful fear through the camp. Shortly after this another incident occurred. The son of an Israelitish woman, whose father was an Egyptian, had blasphemed the holy name of God, and cursed in the midst of conflict with a man of Israel. The blasphemer had been stoned. The result of it all was that in reply to Moses request, he said bluntly, I will not go, but I will depart unto mine own land and to my kindred. Moses still further entreated him, but whether he succeeded or not is doubtful, though there are some reasons for thinking that the second request prevailed, because the descendants of the Kenite are numbered amidst the chosen people. But it would seem as if his aid was rendered needless by the provision of guidance immediately promised. Up to this moment the position of the Ark had been in the midst of the host in front of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, but hence-forth it went three days journey in front of the people, to seek out a resting-place for them. The Lord Himself had become Director and Guide, and all that Israel had to do was to keep at a distance sufficiently wide to enable them to reap the fullest benefit of its advance guard. Thus God Himself superseded the proposal of Moses by an expedient which more than met their needs. What consolation there is to each of us, in realising the spiritual truth underlying this historical fact! We have to pass into the untried and unknow, and know not the way we should take. Some have to go alone. Some with the memory of companions that once went at their side, but whom they will see no more in this life. But amid all Jesus is with them, and goes before them, whether for war or rest. He never will forsake nor leave them. The Lord Jesus is the true Ark of the Covenant, who has gone before us through the world and death, through the grave and the last rally of the hosts of darkness to the glory. We have but to follow Him. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
Where are you going? -
When friends and neighbours meet in the streets or roads, the commonest question is, Where are you going? All kinds of answers are returned; one is going on an errand of business, another of pleasure; one is going to wealth and success, another, with broken fortunes and blighted hopes, is going to the grave, which holds all that was most dear to him on earth. Where are you going? What wonderful answers we should get if we asked that question of the first fifty people only whom we met! But however different those replies would be, Gods people ought to be able to give one and the same answer - We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you. We know not through what dangers, difficulties, and trials; we know not for how long our journey shall be; we know not what will befall us on the way, but we have set our faces steadfastly to go to the promised land, to Jerusalem, which is above, to the Paradise of God, the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you. (H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, M. A.)
Gospel invitations
A beautiful picture this! full of modern questioning--a very pattern of inquiry and invitation in a gospel sense. Can we honestly invite men to join us on our life-march? Consider the question well. Do not involve others in grievous and mournful responsibilities. Do not entreat men to leave what is to them at least a partial blessing, unless you are sure you can replace that enjoyment by purer and larger gladness. Can we honestly, with the full consent of judgment, conscientiousness, and experience, invite men to join us in the way which we have determined to take? If not, do not let us add the murder of souls to our other crimes. Do not let us, merely for the sake of companionship, involve in ruin innocent men. What is our life-march? To what place are we journeying? Who laid its foundation? Who lighted its lamps? Who spread its feast? What is its name? Be careful how you ask people to go along with you. First lay down a basis of sound wisdom. We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you. If that be the first sentence, or part of it, the sentence may end in the boldest invitation ever issued by love to the banquet of grace and wisdom. But let us have no adventuring, no foolish or frivolous speculation in life; let us speak from the citadel of conviction and from the sanctuary of assured religious confidence. Have we such a view of the end as may make us independent of immediate trials? When we invite men to join us on the Christian pilgrimage, it must be on the distinct understanding that we are ruling the present by the future. This is precisely the logic of Moses: We are journeying unto the place. The end was indicated--the goal, the destiny of the march; and that was so bright, so alluring, so glowing with all hospitable colour, that Moses did not see that to-morrow there was to be a battle, or seeing it, already passed the warfield like a victor. We must draw ourselves forward by taking firm hold of the end--in other words, we must have such a conception of lifes destiny as will invigorate every noble motive, stir every sacred passion, and make us more than conquerors in all war and conflict. This was the reasoning of Moses, this was the reasoning of Paul, this was the practice of Christ; and we are not yet advanced enough in true wisdom to modify the terms or readjust and redistribute the conditions. Moses did not invite Hobab to join merely for the sake of being in the company; he expected service from Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite. He said, Thou knowest the ground so well that thy presence will be of service to us; experience will assist devotion; we are willing to march; we know nothing of the processes of the way; thou understandest the whole country; come with us and be as eyes unto us. Moses showed leadership even there; it was the invitation of a soldier and a legislator and a wise man. Eyes are of inexpressible value in the whole conduct of life; to be able to see, to take note of, to recognise--the man who can do this is rendering service to the whole Church. So we invite men to come with us that they may render service according to their opportunity and capacity. (J. Parker, D. D.)
An invitation to Christian fellowship
I. As A certain scriptural duty. Every reasonable person, conscious of accountability to God, will seriously inquire, What is the duty enjoined upon me by my Creator, my Redeemer, and my Judge? To the Bible we therefore appeal, while considering the subject of fellowship with Christs followers.
1. That it is our duty fully to unite with Christians is evident from the Scriptural representations of the followers of Christ. Among the instructive representations which clearly imply their union is that of a house or building (1Co_3:9; 1Co_3:11). In a building, the foundation and the other various necessary parts are united, in order to form a useful edifice: and Christians are built upon Christ, and united to each other, as lively stones, built up a spiritual house (1Pe_2:5). Christs followers are next set forth as a household, a united family. They are designated the household of faith (Gal_6:10), the household of God (Eph_2:19), and the house of God, in which Paul taught Timothy how to behave (1Ti_3:15). Christians are also represented as one body in Christ, and every one members one of another (Rom_12:5). They are the body of Christ, and members in particular (1Co_12:27).
