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Numbers Chapter
Eleven
Numbers 11
Chapter Contents
The burning at Taberah. (1-3) The people lust for flesh,
and loathe the manna. (4-9) Moses complains of his charge. (10-15) Elders
appointed to divide the charge. Flesh meat promised. (16-23) The Spirit rests
on the elders. (24-30) Quails are given. (31-35)
Commentary on Numbers 11:1-3
Here is the people's sin; they complained. See the
sinfulness of sin, which takes occasion from the commandment to be provoking.
The weakness of the law discovered sin, but could not destroy it; checked, but
could not conquer it. They complained. Those who are of a discontented spirit,
will always find something to quarrel or fret about, though the circumstances
of their outward condition be ever so favourable. The Lord heard it, though
Moses did not. God knows the secret frettings and murmurings of the heart,
though concealed from men. What he noticed, he was much displeased with, and he
chastised them for this sin. The fire of their wrath against God burned in
their minds; justly did the fire of God's wrath fasten on their bodies; but
God's judgments came on them gradually, that they might take warning. It
appeared that God delights not in punishing; when he begins, he is soon
prevailed with to let it fall.
Commentary on Numbers 11:4-9
Man, having forsaken his proper rest, feels uneasy and
wretched, though prosperous. They were weary of the provision God had made for
them, although wholesome food and nourishing. It cost no money or care, and the
labour of gathering it was very little indeed; yet they talked of Egypt's
cheapness, and the fish they ate there freely; as if that cost them nothing, when
they paid dearly for it with hard service! While they lived on manna, they
seemed exempt from the curse sin has brought on man, that in the sweat of his
face he should eat bread; yet they speak of it with scorn. Peevish,
discontented minds will find fault with that which has no fault in it, but that
it is too good for them. Those who might be happy, often make themselves
miserable by discontent. They could not be satisfied unless they had flesh to
eat. It is evidence of the dominion of the carnal mind, when we want to have
the delights and satisfaction of sense. We should not indulge in any desire
which we cannot in faith turn into prayer, as we cannot when we ask meat for
our lust. What is lawful of itself becomes evil, when God does not allot it to us,
yet we desire it.
Commentary on Numbers 11:10-15
The provocation was very great; yet Moses expressed
himself otherwise than became him. He undervalued the honour God had put upon
him. He magnified his own performances, while he had the Divine wisdom to direct
him, and Almighty power to dispense rewards and punishments. He speaks
distrustfully of the Divine grace. Had the work been much less he could not
have gone through it in his own strength; but had it been much greater, through
God strengthening him, he might have done it. Let us pray, Lord, lead us not
into temptation.
Commentary on Numbers 11:16-23
Moses is to choose such as he knew to be elders, that is,
wise and experienced men. God promises to qualify them. If they were not found
fit for the employ, they should be made fit. Even the discontented people shall
be gratified too, that every mouth may be stopped. See here, I. The vanity of
all the delights of sense; they will cloy, but they will not satisfy. Spiritual
pleasures alone will satisfy and last. As the world passes away, so do the
lusts of it. 2. What brutish sins gluttony and drunkenness are! they make that
to hurt the body which should be its health. Moses objects. Even true and great
believers sometimes find it hard to trust God under the discouragements of
second causes, and against hope to believe in hope. God here brings Moses to
this point, The Lord God is Almighty; and puts the proof upon the issue, Thou
shalt see whether my word shall come to pass or not. If he speaks, it is done.
Commentary on Numbers 11:24-30
We have here the fulfilment of God's word to Moses, that
he should have help in the government of Israel. He gave of his Spirit to the
seventy elders. They discoursed to the people of the things of God, so that all
who heard them might say, that God was with them of a truth. Two of the elders,
Eldad and Medad, went not out unto the tabernacle, as the rest, being sensible
of their own weakness and unworthiness. But the Spirit of God found them in the
camp, and there they exercised their gift of praying, preaching, and praising
God; they spake as moved by the Holy Ghost. The Spirit of God is not confined
to the tabernacle, but, like the wind, blows where He listeth. And they that
humble themselves shall be exalted; and those who are most fit for government,
are least ambitious of it. Joshua does not desire that they should be punished,
but only restrained for the future. This motion he made out of zeal for what he
thought to be the unity of the church. He would have them silenced, lest they
should occasion a schism, or should rival Moses; but Moses was not afraid of
any such effects from that Spirit which God had put upon them. Shall we reject
those whom Christ has owned, or restrain any from doing good, because they are
not in every thing of our mind? Moses wishes all the Lord's people were
prophets, that he would put his Spirit upon all of them. Let the testimony of
Moses be believed by those who desire to be in power; that government is a
burden. It is a burden of care and trouble to those who make conscience of the
duty of it; and to those who do not, it will prove a heavier burden in the day
of account. Let the example of Moses be followed by those in power; let them
not despise the advice and assistance of others, but desire it, and be thankful
for it. If all the present number of the Lord's people were rendered prophets,
or ministers, by the Spirit of Christ, though not all agreed in outward
matters, there is work enough for all, in calling sinners to repentance, and
faith in our Lord Jesus.
Commentary on Numbers 11:31-35
God performed his promise to the people, in giving them
flesh. How much more diligent men are in collecting the meat that perishes,
than in labouring for meat which endures to everlasting life! We are
quick-sighted in the affairs of time; but stupidity blinds us as to the
concerns of eternity. To pursue worldly advantages, we need no arguments; but
when we are to secure the true riches, then we are all forgetfulness. Those who
are under the power of a carnal mind, will have their lusts fulfilled, though
it be to the certain damage and ruin of their precious souls. They paid dearly
for their feasts. God often grants the desires of sinners in wrath, while he
denies the desires of his own people in love. What we unduly desire, if we
obtain it, we have reason to fear, will be some way or other a grief and cross
to us. And what multitudes there are in all places, who shorten their lives by
excess of one kind or other! Let us seek for those pleasures which satisfy, but
never surfeit; and which will endure for evermore.
¢w¢w Matthew Henry¡mConcise Commentary on
Numbers¡n
Numbers 11
Verse 1
[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.
Complained ¡X
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 ¡X A fire sent from God in an extraordinary manner, possibly from the pillar
of cloud and fire, or from heaven.
The uttermost parts ¡X
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.
Verse 2
[2] And the people cried unto Moses; and when Moses prayed unto the LORD, the
fire was quenched.
The people ¡X
The murmurers, being penitent; or others for fear.
Verse 3
[3] And
he called the name of the place Taberah: because the fire of the LORD burnt
among them.
Taberah ¡X
This fire; as it was called Kibroth-hattaavah from another occasion, Numbers 11:34,35, and Numbers 33:16. It is no new thing in scripture
for persons and places to have two names. Both these names were imposed as
monuments of the peoples sin and of God's just judgment.
Verse 4
[4] And
the mixt 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?
Israel also ¡X
Whose special relation and obligation to God should have restrained them from
such carriage.
Flesh ¡X
This word is here taken generally so as to include fish, as the next words
shew. They had indeed cattle which they brought out of Egypt, but these were
reserved for breed to be carried into Canaan, and were so few that they would
scarce have served them for a month.
Verse 5
[5] We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and
the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick:
Freely ¡X
Either without price, for fish was very plentiful, and fishing was there free,
or with a very small price. And this is the more probable because the Egyptians
might not taste of fish, nor of the leeks and onions, which they worshipped for
Gods, and therefore the Israelites, might have them upon cheap terms.
Verse 6
[6] But
now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before
our eyes.
Our soul ¡X
Either our life, as the soul signifies, Genesis 9:5, or our body, which is often
signified by the soul.
Dried away ¡X Is
withered and pines away; which possibly might be true, through envy and
discontent, and inordinate appetite.
Verse 7
[7] And
the manna was as coriander seed, and the colour thereof as the colour of
bdellium.
As coriander-seed ¡X
Not for colour, for that is black, but for shape and figure.
Bdellium ¡X Is
either the gum of a tree, of a white and bright colour, or rather a gem or
precious stone, as the Hebrew doctors take it; and particularly a pearl
wherewith the Manna manifestly agrees both in its colour, which is white, Exodus 16:14, and in its figure which is round.
Verse 8
[8] And
the people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a
mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it: and the taste of it was as
the taste of fresh oil.
Fresh oil ¡X
Or, of the most excellent oil; or of cakes made with the best oil, the word
cakes being easily supplied out of the foregoing member of the verse; or, which
is not much differing, like wafers made with honey, as it is said Exodus 16:31. The nature and use of Manna is
here thus particularly described, to shew the greatness of their sin in
despising such excellent food.
Verse 10
[10] Then
Moses heard the people weep throughout their families, every man in the door of
his tent: and the anger of the LORD was kindled greatly; Moses also was
displeased.
In the door of his tent ¡X To note they were not ashamed of their sin.
Verse 11
[11] 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?
Not found favour ¡X
Why didst thou not hear my prayer, when I desired thou wouldest excuse me, and
commit the care of this unruly people to some other person.
Verse 12
[12] 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?
Have I begotten them? ¡X Are they my children, that I should be obliged to provide food and all
things for their necessity and desire?
Verse 14
[14] I am
not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me.
To bear ¡X
The burden of providing for and satisfying them.
Alone ¡X
Others were only assistant to him in smaller matters; but the harder and
greater affairs, such as this unquestionably was, were brought to Moses and determined
by him alone.
Verse 15
[15] 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.
My wretchedness ¡X
Heb. my evil, my torment, arising from the insuperable difficulty of my office
and work of ruling this people, and from the dread of their utter extirpation,
and the dishonour which thence will accrue to God and to religion, as if, not I
only, but God also were an impostor.
Verse 16
[16] 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.
To be elders ¡X
Whom thou by experience discernest to be elders not only in years, and name,
but also in wisdom and authority with the people. And according to this
constitution, the Sanhedrim, or great council of the Jews, which in after-ages
sat at Jerusalem, and was the highest court of the judgment among them,
consisted of seventy men.
Verse 17
[17] 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.
I will come down ¡X By
my powerful presence and operation.
I will put it on them ¡X That is, I will give the same spirit to them which I have given to thee.
But as the spirit was not conveyed to them from or through Moses, but immediately
from God, so the spirit or its gifts were not by this means impaired in Moses.
The spirit is here put for the gifts of the spirit, and particularly for the
spirit of prophecy, whereby they were enabled, as Moses had been and still was,
to discern hidden and future things, and resolve doubtful and difficult cases,
which made them fit for government. It is observable, that God would not, and
therefore men should not, call any persons to any office for which they were
not sufficiently qualified.
Verse 18
[18] 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.
Sanctify themselves ¡X
Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel, in the way of his judgments. Prepare
yourselves by true repentance, that you may either obtain some mitigation of
the plague, or, whilst your bodies are destroyed by the flesh you desire and
eat, your souls may be saved from the wrath of God. Sanctifying is often used
for preparing, as Jeremiah 6:4; 12:3.
In the ears of the Lord ¡X Not secretly in your closets, but openly and impudently in the doors of
your tents, calling heaven and earth to witness.
Verse 20
[20] 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?
At your nostrils ¡X
Which meat violently vomited up frequently doth. Thus God destroys them by
granting their desires, and turns even their blessings into curses.
Ye have despised the Lord ¡X You have lightly esteemed his bounty and manifold blessings, you have
slighted and distrusted his promises and providence after so long and large
experience of it.
Who is among you ¡X
Who is present and resident with you to observe all your carriage, and to
punish your offences. This is added as a great aggravation of the crime, to sin
in the presence of the judge.
Why came we forth out of Egypt? ¡X Why did God do us such an injury? Why did we so foolishly obey him in
coming forth?
