The people were complaining in the ears of Yahweh. When Yahweh heard it, his anger burned; and Yahweh’s fire burned among them, and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. The people cried to Moses; and Moses prayed to Yahweh, and the fire abated. The name of that place was called Taberah, because Yahweh’s fire burned among them.
The mixed multitude that was among them lusted exceedingly; and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, “Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish, which we ate in Egypt for nothing; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic; but now we have lost our appetite. There is nothing at all except this manna to look at.” The manna was like coriander seed, and it looked like bdellium. The people went around, gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in mortars, and boiled it in pots, and made cakes of it. Its taste was like the taste of fresh oil. When the dew fell on the camp in the night, the manna fell on it.
Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, every man at the door of his tent; and Yahweh’s anger burned greatly; and Moses was displeased.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 Hebrew, it was evil in the ears of the…
Hebrew, it was evil in the ears of the Lord.
Hebrew, as unjust complainers.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–10 Num 11:1 And [when] the people complained, it displeased…
Num 11:1 And [when] the people complained, it displeased the LORD: and the LORD heard [it]; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among them, and consumed [them that were] in the uttermost parts of the camp.
Ver. 1. And when the people complained.] Or, Were as it were complainers: they did inwardly and secretly repine and mutter at their three days’ march, without intermission; like those horses that digest their choler by biting their bridle.
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Consumed them that were in the uttermost parts.] There, it seems, the sin began amongst those that were faint and weary with travel, as Deu 25:18.
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Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1–10 Complained, or, murmured; the occasion whereof seems to be…
Complained, or, murmured; the occasion whereof seems to be their last three days’ journey in a vast howling wilderness, without any benefit; and thereupon the remembrance of their long abode in the wilderness, and the prospect and fear of many other tedious, and fruitless, and dangerous journeys, whereby they were like to be long delayed from coming to that rest, that land of milk and honey, which God had promised them, and which they thirsted after.
The fire of the Lord, i.e. a fire sent from God in an extraordinary manner, possibly from the pillar of cloud and fire, or from heaven, as 2Ki 1:12.
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In the uttermost parts of the camp; either because the sin began there among the mixt multitude, who probably had their place there; or amongst those who were feeble and weary with their last journey, and therefore hindmost in the march; or in mercy to the people, whom he would rather awaken to repentance than utterly destroy, and therefore he sent it into the skirts, and not the heart and midst of the camp.
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 On vv1, 4 Here is, I. The people's sin. They complained, Num…
Here is, I. The people's sin. They complained, Num 11:1. They were, as it were, complainers. So it is in the margin. There were some secret grudgings and discontents among them, which as yet did not break out in an open mutiny. But how great a matter did this little fire kindle! They had received from God excellent laws and ordinances, and yet no sooner had they departed from the mount of the Lord than they began to quarrel with God himself. See in this, 1. The sinfulness of sin, which takes occasion from the commandment to be the more provoking. 2. The weakness of the law through the flesh, Rom 8:3. The law discovered sin, but could not destroy it; checked it, but could not conquer it. They complained. Interpreters enquire what they complained of; and truly, when they were furnished with so much matter for thanksgiving, one may justly wonder where they found any matter for complaint; it is probable that those who complained did not all agree in the cause. Some perhaps complained that they were removed from Mount Sinai, where they had been at rest so long, others that they did not remove sooner: some complained of the weather, others of the ways: some perhaps thought three days' journey was too long a march, others thought it not long enough, because it did not bring them into Canaan. When we consider how their camp was guided, guarded, graced, what good victuals they had and good company, and what care was taken of them in their marches that their feet should not swell nor their clothes wear (Deu 8:4), we may ask, "What could have been done more for a people to make them easy?" And yet they complained. Note, Those that are of a fretful discontented spirit will always find something or other to quarrel with, though the circumstances of their outward condition be ever so favourable.
II. God's just resentment of the affront given to him by this sin: The Lord heard it, though it does not appear that Moses did. Note, God is acquainted with the secret frettings and murmurings of the heart, though they are industriously concealed from men. What he took notice of his was much displeased with, and his anger was kindled. Note, Though God graciously gives us leave to complain to him when there is cause (Psa 142:2), yet he is justly provoked, and takes it very ill, if we complain of him when there is no cause: such conduct in our inferiors provokes us.
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III. The judgment wherewith God chastised them for this sin: The fire of the Lord burnt among them, such flashes of fire from the cloud as had consumed Nadab and Abihu. The fire of their wrath against God burned in their minds (Psa 39:3), and justly does the fire of God's wrath fasten upon their bodies. We read of their murmurings several times, when they came first out of Egypt, Ex. 15, 16, and 17. But we do not read of any plagues inflicted on them for their murmurings, as there were now; for now they had had great experience of God's care of them, and therefore now to distrust him was so much the more inexcusable. Now a fire was kindled against Jacob (Psa 78:21), but, to show how unwilling God was to contend with them, it fastened on those only that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. Thus God's judgments came upon them gradually, that they might take warning.
IV. Their cry to Moses, who was their tried intercessor, Num 11:2. When he slew them, then they sought him, and made their application to Moses to stand their friend. Note, 1. When we complain without cause, it is just with God to give us cause to complain. 2. Those that slight God's friends when they are in prosperity would be glad to make them their friends when they are in distress. Father Abraham, send Lazarus.
V. The prevalency of Moses's intercession for them: When Moses prayed unto the Lord (he was always ready to stand in the gap to turn away the wrath of God) God had respect to him and his offering, and the fire was quenched. By this it appears that God delights not in punishing, for, when he has begun his controversy, he is soon prevailed with to let it fall. Moses was one of those worthies who by faith quenched the violence of fire.
VI. A new name given hereupon to the place, to perpetuate the shame of a murmuring people and the honour of a righteous God; the place was called Taberah, a burning (Num 11:3), that others might hear, and fear, and take warning not to sin as they did, lest they should smart as they did, Co1 10:10.
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 On vv1–10 And when the people complained,.... Or "were as complainers"…
And when the people complained,.... Or "were as complainers" (p); not merely like to such, but were truly and really complainers, the "caph", here being not a note of similitude, but of truth and reality, as in Hos 5:10. This Hebraism is frequent in the New Testament, Mat 14:5. What they complained of is not said, it being that for which there was no foundation; it is generally supposed to be of their journey; but if they were come but eight miles, as observed on Num 10:33; they could not be very weary; and especially as they were marching towards the land of Canaan, it might be thought they would be fond and eager of their journey. Some think it was for want of flesh, being weary of manna, and that this was only the beginning of their complaints on that head, which opened more afterwards; but if that is the case, one would think that the fire, which consumed many of them, would have put a stop to that. Jarchi says, the word signifies taking an occasion, and that the sense is, that these men sought an occasion how to separate from the Lord; they wanted to return to Egypt again, that was what they were meditating and contriving; so the Targum of Jonathan,"and the ungodly of the people were in distress, and intended and meditated evil before the Lord:"
it displeased the Lord: a murmuring complaining spirit is always displeasing to him, when a thankful heart for mercies received is an acceptable sacrifice; murmurers and complainers God will judge at the great day, Jde 1:14,
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and the Lord heard it: though it was an inward secret complaint, or an evil scheme formed in their minds; at most but a muttering, and what Moses had not heard, or had any knowledge of; but God, that knows the secrets of all hearts, and every word in the tongue before it is well formed or pronounced, he heard what they complained of, and what they whispered and muttered to one another about:
and his anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burnt among them; from the pillar of fire, or from heaven, such as destroyed Nadab and Abihu, Lev 10:1; the two hundred fifty men that had censers in Korah's company, Num 16:35; and the captains of fifties that came to take Elijah, Kg2 1:14; and might be lightning from heaven, or a burning wind sent by the Lord, such as is frequent in the eastern countries. Thevenot (q) speaks of one in 1658, which destroyed at once twenty thousand men:
and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp; who very likely were the principal aggressors; or it began to arouse and terrify the body of the people, and bring them to repentance, who might fear it would proceed and go through the whole camp, the hinder part or rearward of which was the camp of Dan; and so the Targum of Jonathan.
(p) "ut conquerentes injuste", Montanus, Fagius, Vatablus; "ut qui vaba moliuntur", Drusius. (q) Travels, par. 1. l. 2. c. 34.
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John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 The punishment of the murmurers stopt by the prayer…
The punishment of the murmurers stopt by the prayer of Moses, ver. 1-3. The fresh murmuring of the people, ver. 4-6. The description of manna, ver. 7-9. The murmuring of Moses, ver. 10- 16. God's answer, ver. 16-23. The appointment of the seventy elders, ver. 24-30. Quails sent with a plague, ver. 31-35.
Complained - Or, murmured, the occasion whereof seems to be their last three days journey in a vast howling wilderness, and thereupon the remembrance of their long abode in the wilderness, and the fear of many other tedious journeys, whereby they were like to be long delayed from coming to the land of milk and honey, which they thirsted after. The fire of the Lord - A fire sent from God in an extraordinary manner, possibly from the pillar of cloud and fire, or from heaven. The uttermost parts - Either because the sin began there among the mixed multitude, or in mercy to the people, whom he would rather awaken to repentance than destroy; and therefore he sent it into the skirts and not the midst of the camp.
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Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 7 The people complain, the Lord is displeased, and many…
CHAPTER XI
The people complain, the Lord is displeased, and many of them
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are consumed by fire, 1.
Moses intercedes for them, and the fire is quenched, 2.
The place is called Taberah, 3.
The mixed multitude long for flesh, and murmur, 4-6.
The manna described, 7-9.
The people weep in their tents, and the Lord is displeased, 10.
Moses deplores his lot in being obliged to hear and bear with
all their murmurings, 11-15.
He is commanded to bring seventy of the elders to God that he
may endue them with the same spirit, and cause them to divide
the burden with him, 16, 17.
He is also commanded to inform the people that they shall have
flesh for a whole month, 18-20.
Moses expresses his doubt of the possibility of this, 21, 22.
The Lord confirms his promise, 23.
The seventy men are brought to the tabernacle, 24;
and the spirit of prophecy rests upon them, 25.
Eldad and Medad stay in the camp and prophesy, 26, 27.
Joshua beseeches Moses to forbid them, 28.
Moses refuses, 29, 30.
A wind from the Lord brings quails to the camp, 31, 32.
While feeding on the flesh, a plague from the Lord falls upon
them, and many of them die, 33.
The place is called Kibroth-hattaavah, or the graves of lust, 34.
They journey to Hazeroth, 35.
NOTES ON CHAP. XI
Verse 1. And when the people complained] What the cause of this complaining was, we know not. The conjecture of St. Jerome is probable; they complained because of the length of the way. But surely no people had ever less cause for murmuring; they had God among them, and miracles of goodness were continually wrought in their behalf.
It displeased the Lord] For his extraordinary kindness was lost on such an ungrateful and rebellious people. And his anger was kindled - Divine justice was necessarily incensed against such inexcusable conduct.
And the fire of the Lord burnt among them] Either a supernatural fire was sent for this occasion, or the lightning was commissioned against them, or God smote them with one of those hot suffocating winds which are very common in those countries.
And consumed - in the uttermost parts of the camp.] It pervaded the whole camp, from the centre to the circumference, carrying death with it to all the murmurers; for we are not to suppose that it was confined to the uttermost parts of the camp, unless we could imagine that there were none culpable any where else. If this were the same with the case mentioned Nu 11:4, then, as it is possible that the mixed multitude occupied the outermost parts of the camp, consequently the burning might have been confined to them.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10 Num 11:1. The people complained — Hebrew, as it…
Num 11:1. The people complained — Hebrew, as it were, complained; that is, they began to mutter some complaints, and for a while, it seems, kept their discontent from coming to Moses’s ear. The chief cause of their murmuring is represented (Num 11:5) to be their growing weary of the manna, upon which they had now lived for a year. But, besides this, it is probable that their last three days’ journey in that vast howling wilderness, the remembrance of their long abode in it, and the fear of many more tedious journeys, and much delay before they should arrive at the land of milk and honey, which they longed for, had greatly contributed to their dissatisfaction. It displeased the Lord — Though their discontent did not at first break forth into open murmurings against Moses, yet God saw the mutinous and rebellious disposition of their minds, and testified his displeasure on account of it. The fire of the Lord — A fire sent from God in an extraordinary manner, perhaps from the pillar of cloud and fire, or lightning from heaven, which is called the fire of God, 2Ki 1:12; Job 1:16. Le Clerc thinks it might be one of those fiery blasting winds which are incident to those countries, See Eze 17:10; Eze 19:12. It was, however, sent in a supernatural and miraculous way. The uttermost part of the camp — Either because the sin began there among the mixed multitude, or in mercy to the people, whom he would rather awaken to repentance than destroy; and therefore he sent it into the skirts, and not the midst of the camp.
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 On vv1, 3, 4 See the marginal rendering. They murmured against the privations…
See the marginal rendering. They murmured against the privations of the march.
The fire of the Lord - Probably lightning; compare Psa 78:21.
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In the uttermost parts - Rather, in the end. The fire did not reach far into the camp. It was quickly quenched at the intercession of Moses.
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 On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 Fatigue. Hebrew simply, "and the people were like those…
Fatigue. Hebrew simply, "and the people were like those who complain of evil, or who seek pretexts, inwardly, in the ears of the Lord." St. Jerome explains this evil to mean the fatigue of the journey, which lasted for three days together. (Calmet) --- Hence, some who were ready to lay hold of every pretext, took occasion to murmur, and to contrast their present wearisome life with the false pleasures of Egypt. The people of that country were now desirous of returning, and prevailed upon many of the Hebrews to join with them, ver. 4. (Haydock) --- They were chiefly those who were farthest from the ark, the dregs of the people; though some pretend that the uttermost part means the principal men of the camp. See Genesis xlviii. 2. "The fire devoured one part of the camp," Septuagint.
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).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 The three great uprisings against Moses, and Jehovah’s judgments…
SECOND SECTION
The three great uprisings against Moses, and Jehovah’s judgments and compassions. A. The burning of the camp: Taberah. B. The longing for Egypt (the elders, the quails) and the graves of lust. C. Miriam and Aaron at Hazeroth
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Num_11:1 to Num_12:16
How soon it appears that the typical host of God, or the legal military organization of Jehovah is far from being a real army of God, consisting of spiritual men. In a similar way, too, the divine champions of the middle ages showed themselves, and proximately we, too, the protestant contending armies from the Hussites down, remind one of the same. Only the first three days remain externally undisturbed, but inwardly the army had already gathered tinder. But the three uprisings that now appear constitute an undoubted climax: a. Irruptive meeting and burning of the camp b. Home-sickness of the accompanying mixed multitude, spreading like contagion through the entire host, and graves of lust. c. Fanatical exaltation even of pious enthusiasm and of the priesthood, of Miriam and of Aaron against the prophetic integrity of Moses and the non-suiting of the Aaronitic priesthood along with the leprosy of Miriam. Thereupon, of course, should follow the last and almost universal insurrection of the people in consequence of the report of the spies that had been sent to Canaan, expressed in the double form of despondency and obstinacy, and which provoked the divine judgment: this generation shall perish in the desert. Yet the history of this insurrection is so comprehensive that we must treat of it in a section by itself.
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A.—TABERAH (PLACE OF BURNING). THE MUTINY AND THE BURNING OF THE CAMP. Num_11:1-3
11 And when the people 2complained,3 it displeased the Lord: and the Lord heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and 4consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. 2And the people cried unto Moses; and 5when Moses prayed unto the Lord, the fire was 6quenched. 3And he called the name of the place 7Taberah: because the fire of the Lord burnt among them.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Num_11:1-3. The revelation of destruction begins small, viz., with ambiguous utterances of a murmuring disposition, as at something evil; a disposition that reaches the ears of God, not as prayer, but as unsanctified utterances. The punishment is as obscurely expressed as is the charge of fault. Although the narrator knows that a fire of Jehovah has gone forth from His wrath, the terrified people know nothing of it when a conflagration appears at the extremity of the camp, burning ensues in the extremest tents. Then the people also cry to Moses, while he in deliberate fashion makes his effective intercession. The mysterious connection between the fire of displeasure, of distraction, of anger and outward misfortune of every sort, especially ruinous conflagration, is an ancient and ever new history. Taberah was no encampment but the burnt place at the first encampment, the graves of lust (see Num_23:16-17). So Keil against Knobel.
HOMILETICAL HINTS
Religious and moral causes of many conflagrations: discontent, excitement, want of spiritual wakefulness and moral vigilance. The modern Taberah, or the crowd of conflagrations of the present time. [Moses was one of those worthies who by faith quenched the violence of fire (Heb_11:34) M. Henry.—Tr.].
B.—THE HOMESICKNESS FOR EGYPT AND THE GRAVES OF LUST (THE ELDERS AND THE QUAILS). Num_11:4-35
4And the 8mixed multitude that was among them 9fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also 10wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? 5We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic: 6But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, 11besides this manna, before our eyes. 7And the manna was 8as coriander seed, and the 1213colour thereof as the ccolour of bdellium. And the people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and 14baked it in 15pans, and made cakes of it: and the taste of it was as the taste of 16fresh oil. 9And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it.
10Then Moses heard the people weep 17throughout their families, every man in the door of his tent: and the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly; 18Moses also was displeased. 11And Moses said unto the Lord, Wherefore hast thou 19afflicted thy servant? and wherefore have I not found favour in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me? 12Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a 20nursing father beareth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers? 13Whence should I have flesh to give unto all this people? for they weep unto me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat. 14I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. 15And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favour in thy sight; and let me not see my wretchedness.
16And the Lord said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the 21tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee. 17And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone. 18And say thou unto the people, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow, and ye shall eat flesh: for ye have wept in the ears of the Lord, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? for it was well with us in Egypt: therefore the Lord will give you flesh, and ye shall eat. 19Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days nor 20twenty days; But even a 22whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you: because that ye have despised the Lord which is among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt? 21And Moses said, The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand footmen; 22and thou hast said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a 4whole month. Shall 23the flocks and mthe herds be slain for them, to suffice them; or shall all the fish 23of the sea be gathered together for them, to suffice them? And the Lord said unto Moses, Is the Lord’s hand waxed short? thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not.
24And Moses went out, and told the people the words of the Lord, and gathered 24the seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them round about the 25tabernacle. 25And the Lord came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy 26elders: and it came to pass, that, when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, 27and did not cease. 26But there remained two of the men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the spirit rested upon them; and they were of them that were written, but went not out unto the tabernacle: and they prophesied in the camp. 27And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp. 28And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, 28 one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them. 29And Moses said unto him, 29Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them. 30And Moses gat him into the camp, he and the elders of Israel.
31And there went forth a wind from the Lord, and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, 30as it were a day’s journey on this side, and 5as it were a day’s journey on the other side, round about the camp, and as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth. 32And the people stood up all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, and they gathered the quails: he that gathered least gathered ten homers: and they 31spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp. 33And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord smote the people with a very great 32plague. 34And he called the name of that place 33Kibroth-hattaavah: 35because there they buried the people that lusted. And the people journeyed from Kibroth-hattaavah unto Hazeroth; and 34abode at Hazeroth.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
[Num_11:15. הָרֹג infin. absol. repeated after the same verb, expresses here impetuous procedure, killing at once. Ewald, § 280 b.
Num_11:25. וְלֹא יסָפוּ is correctly rendered by the LXX., καὶ οὐκ ἔτι προσέθεντο; the A. V. has the support of the Vulgate.
Num_11:27. הַנִּעַר, the article denotes that the noun is taken in a generic or universal sense; comp. הַפָלִיט Gen_14:13 הַֽחֲמֹר Exo_4:2, Ewald, § 277, a: Green, § 245, 5. So the Greek and we say “the hireling seeth the wolf coming,” Joh_10:12.
Num_11:28. מִבְּחֻרָיו: Lange, Keil, Fuerst, Lex. sub. voc. take בְּחֻרִים as equivalent to בְּחֻרוֹת (Ecc_11:9; Ecc_12:1) the plural for the abstract “youth,” from a root בָּחַר “to mature.” This is favored by the Chald., Parap. and many interpreters. The LXX. renders it έκλεκτόσ, Vulg. electus e pluribus, thus taking it as Kal. pass. part. from בָּחַר “to choose” (so Drusius). This agrees with the first mention of Joshua, Exo_17:9, where, first chosen of Moses himself at Rephidim, he is deputed to choose combatants to fight the Amalekites. The word may even refer to the seventy now gathered, and affirm that Joshua was one of those chosen. “He was nearly forty years old when he saw the ten plagues,” Smith’s Bib. Dict. art. Joshua. He might at this period be called a young man (so the A. V.). But adopted as Moses’ servant not earlier than in his fortieth year, he could not be said to have served him “from his youth” (Maurer, Lange, Keil). It would anyway be unsuitable to so describe a service of such recent commencement. The rendering “from his chosen ones” or elite seems preferable. Comp. בָּחוּר, Psa_89:20.
Num_11:32. According to the K’thibh הַשְׂלוָ; according to the K’ri הַשְׂלָיו—Tr.]
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. The occasion of the second, greater visitation. The sullen temper of the congregation was not subdued by the first visitation, but assumes now a particularly dangerous, elegiac character. Not only will the people not go forward, but they will return home to the flesh pots. The God-forgetting yearning after pleasure, after the fancied, idealized pleasure of the world, that has become a sympathetic power of seduction, has, by the spirit of faith, been justly taken as an allegorical type of all kindred outbreaks of base despondency in the church of God. “Looking back and longing for the flesh-pots of Egypt” is the expressive name for this. In thinking of their present troubles and privations, they entirely lost sight of the great deliverance from Egyptian bondage and of all Jehovah’s miraculous guidance to the present time. On the other hand, the idea of the enjoyments of Egypt, in which the people had had but a very meagre share, swells in their imagination into an illusive picture of lavish delights in the lap of abundance. [“The mixed multitude,” with whom the discontent began, may have had a large share in the abundance of Egypt; and even the Israelites themselves doubtless had abundance of the things enumerated in the text.—Tr.].
2. The outburst of wicked longing. The children of Israel wept again; comp. Exo_16:3, which tells of an occasion when they wept before, at least inwardly. Now, however, the weeping becomes almost a litany. First, as regards the object of their longing: meat, fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, garlic [see the corresponding articles in Smith’s Bib. Dict., and Knobel and Keil in loc. The Author passes them with a similar reference.—Tr.]. Second, the subjective disposition: feeling of debility—nothing but manna is here; why unsatisfying? On the manna see on Exo_16:14 [and Smith’s Bib. Dict.]—All the branches of the tribes catch the contagion,—they weep before the doors of their tents.
3. The guilt of the people before Jehovah and the distress of Moses. The question, how did Jehovah’s wrath express itself? presents no difficulty to the exegetes that write: “The whole bearing of Moses shows, that two things excited his displeasure at once, not only the people’s inconsiderate insurrection against Jehovah, but also Jehovah’s inconsiderate (!) anger at the people (Kurtz, Keil). As if Moses as a prophet had not felt the whole wrath of Jehovah in his inmost soul, and that with the feeling that all was up, or that it seemed to be all up with this people and his whole mission to them.
And, in fact, this was one of the greatest defeats of the people of God, a moment far more disconsolate than the history of the golden calf, or the destruction of Jerusalem; a moment that, in reference to the despair of the people of God, repeated itself as a type in the crucifixion of Christ, and in reference to the feeling of Moses, repeated itself in the feeling of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Was Moses to go to Canaan, conquer the promised land, found the kingdom of God, with the people in this state of mind? If the character of heathenism reveals itself in a longing of the fleshly mind for the lost golden age, for the old saturnalia, so here there burst forth an intensified heathenism in Israel itself; an elegiac retrorsum, by which at a later period Israel lost the New Testament, by which the more recent Romanticism made of its longing for the Middle Ages an elegiac poesy, and which just in the most modern tendencies of the present time takes the form of an absolute retrorsum.
But if Moses does not here simply rush in with intercession, as he did at Sinai when the Golden Calf was set up, the explanation is, that the present trial is much greater, and becomes a temptation to himself by reason of his sympathy for the gloominess and lamentation of the sorrowing people. It would really seem to him now as if it were impossible, with this pitiful people, to found a kingdom of God. Corresponding to this is his complaint to Jehovah, Num_11:11. Shall he bear the burden of this whole people, i. e., the burden of a people that weighs so heavily? That seems to him in conflict with the compassion of God. The people behave like a screaming, self-willed infant in swaddling-clothes. No prophet can, in this way, bear a whole nation into the inheritance of a great promise of world-wide importance. On this Knobel makes the characteristic remark: “the author has a fancy for making him use such vehement language to God,” (p. 51). Jehovah understands his Moses better. He must really be helped. The thing of first importance is to raise up again the courage of the people! Moses would rather die than see the people go to ruin in this condition. His mood reminds one of Hagar in the desert; she cannot see her languishing child die. They weep to me, he complains; his heart is ready to break.
4. The first relief. The prospect of miraculous help that Moses now enjoys is increased sevenfold. The order for Moses to summon before the Tent seventy men of the elders of Israel, that are at the same time officers, is joined with the announcement to the people: to-morrow, and from to-morrow onwards for a whole month shall ye eat flesh—eat to loathing.
It is evident that the present has nothing to do with the seventy associate judges whom Moses instituted at Sinai (Exodus 17), as Keil has clearly proved in opposition to Knobel. Still less has it any connection with laying the foundation of the Sanhedrim of later times. See the particulars in Keil in loc. But it is also evident that the present has nothing to do with prophesying men in general; least of all would speaking with tongues have been of any service to the people in their then situation. The appointment of the men relates to the promise given to the people: to-morrow ye shall eat flesh. Jehovah will put on the seventy men of the spirit which is upon Moses. A distribution of the spirit into seventy parts is out of the question. Keil justly rejects this representation, as also a similar one of Calvin’s (it was a “sign of indignation” against Moses), and appeals to Theodoret’s explanation: from one flame a thousand may be kindled without diminishing the former. Just as little, according to the context, has the present anything to do with a general and abiding appointment, as has already been remarked. But to the promise of enjoying flesh for an entire month is joined already a slight threat: until it come out at your nose is explained by the addition: and it be loathsome to you. Keil takes this literally: their vomiting shall not only drive the flesh out of their mouth, but also out of their nose. Moses still doubts: six hundred thousand men shall have enough meat for an entire month? That would require them to slaughter all their herds. The addition: or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, is not without significance as to their place of encampment. But Jehovah demands of Moses unconditional faith in His omnipotence, and therewith in His promise. Moses believes and obeys.
The seventy men stood round about the Tent in a semi-circle (thus Keil interprets סְבִיבֹת, Num_11:24), and the sign with which Jehovah effected the spiritual anointing consists in this, that He comes down on him with the cloud, that at other times rose directly up. That the cloud was not moved by the wind is a negation of importance only to that supra-naturalism that supposes it must deny secondary causes. There was even a strong south wind used, not only to bring on the abundance of quails, but also to cast them on the camp. Moses understood the harmonia præstabilita between the kingdom of nature and the kingdom of grace under divine illumination. It was a solitary factor in the history of the world, as was the passage through the Red Sea. The army of God must go on and on, and it has gone onward from that day to the present. The inspired hope blazed up anew in Moses, and in the whole troop of his assistants. The latter prophesied in this solitary situation, and not again afterwards. What they prophesied is for our informant something too plain to need statement. The fire of hope even flew from the Tabernacle and the main gathering away over the camp. Two of the men that had been summoned had remained in the camp, Eldad (“God is friend”) and Medad (friendship); but even there they began to prophesy. On hearing this Joshua showed great zeal; they seemed not to be ordained by his honored master; Moses should forbid them. The great answer of Moses: wilt thou be a zealot for me? has been disregarded by all hierarchs from that time to the present. It is clear to the sincere prophet that at this moment Joshua is not zealous for God. It has been usual at this place to call to mind the sons of Thunder (Mar_9:38); many a confessionalist may as properly be called to mind. Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them! Moses now returns into the camp with the elders, also the people are to sanctify themselves against the following morning.
5. The quails and the graves of lust. Comp. Exodus 16. “Here, too, is meant a spring migration from south to north that happens in the second month, or about May (Num_10:11). The wind was from the south-east (Psa_78:26), and blew from the Elanitic gulf. Quails depend much on the wind in their flight; especially in harvest, when they are very fat, on the north wind,” etc. (Knobel). Thus the wind that Jehovah sent spread the quails over the camp a day’s journey hither and a day’s journey thither, that must mean: in every direction, or in length and breadth, but not: “so that on both sides they fell to the ground a day’s journey in breadth” (Keil), thus right and left by the camp. Moreover the representation about two cubits above the face of the earth, is not to be taken as meaning that they “lay two cubits deep piled on one another.” A flight of quails never so fatigued might spread itself over the ground; still it would not fall as if dead, one on another, two cubits deep. Literally then it would need to mean: two days’ journey in length and breadth they lay two cubits on tap of each other. That would have been provision for many years; but then, too, it would have crushed in the tents of the Israelites. Therefore Keil adds: naturally not everywhere in the space indicated, but primarily near the camp, and in spots about two cubits high. But a literal construction does not permit this restriction. Here even the Vulgate, along with many Rabbins, stands up for a vivid and natural construction: volabant in aere duabus cubitis altitudine super terram, against the construction of Keil, who follows Michaelis. Bochart represents an explanation still more supra-naturalistic: the quails lay perhaps in rows two cubits deep, so that the Israelites in gathering them may have gone between. But it is certainly allowable to understand the verb נָטַשׁ as meaning, not a literal throwing, but flinging, in the way that a strong wind would do. Had they been spread out a day’s journey on either side of the camp, then the gathering could not have been done in two days and the intervening night. He that gathered least gathered ten homers; according to the reckoning of Thenius nearly two bushels [Dresden measure. See Smith’s Bible Dictionary, art. Weights and Measures. See ibid., art. Quails: “There is every reason for believing that the ‘homers’ here spoken of denote simply ‘a heap:’ this is the explanation given by Onkelos and the Arabic versions of Saadias and Erpenius, in Num_10:31.” Considering the uncertainly about Hebrew measures of this early date, we cannot look to the homer as a definite factor in judging of this aecount. The phenomenon seems to have been a two days’ flight of quail. The unique Hebrew phrase literally translated is: as the way of a day thus, and as the way of a day thus. The comparison implied in כֹּח, “thus, or so,” may be to the description of the flight of quail in the preceding clause. The phrase seems better suited to describe the passage of the quail than anything else. דֶּרֶךְ, “a way,” as a rule, takes its definition from the subject with which it is joined. Comp. Job_38:19; Job_38:24-25; “the way of light,” “the way of lightning.” In the present case, then, it would not denote a space or area at all, but a course or flight. The only measure of the phenomenon, then, is that enough was gathered for a month’s use for this mighty multitude. Unless “a way” be restricted to the quails for its definition, we have no definition. For it cannot be decided whether the “day’s journey” means that of a multitude, or of a man, or of a man on a camel (see Bush in loc.). It agrees with this view when it is stated that the people stood up all that day and all the night and all the next day, and they gathered the quails. The passage lasted two days and the intervening night, and so long the “killing” lasted. Israelites would not gather what had died of itself (Lev_22:8).—Tr.] When it is said that the provisions were heaped about the camp, it does not mean that the quails fell only about the camp. The camp itself formed a narrow circuit, the periphery of the quail-fall a wider: but the quail-fall covered both.