2. The certain duty of full union with Christians is clearly taught by the Scriptural history of Christs followers. It is evident from this record that when persons received Christ as their Saviour they embraced His people as their people. They gave themselves first to Him, and then to His followers according to His will (2Co_8:5). When Saul of Tarsus was converted, he appears to have thought joining the united Christians as certainly his duty, as trusting in Christ their Saviour. He not only preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus, but on coming to Jerusalem, where there was a Christian Society, he at once essayed to join himself to the disciples, who were afraid to receive him, until Barnabas testified that he had become a Christian. This narrated conduct of inspired men clearly teaches that Christian fellowship ought to be sought and manifested by all professing Christians.
3. The Scriptural obligations of Christs followers certainly imply the public union of those who bear His name.
(1) Our solemn obligation to confess Christ before men cannot be fully discharged unless we are publicly identified with His disciples, and thus share His reproach and His honour, His pain and His pleasure.
(2) The obligations which we owe to ourselves cannot be fulfilled without union with Christs followers. The blessings of salvation are freely offered in the gospel; but experience and observation assure us that they can neither be fully obtained, nor long retained, without fellowship with those who would assist us to secure their enjoyment. And even where a most promising state of grace has been manifested, if persons have forsaken the assembling of themselves together in Christian communion, the blooming work has been blasted, the heavenly offspring has been destroyed, and the hopes of the Church have been painfully disappointed. Numerous facts, doubtless, caused Mr. Whitefield to remark:-- My brother Wesley acted wisely. The souls that were awakened under his ministry he joined in class, and thus preserved the fruits of his labour. This I neglected, and my people are a rope of sand.
(3) The obligations which Christians owe to each other cannot be observed without the fellowship of which we speak. Christs disciples are required to have the same care one for another (1Co_12:25); to rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep (Rom_12:15-16); to bear each others burdens (Gal_6:2); to walk in love as Christ has loved them (Eph_5:2); to be like-minded (Php_2:2); to teach and admonish one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs (Col_3:16). How is it possible, without public, intimate, and frequent fellowship, to discharge these enjoined, mutual duties?
(4) The obligations which Christians owe to the world cannot be performed without our public union. How can true Christian ministers be raised, and called, and sent forth by means of Christian Churches, unless such Churches are formed? If Christians really stand forth as Christs chosen witnesses, and go forth as His servants to claim and save the world, they must unite for the accomplishment of these objects.
II. Highly advantageous.
1. This union raises us to fellowship with the best of society.
2. Public union with Christs followers would prove a powerful preservative from sin.
3. The union of which we speak would furnish you with a most desirable sphere of usefulness. This powerful motive was presented to Hobab when Moses showed the individual assistance which he might afford for the general good (Num_10:31). Every rightly-disposed person will not live to please or serve himself merely; but, seeking Gods honour, and using his influence for the benefit of his generation, will hail with gladness the facilities for increased usefulness which may be presented in connection with Christs active followers.
4. Christian union would entitle you to an interest in the special prayers of Christ and His followers.
5. Communion with Christians will be attended with a share in Christs most gracious regard. We do not say that this Christian union will ensure heaven; but we do affirm that if you truly trust in Christ, and are united in His name, you will have such an interest in His regard as no individual who neglects thus to profess Him can Scripturally claim. Christ is not only round about His united Churches, but the glory in the midst of them (Zec_2:6; Psa_46:5; Isa_12:6). They are, and ever will be, favoured with His most gracious presence.
III. Earnestly invite you to full fellowship with Christs followers. Come thou with us, and we will do thee good.
1. Abandon forbidden fellowship with sinners. These will soon perish in their sins. Separate yourself, therefore, from them, that you perish not in their company (Num_16:26).
2. Let all sin, as well as the company of sinners, be forsaken. Be not an Achan in the camp, nor a Simon in a Christian society; but let your hands be clean, and your heart right in the sight of God. Thus guard against substituting a religious profession for inward and outward holiness.
3. As Gods unworthy servants, and relying upon His promised grace, we engage to do you good. How many in that glorious multitude have received good in our connection?
4. This invitation is given, and this promise is made, personally. Come thou with us, and we will do thee good. We invite yea who are more learned than most persons, having enjoyed superior advantages. Be to others what Hobab was to Israel, instead of eyes. You who are not so learned as others, but whose attainments are painfully limited, we do not despise, Be not proudly ashamed because you are not so well informed, and so able to speak, as many with whom you are invited to unite. To you who are rich, and increased in earthly goods, we say, Come with us, and we will do you good. Perhaps you are tempted to look upon the poor in our societies, and then around you in the circle of respectable worldly persons who are your equals, and your natural heart may suggest, I cannot associate and be one with those poor persons, and thus sink in public estimation, and sacrifice opportunities of still rising in society. Before you yield to such suggestions, remember Him who was surrounded by heavens highest inhabitants, and receiving their loudest praises; yet He stooped, and for your sake became poor, that you through His poverty might be rich (2Co_8:9). From the poor in this world we turn not away, but offer you the right hand of fellowship. You have no place among the children of rich men, but you may have a place among Gods children. To the aged, pained by the past, and dreading the future, we respectfully say, Come thou with us, and we will do thee good. Oh, that you had come sooner, that you might have done good as well as received good! But come now. End your days in the Christian fold. Finish life with Christians and as a Christian. With one accord our language is, We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord hath said, I will give it you. The inheritance is sufficient for all. It is offered to all. Part of our company have entered that better country, and are now before the throne. With this fixed purpose to travel to the mount of God ourselves, and with the prospect of there joining the general assembly and Church of the first-born, whom shall we pass and leave behind to perish? (Wright Shovelton.)
Gods goodness to His people
A German, converted at one of the military stations in America, seemed overwhelmed with surprise and gladness as he contemplated Gods gracious goodness to him. He was overheard one day praying, O Lord Jesus, I didnt know you were so good.