Verse 21
[21] 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.
Six hundred thousand footmen ¡X Fit for war, besides women and children. That Moses speaks this as
distrusting God's word is evident; and that Moses was not remarkably punished
for this as he was afterward for the same sin, Numbers 20:12, may be imputed to the different
circumstances of this and that sin: this was the first offence of the kind, and
therefore more easily passed by; that was after warning and against more light
and experience. This seems to have been spoken secretly: that openly before the
people; and therefore it was fit to be openly and severely punished to prevent
the contagion of that example.
Verse 24
[24] 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.
Moses went out ¡X
Out of the tabernacle, into which he entered to receive God's answers from the
mercy-seat.
The seventy men ¡X
They are called seventy from the stated number, though two of them were
lacking, as the Apostles are called the twelve, Matthew 26:20, when one of that number was
absent.
Round the tabernacle ¡X Partly that the awe of God might be imprinted upon their hearts, that
they might more seriously undertake and more faithfully manage their high
employment, but principally, because that was the place where God manifested
himself, and therefore there he would bestow his spirit upon them.
Verse 25
[25] 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 seventy elders: and it came to pass, that,
when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease.
Rested on them ¡X
Not only moved them for a time, but took up his settled abode with them,
because the use and end of this gift was perpetual.
They prophesied ¡X
Discoursed of the word and works of God in a marvellous manner, as the prophets
did. So this word is used, 1 Samuel 10:5,6; Joel
2; 28; 1 Corinthians 14:3. Yet were they not hereby
constituted teachers, but civil magistrates, who together with the spirit of
government, received also the spirit of prophesy, as a sign and seal both to
themselves and to the people, that God had called them to that employment.
They did not cease ¡X
Either for that day, they continued in that exercise all that day, and, it may
be, all the night too, as it is said of Saul, 1 Samuel 19:24, or, afterwards also, to note
that this was a continued gift conferred upon them to enable them the better to
discharge their magistracy; which was more expedient for them than for the
rulers of other people, because the Jews were under a theocracy or the
government of God, and even their civil controversies were decided out of that
word of God which the prophets expounded.
Verse 26
[26] But
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.
In the camp ¡X
Not going to the tabernacle, as the rest did, either not having seasonable
notice to repair thither: or, being detained in the camp by sickness, or some
urgent occasion, not without God's special providence, that so the miracle
might be more evident.
Were written ¡X In
a book or paper by Moses, who by God's direction nominated the fittest persons.
Verse 27
[27] And
there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in
the camp.
Told Moses ¡X
Fearing lest his authority should be diminished by their prophesying; and
thereby taking authority to themselves without his consent.
Verse 28
[28] And
Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and
said, My lord Moses, forbid them.
One of his young men ¡X Or, one of his choice ministers, which may be emphatically added, to
note that even great and good men may mistake about the works of God.
Forbid them ¡X He
feared either schism, or sedition, or that by their usurpation of authority,
independently upon Moses, his power and esteem might be lessened.
Verse 29
[29] 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!
Enviest thou for my sake ¡X Art thou grieved because the gifts and graces of God are imparted to
others besides me? Prophets - He saith prophets, not rulers, for that he knew
was absurd and impossible. So we ought to be pleased, that God is glorified and
good done, tho' to the lessening of our own honour.
Verse 30
[30] And
Moses gat him into the camp, he and the elders of Israel.
Into the camp ¡X
Among the people, to exercise the gifts and authority now received.
Verse 31
[31] And
there went forth a wind from the LORD, and brought quails from the sea, and let
them fall by the camp, as it were a day's journey on this side, and as 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.
A wind from the Lord ¡X An extraordinary and miraculous wind both for its vehemency and for its
effects.
Quails ¡X
God gave them quails once before, Exodus 16:13, but neither in the same quantity,
nor with the same design and effect as now.
From the sea ¡X
Principally from the Red-sea, and both sides of it where, by the reports of
ancient Heathen writers, they were then in great numbers, and, no doubt, were
wonderfully increased by God's special providence for this very occasion.
Two cubits high ¡X
Not as if the quails did cover all the ground two cubits high for a day's
journey on each side of the camp, for then there had been no place left where
they could spread them all abroad round about the camp; but the meaning is,
that the quails came and fell down round about the camp for a whole day's
journey on each side of it, and that in all that space they lay here and there
in great heaps, which were often two cubits high.
Verse 32
[32] And
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
spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp.
Stood up ¡X Or
rather rose up, which word is often used for beginning to do any business.
All that night ¡X
Some at one time, and some at the other, and some, through greediness or
diffidence, at both times.
Ten homers ¡X
That is, ten ass loads: which if it seem incredible, you must consider, 1. That
the gatherers here were not all the people, which could not be without great
inconveniences, but some on the behalf of all, while the rest were exercised
about other necessary things. So the meaning is not, that every Israelite had
so much for his share, but that every collector gathered so much for the
family, or others by whom he was intrusted. 2. That the people did not gather
for their present use only, but for a good while to come, and being greedy and
distrustful of God's goodness, it is not strange if they gathered much more
than they needed. 3. That the word, rendered homers, may signify heaps, as it
doth, Exodus 8:14; Judges 15:16; Habakkuk 3:15, and ten, is often put for many,
and so the sense is, that every one gathered several heaps. If yet the number
seems incredible, it must be farther known, 4. That Heathen and other authors
affirm, in those eastern and southern countries quails are innumerable, so that
in one part of Italy, within the compass of five miles, there were taken about
an hundred thousand of them every day for a month together. And Atheneus
relates, that in Egypt, a country prodigiously populous, they were in such
plenty, that all those vast numbers of people could not consume them, but were
forced to salt and keep them for future use.
They spread them ¡X
That so they might dry, salt and preserve them for future use, according to
what they had seen in Egypt.
Verse 33
[33] And
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 plague.
Chewed ¡X
Heb. cut off, namely from their mouths.
A very great plague ¡X
Probably the pestilence. But the sense is, before they had done eating their quails,
which lasted for a month. Why did God so sorely punish the peoples murmuring
for flesh here, when he spared them after the same sin, Exodus 16:12. Because this was a far greater sin,
and aggravated with worse circumstances; proceeding not from necessity, as that
did, when as yet they had no food, but from mere wantonness, when they had
Manna constantly given them; committed after large experience of God's care and
kindness, after God had pardoned their former sins, and after God had in a
solemn and terrible manner made known his laws to them.
Verse 34
[34] And
he called the name of that place Kibrothhattaavah: because there they buried
the people that lusted.
Kibroth-hattaavah ¡X
Heb. the graves of lust, that is, of the men that lusted, as it here follows.
And it notes that the plague did not seize upon all that eat of the quails, for
then all had been destroyed, but only upon those who were inordinate both in
the desire and use of them.
¢w¢w John Wesley¡mExplanatory Notes on Numbers¡n
11 Chapter 11
Verses 1-3
The people complained.
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 (Lamentations 3:29; Psalms 103:10).
3. In that case also it is a reflection upon the Lord¡¦s 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 (1 Corinthians 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--
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 (Psalms 106:15).
2. It brought satiety (Numbers 11:20).
3. It caused death (Psalms 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 (Hebrews 13:5).
2. Towards other things moderate in desire (Proverbs 30:8).
3. Concerning earthly things which may be lacking, fully resigned (Matthew 26:39).
4. First, and most eagerly, desiring God (Psalms 42:2).
5. Next coveting earnestly the best gifts (1 Corinthians 12:31)
6. Following ever in love the more excellent way (1 Corinthians 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 (Numbers 11:23).
6. It is not good for us to get everything we desire (Psalms 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 man¡¦s 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.)
Israel¡¦s 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 (1 Peter 4:18).
2. God writes our sin upon our punishment. These murmurers here
sinned against the ¡§fiery law¡¨ (Deuteronomy 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 (1 Corinthians 10:5; 1 Corinthians 10:11).
3. Evil company is infectious and catching as the plague (1 Corinthians 15:33).
4. Wherever there is sinning again on man¡¦s part, there will be
punishing again on God¡¦s part (John 5:14). Here Israel sinned again with
a double sin--
5. The people¡¦s 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 (Numbers 11:10), but also putteth meek
Moses into a pang of passion and impatience (Numbers 11:11-15).
6. The Divine remedy to all this human malady; both as to Moses¡¦
impatience, and as to Israel¡¦s
intemperance.
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 Psalms 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 (Numbers 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 Israel¡¦s 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 Psalms 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 (Philippians 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 God¡¦s 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 (Numbers 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¡¨ (Numbers 17:10); and is not rebellion as
the sin of witchcraft? (1 Samuel 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: Micah¡¦s
mother fell to cursing when the talents of silver were taken away (Judges 17:2). So doth the murmurer when a
part of his estate is taken away. Our murmuring is the devil¡¦s 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 (1 Corinthians 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 (Hebrews 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.)
Verse 4
The mixt multitude.
The mixed multitude
If Israel, according to its calling, be regarded as a type of the new
man, then this ¡§mixed multitude,¡¨ a remnant of Egypt, and influenced still by
its spirit, will be a type of the old man in the believer But we may take
another view of Israel, and say that it is typical of those who walk, not after
the flesh, but after the Spirit--the true members of Christ¡¦s body, the living
branches of the true vine; and then, corresponding with this, the ¡§ mixed
multitude¡¨ will be a type of those who accompany the true Israel now, without
being partakers of the Divine nature, and walking in the Spirit--the dead
branches in the vine. History shows that the Church on earth has ever been made
up of these two elements; and prophetic parables show that such will be its
constitution until Jesus comes. The Word of God everywhere encourages the
living members of Christ¡¦s body, by patience, and gentleness, and unwearied
zeal, to win those who have only a name to live. But it forbids them to take
into their own hands the awful work of separation between the wheat and the
tares, a work which the Searcher of hearts reserves to Himself alone. So that
it need cause us no surprise, as it did the Donatists of old, and still does to
some, that there is, and always will be, a ¡§mixed multitude¡¨ associated with
the true Israel. But though we are absolutely forbidden to cast out the element
from the Church, this passage of Scripture may well impress us with the danger
arising from it, and show how watchful we ought to be. Even if the Church were
made up of true Christians only, there would be much evil in it, for the simple
reason that there is so much sin in every heart. Many temptations may come to
you even from those who are really Christ¡¦s, and who are engaged, through
grace, in crucifying the affections and lusts of the flesh; but others will
come to you, as they did to Israel of old, from the ¡§mixed multitude¡¨; and what
dangers in particular? Party spirit, we cannot fail to see, is one; but, oh,
there is a greater and more subtle danger still--worldliness, conformity to the
course of this world; and with it, forgetfulness of the high and holy calling
wherewith we are called, and the adoption of a low standard of holiness. Our only
safety is to set the perfect example of our Lord Jesus Christ before us; to ask ourselves again
and again throughout the day, ¡§How would Christ act if He were in my place?¡¨ to
crucify through the Spirit the root of worldliness within, and to watch all the
avenues by which it can enter the heart from without. Only in this way can our
own standard be elevated; only in this way avoid Israel¡¦s sin, that of being
carried away by the worldly spirit which originated in the ¡§mixed multitude¡¨
which sojourned with them. (G. Wagner.)