The narrative hastens on to the judgment. The flesh was yet between their teeth: that can mean: hardly had they begun to eat the flesh; but it may also mean, it had not yet ceased. Only the latter can be intended, for otherwise the whole feeding would have been illusory. The explanation: “they had not yet chewed it,” mars the vivid expression. Keil and Knobel differ widely in regard to the mortal punishment. “This overthrow (מַכָּה) must not be regarded as the effect of an immoderate use of the quails, and because quails feed on things that are noxious to men, so that the use of their meat brings on convulsions and dizziness (see the proofs in Bochart, Hieroz. II., p. 657 sqq.), as Knobel supposes, but an extraordinary judicial punishment brought on the people by God for their lusting” (Keil). The text takes the medium between these two, even by the expression graves of lust, and with the remark: there they buried the people that lusted. Indeed, the connection between sin and punishment, strong appetite and intemperance (especially, we may suppose, among the rabble, with whom the commotion originated), appears here too plain for one to suppose that it will glorify the miracle to rupture this connection with violence.
[The nausea resulting from a month’s consecutive use of quails had nothing to do with the mortality attending the present use. Keil, with whom many agree, is right in referring the latter to a direct judgment of God. The text says nothing of greedy or immoderate use of the meat. It was the moral quality of the lusting that was punished. The nausea, moreover, would be no proof of immoderate use of the food, except in the sense that every-day use of such meat is immoderate. It is a familiar fact among bird-hunters (or often alleged to be such) that no one can eat a pheasant daily for a month. Revolting makes it impossible. We may suppose the same would be true of quails in the east, especially considering also the cuisine of the desert.—Tr.]
6. Supplementary remarks. The slighting of the manna occasions a repeated description of it (Num_11:4-8; comp. Exodus 16; Num_21:5). In regard to the relation of these seventy men out of the elders to the elders that Moses appointed, Exodus 19, the following distinctions appear manifest: (1) judges and prophets; (2) standing officers, and those that were called to render an extraordinary assistance. The number seventy goes all through the Holy Scripture as symbolical of the total of the nation. According to the expression of Moses, Num_11:22, about the fish of the sea, we must suppose that the locality “graves of lust” was not far from the Elanitic gulf. The remark of Keil: what could be the use of such a detour? overlooks the difficulties that a great expedition had to encounter in the desert, seeing it was conditioned on pasturage and springs. The situation of the graves of lust is unknown, and there are only indefinite conjectures in regard to Hazeroth.
[E. H. Palmer (Desert of the Exodus) thinks he has identified Kibroth-hattaavah. He thus describes his discovery (p. 212 sq.): “A little further on, and upon the water-shed of Wady el Hebeibeh, we came to some remains which, although they had hitherto escaped even a passing notice from previous travellers, proved to be among the most interesting in the country. The piece of elevated ground which forms this watershed is called by the Arabs Erweis el Ebeirig, and is covered with small inclosures of stones. These are evidently the remains of a large encampment; but they differ essentially in their arrangement from any others which I have seen in Sinai or elsewhere in Arabia; and on the summit of a small hill on the right is an erection of rough stones surmounted by a conspicuous white block of pyramidal shape. These remains extend for miles around, and, on examining them more carefully during a second visit to the Peninsula with Mr. Drake, we found our first impressions fully confirmed, and collected abundant proofs that it was in reality a deserted camp. The small stones which formerly served, as they do in the present day, for hearths, in many places still showed signs of the action of fire, and on digging beneath the surface, we found pieces of charcoal in great abundance. Here and there were larger inclosures marking the encampment of some person more important than the rest, and just outside the camp were a number of stone heaps, which, from their shape and position, could be nothing else but graves. The site is a most commanding one, and admirably suited for the assembling of a large concourse of people.
“Arab tradition declares these curious remains to be ‘the relics of a large Pilgrim or Hajj caravan, who in remote ages pitched their tents at this spot on their way to ‘Ain Hudherah, and who were soon afterwards lost in the desert of the Tih, and never heard of again.’
“For various reasons, I am inclined to believe that this legend is authentic, that it refers to the Israelites, and that we have in the scattered stones of Erweis el Ebeirig real traces of the Exodus.
“Firstly: they are said tahu, to have ‘lost their way,’ the Arabic verb from which the name Tih, or ‘Wilderness of the Wanderings’ is derived. Secondly: they are described as a Hajj caravan. At the first glance this would seem an anachronism, as the word is employed exclusively by the Muslims, and applied to their own annual pilgrimage to Mecca. But this very term owes its origin to the Hebrew Hagg, which signifies ‘a festival,’ and is the identical word used in Exo_10:9 to express the ceremony which the children of Israel alleged as their reason for wishing to leave Egypt—namely: ‘to hold a feast unto the Lord in the wilderness.” It could not apply to the modern Mohammedan Hajj caravan, for that has never passed this way, and would not under any circumstances find it necessary to go to ‘Ain Hudherah; but the children of Israel did journey to Hazeroth, and the tradition is therefore valuable in determining the latter site, as well as their subsequent route on leaving the Peninsula. The length of time which has elapsed since the events of the Exodus furnishes no argument against the probability of this conclusion, for there are other monuments in the country in even better preservation, and of a date indisputably far anterior. It is a curious fact that, if you ask twenty different Arabs to relate to you one of their national legends, they will do so in precisely the same words, thus showing with what wonderful precision oral tradition is handed down from generation to generation among them.
“These considerations, the distance (exactly a day’s journey) from ‘Ain Hudherah, and these mysterious graves outside the camp, to my mind prove conclusively the identity of the spot with the scene of that awful plague by which the Lord punished the greed and discontent of His people (Num_11:33-35).”
The same author identifies Hazeroth with ‘Ain Hudherah as Robinson and others before him. But previous travellers have looked at it only from a distance. Palmer explored the very spot and thus describes it: “Through a steep rugged gorge, with almost perpendicular sides, we looked down upon a Wady-bed that winds along between fantastic sandstone rocks, now rising in the semblance of mighty walls or terraced palaces, now jutting out in pointed ridges—rocky promontories in a sandy sea. Beyond this lies a perfect forest of mountain peaks and chains, and on their left a broad white wady leads up toward the distant mountains of Tih. But the great charm of the landscape lies in the rich and varied coloring; the sandstone, save where some great block has fallen away and displayed the dazzling whiteness of the stone beneath, is weathered to a dull red or violet hue, through which run streaks of brightest yellow and scarlet, mixed with rich dark purple tints. Here and there a hill or dike of greenstone, or a rock of rosy granite, contrasts or blends harmoniously with the rest; and in the midst, beneath a lofty cliff, nestles the dark green palm-grove of Hazeroth,” ibid. p. 217. See Bartlett:From Egypt to Palestine, Chap. XIII.—Tr.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. On Num_11:4. The beginning of the pathological ill-humor proceeds from a common, dubious crowd that joined in the exodus from Egypt, probably people attached by marriage, bastards, servants, fortune-seekers of every sort. Any way, the theocratic-classical conception of the rabble, the mongrel mass, the scrapings הָאסַפְסֻף) presents itself here as quite justified. The more recent morality justly forbids our calling the humbler people a rabble; but on the other hand the eternal morality of the word of God is also justified that forbids our calling the rabble the nation.
[“Hence we are taught, that the wicked and sinful should be avoided, lest they should corrupt us by their bad example; since the contagion of vice easily spreads. At the same time we are warned, that it does not at all avail to excuse us, that others are the instigators of our sin; since it by no means profited the Israelites, that they fell through the influence of others, inasmuch as it was their own lust which carried them away.” Calvin in loc. See his entire comment on chap. 11, which is admirable for its practical applications.—Tr.]
HOMILETICAL HINTS
The longing for the flesh pots of Egypt. The illusions regarding a bondage from which they had hardly more than escaped. Nunquam retrorsum.
The complaint of Moses. The fearful burden rolled on the hearts of those that are faithful by the frivolity and worldly-mindedness of the mass of the nation. The awakening of men of enthusiastic hope in Jehovah’s miraculous help.
Two kinds of despair: despair of human help, from which issues new hope in God’s miraculous help; and despair of God’s help, which also deprives human help of its power. The quails, or the way of all animals under the providence of God.
Eldad and Medad, or those inspired of God beside those ordained, and the contrast between Joshua’s judgment and that of Moses (comp. Luk_9:49-50).
The punishment in granting earthly good that is impatiently sought after; or the graves of lust. [See M. Henry on Num_11:4-35.—Tr.]
Footnotes:
[1]And the people were as those that complain of evil in the ears of Jehovah.
[2]Or, were, as it were, complainers.
[3]Heb. it was evil in the ears of.
[4]devoured in the region (De Wette and Zunz: at the extremity) of the camp.
[5]omit when.
[6]Heb. sunk.
[7]That is, A burning.
[8]rabble.
[9]Heb. lusted a lust.
[10]Heb. returned and wept.
[11]only on the manna our eyes (are turned, Zunz).
[12]Heb. eye of it as the eye of.
[13]appearance.
[14]boiled.
[15]the pot.
[16]oil cakes.
[17]by.
[18]and in the eyes of Moses it was evil.
[19]done evil to.
[20]man-nurse.
[21]Tent of Meeting.
[22]Heb. month of days.
[23]small and great cattle (De Wette, and commonly: sheep and cattle).
[24]omit the.
[25]Tent.
[26]men, the elders.
[27]but not longer (De Wette: since then not again; Bunsen, Luther, as the A. V., see Text. and Gram.).
[28]from his youth up [from his elite; see Text. and Gram.—Tr.].
[29]Art thou jealous.
[30]Heb. as it were the way of a day.
[31]spread themselves out round about the camp.
[32] De Wette: overthrow.
[33]That is, The graves of lust.
[34]Heb. they were in, etc.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 6, 10 the mixed multitude that was among them fell a…
the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting--These consisted of Egyptians. [See on Exo 12:38.] To dream of banquets and plenty of animal food in the desert becomes a disease of the imagination; and to this excitement of the appetite no people are more liable than the natives of Egypt. But the Israelites participated in the same feelings and expressed dissatisfaction with the manna on which they had hitherto been supported, in comparison with the vegetable luxuries with which they had been regaled in Egypt.
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 On vv1–10 THE COMPLAINING AND THE BURNING, Num_11:1-3.
THE COMPLAINING AND THE BURNING, Num_11:1-3.
1. Complained — Hebrew, were as those who made themselves sad; R.V., “were as murmurers speaking evil in the ears of the Lord.” The whole clause is thus rendered by Keil: “The people were like those who complain in the ears of Jehovah of something bad.” No cause is assigned, but we infer that it was because of the privations and hardships of the journey, aggravated in this instance by its continuance through three days. Such murmuring was a reflection upon their divine Leader.
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Fire of the Lord — Supernaturally kindled, either by lightning or in some other way. It did not, as Knobel and Rosenmuller suppose, merely burn the bushes around the camp and the tents, but persons also.
The uttermost parts of the camp — Probably one end, where most of the grumblers were.
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 On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 1. as murmurers, speaking evil] as those who murmur…
1. as murmurers, speaking evil] as those who murmur at misfortune. The murmurings and rebellions of the people, whom Moses controlled with his wonderful power of leadership and personal influence, are related in Exo_14:11 f., Num_15:24, Num_16:2 f., Num_17:3, Num_32:1-4, Num_11:1-6; Num_12:1-2; Num_14:2 f., 16, Num_20:2-5, Num_21:4 f. They are referred to in Deu_1:27, Psa_78:17-20; Psa_78:40-42; Psa_95:8-11; Psa_106:25, 1Co_10:10, Heb_3:7 to Heb_4:3.
the fire of Jehovah] It is possible that the tradition of divine fire arose, in the first instance, from a catastrophe caused by destructive lightning. But by the time of the writer, who lived some three centuries or more after the event, a miraculous visitation of a much more terrible nature was thought of. Cf. Exo_19:18, 1Ki_18:38, 2Ki_1:10; 2Ki_1:12.
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1–3. Taberah. This narrative should perhaps be ascribed to E . No mention is made of the reason for the murmuring of the people. But it is possible that they murmured because they were tired of the manna and wanted flesh. If so, this may have been E’s account, parallel to that of J in the verses which follow. In P’s itinerary (Num_33:16) Taberah is not included; Kibroth-hattaavah is given as the first stopping place after Sinai. D, who had both the narratives J and E before him, mentions both Taberah and Kibroth-hattaavah (in conjunction with Massah) in Deu_9:22.
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 On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 (1) And when the people complained . . .…
XI.
(1) And when the people complained . . . —Better, And the people were as those who complained (or murmured), (which was) evil in the ears of the Lord. The LXX. has, “And the people murmured sinfully before the Lord.” Comp. 1Co_10:10 : “Neither murmur ye as some of them also murmured.”
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And consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp.-Better, and devoured at the extremity of the camp. Most commentators have remarked, and justly, upon the great severity of the Divine judgments which were inflicted after the giving of the Law, as compared with those which were inflicted before it. Reference may be made in illustration of this point to Exo_14:11-14; Exo_15:24-25; Exo_16:2-8; Exo_17:3-7. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews argues from the just recompense of reward which every transgression and disobedience received under the Law, the impossibility of the escape of those who neglect the great salvation of the Gospel. See Heb_2:2-3. Comp. also Heb_10:28-29; Heb_12:25.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. H. Mackintosh 1880 · Public Domain On v1 Numbers 11
Numbers 11
Hitherto we have been occupied, in our study of this book, with God’s mode of ordering and providing for His people in the wilderness. We have travelled over the first ten chapters and seen in them the illustration of the wisdom, goodness, and forethought of Jehovah, the God of Israel.
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But, now, we reach a point at which dark clouds gather round us. Up to this, God and His actings have been before us; But, now, we are called to contemplate man and his miserable ways. This is ever sad and humiliating. man is the same everywhere. In Eden, in the restored earth, in the wilderness, in the land of Canaan, in the Church, in the Millennium, man is proved to be a total failure. the very moment he moves, he breaks down. Thus, in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 God is seen acting as Creator; everything is done and ordered in divine perfection, and man is placed in the scene to enjoy the fruit of divine wisdom, goodness, and power. But in Genesis 3 all is changed. The moment man acts, it is to disobey and bring in ruin and desolation. So after the deluge, when the earth had passed through that deep and dreadful baptism, and when man again takes his place therein, he exposes himself, and proves that, so far from being able to subdue and govern the earth, he cannot even govern himself. (Gen. 9) Hardly had Israel been brought out of Egypt, when they made the golden calf. No sooner had the priesthood been set up, than the sons of Korah offered strange fire. Directly Saul was made king, he proved wilful and disobedient.
So also when we turn to the pages of the New Testament, we find the same thing. No sooner is the Church set up and adorned with Pentecostal gifts, than we hear the sad accents of murmuring and discontent. In short, man’s history, from first to Last, here, there, and everywhere, is marked with failure. There is not so much as a single exception from Eden down to the close of the millennial day.
It is well to consider this solemn and weighty fact, and to give it a deep place in the heart. It is eminently calculated to correct all false notions as to man’s real character and condition. It is well to bear in mind that the awful sentence which struck terror into the heart of the voluptuous king of Babylon has, in point of fact, been passed upon the entire human race, and to" each individual son and daughter of fallen Adam, namely, "Thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting." Has the reader fully accepted this sentence against himself? This is a serious inquiry. We feel imperatively called to press it home. Say, reader, art thou one of Wisdom’s children? Dost thou justify God and condemn thyself? Hast thou taken thy place as a self-destroyed, guilty, hell-deserving sinner? If so, Christ is for thee. He died to put away sin, and to bear your many sins. Only trust him and all He is and has is thine. He is thy wisdom, thy righteousness, thy sanctification, and thy redemption. All who simply and heartily believe in Jesus have passed clean off the old ground of guilt and condemnation, and are seen by God on the new ground of eternal life and divine righteousness. They are accepted in the risen and victorious Christ. As he is, so are we in this world." 1 John 4: 17.
We would earnestly entreat the reader not to rest until this most momentous question is clearly and thoroughly settled in the light of God’s own word and presence. we pray that God the Holy Ghost may deeply exercise the heart and conscience of the unconverted and undecided reader, and lead such to the Saviour’s feet.
We shall now proceed with our chapter.
"And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord; and the Lord heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. And the people cried unto Moses; and when Moses prayed unto the Lord, the fire was quenched. And he called the name of the place Taberah: because the fire of the Lord burnt among them. And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? we remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic. But now our soul is dried away; there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes."
Here the poor human heart lets itself thoroughly out. Its tastes and its tendencies are made manifest. The people sigh after the land of Egypt, and cast back wistful looks-after its fruits and its fleshpots. They do not say anything about the lash of the taskmaster, and the toil of the brick-kilns. There is total silence as to these things. Nothing is remembered now, save those resources by which Egypt had ministered to the lusts of nature. How often is this the case with us! When once the heart loses its freshness in the divine life - when heavenly things begin to lose their savour - when first love declines - when Christ ceases to be a satisfying and altogether precious portion for the soul - when the word of God and prayer lose their charm and become heavy, dull, and mechanical; then the eye wanders back toward the world, the heart follows the eye, and the feet follow the heart. We forget, at such moments, what the world was to us when we were in it and of it. We forget what toil and slavery, what misery and degradation, we found in the service of sin and of Satan, and think only of the gratification and ease, the freedom from those painful exercises, conflicts, and anxieties which attend upon the wilderness path of God’s people.
All this is most sad, and should lead the soul into the most profound self-judgement. It is terrible when those who have set out to follow the Lord begin to grow weary of the way and of God’s provision. How dreadful must those words have sounded in the ear of Jehovah, "But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes." Ah! Israel, what more didst thou need? Was not that heavenly food enough for thee! Couldst thou not live upon that which the hand of thy God had provided for thee?
Do we count ourselves free to ask such questions? Do we always find our heavenly manna sufficient for us? What means the enquiry inquiry raised by professing Christians as to the right or wrong of such and such worldly pursuits and pleasures? Have we not even heard from the lips of persons making the very highest profession such words as these," How are we to fill up the day! We cannot be always thinking about Christ and heavenly things. We must have some little recreation." Is not this somewhat akin to Israel’s language in Numbers 11? Yes truly; and as is the language, so is the acting. We prove, alas! that Christ is not enough for the heart, by the palpable fact of our betaking ourselves to other things. How often, for example, does the Bible lie neglected for hours, while the light and worthless literature of the world is greedily devoured. What mean the well-thumbed newspaper and the almost dust-covered Bible? Do not these things tell a tale? Is not this despising the manna, and sighing after, nay, devouring, the leeks and onions?
We specially call the attention of young Christians to that which is now before us. We are deeply impressed with a sense of their danger of falling into the very sin of Israel as recorded in our chapter. No doubt we are all in danger; but the young amongst us are peculiarly so. Those of us who are advanced in life are not so likely to be drawn away by the frivolous pursuits of the world - by its concerts, its flower shows, its pleasure parties, its vain songs and light literature. But the young will have a dash of the world. They long to taste it for themselves. They do not find Christ an all sufficient portion for the heart. They want recreation.
Alas! alas! what a thought! How sad to hear a Christian say, "I want. some recreation. How can I fill up the day? I cannot be always thinking of Jesus." we should like to ask all who speak thus, How will you fill up eternity? Shall not Christ be sufficient to fill up its countless ages? Shall you want recreation there? Will you sigh for light literature, vain songs, and frivolous pursuits there?
It will, perhaps, be said, "we shall be different then." in what respect? We have the divine nature - we have the Holy Ghost - we have Christ for our portion - we belong to Heaven we are brought to God. "But we have an evil nature in us." Well, are we to cater for that? Is it for that we crave recreation? must we try to help our wretched flesh - our corrupt nature - to fill up the day? Nay, we are called to deny it, to mortify it, to reckon it dead. This is Christian recreation. This is the mode in which the saint is called to fill up His day. How is it possible for us to grow in the divine life if we are only making provision for the flesh? Egypt’s food cannot nourish the new nature; and the great question for us is this, which do we really mean to nourish and cherish - the new or the old? It must be obvious that the divine nature cannot possibly feed upon newspapers, vain songs, and light literature; and Hence, if we give ourselves, in any measure, to these" latter, our souls must wither and droop.
May we have grace to think of these things - to think seriously. May we so walk in the Spirit that Christ may ever be a satisfying portion for our hearts. Had Israel, in the wilderness, walked with God, they never could have said, "Our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all beside this manna before our eyes."
That manna would have been quite enough for them. And so with us. If we really walk with God, in this wilderness world, our souls shall be satisfied with the portion which He gives, and that portion is heavenly Christ. Can He ever fail to satisfy? Does He not satisfy the heart of God? Does He not fill all heaven with His glory? Is He not the theme of angels’ song, and the object of their adoring homage and wondering worship? Is He not the one grand subject of everlasting counsels and purposes? Doth not the history of His ways overlap, eternity?
What answer have we to give to all these queries? what but a hearty, unreserved, unhesitating, YES? Well, then, is not this blessed One, in the deep mystery of His Person, in the moral glory of His ways, in the brightness and blessedness of His character, is not He enough for our hearts! Do we want anything beside? Must we get the newspaper or some light magazine to fill up the vacuum in our souls? Must we turn from Christ to a flower show or a concert?
Alas! that we should have to write thus. It is most sad but it is most needful; and we here put this question most pointedly to the leader, Dost thou really find Christ insufficient to satisfy thy heart? Hast thou cravings which He does not fully meet? If so, thou art in a very alarming condition of soul, and it behoves thee to look at once, and to look closely, into this solemn matter. Get down on thy face before God, in honest self-judgment. Pour out thy heart to Him. Tell Him all. Own to Him how thou hast fallen and wandered - as surely thou must have done when God’s Christ is not enough fur thee. Have it all out in secret with thy God, and take no rest until thou art fully and blessedly restored to communion with Himself - to heart fellowship with Him about the Son of His love.
But we must return to our chapter, and in so doing we call the readers attention to an expression full of weighty admonition for us: "And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again." There is nothing more damaging to the cause of Christ or to the souls of His people than association with men of mixed principles. It is very much more dangerous than having to do with open and avowed enemies. Satan knows this well, and hence his constant effort to lead the Lord’s people to link themselves with those who are only half and half; or, on the other hand, to introduce spurious materials-false professors, into the midst of those who are seeking, in any measure, to pursue a path of separation from the world. We have repeated allusions to this special character of evil, in the New Testament. We have it both prophetically in the Gospels, and historically in the: Acts and in the Epistles. Thus we have the tares and the leaven in Matthew 13. Then in the Acts we find persons attaching themselves to the assembly who were like the "mixed multitude’’ of Numbers 11. And, finally, we have apostolic reference to spurious materials introduced by the enemy for the purpose of corrupting the testimony and subverting the souls of God’s people. Thus the apostle Paul speaks of "false brethren unawares brought in." (Gal. 2: 4) Jude also speaks of "certain men crept in unawares." Verse 4.
From all this we learn the urgent need of vigilance on the part of God’s people; and not only of vigilance, but also of absolute dependence upon the Lord, who alone can preserve them from the entrance in of false materials, and keep them free from all contact with men of mixed principles and doubtful character. "the mixed multitude" is sure to "fall a lusting," and the people of God are in imminent danger of being drawn away from their proper simplicity, and of growing weary of the heavenly manna - their proper food. What is needed is, plain decision for Christ; thorough devotedness to Him and to His cause. Where a company Of believers are enabled to go on in whole-heartedness for Christ and in marked separation from this present world, there is not so much danger of persons of equivocal character seeking a place among them; though doubtless Satan will always seek to mar the testimony by the introduction of hypocrites. Such persons do obtain an entrance, and then by their evil ways bring reproach on the Lord’s name. Satan knew full well what he was doing, when he led the mixed multitude to attach themselves to the congregation of Israel. It was not all at once that the effect of this admixture was made manifest. The people had come forth with a high hand; they had passed through the Red Sea, and raised the song of victory on its banks. All looked bright and promising; but "the mixed multitude" were there, notwithstanding, and the effect of their presence was very speedily made apparent.
Thus it is ever, in the history of God’s people. We may notice, in those great spiritual movements which have taken place from age to age, certain elements of decay which, at the first, were hidden from view by the flowing tide of grace and energy; but when that tide began to ebb, then those elements made their appearance.
This is very serious, and calls for much holy watchfulness. It applies to individuals just as forcibly as to the people of God collectively. In our early moments, our young days, when zeal and freshness characterised us, the spring tide of grace rose so blessedly that many things were allowed to escape unjudged, which were, in reality, seeds flung into the ground by the enemy’s hand, and which, in due season, are sure to germinate and fructify. Hence it follows that both assemblies of Christians and individual Christians should ever be on the watch tower - ever keeping jealous guard lest the enemy gain an advantage in this matter. Where the heart is true to Christ, all is sure to come right in the end. Our God is so gracious, He takes care of us and preserves us from a thousand snares. May we learn to trust him and to praise Him!
But we have further lessons to draw from the weighty section which lies open before us. Not only have we to contemplate failure on the part of the congregation of Israel; but even Moses himself is seen faltering and almost sinking beneath the weight of his responsibility. "And Moses said unto the Lord, Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? and wherefore have I not found favour in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me? Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto me, carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers? Whence should I have flesh to give unto, all this people? for they weep unto me, saying, Give as flesh, that we may eat; I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favour in thy sight; and let me not see my wretchedness." Verses 11-15.
This is truly wonderful language. It is not that we would think for a moment of dwelling upon the failures and infirmities of so dear and so devoted a servant as Moses. Far be the thought. It would ill become us to comment upon the actings or the sayings of one of whom the Holy Ghost has declared that "he was faithful in all his house." (Heb. 3: 2) Moses, like all the Old Testament saints, has taken his place amongst the "Spirits Of just men made perfect," and every inspired Allusion to him throughout the pages of the New Testament tends only to put honour upon him, and to set him forth as a most precious vessel.
But still we are bound to ponder the inspired history now before us - history penned by Moses himself. True it is - blessedly true - that the defects and failures of God’s people, in Old Testament times, are not commented upon in the New Testament; yet are they recorded, with faithful accuracy, in the Old; and wherefore? Is it not for our learning? Unquestionably. "Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope." Romans 15: 4.
What then are we to learn from the remarkable outburst of feeling recorded in Numbers 11: 11-15? We learn this at least, that it is the wilderness that really brings out what is in the very best of us. It is there we prove what is in our hearts. and, inasmuch as the Book of Numbers is, emphatically, the book of the wilderness, it is just there we might expect to find all sorts of failure and infirmity fully unfolded. the Spirit of God faithfully chronicles everything. He gives us men as they are; and even though it be a Moses that "speaks unadvisedly with his lips," that very unadvised speaking is recorded for our admonition and instruction. Moses "was a man subject to like passions as we are;" and it is very evident that, in the portion of his history now before us, his heart sinks under the tremendous weight of his responsibilities.
It will, perhaps, be said, "No wonder his heart should sink." No wonder, surely, for his burden was far too heavy for human shoulders. But the question is, was it too heavy for divine shoulders? Was it really the case that Moses was called to bear the burden alone? Was not the living God with him? And was not He sufficient What did it matter whether God were pleased to act by one man or by ten thousand? All the power, all the wisdom, all the grace, was in Him. He is the fountain of all blessedness, and, in the judgement of which, it makes not one whit of difference as to the channel, or whether there is one channel, or a thousand and one.
This is a fine moral principle for all the servants of Christ. It is most needful for all such to remember that whenever the Lord places a man in a position of responsibility, He will both fit him for it and maintain him in it. It is, of course, another thing altogether if a man will rush unsent into any field of work, or any post of difficulty of danger. In such a case, we may assuredly look for a thorough break down, sooner or later. But when God calls a man to a certain position, be will endow him with the needed grace to occupy it. He never sends any one a warfare at his own charges; and therefore all we have to do is to draw upon Him for all we need. This holds good in every case. We can never fail if we only cling to the living God. We can never run dry, if we are drawing from the fountain. Our tiny springs will soon dry up; but our Lord Jesus Christ declares that, "He that believeth in me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."
This is a grand lesson for the wilderness. We cannot get on without it. Had Moses fully understood it, he never would have given utterance to such words as these: "’Whence should I have flesh to give unto all this people" He would have fixed his eye only upon God. He would have known that he was but on instrument in the hands of God, whose resources were illimitable. assuredly, Moses could not supply that vast assembly with food even far a single day; but Jehovah could supply the need of every living thing, and supply it for ever.
Do we really believe this? Does it not sometimes appear as though we doubted it? Do we not sometimes feel as though we were to supply instead of God? And then is it any marvel if we quail, and falter, and sink? Well indeed might Moses say, "I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me." There was only one heart that could bear with such a company, namely, the heart of that blessed One, who, when they were toiling amid the brick-kilns of Egypt, had come down to deliver them, and who, having redeemed them out of the hand of the enemy, had taken up His abode in their midst. He was able to bear them, and He alone. His loving heart and mighty hand were alone adequate to the task; and if Moses had been in the full power of this great truth, He would not and could not have said, "If thou deal thus with me, kill me, I play thee, out of hand, if I have found favour in thy sight and let we not see my wretchedness."
This surely was a dark moment in the history of this illustrious servant of God. It reminds us somewhat of the prophet Elijah, when he flung himself at the base of the juniper tree and entreated the Lord to take away his life. How wonderful to see those two men together on the mount of transfiguration! It proves, in a very marked way, that God’s thoughts are not as ours, nor His ways as ours. He had something better in store for Moses and Elijah than anything that they contemplated. Blessed be His name, He rebukes our fears by the riches of His grace, and when our poor hearts would anticipate death and wretchedness, He gives life, victory, and glory.
However, we cannot but see, that, in shrinking from a position of weighty responsibility, Moses was really giving up a place of high dignity and holy privilege. This seems most evident from the following passage. "And the Lord said unto Moses, Gather unto Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee. And I will come down and talk with thee there; and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone." Verses 16, 17.
Was there any additional power gained by the introduction of seventy men? Not spiritual power certainly, inasmuch as it was only the spirit that was upon Moses, after all. True, there were seventy men instead of one; but the multiplication of men was no increase of spiritual power. It saved Moses trouble, but it lost him dignity. He was henceforth to be a joint instrument instead of the sole one. It may be said that Moses - blessed servant as he was! - did not want dignity for himself, but rather sought a shady, retired, humble path. No doubt; but this does not touch the question before us. Moses, as we shall see presently, was the meekest man upon the face of the earth; nor do we mean even to hint that any mere man would have done better under the circumstances. But then we must seek to bear away with us the great practical lesson which our chapter so impressively teaches. the very best of men fail; and it seems exceedingly plain that Moses, in the eleventh chapter of Numbers, was not in the calm elevation of faith. He appears, for the moment, to have lost that even balance of soul which is the sure result of finding one’s centre in the living God. We gather this, not merely from the fact of his tottering beneath the weight of his responsibility; but let us ponder the following paragraph.
"And say thou unto the people, Sanctify yourselves against to-morrow, and ye shall eat flesh: for ye have wept in the ears of the Lord, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? for it was well with us in Egypt: therefore the Lord will give you flesh, and ye shall eat. Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days; but even a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you: because that ye have despised the Lord which is among you, and have wept before him, Saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt? And Moses said, The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand footmen; and thou hast said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month. Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for them to suffice them? or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to suffice them? And the Lord said unto Moses, Is the Lord’s hand waxed short? thou shalt see now whether my word will come to pass unto thee or not." Verses 18-23.
In all this we see the working of that spirit of unbelief which ever tends to limit the Holy One of Israel. Could not the Almighty God, the Possessor of heaven and earth, the Creator of the ends of the earth - could not fail provide flesh for six hundred thousand footmen? Alas! it is just here we all so sadly fail. We do not enter, as we ought, into the reality of having to do with the living God. Faith brings God into the scene, and therefore it knows absolutely nothing of difficulties; yea, it laughs at impossibilities. In the judgement of faith, God is the grand answer to every question - the grand solution of every difficulty. It refers all to Him; and hence, it matters not in the least to faith, whether it be six hundred thousand or six hundred millions; it knows that God is all-sufficient. It finds all its resources in Him. Unbelief says, "How can such and such things be?" It is full of "Hows"; but faith has one great answer to ten thousand "hows," and that answer is - God.
