flight of quails, brought up, according to the seventy-eighth Psalm,
by a wind which blew from the south and east--that is, from the
Elanitic Gulf. These quails cannot sustain themselves long on the
wing, and after crossing the desert some thirty or forty miles they
would scarcely be able to fly. The enormous numbers of them which
fluttered around the camp are not beyond ordinary possibility. Fowls
of this kind migrate at certain seasons in such enormous multitudes
that in the small island of Capri, near Naples, one hundred and sixty
thousand have been netted in one season. When exhausted, they would
easily be taken as they flew at a height of about two cubits above
the ground. The whole camp was engaged in capturing quails from one
morning to the evening of the following day; and the quantity was
so great that he who gathered least had ten homers, probably a heap
estimated to be of that measure. To keep them for further use the
birds were prepared and spread on the ground to dry in the sun.
When the epidemic of weeping broke out through the camp, the doubt
occurred to Moses whether there was any spiritual quality in the
people, any fitness for duty or destiny of a religious kind. They
seemed to be all unbelievers on whom the goodness of God and the
sacred instruction had been wasted. They were earthly and sensual.
How could they ever trust God enough to reach Canaan?--or if they
reached it, how would their occupation of it be justified? They would
but form another heathen nation, all the worse that they had once
known the true God and had abandoned Him. But a different view of
things was presented to Moses when the chosen elders, men of worth,
were gathered at the tent of meeting, and on a sudden impulse of the
Spirit began to prophesy. As these men in loud and ecstatic language
proclaimed their faith, Moses found his confidence in Jehovah's power
and in the destiny of Israel re-established. His mind was relieved at
once of the burden of responsibility and the dread of an extinction
of the heavenly light he had been the means of kindling among the
tribes. If there were seventy men capable of receiving the Spirit
of God, there might be hundreds, even thousands. A spring of new
enthusiasm is opened, and Israel's future is again possible.
Now there were two men, Eldad and Medad, who were of the seventy,
but had not come to the tent of meeting, where the prophetic spirit
fell upon the rest. They had not heard the summons, we may suppose.
Unaware of what was taking place at the tabernacle, yet realising the
honour conferred upon them, they were perhaps engaged in ordinary
duties, or, having found some need for their interference, they may
have been rebuking murmurers and endeavouring to restore order among
the unruly. And suddenly they also, under the same influence as the
other sixty-eight, began to prophesy. The spirit of earnestness
caught them. With the same ecstasy they declared their faith and
praised the God of Israel.
There was in one sense a limitation of the spirit of prophecy,
whatever it was. Of all the host only the seventy received it. Other
good men and true in Israel that day might have seemed as capable of
the heavenly endowment as those who prophesied. It was, however, in
harmony with a known principle that the men designated to special
office alone received the gift. The sense of a choice felt to be that
of God does unquestionably exalt the mind and spirit of those chosen.
They realise that they stand higher and must do more for God and men
than others, that they are inspired to say what otherwise they could
not dare to say. The limitation of the Spirit in this sense is not
invariable, is not strict. At no time in the world's history has the
call to office been indispensable to prophetic fervour and courage.
Yet the sequence is sufficiently common to be called a law.
But while in a sense there is restriction of the spiritual influence,
in another sense there is no restraint. The Divine afflatus is not
confined to those who have gathered at the tabernacle. It is not
place or occasion that makes the prophets; it is the Spirit, the
power from on high entering into life; and out in the camp the two
have their portion of the new energy and zeal. Spiritual influence,
then, is not confined to any particular place. Neither was the
neighbourhood of the tabernacle so holy that there alone the elders
could receive their gift; nor is any place of meeting, any church,
capable of such consecration and singular identification with the
service of God that there alone the power of the Divine Spirit can be
manifested or received. Let there be a man chosen of God, ready for
the duties of a holy calling, and on that man the Spirit will come,
wherever he is, in whatever he is engaged. He may be employed in
common work, but in doing it he will be moved to earnest service and
testimony. He may be labouring, under great difficulties, to restore
the justice that has been impaired by social errors and political
chicanery--and his words will be prophetic; he will be a witness for
God to those who are without faith, without holy fear.
While Eldad and Medad prophesied in the camp, a young man who
heard them ran officiously to inform Moses. To this young man as
to others--for no doubt there were many who loved and revered the
Usual--the two elders were presumptuous fools. The camp was, as we
say, secular: was it not? People in the camp looked after ordinary
affairs, tended their cattle, chaffered and bargained, quarrelled
about trifles, murmured against Moses and against God. Was it right
to prophesy there, carrying religious words and ideas into the midst
of common life? If Eldad and Medad could prophesy, let them go to the
tabernacle. And besides, what right had they to speak for Jehovah, in
Jehovah's name? Was not Moses the prophet, the only prophet? Israel
was accustomed to think him so, would keep to that opinion. It would
be confusing if at any one's tent door a prophet might begin to
speak without warning. So the young man thought it his duty to run
and tell Moses what was taking place. And Joshua, when he heard, was
alarmed, and desired Moses to put an end to the irregular ministry.