Who shall give us flesh to
eat?--
Wanton longings
See the wantonness and delicacy of sinful flesh, it must have
this, it must have that to pamper and feed it in pleasure. What may be had is
loathed, and what cannot be had, that is longed for, and nothing more than
that. But very wisely doth the heathen Aristotle advise all men to look upon
pleasures when they go, not when they come; for when they come with their faces
towards us, they deceive us with a fair flattering show, but when they go and
turn their backs, then cometh repentance, woe, and grief, not a little, many
times. Just as the Spirit of God saith by the mouth of Solomon, ¡§Even in
laughing the heart is sorrowful, and the end of that mirth is heaviness¡¨; that
is, the allurement unto sin seemeth sweet, but the end thereof is destruction.
Wanton pleasure is like the fire or flame of the candle, which shining bright
delighteth a child, but when he hath put his finger into it, then it burneth,
and the child crieth. By little and little groweth grief, but in the end it
killeth, so stealingly pleasure creepeth upon us, but in the end overthroweth
all love of virtue. Wilt thou live in a right fashion? Who would not? Then if
virtue only can grant this to thee, stout and strong, tend this and omit
pleasures. For they that will well defend a city, do not only watch what foes
be without, but as warily they observe that there be no traitors within. So men
and women that love virtue, they look to the gates, which are the outward
senses, and they look within, to the inward affections, lest by the one, as by
wickets, evil enter, lest by the other, as by torches lighted, fires and flames
do follow. The epicure said to himself, ¡§Eat, drink, play, for there is no
pleasure after death.¡¨ But well doth the poet before mentioned in an epistle
tax him, saying, ¡§Thou hast played enough, thou hast eaten enough and drank, it
is time for thee now to go hence.¡¨ As if he had said, ¡§Part thou must in time with all thy
pleasures and be gone, therefore think of it ere it be too late.¡¨ Sardanapalus
is said to have caused to be written on his grave to this effect: ¡§What I did
eat that I had, and what I left, that I lost.¡¨ Which Cicero justly
reprehendeth, saying, ¡§What else should a man hath written upon an ex his grave?
Pleasure infecteth and poisoneth all our senses, being a trim but a deceiving
harlot; deceiving us by her voice, by her look, and by her attire, that is,
every way.¡¨ How many hath gluttony and the belly, how many hath filthy lust
destroyed! (Bp. Babington.)
Verse 5-6
There is nothing at all, beside this manna.
The manna despised
I. The complaining
of the Israelites in this case was very reprehensible, as it manifested a state
of aggravated neglect of the peculiar circumstances in which the despised manna
was provided for them. Their soul had been dying away for want of it, were we
to believe their complaint, and now their soul was dying away when it was
possessed. The manna seemed everything when they first beheld it strewn all
around the camp, and now it was as nothing at all in their eyes. Nevertheless,
it was of such value in the eyes of God, that a pot of it was kept in the ark
of the covenant as a memorial of His kindness in providing it for the rebels.
The children He feeds may forget the token of His goodness, but He does not
forget the emanations of His bounty, or reckon anything small in the blessings
He confers.
II. The complaining
of the Israelites in this care was all the more sinful, inasmuch as the manna
so despised was both sufficient and agreeable food--was all that they stood in
need of in their journey, and more than they deserved.
III. The complaining
of the Israelites was all the more sinful, inasmuch as the manna they so
despised was provided for them without cost or labour. And it is for a like
reason that all despising of the bread of life will be accounted the greater
transgression, for it is freely offered--without money and without price. No one
is required to pay anything for it in silver or in gold--in bodily labour or
mental suffering, or in any gift of worldly substance. No equivalent is looked
for it in any sacrifice whatever that man can make.
IV. The complaining
of the Israelites was the more aggravated, as it involved a very sinful
disregard of the miraculous manner in which the manna was daily supplied for
their use. Alas! multitudes are as blind to the wonderful character of the
spiritual or ¡§hidden manna,¡¨ as were the Jeers in the instance here recorded,
as to the manna provided for them. All the more that the miraculous character
of the wonderful provision God has made for the salvation of the soul is
overlooked or despised, all the more of blind infatuation and sin are involved.
It cannot be safe to speak slightingly of an interposition, in providing for
the life of immortal souls, into which, it is said, ¡§the angels desire to
look.¡¨ (J. Allan.)
Speaking against God
These verses represent things sadly unhinged and out of order in
Israel. Both the people and the prince uneasy.
I. Here is the
people fretting and speaking against God himself (as it is interpreted, Psalms 78:19), notwithstanding His
glorious appearances both to them and for them.
1. Observe who were the criminals.
2. What was the crime? They lusted and murmured. Though they were
newly corrected for this sin, and many of them overthrown for it, as God
overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and the smell of the fire was still in their
nostrils, yet they returned to it (Proverbs 27:22). We should not indulge
ourselves in any desire which we cannot in faith turn into prayer, as we
cannot, when we ask meat for our lust (Psalms 78:18). For this sin the anger of
the Lord was kindled greatly against them; which is written for our admonition,
that we should not lust after evil things, as they lusted (1 Corinthians 10:10). Flesh is good
food, and may lawfully be eaten; yet they are said to lust after evil things.
What is lawful in itself becomes evil to us when it is what God doth not allot
to us, and yet we eagerly desire it.
II. Moses himself,
though so meek and good a man, is uneasy upon this occasion. Moses also was
displeased. Now--
1. It must be confessed that the provocation was very great.
2. Yet Moses expressed himself otherwise than became him upon this
provocation, and came short of his duty both to God and Israel in these
expostulations.
(a) Moses is directed to nominate the persons (Numbers 11:16). The people were too hot,
and heady, and tumultuous, to be entrusted with the election. Moses must please
himself in the choice, that he may not afterwards complain.
(b) God promiseth to qualify
them. If they were not found fit for the employ, they should be made fit, else
they might prove more a hindrance than a help to Moses (Numbers 11:17). Though Moses had talked
too boldly with God, yet God doth not therefore break off communion with him;
He bears a great deal with us, and we must with one another. ¡§I will come down
(saith God) and talk with thee, when thou art more calm and composed; and I
will take of the same spirit of wisdom, and piety, and courage that is upon
thee, and put it upon them.¡¨ Not that Moses had the less of the spirit for
their sharing, nor that they were hereby made equal with him. Moses was still a
nonsuch (Deuteronomy 34:10). But they were clothed
with a spirit of government proportionable to their place, and with a spirit of
prophecy to evidence their Divine call to it, the government being a theocracy.
Note--
1. Those whom God employs in any service He qualifies for it; and
those that are not in some measure qualified cannot think themselves duly
called.
2. All good qualifications are from God; every perfect gift is from
the Father of lights. Even the humour of the discontented people shall be
gratified too, that every mouth may be stopped. They are bid to sanctify
themselves (Numbers 11:18), i.e., to put
themselves into a posture to receive such a proof of God¡¦s power as should be a
token both of mercy and judgment. ¡§Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel¡¨ (Amos 4:12).
(a) The vanity of all the delights of sense; they will cloy, but not
satisfy. Spiritual pleasures are the contrary. As the world passes away, so do
the lusts of it (1 John 2:17). What was greedily
coveted, in a little time comes to be nauseated.
(b) What brutish sins (and worse than brutish) gluttony and
drunkenness are. They put a force upon nature, and make that the sickness of
the body which should be its health; they are sins that are their own
punishments, and yet not the worst that attend them.
(c) What a righteous thing it is with God to make that loathsome to
men which they have inordinately lusted after. God could make them despise
flesh as much as they had despised manna.
(a) That God¡¦s hand is not short. His power cannot be restrained in
the exerting of itself by anything but His own will; with Him nothing is
impossible. That hand is not short which measures the waters, metes out the
heavens (Isaiah 40:12), and grasps the winds (Proverbs 30:4).
(b) That it is not waxed short. He is as strong as ever He was;
fainteth not, neither is weary. And this is sufficient to silence all our
distrusts, when means fail us. Is anything too bard for the Lord? God here
brings Moses to this first principle; sets him back in his lesson to learn the
ancient name of God, the Lord God Almighty; and put the proof upon the issue,
¡§Thou shalt see whether My word shall come to pass or not.¡¨ This magnifies
God¡¦s word above all His name, that His works never came short of it. If He
speaks, it is done. (Matthew Henry, D. D.)
Grumbling over spiritual food
The ancient Jews were, by no means, the only people who grumbled
at the provision set before them. The Bread of Life, provided in the various
ordinances of the gospel, for the strengthening of our souls, is not always
received with thankfulness. Whatever rank we may choose to assign to preaching,
among the other agencies for good, none can deny that it has its place, and an
important one; and, yet, how many who listen to it, actuated by the complaining
spirit of God¡¦s ancient people, presumptuously exclaim, ¡§Our soul loatheth this
light bread!¡¨ The manner of God¡¦s servant, and the message which he delivers,
are both brought to the test of the most unsparing criticism. Imagine a
prisoner, condemned to die, awaiting the day of his execution, when the door of
the cell opens, and the governor¡¦s deputy appears, bringing a pardon for him.
The prisoner is overjoyed at this, but, instead of availing himself of the
permission to depart, he stops to criticise the manner in which the deputy has
discharged his duty. ¡§Why did not the governor send a man of more ability?¡¨ he
impatiently asks. ¡§How can he expect me to listen to a message delivered in
tones so harsh and discordant?¡¨ Has this pardoned criminal any just
appreciation of the favour shown him? Very humble men, so far as worldly wisdom
is concerned, often accomplish more, in teaching people ¡§the good and the right
way,¡¨ than those who are learned in the schools. One who had been listening to
the preaching of such a servant of God, asked, in surprise, ¡§How is it that he
always has something new to tell us?¡¨ The answer was, ¡§Why, he lives so near
the gates of heaven, that he hears a great many things which we who remain afar
off know nothing about!¡¨ It is not the musical sound of the bell which
assembles the large flocks of pigeons at noonday in the square of Old St.
Mark¡¦s in Venice, but the liberal scattering of food. The complaint of the text
is most often made with reference to what is called ¡§doctrine preaching,¡¨ and
even those who enjoy sermons of another sort are ready to say, when matters of
this kind are dwelt upon, ¡§Our soul loatheth this light bread.¡¨ God¡¦s truth, in
the hands of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:17), is the great instrument
for the world¡¦s sanctification. It is obvious, however, that this truth must
take the shape of definite doctrine, and be expressed in becoming language,
before it can accomplish this purpose. The Church and her ministers deal fairly
with you; but are you dealing fairly with yourselves? You listen to preaching;
but is it with the sincere desire that you may grow in grace and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Saviour? (J. N. Norton, D. D.)
Vehement longings wrongly indulged
But may not a good child of God, either in sickness or in
health, lust for some meat more than another without offending God? Yes,
indeed, for it is not the thing but the manner here that so much offended God;
not the lusting, say again, but the fashion and circumstances of it. To wit,
their presumptous crossing the Lord¡¦s will when He appointed them manna from
heaven to be their meat, for what He would they would not, and this was not
fit. Again, this was not coldly done of them, but with heat and vehemency,
giving as it were the reins to their lust, let God think what He would. Here
was ingratitude for the Lord¡¦s gracious care of them, and most ungrateful
speeches. Here was preferring onions and leeks and garlic, and such mean meats
before the Lord¡¦s bounty and mercy from heaven, feeding them as never people
were fed, with such other circumstances of very sinful and ill-behaviour. This
is that offended God, which if we make use of we shall do well; for surely,
though not altogether in like sort, yet much after this fashion, it is to be
feared we provoke the Lord. Such meat as God sendeth us, being far better than
we deserve, we cannot eat, but prefer that which is far worse before it, not
without some proud and unthankful check to God¡¦s gracious providence and mercy
for us and to us, giving us that which thousands as dearly bought with His
Son¡¦s blood as we, and serving more than we, do want. And this not in any weakness
of nature acknowledging gratefully the goodness of God set before us, but in
very wantonness and delicacy, not once seeing or thinking of the bounty of God
in giving us that we have. This if we do, it cannot be excused, but must needs
be to God very displeasing, and to us very dangerous. Besides meat, how do many
in other things tempt the Lord; as if God in mercy and most gracious care of
them that they may be saved, and kept from the infections of this world, have
given them a learned and painful pastor, that spendeth the Sabbath in holy
exercises of his ministry, forenoon and afternoon, with the elders, with the
children and servants. How doth this dislike many, and how lust they for worse
things, breaking out in wicked speech: Oh, that we might have piping and
dancing, quaffings and drinkings, church-ales and wakes, and such like as other
parishes have! ¡§We are cloyed with this manna, give us mirth and let them have
manna that like it,¡¨ &c. Do you not shrink to think what will be the end of
this murmuring, and the punishment of this lusting? Certainly it is fearful,
and I pray God Christian people may have the feeling of it before it be too
late. (Bp. Babington.)