"And Moses went out, and told the people the words of the Lord, and gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them round about the tabernacle. And the Lord came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventh elders; and it came to pass, that when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, And did not cease."
The true secret of all ministry is spiritual power. It is not man’s genius, or man’s intellect, or man’s energy; but simply the power of the Spirit of God. This was true in the days of Moses, and it is true now. "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." (Zech. 4: 6) It is well for all ministers to bear this ever in mind. It will sustain the heart and give constant freshness to their ministry. A ministry which flows from abiding dependence upon the Holy Ghost can never become barren. If a man is drawing upon his own resources, he will soon run dry. It matters not what his powers may be, or how extensive his reading, or how vast his stores of information; if the Holy Ghost be not the spring and power of his ministry, it must, sooner or later, lose its freshness and its effectiveness.
How important therefore that all who minister, whether in the gospel or in the Church of God, should lean continually and exclusively on the power of the Holy Ghost! He knows what souls need, and He can supply it. But He must be trusted and used. It will not do to lean partly on self and partly on the Spirit of God. If there be anything of self-confidence, it will soon be made apparent. We must really get at the bottom of all that belongs to self, if we are to be the vessels of the Holy Ghost.
It is not - need we say it? - that there should not be holy diligence and earnestness in the study of God’s word, and in the study too, of exercises, the trials, the conflicts, and the varied difficulties of souls. Quite the reverse. We feel persuaded that the more absolutely we lean, in self-emptiness, upon the mighty power of the Holy Ghost, the more diligently and earnestly we shall study both the Book and the soul. It would be a fatal mistake for a man to use professed dependence upon the Spirit as a plea for neglecting prayerful study and meditation. "Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all." 1 Timothy 4: 15.
But, after all, let it ever be remembered that the holy Ghost is the ever living, never failing spring of ministry. It is He alone that can bring forth in divine freshness and fullness, the treasures of God’s word, and apply them, in heavenly power, to the soul’s present need. It is not a question of bringing forth new truth, but simply of unfolding the word itself, and bringing it to bear upon the moral and spiritual condition of the people of God. This is true ministry. A man may speak a hundred times on the same portion of scripture, to the same people, and, on each occasion, he may minister Christ, in spiritual freshness, to their souls. And, on the other hand, a man may rack his brain to find out new subjects, and new modes of handling old themes, and, all the while, there may not be one atom of Christ or of spiritual power in his ministry.
All this holds good in reference to the evangelist, as well as to the teacher or pastor. A man may be called to preach the gospel in the same place for years, and he may, at times, feel burdened by the thought of having to address the same audience, on the same theme, week after week, month after month, year after year. He may feel at a loss for something new, something fresh, some variety. He may wish to get away into some new sphere, where the subjects which are familiar to him will be new to the people. It will greatly help such to remember that the one grand theme of the evangelist is Christ. The power to handle that theme is the Holy Ghost; and the one to whom that theme is to be unfolded is the poor lost sinner. Now, Christ is ever new; the power of the Spirit is ever fresh; the soul’s condition and destiny ever intensely interesting. Furthermore, it is well for the evangelist to bear in mind, on every fresh occasion of rising to preach, that those to whom he preaches are really ignorant of the gospel, and hence he should preach as though it were the very first time his audience had ever heard the message, and the first time he had ever delivered it. For, be it remembered, the preaching of the gospel, in the divine acceptation of the phrase, is not a barren statement of mere evangelical doctrine - a certain form of words enunciated over and over again in wearisome routine. Far from it. To preach the gospel is really to unfold the heart of God, the person and work of Christ; and all this by the present energy of the holy Ghost, from the exhaustless treasury of holy scripture.
May all preachers keep these things before the mind, and then it will not matter whether it be one preacher or seventy, one man in the same place for fifty years, or the same man in fifty different places in one year. the question is not at all as to new men or new places, but simply and entirely as to the power of the Holy Ghost unfolding Christ to the soul. Thus in the case of Moses, as recorded in our chapter, there was no increase of power. It was the spirit that was upon him given to the seventy elders. God can act by one man just as well as by seventy; and if He does not act, seventy are no more than one. It is of the very utmost importance to keep God ever before the soul. This is the true secret of power and freshness whether for the evangelist, the teacher, or any one else. When a man can say, "all my springs are in God," he need not be troubled as to a sphere of work, or competency to fill it. But when this is not so, we can well understand why a man should sigh for a division of labour and responsibility. We may remember, at the opening of the book of Exodus, how unwilling Moses was to go into Egypt, in simple dependence upon God, and how readily he went in company with Aaron. Thus it is ever. We like something tangible, something that the eye can see, and the hand can handle. We find it hard to endure as seeing Him who is invisible. And yet the very props we lean upon often prove to be broken reeds that pierce the hand. Aaron proved to be a fruitful source of sorrow to Moses; and those whom we, in our folly, imagine to be indispensable coadjutors, frequently turn out the very reverse. O that we may All learn to lean, with an undivided heart, and unshaken confidence, upon the living God.
But we must draw this section to a close, and ere doing so, we shall just glance for a moment at the truly excellent spirit in which Moses meets the new circumstances in which he had placed himself. It is one thing to shrink from the weight of responsibility and care, and it is quite another thing to carry oneself with grace and genuine humility toward those who are called to share that weight with us. The two things are totally different, and we may often see the differences strikingly illustrated. In the scene now before us, Moses manifests that exquisite meekness which so specially characterised him. "But there remained two of the (seventy) men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the spirit rested upon them; and they were of them that were written, but went not out unto the tabernacle: and they prophesied in the camp. And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them. and Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? Would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them!"
This is perfectly beautiful. Moses was far removed from that wretched spirit of envy which would let no one speak but himself. He was prepared, by grace, to rejoice in any and every manifestation of true spiritual power, no matter where or through whom. He knew full well that there could be no right prophesying save by the power of the Spirit of God; and wherever that power was exhibited, who was he that he should seek to quench or hinder?
Would there were more of this excellent spirit! May we each cultivate it! May we have grace to rejoice unfeignedly in the testimony and service of all the Lord’s people, even though we may not see eye to eye with them, and though our mode and our measure may vary. Nothing can be more contemptible than that petty spirit of envy and jealousy which will not permit a man to take an interest in any work but his own. We may rest assured that where the spirit of Christ is in action in the heart, there will be the ability to go out and embrace the wide field of our blessed Master’s work and all His beloved workmen: there will be the hearty rejoicing in having the work done, no matter who is the doer of it. A man whose heart is full of Christ will be able to say - and to say it without affectation, "Provided the work is done - provided Christ is glorified - provided souls are saved - provided the Lord’s flock is cared for and fed, it matters nothing to me who does the work."
This is the right spirit to cultivate, and it stands out in bright contrast with the narrowness and self occupation which can only rejoice in work in which "I, myself have a prominent place. may the Lord deliver us from all this, and enable us to cherish that temper of soul expressed by Moses when he said, "Enviest thou for my sake? Would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them?"
The closing paragraph of our chapter shows us the people in the miserable and fatal enjoyment of that for which their hearts had lusted. "He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul." They got what they longed for and found it death. They would have flesh; and with the flesh came the judgement of God. This is most solemn. May we heed the warning! The poor heart is full of vain desires and hateful lusts. the heavenly manna fails to satisfy. There must be Something else. God allows us to have it. But what then? Leanness - barrenness - judgement! O Lord, keep our hearts fixed on thyself alone and at all times! Be thou the ever satisfying portion of our souls, while we tread this desert, and till we see thy face in glory!
C. H. Mackintosh, Notes on the Pentateuch — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–10 THE PLACE OF BURNING (verses 1Co_10:10) where ponhra means…
THE PLACE OF BURNING (verses 1Co_10:10) where ponhra means the wicked things they uttered in their discontent; or the "evil" may mean the hardships they complained of. The Targums understand it in the same way as the Septuagint, and this seems to agree best with the context. As to the time and place of this complaining, the narrative seems to limit it within the three days" march from the wilderness of Sinai; but it is not possible to fix it more precisely. It is sufficient that the very first incident in the great journey thought worthy of record was this sin and its punishment, and the natural conclusion is that it came to pass very shortly after the departure. As to the reason of the complaining, although it is not stated, and although there does not seem to have been any special cause of distress, we can hardly be mistaken about it. The fatigue and anxiety of the march, after a year"s comparative idleness, the frightful nature of the country into which they were marching, and the unknown terrors of the way which lay before them, these were quite enough to shake their nerves and upset their minds. Such things could only be borne and faced in a spirit of faith and trustful dependence upon God and their appointed leaders, and that spirit they knew nothing of. Slavery, even when its outward pressure is past and gone like a bad dream, leaves behind it above all things an incurable suspicion of, and a rooted disbelief in, others, which shows itself outwardly by blank ingratitude and persistent complaint of bad treatment. This is the well-known mental attitude of liberated slaves even towards their benefactors and liberators; and in the case of Israel this temper extended to the King of Israel himself, whom they held responsible for all the privations and terrors of an apparently needless journey through a hideous waste. The Targum of Palestine says here, "There were wicked men of the people who, being discontent, devised and imagined evil before the Lord." The complaining, however, seems to have been general throughout the host, as the Psalmist more truly acknowledges. (Psa_78:17-22) And the fire of the Lord burnt among them. The "fire of the Lord" may mean one of three things.
1. Lightning, as apparently in Job_1:16; for lightning to the unscientific is the fiery bolt, even as thunder is the angry voice, of God. (cf. 1Sa_12:18, 1Sa_12:19)
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2. A miraculous outburst of flame from the Presence in the tabernacle, such as slew Nadab and Abihu, (Lev_10:2) and afterwards the 250 men who offered incense. (Num_16:35)
3. A miraculous descent of fire from heaven, as apparently in 2Ki_1:10-12. (cf. Rev_13:13) Of these the second seems to be excluded by the fact that the conflagration was in the outskirts of the camp furthest removed from the tabernacle. If we suppose the fire to have been natural, we may further suppose that it set alight to the dry bushes and shrubs which abound in parts of the desert, and which blaze with great fury when the flame is driven by the wind. It is, however, at least as likely that a wholly supernatural visitation of God is here intended. What is most important to notice is this, that the punishment in this case followed hard and sore upon the sin, whereas before they came to Sinai the Lord had passed over similar murmurings without any chastisement. (Exo_15:24 Exo_16:2) The reason of this difference was twofold. In the first place, they had now had abundant opportunity to become acquainted with the power and goodness of the Lord, and had solemnly entered into covenant with him, and he had taken up his abode among them; wherefore their responsibilities grew with their privileges, their dangers kept pace with their advantages. In the second place, they had while at Sinai committed an act of national apostasy, (Ex 32) the punishment of which, although suspended (verse 14), was only suspended (verse 34), and was always capable of being revived; Israel was plainly warned that he was under sentence, and that any disobedience would awake the terrors of the Lord against him. And consumed...in the uttermost parts of the comp. Probably setting fire to the outer line of tents, or some pitched outside the line, and consuming the people that were in them. The Targum of Palestine affirms that it "destroyed some of the wicked in the outskirts of the house of Dan, with whom was a graven image;" but this attempt to shift the responsibility, and to alter the character of the sin, is clearly worthless, and only suggested by occurrences wholly unconnected with the present (see Judges 18).
Vers. 1-3. Wrath awaked and wrath appeased.
In this short passage we have, in a microcosm, the whole sad history of the Church. For the history of the Church, as it is glorious on the side of God and his faithfulness, so it is sad indeed on the side of man and his unfaithfulness. Here we may see trial followed at once by failure, temptation by sin; failure and sin followed by fiery wrath. Yet wrath is never without mercy, for the fire is quenched by the voice of the mediator. Consider, therefore
I THAT THE VERY FIRST INCIDENT RECORDED BETWEEN SINAI AND CANAAN WAS SIN. There was no gradual descent; it broke out all at once. So it was in the beginning immediately after the creation, the fall; and so it was in the second beginning of the race. (Gen_9:21) Even so it is still: the first actual fact which meets us in the history of a soul on its way to heaven is some sin or failure on its part. It is the one thing which more than any other determines the character of practical religion, as distinguished from theoretical. (Jam_3:2 1Jn_1:8)
II THAT THE ROOT OF THIS EVIL PLANT WAS TO BE FOUND IN THE NATURE OF THE PEOPLE,.MADE CROOKED BY GENERATIONS OF SERVITUDE, AND NOT RADICALLY ALTERED BY THE DISCIPLINE OF A YEAR. Even so human nature, terribly corrupt as it is, is the nature of the elect too: it is indeed sanctified and improved by the operations of grace, but not superseded; it remains human nature still, and as such is sure to assert itself. Therefore "regeneration," which signifies the renewal of this nature, is indeed bestowed in time, (Joh_3:5 Tit_3:5) but is also reserved for eternity, (Mat_19:28) in testimony that it is only partial here. One of the saddest, the most obvious, and yet most unlooked-for and perplexing of facts about regenerate humanity is the persistence within it of evil, whether proper to the age, the race, the family, or the individual. (Rom_7:18-25)
III THAT THE FRUIT OF THIS EVIL PLANT WAS THUS SUDDENLY RIPENED BY THE OUTWARD HARDSHIPS AND TRIALS OF THE MARCH. Encamped at comparative ease about Sinai, the tendency to sin lay dormant, the root seemed dead: a few days, a few hours perhaps, of scorching heat and unaccustomed toil, and the poison fruit was already matured, the whole camp was in rebellion against God. Even so there are evil dispositions latent in many (if not in all) of us which need but a little stress of circumstance to bring them into active play, to ripen them into open sin, and that with startling quickness, unless restrained by grace. The sudden falls of good men are only sudden because we do not see the strength of evil in them which is waiting its opportunity. Hence the absolute necessity of trial and conflict to test the worth of our religion. (Mat_10:22 2Ti_2:12 Jam_1:12 Rev_1:9 Rev_2:11 Rev_7:14)
IV THAT THE FORM WHICH THEIR REBELLION TOOK WAS THAT OF COMPLAINING there being indeed nothing that they could do under the circumstances. Even so the fruit of sinful feelings and desires is quite as often discontent as anything more active, because the more active forms of sin are so often out of our reach. An evil heart is the source of all sins, and the evil heart almost always shows itself in a state of inward discontent which finds vent in outward complaints. Hence the "unthankful" are next door to the "unholy", (2Ti_3:2) and all one with the "evil". (Luk_6:35) A discontented heart is a hot-bed of every kind of sin. (cf. Mar_14:10 Joh_12:4-6)
V THAT THE ANGER OF THE LORD WAS MORE HOT AGAINST THEM AND THEIR PUNISHMENT MORE SEVERE, THAN BEFORE THEY CAME TO SINAI For they had received the law, and entered into the covenant, and had the worship and presence of God in the midst of them. Even so the more light and grace we have, the more awful will it be to sin against that light, in despite of that grace. So the sin of the.Jew was worse than that of the heathen; of the Christian than of the Jew; of the Christian in an enlightened age than of the Christian in a dark age. What must be the wrath of God against the sins of an age and people such as this! (Luk_12:47, 48 Joh_9:41 Rom_2:12 Heb_2:2, 3 10:26-31)
VI THAT THE PEOPLE IN THEIR FEAR CRIED TO MOSES. They dared not cry to God, by reason of their unworthiness, but they knew that if Moses prayed for them he would be heard, because he was their mediator. (Gal_3:19, Gal_3:20) Even so we, in our sin and our distress, are neither able nor worthy to pray to God save through the mediation of Jesus Christ. All prayer must be addressed, consciously or unconsciously, through him. Even the prayer of the heathen, who knows no mediator, will be heard because the Son of man receives his prayer and offers his own intercession with it. How presumptuous is it in Christian people to join in prayers which are not offered in the name, or through the mediation, of the one Mediator! (Joh_14:14 1Ti_2:5 Heb_12:24, and el. Rev_8:3) And note, that the Lord"s Prayer may be objected to this doctrine of mediation. But it is to be noted
(1) that it was modeled on the synagogue prayers before the atonement;
(2) that as a Christian prayer, it is the prayer of Christ in us, in which we share by virtue of our sonship in him. (Joh_20:17 1Jn_3:1)
VII THAT THE PEOPLE CRIED TO MOSES ONLY. They did not resort to Aaron or to Miriam, because they were relations of Moses, or to Joshua, because he was an eminent servant of Moses, and had great influence with him; for Moses only was their mediator. Even so Christian people must not "cry" to any but the one Mediator, if the fire of God"s anger against sin is to be quenched. It is one thing to ask the prayers of a fellow-suppliant; it is another and very different thing to address oneself to God under the protection, and through the mediation, of some favourite of Heaven. (Heb_8:6 Heb_9:15; cf. Act_8:22-24)
VIII THAT WHEN MOSES PRAYED, THE FIRE WENT OUT. No doubt in answer to the prayer. Even so the intercession of Christ quenches the flames of the Divine anger against sin. Not that the anger and the mercy of God are rival powers striving against one another: in eternity they act in perfect harmony; nevertheless, in the sphere of time and space they display themselves separately, and in apparent antagonism. It pleased God that his anger against sin and rebellion should be visibly kindled by the complaints of the people; that his mercy should be moved by the prayer of Moses. Thus was signified the eternal purpose of God to show mercy and forgiveness to all men through the atonement of Christ. (Rom_8:34 Heb_7:25 Heb_9:24 1Jn_2:1: cf. Luk_23:34)
And consider again
1. That the very next place after Sinai was Taberah a burning. Even so it is but one short journey without a break for sinful man from the revelation of the moral law to the fires of hell. The law is holy and good; but sinful man cannot keep it, nor can God suffer it to be broken. Wherefore by the law came death; after the law, condemnation; behind the commandment, fiery wrath against the transgressors thereof. Thus also the moral law of Christ without his atonement (as some would have it) would only be worse condemnation a Taberah without a Moses. (Rom_3:20 Rom_5:20 Rom_7:7-13 Rom_8:1-4)
2. That Israel would have got no further than Taberah had they not had a mediator. Even so burnings had been our everlasting portion, except Christ had delivered us. (Isa_33:14 Mar_9:44, &c.; 1Th_1:10)
HOMILIES BY E.S. PROUT Vers. 1, 2. A summary view of sin and its remedy.
I A CHAIN OF MORAL SEQUENCES, containing the following links:
1. The people s sin. The complaints probably various, as may be illustrated from other narratives.
2. Their sin noticed. "The Lord heard it," as he hears every idle word, and reads every sinful thought (see outline on Num_12:2).
3. This notice awakens God"s anger. By the necessity of his nature, "God is angry with the wicked every day.
4. His anger flamed forth in visible judgments. "The fire of the Lord burned among them," for "our God is a consuming fire," either to purge us from our sins, or to destroy us in our sins.
5. These judgments are fatal, "and consumed them". (Psa_76:7) For another chain of sequences cf. Jam_1:14, Jam_1:15.
II A CHAIN OF REMEDIAL BLESSINGS.
1. God"s mercy tempers judgment. The fire only destroys "those in the utmost part of the camp". (Psa_102:8-10)
2. The judgments inflicted humble the people, and lead them to appeal to Moses. Such judgments are blessings. Servants of God sought for by sinners, or even despisers, in the day of trouble. (cf. Psa_70:1-4)
3. Moses, when appealed to, himself appeals to God. We disclaim all power as saviours, but look and point to the one Saviour. (Psa_60:11 Act_3:12)
4. God appealed to in acceptable intercession, turns from the fierceness of his wrath. (Psa_99:6) And the High Priest of sinners, by a more costly mediation and a prevailing intercession, still interposes for sinners who "come unto God by him". P. (Rom_8:34 Heb_7:25)
HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG Vers. 1-9. Murmuring, lusting, and loathing.
We have here a very painful self-revelation. Through prophets and apostles, and especially through his Son, God has said many humiliating things of the children of men, but nothing more humiliating than by their own actions they have written down against themselves. Note
I A SPIRIT UNAFFECTED BY CHASTISEMENT. The people run away from pain, but do not cease from lust. They forget the blow of Jehovah almost before the wound is healed. Nor let us wonder at their stupidity, for this fire of God was only a more rapid and more manifest form of that fire of Divine chastisement which comes in some form to us all. We treat all pain as the Israelites did. As they cried to Moses, so we cry to our fellow-men, and make no mention of our sin against God. We never stop to think of the fire of God as having his anger in it, or a check upon us in our selfish career. (Ps 78 Isa_1:2-6 Isa_9:13 Jer_7:23-28)
II A SPIRIT UNCHANGED BY BENEFITS. So far as any word or action here shows, they might have utterly forgotten everything God had done for them. They do recollect the manna, but only to grumble at it and despise it. God had indeed abounded toward them in grace and power, wisdom and prudence, yet not one of all his doings is remembered to his glory. What then of our state of mind in regard of the wonderful manifestations of God in Christ Jesus? We, even more than the Israelites, are the objects of God"s gracious interposition. It seemed of no use to remind them of God the Deliverer and Provider. And so now, although Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, although he has conquered sin and death for all mankind, yet mankind is far more concerned about matters a long way less important. The truth was, the Israelites had not yet been delivered, in the highest sense of the word. The body was free but the spirit was in bondage. Egypt had still a strong hold upon their hearts. Their experience there must have been a strange mixture of oppression and pampering. Compelled to make bricks without straw, and yet they had flesh to eat.
III A SPIRIT THAT SOON FORGOT PAST GRIEVANCES. It was not so long ago that they had been sighing and crying by reason of their bondage. (Exo_2:23) Then their lives were bitter, and all the flesh they got could not sweeten them. These past grievances were immeasurably greater than anything they had to complain of now. Then there was really no comfort in life at all oppression and injustice gave wormwood flavour to everything; now they are but minus some old comforts. They have plenty to eat, and that of special miraculous food, by which God said to them at every meal, "Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it." It was well for them even in the wilderness troubles that they were not as Egypt; for though Egypt might have flesh to eat, it was surely eaten amid many groans and sighs. The ten plagues and the destruction of Pharaoh and his army were a very serious set-off against the most savoury of creature comforts.
IV A SPIRIT UTTERLY INSENSIBLE TO THE GLORIOUS VOCATION WHEREWITH GOD HAD CALLED THEM. (Eph_4:1) What a difference is here revealed between Moses and the people! As Moses talks with Hobab, and lifts his prayer to God, all is expectancy, ardour, and exultation. No complaints of the manna, no hankerings after Egypt, come from that noble soul. But as for the people, Paul exactly describes them in Php_3:18. Their end was destruction, their God was their belly, their glory was in their shame, they minded earthly things. Even though the ark rested on the many thousands of Israel, they are blind to the glory and profit coming from the presence of it. They will go anywhere if only they can get the lost delicacies of Egypt. Such a table as Milton represents the tempter spreading out before Jesus would just have been to their taste ("Paradise Regained," 2:337-365). Their cry is not that of natural hunger, but the passionate screaming of a pampered child. Plain living and high thinking, the Nazarite vow and the Nazarite aspiration, manna for the body and true bread of heaven for the spirit with these things they had no sympathy.
Practical truths:
1. Let every pain that comes to us have its proper effect in the way of discipline. Thus that which otherwise will be loss is turned to substantial gain.
2. In the midst of the greatest privileges we may be near to the most subtle temptations. Where God is nearest, there Satan also may be most active.
3. We need a great work of God to bring us to a due appreciation of the spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. It takes a great deal to make us see that godliness is profitable, having the promise of the life that now is. "Trouble is grudgingly and hardly brook"d, While life"s sublimest joys are overlook"d.
4. Let the estimate of our wants and the provision for them be left to God. For us to live is Christ, and the highest occupation of life to seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness; then all other needed things will be added unto us. Never fear but God will give food convenient for us. N.B. John 6 gives a most instructive New Testament parallel to this passage. 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 On vv1, 4, 5, 10 The people complained.
Num_11:1-3
The people complained.
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Against murmuring
I. A dissatisfied spirit causes displeasure to the Lord.
1. This we might infer from our own feelings, when dependents, children, servants, or receivers of alms are always grumbling. We grow weary of them, and angry with them.
2. In the case of men towards God it is much worse for them to murmur, since they deserve no good at His hands, but the reverse (Lam_3:29; Psa_103:10).
3. In that case also it is a reflection upon the Lords goodness, wisdom, truth, and power.
4. The evil lusting which attends the complaining proves its injurious character. We are ready for anything when we quarrel with God (1Co_10:5-12).
5. God thinks so ill of it that His wrath burns, and chastisement is not long withheld. To set an imaginary value upon that which we have not--
(1) Is foolish, childish, pettish.
(2) Is injurious to ourselves, for it prevents our enjoying what we already have.
(3) Is slanderous towards God, and ungrateful to Him.
(4) Leads to rebellion, falsehood, envy, and all manner of sins.
II. A dissatisfied spirit finds no pleasure for itself even when its wish is fulfilled. The Israelites had flesh in superabundance in answer to their foolish prayers, but--
1. It was attended with leanness of soul (Psa_106:15).
2. It brought satiety (Num_11:20).
3. It caused death (Psa_78:31).
4. It thus led to mourning on all sides.
III. A dissatisfied spirit snows that the mind needs regulating. Grace would put our desires in order, and keep our thoughts and affections in their proper places, thus--
1. Content with such things as we have (Heb_13:5).
2. Towards other things moderate in desire (Pro_30:8).
3. Concerning earthly things which may be lacking, fully resigned (Mat_26:39).
4. First, and most eagerly, desiring God (Psa_42:2).
5. Next coveting earnestly the best gifts (1Co_12:31)
6. Following ever in love the more excellent way (1Co_12:31). (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Murmurings
1. Those who are merely hangers-on to a Church are usually the beginners of mischief among its members. So in the community, the men who have no stake in its welfare are always the most dangerous element of the population. They have nothing to lose in any event, and it is just possible that, in the confusion, they may gain a little. Thus they are always ready for either riot or emeute. The mixed multitude in our cities represents what others call the dangerous classes; and in proportion as their existence is ignored by the respectable portion of the people, and nothing is done for their education or elevation, the danger is aggravated.
2. Murmuring is invariably one-sided. These discontented Egyptians and Israelites did nothing but look back on Egypt; and even when they did that, they saw only the lights, and not the shadows. Again, in their depreciation of their present lot, they were equally one-sided. They could see in it nothing but the one fact that they had no flesh to eat. They took no notice of the manna, save to despise it; they said nothing of the water which God had provided for them; they never spoke of the daily miracle that their clothes waxed not old; they made no reference to the constance guidance and presence of Jehovah with them. Now this was flagrantly unjust; and yet in condemning that it is to be feared that we are passing judgment upon ourselves, for if we were fully to reckon up both sides of the account would there ever be any murmuring among us at all?
3. God is always considerate of His faithful servants. See how tender He was to Moses here. He saw that he needed human sympathy and support, as well as Divine, and therefore He hastened to provide him with a cordon of kindred spirits, who might act as a breakwater, and keep the waves of trouble and discontent that rose in the camp from dashing upon him. One cannot read of this without being impressed by the tenderness of God; and it is a suggestive fact that on almost every occasion on which we are told of His judgment falling upon sinners, we have in the near vicinity some manifestation of gentleness to His friends.
4. The truly great man is never envious of others. Here is a lesson for all, and especially for ministers of the gospel. How hard it is to rejoice in the excellence of another, especially if he be in the same line with ourselves l And yet the disparagement of the gifts of another is really an indication of our consciousness of the weakness of our own. The highest and the hardest cliff to climb on the mountain of holiness is humility.
5. We can set no limits to the resources of God (Num_11:23).
6. It is not good for us to get everything we desire (Psa_105:15). Prayers horn out of murmuring are always dangerous. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
Sin and prayer
I. A sadly common sin. Murmuring. Discontent is the spirit of this wicked world.
II. A terribly solemn fact. God recognises and retributes sin.
III. A general social tendency. The wicked ever seek the good in their terror and distress.
IV. A striking result of prayer. The breath of Moses prayer extinguished the flame. (Homilist.)
Complaining of providence punished
The people complained--and the Lord set fire to them! That seems rough judgment, for what is mans speech as set against the Divine fire? Who can defend the procedure? Who can so subordinate his reason and his sense of right as to commend the justice of this tremendous punishment? So they might say who begin their Bible reading at the eleventh chapter of Numbers. Read the Book of Exodus, notably the fourteenth and following chapters up to the time of the giving of the law, and you will find complaint following complaint; and what was the Divine answer in that succession of reproaches? Was there fire? Did the Lord shake down the clouds upon the people and utterly overwhelm them with tokens of indignation? No. The Lord is full of tenderness and compassion--yea, infinite in piteousness and love is He; but there is a point when His Spirit can no longer strive with us, and when He must displace the persuasions of love by the anger and the judgment of fire. But this is not the whole case. The people were not complaining only. The word complaint may he so construed as to have everything taken out of it except the feeblest protest and the feeblest utterance of some personal desire. But this is not the historical meaning of the word complaint as it is found here. What happened between the instances we have quoted and the instance which is immediately before us? Until that question is answered the whole case is not before the mind for opinion or criticism. What, then, had taken place? The most momentous of all incidents. God had said through Moses to the people of Israel--Will you obey the law? And they stood to their feet, as it were, and answered in one unanimous voice--We will. So the people were wedded to their Lord at that great mountain altar: words of fealty and kinship and Godhood had been exchanged, and now these people that had oft complained and had then promised obedience, and had then sworn that they would have none other gods beside Jehovah, complained--went back to their evil ways; and the Lord, who takes out His sword last and only calls upon His fire in extremity, smote them--burned them. And this will He do to us if we trifle with our oaths, if we practise bad faith towards the altar, if we are guilty of malfeasance in the very sanctuary of God. Were the people content with complaining? They passed from complaining to lusting, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt, &c. There is a philosophy here. You cannot stop short with complaining. Wickedness never plays a negative game. The man who first complains will next erect his appetite as a hostile force against the will of God. A marvellous thing is this, to recollect our lives through the medium of our appetites, to have old relishes return to the mouth, to have the palate stimulated by remembered sensations. The devil has many ways into the soul. The recollection of evil may prompt a desire for its repetition. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Israels sin
1. Israel had many impediments in their march to the Land of Promise, not only from without (Pharaoh pursuing, Amalek intercepting, &c.), but also from within, among themselves by their manifold murmurings (1Pe_4:18).
2. God writes our sin upon our punishment. These murmurers here sinned against the fiery law (Deu_33:2); therefore were they punished by fire out of the pillar of fire from whence the fiery law was given and published. Their perdition is our caution (1Co_10:5; 1Co_10:11).
3. Evil company is infectious and catching as the plague (1Co_15:33).
4. Wherever there is sinning again on mans part, there will be punishing again on Gods part (Joh_5:14). Here Israel sinned again with a double sin--
(1) In desiring flesh which they wanted;
(2) In disdaining manna which they enjoyed. The vehemence of their concupiscence was the more inflamed by remembering their former Egyptian diet, yet forgetting withal their Egyptian drudgery.
5. The peoples profane deploring their penury (when they had little cause to do so, while fed with the food of angels) doth not only make God angry with them (Num_11:10), but also putteth meek Moses into a pang of passion and impatience (Num_11:11-15).
6. The Divine remedy to all this human malady; both as to Moses impatience, and as to Israels intemperance.
(1) Moses must not bear the burden alone, but shall be assisted with the Sanhedrin, or great council of the Jews, consisting of seventy seniors (answerable to the seventy souls that descended with Jacob into Egypt) whereof Moses sat president, all endowed with the gifts of the spirit of Moses, who was as a candle that lighteth others, yet hath not less either heat or light than it had before (Num_11:16-17; Num_11:24-25; Num_11:30).