The solicitude of the godly
I have seen birds sitting on the boughs and watching while other birds were feeding below. They would hop from twig to twig, and look wistfully down upon them; then, gathering courage, they would spring from their perch and back again, and finding that it did not hurt them, they would at last join the outmost circle, and feed with the others. How many faces I have seen in these galleries, wearing a wistful look as they gazed down upon us while we were celebrating this ordinance of communion. May God give all such wings, that they may fly down and be among His people, and partake with them of heavenly food! (H. W. Beecher.)
The beginning of the heavenly journey
Some who see men hurrying along at noon towards the various prayer-meetings, say, Its a fever which must have its way, and then it will subside. They see a young man going to the meeting, and think it nothing to excite interest. They do not know that that young man had come up to a point where, if nothing had occurred to save him, he would have been bound over to destruction at the very next step. They do not see, in some far-distant village, the mother or the sister praying and weeping for him--no sound of a fathers groan is heard--none of these things; the petitions that for years have assailed the heavens, both day and night, do not cling about the youth as he walks the street; but that prayer-meeting God made to answer the desire of the parents, and to bring salvation to the son. And eternity will show that the young mans walking towards that place of prayer was the beginning of his march to heaven. (H. W. Beecher.)
Preparing for the journey
A poor blacksmith, bending with age and weakness, was passing through a country village: he stopped at a good womans cottage, and rested himself on the railing before the door. The pious dame came out, and the weary traveller remarked that his time here would be short; he was always ailing: he added, Ah, Nanny! I shant be long for this world, I reckon! She thought of his words, and replied, Well, John, then I hope youll prepare for your journey! The blacksmith passed on, and his call was soon forgotten by Nanny; but that simple sentence was impressed on his memory by the Spirit of God, never to be erased. He pondered it while walking home, and soon consumption laid him on a bed of pain. Again and again did he think about the journey, and about being prepared for it. He began to pray, and all around him were continually hearing the old womans advice. No pious friends were near to converse with him, but it is confidently believed that the aged sinner was led to look to the Saviour through the simple incident related above. Almost his last breath was spent in thanking God that the good old woman ever warned him. (Christian Miscellany.)
Rejoicing in the promises
I went to see a dear aged Christian woman who is a member of the Church of which I am the pastor. She was lying physically helpless, but no one had called to light the fire that day; the black grate with the whitish-grey ash of yesterdays fire still in it made the room look desolate and cold. Turning towards the bed, I saw that the dear child of God was weeping, and thought it was from hunger and loneliness; but I was mistaken, for she had spent the morning reading the precious promises of God, thus forgetting all earthly considerations in looking forward to the bright hereafter. Oil, she said in her Scotch way, I can soop (sweep) them (the promises) up like diamonds. (J. Munro.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain THE Kenites, an Arab tribe belonging to the region…
HOBAB THE KENITE
Num_10:29-36
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THE Kenites, an Arab tribe belonging to the region of Midian, and sometimes called Midianites, sometimes Amalekites, were already in close and friendly relation with Israel. Moses, when he went first to Midian, had married a daughter of their chief Jethro, and, as we learn from Exodus 18, this patriarch, with his daughter Zipporah and the two sons she had borne to Moses, came to the camp of Israel at the mount of God. The meeting was an occasion of great rejoicing; and Jethro, as priest of his tribe, having congratulated the Hebrews on the deliverance Jehovah had wrought for them, "took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God," and was joined by Moses, Aaron, and all the elders of Israel in the sacrificial feast. A union was thus established between Kenites and Israelites of the most solemn and binding kind. The peoples were sworn to continual friendship.
While Jethro remained in the camp his counsel was given in regard to the manner of administering justice. In accordance with it rulers of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens were chosen, "able men, such as feared God, men of truth, hating covetousness"; and to them matters of minor importance were referred for judgment, the hard causes only being brought before Moses. The sagacity of one long experienced in the details of government came in to supplement the intellectual power and the inspiration of the Hebrew leader.
It does not appear that any attempt was made to attach Jethro and the whole of his tribe to the fortunes of Israel. The small company of the Kenites could travel far more swiftly than a great host, and, if they desired, could easily overtake the march. Moses, we are told, let his father-in-law depart, and he went to his own place. But now that the long stay of the Israelites at Sinai is over and they are about to advance to Canaan, the visit of a portion of the Kenite tribe is made the occasion of an appeal to their leader to cast in his lot with the people of God. There is some confusion in regard to the relationship of Hobab with Jethro or Raguel. Whether Hobab was a son or grandson of the chief cannot be made out. The word translated father-in-law (Num_10:29), means a relation by marriage. Whatever was the tie between Hobab and Moses, it was at all events so close, and the Kenite had so much sympathy with Israel, that it was natural to make the appeal to him: "Come thou with us, and we will do thee good." Himself assured of the result of the enterprise, anticipating with enthusiasm the high destiny of the tribes of Israel, Moses endeavours to persuade these children of the desert to take the way to Canaan.
There was a fascination in the movement of that people who, rescued from bondage by their Heavenly Friend, were on their journey to the land of His promise. This fascination Hobab and his followers appear to have felt; and Moses counted upon it. The Kenites, used to the wandering life, accustomed to strike their tents any day as occasion required, no doubt recoiled from the thought of settling even in a fertile country, still more from dwelling in any walled town. But the south of Canaan was practically a wilderness, and there, keeping to a great extent their ancestral habits, they might have had the liberty they loved, yet kept in touch with their friends of Israel. Some aversion from the Hebrews, who still bore certain marks of slavery, would have to be overcome. Yet, with the bond already established, there needed only some understanding of the law of Jehovah, and some hope in His promise to bring the company of Hobab to decision.