Grievances regarded more than mercies
When we enjoy good things, we look at the grievances which are
mingled with the good, and forget the good; which when it is gone then we
remember. The Israelites could remember their onions and garlic and forget
their slavery. So because manna was present, they despised manna, and that upon
one inconvenience it had; it was ordinary with them. (R. Sibbes.)
Murmuring a waste of time
Oh, the precious time that is buried in the grave of murmuring!
When the murmurer should be praying, he is murmuring against the Lord; when he
should be hearing, he is murmuring against Divine providences; when he should
be reading, he is murmuring against instruments; and in these and a thousand
other ways do murmurers expend their precious time which some would redeem with
a world. (T. Brooks.)
Verses 10-15
Wherefore hast Thou afflicted Thy servant?
The sufferings of the good in the path of duty
I. Look at the
afflictions of godly men in the path of duty as a fact.
1. Good men suffer afflictions.
2. Good men suffer affliction in the path of duty.
II. Look at the
afflictions of godly men in the path of duty as a problem.
1. A difficulty. Moses felt it.
2. Faith in the power of God to remove the difficulty.
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 essayist--to put the genuineness of faith to the
proof and purify it of its dross.¡¨
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.¡¨
3. To enhance their joy hereafter (cf. Matthew 5:10-12; Romans 8:17-18; 2 Corinthians 4:17-18; Revelation 7:14-17).
4. To promote the good of the race. The Christian is called to ¡§know
the fellowship of Christ¡¦s sufferings¡¨--to suffer vicariously with Him that
others may be saved and blessed. In the privilege of this high fellowship the
sharpest sufferings become sacred and exalting services.
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 (cf. Hebrews 12:5-11)
.
3. When severe suffering leads to sore perplexity let us seek help of
God (cf. Psalms 73:16-17)
. (W. Jones.)
The burdens of leadership
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.
2. Because of the interest which the true leader takes in his charge.
3. Because of the intractableness of men.
II. The true leader
of men must often be painfully conscious of his insufficiency.
III. The ablest and
holiest leaders of men sometimes fail under the burdens of their position.
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, &c. Therefore, ¡§Watch thou
in all things,¡¨ &c.
3. It is the duty of men not to increase, but if possible to lessen
the difficulties and trials of leadership. (W. Jones.)
Seeing afflictions from God¡¦s standpoin:
Christian friend, did you ever take your stand beside your God,
and see what there is to be seen? Do so; and it may be that, in your
deprivations and disappointments, you will behold a wonderful and beautiful
arrangement by which you can glorify God far better than by the gratification
of your own selfish and earth-bound desires. Never were the Israelites better
off than when they had just enough manna for the day, and not a morsel over;
and it may be you are richer and happier in your present condition than you
could have been in any other. See if it be not so! ¡§I thank God!¡¨ said one,
¡§that I lost my all; for it has led me up into many blessed experiences with my
God which I never knew while I was held down by the golden chain of worldly
possessions. Then my affections were set on things on the earth, but now they
rise to heaven.¡¨ If you see things from God¡¦s standpoint your black trouble
will appear fringed with brightness, relieving the monotonous darkness upon
which you have fixed your steady gaze far too long already. Look at your
prolonged affliction from this point of view, and you will discern secret
fingers carving the delicate ¡§lily work¡¨ which shall adorn you in the upper
sanctuary, when you become a pillar in the temple of your God. It may be by the
very method so distasteful to you, the cherubim of adoring reverence are being
woven into the texture of your being. Yes, do see what there is to be
seen, for in every dispensation there is the hand of a Divine purpose, full of
love, and wisdom, and grace. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Afflictions may be full of mercies
In one of the German picture galleries is a painting called
¡§Cloudland.¡¨ It hangs at the end of a long gallery, and, at first sight, It
looks like a huge, repulsive daub of confused colour, without form or
comeliness. As you walk toward it the picture begins to take shape. It proves
to be a mass of exquisite little cherub faces, like those at the head of the
canvas in Raphael¡¦s ¡§Madonna San Sisto.¡¨ If you come close to the picture you
see only an innumerable company of little angels and cherubims. How often the
soul that is frightened by trials sees nothing but a confused and repulsive
mass of broken expectations and crushed hopes I But if that soul, instead of
fleeing away into unbelief and despair, would only draw up near to God, it
would soon discover that the cloud was full of angels Of mercy. In one cherub
face it would see, ¡§Whom I love, I chasten.¡¨ Another angel would say, ¡§All
things work together for good to them that love God.¡¨ (T. L. Cuyler.)
Affliction preferable to sin
Here are two guests come to my door; both of them ask to have a
lodging with me. The one is called Affliction; he has a very grave voice, and a
very heavy hand, and he looks at me with fierce eyes. The other is called Sin,
and he is very soft-spoken, and very fair, and his words are softer than
butter. Let me scan their faces, let me examine them as to their character, I
must not be deceived by appearances. I will ask my two friends who would lodge
with me, to open their hands. When my friend Affliction, with some little
difficulty opens his hand, I find that, rough as it is, he carries a jewel
inside it, and that he meant to leave that jewel at my house. But as for my
soft-spoken friend Sin, when I force him to show me what that is which he hides
in his sleeve, I find that it is a dagger with which he would have stabbed me.
What shall I do, then, if I am wise? Why, I should be very glad if they would
both be good enough to go and stop somewhere else, but if I must entertain one
of the two, I would shut my door in the face of smooth-spoken Sin, and say to
the rougher and uglier visitor, Affliction, ¡§Come and stop with me, for may be
God sent you as a messenger of mercy to my soul.¡¨ (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Verses 16-20
Gather unto Me seventy men of the elders.
The answer of God to the appeals of men
I. The Lord¡¦s
answer to the appeal of his much-tried servant.
1. The number of the assistants.
2. Their selection.
3. The qualification imparted to them.
II. The Lord¡¦s
answer to the appeal of his perverse people.
1. Recognises the sinful character of their appeal.
2. Demands preparation for the granting of their appeal.
3. Promises the most abundant bestowment of that which they had so
passionately and sinfully desired.
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. (W. Jones.)
The seventy elders
I. The calling of
the seventy elders is an instance of the organising action of the spirit of
God.
1. A new want needed a remedy.
2. The remedy supplied.
3. The remedy for the want extraordinary.
4. The remedy had its counterpart in--
II. The holy spirit
still carries on the same work.
1. The Church has new needs. She must pray as Moses prayed, and
realising the presence of the Holy Ghost, set herself to meet these new demands
on her energies, in scattered hamlet and crowded alley, where Christ Himself
would come.
2. ¡§Would that all the Lord¡¦s people were prophets!¡¨ Each Christian
is a Spirit-bearer. Is he conscious of this dignity and responsibility? Each
has his special gifts. (W. Walters, M. A.)
Helpers for Moses
A gracious God and most sweet Father is moved with the
complaint and grief of His servant, pitying him and yielding presently helpers
to bear this burden with him that he may have more comfort. Who would not joy
in so sweet a judge, no sooner hearing but helping His servant oppressed with a
froward charge. Be we faithful then in our places ever, and if we be too weak
for them some way or other the Lord will help. These seventy men He will have
furnished with His Spirit, never placing any to do a duty to whom He giveth not
some measure of ability to do the same. But when it is said He will take off
the Spirit which is upon Moses and put upon them, we may not think that He
lessened His grace to Moses; but the meaning is, I will give to them of the
same Spirit a portion, whereof I have distributed to him so great a measure;
thine I will not diminish,
and yet they shall have what shall be fit. (Bp. Babington.)
Dainties for the people
O sweet God! Moses He will comfort by adding helpers unto
him, and the people also He will satisfy in giving them flesh which they so
lusted for, and that not ordinary flesh, nor gross meat, but quails, which to
this day are accounted dainties. And not for a meal or two, or a day or two,
but a whole month together, &c. How showeth this the truth of that Psalm
which after in his time was made (Psalms 1:1-6.). Nay, how showeth this
that whatsoever He will, that can He do both in heaven and earth; and therefore
blessed is the man that putteth his trust in Him. Remember what you read in the
holy gospel (Matthew 6:25). What dearth so great, what
penury so pinching, wherein the Lord cannot help us either ordinarily or
extraordinarily? Can He thus glut His great host with dainty quails, and cannot
He send you and yours bread? Fear not, but cleave unto Him fast, and even past
hope if the case should be such, yet under hope believe all the Scriptures, and
that He will never leave you succourless that openeth His hand and filleth all
things with plenteousness. Only consider that many ways He ever exerciseth the
faith of His children and their patience, whose duty is to bear with
contentment what He sendeth, praying to Him to remember mercy, and to lay no
more upon us than we are able to bear, as He hath promised, use such means as
you can by just and honest labour or otherwise; and be assured, in goodness He
will step in when He seeth time. (Bp. Babington.)
Verse 23
Is the Lord¡¦s hand waxed short?
God¡¦s challenge to the faith and co-operation of His people
I. These words
have special reference to a divinely-revealed purpose which staggers human
reason.
1. Let us look at this purpose. ¡§God hath sent His Son into the
world,. . . that the world through Him might be saved.¡¨
2. The difficulties in the way of this gracious purpose, which excite
men¡¦s fears. There is the inveterate carnality of the human heart, the stubborn
resistance of the human will to the Divine; there is the stolid indifference
,of great masses in Christian lands to the practical duties and claims of
religion; and the growing scepticism of the day regarding the verities of the
gospel. Consider also the prevalence of idolatrous systems and heathen
superstitions among great masses of mankind. Take also the subtle rationalism
and keen-witted infidelity which prevail in civilised and semi-Christianised
countries. It requires strong faith in a man to calmly survey this formidable
host of evil in the world and then take his stand by the side of Christ,
confident that His cause will triumph.
II. We have in
these words an assertion of divine power which warrants human confidence. God¡¦s
purpose is a promise. He stakes His character on the fulfilment of His Word.
1. He cannot forget.
2. He cannot fail through insincerity.
3. He cannot fail through inadequate power to perform.
III. In these words
we have God¡¦s challenge to the earnest faith, prayer, and co-operation of his
people.
1. The true attitude of the Christian labourer or the Church is to
stand, with one hand of believing prayer taking hold of God, and the other hand
of loving labour taking hold of fallen man, that the fallen may be raised, and
the lost saved.
2. When we are ready for a blessing, God will not fail to bestow it.
(John Innocent.)
The glorious right hand of God
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?
The mass of us would be afraid to go out trusting in God to supply our needs.