(2) As to the peoples intemperance, as God promised and performed plenty of flesh to those fleshly-minded multitude, so He punished their impiety with a horrible plague at the close thereof (Num_11:18-20; Num_11:31-34). (C. Ness.)
The sin of complaining
Observe that it does not say that the people murmured, but complained, or, as it is in the margin, were as it were complainers; by which it is evidently meant that there was a feeling in their minds of scarcely expressed dissatisfaction. There was no sudden outbreak of murmuring, but the whispers and looks of discontent. There is no special mention of any particular reason for it. It does not say that their manna failed, or that any hostile army was arrayed against them. Doubtless the journeying was always wearisome, and on its fatigues they suffered their minds to dwell, forgetful of all the mercies vouchsafed them, and complained. Now, we must all feel that right-down murmuring is very sinful, and in its worst forms most Christians overcome it; but not so complaining, for this seems to many to be scarcely wrong, and it often grows on them so gradually that they are seldom conscious of it. The causes of complaint are manifold. Little difficulties in our circumstances--little acts of selfishness in our neighbours; but complaining is most of all a danger with persons who have weak health--for weakness of body often produces depression of spirits--and this is the soil in which a complaining spirit takes deepest root. Then, too, it often grows into a habit; a tinge of discontent settles on the countenance, and the voice assumes a tone of complaint. And though this, like most habits soon becomes unconscious, yet it is not the less mischievous on that account. It is mischievous to our own souls, for it damps the work of the Spirit of God in our hearts, and enfeebles the spiritual life. It is mischievous in its effects upon others; for when Christians complain it gives the world altogether wrong impressions of the strength and consolation which the love of Christ affords, and it frequently generates the same spirit; one complains, and another, having the same or other causes of complaint, sees no reason why he should not complain too. And this was probably its history in Israel. It is scarcely likely that all began to complain at the same moment. Doubtless there were some who set the sad example, and then the hearts of all being predisposed, it spread like an epidemic. We should settle it well in our hearts that complaining, no less than murmuring, is a fruit of the flesh. David complained in Psa_77:3, I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed; but he soon felt that the root of the evil was in himself. This, he adds (verse 10), is my infirmity. But no part of Scripture proves more strikingly than the events at Taberah, how displeasing to God, and how dangerous in its results, a complaining spirit is. The punishment which followed, and which gave the name to the place, proves the first point. Patient and long-suffering as God ever was with Israel, we are told (Num_11:1) that His anger was kindled; and the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. The severity of the punishment shows that this was no little sin, encompassed as they were with mercy, and guided by Jehovah Himself through the wilderness. It was no less dangerous in its result, for the subsequent history shows how complaining ripened into murmuring, and murmuring was at last the cause of Israels final fall. Let us endeavour, then, to watch against a complaining spirit. In heavy and stunning afflictions we glorify God, when, like Aaron, we are enabled to hold our peace. Like David, we can say, I was dumb, and opened not my mouth, because Thou didst it; or, as in Psa_131:2. Still more if we can, through grace, rise to the elevation of the afflicted Job, and say, The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord; or, if anything, to the still higher elevation of the Apostle Paul (Php_4:11-13). In the lesser and more ordinary trials of daily life, its difficulties and its duties, we glorify Him by Christian Cheerfulness; and how can we maintain this spirit but by tracing the hand of a Father in them all, carrying them all to God in prayer, and, most of all, by looking above present things to the everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure? For the things which are seen, our difficulties and our trials, are temporal; but the things which are not seen, our strength and our crown, are eternal. (G. Wagner.)
Ungrateful discontent
We would think that beggar intolerably impudent, that coming to our doors to ask an alms, and when we have bestowed on him some bracken bread and meat, yet (like those impudent persons the Psalmist speaks of, that grudge and grumble if they be not satisfied, if they have not their own will, and their own fill) he should not hold himself contented, unless he might have one of our best dishes from the table. But this is the case of very many amongst us. We come all as so many beggars to Gods mercy-seat, and God gives us abundance of many good things, as life, liberty, health of body, &c., yet we cannot be quiet, nor think ourselves well, unless we be clothed in purple, and fare deliciously every day as such and such do, not considering in the meantime many that are below us, and above us too, wanting those things which we comfortably enjoy. (J. Spencer.)
Criticising favours
There are many persons who receive favours and criticise them. They make it a ground and reason of fault-finding; as in the case of the man who found a Spanish coin worth eighteen and three-quarter cents, and turned it over in his hand and said, Well, that is just my luck. If it had been anybody else that found it, it would have been a twenty-five cent piece. He had no thanks for what it was, but grumbled because it was not more. So it is with many men in the world. They are perpetually analysing and criticising the kindnesses that are done to them. They are not right in measure, or kind, or method; they are not right somehow; and they shut off the sense of obligation and refuse to be grateful. (H. W. Beecher.)
Murmuring against God
Murmuring is a quarrelling with God, and inveighing against Him (Num_21:5). The murmurer saith interpretatively that God hath not dealt well with him, and that he hath deserved better from Him. The murmurer chargeth God with folly. This is the language, or rather blasphemy, of a murmuring spirit: God might have been a wiser and a better God. The murmurer is a mutineer. The Israelites are called in the same text murmurers and rebels (Num_17:10); and is not rebellion as the sin of witchcraft? (1Sa_15:23). Thou that art a murmurer art in the account of God as a witch, a sorcerer, as one that deals with the devil. This is a sin of the first magnitude. Murmuring often ends in cursing: Micahs mother fell to cursing when the talents of silver were taken away (Jdg_17:2). So doth the murmurer when a part of his estate is taken away. Our murmuring is the devils music; this is that sin which God cannot bear (chap. 14:27). It is a sin which whets the sword against a people; it is a land-destroying sin (1Co_10:10). (T. Watson.)
Finding fault with God
God hath much ado with us. Either we lack health, or quietness, or children, or wealth, or company, or ourselves in all these. It is a wonder the Israelites found not fault with the want of sauce to their quails, or with their old clothes, or their solitary way. Nature is moderate in her desires; but conceit is insatiable. (Bp. Hall.)
Losing temper with God
Losing our temper with God is a more common thing in the spiritual life than many suppose. (F. W. Faber.)
Murmuring hurts not God, but wounds us
I have read of Caesar, that, having prepared a great feast for his nobles and friends, it fell out that the day appointed was so extremely foul that nothing could be done to the honour of their meeting; whereupon he was so displeased and enraged that he commanded all them that had bows to shoot up their arrows at Jupiter, their chief god, as in defiance of him for that rainy weather; which, when they did, their arrows fell short of heaven, and fell upon their own heads, so that many of them were very sorely wounded. So all our mutterings and murmurings, which are so many arrows shot at God Himself, will return upon our own pates, or hearts; they reach not Him, but they will hit us; they hurt not Him, but they will wound us; therefore it is better to be mute than to murmur; it is dangerous to contend with one who is a consuming fire (Heb_12:29). (Thomas Brooks.)
The fire of the Lord burnt among them.
The worst fire
Nothing but mercies had come upon the back of their complainings before. They had had water, and they had had bread; but now the Lord would send them fire. It should be the fire of the Lord, holy fire; yet not as that, which, descending from heaven upon the altar, burnt continually before the Lord in His temple, acceptable in sacrifice; but a consuming fire; the burning of His wrath. It is bad to be saved so as by fire, to have all consumed, but ourselves, to be burnt out of house and home; yet far worse is it to be burnt out of the world. Still this might be the way to heaven for some, carried thither as in a chariot of fire. We know it was the way, the common way that martyrs went. The fire was kindled by their enemies; but it was not as the burning of Taberah; there was no ingredient of the wrath of the Almighty in the flame: but one like unto the Son of Man was there, to make it as the purest vestment of the soul, the involving element of love. Oh, there is a fire worse than all others, the burning of the Lord, a fire that descends to the bottomless pit, and the smoke of which has been seen. Behold it kindling in the camp of Israel. It had indignation in it; it was a consuming fire, lighted up in the righteous displeasure of heaven, its fuel the bodies of transgressors themselves. Tile people complained. What then? It displeased the Lord; and His anger was kindled; and the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed them in the uttermost parts of the camp. There was no flying from it, it was a city in flames from its utmost extremities. Who can run from the presence of the Lord? How affecting this? It may be conceived, kindled by lightning from the cloud that had guided them, darting in angry form, and with the voice of the Almighty, in thunders impatient to be gone. Who can stand before the indignation of the Lord? who can abide His anger when the gathering storm of His displeasure breaks forth? His favour, what man that regards his life would not entreat? His wrath, what man that fears His power would not deprecate? He is to us, as what we are to Him--sinners or saints. This judgment had in it everything awful--cut off from all share in the promises, slain by the power that had kept them alive, and left heaps of wrath in the very way to life. (W. Seaton.)
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 On v1 Numbers 11
THE STRAIN OF THE DESERT JOURNEY
Numbers 11
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THE narrative has accompanied the march of Israel but a short way from the mount of God to some spot marked for an encampment by the ark of the covenant, and already complaining has to be told of, and the swift judgment of those who complained. The Israelites have made a reservation in their covenant with God, that though obedience and trust are solemnly promised, yet leave shall be taken to murmur against His providence. They will have God for their Protector, they will worship Him; but let Him make their life smooth. Much has had to be borne which they did not anticipate; and they grumble and speak evil.
Generally men do not realise that their murmuring is against God. They have no intention to accuse His providence. It is of other men they complain, who come in their way; of accidents, so called, for which no one-seems to be responsible; of regulations, well enough meant, which at some point prove vexatious; the obtuseness and carelessness of those who undertake but do not perform. And there does seem to be a great difference between displeasure with human agents whose follies and failures provoke us, and discontent with our own lot and its trials. At the same time, this has to be kept in view, that while we carefully refrain from criticising Providence, there may be, underlying our complaints, a tacit opinion that the world is not well made nor well ordered. To a certain extent the persons who irritate us are responsible for their mistakes; but just among those who are prone to err our discipline has been appointed. To gird at them is as much a revolt against the Creator as to complain of the heat of summer or the winter cold. With our knowledge of what the world is, of what our fellow-creatures are, should go the perception that God rules everywhere and stands against us when we resent what, in His world, we have to do or to suffer. He is against those who fail in duty also. Yet it is not for us to be angry. Our due will not be withheld. Even when we suffer most it is still offered, still given. While we endeavour to remedy the evils we feel, it must be without a thought that the order appointed by the Great King fails us at any point.
The punishment of those who complained is spoken of as swift and terrible. "The fire of the Lord burnt among them, and devoured in the uttermost part of the camp." This judgment falls under a principle assumed throughout the whole book, that disaster must overtake transgressors, and conversely that death by pestilence, earthquake, or lightning is invariably a result of sin. For the Israelites this was one of the convictions that maintained a sense of moral duty and of the danger of offending God. Again and again in the wilderness, where thunderstorms were common and plagues spread rapidly, the impression was strongly confirmed that the Most High observed everything that was done against His will. The journey to Canaan brought in this way a new experience of God to those who had been accustomed to the equable conditions of climate and the comparative health enjoyed in Egypt. The moral education of the people advanced by the quickening of conscience in regard to all that befell Israel.
From the disaster at Taberah the narrative passes to another phase of complaint in which the whole camp was involved. The dissatisfaction began amongst the "mixed multitude"-that somewhat lawless crowd of low-caste Egyptians and people of the Delta and the wilderness who attached themselves to the host. Among them first, because they had absolutely no interest in Israels hope, a disposition to quarrel with their circumstances would naturally arise. But the spirit of dissatisfaction grew apace, and the burden of the new complaint was: "We have nought but this manna to look to." The part of the desert into which the travellers had now penetrated was even more sterile than Midian. Hitherto the food had been varied somewhat by occasional fruits and the abundant milk of kine and goats. But pasturage for the cattle was scanty in the wilderness of Paran, and there were no trees of any kind. Appetite found nothing that was refreshing. Their soul was dried away.
It was a common belief in our Lords time that the manna, falling from heaven, very food of the angels, had been so satisfying, so delicious, that no people could have been more favoured than those who ate of it. When Christ spoke of the meat which endureth unto eternal life, the thought of His hearers immediately turned to the manna as the special gift of God to their fathers, and they conceived an expectation that Jesus would give them that bread of heaven, and so prove Himself worthy of their faith. But He replied, "Moses gave you not that bread out of heaven, but My Father giveth you the true bread out of heaven. I am the Bread of Life."
In the course of time the manna had been, so to speak, glorified. It appeared to the later generations one of the most wonderful and impressive things recorded in the whole history of their nation, this provision made for the wandering host. There was the water from the rock, and there was the manna. What a benignant Providence had watched over the tribes! How bountiful God had been to the people in the old days! They longed for a sign of the same kind. To enjoy it would restore their faith and put them again in the high position which had been denied for ages.
But these notions are not borne out by the history as we have it in the passage under notice. Nothing is said about angels food-that is a poetical expression which a psalmist used in his fervour. Here we read, as to the coming of the manna, that when the dew fell upon the camp at night the manna fell upon it, or with it. And so far from the people being satisfied, they complained that instead of the fish and onions, cucumbers and melons of Egypt, they had nothing but manna to eat. The taste of it is described as like that of fresh oil. In Exodus it is said to have resembled wafers mixed with honey. It was not the privilege of the Israelites in the wilderness but their necessity to live on this somewhat cloying food. In no sense can it be called ideal. Nevertheless, complaining about it, they were in serious fault, betraying the foolish expectation that on the way to liberty they should have no privations. And their discontent with the manna soon became alarming to Moses. A sort of hysteria spread through the camp. Not the women only, but the men at the doors of their tents bewailed their hard lot. There was a tempest of tears and cries.
God, through His providence, determining for men, carrying out His own designs for their good, does not allow them to keep in the region of the usual and of mere comfort. Something is brought into their life which stirs the soul. In new hope they begin an enterprise the course and end of which they cannot foresee. The conventional, the pleasant, the peace and abundance of Egypt, can be no longer enjoyed if the soul is to have its own. By Moses Jehovah summoned the Israelites from the land of plenty to fulfil a high mission and when they responded, it was so far a proof that there was in them spirit enough for an uncommon destiny. But for the accomplishment of it they had to be nerved and braced by trial. Their ordeal was that mortifying of the flesh and of sensuous desire which must be undergone if the hopes through which the mind becomes conscious of the will of God are to be fulfilled.
In our personal history God, reaching us by His word, enlightening us with regard to the true ends of our being, calls us to begin a journey which has no earthly terminus and promises no earthly reward. We may be quite sure that we have not yet responded to His call if there is nothing of the wilderness in our life, no hardship, no adventure, no giving up of what is good in a temporal sense for what is good in a spiritual sense. The very essence of the design of God concerning a man is that he leave the lower and seek the higher, that he deny himself that which according to the popular view is his life, in order to seek a remote and lofty goal. There will be duty that calls for faith, that needs hope and courage. In doing it he will have recurring trials of his spirit, necessities of self-discipline, stern difficulties of choice and action. Every one of these he must face.
What is wrong with many lives is that they have no strain in them as of a desert journey towards a heavenly Canaan, the realisation of spiritual life. Adventure, when it is undertaken, is often for the sake of getting fish and melons and cucumbers by-and-by in greater abundance and of better kinds. Many live hardly just now, not because they are on the way to spiritual freedom and the high destiny of life in God, but because they believe themselves to be on the way to better social position, to wealth or honour. But take the life that has begun its high enterprise at the urgency of a Divine vocation, and that life will find hardness, deprivations, perils, of its own. It is not given to us to be absolutely certain in decision and endeavour. Out in the wilderness, even when manna is provided, and the pillar of cloud seems to show the way, the people of God are in danger of doubting whether they have done wisely, whether they have not taken too much upon themselves or laid too much upon the Lord. The Israelites might have said, We have obeyed God: why, then, should the sun smite us with burning heat, and the dust-storms sweep down upon our march, and the night fall with so bitter a chill? Interminable toil, in travelling, in attending to cattle and domestic duties, in pitching tents and striking them, gathering fuel, searching far and wide through the camp for food, helping the children, carrying the sick and aged, toil that did not cease till far into the night and had to be resumed with early morning-such, no doubt, were the things that made life in the wilderness irksome. And although many now have a lighter burden, yet our social life, adding new difficulties with every improvement, our domestic affairs, the continual struggle necessary in labour and business, furnish not a few causes of irritation and of bitterness. God does not remove annoyances out of the way even of His devoted servants. We remember how Paul was vexed and burdened while carrying the worlds thought on into a new day. We remember what a weight the infirmities and treacheries of men laid upon the heart of Christ.
Let us thank God if we feel sometimes across the wilderness a breeze from the hills of the heavenly Canaan, and now and then catch glimpses of them far away. But the manna may seem flat and tasteless, nevertheless; the road may seem long; the sun may scorch. Tempted to despond, we need afresh to assure ourselves that God is faithful who has given us His promise. And although we seem to be led not towards the heavenly frontier, but often aside through close defiles into some region more barren and dismal than we have yet crossed, doubt is not for us. He knoweth the way that we take; when He has tried us, we shall come forth where He appoints.
From the people we turn to Moses and the strain he had to bear as leader. Partly it was due to his sense of the wrath of God against Israel. To a certain extent he was responsible for those he led, for nothing he had done was apart from his own will. The enterprise was laid on him as a duty certainly; yet he undertook it freely. Such as the Israelites were, with that mixed multitude among them, a dangerous element enough, Moses had personally accepted the leadership of them. And now the murmuring, the lusting, the childish weeping, fall upon him. He feels that he must stand between the people and Jehovah. The behaviour of the multitude vexes him to the soul; yet he must take their part, and avert, if possible, their condemnation.
The position is one in which a leader of men often finds himself. Things are done which affront him personally, yet he cannot turn against the wayward and unbelieving, for, if he did, the cause would be lost. The Divine judgment of the transgressors falls on him all the more because they themselves are unaware of it. The burden such a one has to sustain points directly to the sin-bearing of Christ. Wounded to the soul by the wrongdoing of men, He had to interpose between them and the stroke of the law, the judgment of God. And may not Moses be said to be a type of Christ? The parallel may well be drawn; yet the imperfect mediation of Moses fell far short of the perfect mediation of our Lord. The narrative here reflects that partial knowledge of the Divine character which made the mediation of Moses human and erring for all its greatness.
For one thing Moses exaggerated his own responsibility. He asked of God: "Why hast Thou evil entreated Thy servant? Why dost Thou lay the burden of all this people upon me? Am I their father? Am I to carry the whole multitude as a father carries his young child in his bosom?" These are ignorant words, foolish words. Moses is responsible, but not to that extent. It is fit that he should be grieved when the Israelites do wrong, but not proper that he should charge God with laying on him the duty of keeping and carrying them like children. He speaks unadvisedly with his lips.
Responsibility of those who endeavour to lead others has its limits; and the range of duty is bounded in two ways-on the one hand by the responsibility of men for themselves, on the other hand by Gods responsibility for them, Gods care of them. Moses should see that no law or ordinance makes him chargeable with the childish lamentations of those who know they should not complain, who ought to be manly and endure with stout hearts. If persons who can go on their own feet want to be carried, no one is responsible for carrying them. It is their own fault when they are left behind. If those who can think and discover duty for themselves, desire constantly to have it pointed out to them, crave daily encouragement in doing their duty, and complain because they are not sufficiently considered, the leader, like Moses, is not responsible. Every man must bear his own burden-that is, must bear the burden of duty, of thought, of effort, so far as his ability goes.
Then, on the other side, the power of God is beneath all, His care extends over all. Moses ought not for a moment to doubt Jehovahs mindfulness of His people. Men who hold office in society or the Church are never to think that their effort is commensurate with Gods. Proud indeed he would be who said: "The care of all these souls lies on me: if they are to be saved, I must save them; if they perish, I shall be chargeable with their blood." Speaking ignorantly and in haste, Moses went almost that length; but his error is not to be repeated. The charge of the Church and of the world is Gods; and He never fails to do for all and for each what is right. The teacher of men, the leader of affairs, with full sympathy and indefatigable love, is to do all he can, yet never trench on the responsibility of men for their own life, or assume to himself the part of Providence.
Moses made one mistake and went on to another. He was on the whole a man of rare patience and meekness; yet on this occasion he spoke to Jehovah in terms of daring resentment. His cry was to get rid of the whole enterprise: "If Thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray Thee, out of hand, and let me not see my wretchedness." He seemed to himself to have this work to do and no other, apparently imagining that if he was not competent for this, he could be of no use in the world. But even if he had failed as a leader, highest in office, he might have been fit enough for a secondary place, under Joshua or some other whom God might inspire: this he failed to see. And although he was bound up in Israels well-being, so that if the expedition did not prosper he had no wish to live, and was so far sincerely patriotic, yet what good end could his death serve? The desire to die shows wounded pride. Better live on and turn shepherd again. No man is to despise his life, whatever it is, however it may seem to come short of the high ambition he has cherished as a servant of God and men. Discovering that in one line of endeavour he cannot do all he would, let him make trial of others, not pray for death.
The narrative represents God as dealing graciously with his erring servant. Help was provided for him by the appointment of seventy elders, who were to share the task of guiding and controlling the tribes. These seventy were to have a portion of the leaders spirit-zeal and enthusiasm like his own. Their influence in the camp would prevent the faithlessness and dejection which threatened to wreck the Hebrew enterprise. Further, the murmuring of the people was to be effectually silenced. Flesh was to be given them till they loathed it. They should learn that the satisfaction of ignorant desire meant punishment rather than pleasure.
The promise of flesh was speedily fulfilled by an extraordinary flight of quails, brought up, according to the seventy-eighth Psalm, by a wind which blew from the south and east-that is, from the Elanitic Gulf. These quails cannot sustain themselves long on the wing, and after crossing the desert some thirty or forty miles they would scarcely be able to fly. The enormous numbers of them which fluttered around the camp are not beyond ordinary possibility. Fowls of this kind migrate at certain seasons in such enormous multitudes that in the small island of Capri, near Naples, one hundred and sixty thousand have been netted in one season. When exhausted, they would easily be taken as they flew at a height of about two cubits above the ground. The whole camp was engaged in capturing quails from one morning to the evening of the following day; and the quantity was so great that he who gathered least had ten homers, probably a heap estimated to be of that measure. To keep them for further use the birds were prepared and spread on the ground to dry in the sun.
When the epidemic of weeping broke out through the camp, the doubt occurred to Moses whether there was any spiritual quality in the people, any fitness for duty or destiny of a religious kind. They seemed to be all unbelievers on whom the goodness of God and the sacred instruction had been wasted. They were earthly and sensual. How could they ever trust God enough to reach Canaan?-or if they reached it, how would their occupation of it be justified? They would but form another heathen nation, all the worse that they had once known the true God and had abandoned Him. But a different view of things was presented to Moses when the chosen elders, men of worth, were gathered at the tent of meeting, and on a sudden impulse of the Spirit began to prophesy. As these men in loud and ecstatic language proclaimed their faith, Moses found his confidence in Jehovahs power and in the destiny of Israel re-established. His mind was relieved at once of the burden of responsibility and the dread of an extinction of the heavenly light he had been the means of kindling among the tribes. If there were seventy men capable of receiving the Spirit of God, there might be hundreds, even thousands. A spring of new enthusiasm is opened, and Israels future is again possible.
Now there were two men, Eldad and Medad, who were of the seventy, but had not come to the tent of meeting, where the prophetic spirit fell upon the rest. They had not heard the summons, we may suppose. Unaware of what was taking place at the tabernacle, yet realising the honour conferred upon them, they were perhaps engaged in ordinary duties, or, having found some need for their interference, they may have been rebuking murmurers and endeavouring to restore order among the unruly. And suddenly they also, under the same influence as the other sixty-eight, began to prophesy. The spirit of earnestness caught them. With the same ecstasy they declared their faith and praised the God of Israel.
There was in one sense a limitation of the spirit of prophecy, whatever it was. Of all the host only the seventy received it. Other good men and true in Israel that day might have seemed as capable of the heavenly endowment as those who prophesied. It was, however, in harmony with a known principle that the men designated to special office alone received the gift. The sense of a choice felt to be that of God does unquestionably exalt the mind and spirit of those chosen. They realise that they stand higher and must do more for God and men than others, that they are inspired to say what otherwise they could not dare to say. The limitation of the Spirit in this sense is not invariable, is not strict. At no time in the worlds history has the call to office been indispensable to prophetic fervour and courage. Yet the sequence is sufficiently common to be called a law.
But while in a sense there is restriction of the spiritual influence, in another sense there is no restraint. The Divine afflatus is not confined to those who have gathered at the tabernacle. It is not place or occasion that makes the prophets; it is the Spirit, the power from on high entering into life; and out in the camp the two have their portion of the new energy and zeal. Spiritual influence, then, is not confined to any particular place. Neither was the neighbourhood of the tabernacle so holy that there alone the elders could receive their gift; nor is any place of meeting, any church, capable of such consecration and singular identification with the service of God that there alone the power of the Divine Spirit can be manifested or received. Let there be a man chosen of God, ready, for the duties of a holy calling, and on that man the Spirit will come, wherever he is, in whatever he is engaged. He may be employed in common work, but in doing it he will be moved to earnest service and testimony. He may be labouring, under great difficulties, to restore the justice that has been impaired by social errors and political chicanery-and his words will be prophetic; he will be a witness for God to those who are without faith, without holy fear.
While Eldad and Medad prophesied in the camp, a young man who heard them ran officiously to inform Moses. To this young man as to others-for no doubt there were many who loved and revered the usual-the two elders were presumptuous fools. The camp was, as we say, secular: was it not? People in the camp looked after ordinary affairs, tended their cattle, chaffered and bargained, quarrelled about trifles, murmured against Moses and against God. Was it right to prophesy there, carrying religious words and ideas into the midst of common life? If Eldad and Medad could prophesy, let them go to the tabernacle. And besides, what right had they to speak for Jehovah, in Jehovahs name? Was not Moses the prophet, the only prophet? Israel was accustomed to think him so, would keep to that opinion. It would be confusing if at any ones tent door a prophet might begin to speak without warning. So the young man thought it his duty to run and tell Moses what was taking place. And Joshua, when he heard, was alarmed, and desired Moses to put an end to the irregular ministry. "My lord Moses, forbid them," he said. He was jealous not for himself and the other elders, but for Moses sake. So far the leader alone held communication with Jehovah and spoke in His name; and there was perhaps some reason for the alarm of Joshua, more than was apparent at the time. To have one central authority was better and safer than to have many persons using the right to speak in any sense for God. Who could be sure that these new voices would agree with Moses in every respect? Even if they did, might there not be divisions in the camp, new priesthoods as well as new oracles? Prophets might not be always wise, always truly inspired. And there might be false prophets by-and-by, even if Eldad and Medad were not false.
In like manner it might be argued now that there is danger when one here and another there assume authority as revealers of the truth of things. Some, full of their own wisdom, take high ground as critics and teachers of religion. Others imagine that with the right to wear a certain dress there has come to them the full equipment of the prophet. And others still, remembering how Elijah and John the Baptist arrayed themselves in coarse cloth and leathern girdle, assume that garb, or what corresponds to it, and claim to have the prophetic gift because they express the voice of the people. So in our days there is a question whether Eldad or Medad, prophesying in the camp, ought to be trusted or even allowed to speak. But who is to decide? Who is to take upon him to silence the voices? The old way was rough and ready. All who were in office in a certain Church were commissioned to interpret Divine mysteries; the rest were ordered to be silent on pain of imprisonment. Those who did not teach as the Church taught, under her direction, were made offenders against the public wellbeing. That way, however, has been found wanting, and "liberty of prophesying" is fully allowed. With the freedom there have come difficulties and dangers enough. Yet to "try the spirits whether they are of God" is our discipline on the way to life.
The reply of Moses to Joshuas request anticipates, in no small degree, the doctrine of liberty. "Art thou jealous for my sake? Would God that all the Lords people were prophets, and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them." His answer is that of a broad and magnanimous toleration. Moses cannot indeed have believed that great religious truths were in the reach of every man, and that any earnest soul might receive and communicate those truths. But his conception of a people of God is like that in the prophecy of Joel, where he speaks of all flesh being endued with the Spirit, the old men and young men, the sons and daughters, alike made able to testify of what they have seen and heard. The truly great man entertains no jealousy of others. He delights to see in other eyes the flash of heavenly intelligence, to find other souls made channels of Divine revelation. He would have no monopoly in knowledge and sacred prophecy. Moses had instituted an exclusive priesthood; but here he sets the gate of the prophetical office wide open. All whom God endows are declared free in Israel to use that office.
We can only wonder that still any order of men should try in the name of the Church to shut the mouths of those who approve themselves reverent students of the Divine Word. At the same time let it not be forgotten that the power of prophesying is no chance gift, no easy faculty. He who is to speak on Gods behalf must indeed know the mind of God. How can one claim the right to instruct others who has never opened his mind to the Divine voice, who has not reverently compared Scripture with Providence and all the phases of revelation that are unfolded in conscience and human life? Men who draw a narrow circle and keep their thoughts within it can never become prophets.
The closing verses of the chapter tell of the plague that fell on the lustful, and the burial of those who died of it, in a place thence called Kibrothhattaavah. The people had their desire, and it brought judgment upon them. Here in Israels history a needful warning is written; but how many read without understanding! And so, every day the same plague is claiming its victims, and "graves of lust" are dug. The preacher still finds in this portion of Scripture a subject that never ceases to claim treatment, let social conditions be what they may.
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.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 Num_11:1. “And when the people complained,” etc. Margin: “the…
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
Num_11:1. “And when the people complained,” etc. Margin: “the people were, as it were, complainers.” Speaker’s Comm.: “And the people were as those that complain of evil in the ears of the Lord.”
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Fire of Jehovah: “a fire sent by Jehovah, but not proceeding directly from Him, or bursting forth from the cloud, as in Lev_10:2. Whether it was kindled through a flash of lightning, or in some other such way, cannot be more exactly determined.”—Keil and Del.
And consumed in the uttermost parts of the camp. The words supplied by the translators of the A.V. are unnecessary. Keil and Del.: “And ate at the end of the camp.” The fire did not proceed far into the camp.
Num_11:3. Taberah, i.e., burning or place of burning. Not the name of a station; but the local name given to that part of the camp where the fire broke out. The station was called Kibroth-Hattaavah, because of the more dreadful judgment which the people incurred by their renewed murmurings.
Num_11:4. The mixt multitude. Heb., Hasaphsuph, “a number of people gathered together from all quarters: rabble.”—Fuerst. “The word resembles our ‘riff-raff,’ and denotes a mob of people scraped together.”—Speaker’s Comm. See Exo_12:38. “The words ‘they wept again’ point back to the former complaints of the people respecting the absence of flesh in the desert of Sin (Exo_16:2 sqq.), although there is nothing said about their weeping there. By the flesh which they missed, we are not to understand either the fish which they expressly mention in the following verse (as in Lev_11:11), or merely oxen, sheep, and goats; but the word בָּשָׂר signifies flesh generally, as being a better kind of food than the bread-like manna.”—Keil and Del.
Num_11:5. We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely. Instead of “freely,” Keil and Del. translate, “for nothing.” Fish were so abundant in the Nile and neighbouring waters that they could be purchased at very low prices.
The cucumbers of Egypt are abundant and distinguished for softness and sweet flavour.