"My lord Moses, forbid them," he said. He was jealous not for himself
and the other elders, but for Moses' sake. So far the leader alone
held communication with Jehovah and spoke in His name; and there was
perhaps some reason for the alarm of Joshua, more than was apparent
at the time. To have one central authority was better and safer than
to have many persons using the right to speak in any sense for God.
Who could be sure that these new voices would agree with Moses in
every respect? Even if they did, might there not be divisions in the
camp, new priesthoods as well as new oracles? Prophets might not be
always wise, always truly inspired. And there might be false prophets
by-and-by, even if Eldad and Medad were not false.
In like manner it might be argued now that there is danger when one
here and another there assume authority as revealers of the truth of
things. Some, full of their own wisdom, take high ground as critics
and teachers of religion. Others imagine that with the right to
wear a certain dress there has come to them the full equipment of
the prophet. And others still, remembering how Elijah and John the
Baptist arrayed themselves in coarse cloth and leathern girdle,
assume that garb, or what corresponds to it, and claim to have the
prophetic gift because they express the voice of the people. So in
our days there is a question whether Eldad or Medad, prophesying in
the camp, ought to be trusted or even allowed to speak. But who is to
decide? Who is to take upon him to silence the voices? The old way
was rough and ready. All who were in office in a certain Church were
commissioned to interpret Divine mysteries; the rest were ordered to
be silent on pain of imprisonment. Those who did not teach as the
Church taught, under her direction, were made offenders against the
public well-being. That way, however, has been found wanting, and
"liberty of prophesying" is fully allowed. With the freedom there
have come difficulties and dangers enough. Yet to "try the spirits
whether they are of God" is our discipline on the way to life.
The reply of Moses to Joshua's request anticipates, in no small
degree, the doctrine of liberty. "Art thou jealous for my sake? Would
God that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord
would put His Spirit upon them." His answer is that of a broad and
magnanimous toleration. Moses cannot indeed have believed that great
religious truths were in the reach of every man, and that any earnest
soul might receive and communicate those truths. But his conception
of a people of God is like that in the prophecy of Joel, where he
speaks of all flesh being endued with the Spirit, the old men and
young men, the sons and daughters, alike made able to testify of what
they have seen and heard. The truly great man entertains no jealousy
of others. He delights to see in other eyes the flash of heavenly
intelligence, to find other souls made channels of Divine revelation.
He would have no monopoly in knowledge and sacred prophecy. Moses had
instituted an exclusive priesthood; but here he sets the gate of the
prophetical office wide open. All whom God endows are declared free
in Israel to use that office.
We can only wonder that still any order of men should try in the name
of the Church to shut the mouths of those who approve themselves
reverent students of the Divine Word. At the same time let it not be
forgotten that the power of prophesying is no chance gift, no easy
faculty. He who is to speak on God's behalf must indeed know the mind
of God. How can one claim the right to instruct others who has never
opened his mind to the Divine voice, who has not reverently compared
Scripture with Providence and all the phases of revelation that are
unfolded in conscience and human life? Men who draw a narrow circle
and keep their thoughts within it can never become prophets.
The closing verses of the chapter tell of the plague that fell on
the lustful, and the burial of those who died of it, in a place
thence called Kibroth-hattaavah. The people had their desire, and
it brought judgment upon them. Here in Israel's history a needful
warning is written; but how many read without understanding! And so,
every day the same plague is claiming its victims, and "graves of
lust" are dug. The preacher still finds in this portion of Scripture
a subject that never ceases to claim treatment, let social conditions
be what they may.
X
_THE JEALOUSY OF MIRIAM AND AARON_
NUMBERS xii
It may be confidently said that no representative writer of the
post-exilic age would have invented or even cared to revive the
episode of this chapter. From the point of view of Ezra and his
fellow-reformers, it would certainly appear a blot on the character
of Moses that he passed by the women of his own people and took a
Cushite or Ethiopian wife. The idea of the "holy seed," on which
the zealous leaders of new Judaism insisted after the return from
Babylon, was exclusive. It appeared an abomination for Israelites
to intermarry either with the original inhabitants of Canaan, or
even with Moabites, Ammonites, and Egyptians. At an earlier date
any disposition to seek alliance with Egypt or hold intercourse
with it was denounced as profane. Isaiah and Jeremiah alike declare
that Israel, whom Jehovah led forth from Egypt, should never think
of returning to drink of its waters or trust in its shadow. As the
necessity of separateness from other peoples became strongly felt,
revulsion from Ethiopia would be greater than from Egypt itself.