We should need first that everything should be prepared for us, and that the
way should be paved; but we are not ready to leap as champions upon the wall of
the citadel, leading the forlorn hope and planting the standard where it never
stood before. No, we can follow in the track of others. We have few Careys and
few Knibbs, few men who can go first and foremost saying, ¡§This is God¡¦s cause;
Jehovah is the only God, and in the name of the Eternal let the idols be
abolished.¡¨ Oh, for more anointed ones to preach the gospel believing in its
intrinsic might, assured that where it is preached faithfully, the Spirit of
God is never absent! O Zion! get thee up, get thee up! Count no more thy hosts,
for their strength is thy weakness; measure no longer thy wealth, for thy
wealth has often been thy poverty, and thy poverty thy wealth; think not of the
learning or the eloquence of thy ministers and missionaries, for full often
these things do but stand in the way of the Eternal God. But 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?¡¨ I do not doubt that I am speaking to
some who 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 now 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, dost thou doubt as to whether God will fulfil His promise wherein
He said, ¡§His place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks; bread shall be
given him; his waters shall be sure¡¨? 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. Please not Satan, and vex not thyself by indulging any more those hard
thoughts of Him. Say, ¡§My Father, Thou wilt hear my cry; Thou wilt supply all
my needs¡¨; and according to thy faith, so shall it be done unto thee.
III. There is a
third way by which this question might be very naturally suggested, and that is
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.
IV. This is a
question which I may well ask of any here present 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. How can He clothe, enrich, and bless me? I am cast out from
His presence. I have grieved away His Spirit; I have sinned against light and
knowledge--against mercy--against constant grace received. He cannot save me.¡¨
¡§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.¡¨ 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?
V. And 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. 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. He is to-day as
mighty to overtake and punish His enemies as when He sent the angel through the
midst of Egypt, or afterwards smote the hosts of Sennacherib. Thou shalt see
whether He will keep His word or not. Go on in the neglect of His great
salvation; go to thy dying bed, and buoy thyself up with the false hope that
there is no hereafter; but, sinner, thou shalt see; thou shalt see. This point
in dispute shall not long be a matter of question to be cavilled at on the one
side, and to be taught with tears on the other. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
A strange question
It is a singular thing that such a question as this should ever be
asked at all: ¡§Has 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.
1. Look to 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? 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? No; journey where you will, you will see God as 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.
2. And look ye too in providence; is there aught there that would
suggest the question? Are not His prophecies still fulfilled? Does 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 to-day than He was in the time of Adam? Is not the
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?
3. And look ye too in the matter of grace; is there any token in She
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?
Is not the Word of God still quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged
sword? Where have ye seen the sword of the Lord snapped in twain? When hath God
assayed to melt a h-art 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? How
is it, then, that such a question as this ever came from the lips of God
Himself? 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. The little sparrows doubt not:
though they have no barn nor field, yet they sweetly sing at night as they go
to their roosts, though they know not where to-morrow¡¦s meal shall be found.
The very cattle trust Him; and even in days of drought, ye have seen them when
they pant for thirst, how they expect the water; how the very first token of it
makes them show in their very animal frame, by some dumb language, that they
felt that God would not leave them to perish. The angels never doubt Him, nor
the devils either: devils believe and tremble. But it was left for man, the
most favoured of all creatures, to mistrust his God. This high, this black,
this infamous sin of doubting the power and faithfulness of Jehovah, was
reserved for the fallen race of rebellious Adam; and we alone, out of all the
beings that God has ever fashioned, dishonour Him by unbelief and tarnish His
honour by mistrust. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
No failure of Tower with God
Amongst all the gods of the heathen Jupiter was in the greatest
esteem, as the father and king of gods and was called Jupiter, quasi juvans
pater, a helping father, yet (as the poets feign) be wept when he
could not set Sarpedon at liberty; such was the imbecility and impotency of
this master-god of the heathen. But the hand of our God is never shortened that
it cannot help, He is ever able to relieve us, always ready to deliver us.
Amongst all the gods there is none like unto Him, none can do like unto His
works, He is God Omnipotent. (J. Spencer.)
Verses 27-30
Eldad and Medad do prophesy.
Eldad and Medad
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!¡¨
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, D. D.)
Noble to the core
I do not agree with those who think that there was any
diminution of the spirit that rested upon Moses. It is very difficult to speak
of the subdivision of spirit. You cannot draw it off from one man to others, as
you draw off water. The whole Spirit of God is in each man, waiting to fill him
to the uttermost of his capacity. It seems to me, therefore, that nothing more
is intended than to affirm that the seventy were ¡§clothed upon¡¨ with the same
kind of spiritual force as that which rested upon Moses. For sixty-eight of
them the power of utterance was only spasmodic and temporary. ¡§They prophesied,
but they did so no more.¡¨ Emblems are they of those who, beneath some special
influence like that which cast Saul down among the prophets, suddenly break out
into speech and act, and give promises not destined to be fulfilled. Two,
however, of the selected number, who, for some reason, had remained in the
camp, suddenly became conscious of their reception of that same spirit, and
they, too, broke out into prophecy and appeared to have continued to do so.
Instantly a young man, jealous for the honour of Moses, carried to him the
startling tidings, ¡§Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp¡¨; and as he heard
the announcement Joshua, equally chivalrous, exclaimed, ¡§My lord Moses, forbid
them!¡¨ eliciting the magnificent answer, ¡§Art thou jealous for my sake? Would
God that all the Lord¡¦s people were prophets--that the Lord would put His
Spirit upon them!¡¨ It was as if he said, ¡§Do you think that I alone am the channel
through which the Divine influences can pour? Do you suppose that the supplies
in the being of God are so meagre, that He must stint what He gives through me,
when He gives through others? If it should please Him to create new stars, must
He rob the sun of its light to give them brilliance? Is the gratification of a
mean motive of vanity a matter of any moment to me, who have gazed on the face
of God? Besides, what am I, or what is my position, amongst this people,
compared with the benefit which would accrue to them, and the glory which would
redound to God, if He did for each of them all that He has done for me?¡¨ This
is the spirit of true magnanimity. A spirit of self aggrandisement is set on
retaining its exclusive position as the sole depository of the Divine blessing,
and this has the certain effect of forfeiting it, so that fresh supplies cease
to pass through. There is no test more searching than this. Am I as eager for
God¡¦s kingdom to come through others as through myself? And yet, in so far as
we fall short of that position, do we not betray the earthly ingredients which
have mingled, and mingle still, in our holy service? (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
Young men are ordinarily rash in judging others
The doctrine from hence is that young men are ordinarily rash in
judging others, yea, more rash than elder men, and consequently more apt to
judge amiss, and to give evil counsel and sentence of such things as are well
done. Such were Rehoboam¡¦s green heads; they gave green counsel, and such as
cost him the loss of the greatest part of his kingdom (1 Kings 12:8; 1 Kings 12:13-14). The reasons are
plain. First, age and years bring experience and ripeness of judgment and so
wisdom. Youth is as green timber; age as that which is seasoned (Job 32:7). Again, their affections being
hotter and stronger are more inconstant and unbridled, realty to run into
extremities, as untamed heifers not used to the yoke. Lastly, they put far from
them the evil day; they think themselves privileged by their age, and make
account they have time enough hereafter to enter into better courses. The uses:
1. This teacheth us not to rest in the judgment, nor to follow the
counsel of young men, except they have old men¡¦s gifts and graces in them. For
touching gifts, it is true which Elihu testifieth (Job 32:9).
2. Let young men suffer their elders to speak before them, especially
in censuring things that are strange.
3. Seeing rashness and unadvisedness are specially incident to youth,
let them learn to season their years with the Word of God, let them make it
their meditation, whereby they may repress such hot and hasty and headstrong
passions. (W. Attersoll.)
Enviest thou for my
sake?--
The increase of the Redeemer¡¦s kingdom
Moses had no share in the narrow feelings which Joshua had
displayed, feelings of envy and jealous. He had no wish to engross the
distinctions of Israel, but, on the contrary, he would have greatly rejoiced
had all the congregation been richly endowed from above, though he himself
might have ceased to have been conspicuous in Israel. We consider that the
lawgiver Moses, when so finely reproving Joshua for envying for his sake, is
worthy of being admired and earnestly imitated; for that, in thus showing
himself above all littleness of mind and contempt of this world, so that God
might be magnified and His cause advanced, he reached a point of moral
heroism--aye, far loftier than that at which he stood when, in the exercise of
superhuman power, he bade darkness cover the land of Egypt, or the waters of
the Red Sea divide before Israel. We are not bound to expatiate at any length
on the magnanimity thus displayed by Moses. We have adopted the instance in
order to show you how direct a parallel may be found in the history of the forerunner
of our Lord, John the Baptist. So soon as the Saviour entered on the ministry,
the great office of John was at
an end. John still continued to baptize, and thus prepare men for the
disclosures of that fuller revelation with which Christ was charged. In this
way the ministry of our Lord and that of His forerunner were for a while
discharged together; though, inasmuch as Christ wrought miracles, and John did
not, there was quickly, as might be expected, more attendance on the preaching
of the Redeemer than on that of the Baptist. Now, this appears exactly the
point when in truth John¡¦s disciples, who, like Joshua, were jealous of the
honour of their Master, thought Jesus intrenching upon his province. But,
however galling it might be to his followers thus to see their master
neglected, to John himself it was matter of great gladness that He whom he had
heralded was thus drawing all men towards Him. And the Baptist takes occasion
to assure his disciples that what had moved their jealousy and displeasure was
but the beginning--the first display of a growing spirit to which no bounds
could be set. They were not to imagine that there could be any alteration in
the relative positions of Jesus and John; nor that John would ever take that
part of which, in strange forgetfulness of his own sayings, they seemed to wish
to come to pass. On the contrary, he wished them distinctly to understand that,
being only of earth--a mere man like one of themselves--he must decline in
importance, and at length shrink altogether into insignificance. Whereas
Christ, as coming from above, and therefore being above all--possessing a
Divine nature as well as a human, and consequently liable to no decay--would go
on discharging His high office, enlarging His sway according to the prediction
of Isaiah, ¡§To the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end
upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom.¡¨ And all this gradual fading
away of himself, and this continued exaltation of Christ, the Baptist gathers
into one powerful and comprehensive sentence, saying of our blessed Lord, ¡§He
must increase, but I must decrease.¡¨ And now consider more distinctly how
character was here put to the proof; or in what respects either Moses or John
deserve imitation. 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. 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 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 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 no 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. 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 bade the stripling, God speed! and rejoiced
as he saw the idols fall prostrate before him. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
All God¡¦s people must beware of envy
Envy is an affection 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 Genesis 26:12-14; Genesis 26:27; Genesis 30:1; Genesis 31:1; Mark 9:38; John 3:26-27).
1. Because it is a fruit of the flesh (Galatians 5:21), as carnal grief and
hatred are, of which it is compounded: for it maketh men repine at the
prosperity of others, and that which is worst of all, to hate the persons that have
those gifts. This appeareth in the Pharisees (Matthew 27:18).
2. God bestoweth His gifts where He will, and to whom He will, and in
what measure He will (Matthew 20:15).
3. It procureth the wrath of God, and is never left without
punishment, as appeareth in the next chapter, where Miriam, the sister of
Moses, is stricken with the leprosy, because she envied the gifts of Moses; God
showing thereby how greatly He detested this sin.
4. Whatsoever is bestowed upon any member, is bestowed upon the whole
body (1 Corinthians 12:1-31.). Whatsoever
is given to any part, is giving for the benefit of the whole Church: why, then,
should we envy any, seeing we have our portion in it?