The melons: By the Hebrew word abatichim, we are probably to understand both melons and water-melons. They are largely cultivated in Egypt, and are sold so cheaply that they are used both by rich and poor, and much appreciated for their refreshing juice. The water-melon is said to “serve the Egyptians for meat, drink, and physic.”
The leeks were from the earliest times a very favourite vegetable with the Egyptians, as both a nourishing and savoury food.
The onions from time immemorial have been a favourite article of food amongst the Egyptians. They flourish greatly in Egypt, are mild and pleasant in flavour, and are unsurpassed as to their quality.
Garlick, an important, article of food amongst Egyptian workmen. All these things were refreshing and pleasant, and were plentiful and cheap in Egypt.
Num_11:6. There is nought at all, etc. “Heb., ‘Nought at all have we except that our eyes are unto this manna;’ i.e., ‘Nought else have we to expect beside this manna.’ Cf. on the phrase, ‘to have the eyes towards,’ Psa_25:15.”—Speaker’s Comm.
Num_11:7-9. On the manna see Exodus 16. The description of it seems to be inserted parenthetically in this place to show the unreasonableness of the people in murmuring because of it.
Num_11:10. Weep throughout their families; the week prevailed amongst the entire people.
Every man in the door of his tent; the weeping was unconcealed and open.
Num_11:17. I will take of the spirit which is upon thee. “Render rather separate from the spirit, etc.; i.e., they shall have their portion in the same Divine gift which thou hast.”—Speaker’s Comm.
Num_11:25. The Lord came down in a cloud; i.e., the cloud of the Divine presence, which soared on high above the Tabernacle, came down to the door of it. (Comp. Num_12:5; Exo_33:9.)
They prophesied, does not mean that they foretold future events, but that inspired by the Holy Spirit, in an exalted state of mind, they poured forth the praise of God or declared His will.
And did not cease, is incorrect. It should be, and did not add; i.e., they prophesied at this time only. This sign was given as a proof that God had called them to assist Moses, and had given them authority in their office.
Num_11:26. Eldad and Medad were enrolled amongst the seventy, but for some reason they remained in the camp, and did not come to the Tabernacle.
Num_11:31. A wind from the Lord, i.e., an extraordinary wind, not the effect of a natural cause. The wind was from the south-east (Psa_78:26).
Quails. The common quails. “The whole description answers to the well-known habits of these birds, and the Arabic name for them is even now Salwa. In the spring they migrate northwards from Africa, and living low, especially when wearied, are taken or come to ground in immense multitudes.”—Alford.
As it were two cubits high upon, etc. The LXX, the Vulgate, and Josephus, explain this as referring to the height at which the quails flew above the ground, in their exhausted condition from their long flight. Vulg.: Vola-bant in aere duobus cubitibus altitudine super terram. But that this interpretation is correct is very questionable: “for נָטַשּׁ עַל הַמַּחֲנֶה does not mean to cause to fly or spread out over the camp, but to throw over or upon the camp. The words cannot therefore be understood in any other way than in Psa_78:27-28, viz., that the wind threw them about over the camp, so that they fell upon the ground a day’s journey on either side of it, and that in such numbers that they lay, of course not for the whole distance mentioned, but in places about the camp, as much as two cubits deep.”—Keil and Del.
Num_11:32. Ten homers. The homer was ten ephahs. But there is considerable uncertainty as to the absolute capacity of these measures. The Speaker’s Comm. says, “The homer must have been something above five-and-a-half bushels.”
And they spread them all abroad, etc., for the purpose of drying them, as the Egyptians are said to dry both quails and fish (see Herod. ii. 77).
Num_11:33. The Lord smote the people, etc. “The plague with which God smote the people is to be regarded, as are miracles in many other cases, as a Divine interference enhancing a preexisting cause. The surfeit in which the people indulged, of itself disposed them to sickness. God’s wrath, visiting the gluttonous through their gluttony, aggravated natural consequences into a supernatural visitation.”—Speaker’s Comm.
Num_11:34. Kibroth-Hattaavah; i.e., the graves of lust, or graves of greediness. “From there being no change of spot mentioned between it and Taberah in Num_11:3, it is probably like the latter about three days’ journey from Sinai (Num_10:33.); and from the sea being twice mentioned in the course of the narrative (Num_11:22; Num_11:31), a maritime proximity may perhaps be inferred. If the conjecture of Hudhera as a site for Hazeroth be adopted, then the ‘graves of lust’ may be perhaps within a day’s journey thence in the direction of Sinai, and would lie within fifteen miles of the Gulf of Akabah.”—Smith’s Dict. of the Bible.
Num_11:35. Hazeroth. The word means simply the enclosures. But “topographically it is a village; generally a Bedouin village, such as are formed of tent-cloths, spread over stone walls.”—Stanley, S. and P. Fuerst gives its meaning in this place as hamlets. The difficulty of identifying the locality is increased by the fact that the names of many places are compounded with חָצֵר Perhaps Hazeroth is identical with Hudhera, which lies about eighteen hours’ distance from Sinai on the road to the Akabah (see Stanley, S. and P., pp. 81, 82). Keil and Del. say concerning Kibroth—Hattaavah and Hazeroth: “The situation of these two places of encampment is altogether unknown.”
TABERAH AND ITS TEACHINGS
(Num_11:1-3).
In this brief record of the sin of Israel and the judgment of God at Taberah, the following points claim consideration.
I. Man sinning against the goodness of God.
“And the people complained,” etc. Or, “And the people were as those that complain of evil in the ears of the Lord.” No particular ground or reason of complaint is mentioned by the historian. It is probable that they murmured because of the privations of the march through the wilderness. Or it may have been, as Matthew Henry suggests, “that those who complained did not all agree in the cause. Some perhaps complained that they were removed from Mount Sinai, where they had been at rest so long; others that they did not remove sooner; some complained of the weather, others of the ways; some perhaps thought three days journey was too long a march, others thought it not long enough, because it did not bring them into Canaan.” In so doing they sinned against the great goodness of God. He had emancipated them from a miserable bondage by marvellous and mighty deeds; He had given to them most excellent laws; He was graciously supplying their wants, guiding their movements and guarding their interests; and He had promised them a glorious land as their inheritance. Fervent thanksgiving should have engaged their hearts and voices, and not mean murmuring. Their complaining was a sin against the great kindness of the Lord. Base was their ingratitude. Amidst present inconveniences we are all too prone to overlook past and present mercies, and to complain as though we were receiving ill-treatment at the hands of the Lord. This is a great evil; it comprises ingratitude, unbelief, rebellion against God. (a)
II. God recognising the sin of man.
“And the Lord heard, and his anger was kindled,” &c.
1. He knew the sin. They “complained in the ears of the Lord.” “And the Lord heard.” There is 10 voice of man that escapes His ear. Every cry of blasphemy, every murmur of unbelief, every matter of rebellion against Him every whisper of evil conspiracy, is distinctly audible to Him. Words and thoughts, deeds and purposes, are all known to Him.
2. He was angry because of the sin. “And His anger was kindled.” To the Lord sin is the abominable thing which He hates. His anger burns like an intense and unquenchable fire against sin.
3. He manifested His anger because of the sin. “And the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed in the uttermost parts of the camp.” Or, “So that fire of Jehovah burned against them, and ate at the end of the camp.”
(1.) The manifestation of His anger was unmistakeable. In whatsoever way the fire was kindled, there was no doubt in the minds of the people as to its being an expression of the wrath of God because of their sin. Their appeal to Moses is evidence of this. God has not left us in any uncertainty as to His hatred of evil. The stern penalties which are annexed to transgression, and the clear testimony of history as to the connexion of sin with suffering, loss, and ruin, are conclusive on the matter.
(2.) The manifestation of his anger was restrained. The fire of Jehovah burnt only in “the end of the camp.” In wrath He remembered mercy.
III. Suffering men seeking the intercession of the good.
“And the people cried unto Moses.”
1. This is very common. It was common with the Israelites. “When He slew them, then they sought Him; and they returned and enquired early after God.” “Those that slight God’s friends when they are in prosperity would be glad to make them their friends when they are in distress. ‘Father Abraham, send Lazarus.’ ”
2. This is sometimes very mean. It was so with the Israelites in the wilderness. They were painfully, terribly prone to the most shameful rebellion; and then when the consequences of their sin came upon them, like base slaves, they hastened to entreat Moses to intercede with God for them. Pharaoh is a notable example of this mean spirit and conduct (see Exo_8:8; Exo_9:27-35; Exo_10:16-17).
“When men in health against physicians rail. They should consider that their nerves may fail;
Nay, when the world can nothing more produce,
The priest, the insulted priest, may have his use.” Crabbe.
IV. The intercession of the good resulting in blessing to men.
“And when Moses prayed unto the Lord, the fire was quenched.” See hero—
1. The great mercy of God. “Thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive, and plenteous in mercy,” etc. “He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth Him of the evil.”
2. The great efficacy of prayer. In answer to the prayer of Moses the fire of Jehovah was quenched. Comp. Jas_5:16-18. Tennyson says beautifully—
“Prayer, A breath that fleets beyond this iron world And touches Him that made it.” (b)
3. The distinguishing power of a good man to benefit his race. We may approach God in prayer on behalf of others. The power of intercession with God is the greatest power conferred on the good man; and by its exercise he may confer the richest blessings upon mankind. Comp. Gen_18:23-33; Job_8:20; Heb_7:25. (c)
V. The employment of a transient judgment as a permanent warning.
“And he called the name of the place Taberah, because the fire of the Lord burnt among them.” The new name was a memorial of the sin and shame of the people, and of the judgment and mercy of the Lord; it has been a monitor to all succeeding ages, uttering its solemn warning against sin, and especially against the sin of ungratefully and unbelievingly complaining against the arrangements of God. Comp. 1Co_10:10-11.
Let us heed the warning, and shun the sin.
ILLUSTRATIONS
(a) I think we are too ready with complaint
In this fair world of God’s. Had we no hope,
Indeed beyond the zenith and the slope
Of you grey bank of sky, we might grow faint
To muse upon eternity’s constraint
Round our aspirant souls. But since the scope
Must widen early, is it well to droop
For a few days consumed in loss and taint?
O pusillanimous heart! be comforted,
And, like a cheerful traveller, take the road,
Singing beside the hedge. What if the bread
Be bitter in thine inn, and thou unshod
To meet the flints?—At least it may be said,
“Because the way is short, I thank Thee,
God.”
Elizabeth B. Browning,
As it frequently happens that many persons in easy circumstances, or who have many comfortable things, are notwithstanding very discontented; it would be well for some friend thus to reason with them: “Have you ever compared your situation with those who hardly ever see the sun, but live confined in tin mines, stone quarries, and coal-pits? Before you think yourself miserable, walk through the wards of an hospital; think of the galley slave, and the day labourer; reflect upon the condition of many large, poor families who have continued distress or sickness. Many are often witnesses to scenes even more wretched than these, where to poverty, cold, and nakedness, are added the languors of lingering and loathsome diseases and the torments of excruciating pain.” Now let those who are miserable among many mercies, return as it were from these sad scenes to their closets, gratefully acknowledge the goodness of God in exempting them from so many real ills, which so many labour under, and instead of spending their hours brooding over their own imaginary evils, let them be continually cheerful happy, and thankful.—Gleanings.
(b) What has prayer done? According to it history as given in this Book, it has conquered the elements, it has healed the diseased, it has put armies to flight, it has restored life, it has sent back the angel of death when he has shown his face in the dwelling, it has brought down angels, and it has changed the hearts of men, even hearts the most stubborn. Prayer! It does move the fingers which create, and which have created, and doubtless still creates. Prayer! It does move the hand, as is often said, which moves the world.—Samuel Martin.
(c) O priceless grace! if thou, O believer, knowest how to ask by faith, thou mayest hand out to thy brethren wealth more precious than the gold of Ophir; for intercession is the key to the ivory palaces wherein are contained the boundless treasures of God. Saints in intercession reach a place where angels cannot stand. Those holy beings rejoice over penitent sinners, but we do not read of their being admitted as suppliants for the saints. Yet we, imperfect as we are, have this favour, we are permitted to open our mouth before the Lord for the sick and for the tried, for the troubled and for the downcast, with the assurance that whatsoever we shall ask in prayer believing we shall receive.—C. H. Spurgeon.
Our power to help and bless each other is, primarily and pre-eminently, the power of prayer. We can aid each other by gifts of our worldly goods; we can aid each other by words of instruction, correction and consolation; we can help each other by the influence of good example, and by services so numerous and various that it is almost impossible to classify and describe them; but above all these ministrations is the intercession of a true Christian. Prayer, brethren, directs and impels to other services of love. Prayer secures the efficiency and success of all other ministrations, while prayer is independent of time, independent of place, independent of temporal circumstances, independent of a man’s bodily condition, and independent of a man’s worldly estate. Prayer, too, appeals to the fountain of good, and to the Father of mercies; and if God be true (and let God be true, and every man a liar) it fills the channel of blessing sometimes even to overflowing. Let Christians say to each other, “Brother, whatever you withold from me, deny me not your prayers; whatever you may give to me, crown all your gifts by your prayers.”—Samuel Martin.
THE SUPREMACY OF THE SENSES OVER THE SOUL
(Num_11:4-6)
This portion of the history of Israel is clearly stated by Krummacher in a passage given in the Illustrations. (a)
Four preliminary remarks are suggested:
First: There is in unrenewed human nature an amazing and saddening proneness to sin. The fire of Jehovah, which had burnt amongst them as a judgment because of former sin, was scarcely quenched when they broke out afresh into sin. Only a very little time previously they were in their distress crying to Moses for mercy, and now they are again crying in rebellion against God. “No sooner is one murmuring ended,” says Babington, “but another begins. Obsta principiis, Stay beginnings, for then is sin weakest, and may best be snubbed and overcome. Let it enter in at the door, and get a little footing it will foil us, and we shall hardly get it out again. First will enter a bare cogitation, then a vehement imagination, after that a wicked delectation, and lastly a killing and damning consent, if God recover us not.”
Second: The cries for mercy which are made under the pressure of suffering are seldom followed by reformation of life. While the fire was consuming them they cried earnestly to Moses; but as soon as the fire was extinguished they returned to the sins which kindled it. Vows begotten of pain are generally ignored in ease and health. (b)
Third: We may be associated with the people oft God without possessing a godly spirit.
“The mixed multitute,” with whom the lusting and murmuring commenced, were not Israelites, but had joined themselves to them when they left Egypt, probably from selfish motives. They were utterly destitute of the true Israelitish spirit. Membership in the visible Church of Christ, and union with His true and spiritual Church, are by no means identical. Mere outward profession is spiritually worthless: nay, it is a lying semblance. Religious profession is valuable only as it is joined with holiness of heart and life. Comp. Rom_2:28-29; Rom_9:6-8; Gal_3:7; Gal_3:9; Tit_1:16.
Fourth: Sin is terribly contagious. The sin in this case began with the mixed multitude, but it speedily spread to the children of Israel. One evil character corrupts another. “Evil communications corrupt good manners.” “Observe,” says Trapp, “the danger of ill company. To converse with the ungodly, and not to learn their manners, is marvellously rare and difficult. A man may pass through Ethiopia unchanged; but he cannot dwell there and not be discoloured.” Wherefore, shun the society of the wicked. (c)
But it appears to us that the most conspicuous feature in this sad scene is the Supremacy of the Senses over the Soul. Let us glance at the characteristics of this supremacy which are here exhibited:
I. Unsatisfied Cravings.
“And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting.” Margin, as in Heb., “lusted a lust.” They were not satisfied with the provision which God had made for them. Where animal appetites are supreme, satisfaction is unattainable. Man will ever remain restless and unsatisfied until his animal appetites are controlled by spiritual principles. The senses must be governed by the soul, the lower nature by the higher, before man can find satisfaction and rest. While the senses are supreme in man they are never satisfied; soon as one lust is gratified, another grows clamorous for gratification. “The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.” “All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.”
II. Humiliating effeminacy.
“And the children of Israel wept again.”
Tears are of various kinds, and of these kinds many are beautiful and blessed.
“Tears! what are tears? The babe weeps in its cot,
The mother singing; at her marriage bell
The bride weeps; and before the oracle
Of high-faned hills, the poet hath forgot
That moisture on his cheeks. Commend the grace,
Mourners who weep! Albeit, as some have done,
To grope, tear-blinded, in a desert-place,
And touch but tombs—look up! These tears will run
Soon, in long rivers, down the lifted face,
And leave the vision clear for stars and sun.”
Elizabeth B. Browning.
But who shall commend these tears the children of Israel in the desert? Men and women generally weeping openly, because they could not obtain the particular kind of food which they desired! Weeping openly for cucumbers, melons, etc.! Pitiable spectacle! Such tears will never clear the vision for either stars or sun. Tears are revealers of character. Here they surely indicate the most deplorable weakness and waywardness of soul. We have spoken of “men and women weeping.” The expression is inaccurate; for this weeping host was composed of those who were men and women in body only, in soul they were pusillanimous children. A host of weeping weaklings and cowards! The supremacy of the senses in man is destructive of strength and heroism of spirit. Patience under privations, persistence in duty despite of difficulty, calm endurance of present suffering for the attainment of great good in the future—these are incompatible with the sovereignty of man’s lower nature. Such sovereignty is destructive of the noblest attributes of manhood. (d)
III. Daring unbelief.
“And said, who shall give us flesh to eat?” Cowards in the face of any difficulty or privation, yet they have the hardihood wickedly to challenge the ability of God. Thus the poet Asaph describes their conduct, “They tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust. Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? Behold, He smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can He give bread also? can He provide flesh for His people?” Their unbelief was the more inexcusable, the more guilty, because of the illustrious displays of the power of God which they had witnessed; and not of His power only, but also of His goodness to them. The supremacy of the senses tends to close the eye of the soul to the great verities of the spiritual universe, destroys the power of the soul for grasping those verities, leads to the conviction that the things which are apprehensible by the senses are the only real, trustworthy things. Carnality of mind tends directly first to the prostration and then to the destruction of the faith-faculty.
IV. Deplorable degradation.
“We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely,” etc. Their degradation appears,—
1. In what they remembered. “The fish, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks,” etc. To what a dreadful depth must human nature have fallen or sunk when its most vivid and treasured memories are of savoury dainties for the gratification of the palate! How inexpressibly mournful when to any one the meat is more than the life!
2. In what they forgot. The unspeakable degradation of their slavery in Egypt appears to be forgotten by them. The servitude at the brick-kilns, the severe oppressions of their cruel taskmasters, the intolerable insult and injury of slavery, are all lost sight of now that the gratification of their carnal appetite is denied them. Freedom seemed a poor thing in their eyes to be purchased at the cost of the denial of their senses. Alas, how sad is all this! But far more sad is it that this is a picture of what is widely prevalent in our own land and age. Education, books, music, religion, and even manhood, are regarded by immense numbers as utterly inferior to the animal pleasures of eating and drinking. The soul is engulfed in the stomach.
V. Decided Contempt of Divine Blessings.
“But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes.” Moses describes the nature, form, and taste of the manna, and the mode of its preparation, to show the unreasonableness of the people in despising it. The manna was
(1) Wholesome for health;
(2) Pleasant to the palate;
(3) Abundant in quantity; and
(4) Free of cost. “But the sweet bread of heaven wanted ‘the sharp and sour, which are required to give a stimulating flavour to the food of man, on account of his sinful, restless desires, and the incessant changes of his earthly life.’ In this respect the manna resembled the spiritual food supplied by the Word of God, of which the sinful heart of man may also speedily become weary, and turn to the more piquant productions of the spirit of the world.” When the senses are supreme, spiritual and divine things are rejected, while carnal and earthly things are eagerly pursued and heartily cherished.
Conclusion:
“The mind of the flesh is death; but the mind of the spirit is life and peace.” Submit not to the rule of the senses and passions of your nature. Let your spirit be the sovereign of your fleshly nature, and let God be supreme in your spirit. “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.”
ILLUSTRATIONS
(a) The people were now in a waste-howling wilderness. Nothing presented itself in the way of food, but that which descended from heaven, which lasted only for a day, and they had water only by a miracle from the rock that followed them. The eye was tired of resting upon the horrible uniformity of the boundless waste around it, which produced only here and there a solitary thorn or brier. Not a trace of any previous traveller. No pleasing sound delighted the ear. No turtledove cooed its melancholy note, no lark soared warbling aloft, as if to point the way to the repenting mind. Nothing but an occasional howl was heard. Sometimes a solitary pelican sounded its harsh and grating note, or the roar of hungry lions and the growls of bloodthirsty tigers and hyenas struck the ear from a distance, and excited a feeling of horror. The Israelites had been accustomed to something very different. In the pleasant land of Goshen the case had been otherwise—fruitfulness and pleasing scenery, fields, gardens, and meadows, rivers, and pools, abounded everywhere. Unhappily, they began to draw comparisons, and by these, an evil or a good is either made greater or less. If a great good is compared with one still greater, it loses in our estimation; and so it is with an evil. If we reflect that it might be much worse, it becomes more tolerable. Bat when the evil is compared with the opposite good, it becomes more grievous, even as black laid upon white appears still blacker. In hell, the rich glutton thought a drop of water a good blessing, who previously would not have esteemed the most costly wine as much. If the sight of the misery of Lazarus had contributed to increase his enjoyment when on earth, by comparing his own health and ease with it—so the sight of the glory he enjoyed in heaven must have increased his torment.
The children of Israel also drew a comparison. In the burning desert, they call to mind the cooling encumbers, and the juicy, pleasant, and well-flavoured water-melons. The thought of these things, it must be confessed, may well make the mouth water whilst traversing the burning sand. The Egyptian fish came also unfortunately to mind, as well as the savoury leeks, onions, and garlic. There they had them for nought—here nothing of the kind was to be had, even for its weight in gold.
Let us not be unjust towards them, but confess that the temptation was not a small one to flesh and blood. In one respect there was nothing sinful in the idea that they would gladly now have gathered up the melons which perhaps in Egypt they had trampled under foot, and have considered the fish as a dainty which there they disregarded. But this became sin to them, because they desired them in an inordinate, violent manner, and out of, nay, even in opposition to, the Divine order. What did they not lose sight of in doing so? Was not Canaan promised them, where they should have these things in abundance? Should they therefore refuse to wait a little longer, since in the course of a few days or weeks they might arrive there, seeing that they were travelling towards it, and had already accomplished more than half the distance—not considering that they were the people from whom was to come salvation, and out of whom a seed should rise up, in whom all the nations of the earth should be blessed—not considering that what they endured and were deprived of, would be to their own advantage, and that of the whole world—not reflecting that they were really not in want of any thing necessary. Did God, His guidance, His promise, and His will appear to them of so little value; and melons, onions, and garlic all to them? Was everything forgotten which had been done to them and for them? How disgustingly does their gloomy, earthly and carnal-mindedness manifest itself! They imagine themselves in extreme misery.—G. D. Krummacher.
(b) How often do we find such whom God hath beleaguered with an affliction, or planted His battery against by a disease, whom He seemed to have marked out for death, make covenants and promises for a future reformation, and of putting away their sin; whom yet, when He withdraws His terrors, and puts up His arrows, those ties do no more bind than the withes did Samson; but they arise, and go out, and do as at other times. While their backs smart under the rod, and they sit on the brink of the grave, their spirits stoop, their passions are broken, and the heat of them assuaged; their thoughts are humbled to sobriety. Then to be liberal of promises is an easy bounty; but when the storm is over, and they return to their former freedom and delight, in sensible converses, then are they restrained in performance, and rescind former engagements. The sighs of their sick bed, which they turned into penitent groans, are now vanished into air, and forgotten; the sad reflections on their former vanities, the serious recollection of their ways which they were reduced to, when the flesh sat uneasy upon them, and dwelt in sorrow, are now as little thought upon as the dolorous accents of their grief. When they are newly come out of the furnace, while the smell of fire is yet on them, they are scrupulous and tender. But it is as those who come out of a hot stove, that shrink from cold at first, but by degrees are brought to their former hardiness of temper. If the soul be not changed, though there may for a while some religious colour appear in the man’s face, he will at last return to his former habit.—Spiritual Bee.
(c) Sin is like the bale of goods which came from the east to this city in the olden time, which brought the pest in it. Probably it was but a small bale, but yet it contained in it the deaths of hundreds of the inhabitants of London. In those days one piece of rag carried the infection into a whole town. So, if you permit one sin or false doctrine in a church knowingly and wittingly, none can tell the extent to which that evil may ultimately go. The church, therefore, is to be purged of practical and doctrinal evil as diligently as possible. That sour and corrupting thing which God abhors must be purged out, and it is to be the business of the Christian minister and of all his fellow-helpers, to keep the church free from it. C. H. Spurgeon.
(d) The most terrible Scourges with which the east is afflicted in the way of disease are the fruits of gross living—eating as well as drinking—perhaps the first most. Men in those climates cannot bear it; students cannot in this. To keep a clear eye, a firm hand, a steady brain were more to Daniel than pleasures of the palate. I venture to say that no man has ever greatly distinguished himself whose body was not in firm control. It is not enough to follow nature and never be excessive; nature wants curbing, and unless young men take their bodies in hand, and compel them sometimes to abstain, and obey the mastery of the will, it is impossible to keep the body in due subjection, and make it the eager and rapid handmaid of the soul. Fasts are good things in youth, simply as a moral discipline; as a man training for a race abstains from all which might imperil his hope of a prize. The Romanists abuse them to superstitious ends, and the peril of doing so is great; therefore the Protestant churches, wisely, I think, leave them alone. But you must master the body; you must make its limbs to move to the music of temperance and chastity; and there are times when pulse and water will be the fittest nourishment, and leave the spirit free for aspiration, and the mind clear and strong for work.—J. Baldwin Brown.
PARTIAL MEMORIES
(Num_11:4-6)
I. Observe what they ought to have remembered:
1. What they had suffered.
2. What God had done for them.
3. What He then was doing.
4. What He had promised to do.
II. Observe what they chiefly dwelt upon:
1. Creature comforts, not spiritual deprivations.
2. Personal satisfaction, not national freedom.
III. Observe the effects of this partial memory of the past:
1. It led to discontent.
2. It resulted in Divine anger.
3. It prolonged their stay in the wilderness.—Biblical Museum.
THE MANNA AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE DIVINE PROVISION FOR THE SPIRITUAL NEEDS OF MAN
(Num_11:7-9)
The subject of the Manna has been treated at length in The Hom. Comm. on Exodus 16.
This paragraph is introduced parenthetically to show the unreasonableness of the people in murmuring and speaking contemptuously of the Manna. The historian speaks of it as being like coriander seed. “The coriander seed is that of the coriandrum sativum, cultivated in England for confectionery, and wild in Egypt and Palestine. The seed is globular, grayish-coloured, and hollow, the surface marked with fine stripes. It has a pleasant spicy flavour.”—Alford. The colour of the manna is said to be “as the colour of bdellium.” בְּדֹלַח, which is translated bdellium, has been variously interpreted. The theory of Bochart, which is adopted by Gesenius and seems to us the most probable, is that it signifies pearls, which are found in great abundance on the shores of the Persian Gulf. Fuerst also gives this as the meaning in this place—“pearl, with the shining of which the grains of manna were compared, Num_11:7.”
But it is our purpose to regard the gift of the manna as an illustration of the Provision which God has made for the spiritual needs of our race in Jesus Christ. We have warrant for so regarding it in the Scriptures of the New Testament, Joh_6:31-58; 1Co_10:3-4. We discover the following points of analogy:
I. Both are of Divine Origin.
It seems to us utterly unreasonable to question the miraculous nature of the supply of manna. As Dr Kitto remarks, “If any human infatuation could surprise a thoughtful and observant mind—and especially if any folly of those who deem themselves wiser than their Bible could astonish—it might excite strong wonder to see grave and reverend men set forth the strange proposition that two or three millions of people were fed from day to day, during forty years,” with the gum of the tamarisk tree. “A very small quantity—and that only at a particular time of the year, which is not the time when the manna first fell—is now afforded by all the trees of the Sinai peninsula; and it would be safe to say, that if all the trees of this kind then on now growing in the world had been assembled in this part of Arabia Petrea, and had covered it wholly, they would not have yielded a tithe of the quantity of gum required for the subsistence of so vast a multitude.” (a)
And all spiritual provision for man’s needs proceeds from God. The idea, the agencies, and the means of human salvation are all of Divine origin. All inspiring and strengthening influences are from above. “The bread of God is He which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life,” etc. (b)
II. Both are unmerited Gifts.
Just before the first bestowal of the manna the people were guilty of the most grievous murmurings and rebellion against God (Exo_16:1-12); they could not therefore advance the slightest pretence of meriting any good from Him. The blessings of Divine grace also are entirely owing to the free favour of our heavenly Father. Man merited nothing but pain and punishment from God. Rebels against His authority, we had forfeited all claim to His favour “But God commendeth His love towards us,” etc. (Rom_5:8; Rom_5:20). “For by grace are ye saved,” etc. Eph_2:8; 1Jn_4:9-10. (c)
III. Both are wholesome.
The manna, which they despised, “was highly nutritive and wholesome food, as nearly as possible analogous to what forms the staff of life, be it rice or corn, to the present inhabitants of the desert, who rarely taste meat or vegetables, and are but too happy if they can get enough of their customary food.” The provisions of Divine grace for our spiritual needs are compared in the Scriptures to those great essentials of life and health, bread and water. Comp. Joh_4:13-14; Joh_6:35; Joh_6:50-51. Spiritual life and health are unattainable save through the provisions of the Gospel. Only Jesus Christ can satisfy the cravings of the immortal soul of man. His salvation is new life to the spiritually dead, health to the sin-sick soul, strength to the morally weak.
IV. Both are pleasant.
The manna was very agreeable to the palate. “Eaten as gathered, it tasted like cakes made of meal and honey (Exo_16:31); but when dressed, it acquired the taste of fresh oil, a flavour highly agreeable to the Israelites” (Num_11:8). The provisions of Christianity are pleasant as well as wholesome. One of the favourite images of the prophets to set forth the blessings of the Gospel age is that of a great and bounteous festival (Son_5:1; Isa_25:6; Isa_65:13-14). Our Lord also uses the same figure for the same purpose (Mat_22:1-14; Luk_14:15-24). God in the Gospel provides a delightful feast of spiritual experiences, exercises, and services—a feast of peace, hope, love, joy, service, fellowship, worship.
V. Both are Abundant.
There was no scarcity of manna. For forty years the Lord caused it to fall with unfailing regularity, so that there was an omer (i.e. nearly three English quarts) for every person in the vast host every day. The supplies of Christianity are abundant. Like the air and the light, they are inexhaustible. They are like a river deep and broad, which is fed by perennial springs. “The unsearchable riches of Christ.” “God is able to make all grace abound toward you,” etc.