And Moses had right in saying, "Come with us, and we will do thee good; for Jehovah hath spoken good concerning Israel." The outlook to a future was something which the Kenites as a people had not, never could have in their desultory life. Unprogressive, out of the way of the great movements of humanity, gaining nothing as generations went by, but simply reproducing the habits and treasuring the beliefs of their fathers, the Arab tribe might maintain itself, might occasionally strike for righteousness in some conflict, but otherwise had no prospect, could have no enthusiasm. They would live their hard life, they would enjoy freedom, they would die - such would be their history. Compared with that poor outlook, howgood it would be to share the noble task of establishing on the soil of Canaan a nation devoted to truth and righteousness, in league with the living God, destined to extend His kingdom and make His faith the means of blessing to all. It was the great opportunity of these nomads. As yet, indeed, there was no courage of religion, no brightness of enthusiasm among the Israelites. But there was the ark of the covenant, there were the sacrifices, the law; and Jehovah Himself, always present with His people, was revealing His will and His glory by oracle, by discipline and deliverance.
Now these Kenites may be taken as representing a class, in the present day to a certain extent attracted, even fascinated, by the Church, who standing irresolute are appealed to in terms like those addressed by Moses to Hobab. They feel a certain charm, for in the wide organisation and vast activity of the Christian Church, quite apart from the creed on which it is based, there are signs of vigour and purpose which contrast favourably with endeavours directed to mere material gain. In idea and in much of its effort the Church is splendidly humane, and it provides interests, enjoyments, both of an intellectual and artistic kind, in which all can share. Not so much its universality nor its mission of converting the world, nor its spiritual worship, but rather the social advantages and the culture it offers draw towards it those minds and lives. And to them it extends, too often without avail, the invitation to join its march.
Is it asked why many, partly fascinated, remain proof against its appeals? why an increasing number prefer, like Hobab, the liberty of the desert, their own unattached, desultory, hopeless way of life? The answer must partly be that, as it is, the Church does not fully commend itself by its temper, its enthusiasm, its sincerity and Christianity. It attracts but is unable to command, because with all its culture of art it does not appear beautiful, with all its claims of spirituality it is not unworldly; because, professing to exist for the redemption of society, its methods and standards are too often human rather than Divine. It is not that the outsider shrinks from the religiousness of the Church as overdone; rather does he detect a lack of that very quality. He could believe in the Divine calling and join the enterprise of the Church if he saw it journeying steadily towards a better country, that is a heavenly. Its earnestness would then command him; faith would compel faith. But social status and temporal aims are not subordinated by the members of the Church, nor even by its leaders. And whatever is done in the way of providing attractions for the pleasure-loving, and schemes of a social kind, these, so far from gaining the undecided, rather make them less disposed to believe. More exciting enjoyments can be found elsewhere. The Church offering pleasures and social reconstruction is attempting to catch those outside by what, from their point of view, must appear to be chaff.
It is a question which every body of Christians has need to ask itself-Can we honestly say to those without, Come with us, and we will do you good? In order that there may be certainty on this point, should not every member of the Church be able to testify that the faith he has gives joy and peace, that his fellowship with God is making life pure and strong and free? Should there not be a clear movement of the whole body, year by year, towards finer spirituality, broader and more generous love? The gates of membership are in some cases opened to such only as make very clear and ample profession. It does not, however, appear that those already within have always the Christian spirit corresponding to that high profession. And yet as Moses could invite Hobab and his company without misgiving because Jehovah was the Friend and Guide of Israel and had spoken good concerning her, so because Christ is the Head of the Church, and Captain of her salvation, those outside may well be urged to join her fellowship. If all depended on the earnestness of our faith and the steadfastness of our virtue we should not dare to invite others to join the march. But it is with Christ we ask them to unite. Imperfect in many ways, the Church is His, exists to show His death, to proclaim His Gospel and extend His power. In the whole range of human knowledge and experience there is but one life that is free, pure, hopeful, energetic in every noble sense, and at the same time calm. In the whole range of human existence there is but one region in which the mind and the soul find satisfaction and enlargement, in which men of all sorts and conditions find true harmony. That life and that region of existence are revealed by Christ; into them He only is the Way. The Church, maintaining this, demonstrating this, is to invite all who stand aloof. They who join Christ and follow Him will come to a good land, a heavenly heritage.
The first invitation given to Hobab was set aside. "Nay," he said, "I will not go; but I will depart to my own land and to my kindred." The old ties of country and people were strong for him. The true Arab loves his country passionately. The desert is his home, the mountains are his friends. His hard life is a life of liberty. He is strongly attached to his tribe, which has its own traditions, its own glories. There have been feuds, the memory of which must be cherished. There are heirlooms that give dignity to those who possess them. The people of the clan are brothers and sisters. Very little of the commercial mingles with the life of the desert; so perhaps family feeling has the more power. These influences Hobab felt, and this besides deterred him, that if he joined the Israelites he would be under the command of Moses. Hobab was prospective head of his tribe, already in partial authority at least. To obey the word of command instead of giving it was a thing he could not brook. No doubt the leader of Israel had proved himself brave, resolute, wise. He was a man of ardent soul and fitted for royal power. But Hobab preferred the chieftainship of his own small clan to service under Moses; and, brought to the point of deciding, he would not agree.