5. It is a devilish vice; it is worse than fleshly, and yet if it
were no more, it were sufficient to make us to detest it: and it transformeth
us into the image of Satan, who envied the happiness of our first parents in
the garden (Genesis 3:5). So Cain was of that evil
one (1 John 3:12), and envied his
brother, because God accepted him and his sacrifice (Genesis 4:5).
6. It crosseth and controlleth the wisdom of God in the distribution
of His gifts and graces, as if God had done them wrong and been too good to
others: we can challenge nothing as due to ourselves, but whatsoever we have we
have it freely: howbeit, the envious like not His administration, but dislike
that others should enjoy that which they want.
7. It is against the rule of charity which rejoiceth at the good of
others (1 Corinthians 13:1-13.), and is
ready to bestow and communicate good things where is want of them. So, then,
where envy is, there charity is not; and where charity is, there envy is not.
Uses:
1. This teacheth us that all are subject to this evil, even they that
are godly, and in a great measure sanctified, are apt to envy at others
excelling in the graces of God. The best things are subject to be abused
through our corruption.
2. It serveth to reprove many malicious persons: some envy others
temporal blessings: others envy them the grace of God. If they have more
knowledge than themselves they cannot abide them, but speak all manner of evil
against them. Hence it is that Solomon opposeth envy and the fear of God as
things that cannot possibly stand together (Proverbs 23:17), and in another place a
sound heart and envy (Proverbs 14:30).
3. Let us use all holy and sanctified means to prevent it, or to
purge it away if it has seized upon us. Store of charity and humility tempered
together will make a notable defence and preservative against this malady. (W.
Attersoll.)
Needless envy
Moses wondered that Joshua should be so excited about this matter.
He correctly estimated the young man¡¦s temper; he said, This is envy: why this
envy, Joshua? is it for my sake that thou art making a grievous miscalculation
of my spirit? do not be envious on my account. Contrast the spirit of Moses
with the spirit of Joshua. From the greater expect more. Thus is the quality of
men revealed. Our judgments are ourselves put into words. Not that this was
necessarily what might be termed the most wicked jealousy or envy. There is a
kind of envy that may be regarded as almost chivalrous. That may be the most
dangerous envy of all. Let us get at the root of this matter. Moses certainly
delivered himself from all imputations of the kind, for instead of wanting the
prophecy to be confined to himself he would have it multiplied over the whole
host of the people of God. Great men do not want to be great at the expense of
others. The text, though an inquiry, is as much a revelation of the quality of
Moses as it is of the quality of Joshua. The most dangerous envy is often envy
by proxy. Two men are at deadly feud; circumstances arise which lead to
explanation; explanation leads to adjustment; adjustment soon becomes hearty
reconciliation; the two principals are satisfied. But what is all this tumult
in the air? what all this petty criticism? The two principals are satisfied,
but there are others that are fighting the battle over again, and professedly
in the name of one of the reconciled men or the other. This is folly. We should
rather anticipate reconciliation and make the most of it than say, through
wickedness of heart, Though you may be satisfied, we are not, and we mean to
continue the battle. That may be high temper, but it is the temper of the
devil. Along the same line of illustration we come upon over-zeal. The Jehua
rose up a million thick on the road. What are they doing? Converting men by
force. They are going to stand this no longer; if men will not go to church,
then they shall go to gaol; if men will not obey spontaneously, they shall obey
coercively; they shall have no longer any parleying with the enemy. The only
compulsion that is as everlasting as it is beneficent is the compulsion of
persuasion. ¡§Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.¡¨ Herein is the
dignity and herein is the assured duration of the kingdom of Christ; it is a
kingdom of light and love and truth and reason. Love is the everlasting--and I
will add, is the invincible--law. What was Joshua¡¦s motive? Was he afraid that
other men would rise and be as lofty as Moses? That was not the view which
Moses himself took of the occasion. Moses was not afraid of competition. Moses
proved his right to the leadership by the nobleness of his spirit. Would God
that this proof of Divine election attended all our policy! No man can pull you
down but yourself. Moses knew that what was lacking in appreciation of himself
would be made up in proportion as the people themselves became prophets. The
more the people prophesied the more they would appreciate Moses. They would
know what he had to bear; what occasional torment of soul. Have pity upon one
another; believe, and be kind, and hope; let the devil do all the bad work, you
get to your knees and to the work of brotherly sympathy and help. Moses saw
what Joshua did not discern. Moses saw that it is part of the prophet¡¦s
function to make other people prophets. Great men are not sent to create little men. Wherever there
is a great prophet there will be a prophetic church; the whole level of life
and thought will be elevated. Not that the leader can always command this kind
of evidence and credential. It may come after his death. Some men have to die
that they may be known. Great men are inspirations, not discouragements. That
is the difference between real greatness and factitious greatness. Where there
is real greatness it acts as an inspiration, as a welcome; there is a benign
and generous hospitality about it. Real greatness can condescend without
appearing to stoop; real greatness can be humble without being oppressive to
those to whom it bows itself; real greatness encourages rising power just as
the sun encourages every flower in the garden. The Church of Christ is not
afraid of rival institutions. The Church says, ¡§Enviest thou for my
sake?¡¨--nothing can put me down; I am founded by Christ, saith the Church, I am
built upon a rock; the gates of hell cannot prevail against me--¡§Enviest thou
for my sake?¡¨--cease thine envying, it is wasted energy. We are building up all
kinds of rival institutions, and yet the Church rises above them all. Let the
Church have time and opportunity to utter her gospel and declare herself; and
let her be faithful to her own charter, and all will be well. Truth always
wins, and wins often at once; not in the palpable and vulgar way called
winning, but by a subtle, profound, mysterious, eternal way that asks ages by
which to justify its certainty and its completeness. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Would God that all the
Lord¡¦s people were prophets.
The prophet¡¦s work
The prophets were not mainly foretellers of future events, but
interpreters and forthtellers of God¡¦s will; not minute historical soothsayers,
but essentially patriots, statesmen, moral teacher,, chosen vessels of
spiritual revelation. In each of their duties they were great. As statesmen
they were intensely practical, gloriously fearless; seeing that there was no
distinction between national and individual morality; recognising that what is
morally wrong can never be politically right. As patriots they were men of the
people; pleading against oppression, robbery, and wrong; braving the anger of
corrupted multitudes; reproving the crimes of guilty kings. As spiritual
teachers they fostered in Israel the conviction of their lofty destiny by
upholding the majesty of God¡¦s law, by preserving the authority of His worship,
by pointing to the revelation of His Son. In each of these functions they have
an eternal value for the human race. Every reformation has been effected by
following in the path which they trod as pioneers. The Hebrew prophets were
marked by three great characteristics--Heroic Faith, Unswerving Hope, and
Absolute Belief in Righteousness.
1. I shall name their heroic faith. ¡§All men have not faith.¡¨ They
either openly deny and disbelieve, or more often saying they believe act as
though they did not. They are cowed by the power of wickedness, or tempted by
its seductions. If they begin to make an effort for good, they fling up the contest
as soon as they find that it will compromise their interests. Most often they
will brave no danger, expose no falsehood, stand up against no wrong; they will
spread their sails to every veering
breeze; they will swim with the stream; they will look on success and
popularity as the ends of living and the tests of truth. Not so the prophets.
They will not be deceived by the vain shows of the world, nor seduced by
its bribes, nor blunt the edge of their moral sense with its manifold
conventions. Terror will not daunt, nor flattery lure them. Through lives of
loss and persecution they will go on with an intense and quiet perseverance,
which no success will cause them to relax, and no reverse subdue. They will
devote every energy and possession to the cause of God, and the service of the most helpless
of mankind.
2. They saw beyond. Over and around them towered the colossal
kingdoms of the heathen. The giant forms of empires around them were but on
their way to ruin, because they were not founded on righteousness. Kings,
priests and mobs might be against them; they were but vain and idle men (Jeremiah 1:17-19). And if they had the
faith which looked beyond the little grandeurs of men, they also had the hope
which looked beyond their sorrows, and this hope spread outwards in
ever-widening circles. Amid the apostacy of Israel they always prophesied that
Israel should not be utterly destroyed. And this hope was concentrated in their
greatest and most unfaltering prophecy of an Anointed Deliverer, a coming
Saviour for all mankind: a Man who should be ¡§a hiding-place from the wind; and
a covert from the tempest;
the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.¡¨
3. The third great characteristic of the Hebrew prophets is their
sense that the very end and aim of all religion is simply righteousness: that
there is an abysmal difference between a mere correct worship and a living
faith. Such was the spirit of the prophets. Let us conclude by considering the
way in which we too, in our measure, are called to share in their spirit, and
to continue their work.
God calls all His people to be prophets
As of old, He calls His Gideon from the threshing-floor, and His
Amos from the sycamore fruit; His Moses from the flocks; His Matthew from the
receipt of custom; His John from the priestly family; His Peter from the
fishing-net, and His Paul from the rabbi¡¦s school; so now He calls us from the
farm and from the merchandise, from the shop and from the office, from the
profession and from the trade, from the priest¡¦s pulpit and from the servants¡¦
hall. He calls us in boyhood, He calls us in manhood, He calls us in old age.
In His sight there is not an inch-high difference between the stage on which
the prince and the stage on which the pauper plays his part. Both alike are
called, and called only to be good men and true, brave and faithful. Both have
a like mission, and both alike shall, if they do Christ¡¦s work, receive His
hundred-fold reward. The boy at school who will not join in the bad language of
his companions; the soldier in the barracks who will kneel down and pray,
though all his comrades jeer; the tradesman who will hold out against a
dishonest custom of his guild the tenant who in the teeth of his interests will
give his vote at the dictates of conscience; the Churchman who for truth¡¦s sake
will try to break the tyrannous fetters of false opinion; the philanthropist
who will bear the unscrupulous taunts of the base, because he denounces a
nation¡¦s guilt--these, too, have in them something of the prophet. They help to
save the world from corruption and society from spiritual death. This was the
example that Christ set us all. That man is most a prophet of Christ who loves
Him best. And he loves Him best who keeps His commandments. His commandments
were but two: Love God; Love one another. (Archdeacon Farrar.)
Monopoly and freedom in religious teaching
I. A protest
against monopoly in religious teaching.
1. The prevalence of this monopoly.
2. The causes of this monopoly.
3. The iniquity of this monopoly. What arrogancy! Is not one mind as
near the fountain of knowledge, the source of inspiration, as another?
II. An authority
for freedom in religious teaching.
1. All the Lord¡¦s people ought to be teachers. The possession of
superior knowledge implies the obligation to disseminate it.
2. All the Lord¡¦s people might be teachers. All that is wanted is
¡§that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them¡¨; and this Spirit is free alike
to all. (Homilist.)
The Spirit given to all
¡§Would God,¡¨ was the longing of Moses, ¡§that all the Lord¡¦s people
were prophets, and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!¡¨ His desire
was fulfilled at Pentecost, and is realised now. Every believer possesses the
Holy Spirit, not for his own spiritual life only, but to be a witness for
Christ, as were the hundred and twenty at Pentecost. Equally does the charge to
publish the glad tidings, and the promise of adequate power come to every one,
according to that closing command of inspiration, ¡§Let him that heareth say,
Come!¡¨ Nay, more, the tongue of fire, the gift of utterance in its fitting
measure, is always bestowed upon the kindled heart. Every one who seeks humbly
and prayerfully to be a witness for Christ, in the home, in the ways of toil,
in the spheres of infer-course, in the house of prayer, by the printed page,
with the lips, and by the life, every such faithful disciple of the living Master shall
receive His promised gift, the Pentecostal power of the Holy Ghost! (J. G.
Butler, D. D.)