Jeremiah's inquiry, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin?" made the
dark colour of that race a symbol of moral taint.
To be sure, the prophets did not all adopt this view. Amos,
especially, in one of his striking passages, claims for the
Ethiopians the same relation to God as Israel had: "Are ye not as
the children of the Ethiopians unto Me, O children of Israel, saith
the Lord?" No reproach to the Israelites is intended; they are only
reminded that all nations have the same origin and are under the same
Divine providence. And the Psalms in their evangelical anticipations
look once and again to that dark land in the remote south: "Princes
shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands
unto God"; "I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that
know Me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was
born there." The zeal of the period immediately after the captivity
carried separateness far beyond that of any earlier time, surpassing
the letter of the statute in Exod. xxxiv. 11 and Deut. vii. 2. And we
may safely assert that if the Pentateuch did not come into existence
till after the new ideas of exclusion were established, and if it
was written then for the purpose of exalting Moses and his law, the
reference to his Cushite wife would certainly have been suppressed.
All the more may this be maintained when we take into account the
likelihood that it was not entirely without reason Aaron and Miriam
felt some jealousy of the woman. The story is usually taken to mean
that there was no cause whatever for the feeling entertained; and if
Miriam alone had been involved, we might have regarded the matter as
without significance. But Aaron had hitherto acted cordially with
the brother to whom he owed his high position. Not a single disloyal
word or deed had as yet separated him in the least, personally, from
Moses. They wrought together in the promulgation of law, they were
together in transgression and judgment. Aaron had every reason for
remaining faithful; and if he was now moved to a feeling that the
character and reputation of the lawgiver were imperilled, it must
have been because he saw reason. He could approach Moses quietly
on this subject without any thought of challenging his authority
as leader. We see that while he accompanied Miriam he kept in the
background, unwilling, himself, to appear as an accuser, though
persuaded that the unpleasant duty must be done.
So far as Moses is concerned these thoughts, which naturally arise,
go to support the genuineness of the history. And in like manner the
condemnation of Aaron bears out the view that the episode is not
of legendary growth. If priestly influence had determined to any
extent the form of the narrative, the fault of Aaron would have been
suppressed. He agrees with Miriam in making a claim the rejection
of which involves him and the priesthood in shame. And yet, again,
the theory that here we have prophetic narrative, critical of the
priesthood, will not stand; for Miriam is a prophetess, and language
is used which seems to deny to all but Moses a clear and intimate
knowledge of the Divine will.
Miriam was the spokeswoman. She it was, as the Hebrew implies,
who "spake against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had
married." It would seem that hitherto in right of her prophetical
gift she was to some extent an adviser of her brother, or had
otherwise a measure of influence. It appeared to her not only a bad
thing for Moses himself but absolutely wrong that a woman of alien
race, who probably came out of Egypt with the tribes, one among the
mixed multitude, should have anything to say to him in private, or
should be in his confidence. Miriam maintained, apparently, that her
brother had committed a serious mistake in marrying this wife, and
still more in denying to Aaron and to herself that right of advising
which they had hitherto used. Was not Moses forgetting that Miriam
had her share in the zeal and inspiration which had made the guidance
of the tribes so far successful? If Moses stands aloof, consults only
with his alien wife, will he not forfeit position and authority and
be deprived of help with which he has no right to dispense?
Miriam's is an instance, the first instance we may say, of the
woman's claim to take her place side by side with the man in the
direction of affairs. It would be absurd to say that the modern
desire has its origin in a spirit of jealousy like that which Miriam
showed; yet, parallel to her demand, "Hath the Lord indeed spoken
only by Moses? Hath he not also spoken by us?" is the recent cry,
"Has man a monopoly either of wisdom or of the moral qualities? Are
not women at least equally endowed with ethical insight and sagacity
in counsel?" Long excluded from affairs by custom and law, women have
become weary of using their influence in an unrecognised, indirect
way, and many would now claim an absolute parity with men, convinced
that if in any respect they are weak as yet they will soon become
capable. The claim is to a certain extent based on the Christian
doctrine of equality between male and female, but also on the
acknowledged success of women who, engaging in public duties side by
side with men, have proved their aptitude and won high distinction.