Freedom, habit, the hopes that have become part of life-these in like manner interpose between many and a call which is known to be from God. There is restraint within the circle of faith; old ideas, traditional conceptions of life, and many personal ambitions have to be relinquished by those who enter it. Accustomed to that Midian where every man does according to the bent of his own will, where life is hard but uncontrolled, where all they have learned to care for and desire may be found, many are unwilling to choose the way of religion, subjection to the law of Christ, the life of spiritual conflict and trial, however much may be gained at once and in the eternal future. Yet the liberty of their Midian is illusory. It is simply freedom to spend strength in vain, to roam from place to place where all alike are barren, to climb mountains lightning-riven, swept by interminable storms. And the true liberty is with Christ, who opens the prospect of the soul, and redeems the life from evil, vanity, and fear. The heavenward march appears to involve privation and conflict, which men do not care to face. But is the worldly life free from enemies, hardships, disappointments? The choice is, for many, between a bare life over which death triumphs, and a life moving on over obstacles, through tribulations, to victory and glory. The attractions of land and people, set against those of Christian hope, have no claim. "Every one," says the Lord, "that hath left houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children, or lands, for My sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit eternal life."
Passing on, the narrative informs us that Moses used another plea: "Leave us not, I pray thee; forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou shalt be to us instead of eyes." Hobab did not respond to the promise of advantage to himself; he might be moved by the hope of being useful. Knowing that he had to deal with a man who was proud, and in his way magnanimous, Moses wisely used this appeal. And he used it frankly, without pretence. Hobab might do real and valuable service to the tribes on their march to Canaan. Accustomed to the desert, over which he had often travelled, acquainted with the best methods of disposing a camp in any given position, with the quick eye and habit of observation which the Arab life gives, Hobab would be the very adjutant to whom Moses might commit many details. If he joins the tribes on this footing it will be without pretence. He professes no greater faith either in Israels destiny or in Jehovahs sole Godhead than he really feels. Wishing Israel well, interested in the great experiment, yet not bound up in it, he may give his counsel and service heartily so far as they avail.
We are here introduced to another phase of the relation between the Church and those who do not altogether accept its creed, or acknowledge its mission to be supernatural, Divine. Confessing unwillingness to receive the Christian system as a whole, perhaps openly expressing doubts of the miraculous, for example, many in our day have still so much sympathy with the ethics and culture of Christianity that they would willingly associate themselves with the Church, and render it all the service in their power. Their tastes have led them to subjects of study and modes of self-development not in the proper sense religious. Some are scientific, some have literary talent, some artistic, some financial. The question may be, whether the Church should invite these to join her ranks in any capacity, whether room may be made for them, tasks assigned to them. On the one hand, would it be dangerous to Christian faith? on the other hand, would it involve them in self-deception? Let it be assumed that they are men of honour and integrity, men who aim at a high moral standard and have some belief in the spiritual dignity man may attain. On this footing may their help be sought and cordially accepted by the Church?
We cannot say that the example of Moses should be taken as a rule for Christians. It was one thing to invite the co-operation with Israel for a certain specified purpose of an Arab chief who differed somewhat in respect of faith; it would be quite another thing to invite one whose faith, if he has any, is only a vague theism, to give his support to Christianity. Yet the cases are so far parallel that the one illustrates the other. And one point appears to be this, that the Church may show itself at least as sympathetic as Israel. Is there but a single note of unison between a soul and Christianity? Let that be recognised, struck again and again till it is clearly heard. Our Lord rewarded the faith of a Syrophoenician woman, of a Roman centurion. His religion cannot be injured by generosity. Attachment to Himself personally, disposition to hear His words and accept His morality, should be hailed as the possible dawn of faith, not frowned upon as a splendid sin. Every one who helps sound knowledge helps the Church. The enthusiast for true liberty has a point of contact with Him whose truth gives freedom. The Church is a spiritual city with gates that stand wide open day and night towards every region and condition of human life, towards the north and south, the east and west. If the wealthy are disposed to help, let them bring their treasures; if the learned devote themselves reverently and patiently to her literature, let their toil be acknowledged. Science has a tribute that should be highly valued, for it is gathered from the works of God; and art of every kind-of the poet, the musician, the sculptor, the painter-may assist the cause of Divine religion. The powers men have are given by Him who claims all as His own. The vision of Isaiah in which he saw Tarshish and the isles, Sheba and Seba offering gifts to the temple of God did not assume that the tribute was in all cases that of covenant love. And the Church of Christ has broader human sympathy and better right to the service of the world than Isaiah knew. For the Churchs good, and for the good of those who may be willing in any way to aid her work and development, all gifts should be gladly received, and those who stand hesitating should be invited to serve.
But the analogy of the invitation to Hobab involves another point which must always be kept in view. It is this, that the Church is not to slacken her march, not divert her march in any degree because men not fully in sympathy with her join the company and contribute their service. The Kenite may cast in his lot with the Israelites and aid them with his experience. But Moses will not cease to lead the tribes towards Canaan, will not delay their progress a single day for Hobabs sake. Nor will he less earnestly claim sole Godhead for Jehovah, and insist that every sacrifice shall be made to Him and every life kept holy in His way, for His service. Perhaps the Kenite faith differed little in its elements from that which the Israelites inherited. It may have been monotheistic; and we know that part of the worship was by way of sacrifice not unlike that appointed by the Mosaic law. But it had neither the wide ethical basis nor the spiritual aim and intensity which Moses had been the means of imparting to Israels religion. And from the ideas revealed to him and embodied in the moral and ceremonial law he could not for the sake of Hobab resile in the least. There should be no adjustment of creed or ritual to meet the views of the new ally. Onward to Canaan, onward also along the lines of religious duty and development, the tribes would hold their way as before.