Divine inspiration
In different forms and in different degrees that noble wish was
fulfilled. The acts of the hero, the songs of the poet, the skill of the
artificer, Samson¡¦s strength, the music of David, the architecture of Bezaleel
and Solomon, are all ascribed to the inspiration of the Divine Spirit. It was
not a holy tribe, but holy men of every tribe, that spake as they were moved,
carried to and fro out of themselves, by the Spirit of God. The prophets, of
whom this might be said, in the strictest sense, were confined to no family or caste,
station, or sex. They rose, indeed, above their countrymen; their words were to
their countrymen, in a peculiar sense, the words of God. But they were to be
found everywhere. Like the springs of their own land, there was no hill or
valley where the prophetic gift might not be expected to break forth. Miriam
and Deborah, no less than Moses and Barak; in Judah and in Ephraim, no less
than in Levi; in Tekoah and Gilead, and, as the climax of all, in Nazareth, no
less than in Shiloh and Jerusalem, God¡¦s present counsel might be looked for.
By this constant attitude of expectation, if one may so call it, the ears of
the whole nation were kept open for the intimations of the Divine Ruler, under
whom they lived. None knew beforehand who would be called . . . In the dead of
night, as to Samuel; in the ploughing of the field, as Elisha: in the gathering
of the sycamore figs, as to Amos; the call might come . . . Moses was but the
beginning; he was not, he could not be the end. (Dean Stanley.)
Verses 31-35
They gathered the quails.
The quails
I. Israel¡¦s
complaint.
1. Its object was food.
2. Its nature was intense. ¡§Fell a lusting.¡¨
3. It was general.
4. It was accompanied with tears. A faint, weary, disappointed
people. Tears, chiefly, of discontent.
5. It was associated with the retrospections of memory. ¡§We
remember,¡¨ &c. (Numbers 11:5). They should also have
remembered some other things of that past. Their bondage, &c.
6. It made present things distasteful. ¡§There is nothing at all.¡¨
There was a time when they did not call the manna nothing. Longing for what we
have not tends to cause disparagement of things possessed.
II. Moses¡¦
perplexity. Great popular leaders have often been perplexed by the unreasonable
clamours of their followers. Have often been urged farther than their greater
prudence and wisdom would have chosen. People have often damaged their own
cause by exorbitant demands.
1. Moses displeased at the position in which he found himself. ¡§My
wretchedness ¡§ (Numbers 11:15). His faith faltered (Numbers 11:11-12). Especially displeased
with the people (Numbers 11:10).
2. In his perplexity cried to the Lord. A good example. God ¡§ a
present help in trouble.¡¨
3. He acknowledges his own weakness (Numbers 11:21-22). He could not feed the
people. It would be suicidal to kill the flocks and herds, even if they were
enough. Needed for sacrifice; and the religious well-being of the people of
most importance.
4. He receives comfort, and direction (Numbers 11:23).
III. God¡¦s
providence. Nature is His storehouse, in which He has garnered food for man and
beast. He made all living things. Endowed them with habits and instincts. Made
the quails. Ordained their migratory habits. Made and ruled the winds. When the
quails came, the wind was ready. It fulfilled the word of God. The wonderful
flight of birds. The scene in the camp. What was sent so abundantly seems to
have been thanklessly received. Divine anger went with the gift. Many of the
people died. Learn--
1. To pray for the blessing of contentment.
2. To seek the moderation of our desires.
3. To pray for grateful hearts.
4. To acknowledge the hand of God in the supply of our wants.
5. To be chiefly anxious for the supply of spiritual need. (J. C.
Gray.)
The graves of lust
I. There are
perpetual resurrections of easily besetting sins.
1. The side from which the temptation came to them (Numbers 11:4-6). This mixed multitude
corresponds precisely to the troop of disorderly passions and appetites, with
which we suffer ourselves to march through the desert of life. Passions,
desires, ever mad for indulgence, and reckless, scornful of Divine law.
2. The special
season when the easily besetting sin rose up and again made them its slave. It
is a fact which all close students of human character must have observed, that
there is a back-water of temptation, if I may so speak, which is more deadly
than its direct assaults. You may fight hard against a temptation, and fight
victoriously. You may beat it off, and then, when, weary with the conflict, you
suffer the strain of vigilance to relax, it shall steal in and easily master
the citadel, which lately it spent all its force in vain to win. 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.
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. He knows that, if tolerated, they
become the most deadly of spiritual evils, and rot body and spirit together in
hell.
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?
3. Left alone by God. God does not curse us; 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. We leap through all the barriers which He
has raised around us to limit us, yea, though they be rings of blazing fire, we
will through them and indulge our lust; and in a moment He sweeps them all out
of our path--perhaps roses spring to beguile, where flames so lately blazed to
warn.
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.
In how many do we now search in vain for fruits whose flowers once bloomed
there; for generous emotions, swift responses to the appeals of sorrow, unselfish
ministries, and stern integrity? 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! Beware! for
the dead things buried in these graves will not lie quiet; they stir and start,
and ever and anon come forth in their ghastly shrouds and scare you at your
feasts. No ghosts so sure to haunt their graves as the ghosts of immolated
faculties and violated vows. The memories which haunt the worn-out worldling¡¦s
bed of impotence or lust are the true avengers of Heaven. The brain loses power
to repel them, but retains power to fashion them. Once it could drive away
thoughts and memories; now it can only retain them, and fix them in a horrid
permanent session on their thrones. (J. B. Brown, B. A.)
The Israelites¡¦ sin and punishment
I. Their sin many
consider a trifle. Certainly it was not of that character which the judgment inflicted
on them would lead us to anticipate. We read here of no enormous transgression,
or daring violation of God¡¦s law. All they were guilty of, was a strong desire
for something which God had not given them. ¡§Something evil,¡¨ you will say
perhaps, but not so; it was one of the most harmless things they could have
desired. The Lord had provided them with manna for their support; they were
weary of manna and wanted flesh. ¡§The children of Israel,¡¨ we read, ¡§wept
again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?¡¨
1. You see, then, the nature of the sin we have before us. It is a
sin of the heart--coveting, desiring; and that not slightly, but very eagerly,
with the full bent of the mind. It is not spiritual idolatry, though it is like
it. That is making too much of what we have; this is making too much of what we
want.
2. Look at the cause or spring of Israel¡¦s sin. Their desire for
flesh was a desire springing up amidst abundance. It had its origin, not in
their necessities, but m their vile affections, their own unsubdued, carnal
minds.
3. Observe next the occasion of Israel¡¦s sin. Oh, dread the mixed
multitude. Stand in fear of worldly-minded professors of Christ¡¦s gospel. They
will teach you to lust for the things you now despise. They will drive, if not
the fear, yet the peace of God from your hearts, and all they will give you in
exchange for it will be a craving, aching soul, a share in their own
restlessness and discontent.
4. Mark the effect of their sin, its immediate effect, I mean, on
their own minds. It made them completely wretched. The truth is, the mind of
man cannot long bear a strong and unchecked desire. It must be gratified or
have a prospect of being gratified, or it consumes the soul. Perhaps we may
say, this is one main ingredient in the misery of hell--a longing, and a
longing, and a longing still, for something that can be never had.
5. Notice one thing more in this craving of the Israelites--its
sinfulness or guilt. Wherein, then, did its sinfulness lie? In the twentieth
verse, God tells us. He pronounces it a contempt of Himself. Moses is commanded
to go to the weeping people, and say to them, ¡§Ye have despised the Lord which
is among you.¡¨ And how had they despised Him?
In three respects.
1. They had low thoughts of His power. ¡§Who,¡¨ they asked, ¡§shall give
us flesh to eat?¡¨ Who can give it?
2. And their conduct involved in it a making light of His goodness.
They had evidently lost sight at this time of all He had done for them, or if
not so, they lightly esteemed what He had done.
3. And then there was also here a despising of God¡¦s authority.
II. Look at the
conduct of them insulted God towards them in consequence of their sin.
1. He granted their desire. We are told again and again that it
displeased Him, that His anger was kindled greatly against the people on
account of it; but how does He show His displeasure? He begins with giving them
the very thing they wish for; He works a miracle to give it them; He gives it
them to the utmost extent of their desires, and beyond them. But what was God
really doing all this while? He was only vindicating His aspersed honour.
2. The Lord took vengeance on these Israelites, and this in a fearful
manner and at a very remarkable time. It is often the will of God to make our
sin our punishment. We eagerly crave something; He gives us what we crave, and
when we have it, He either takes away from us all our delight in it, and so
bitterly disappoints us, or else He causes it to prove to us a source of
misery. (C. Bradley, M. A.)
The judgments of God sometimes come very suddenly
In the midst of their lusts and pleasures, behold how God¡¦s
judgments come upon them. They had feasted a long time, and had glutted
themselves with their flesh; now their sweet meat had sour sauce. The doctrine
arising from hence is this, that the judgments of God do oftentimes fail upon
men and women very suddenly before they be aware, when they least of all think
or imagine of the day of wrath (Job 20:5-7; Job 21:17; Psalms 73:19; Isaiah 30:13; Exodus 12:29; Daniel 5:30; Luke 12:20). The destruction of the
wicked shall come as a whirlwind (Amos 1:14).
1. This is plain, because they have through God¡¦s long-suffering
increased the number, weight, and measure of their sins, and thereby compel the
Lord to bring His judgments suddenly upon them.
2. God respecteth herein the benefit of others toward whom He hath
not used as yet so long patience, to the end that they, seeing others fall into
sudden destruction, may learn thereby not to abuse His patience, lest they also
be suddenly destroyed (Daniel 5:22).
The uses follow.
1. See from hence the happy estate of all such as think of the day of
their reckoning betimes, and prepare their garments that they be not taken
naked. Such are out
of danger, and have no cause to fear wrath and judgment.
2. It serveth to teach us that we should not envy at the peace and
prosperity of the wicked, neither fret at the flourishing estate of the ungodly
that live in their sins, for howsoever they be for a time forborne, yet thereby
they are the more hardened in their sins, till a far greater judgment come upon
them. Therefore envy not at them though they grow great, for suddenly shall the
judgments of God tulle hold upon them, and arrest them as guilty of death, and
then they shall perish speedily; so that there is no reason to grieve or grudge
at their prosperity.
3. From hence ariseth comfort to the faithful.
4. It is our duty to watch and attend with all care for the time of
judgment. (W. Attersoll.)
The graves of lust
I. It is the
tendency of lust to shorten life and to bring men to an untimely 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.
II. Let us record
some of our feelings as we contemplate ¡§the graves of lust.¡¨
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?
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.)
Inordinate desires
What we inordinately desire, if we obtain it, we have reason to
fear that it will be some way or other a grief and cross to us. God sufficed
them first, and then plagued them.
1. To save the reputation of His own power, that it might not be
said, He had cut them off because He was not able to suffice them. And--
2. To show us the meaning of the prosperity of sinners; it is their
preparation for ruin. They are fed as an ox for the slaughter. (Matthew
Hearty, D. D.)
Graves of desire
The last thing that most people would desire is a grave,
and yet how often does desire conduct to death! We will notice several
manifestations of irregular and destructive desire, and, in conclusion, show
how desire may be directed and chastened.
I. There is
unseasonable desire. The desire of the people for flesh was not unnatural, not
illegal in itself, but it was unseasonable. This is a common fault of ours, to
desire legitimate things in times and places which are not convenient.