VI. Both are Free.
All the Israelites might avail themselves of the manna; no restriction was placed upon them in this respect. Gloriously free are the blessings of salvation. “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money,” etc. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,” etc. “I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.” “Let him that is athirst come. And whosover will, let him take the water of life freely.” (d)
VII. Both require personal Appropriation.
The Israelites were required to gather the manna in the early morning; they then prepared it for eating by grinding or pounding it, and baking it in cakes. The blessings of the Divine Gospel will profit us nothing unless we personally appropriate them. We must believe the Christ of the Gospel (Joh_3:36; Joh_6:47-58); we must meditate upon the teachings of the Gospel; we must practise the precepts of the Gospel; we must live the Gospel, if we would enjoy the rich provisions which it contains for our spiritual needs. Without this personal appropriation we shall perish even in the midst of the banquet-house of Christ, and in presence of the choicest, most abundant, and freest provisions of the grace of the heavenly King. (e)
Conclusion:
1. Take heed that ye despise not the spiritual provisions of the Divine grace.
2. Gratefully and gladly accept these provisions. (f)
ILLUSTRATIONS
(a) The natural products of the Arabian deserts and other Oriental regions, which bear the name of manna, have not the qualities or uses ascribed to the manna of Scripture. They are all condiments or medicines rather than food, stimulating or purgative rather than nutritious; they are produced only three or four months in the year, from May to August, and not all the year round; they come only in small quantities, never affording anything like 15,000,000 of pounds a-week, which must have been requisite for the subsistence of the whole Israelitish camp, since each man had an omer (or three English quarts) a day, and that for forty years; they can be kept for a long time, and do not become useless in a day or two; they are just as liable to deteriorate on the Sabbath as an any other day; nor does a double quantity fall on the day proceding the Sabbath; nor would natural products cease at once and for ever, as the manna is represented as ceasing in the book of Joshua. The manna of Scripture we therefore regard as wholly miraculous, and not in any respect a product of nature.—C. E. Stowe, D.D.
(b) If it would be marvellous to see one river leap up from the earth full-grown, what would it be to gaze upon a vast spring from which all the rivers of the earth should at once come bubbling up, a thousand of them born at a birth! What a vision would it be! Who can conceive it? And yet the love of God is that fountain from which all the rivers of mercy which have ever gladdened our race—all the rivers of grace in time and of glory hereafter—take their rise. My soul, stand thou at that sacred fountain-head, and adore and magnify for ever and ever “God, even our Father, who hath loved us.”—C. H. Spurgeon.
(c) The love which God has for us, did not, does not, spring from moral excellence in us; and still less does its depth and breadth answer to the loveableness of our dispositions. No man can ponder for a moment the facts in our case without being obliged to say that God loves man, not so much from the adaptation of human nature and disposition to produce love, as from a Divine nature that overflows from the necessity of its own richness and fulness. The reasons must needs be in God, and not in us.—H. W. Beecher.
(d) I walked over a long sandy road one day, when the weather was sultry, and the heat, far beyond our common experience in this country, was almost tropical; I saw a little stream of cool water, and being parched with thirst I stooped down and drank. Do you think I asked anybody’s leave, or enquired whether I might drink or not? I did not know who it belonged to, and I did not care. There it was, and I felt if it was there it was enough for me. I was thirsty, and there was the water. I noticed after I had drank that there were two poor tramps came along, and they went down and drank too. I did not find anybody marching them off to prison. There was the stream. The stream being there, and the thirsty men being there, the supply was suited to their need, and they promptly partook of it. How strange it is that when God has provided the Gospel, and men want it, they should require somebody to call out to them, ‘Ho! ho! ho!” and then they will not come after all. Oh! if they were a little more thirsty, if they did but know their need more, if they were convinced more of their sin, then they would scarcely want an invitation, but the mere fact of a supply would be sufficient for them and they would come and drink, and satisfy the burning thirst within.—C. H. Spurgeon.
(e) What a wonderful deal is made of faith in God’s Book! We are justified by faith and not by works.… There is nothing arbitrary in this. It is not an arbitrary appointment of God that man should be justified and receive all blessedness when he believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. It arises from the nature of things. I should like to give you an illustration of this. There are many beautiful trees in yonder park; take one of them. Now, in order to grow and bring forth fruit, the tree must have its roots in the earth, and its branches spread out to the air and the sun. It is no arbitrary appointment. It arises from the nature of the tree and earth. It cannot be otherwise. Would man be blessed? Then he must be united to Christ. He must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He must appropriate Christ Now, in one respect I almost tire of saying, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Such words as, Come to Christ, and Come to Jesus have been used in such a poor, meaningless, parrot-like way that they have almost been spoiled. But there is deep meaning, brethren, in coming to Christ. It is the passing through a cloud of doubts, fears, sins, right up to Him, and not only as the poor woman did, taking hold of the hem of His garment, but taking hold on Him and saying, “Lord, I perish; do Thou save me.” And mark: the moment I am united to Christ, the moment I am in Him, all good is possible to my nature. There is no limitation but the limitation of my powers. All the blessedness possible to man is mine the moment I am united to Him.—Thomas Jones.
(f) Come then quickly. All is in vain if you do not come. See, the Gospel feast is spread, and the springs of life are all open; and Jesus stands in view of all the world, and cries that all the world may hear, and names no man by name and yet names every man that lives, each and all being contained in His invitation when He says, “If ANY man thirst, let him come to Me and drink.” “Any man.” Why that is you! That is you! He waits for you. He has happiness for you; He has righteousness for you, and love untold for you, and life, life evermore, for you. And what have you for Him? What have you to give Him? Surely now, at length, a willing heart—surely now an open trusting hand. Have you not had enough of life without Him? Will you attempt the wilderness once more, and perhaps perish of thirst? Will you go again to hew out a broken cistern, or a cistern that will be broken some time or other, and, perhaps, one day be found dead by its side? Are you so in love with misery? Is the covenant with death so dear? Come, thirsty soul and drink. “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come;’ and let him that heareth say, ‘Come;’ and let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will let him come and take of the water of life freely.”—Alex. Raleigh, D.D.
THE BURDENS OF LEADERSHIP
(Num_11:10-15)
Sorely was Moses tried by the unbelief, the cowardice, the complainings, and the rebellions of the Israelites. Pre-eminent was he for patience and meekness, yet there were times when the strain and burden of the perverse people that he was called to lead were too great for his endurance. Such a time was that with which we are now dealing. (a)
This impassioned appeal to God suggests—
I. That the position of Leader or Governor of men is a very trying one.
1. Because of the responsible nature of the duties of leadership. The guidance and direction of a large number of men, even under the most favourable circumstances, involve a great weight of responsibility. And the government of a large number of men, even when the governor is most able and the governed most reasonable, is a thing of enormous difficulty.
2. Because of the interest which the true leader lakes in his charge. The true leader, like Moses, is so deeply interested in those over whom he is placed as to be afflicted in all their affictions; their privations and sufferings sorely pain him; their meannesses and sins cause him to blush with shame, or to weep in penitence. A great interest involves, almost invariably, a great burden.
3. Because of the intractableness of men. It was this which made the burden of Moses so heavy and grievous to bear at this time. “Antoninus the Emperor said often, Imperium oceanum esse malorum, that to be a governor of others is to be plunged into an ocean of miseries. Pope Adrian caused to be engraven upon his own tomb, Felix si non imperitasset. Melancthon said, the three sorest labours of all were Docentis, imperantis, parturientis, the labours of ministers, magistrates, and of travailing women.… Crowns have their cares; high seats are uneasy; many a cumber attends honour. Beatus ille qui procul negotiis.—John Trapp.
II. The true leader of men must often be painfully conscious of his insufficiency.
Moses felt it at this time and cried to the Lord, “I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me.” The difficult demands of changing circumstances and situations, the perplexing problems which arise in questions of government, the perverse dispositions and practices of men, these and other things at times, give rise to such demands upon the personal powers of leaders of men as to fill and almost prostrate them with a sense of their insufficiency. Christian ministers have felt this, and cried, “Who is sufficient for these things?” Kings have felt it, and exclaimed:—“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.”
Statesmen have felt it, &c.
III. The ablest and holiest leaders of men sometimes fail under the burdens of their position.
Moses was unquestionably one of the most distinguished of men—distinguished for mental power, and for elevation, strength, and holiness of character; but that he erred at this time is very clearly manifest from his appeal to the Lord. He erred—
1. In exaggerating the extent of his responsibility. It appears that when the discontent of the people became deep and clamorous, God did not at once interpose, “but withdrew with His help, and let the whole storm of the infuriated people burst upon him.” This accounts for the language of Num_11:11-15. But it was an exaggeration to say that “the burden of all this people” was cast upon him alone. The Lord was constantly assisting him both by direction and by all-sufficient help. When our anxieties and cares obtain the mastery of our faith and patience, they at once assume most exaggerated dimensions and gravity.
2. In overlooking the history of God’s dealings with them, and the promises which He had made to them. For a time Moses seems to forget the glorious deeds of the high Hand and the outstretched Arm which had brought them forth out of Egypt, the marvellous and mighty works at the Red Sea, the miracles of the quails and the manna at Sin, and that of the water from the rock at Rephidim. He forgot the gracious and all-inclusive promise, “My Presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.” What Moses did, we are all more or less prone to do when life’s burdens press severely and its sorrows are most sore.
3. In passionately appealing to God for deliverance or death. “And if Thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray Thee out of hand,” etc. “This is the language of the discontent of despair,” says Keil and Del., “which differs from the murmuring of unbelief, in the fact that it is addressed to God, for the purpose of entreating help and deliverance from Him; whereas unbelief complains of the ways of God, but while complaining of its troubles, does not pray to the Lord its God … There was good ground for his complaint. The burden of the office laid upon the shoulders of Moses was really too heavy for one man; and even the discontent which broke out in the complaint was nothing more than an outpouring of zeal for the office assigned him by God, under the burden of which his strength would eventually break down, unless he received some support. He was not tired of the office, but would stake his life for it if God did not relieve him in some way, as office and life were really one in him. Jehovah therefore relieved him in the distress of which he complained, without blaming the words of His servant, which bordered on despair.” Still it appears to us that Moses was presumptuous in presenting to the Lord the alternative that He would either deliver him or kill him, and that he was impatient and passionate in his appeal to the Lord. But if even he failed under the heavy burden, how terribly complete and unutterably mournful would our failure have been had we been subjected to such a trial!
Conclusion:
1. Great honours involve great obligations.
2. A man may fail even in the strongest point of his character. Moses was pre-eminently meek, yet here he is petulant, etc. Therefore, “Watch thou in all things,” etc.
3. It is the duty of men not to increase, but if possible to lessen the difficulties and trials of leadership.
ILLUSTRATIONS
(a) Up to the hour of his mysterious departure, he devoted himself to his people with an earnestness and an energy which no combination of words can express. For their sakes he gave up his own will, while in the fulfilling of the Infinite Will he made the most costly sacrifices, and suffered the severest penalties. His very first act on behalf of his oppressed nation was misunderstood and misinterpreted, and drove him into solitude and exile. Scarcely had the ambassador of Heaven, with the Divine credentials of his mission in his hands, left the presence of Pharaoh, where he had asserted the rights of his people to spiritual freedom and privilege, than they assailed him with the most bitter invective, and accused him of aggravating the evils under which they were doomed to suffer. Only a few hours had run their round since he had finished those stupendous deeds of might and mercy, which had resulted in setting them free—he had but just sundered the link of the chain which chafed and fettered their inmost soul, when the mere sight of the Egyptians following them in their flight, led them to chide their illustrious leader by charging him with subjecting them to a worse calamity than bondage, and to protest even that they would rather have found a grave in Egypt than fall into the hand of the enemy; and this in direct opposition to the assurance given them from on high, that their deliverance was part of the plan and purpose of Him who is of one mind, and to whose powers and resources there is no limit. No sooner had they passed through the Red Sea, whose waters they had seen to part and stand as a wall of adamant on either hand, in whose depth they had beheld the horse and the rider sink as a stone to the bottom, and on whose hither bank they had given voice and volume to their joy in a song of triumph and gratitude, than they murmured and repined, because the water which was offered to them in their thirst was neither so sweet nor so living as the current of the Nile, or as Goshen’s springs and streams. Scarcely had the bitter been extracted from the waters of Marah; scarcely had they amid the solitude and the scantiness of the desert found themselves free to enjoy their rest and quiet—their recreation and refreshment—when their thoughts went back to Egypt, and their soul lusted after its provisions. Hence on reaching the wilderness of Sin, which lay between Elim and Sinai, and finding that they could not indulge their sensuous appetites as they did before their emancipation, they lost sight for the moment of the higher good involved in their deliverance, and charged Moses with the fixed design of bringing them into the wilderness to compass their death by hanger. How crushing to his big and generous heart must have been their complaint—“Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pots, and when we did eat bread to the full”! Was it their dream that life is made up of bodily ease and fleshly indulgence? Had they no faith in the matchless Power which had so often travelled forth on their behalf, and whose mighty deeds had all been in their favour? Or were they resolved to break the heart of the Man who, in the spirit of the most self-denying love and devotedness, was prepared to give up all that he had—not excepting life itself—for their wider freedom and higher good?—Robert Ferguson, LL.D.
(b) If Moses is ever to be held as one of the greatest man of olden times, and of all times, then it must be confessed that no man ever paid a heavier penalty for his greatness. Never did human being stand so completely solitary and alone; never ware motives and actions so misconstrued or misunderstood; never were noble and generous deeds so requited; never were charges and criminations so unfounded; never were labour and suffering so depreciated; never was heart so afflicted, or life so embittered, or death so isolated; and all this in the prosecution of an object which involved a nation’s freedom and a world’s weal. Though his soul was filled with one of Heaven’s sublimest purposes, his heart was all but broken by the ingratitude and rebellion—the selfishness and the sensuousness of those whose cause he bad made his own. So continued was the crucifixion of thought and feeling to which he was subject—such was the total immolation of self to which he was called, that his life was more than a martyr’s death. His mental anguish threw all physical suffering into the distance, and the outward privation was as nothing in comparison with the inward affliction. But under the crushing pressure of all that was laid upon him, he still stood erect—manly in his attitude and heroic in his mion.—Ibid.
It is a gallant thing to fight with the free and the brave in defence of our country, our shrines, our hearthstones, and our fathers’ sepulchres—action animates and prevents the spirit drooping; companions in arms, though they be few, invite us on: we fling fear, doubt, irresolution to the winds—and death is indifferent to us, for we know that glory decks the hero’s bier if it does not bind his brow But to bear witness!—
To bear witness! what a world of meaning is hidden in these few words: how many of the grandest elements of human nature it requires to mould a character like this. Every man values the honest hearty good word of his neighbours; and there are associations gathered round the heart of each of us which it is impossible to efface. To be estranged from those we have lived with and loved from infancy—to pass from under the shadow of the faith that has fostered us—to look upon old sights, old haunts, familiar scenes, and find they are but fiends to mock us with a memory of what once was—to see contempt and scorn assume the place where love was wont to reign—to know that the affections we prized more than life are changed to wormwood—to watch our tried and trusted friends deliberately range themselves in the foemen’s ranks—to have the harrowing conviction burned in upon the soul that we must go on now alone—go along the path we have chosen, and forego all the pleasures on which we counted to render existence endurable—these, these things try the temper and the tone of spirit—these constitute a frightful and a fiery ordeal at which human nature shudders. And yet all this must frequently be undergone for the cause of truth. The alternative is a terrible one and many waver; but such have not the elements of real greatness in them, the qualities which constitute one who must bear witness. The world has its laws and customs, its usages and ordinances, and woe to the man who sets himself in opposition to these. The world has its idols, its creed, its rule of faith—woe to the man who rises and declares its worship blasphemy—its creed a falsehood—its rule of faith a damnable delusion. Woe! truly; but unutterable woe would it be if these men did not rise up ever and anon, to smite the lazy blood into the cheeks of humanity; to exorcise the demon that directs the rabid multitude; to breathe a holier feeling through a land defaced by blood and crime. They are the pioneers of freedom, the vanguard of the hosts of truth. And their fate is to be reviled and ridiculed blasphemed and buffeted—tortured body and soul with all the ingenuity of cruelty Well, so it is, and so it will be; they have counted the cost; their death-smile is the calm of conquest; and—
“They flee far
To a sunnier strand;
And follow Love’s folding star
To the evening land.”—J. W. Letter, D.D.
THE SUFFERINGS OF THE GOOD IN THE PATH OF DUTY
(Num_11:11)
“And Moses said unto the Lord, Wherefore hast Thou afflicted Thy servant?”
Keil and Del. translate, “Why hast Thou done evil to Thy servant?”
We propose to look at the afflictions of godly men in the path of duty—
I. As a Fact.
1. Good men suffer afflictions. Our text is the utterance of a distinguished servant of the Most High. “Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds”; he was a man of extraordinary abilities, and of extraordinary excellence—wise, meek, courageous, prayerful, self-denying, &c. One would have thought that such a man would have been unmolested by suffering, and free from affliction. But our thinking would have been erroneous; for out of sharp suffering Moses is here appealing to God. God’s servants suffer. Job, David, Asaph, Jeremiah, John the Baptist, the Sisters of Bethany, the Apostles of Jesus Christ, were all sufferers; some of them very severe sufferers. The Lord Christ, the Supreme Servant of God, was the Supreme Sufferer.
2. Good men suffer afflictions in the path of duty. It does not seem strange when the storm pursues and overtakes a disobedient prophet trying to escape from duty (Jonah 1.); but it does seem strange that it should overtake the disciples of our Lord while they are engaged in carrying out His commands (Mar_4:35-39). So the afflictions of Moses arose in the fulfilment of the duty which God had appointed him. The same is true of Jeremiah, John the Baptist, the Apostles of Jesus Christ and a great host of others in subsequent times. It is pre-eminently true of our Divine Lord. It is true of very many in our own age.
II. As a Problem.
“Wherefore hast Thou afflicted Thy servant?” This inquiry implies—
1. A difficulty. Moses could not understand why the Lord had called him to a risk, involving so much annoyance and pain. He is the servant of the Lord, engaged in the work of the Lord, and that a most arduous work; yet he is crossed, opposed, reviled, and the affliction is allowed by God, un-relieved by God, indeed, for a time God appears not to heed either his sorely tried servant, or the rebellious and provoking people, over whom He had placed him. The painful obstructions which impede the course of the good, and the heavy burdens which oppress them, and the bitter enemies which assail them, and which are allowed by God, even while they tread the path of duty, are a source of sore perplexity to their mind and sharp pain to their heart. It is supremely difficult, in the time of trial, to discover how these things can be under the rule of a wise and kind and holy Being.
2. Faith in the power of God to remove the difficulty. “Wherefore hast Thou afflicted Thy servant?” “Why hast Thou done evil to Thy servant?” Clearly Moses believed that there were sufficient reasons for the sore trials which he met with while fulfilling his vocation; that these reasons were known unto the Lord; and that the revelation of them would relieve his perplexed brain and his troubled heart. When the tried servants of God appeal to Him as Moses did, we may regard their appeals as expressions of faith in Him, and as precursors of relief and rest from Him.
III. Offer some Hints towards the Solution of the Problem.
The afflictions of the good in the path of duty, under the blessing of God, tend—
1. To test their faith. “Character,” says Dr. Huntington “depends on inward strength. But this strength has two conditions: it is increased only by being put forth, and it is tested only by some resistance. So, if the spiritual force, or character, in you is to be strong, it must be measured against some competition. It must enter into conflict with an antagonist. It must stand in comparison with something formidable enough to be a standard of its power.… Suffering, then, in some of its forms, must be introduced, the appointed minister, the great assayist, to put the genuineness of faith to the proof, and purify it of its dross.” (a)
2. To promote their perfection. “As the Perfect One reached His perfectness through suffering,” says Dr. Ferguson, “so it was with His servant. It was through the fire and the flame that the law of separation and refinement acted on the whole nature, and gave to it higher worth and glory. Trial ripened his manly spirit, and made it patient to endure.
‘Useless and badly-tempered is the steel
If it refuse to bend; but the goodly blade—
The true Toledo—circleth on itself
Uninjured.’
He had learned to suffer as well as to do; and but for suffering, and his character, could never have reached that matchless height and perfection which belong to it.” Comp. Act_14:22; Rom_5:3-5; Jas_1:2-4; Jas_1:12. (b)
3. To enhance their joy hereafter. Comp. Mat_5:10-12; Rom_8:17-18; 2Co_4:17-18. (c)
4. To promote the good of the race. In fulfilling the Divine calling, which caused him so much trial and suffering, Moses carried forward the purposes of God, and conferred unspeakable benefits on our race. By the travail and sorrow of the good, God is saving humanity from its sins and miseries. The Christian is called to “know the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings”; to suffer vicariously with Him, that others may be benefited and blessed. In the privilege of this high fellowship, the sharpest sufferings become sacred and exalting services. (d)
Conclusion:
1. Severe afflictions in the path of duty are in full accord with the character of God.
2. Such sufferings are quite compatible with the favour of God towards us. Comp. Heb_12:5-11.
3. When severe suffering leads to sore perplexity, let us seek help of God. Comp. Psa_73:16-17.
ILLUSTRATIONS
(a) Some time ago I heard a party of friends singing the same piece of music. For a while their voices blended very sweetly, and I, not being able to offer a scientific criticism upon the performance, thought that they were all about equal. But presently they came to a passage of very high notes, very lofty music: and in that moment they all ceased but one, and that one voice went aloft alone, and thrilled me by the perfectness of its ease! If they had stopped before that, I should have said, “I give you common applause; one is as good as another, and I thank you all.” But there was a time of trial, and in that time of trial the masterly voice rose where other voices could not follow it. It is so in the greater concerns and trials of life. For days together we seem to be tolerably equal, but there come special hours, critical trials, and in those moments—which are condensed lifetimes—we show the stuff we are made of and the capacity we represent. It is then that the religious man—if deeply and truly intelligent and earnest—shows himself a man.—Joseph Parker, D.D.
(b) Tribulations are treasures; and if we were wise, we should reckon our afflictions among our rarest jewels. The cavern of sorrow are mines of diamonds. Our earthly possessions may be silver, but temporal trials are, to the saints, invariably gold. We may grow in grace through what we enjoy, but we probably make the greatest progress through what we suffer. Soft gales may be pleasant for heaven-bound vessels, but rough winds are better. The calm is our way, but God hath His way in the whirlwind, and He rides on the wings of the wind. Saints gain more by their losses than by their profits. Health cometh out of their sicknesses, and wealth floweth out of their poverties.—C. H. Spurgeon.
(c) The contrast between suffering on earth and its fruits in heaven, is wonderful. They ought to be kept constantly together, so that the darkness of the one shall be interpreted by the light of the other; that we shall not feel that sorrows have ended their course when aching ceases; that we shall not for a moment be left to believe that all the fruit of suffering is that which we pluck hitherward. We should know that sufferings produce their final results only after we are disembodied, and stand on the heavenly plain in the glorious fellowship of the redeemed. Then it will be made known to us that these and all of them came out of great tribulation, and washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, by the maintenance of their faith, by their endeavours to live according to God’s commandments, by undergoing pain, and self-denial, and hardness as good soldiers; by accepting providential afflictions, by cleansing their dispositions and purifying their hearts, by suffering death itself. The marvellous economy of earthly suffering, rightly understood, is an economy of cleansing and beautifying. It is a lustration, and is preliminary to a state of glorification.—H. W. Beecher.
(d) We see no good done in this world that somebody does not suffer. There can be no education of children without there is somebody to suffer for them. A child with no mother or with no nurse, the mother having been taken away, or worse yet, with a mother or nurse that is heartless and inhuman, grows up so much less than a human being as it lacks the training which its helplessness demands. And if a child is sweet, and pure, and aspiring, and noble, somebody must have practised self-denial, or suffered for it; somebody must have agonised to save the child from agony; somebody’s conscience must have been crucified that the child’s conscience might be saved from the thorn. And wretched is the child that has had nobody to suffer for it, to think for it, to feel for it, to live for it—for substituted life is the law of the development of life. My soul is the yeast of my children’s souls; and I mix my being into theirs, and theirs are raised and brought to vitality by it. And if there is to be a Bible that is true to life, there must be somewhere in that Bible a recognition of the Christian principle of vicarious suffering, the suffering of one for another. For it is in nature, it is in the household, it is in the Church, and it is in the whole realm of benevolence outside of the Church. And when we find the Bible teaching it, everybody says, “It ought to teach it, it is but the echo of fact”.—Ibid.
THE ANSWER OF GOD TO THE APPEALS OF MEN
(Num_11:16-20)
In these verses we have—
I. The Lord’s Answer to the Appeal of his much-tried Servant.
“And the Lord said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men,” &c. (Num_11:16-17). The Lord here arranges to lighten the burden of which Moses had complained as too heavy for him, by appointing seventy elders who should bear the burden of the people with him. Notice—
1. The number of these assistants. “Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel.” The number seventy probably has a backward reference to the number of persons that went down into Egypt (Gen_46:26-27). The same number of elders were called to accompany Moses to Mount Sinai (Exo_24:1); but their calling seems to have been for that one occasion only, while these were called to permanent service. This number was continued in the Sanhedrim, or great council of the Jews. And our Lord probably had reference to it when He appointed seventy disciples, and sent them forth as assistants to the apostles. But the point for us to seize concerning this number is, that it would afford adequate relief to Moses; the answer of the Lord to his appeal was sufficient and satisfactory.
2. The selection of these assistants. “And the Lord said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be,” &c. The choice of the seventy was assigned to Moses. The people being so unstable and wayward were not fit to be entrusted with the choice. Moses was to select persons who were elders not merely in respect of years, but also in ability and character, and influence with the people for good. If Moses made the selection himself, he would have no ground for complaint afterwards.
3. The qualification imparted to these assistants. “And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee,” &c. This does not imply any diminution of the Divine grace and power to Moses. Unto them was to be granted a measure of the spirit which had been given in such great fulness to him; truth, wisdom, courage, piety, power, were to be bestowed upon them to fit them for their duties and responsibilities. “We do not find that Moses was less fit for government than he was before: rather his gifts were derived to others, as one candle lighteth another, and yet the light is not diminished.” God never calls any one to the discharge of any duty without granting him ability for the same. When we are clear as to the Divine call we may be confident as to the Divine qualification.
Such was God’s gracious answer to the appeal of Moses. That appeal was somewhat imperfect and faulty; it was impetuous, and, to a certain extent, expressive of discontent and passion; but it was the utterance of a true and noble spirit, of one whose zeal in the work assigned him by God was most ardent, and who was sublimely forgetful of self in his solicitude for the glory of God. So the Lord answers him by granting him relief.
II. The Lord’s Answer to the Appeal of His Perverse People.
“And say thou unto the people, Sanctify yourselves against to-morrow,” &c. This answer—
1. Recognises the sinful character of their appeal. “Ye have wept in the ears of the Lord, saying,” &c. “Tears, of what sort soever, have a voice in them (Psa_39:12), as blood hath (Gen_4:10).” Their sin is manifest
(1) In the lowness of their supreme desire. “Who shall give us flesh to eat?” Their highest and most eager longing was for the gratification of their animal appetites.
(2) In their depreciation of the Divine blessings. “It was well with us in Egypt.… Why came we forth out of Egypt?” Their emancipation from slavery with its cruelty and unutterable degradation, the provisions with which they were so bounteously supplied, the glorious inheritance which was promised to them, these things they disparaged as unworthy of comparison with the dainties of Egypt which they had sacrificed They preferred cucumbers to freedom, &c.
(3) In their contempt of the Divine Presence. “Ye have despised the Lord which is among you.” The unbelief expressed in the enquiry, “Who will give us flesh to eat?” was a despising of the Lord. It was a questioning, if not a denial, of His power, and that after the extraordinary displays of His power which they had witnessed. God marks the feelings which find utterance in our cries to Him, or to His servants.
2. Demands preparation for the granting of their appeal. “Sanctify yourselves against to-morrow, and ye shall eat flesh.” Keil and Del. explain “sanctify yourselves:” “to prepare themselves by purifications for the revelation of the glory of God in the miraculous gift of flesh.” The interpretation of Fuerst is in substantial agreement with this. They had sinned grievously against God; and now they, must prepare themselves by ablutions and by humbling of themselves, for the extraordinary manifestation of the Divine power.
3. Promises the most abundant bestowment of that which they had so passionately and sinfully desired. “The Lord will give you flesh, and ye shall eat. Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days; but even a month of days,” &c. Inordinately they had craved flesh; generally and openly they had wept for it; and God determines to bestow it upon them in super-abundance. Their clamorous demand shall be granted; and the granting of it shall be their punishment. “He gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.” No punishment can be more terrible than to grant the desires of a soul in which carnal appetites are supreme. Let our desires be subject in all things to the wise and gracious will of God. (a)
Conclusion. Mark well—
1. The disgusting nature of the sins of gluttony and drunkenness.
2. The necessity of firmly controlling carnal desires. Even those animal appetites which are lawful must be kept subordinate to higher things.
3. The necessity of submissiveness in prayer.
“We, ignorant of ourselves
Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers,
Deny us for our good; so find we profit,
By losing of our prayers.”—Shakespeare.
Let us pray in the spirit of Him who in His most intense agony said, “Nevertheless, not My will, but Thine, be done.”
ILLUSTRATIONS
(a) Mr. Edmund Calamy relates, in his Life, that some persons of the name of Mart, in whose family he resided for some time, had a son who discovered the most wicked and impious disposition. When confined in prison, he wrote letters professing penitence; but as soon as he had an opportunity he returned to his former sins.
This young man had been the darling of both his father and mother; and the latter had set her affections upon him to so great a degree that when she saw him a monster of wickedness, she became deranged, and attempted to destroy herself, which she at length effected, So far from being suitably impressed with this awful event, her son now proceeded to greater lengths in wickedness. At length he professed to be sorry for his depraved course, and applied to the Rev. Samuel Pomfret to intercede for him with his father. He was made ready for sea, but, unhappily, became connected with a gang of villains, and, on the very night before he was to set sail, he robbed Mr. Pomfret, was pursued, tried, and condemned to die.
On the Sabbath preceding the Wednesday on which he was condemned to die, his father entreated Dr. Calamy to accompany him that evening to his cell in Newgate, to converse with his unhappy son, and to give his opinion as to the propriety of seeking to obtain his pardon. The doctor went, and found him in a very awful state of mind, resenting different things which he conceived his father had done wrong, and saying that be might obtain a pardon for him, if he would but part with some of his money. In vain did the doctor expostulate with him on the improper feelings he manifested, and entreat him to humble himself before God on account of his sins, as the only way of engaging his friends to obtain for him a reprieve. His reply was, “Sir, I scorn anything of that nature; and would rather die with my company.” The doctor reasoned with him on the existence of a hereafter, charged him with the death of his mother, taxed him with the murder of some persons abroad, whose blood he had actually shed, and showed him the heavy punishment he must endure in an eternal world, unless he turned to God, repeated of his sins, and prayed for pardon through the atonement of the Lord Jesus. He admitted the truth of all these things, but was filled with trifling unconcern. He frankly said that he had no hope of being better in his character, and that, on the contrary, he was satisfied he should grow worse. The next morning he was visited by Dr. Jekyl, who asked him whether, during the whole time he had been confined in Newgate, he had once bowed his knees to the great God, making it his earnest request to Him to give him a sense of his sins, and to create in him a tender heart; he admitted that he had not, nor did he think it of any use. He was promised that if he would agree to pray morning and evening for the grace of God an effort should be made with every probability of success, for a reprieve, and subsequently a pardon. But he would make no engagement, and was hung on the day appointed.
On the day of his execution, the father of this unhappy young man told Dr. Calamy that when the culprit was a very young child, he was exceedingly ill with a fever, and that both his wife and himself, thinking their lives were bound up in the life of the child, were exceedingly importunate with God in prayer that his life might be spared. A pious mother expostulated with him on the vehemence he manifested, and said she dreaded the consequence of his praying in such a way, and that it became him to leave the matter to an infinitely wise God. At length the father said, “Let him prove what he will, so he is but spared, I shall be satisfied.” The old man added, “This I now see to have been my folly. For, through the just hand of God, I have lived to see this wretched son of mine a heart-breaking cross to them that loved him with the greatest tenderness, a disgrace to my whole family, and likely to bring my grey hairs with sorrow to my grave. I read my sin very distinctly in my punishment; but must own that God is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works.”—R. Arvine, A.M.