In modern alliances with the Church a danger is involved, sufficiently apparent to all who regard the state of religion. History is full of instances in which, to one company of helpers and another, too much has been conceded; and the march of spiritual Christianity is still greatly impeded by the same thing. Money contributed, by whomsoever, is held to give the donors a right to take their place in councils of the Church, or at least to sway decision now in one direction, now in another. Prestige is offered with the tacit understanding that it shall be repaid with deference. The artist uses his skill, but not in subordination to the ideas of spiritual religion. He assumes the right to give them his own colour, and may even, while professing to serve Christianity, sensualise its teaching. Scholarship offers help, but is not content to submit to Christ. Having been allowed to join itself with the Church, it proceeds, not infrequently, to play the traitors part, assailing the faith it was invoked to serve. Those who care more for pleasure than for religion may within a certain range find gratification in Christian worship; they are apt to claim more and still more of the element that meets their taste. And those who are bent on social reconstruction would often, without any thought of doing wrong, divert the Church entirely from its spiritual mission. When all these influences are taken into account, it will be seen that Christianity has to go its way amid perils. It must not be unsympathetic. But those to whom its camp is opened, instead of helping the advance, may neutralise the whole enterprise.
Every Church has great need at present to consider whether that clear spiritual aim which ought to be the constant guide is not forgotten, at least occasionally, for the sake of this or that alliance supposed to be advantageous. It is difficult to find the mean, difficult to say who serve the Church, who hinder its success. More difficult still is it to distinguish those who are heartily with Christianity from those who are only so in appearance, having some nostrum of their own to promote. Hobab may decide to go with Israel; but the invitation he accepts, perhaps with an air of superiority, of one conferring a favour, is really extended to him for his good, for the saving of his life. Let there be no blowing of the silver trumpets to announce that a prince of the Kenites henceforth journeys with Israel; they were not made for that! Let there be no flaunting of a gay ensign over his tent. We shall find that a day comes when the men who stand by true religion have-perhaps through Kenite influence-the whole congregation to face. So it is in Churches. On the other hand, Pharisaism is a great danger, equally tending to destroy the value of religion; and Providence ever mingles the elements that enter into the counsels of Christianity, challenging the highest wisdom, courage, and charity of the faithful.
The closing verses of Num_10:33-36, belonging, like the passage just considered, to the prophetic narrative, affirm that the ark was borne from Sinai three days journey before the host to find a halting-place. The reconciliation between this statement and the order which places the ark in the centre of the march, may be that the ideal plan was at the outset not observed, for some sufficient reason. The absolute sincerity of the compilers of the Book of Numbers is shown in their placing almost side by side the two statements without any attempt to harmonise. Both were found in the ancient documents, and both were set down in good faith. The scribes into whose hands the old records came did not assume the role of critics.
At the beginning of every march Moses is reported to have used the chant: "Rise up, O Jehovah, and let Thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate Thee flee before Thee." When the ark rested he said: "Return, O Jehovah, unto the ten thousands of the thousands of Israel." The former is the opening strain of Psalms 68, and its magnificent strophes move towards the idea of that rest which Israel finds in the protection of her God. Part of the ode returns upon the desert journey, adding some features and incidents, omitted in the narrations of the Pentateuch-such as the plentiful rain which refreshed the weary tribes, the publishing by women of some Divine oracle. But on the whole the psalm agrees with the history, making Sinai the scene of the great revelation of God, and indicating the guidance He gave through the wilderness by means of the cloudy pillar. The chants of Moses would be echoed by the people, and would help to maintain the sense of constant relation between the tribes and their unseen Defender.
Through the wilderness Israel went, not knowing from what quarter the sudden raid of a desert people might be made. Swiftly, silently, as if springing out of the very sand, the Arab raiders might bear down upon the travellers. They were assured of the guardianship of Him whose eye never slumbered, when they kept His way and held themselves at His command. Here the resemblance to our case in the journey of life is clear; and we are reminded of our need of defence and the only terms on which we may expect it. We may look for protection against those who are the enemies of God. But we have no warrant for assuming that on whatever errand we are bound we have but to invoke the Divine arm in order to be secure. The dreams of those who think their personal claim on God may always be urged have no countenance in the prayer, "Rise up, O Jehovah, and let Thine enemies be scattered." And as Israel settling to rest after some weary march could enjoy the sense of Jehovahs presence only if the duties of the day had been patiently done, and the thought of Gods will had made peace in every tribe, and His promise had given courage and hope-so for us, each day will close with the Divine benediction when we have "fought a good fight and kept the faith." Fidelity there must be; or, if it has failed, the deep repentance that subdues wandering desire and rebellious will, bringing the whole of life anew into the way of lowly service.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain
Numbers
HOBAB
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Num 10:29.
There is some doubt with regard to the identity of this Hobab. Probably he was a man of about the same age as Moses, his brother-in-law, and a son of Jethro, a wily Kenite, a Bedouin Arab. Moses begs him to join himself to his motley company, and to be to him in the wilderness ‘instead of eyes.’ What did Moses want a man for, when he had the cloud? What do we want common-sense for, when we have God’s Spirit? What do we want experience and counsel for, when we have divine guidance promised to us? The two things work in together. The cloud led the march, but it was very well to have a man that knew all about the oases and the wells, the situation of which was known only to the desert-born tribes, and who could teach the helpless slaves from Goshen the secrets of camp life. So Moses pressed Hobab to change his position, to break with his past, and to launch himself into an altogether new and untried sort of life.
And what does he plead with him as the reason? ‘We will do thee good, for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel.’ Probably Hobab looked rather shy at the security, for I suppose he was no worshipper of Jehovah, and he said, ‘No; I had rather go home to my own people and my own kindred and my father’s house where I fit in, and keep to my own ways, and have something a little more definite to lay hold of than your promise, or the promise of your Jehovah that lies behind it. These are not solid, and I am going back to my tribe.’ But Moses pressed and he at last consented, and the following verses suggest that the arrangement was made satisfactorily, and that the journeyings began prosperously. In the Book of Judges we find traces of the presence of Hobab’s descendants as incorporated among the people of Israel. One of them came to be somebody, the Jael who struck the tent-peg through the temples of the sleeping Sisera, for she is called ‘the wife of Heber the Kenite.’ Probably, then, in some sense Hobab must have become a worshipper of Jehovah, and have cast in his lot with his brother-in-law and his people. I do not set Hobab up as a shining example. We do not know much about his religion. But it seems to me that this little glimpse into a long-forgotten and unimportant life may teach us two or three things about the venture of faith, the life of faith, and the reward of faith.