1. There is the impatience of youth. The course of life with many in
these times reminds us of the days when we were lads, and when in the early
morning we went a distance to school, taking our dinner with us; then appetite
was keen, and it was no unusual thing to devour our dinner on the way to
school, starving for the rest of the day. It is thus with thousands of
infatuated ones a little later on; in the greediness of their heart they devour
and waste their portion in the morning of life, and then starve through the
long tedious day, or else go down to a premature grave. I say to my young
brethren, wait, rein in your desires, move slowly, and every joy of life shall
be yours in turn. ¡§Haste is of the devil,¡¨ is a saying in the East popularly
ascribed to Mahomet himself. We may accept the saying in the matter before us;
let youth be moderate, deliberate, avoiding all feverishness, drawing slowly on
the resources of life.
2. There is the eagerness, of manhood. We should do little in life
without intensity, but there are times when we may with advantage take in sail,
and give ourselves time for rest and reflection. It is certainly unseasonable
to bring our business life in any shape into the Lord¡¦s Day. It is also
unseasonable to allow worldly cares and ambitions to invade those spaces which
are so necessary for our domestic and intellectual life. God grants us spaces
for rest and thought in the home, in the chamber; and it is exhaustive, indeed,
when our overweening worldliness excludes the possibilities of solitary and
social life. Some men fill their annual holidays with anxieties until they are
no holidays at all. And there are days of personal affliction, of domestic
sorrows, of national calamity, when it is our solemn duty to pause in the race
for riches and think of life¡¦s larger meaning.
3. There is the greed of age. Old men often come to the grave sooner
than they need because they will not let the world go. They cling to ambition,
although it wastes their strength and peace; they cling to business, they are
pushing, grasping, hoarding as ever, although such application fast saps a life
already tottering; they cling to pleasure, they will still wear the wreath of
roses on their white hair, although to them it is the most fatal wreath of all.
II. There is
immoderate desire. We may pursue a right object with inordinate appetite. The
Israelites were not content with the simple, pearly, wholesome food God gave
them--they wanted something more piquant. They got what they wanted--and a
grave. In all generations how many fall the same way.
1. There is the immoderateness of our literature. We must feast on
the romantic, the sensational, the morbid, the exaggerated. Out of this excess of
imaginative literature come great evils. The reading public live in a world of
fancy, sentiment, passion; and this feverish unreality in the hours of
retirement gives birth to much of that practical immoderation which is the
curse of our age. I do not say abandon this literature of romance; but I do say
restrain and chasten your imagination, for be sure this habit of wild dreaming
is at the root of much of that general intemperance of life which hurries many
to the grave.
2. There is the immoderation of our style of living. A writer was
finding fault the other day with the present style of gardening. He complained
that we have rooted up the old fragrant flowers--lavender, pinks, marigolds,
mignonette, and gone in for crude patches of red and blue and yellow; that we
have swept away sweet shrubs and bits of lawn for the sake of violet
ribbon-borders and vulgar carpet-bedding. But does not our Italian gardening
largely reflect our social life? Are we not often found renouncing sweet,
simple methods of living for a showy, ostentatious style which brings with it
little joy?
3. There is the immoderateness of our appetite. Thousands are digging
their grave with their teeth, and scooping it out with their glass.
4. There is the immoderateness of business. Immoderation in other
directions often drives men to unnatural eagerness in business. In haste to be
rich they pierce themselves through with many sorrows.
III. There is
illegal desire. Fixing our eye on forbidden things and lusting after them. How
beautiful they seem, how desirable! and yet they eat as doth a canker. They
lead to a premature grave. ¡§The wicked do not live out half their days.¡¨ They
lead to a dishonoured grave (Ecclesiastes 8:10). They lead to a
hopeless grave. Such awake to shame and everlasting contempt. Do not hide it
from yourselves for an hour that death is the price of touching forbidden
things. Are you tempted by unlawful pleasure? see the skeleton behind the
flowers. By unlawful gain? see the field of blood behind the pieces of silver.
By unlawful greatness? see the
shroud wrapped up in the purple. By unlawful indulgence? see that at the
devil¡¦s banquet the sexton is head waiter. Lust when it hath conceived bringeth
forth sin, and sin when it is finished will have finished you. This is the
dismal eternal order; and no secrecy, no strength, no skill on your part can
disturb the programme or avert the penalty. Wherein, then, lies our safety? In
reducing all desire to a minimum? Some of our sceptical writers counsel this
but it is not the philosophy of Christianity. The infinity of desire is a grand
characteristic of our nature which it is no part of our duty to destroy.
Christianity leaves intact our boundless desire, whilst it teaches us
moderation in all worldly things. It does this by fixing our attention on our
inner life. It assures us that the deep, final satisfaction is not in our
senses, but in our spirit; that we find the full and ultimate delight of life
as our inner self grows in truth anal goodness and love. It does this by fixing
our hope on the heavenly life. The pilgrim is not likely to be too deeply
engrossed about the tent curtains, tent pegs, tent cords. Think much of that
greater life, and you shall not think overmuch about things which perish in the
using. (W. L. Watkinson.)
The true nursing-father
It was but three days¡¦ march from Sinai, and the people encamped
on a site which was ever memorable in their history, as recalling one of the
gravest, saddest scenes in the experiences
of the wilderness journey. We are only, however, now concerned in the incident
so far as it affects the character of Moses.
I. The test
beneath which Moses broke down, But in the case of Moses there was surely an
outbreak of impatience which was hardly justifiable. He loved the people, but
his love was not strong enough to sustain the terrific test to which it was
exposed. He pitied them, but beneath the scorching sun of their repeated
provocations that pity dried up like waters which are absorbed in the desert
heat.
II. The parallel in
Christian experience.
1. We also have need to beware of the influence of ¡§the mixed
multitude.¡¨ Had it not been for these, Israel had walked with God, and been
satisfied with His provision on their behalf. It was from them that the
discontent proceeded. There are many professing Christians who have the form of
godliness, but deny its power, and who pass freely in and out among the
children of God. It is among these that we may expect to hear complaints that
religion is dry and irksome, or rapturous descriptions of the food of Egypt, or
special pleadings that there should be a mingling of the delights of the
Egyptian world, which should have been left behind for ever, with the manna
which God lays on the dew of the desert floor. Their influence is all the
stronger in that they appeal to tendencies within us, which are so susceptible
to their call.
2. We must distinguish between appetite and lust. The appetites have
been implanted within us to maintain the machinery of life. If it were not for
their action, we should neglect food and rest and exercise, and many other
things necessary to our well-being. But in us all appetite is apt to run up
into lust. In other words, we seek satisfaction, not for the necessary supply
of our physical needs, but for the momentary pleasure which accompanies the
gratification of appetite itself. Our motive is not the obtaining of some
lawful and necessary end, but the titillation of taste and sense. Appetite has,
therefore, to be curbed with a strong hand, lest it become inordinate passion,
for the moment we take pleasure in the indulgence of appetite for its own sake,
and apart from the legitimate end for which it was intended by the Almighty, we
begin to tread a path that leads swiftly down to the bottomless pit.
3. Let us guard against the resurrection of easily besetting sins. We
say to ourselves that certain forms of sin have died down within us, anal will
never trouble us more. We have grown out of them. But at that very moment the
ghastly shape of that temptation is at hand, to assert perhaps even more than
its olden force. You can never be sure of yourself. The suggestion that a
certain form of temptation can have no further power over you is of the devil,
and should excite you to greater watchfulness. Inordinate desire, murmuring and
mistrust, are linked
in the closest association. When one of these enters the window of the heart,
it goes round to open the door to the other two. Oh, how often have we grieved
our heavenly Father! Have we not had days of provocation and temptation in the
wilderness?
III. The contrast
between the servant and the father. Moses repudiated the office of the
nursing-father. He could not sustain its responsibilities. But his failure only
serves to bring out into distincter relief a touching conception of the
Fatherhood of God. Forty years afterwards, as the aged lawgiver, at the foot of
Pisgah, was summing up the results of his experience, he said, ¡§Thou hast seen
how that the Lord thy God bare thee, as a man doth bare his son, in all the way
that ye went, until ye came unto this place¡¨ (Deuteronomy 1:31; Isaiah 63:9; Acts 13:18, R.V. marg.). Moses¡¦ patience
gave out in a twelvemonth, God¡¦s lasted till His work was done, and the people
were safely deposited in the land of promise. If only the true story of our
lives were written, it would be the most astounding record of God¡¦s forbearing
and pitying love. Truly, ¡§He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor
rewarded us according to our iniquities.¡¨ But let us beware: there comes a time
in the history of besetting sin when God ceases to strive against it. He gave
them the quails they asked, flesh to the full. You may be mad for gold, and
gold may pour in; mad for pleasure, and the golden barges wait to waft you on
the swelling current; mad for applause, and it is yours till you are surfeited.
God does not curse you, He leaves you to yourself, and that is curse enough. It
is best to let our Father choose. His choice as to route and manna and length
of daily journey must be the best. And when our yearnings are in opposition to
His wise provision, let us quench them and yield our will about them. (F. B.
Meyer, B. A.)
Uncontrolled desires
In what a solemn manner does this teach us the danger of
uncontrolled desires! We have often thought what a beautiful prayer that is,
¡§Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel¡¨ (Psalms 20:4), when offered for one whose
heart is subdued, and whose desires are concentrated on the fulfilment of God¡¦s
promises. But would it not be an awful prayer for one whose heart is full of
unhallowed desires, who longs, like Israel of old, only for earthly things? Oh,
we should take heed what we desire, and for what we pray. You may ask for some
earthly gift--it may be worldly prosperity, it may be wealth, or it may be for
some other gift--some far higher, but still earthly gift--and because you are
very intent upon it, God may give it you: and then the fulfilment of that
desire may become a most terrible snare to you. The gift, whatsoever it be, may
become your idol, may let down your affections to earth; and thus, whilst your
prayers have been granted, God has sent leanness withal into your soul. Oh, it
is exalted mercy, that God does not grant all our desires--that He so often
sets aside some desires, and greatly disappoints others. We are prone to fret
at this, but it is a part of a merciful plan, whereby He would bring us to rest
in Himself. Oh, then, through grace, I will turn away from earth, with all its
treasures, and from the creature, whatever its attractions be. I will turn to
Jesus. In Him I cannot be disappointed. His love is altogether pure, altogether
satisfying. (G. Wagner.)
The punishment of a gratified desire
Among the passengers on the St. Louis express was a woman very
much overdressed, accompanied by a bright looking nurse-girl and a self-willed,
tyrannical boy of about three years. The boy aroused the indignation of the
passengers by his continued shrieks and kicks and, screams, and his viciousness
towards the patient nurse. He tore her bonnet, scratched her hands, and finally
spat in her face, without a word of remonstrance from the mother. Whenever the
nurse manifested any firmness, the mother chided her sharply. Presently, the
mother composed herself for a nap; and about the time the boy had slapped the
nurse for the fiftieth time, a wasp came sailing in, and flew on the window of
the nurse¡¦s seat. The boy at once tried to catch it. The nurse caught his hand,
and said coaxingly, ¡§Harry mustn¡¦t touch. Wasp will bite Harry.¡¨ Harry screamed
savagely, and began to kick and pound the nurse. The mother, without opening
her eyes or lifting her head, cried out sharply, ¡§Why will you tease that child
so, Mary? Let him have what he wants at once.¡¨ ¡§But, ma¡¦am, its a--¡¨ ¡§Let him
have it, I say.¡¨ Thus encouraged, Harry clutched at the wasp and caught it. The
scream that followed brought tears of joy to the passengers¡¦ eyes. The mother
woke again. ¡§Mary,¡¨ she cried, ¡§let him have it!¡¨ Mary turned in her seat, and
said confusedly, ¡§He¡¦s got it, ma¡¦am!¡¨ (S. S. Times.)
¢w¢w¡mThe Biblical Illustrator¡n