It is of great importance that we should entreat the Spirit of God to enable us to pray as we ought. It is quite possible to ask for what may appear to us good things, but which, if we had them, would prove evil. Rachel, indulging a petulant disposition, said, “Give me children, or I die;” her desire was granted, and as the result, she died.
The late Mr. Kilpin, of Exeter, writes, “I knew a case in which the minister, praying over a child, apparently dying, said: ‘If it be Thy will, spare—’ The poor mother’s soul yearning for her beloved, exclaimed: ‘It must be His will! I cannot bear ifs.’ The minister stopped. To the surprise of many the child recovered; and the mother, after almost suffering martyrdom by him while a stripling, lived to see him hanged before be was two-and-twenty! Oh, it is good to say, ‘Not my will, but Thine be done.’ ”—Ibid.
THE UNBELIEF OF GOOD MEN, AND ITS DIVINE ANTIDOTE
(Num_11:21-23)
This incident in the history leads us to consider—
I. The proneness of even the best of men to unbelief.
When we think of the character of Moses, and the experiences of his past life, it seems almost incredible that he should “stagger at the promise of God through unbelief.” He was one of the great heroes of faith (Heb_11:24-28); he had witnessed the most marvellous manifestations of the Divine power; he had himself been the instrument of some of its most extraordinary achievements; yet for a little time his faith in the promise and power of God fails. The error of Moses consisted in his arraying the conclusions of human reason against the promise of God. (a) To his judgment the thing promised seemed impossible. Moses considered
(1) The number to be supplied. “And Moses said, The people among whom I am are six hundred thousand footmen.” The whole population could not have been less than two millions, and was probably more numerous.
(2) The time for which the supply was to be continued. “And Thou hast said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month.”
(3) The inadequacy of their resources. “Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for them to suffice them? or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to suffice them?” Of the flocks and herds some were needed for the sacrifices, and some would be required when they settled in the Promised Land. The result of the consideration of the case by Moses was, that he could not see how the promise could be fufilled; and not seeing this, he failed to believe the promise. Even the most distinguished servants of the Lord amongst men have their infirmities. (b) “We need not to labour too curiously,” says Attersoll, “to clear the faithful of the remnants of sin and other infirmities, forasmuch as he and other the best of God’s servants have their failings in faith and obedience, as we see in the examples of Abraham, Lot, Noah, Isaac, Jacob, David, Peter, Thomas, Zacharias, and which of them not? (2Ch_15:17; 2Ch_16:12; Rom_7:17-19) because we know in part, and we prophesy in part; we are yet in our journey, and walk in our way, and run in a race, we are not yet attained to our journey’s end, we have not yet obtained the crown. Again, we proceed all from an unclean fountain (Job_14:4). There is a combat remaining in us between the flesh and the Spirit (Rom_7:23; Gal_5:17), and these are contrary the one to the other, and can never be reconciled.” Two inferences should be heeded:—
1. The most eminent saints continually need the grace of God. “Hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe,” is an appropriate aspiration for even the holiest of men. And this, too, “Lord, increase our faith.”
2. It behaves us to be slow to censure men. We should rather take heed to ourselves, that we fail not.
“Search thine own heart. What paineth thee
In others, in thyself may be;
All dust is frail, all flesh is weak;
Be thou the true man thou dost seek.”
Whittier.
II. The Divine Antidote for unbelief in the good.
1. Consideration of the past deeds of the Lord. “And the Lord said unto Moses, Is the Lord’s hand waxed short?” What He has done is an example of what, under similar circumstances and conditions, we may expect Him to do again “The power that is unlimited can never be diminished.” Faith argues from the past to the present and the future. David did so, with the grandest results (1Sa_17:34-37; Psa_63:7). So also did Paul (2Co_1:8-10; 2Ti_4:17-18). (c)
2. Consideration of the unchangeableness of the Lord “Is the Lord’s hand waxed short?” “With whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” He is “the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.” “Thou art the same, and Thy years shall have no end.” “I am the Lord, I change not.” The consideration of the immutability of God should inspire confidence in His promises.
3. Consideration of the faithfulness of God. “Thou shalt see now whether My word shall come to pass unto thee or not.” “God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?” “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.” Here, then, in the consideration of these great themes is Heaven’s antidote for the proneness to unbelief in godly men.
Conclusion:
The subject suggests the inspiring fact that history is an argument for faith in God of ever-increasing power. Incalculably greater to-day than when it was addressed to Moses is the force of the Divine demand, “Is the Lord’s hand waxed short?” as a rebuke of unbelief and an encouragement of faith.
ILLUSTRATIONS
(a) I like to reason; I like to search out results from causes; but it is sweet also, in the midst of the turmoils and troubles of life, to rest in faith in God. It is sweet to be able to say, “I do not care for to-morrow. I do not fear what shall befall me. I will trust in God.” To understand the philosophy of a Divine command, where I can, affords me satisfaction; bat where a command comes from such an authority, and with such variety of illustration in nature, I do not care whether I understand the philosophy of it or not. My soul is hungry for it, and I accept it because my God has given it. I trust and rest in God simply because He has said, “You may, and you must.” That is ground enough.—H. W. Beecher.
(b) All these four reflective men are in some way unbelievers. Nathanael cultivates inward piety, but he cannot believe that the holy heaven and the common world shall ever be one, as if angels came and went between them. Matthew earnestly desires, and promotes as be can, the rule of justice among men; but he cannot believe that the law of Truth will ever be the law of outward religions and political society. Philip is a student of the Scriptures, and can see much of the God of Israel in them and in the world, but not enough anywhere; and he cannot believe that God will show Himself to man so as thoroughly to content the pious as the world seems to satisfy the worldly. Thomas has chosen the “better part;” he is determined to know the truth and not to trust to deceits. He, for one, will examine the pretensions and the evidences of things. He has examined, and is quite convinced that Jesus has no mere pretensions. Jesus, at least, is a real man, if there be no other and never should be. And yet Thomas cannot believe that “the way.” Jesus takes is a safe successful way. Excellent men these four! reflective men; yet all in some degree, each in his own manner, unbelievers!—Thomas T. Lynch.
(c) Is God all-mighty? Then have no fears about the realization of His promises. Oftentimes it is difficult to see how certain promises are to be realized. We have nothing to do with that whatever. God keeps our hands off His promises quite as surely as He keeps them off His stars, and if He won’t let us intermeddle with His planets, and do our little scrubbing and burnishing upon those great lights, He will not ask us to have anything to do with the outworking and realization of His promises. He asks that their fulfilment be left to Him, and afterwards he will challenge our own life as the witness, and answer, and confirmation of all that is gracious and all that is sure in the outworking of His words of promise.—Joseph Parker, D.D.
THE GLORIOUS RIGHT HAND OF THE LORD
(Num_11:23)
For Introduction see the Illustrations. (a)
I shall try to mention some four or five cases in which men act as if they really believed that God’s hand had waxed short.
I. With regard to the Church as a whole, how often is it true that she so behaveth herself as if she had a question in her mind as to whether the Lord’s hand had waxed short?
She believes that the Divine hand was once mighty enough to bring in three thousand in one day by the simple preaching of Peter. She believes that her God was with her in olden times so mightily that her poor illiterate preachers were more than a match for the scholars of Socrates and Solon, and were able to overturn the gods of the heathen, though they had both poetry and philosophy to be their bulwarks. She believes all this, and yet how often doth she act as though the Gospel had become effete and outworn, and the Spirit of God had been utterly withdrawn from her!… The doubts, the fears, the calculations, the policies, the judicious advices of too many Christians prove my point, that often the Church acts as if she thought the Lord’s hand were waxed short. O Zion! get thee up! Come thou forth in simple confidence in His promise, and thou shalt see whether He will not do according to His Word.
II. When believers doubt their God with regard to Providence, the question might well be asked of them, “Is the Lord’s hand waxed short?”
Some have had many losses and crosses in their business. Instead of getting forward, they are going back, and perhaps even bankruptcy stares them in the face. Or possibly, being hard-working men, they may have been long out of employment, and nothing seems to be before their eyes but the starvation of themselves and their little ones. It is hard to bear this … But dost thou doubt, O believer, as to whether God will fulfil His promise, wherein He said, “His place of defence”? &c. (Isa_33:16). Wouldst thou question the advice of thy Master: “Therefore take no thought”? &c. (Mat_6:25-32). When not a sparrow falls to the ground without your Father, and the very hairs of your head are all numbered, yet you must mistrust and doubt Him! (b)
III. This question might be very naturally suggested when a man who has faith in Christ is exercised with doubts and fears with regard to his own final perseverance or his own present acceptance in Christ.
Doubt not, I pray you; believe your God, and you shall prosper. The joy of the Lord is our strength, not the melancholy of our hearts.
IV. “Is the Lord’s hand waxed short?” is a question which I may well ask of any who are convinced of sin, but are afraid to trust their souls now, at this very hour, in the hand of a loving saviour.
“Oh, He cannot save me, I am so guilty, so callous! Could I repent as I ought, could I but feel as I ought, then He could save me; but I am naked, and poor, and miserable. I have grieved away His Spirit; I have sinned against light and knowledge—against mercy—against constant grace received. He cannot save me.” “Is the Lord’s hand waxed short?” Did He not save the chief of sinners, Saul of Tarsus? Why, then, can he not save you? Is it not written, “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son, cleanseth us from all sin?” Has that blood lost its efficacy? Wouldst thou add to thy sin? Then doubt Christ’s power to save thee. But wouldst thou be saved? Then dare, in the teeth of all thy sins, to trust my Master.
“He is able,
He is willing: doubt no more.”
He is able, for He is God. He is willing, for He that died for us cannot be unwilling. Christ did not make any exception; He said, “Him that cometh,” and that means any “him” in all the world who comes. Come, then, I pray thee: trust Him, &c.
V. You say, do you, that God will not avenge your sins upon you, that ye may go on in your iniquities, and yet meet with no punishment; that ye may reject Christ, and do it safely; trample on His blood, and yet God is so calm, that His anger will never flame forth against you? Well, soul, “thou shalt see whether His word shall come to pass or not.” But let me tell thee His hand is not waxed short; He is as strong to punish as when He bade the floods cover the earth; as powerful to avenge as when He rained hail out of heaven upon the cities of the plain. Thou shalt see whether He will keep His word or not.—C. H. Spurgeon.
ILLUSTRATIONS
(a) It is a singular thing that such a question as this should ever be asked at all: “Is the Lord’s hand waxed short?” If we look anywhere and everywhere, apart from the conduct of man, there is nothing to suggest the suspicion. Look at God’s creation! Is there anything there which would make you say, “Is the Lord’s hand waxed short?” What pillar of the heavens hath begun to reel? What curtain of the sky hath been rent or moth-eaten? Have the foundations of the earth begun to start? Do they not abide as the Lord hath settled them? Hath the sun grown dim with age? or have the starry lamps flickered or gone out in darkness? Are there signs of decay to-day upon the face of God’s creation? Have not howling tempests, the yawning ocean, and death-bearing hurricanes, asserted but yesterday their undiminished might? Say, is not the green earth as full of vitality, as ready to yield us harvests now, as it ever hath been? Do the showers fall less frequently? Hath the sun ceased to warm? Are there any signs and tokens that God’s creation is tottering to its decay? No, journey where you will, you will see God is potent upon the face of the earth, and in the very bowels of the globe, as He was when He first said, “Let there be light, and there was light.” There is nothing which would tempt us to the surmise or the suspicion that the Lord’s hand hath waxed short. And look ye too in Providence; is there aught there that would suggest the question? Are not His prophecies still fulfilled? Doth He not cause all things to work together for good? Do the cattle on a thousand hills low out to Him for hunger? Do you meet with the skeletons of birds that have fallen to the ground from famine? Doth He neglect to give to the fish their food, or do the sea-monsters die? Doth not God still open His hand and supply the want of every living thing? Is He less bounteous today than He was in the time of Adam? Is not His cornucopia still as full? Doth He not still scatter mercies with both His hands right lavishly? Are there any tokens in Providence any more than in Nature, that God’s arm hath waxed short? And look ye too in the matter of Grace: is there any token in the work of grace that God’s power is failing? Are not sinners still saved? Are not profligates still reclaimed? Are not drunkards still uplifted from their sties to sit upon the throne with princes? Are not harlots as truly reclaimed as were those in the days of Christ? Is not the Word of God still quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword? Which of His arrows hath been blunted? Where have ye seen the sword of the Lord snapped in twain? When hath God assayed to melt a heart and failed in the attempt? Which of His people has found the riches of His grace drained dry? Which of His children has had to mourn that the unsearchable riches of Christ had failed to supply his need? In Grace, as well as in Providence and Nature, the unanimous verdict is that God is still Almighty, that He doeth as He wills, and fulfilleth all His promises and His counsels. How is it, then, that such a question as this ever came from the lips of God Himself? Who suggested it? What suggested it? What could there have been that should lead Him or any of His creatures to say, “Is the Lord’s hand waxed short?” We answer, there is but one creature that God has made that ever doubts Him.… It was left for man, the most favoured of all creatures, to mistrust his God.—C. H. Spurgeon.
(b) And now, O true believer, what sayest thou to this picture? In the cold, cold winter, when the snows have fallen thick on every tree, and the ground is hard and crisp, ye have sometimes seen the charitable man open wide the window of his house, and scatter crumbs along the white snow, and ye have seen the birds come from all the trees around, and there they ate and were satisfied. A slanderer who lives next door tells you that that man starves his children. Do you believe him? Feed the sparrows and neglect the offspring of his loins—give crumbs to birds, and not feed his sons and daughters? You feel instinctively that the kind heart which remembers the fowls of heaven must yet more remember his own offspring. But what sayest thou to this picture concerning thyself? Thy God heareth the young ravens when they cry, and giveth liberally to all the creatures that His hands hath made, and will He forget His sons and His daughters—His people bought with blood, His own peculiar heritage? No; dare to believe Him now. His hand has not waxed short. Dare to trust Him now.—Ibid.
THE QUESTION CONCERNING THE LORD’S HAND
(Num_11:23.)
“Is the Lord’s hand waxed short?” Let us apply this question—
I. To the Subject of Creative Manifestations.
We are in the midst of a marvellous universe. Full of the wisdom and power of God. Now, some suppose Creation was finished, as related in Genesis. But that relates to this world only. Creation glorifies God. He can continue to create, &c. He may do so for His own glory. Myriads of worlds may rise in magnificent succession. Worlds now get old, may decay, and fall into ruin; and He may supply their place. As in the revivifications of the seasons. New harvests, new forms, &c.
II. To Divine Providences for His Church and People.
1. The Preservation of His Church. Its extension, prosperity, glory.
2. The destruction to the enemies of the Church. In the past He did it. Egypt, Babylon, &c.
3. The good of His individual servants. He can keep, deliver, bless. However dark, &c. Overrule; turn crosses into blessings, &c.
III. To the Salvation of the most guilty and obstinate sinners.
1. Cannot His hand reach them in the lowest pit of guilt?
2. Break the heart of the flinty rock?
3. Humble and save the proudest and worst? Manasseh, the thief, Saul, the Corinthians. We need despair of none.
IV. To the fulfilment of the Divine prophecies and promises.
1. The glory of the Lord filling the earth. Psa_72:17-19.
2. The spread of universal holiness.
3. Universal worship. Psalms 67.
4. The salvation of the world to Christ. Php_2:9-11. The world filled with righteousness, peace, and blessedness. The discouragements may be great and numerous; but the text answers them all.
Application.
1. The text should lead us to Divine reliance. Trust in the Lord, &c. This will cheer and strengthen us.
2. To joyous hope. No need of doubts and fears.
3. To more earnest effort.
4. To profound humility. God’s hand alone can do His work.—Jabez Burns, D.D.
HELPFUL THOUGHTS FOR THE LORD’S SERVANTS
(Num_11:24-30.)
This section of the history presents several topics on which we may meditate with advantage:
I. The Obedience of Moses, an example for the Lord’s Servants.
“And Moses went out, and told the people,” &c. (Num_11:24). Very recently Moses had doubted the word of the Lord, and questioned His ability to fulfil His promises; but now he obeys His commands, trusting in Him to fulfil His promises. Doubt is not the normal state of a good man, but an exceptional thing in his life. It is ours, not to question the Lord concerning the reason of His commands, or the way in which He will fulfil His promises; but trusting His promises, we should obey His commands. Faith and duty are ours; reasons and results are God’s.
II. The Bestowment of the Spirit upon the seventy Elders, Encouragement for the Lord’s Servants.
“And the Lord came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the Spirit that was upon him, and gave unto the seventy elders.” Notice:—
1. The Lord’s care of His servants. By granting to him the aid of these elders, He relieves Moses of the oppression of the burden of which he had complained. When the duties and responsibilities of His servants become too heavy, He lightens them either by diminishing their burdens, or by increasing their strength. He is a gracious Master, &c.
2. The Lord’s qualification of His servants. When the elders were assembled about the tabernacle, the cloud of the Divine Presence, which had soared on high above it, came down, and the Lord spake unto Moses, and gave of His Spirit to the seventy elders (See notes on Num_11:17). Those whom God calls to duty He also qualifies for it.
3. The Lord’s authentication of His servants. “And it came to pass, when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not add. But there remained two,” &c. Under the impulse and inspiration of the Spirit of God they spoke to the people with such “admirable clearness and fulness, and readiness, and aptness of expression,” and wisdom, that all who heard them were convinced that God was with them. By this sign the Lord accredited them to their office; this was their credential to the people, the Divine warrant for the exercise of their calling. God still authenticates His servants. In the holiness of their lives, in their qualifications for their work, and in the usefulness of their work, we mark the Divine credentials of the servants of the Lord.
III. The error of Joshua, Admonition to the Lord’s Servants.
Two of the persons who were called to the eldership did not go up to the tabernacle, but remained in the camp; and the Spirit came upon them there, and they prophesied. This caused some excitement, and a boy went and told the matter to Moses. “And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them.” The prophesying of Eldad and Medad seemed to him an irregular and unauthorised thing. They were not in the company of the others; they had not received the gift through the mediation of Moses; and Joshua fears that if they are not restrained, the honour and authority of Moses will be diminished. So he proposes to Moses to prohibit it. I discover no sufficient reason for supposing that Joshua was jealous of this prophesying on his own account. He was rather jealous for the honour of Moses, as the disciples of John the Baptist were for the honour of their Master (Joh_3:26). Still the counsel of Joshua was unwise and rash. Let us take warning from his mistake. The Spirit of God is not limited by our poor notions and narrow parties. The streams of Divine influence are much too plenteous to be confined in the strait and shallow channels which we have scooped out for them. The true way of regarding new and seemingly irregular manifestations of religious feeling and effort is indicated by Jesus Christ in Mar_9:38-40, and by the Apostle Paul in Php_1:14-18. (a)
IV. The Magnanimity of Moses, an Example for the Lord’s Servants.
“And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that,” &c. So far from being displeased with Eldad and Medad, Moses, who sought not his own honour, but the glory of God, rejoiced in the gifts bestowed upon them, and “gave expressions to the large-hearted wish, that the whole people of the Lord might prophesy. And most assuredly there can be no such thing now, under the grace of the New Testament, which works at large and unconstrained, as a confining of the Spirit of the Lord to this or to that place, to the communion of this or of that party. The Spirit bloweth where He listeth; where is the man who will or can hinder Him? Whenever devils are cast out there is the Spirit of God (Mat_12:27-28); wherever the name of Jesus is confessed, the confessor of that name is accepted before God whether he stand in our roll or not.”—Stier. (b)
ILLUSTRATIONS
(a) I do dislike narrow churches, I do dislike little, little self-enclosing, self-subsisting clubs of so-called Christian professors. I find nothing narrow in Christianity. I find Christianity the broadest system, either of religion or of thought, or of philanthropy, that I can find in the world. If there are persons that wrap their sectarian garments about them, and say, “We are the people of God, and there is no other people that belong to Him,” then are they liars, and the truth is not in them. Little people that live in a nutshell, which they mistake for the universe, that have their own little Bethel, and their own little hymn book, and their own little sectarian movements, and their own little heaven, I do not know anything about them, except that, having heard about them, I do not wish to prosecute inquiry further. If there are such people-no, I would alter that grammar, and say if there be such people, hoping that their existence is quite contingent and future—if there be such people they know nothing about the Divine, catholic, universal liberty of Jesus Christ’s teaching. I trust that we all belong to the Broad Church, that we hail a brother, whatever be the temporary name by which he is known in ecclesiastical life; and that we allow heart to speak to heart, and know something of the intercourse of brotherly unity in Christ Jesus.—Joseph Parker, D.D.
(b) If ever you can say a good word of a fellow-minister, I charge it upon your honour to say it, and if you cannot speak a good word you need not speak a bad one. Don’t set up your own style of preaching as the standard by which to try the preaching of all other men. Try (hard lesson!) to be thankful for another man’s success. When you can heartily thank God for another minister’s prosperity (and that minister in your own neighbourhood), you will have taken an eminent position in the temple of Christian magnanimity. It is easy to thank God for the success of a man who is fifty miles distant from your own ministerial orbit; but to give thanks for the success of a man who preaches within an hour’s walk of your own pulpit, that is what I mean by magnanimity. Men who do not profess Christianity, are not expected to conform to its requirements, but surely its expounders and defenders should merge their little selfishness in the all-absorbing importance of winning the world back to filial love and reverent loyalty,—Ibid.
The truth is, that it is natural to all of us to envy the growing reputation of others; and to be jealous where it seems likely to trench upon our own. We may speak very justly of the littleness of mind which is displayed by the envious and the jealous; nevertheless, this littleness of mind belongs naturally to most, if not all of us. And he wins a fine triumph, or displays great command over himself, who can be content with inferiority, provided the cause of God and truth be advanced. Now, this is precisely the case in which both Moses and John showed greatness of soul. And though it be one in which we have most reason to look for a forgetfulness of self, experience shows that the expectation is but too often disappointed. In other cases we can hardly wonder that men should be mortified by the superiority of their rivals; that is, look with dislike and bitterness on those who eclipse them in the respects in which they most wish to shine. The courtier, for example, who has long sought to stand high in the favour of his sovereign; and who perceives that a younger candidate, who has just entered the field, is fast outstripping him, so that the probability is that he will soon be widely distanced,—we cannot marvel if he regard the youthful competitor with irritated feelings in place of generously rejoicing in his rapid success. It would be a very fine instance of magnanimity if this courtier were to cede gracefully the place to his rival, and offer him, with marks of sincerity which could not be mistaken, his congratulations on having passed him in the race. But we could not look for such magnanimity. The occasion, if we may venture to say so, scarcely warrants it; the whole business is of so worldly, so ignoble a character, that the high principles of religion can scarcely be supposed to be brought into exercise; yet the loftiness of spirit is such as that these principles alone can be considered adequate to produce or effect. The case, however, is widely different when it is in the service of God, and not of an earthly king, that the two men engage. Here by the very nature of the service, the grand thing aimed at is the glory of God and not personal distinction or aggrandisement; and there is, therefore, ground for expecting that if God’s glory be promoted, there will be gladness of heart in all Christians, whoever the agent who has been specially honoured. But, alas! for the infirmity of human nature; there is room for questioning that even Christians can be jealous of each other, and feel it a sore trial when they are distanced and eclipsed in being instrumental in promoting Christianity. I can imagine to myself a missionary settlement, where a devoted servant of God has striven many years with idolatry, but has made but little way in winning heathens to the faith. Here and there he can point to a convert from superstition, but, for the most part, he seems to have laboured in vain; and is forced to exclaim with the prophet, “Who hath believed our report, and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?” And then there arrives in that missionary settlement, another and a younger preacher of truth, and God has endowed him with higher powers, and honours him with greater success, so that there is a rapid demolition of the whole system of heathenism—savages renouncing by hordes ancestral superstitions; forming themselves into peaceful communities, and embracing, with delight, the Religion of Jesus Christ. It is very easy to say that the elder missionary ought to feel nothing but exultation and thankfulness, as he witnesses the glorious results which follows the labours of youth. The object that he had nearest his heart was the conversion of Pagans; what should he do but rejoice in the accomplishment of his object, though effected through the instrumentality of another? And we do not say that the elder missionary would have other feelings than those which he is bound by his profession to entertain; nevertheless, there will have been a great deal to try that missionary, and we can hardly doubt—for as much as his having been a Christian will not have destroyed his being a man—that his breast must have been the scene of no inconsiderable struggle; that there must have been earnest prayer, and earnest resistance to natural feelings, ere he could bring himself to survey, with composure, the distinguished honours which God is putting on another. We are far enough from regarding it as a matter of course, that a veteran in the missionary work would feel contented and pleased at seeing that work which had gone on so slowly with himself, progress with amazing rapidity when undertaken by a younger labourer; on the contrary, arguing from the known tendencies of our nature, we assume that he must have had a hard battle with himself before he could really rejoice in the sudden advance of Christianity; and we should regard him as having won, through the assistance of Divine grace, a noble victory over some of the strongest cravings of the heart when he frankly bid the stripling God speed! and rejoiced as he saw the idols fall prostrate before him.
Here you have very nearly the case of Moses and John.—Henry Melville, B.D.
ENVY
(Num_11:29)
“And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake?”
To envy is “to grieve at another’s good; to fret or hate another on account of his superiority.” Envy “is an affection,” says Attersoll, “compounded of sorrow and malice. For such persons are malicious, always repining and grudging at the gifts of God bestowed upon others, and as it were look asquint at them, as Gen_26:12-14; Gen_26:27; Gen_30:1; Gen_31:1; Mar_9:38; Joh_3:26-27.”
“Envy,” says Jeremy Collier, “is an ill-natured vice, and is made up of meanness and malice. It wishes the force of goodness to be strained, and the measure of happiness abated. It laments over prosperity, and sickens at the sight of health. It oftentimes wants spirit as well as good nature.” (a)
Concerning this vice we call attention to three facts:—
I. It is sadly common.
It is almost invariably present and active in mean souls; and it has been discovered in souls which in other respects were noble. Here it is in Joshua, a man of brave and beautiful character. True, he was not envious on his own account; but he was for the sake of his master. Great men are not free from littlenesses. Strong men are generally weak in some point. Good men, on earth, are not without their imperfections, and are liable to fall into sin. Even excellencies, if not properly regulated, like Joshua’s zeal for the honour of Moses, may lead to error and sin. Wherefore it behoves us to be on our guard against envy. Endeavour to rejoice in the prosperity of others, &c. (b)
II. It is extremely foolish.
“Envy,” says Attersoll, “is a very torment to the envious, who envying at others, do plague and punish themselves. For as envy hurteth not him at all that is envied, so the envious man carrieth about within his own bosom an inward and home-bred tormentor that never suffereth him to be quiet. Such a monster is spite and envy, that if he see, or hear, or think another to have more or as much, to go beyond him or be equal unto him, it is a quotidian, nay, a continual fever without any intermission, it paineth him day and night (Psa_112:9-10).” “Every other sin,” says Burton, “hath some pleasure annexed to it, or will admit of some excuse; but envy wants both: we should strive against it, for if indulged in, it will be to us a foretaste of hell upon earth.” “Envy,” says Solomon, “is the rottenness of the bones.” (c)
III. It is heinously sinful.
The sin of Joshua, in envying for Moses’ sake, because of the exercise of the prophetic gift by Eldad and Medad, is seen in that—
1. The gift was bestowed by God. He bestoweth His gifts as it pleaseth Him; and to envy those who receive them is to call into question His wisdom or righteousness in bestowing them. Comp. Mat_20:15. Many of the things which excite envy in our day are gifts of God.
2. The gift was for the benefit of all the people. The eldership of Eldad and Medad was for the good of all Israel, and by this gift of prophecy the Lord accredited them to their office in the eyes of the people. The spiritual gifts of every Christian are for the advantage of the entire Church. How sinful then to envy them their possession!
3. Joshua’s envy was a violation of the law of brotherly kindness. To envy is always to outrage Christian charity. “Charity envieth not.” Mark the evil features of this vice as it is pourtrayed by Socrates: “An envious man waxeth lean with the fatness of his neighbours. Envy is the daughter of pride, the author of murder and revenge, the beginner of secret sedition, and the perpetual tormentor of virtue. Envy is the filthy slime of the soul; a venom, a poison, or quicksilver which consumeth the flesh, and drieth up the marrow of the bones.” How much more loathsome should it appear to us, who should view it in the light of the teaching and spirit of Jesus Christ!
Conclusion:
1. Cultivate Christian contentment.
2. “Follow after charity.”
3. Rejoice in the gifts of God in whomsoever we discover them.
ILLUSTRATIONS
(a) In some unlucky dispositions, there is such an envious kind of pride, that they cannot endure that any but themselves should be set forth for excellent; so when they hear one justly praised, they will either seek to discount his virtues, or, if they be like a clear night, eminent, they will stab him with a but of detraction, as if there were something yet so foul, as did obnubilate even his brightest glory. Thus when their tongue cannot justly condemn him, they will leave him in suspected ill, by silence. Surely, if we considered detraction to be bred of envy, nested only in deficient minds, we should find that the applauding of virtue would win us far more honour than the seeking slyly to disparage it. That would show we loved what we commended, while this tells the world we grudge at what we want in ourselves.—Feltham.
We shall find it in Cain, the proto-murderer, who slew his brother at the instigation of envy. We shall find it in the dark and gloomy and revengeful spirit of Saul, who, under the influence of envy, plotted for years the slaughter of David. We shall find it in the King of Israel, when he pined for the vineyard of Naboth, and shed his blood to gain it. Yea, it was envy that perpetrated that most atrocious crime ever planned in hell or executed on earth, on which the sun refused to look, and at which Nature gave signs of abhorrence by the rending of the rocks: I mean the crucifixion of Christ; for the evangelist tells us, that for envy, the Jews delivered our Lord.—J. A. James.
(b) Envy is a weed that grows in all soils and climates, and is no loss luxuriant in the country than in the court; is not confined to any rank of men or extent of fortune, but rages in the breasts of all degrees, Alexander was not prouder than Diogenes; and it may be, if we would endeavour to surprise it in its most gaudy dress and attire, and in the exercise of its full empire and tyranny, we should find it in schoolmasters and scholars or in some country lady, or the knight, her husband; all which ranks of people more despise their neighbours than all the degrees of honour in which courts abound; and it rages as much in a sordid affected dress as in all the silks and embroideries which the excess of the age and the folly of youth delight to be adorned with. Since then it keeps all sorts of company, and wriggles itself into the liking of the most contrary natures and dispositions, and yet carries so much poison and venom with it, that it alienates the affections from heaven, and raises rebellion against God Himself; it is worth our utmost care to watch it in all its disguises and approaches, that we may discover it on its first entrance, and dislodge it before it procures a shelter or retiring place to lodge and conceal itself.—Lord Clarendon.
(c) Of all antagonists most charity I find in envious men for they do Sooner hurt themselves than hurt or me or Him that raised me up. An envious man is Made of thoughts; to ruminate much doth melt.
The brain, and make the heart grow lean, Such men.
As these, that in opposing, waste their proper Strength; that sacrifice themselves in silly Hope to batches us; save revenge a labour; And die to make experiment of wrath.
Sir. W. Davenant.
KIBROTH-HATTAAVAH: STRIKING ILLUSTRATIONS OF SOLEMN TRUTHS
(Num_11:31-35)
In these verses we have illustrations of several important truths—
I. The Sovereignty of God.
“And there went forth a wind from the Lord, and brought quails,” &c. This wind does not appear to have been an ordinary one, the simple effect of a natural cause. It was Divinely ordered for this special purpose. In this great quantity of quails, bestowed in accordance with the promise of the Lord, the Divine Hand is equally manifest. The wind and the quails are both illustrations of the power and dominion of the Lord. His sovereignty is universal. The mightiest and the meannest of creatures are subject unto Him. This fact should minister,—
1. Encouragement to those who trust Him. He can never want means or instruments to help them; He can make all things to promote their interests. He can use the ravens as the dispensers of His bounty, as He did for Elijah, &c.