I. The venture of faith.
I have already said that Hobab had nothing in the world to trust to except Moses’ word, and Moses’ report of God’s Word. ‘We will do you good; God has said that He will do good to us, and you shall have your share in it.’ It was a grave thing, and, in many circumstances, would have been a supremely foolish thing, credulous to the verge of insanity, to risk all upon the mere promise of one in Moses’ position, who had so little in his own power with which to fulfil the promise; and who referred him to an unseen divinity, somewhere or other; and so drew bills upon heaven and futurity, and did not feel himself at all bound to pay them when they fell due, unless God should give him the cash to do it with. But Hobab took the plunge, he ventured all upon these two promises-Moses’ word, and God’s word that underlay it.
Now that is just what we have to do. For, after all talking about reasons for belief, and evidences of religion, and all the rest of it, it all comes to this at last-will you risk everything on Jesus Christ’s bare word? There are plenty of reasons for doing so, but what I wish to bring out is this, that the living heart and root of true Christianity is neither more nor less than the absolute and utter reliance upon nothing else but Christ, and therefore on His word. He did not even condescend to give reasons for that reliance, for His most solemn assurance was just this, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto you.’ That is as much as to say, ‘If you do not see in Me, without any more argument, reason enough for believing Me, you do not see Me at all.’
Christ did not argue-He asserted, and in default of all other proof, if I might venture to say so, He put His own personality into the scales and said, ‘There, that will outweigh everything.’ So no wonder that ‘they were astonished at His doctrine,’-not so much at the substance of it as at the tone of it, ‘for He taught them with authority.’
But what right had He to teach them with authority? What right has He to present Himself there in front of us and proclaim, ‘I say unto you, and there is an end of it’? The heart and essence of Christian faith is doing, in a far sublimer fashion, precisely what this wild Arab did, when he uprooted himself from the conditions in which his life had grown up, and flung himself into an unknown future, on bare trust in a bare word. Jesus Christ asks us to do the same by Him. Whether His word comes to us revealing, or commanding, or promising, it is absolute, and, for His true followers, ends all controversy, all hesitation, all reluctance. When He commands it is ours to obey and live. And when He promises it is for us to twine all the tendrils of our expectations round that faithful word, and by faith to make ‘the anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast.’ The venture of faith takes a word for the most solid thing in the universe, and the Incarnate Word of God for the basis of all our hope, the authority for all our conduct, ‘the Master-light of all our seeing.’
II. Hobab suggests to us, secondly-
The sort of life that follows the venture of faith. The hindrances to his joining Moses were plainly put by himself. He said in effect, ‘I will not come; I will depart to mine own land and to my kindred. Why should I attach myself to a horde of strangers, and go wandering about the desert for the rest of my life, looking out for encampments for them, when I can return to where I have been all my days; and be surrounded by the familiar atmosphere of friends and relatives?’ But he bethought himself that there was a nobler life to live than that, and because he was stirred by the impulse of reliance on Moses and his promise, and perhaps by some germ of reliance on Moses’ God, he finally said, ‘The die is cast. I choose my side. I will break with the past. I turn my back on kindred and home. Here I draw a broad line across the page, and begin over again in an altogether new kind of life. I identify myself with these wanderers; sharing their fortunes, hoping to share their prosperity, and taking their God for my God.’ He had perhaps not been a nomad before, for there still are permanent settlements as well as nomad encampments in Arabia, as there were in those days, and he and his relatives, from the few facts that we know of them, seem to have had a fixed home, with a very narrow zone of wandering round it. So Hobab, an old man probably, if he was anything like the age of his connection by marriage, Moses, who was eighty at this time, makes up his mind to begin a new career.
Now that is what we have to do. If we have faith in Christ and His promise, we shall not say, ‘I am going back to my kindred and to my home.’ We shall be prepared to accept the conditions of a wanderer’s life. We shall recognise and feel, far more than we ever have done, that we are indeed ‘pilgrims and sojourners’ here. Dear Christian friends, we have no business to call ourselves Christ’s men, unless the very characteristic of our lives is that we are drawn ever forward by the prospect of future good, and unless that future is a great deal more solid and more operative upon us, and tells more on our lives, than this intrusive, solid-seeming present that thrusts itself between us and our true home. That is a sure saying. The Christian obligation to live a life of detachment, even while diligent in duty, is not to be brushed aside as pulpit rhetoric and exaggeration, but it is the plainest teaching of the New Testament. I wish it was a little more exemplified in the daily life of the people who call themselves Christians.
If I am not living for the unseen and the future, what right have I to say that I am Christ’s at all? If the shadows are more than the substance to me; if this condensed vapour and fog that we call reality has not been to our apprehension thinned away into the unsubstantial mist that it is, what have the principles of Christianity done for us, and what worth is Christ’s word to us? If I believe Him, the world is-I do not say, as the sentimental poet put it, ‘but a fleeting show, for man’s illusion given’;-but as Paul puts it, a glass which may either reveal or obscure the realities beyond; and according as we look at, or look through, ‘the things seen and temporal,’ do we see, or miss, ‘the things unseen and eternal.’ So, then, the life of faith has for its essential characteristic-because it is a life of reliance on Christ’s bare word-that future good is consciously its supreme aim. That will detach us, as it did Hobab, from home and kindred, and make us feel that we are ‘pilgrims and sojourners.’