At the same time, those who have had experience of the world and
the many phases of human life must always have a position which the
inexperienced may not claim; and women, as compared with men, must
continue to be at a certain disadvantage for this reason. It may be
supposed that intuition can be placed against experience, that the
woman's quick insight may serve her better than the man's slowly
acquired knowledge. And most will allow this, but only to a certain
point. The woman's intuition is a fact of her nature--to be trusted
often and along many ways. It is, indeed, her experience, gained
half unconsciously. But the modern claim is assuming far more than
this. We are told that the moral sense of the race comes down through
women. They conserve the moral sense. This is no Christian claim,
or Christian only in outdoing Romanism and setting Mary far above
her Son. Seriously put forward by women, this will throw back their
whole claim into the middle ages again. That a finer moral sense
often forms part of their intuition is admitted: that as a sex they
lead the race must be proved where, as yet, they do not prove it.
Nevertheless, the world is advancing by the advance of women. There
is no need any longer for that jealous intriguing which has often
wrecked governments and homes. Christianity, ruling the questions
of sex, means a very stable form of society, a continuous and calm
development, the principle of charity and mutual service.
Miriam claimed the position of a prophet or _nabi_ for herself, and
endeavoured to make her gift and Aaron's as revealers of truth appear
equal to that of Moses. At the Red Sea she led the chorus "Sing ye to
the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider
hath He thrown into the sea." That, so far as we know, was her title
to count herself a prophetess. As for Aaron, we often find his name
associated with his brother's in the formula, "The Lord spake unto
Moses and Aaron." He had also been the _nabi_ of Moses when the two
went to Pharaoh with their demand on behalf of Israel. But the claim
of equality with Moses was vain. Poor Miriam had her one flash of
high enthusiasm, and may have now and again risen to some courage
and zeal in professing her faith. But she does not seem to have had
the ability to distinguish between her fitful glimpses of truth and
Moses' Divine intelligence. Aaron, again, must have been half ashamed
when he was placed beside his brother. He had no genius, none of the
elevation of soul that betokens an inspired man. He obeyed well,
served the sanctuary well; he was a good priest, but no prophet.
The little knowledge, the small gifts, appear great to those who have
them, so great as often to eclipse those of nobler men. We magnify what
we have,--our power of vision, though we cannot see far; our spiritual
intelligence, though we have learned the first principles only of
Divine faith. In the religious controversies of to-day, as in those
of the past, men whose claims are of the slightest have pushed to the
front with the demand, Hath not the Lord spoken by us? But there is
no Moses to be challenged. The age of the revealers is gone. He who
seems to be a great prophet may be taken for one because he stands on
the past and invokes voluminous authority for all he says and does. In
truth, our disputations are between the modern Eliphaz, Bildad, and
Job--all of them to-day men of limited view and meagre inspiration,
who repeat old hearsays with wearisome pertinacity, or inveigh against
the old interpretations with infinite assurance. Jehovah speaks from
the storm; but there is no heed paid to His voice. By some the Word is
declared unintelligible; others deny it to be His.
While Moses kept silence, ruling his spirit in the meekness of a man of
God, suddenly the command was given, "Come out, ye three, unto the tent
of meeting." Possibly the interview had been at Moses' own tent in the
near portion of the camp. Now judgment was to be solemnly given; and
the circumstances were made the more impressive by the removal of the
cloud-pillar from above the tabernacle to the door of the tent, where
it seems to have intervened between Moses on the one side and Miriam
and Aaron on the other; then the Voice spoke, requiring these two to
approach, and the oracle was heard. The subject of it was the position
of Moses as the interpreter of Jehovah's will. He was distinguished
from any other prophet of the time.
We are here at a point where more knowledge is needful to a full
understanding of the revelation: we can only conjecture. Not long
is it since the seventy elders belonging to different tribes were
endowed with the spirit of prophecy. Already there may have been some
abuse of their new power; for though God bestows His gifts on men,
they have practical liberty, and may not always be wise or humble in
exercising the gifts. So the need of a distinction between Moses and
the others would be clear. As to Miriam and Aaron, their jealousy
may have been not only of Moses, but also of the seventy. Miriam
and Aaron were prophets of older standing, and would be disposed to
claim that the Lord spoke by them rather in the way He spoke by Moses
than after the manner of His communications through the seventy.
Were members of the sacred family to be on a level henceforth with
any persons who spoke ecstatically in praise of Jehovah? Thus claim
asserted itself over claim. The seventy had to be informed as to the
limits of their office, prevented from taking a place higher than
they had been assigned: Miriam and Aaron also had to be instructed
that their position differed entirely from their brother's, that they
must be content so far as prophecy was concerned to stand with the
rest whose inspiration they may have despised. With this view the
general terms of the deliverance appear to correspond.