2. Warning to those who rebel against Him. He can marshall all ranks of creatures, and all the forces of nature against you, if it please Him so to do. “Hast thou an arm like God?” “Who may stand in Thy sight when once Thou art angry?” “Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,” &c.
II. The eagerness with which men toil in the pursuit of temporal and material good.
“And the people stood up all that day, and all night,” &c. (Num_11:32). See with what zeal and diligence they gather and preserve the quails. They forego their ordinary sleep and rest, &c. It is an illustration of the way in which men pursue pleasure, and scheme and toil for money, &c. Tens of thousands to-day are as eager in the pursuit of the perishable things of earth and time as the Israelites were in gathering quails. And like the Israelites, many are laboriously accumulating what they will never live to enjoy. Death shall cut them down in the midst of their possessions, just as they are composing themselves to take their “ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” How great is the contrast between the eagerness with which men pursue these earthly and temporal things and their luke-warmness and indolence as to the things which are eternal and divine! “Labour not for the meat which perisheth,” &c. (Joh_6:27); “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth,” &c. (Mat_6:19-21.) (a)
III. The gratification of the desires of men resulting in their ruin.
“And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed,” &c. (Num_11:33). Their passionate lust was gratified, and the gratification killed them.
“Heaven is most just, and of our pleasant vices
Makes instruments to scourge us.”
Shakespeare.
The thing we have eagerly coveted often proves when attained—
1. Unsatisfactory in possession. The realization is a painful contrast to the anticipation; it disappoints us, it saddens us, &c. (b)
2. The occasion of spiritual loss and harm. Gratified appetites often lead to crushed aspirations; carnal luxuries to spiritual famine; temporal riches to eternal destitution, &c. (c)
IV. A sin, which on its first commission was mercifully passed over, if repeated may call forth the judgment of God.
They had murmured aforetime, and the Lord gave them quails, and did not punish them (Exo_16:2-13). But now, after additional proofs of His power and goodness, they murmur again and more wickedly, and He sends them quails and smites them in anger. Persistence in wickedness must lead to perdition. (Pro_28:14; Pro_29:1). “Relapses are desperate, where the sickness itself is not.”
V. The sins and punishments of one generation should be remembered as a warning to future generations.
“And he called the name of that place Kibroth-Hattaavah; because there they buried the people that lusted.” So Moses endeavours to perpetuate, as a warning to others, the memory of their sin, and the judgment of God which it called forth. Comp. 1Co_10:5-6.
ILLUSTRATIONS
(a) Oh, what tears have strong men shed in this city, tears which fell not outside the cheek, these had been harmless; but they dropped within the soul, to scald and sear it with ever-abiding melancholy! That which cheered and comforted them, the gain of wealth, has gone, and the busy merchants have been ready for the lunatic asylum or for suicide. How these golden bellows will cease to blow when men come to die! Ah, how little will wealth stimulate the joys of the last moment! Fool, thou hast only bought thyself a marble tomb, and what is that to thy poor dust and ashes? Thou art now to leave all thou hast; thou art as the partridge that sitteth on the eggs, but hatcheth them not; thy joys are all for another, and not for thee. Oh, how often do men that have been happy enough in the accumulation of riches, die in utter misery, with all their gold and silver about them, because their bellows of avaricious acquisition have been burned by their very success, and the flame of hope and ambition has hopelessly died out!—C. H. Spurgeon.
(b) Persons in the midst of pleasure know more of its emptiness than any minister who preaches of the worthlessness of this world. The votaries of pleasure are the least satisfied with it. He who inveighs against immoralities and vices has not half so strong a conviction of their rottenness as they who commit them. No man has such a sense of the mischief and misery of intemperance as the very drunkard himself, when for a moment he staggers back from his bowl and has one of those lucid intervals in which his better nature returns, and he is led to loathe himself as other men loathe him. No man knows how heavy care is, and how weak human strength is under it, so well as the elect children of sorrow. No man ever counts riches at their true value, as measured by the other world, so truly as business men who have been the most industrious, the most avaricious, the most greedy, and are after all the most unsatisfied.—H. W. Beecher.
(c) Upon such a wretched creature, who in life thought nothing of death, nothing of God, nothing of man, and who took God’s treasures and prosperities as pirates take jewels and coin, to hide them in the cave of his own selfishness—upon such a one there was an eye beaming steadily down, and, unheard by him, a voice went forth in heaven, which should ere long put all his arrogance and selfishness to shame. For, while men were calling him rich, and making him honourable; while his relations flattered him, and his dependents fawned upon him; while men stood out of his path, and turned to look back admiringly after him, and to say to the stranger newly come to town, “Knowest thou who that is? That is the great and wealthy Mr. Fat-soul!”—amid all these congratulations, and admirations, and human praises, there were others looking at him, and expressing opinions about him not quite so complimentary. For God and holy angels looked down upon his gross abundance, upon his fat and dozing ease, and upon his arrogant self-congratulations; and God calmly said to this man, who stood so large, who was so prospered, and who very likely was the topmost man of the whole circle in which he moved, “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee.”—Ibid.
KIBROTH-HATTAAVAH: THE GRAVES OF LUST
(Num_11:31-34)
We will stand by those graves, and listen to their teachings: they may save us from standing by the graves of the idols of our own hearts. I shall endeavour to illustrate this subject by dwelling on three principles.
I. There are perpetual resurrections of easily besetting sins.
This lusting was no novelty in their experience; it was the besetting temptation of the desert, and the besetting sin of their hearts. But they ought to have viewed the first rising of its ghastly shape with horror; there were graves enough in the path from Egypt, to remind them of its deadly work. God had been at great pains to teach them the lesson of dependence, that “man doth not live by bread alone,” &c. (Exo_14:10-16; Exo_16:1-5; Exo_17:1-7). And now with firmer assurance than ever that God was in the midst of them, to bring them into the place which He had prepared, they resumed their march through the unknown desert paths. The tabernacle, the ark, the order of the camp, the pillar of cloud and flame, were all among them, the pledge of His presence. But all in vain. They must have flesh, or they would give up the enterprise, and die in despair. And they had flesh; they were fed, were crammed with it to nauseation, and with it “God sent leanness into their souls.” I dwell on two points of large importance for the understanding of this history.
1. The side from which the temptation came to them (Num_11:4-6). This mixed multitude corresponds to the troop of disorderly passions and appetites with which we suffer ourselves to march through the desert of life. The mixed multitude was but loosely attached to them. They were a loose, coarse, common company, with nothing to dignify, elevate, inspire. No wonder they fainted, murmured, lusted; and thought flesh for to-day was better than Canaan to-morrow, and heaven beyond. The question was not one of sustenance. Enough for appetite was there; enough for all the uses of life, guaranteed by God; “but they wept again, saying, who shall give us flesh to eat;” &c. Lust was strong in them, the love of the satisfaction of the bodily appetites for the sake of the momentary pleasure they bring. And appetite runs swiftly into lust in every one of us; each act of indulgence opens a fresh mouth which craves to be fed. The moment you take pleasure in the indulgence of appetite beyond the use for which it was ordained by God, you take an element into your life which will humble it, and drag its glory in the dust. It is the grand battle of life, to teach lust the limits of Divine law.
2. The special season when the easily-besetting sin rose up and again made them its slave. Look at this orderly and gallant host. They had been baptised as God’s soldiers by the splendours of the Mount of the Law. Full of Divine joy, zeal, courage, hope, they set forward, &c. “Scant fare, hard marching, fierce battles, but exhilarate us. The flesh-pots, the melons, the garlic, they belong to the days of our bondage; we are free men now, and their power to tempt us is gone.” And so many a gallant young spirit, having heard the trumpet call of the Gospel, and joined the glorious company of the soldiers of the Cross, feels in the first pride of strength and flush of joy, that the flesh is so bruised, as to be broken and crushed for ever. But dread the hour when the glow begins to die down; when the practical burdens, pains, trials, which you still meet with, prove to you that the Divine life on earth is no paradise regained; when you find your strength barely equal to the demands made upon it, and see stretching on through long years a path of struggle, denial and mortification of the flesh, the end of which is not yet in sight. Beware of your best moments, as well as of your worst; or rather the moments which succeed the best. They are the most perilous of all. Just when the consciousness of triumph seems to permit and justify disarmament for a moment, the subtle foe with whom you have to deal will steal in on you, and win a treacherous victory. Never relax the strain. Never allow temptation within arm’s length. Never believe that the devil is asleep; that a besetting sin is eradicated, &c. “Lay aside every weight,” &c.
II. There comes a point in the history of the indulgence of besetting sins, when God ceases to strive with us and for us against them, and lets them have their way.
1. God has great patience with the weaknesses and sins of the flesh. But it is a dreadful mistake to suppose that therefore He thinks lightly of them. He regards them as sins that must be conquered, and no matter by what sharp discipline, extirpated and killed.
2. Hence all the severer discipline by which the Lord seeks to purge them, the various agencies by which He fights with us and for us against their tyrannous power. What is life but one long discipline of God for the cleansing of the flesh? Are not the after-pains of departed sensual joys among its chief stings and thorns? God has made a sure link of connexion between such sins and their penalties. The body itself is made the index of its indulgence, &c. Does He not give us the bread of heaven, that He may waken within us a taste for purer pleasures, and lead us out of the coils of the fleshly tempters, by giving us the food of a Diviner life? It is only when a man will not enter into his Father’s counsel in this; will not suffer the higher tastes to develope themselves, and the higher appetites to indulge their craving with the bread of God; will grovel when God gives him wings to soar; will clamour for flesh when the bread of God is in his very hand: it is only then, when the evil becomes deadly, that God stays His hand, withdraws His guardian angel, and leaves the will to itself.
3. Let alone by God. “Ephraim is joined to his idols, let him alone!” is to any mind among the most awful sentences in the word of God. It is very wonderful to see how often, if a man is bent on an end which is not God’s end, God gives it him, and it becomes his curse. God does not curse; He leaves us to ourselves; that is curse enough, and from that curse, what arm can save us? We will have it, and we shall have it.
III. The end of that way is, inevitably and speedily, a grave.
The grave of lust is one of the most awful of the inscriptions on the headstones of the great cemetery, the world. The words in Psa_106:13-15, cast much light on this passage. There the lust is spoken of as the grave of the soul. And I believe that it is the common form of God’s judgment. Where He buries one in the wilderness, He suffers a thousand to bury themselves in their lust. It is the inevitable end of all wanton self-indulgence; either a sharp judgment, or that slow pining of soul which makes the body its grave. Where are the graves? I need only look on that sensual face, that bloated form, that dull and glassy eye, that brazen brow, to tell.… How many have learnt now to laugh at emotions which once had a holy beauty in their sight; to fence skilfully with appeals which once would have thrilled to the very core of their hearts; to grasp at advantages which once they would have passed with a scornful anathema, and to clutch at the gold which was once the glad instrument of diffusing benefits around! Yes! there are graves enough around us—graves of passion, graves of self-will, graves of lust.
Beware! young men; young women, beware! The grave-diggers began their work far back in those wretched histories. The first step was the really fatal one: the first flying, in sorrow and heart-ache, to any refuge but God. Beware! Each act of indulgence makes the grave wider and deeper, where the whole breadth of God-like faculty will at length lie buried; and it fixes in the brain a memory which will one day turn tyrant, and be the dread avenger of a murdered hope.—J. Baldwin Brown, B.A.
THE GRAVES OF LUST
(Num_11:34)
The circumstances leading to the fact of the text are full of instruction to us. The mischief originated with “the mixed multitude.” These were the rabble that had followed the Israelites out of Egypt; who having seen what God had done for His people in Egypt, thought it was a good chance to better themselves by so doing. They soon found out the mistake they had made, and began to murmur and to excite the people to discontent. Their connection with the history suggests—
1. That those who join themselves to God’s Church from worldly motives are ever disappointed.
2. That such characters ever do harm to the Church.
The events which gave rise to the text show how easily God can provide for our necessities, and punish us for our sins! To Moses it seemed impossible to feed this vast multitude with flesh. God said, “I will do it for a month, until they are surfeited with it.” How easily He keeps His promise! It is never a difficult matter to Him to help us. Let us trust Him. How easily He can punish! The very blessing, owing to their conduct, became their curse. They were wayward, and God let them have their own way, than which no greater curse can befall man. God can punish by plenty as well as by scarcity. What people have lusted after often becomes their torment.
I. It is the tendency of lust to shorten life and to bring men to an untimely grave.
The word lust in the Bible has, for the most part, its general meaning of inordinate desire—man’s corrupt nature ruling instead of being ruled, and held in check. The finger of God has written on all gluttony, intemperance, debauchery—“This is the pathway to the grave.” There is nothing exceptional in the death of these Israelites. There is no fact better attested than this, that all living for the animal in man destroys the body as well as the soul. When intellect becomes the slave of passion, and man is ruled by his lusts, he transgresses the laws of health, undermines his constitution, and soon sinks into the grave. Our animal desires are good servants; but, when they gain the mastery, they are fearful tyrants, loading the conscience with guilt and the body with disease, ruining life, and making eternity a hell. The Romans, it is said, held their funerals at the Gate of Venus, to teach that lust shortens life. The pleasures of sin are dearly bought. There are pleasures in sin, which have great attraction to our sinful nature. Folly’s house, as Solomon tells us, is full of forbidden sweets; there is the pleasure of the sensualist, the vanities of the giddy and the gay, and the fatal cup which has such deadly hold on our land; they are there to attract, and they do attract corrupt hearts; but over the portal is written—“The dead are there—her guests are in the depths of hell.”
II. Let us record some of our feelings as we contemplate “the graves of lust.”
These graves made a deep impression on the mind of Moses, as we see from his giving the name to the encampment. It was, indeed, a sad, sad funeral, &c. The grave ever suggests sober thoughts. But all by the grave is not sad. Gospel light paints the rainbow of hope in our tears, as we place there the dead in Christ, with the assurance that we shall be re-united in the “home over there.” But graves like these of the text—how sad! As we stand by them there are two feelings prominent—
1. The one is of intense pity, that man should be so foolish as to live in sin when he knew how it would end; that life should be so wasted, and opportunities lost, &c.
2. The other is of awful solemnity. He is gone! but whither? He has given up the ghost; but where is he? He is somewhere, &c. We cannot but think of his future.
“Wrapp’d in a Christless shroud,
He sleeps the Christless sleep;
Above him, the eternal cloud,
Beneath, the fiery deep.
Laid in a Christless tomb,
There, bound with felon-chain,
He waits the terror of his doom,
The judgment and the pain.
O Christless shroud, how cold!
How dark, O Christless tomb!
O grief that never can grow old!
O endless, hopeless doom!
O Christless sleep, how sad!
What waking shalt thou know?
For thee no star, no dawning glad,
Only the lasting woe!
To rocks and hills in vain
Shall be the sinner’s call;
O day of wrath and death and pain,
The lost soul’s funeral!
O Christless soul, awake
Ere thy last sleep begin!
O Christ, the sleeper’s slumbers break,
Burst Thou the bands of sin.”
Bonar.
Thank God, this is possible now. While we are on earth we may obtain salvation, &c.
Let us all—
1. Ascertain whether or no we are on the way to this grave.
2. Resolve through the help of God that we will not be there.
Seek Jesus Christ. He, and He only, can rescue us from the power, the curse, and the consequences of sin.—David Lloyd.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 Eldad and Medad seem instances of unlicensed preaching and…
Num 11:29
Eldad and Medad seem instances of unlicensed preaching and prophesying; and this, at a time of scanty knowledge and rare spiritual illumination, was not without its dangers. So thought Joshua, and, jealous for Moses’ supremacy, besought him to rebuke them. But the great prophet, wholly wanting in the thought of self, rebuked Joshua instead. "Enviest thou," he said, "for my sake?" and then added, in words of noble hyperbole, "Would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets!"
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I. The first thought that occurs to us in reading this scene is the good, felt by the greatest, of zeal and enthusiasm. And the second is, how to discover it, how to encourage it in God’s service. But then comes the further question, Have these men the prophet’s capacity? Have they that primary want, the prophet’s faith? Have they fire, perseverance, and courage? (1) The prophet’s faith. Take away from the prophet this faith in the living God, speaking to him, teaching him, encouraging him, in the midst of life’s sorrows and temptations, and he is nothing. Give him that belief, and his confidence, his courage, is unshaken (2) There is the prophet’s belief in the moral order underlying the established order of things, as the only safe and sure foundation on which peace and prosperity in a nation can be built.
II. The prophetic message, however varied its tone, however startling its communication, is always in substance, as of old, the same: "He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"
III. "Would that the people of the Lord were all prophets!" Would that we had all more of the fire of enthusiasm, leading us to go forth and act, and learn in acting, not waiting till we have solved all doubts or perfected some scheme of action!
IV. Zeal may often make mistakes, but it is better than no zeal. Truth is not merely correctness, accuracy, the absence of error, nor even the knowledge of the laws of nature. It is also the recognition of the moral and spiritual bases of life, and the desire to promote and teach these among men.
A. G. Butler, The Oxford Review, April 29th, 1885.
References: Num 11:29.—H. Melvill, Lothbury Lectures, p. 168; Parker, vol. iv., p. 52; J. Van Oosterzee, Year of Salvation, vol. i., p. 463.
Num 11:31-34
Notice:—
I. The perpetual resurrections of easily besetting sins. (1) Look at the side from which the temptation came. It was distinctly a question of lust. Lust was strong in the people, the love of the satisfaction of the bodily appetites for the sake of the momentary pleasure they bring. Appetite runs swiftly to lust in every one of us; each act of indulgence opens a mouth which craves to be fed. (2) Look at the special season when the easily besetting sin rose up and again made them its slave. There is a backwater of temptation which is more deadly than its direct assaults. Just when the consciousness of a triumph seems to permit and justify disarmament for a moment, the subtle foe with whom you have to deal will steal in on you, and win a treacherous victory.
II. There comes a point in the history of the indulgence of besetting sins when God ceases to strive with us and for us against them, and lets them have their way. (1) God has great patience with the weaknesses and sins of the flesh. But it is a dreadful mistake to suppose that therefore He thinks lightly of them. He regards them as sins that must be conquered and, no matter by what sharp discipline, extirpated and killed. (2)
Hence all the severer discipline by which the Lord seeks to purge them, the various agencies by which He fights with us and for us against their tyrannous power. (3) Let alone by God. "Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone," is one among the most awful sentences in the word of God.
III. The end of that way is inevitably and speedily a grave. The grave of lust is one of the most awful of the inscriptions on the headstone of the great cemetery, the world. No ghosts are so sure to haunt their graves as the ghosts of immolated faculties and violated vows. Each act of indulgence makes the grave wider and deeper where the whole breadth of Godlike faculty will at length be buried.
J. Baldwin Brown, The Soul’s Exodus and Pilgrimage, p. 279.
References: Num 11:31.—S. Baring-Gould, One Hundred Sermon Sketches, p. 180. Num 11—W. M. Taylor, Moses the Lawgiver, p. 292. Num 12:1.—Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 282. Num 12:1-16.—W. M. Taylor, Moses the Lawgiver, p. 307. Num 12:3.—H. Wonnacott, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiv., p. 138; J. Van Oosterzee, Year of Salvation, vol. ii., p. 400; I. Williams, Characters of the Old Testament, p. 79. Num 12:6-8.—G. Matheson, Moments on the Mount, p. 111. Num 12:10.—Expositor, 3rd series, vol. iii., p. 228. Num 12.—Parker, vol. iii., p. 198. Num 13:16.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. x., p. 340. Num 13:18-20.—J. M. Neale, Sermons for the Church Year, vol. i., p. 152.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 Murmuring at Taberah and at Kibroth-Hattaavah
Murmuring at Taberah and at Kibroth-Hattaavah
1. In the uttermost parts of the camp] What is meant is that the fire began, where probably the murmuring began, at the extremity of the camp, perhaps among the 'mixed multitude' (cp. Num_11:4).
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3. Taberah] 'burning.'
4. The mixt multitude] see Exo_12:38, where, however, a different word is used. Fell a lusting] longed for the delicacies of Egypt (Num_11:5). Wept again] This may refer to the story in Exodus 16.
15. My wretchedness] i.e. the failure of my attempts to lead this people: cp. the despairing complaint of Elijah in 1Ki_19:4 and of Jeremiah in Jer_15:10.
16. Later Jewish writers saw in this command of God the origin of their Sanhedrim, or Council of Seventy, who regulated the affairs of the nation in later times: cp. Mar_15:1.
18. Sanctify] see Exo_19:10, Exo_19:15.
25. They prophesied] This does not mean that they were able to predict the future, but that they broke out into the praise of God, and declared His will and goodness, while in a state of spiritual exaltation and ecstasy: see on Exo_7:1.
26. Were written] enrolled among the seventy. The fact that Eldad and Medad also received the spirit shows that the spirit of God is not limited to certain places or individuals, and that He is no respecter of persons: cp. Act_10:34-35, Act_10:44-48;
28. Cp. Mar_9:38, Mar_9:39.
29. A good example of the magnanimity and unselfishness of Moses: see on Num_27:15.
31. Two cubits high upon the face of the earth] The simplest interpretation of these words is that the quails were flying at this height (about 3 ft.) above the ground, which allowed the people to capture them easily.
Quails usually fly low, and with the wind (see on Exo_16:13).
32. A homer is about ten bushels. The quails were spread out to dry for preservation.
33. The plague was probably due to surfeit: cp. Psa_78:26-31; Psa_106:13-15.
34. Kibroth-hattaavah] 'the graves of lusting': this and Hazeroth were between Sinai and Kadesh.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv4, 6 mixt mixed
mixt mixed
CF. Exo 12:38. (See Scofield "Exo 12:38"). Unconverted church members, unable to desire or understand Christ as the Bread of God Exo 16:35. See Scofield "Exo 16:35" will clamour for things pleasing to the flesh in the work and way of the church: sumptuous buildings, ornate ritual, an easy doctrine. Alas! they lead away the unspiritual believers also.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 1. The Departure and the First Failure
II. THE JOURNEY STARTED: ISRAEL’S UNBELIEF, FAILURE AND PUNISHMENT
1. The Departure and the First Failure
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CHAPTER 10:11-36
1. The cloud moves (Num 10:11-13)
2. The standard of the camp of Judah (Num 10:14-17)
3. The standard of the camp of Reuben (Num 10:18-21)
4. The standard of the camp of Ephraim (Num 10:22-24)
5. The standard of the camp of Dan (Num 10:25-28)
6.The first failure (Num 10:29-32)
7. The cloud leading (Num 10:33-36)
It was on the twentieth day of the second month, in the second year, that the cloud was taken up from off the tabernacle and the signal was given for the camp to break up. The wilderness journey begins and we shall soon be face to face with the sad story of Israel’s failure, a failure which is repeated in the history of Christendom. What a magnificent spectacle it must have been when the camp of Israel moved for the first time in its divinely arranged order! No pen can describe the scene. The cloud moved and advanced towards the wilderness of Paran. Judah with his flowing standard led by Nahshon comes first. Then the tabernacle was taken down and the sons of Gershon and Merari set forward carrying the different parts of the tabernacle. In the second chapter instruction was given that the tabernacle was to set forward with the camp of the Levites in the midst of the camp. Here the order is changed. We shall find later the reason for this. Then the Other camps followed, all in perfect order with Dan the rear guard of all the camps. Was it possible that one not an eye-witness could have given such a remarkable and minute description of all this? Only the person who was actually there and saw it with his own eyes could have written this account. No compiler living a few hundred years later could have produced such a work.
How beautiful the order in the camp! What a contrast with the disorder and concision which followed so soon! And this has all been repeated in Christendom.
The incident between Moses and Hobab is significant. The first failure is recorded and it is on the side of Moses. He turned to his father-in-law, a man who knew the wilderness well, and 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.” Criticism has pointed this out as one of the marks of imperfection in this book and calls it a contradiction. It is a contradiction, but not in the sense as infidelity takes it. It gives a perfect picture of what the human heart is, and therefore is a mark of the perfection of this record. Jehovah had offered Himself as the leader of His people. He was to be eyes for them. And Moses as the human leader of the host of Israel, knowing Jehovah and His promise, turns to a poor Midianite and expects guidance and directions of him! How true it is what one has said, “We find it hard to lean upon an unseen arm. A Hobab that we can see inspires us with more confidence than the living God whom we cannot see. We move on with comfort and satisfaction when we possess the countenance and help of some poor fellow-mortal, but we hesitate, falter and quail when called to move on in naked faith in God.” Every Christian believer knows this tendency of the heart. Every failure begins with leaning on the arm of flesh and leaving out the Lord. And now we understand why the tabernacle was taken to the front and out of the place in the middle of the camps. Jehovah anticipated this failure and graciously, not in judgment, He acts towards His people. “The ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them in the three days journey to search out a resting place for them.” They wanted to find a resting place through Hobab’s guiding eye for the tabernacle and the camp, and now Jehovah in unspeakable condescension and marvellous patience proceeds to search out a resting place for His people. Thus while we fail, He never fails His people. “Oh! for faith to trust Him more.”
2. At Taberah and Kibroth-Hattaavah
CHAPTER 11
1. The first complaint and the punishment (Num 11:1)
2. The first prayer and the answer (Num 11:2-3)
3. The manna rejected (Num 11:4-9)
4. Moses’ complaint and request (Num 11:10-15)
5. The institution of the seventy elders (Num 1:16-30)
6. The quails given and the wrath of Jehovah (Num 11:31-35)
They were now facing the land which was only a short distance away. The ark had sought out a resting place for them. Jehovah had graciously made all provision for their need and comfort. If enemies came victory was on their side, for with the setting forward of the ark Moses said, “Arise Jehovah and let Thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate Thee flee before Thee.” No hardships whatever they had encountered. What else was necessary but to trust Jehovah, praise His Name and possess the land which He had promised to them. Instead of acting thus they complained. It is the first complaint after the camp had been set in order. Their murmuring must have been on account of the journey, which after the long repose at Sinai seemed hard to them. It shows what man is with an evil, stubborn heart. Failure is stamped on man’s history everywhere. It can be traced throughout the Word of God. Every age has this mark. Judgment fell as the result of this murmuring upon those in the uttermost parts of the camp. Most likely those who complained fell behind and expressed a desire not to go forward. Among these the fire burned; no record, however, is given of the first judgment. It must have been tempered with mercy. And the people did not turn to Jehovah in this hour of punishment, but cried to Moses. When he prayed the fire was quenched and the name of the place was called Taberah, which means “burning.”
Alas! they did not profit by the chastening. The second murmuring is more pronounced and more definite. The mixed multitude were a large number who had joined the exodus. They did not know the reality of redemption as Israel did, because they were Egyptians, most likely the so-called “Fellahs.” This multitude fell a lusting and infected the children of Israel. They wept and spoke lightly of the bread from heaven. Such a mixed multitude without the knowledge of redemption is found in the professing church. They have crept in unawares and have been and still are a fearful detriment to the people of God. No unregenerated person has a place in the church of God. They cannot eat and enjoy the manna God has given, but constantly lust after the food of Egypt. (Compare Num 11:4-5 with Deu 8:8. Egypt’s food consisted in six things. Seven things are mentioned as food in the land.) in connection with the despised manna we find a description of that God-given food. It is, as we learned from Exodus, the type of Christ, the food God has given to His people. And how often that food is neglected and Egypt’s food preferred to the Word of God!
Moses’ complaint follows. He seems discouraged and downcast as he looks over the vast camp and sees everybody weeping. It was failure in Moses also, who did not fully trust Jehovah that He could take care of His people and endow him, the leader of His people, with His own strength. The Lord met his weak and discouraged servant and told him to call the elders, seventy of them, and the Spirit, who was upon Moses, was to be put upon them. They were to share the burden with him. But while this delivered him from some of the care it also lost him dignity. Again Moses addressed Jehovah and expressed doubt about the feeding of the six hundred thousand footmen. “Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for them to suffice them? or shall all the fish in the sea be gathered together for them to suffice them?” And the Lord rebuked him. The elders who received the Spirit prophesied and did not cease. What they prophesied is not revealed in the record. They uttered the words of God, exhorting the people in their increasing departure from Jehovah. Prophecy is always put into the foreground in the days of failure and apostasy. Here we also learn that prophecy is a gift. While Moses failed, Joshua also made a failure in being envious because Eldad and Medad prophesied in the camp. He was jealous not for Jehovah, but for Moses. “And Moses said unto him, enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them.” This wish of Moses’ is realized in the church, for all His believing people now have the gift of the Spirit. And the remnant of God’s earthly people will yet be prophets upon whom the Spirit of God is poured out. This will be accomplished in the future when the Lord has come.
The end of the chapter shows Jehovah’s bountiful provision in sending the flesh they had desired. But the wrath of the Lord was kindled against them, and while they were eating a great plague broke out. There was no repentance. Greedily they fell upon what God had provided. It was only to satisfy their lust; the giver they did not see behind the gift. The rebellious, stubborn heart, unrepenting, was there, making use for their own destruction what the Lord had given. Hence the severe judgment. The quails typify Christ. Professing Christendom speaks of Christ, but there is no repentance, no self-judgment, only the form of godliness, but the power is denied. The judgment of God must rest upon such. Kibroth-Hattaavah means “graves of lust.”
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 10 The Burning at Taberah
The Burning at Taberah
v. 1. And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord; literally, "when the people were voicing their complaints over evil in the ears of Jehovah"; for the discomforts and inconveniences of even these three days of desert journey caused them to groan and to murmur. And the Lord heard it, although at this time it was still done more in secret, Psa 78:18; and His anger was kindled, like a fire that flares up suddenly; and the fire of the Lord, sent in a supernatural way as a punishment upon them, burned among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp, probably in the same manner as in the case of Nadab and Abihu, Lev 10:2. The mysterious, consuming fire started at the edges of the encampment and was threatening to devour all the people.
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v. 2. And the people cried unto Moses, their terror made them turn to the one man who had shown himself their ready champion at all times; and when Moses prayed unto the Lord, the fire was quenched, it sank down and went out, the purpose of the Lord in filling the people with a wholesome fear having been accomplished.
v. 3. And he (Moses) called the name of the place Taberah, that is, burning, or, place of burning, because the fire of the Lord burned among them. This was only one part, or section, of the camp, but it lived in the memory of the people, Deu 9:22. When the children of the Lord murmur against His dispensations, He finds it necessary occasionally to visit them with severe punishments; but if they then cry to Him with sorrowful and repentant hearts, He turns to them again with the fullness of His grace and mercy.
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 On vv1, 4, 7, 9 Fire from Yahweh burned
Fire from Yahweh burned
"Yahweh sent fire that burned"
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That place was named
This can be stated in the active form. AT: "They named that place" (See: Active or Passive)
translationWords
trouble
Yahweh
anger
fire
consume
call
Moses
pray
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 On vv1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 10 11:1-35 This is one of many occasions in the…
11:1-35 This is one of many occasions in the wilderness when Israel was disobedient to the Lord.
11:1 Soon the people began to complain. . . . Then the Lord’s anger blazed: The link between Israel’s complaints and God’s anger is a major theme of Numbers and throughout the Old Testament (e.g., Deut 9:22; Ps 78). God is holy and just, and he demands obedience from his people. Complaints are equivalent to rejecting him (cp. Num 11:20). • their hardship: Mount Sinai had provided a stable residence for a year; the road to Paran provided heat, thirst, and fatigue. • fire . . . destroyed some: Cp. Lev 10:2.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.