III. Lastly, our story suggests to us-
The rewards of faith.
‘Come with us,’ says Moses; ‘we are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you. Come thou with us, and we will do thee what goodness the Lord shall do unto us.’ He went, and neither he nor Moses ever saw the land, or at least never set their feet on it. Moses saw it from Pisgah, but probably Hobab did not even get so much as that.
So he had all his tramping through the wilderness, and all his work, for nothing, had he? Had he not better have gone back to Midian, and made use of the present reality, than followed a will-of-the-wisp that led him into a bog, if he got none of the good that he set out expecting to get? Then, did he make a mistake? Would he have been a wiser man if he had stuck to his first refusal? Surely not. It seems to me that the very fact of this great promise being given to this old-dare I call Hobab a ‘saint’? -to this old saint, and never being fulfilled at all in this world, compels us to believe that there was some gleam of hope, and of certainty, of a future life, even in these earliest days of dim and partial revelation.
To me it is very illuminative, and very beautiful, that the dying Jacob bursts in his song into a sudden exclamation, ‘I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord!’ It is as if he had felt that all his life long he had been looking for what had never come, and that it could not be that God was going to let him go down to the grave and never grasp the good that he had been waiting for all his days. We may apply substantially the same thoughts to Hobab, and to all his like, and may turn them to our own use, and argue that the imperfections of the consequences of our faith here on earth are themselves evidences of a future, where all that Christ has said shall be more than fulfilled, and no man will be able to say, ‘Thou didst send me out, deluding me with promises which have all gone to water and have failed.’
Hobab dying there in the desert had made the right choice, and if we will trust ourselves to Christ and His faithful word, and, trusting to Him, will feel that we are detached from the present and that it is but as the shadow of a cloud, whatever there may be wanting in the results of our faith here on earth, there will be nothing wanting in its results at the last. Hobab did not regret his venture, and no man ever ventures his faith on Christ and is disappointed. ‘He that believeth shall not be confounded.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain Called Reuwl, Exo 2:18.
Raguel
Called Reuwl, Exo 2:18.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain Hobab Persuaded to Join the Host
Hobab Persuaded to Join the Host
v. 29. And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Raguel, the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, (Hobab thus being the brother-in-law of Moses, but the manner of his coming into the camp is not related,) We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you; come thou with us, and we will do thee good; in being associated with the people of the Lord, Hobab and his tribe would become a partaker of the spiritual blessings which the Lord had promised to His people; for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel, Gen 32:12; Exo 19:5-6.
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v. 30. And he said unto him, I will not go; but I will depart to mine own land and to my kindred. There were strong ties which bound Hobab to the place where his people lived, but the prospect of partaking in the glorious destiny that Jehovah had promised to His people was a mighty persuasive factor.
v. 31. And he (Moses)said, Leave us not, I pray thee, forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes. The cloud which went ahead of the army showed only the general direction of the way, whereas Hobab could act as the guide of the people in showing them the best roads and in planning their camps, since he had lived under wilderness conditions all his life and was familiar with the entire country.
v. 32. And it shall be, if thou go with us, yea, it shall be, that what goodness the Lord shall do unto us, the same will we do unto thee. By joining the people of the Lord, Hobab and his people would share in all the temporal and spiritual benefits which the Lord had promised to His chosen nation. The words of Moses apparently did not lack in persuasive power at this time, for it seems that Hobab joined the host with his tribe, Jdg 1:16. The passage contains a fine hint in regard to missionary methods which might be applied to this day.
v. 33. And they departed from the mount of the Lord three days’ journey, during which time nothing of interest happened, the people seemingly being satisfied with everything that the Lord did; and the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord went before them in the three days’ journey, to search out a resting-place for them, a suitable camping-ground for the entire army. It seems that the ark alone was taken from the rest of the Sanctuary appointments and carried at the head of the host, as near as possible beneath the cloud.
v. 34. And the cloud of the Lord was upon them by day, like a sheltering presence, covering the whole army, when they went out of the camp, concentrating itself into a pillar as the journey was resumed.
v. 35. And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, at the beginning of the day’s march, that Moses said, Rise up, Lord, and let Thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate Thee flee before Thee. This was said with reference to the ark and the cloud as guaranteeing the merciful presence of Jehovah, before whom all enemies must be confounded and flee in disgrace.
v. 36. And when it rested, when the cloud sank to the earth upon reaching a new station, and the ark was deposited on the spot where the Tabernacle was to be erected in the midst of the camp, he said, Return, O Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel! Cf Psa 68:1-3. This is an expression of the bold confidence of faith, a prayer which is sure of being heard in advance, a watchword with which the Church of Christ at all times has overcome and vanquished the forces of darkness. And every individual Christian knows that God guards and keeps him in all his ways and defends him from all harm and danger even in the night season.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Hobab son of Reuel
Hobab son of Reuel
This is the name of a man. (See: How to Translate Names)
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that Yahweh described
"that Yahweh described to us"
we will do you good
"we will treat you well"
translationWords
Moses
Jethro
Midian
Yahweh
good
promise
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 10:29-32 After the trek toward Paran had begun, Moses…
10:29-32 After the trek toward Paran had begun, Moses took the practical step of asking his brother-in-law, Hobab (cp. Judg 4:11), to join the Israelites as their guide (literally to serve as Israel’s eyes) and so to share in their promised blessings. As a Midianite shepherd, Hobab knew the routes and possible sources of food and water in this region of the Sinai Peninsula. • Reuel the Midianite: See “Jethro (Reuel)” Profile. • my own land and family: Midian was probably in northwestern Arabia. Judges 1:16 suggests that Hobab accepted the appeal.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.