insulted authority. “The Lord cometh out of his place to punish the
inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity.”[506] “But who may abide
the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth?”[507] The
people of Israel, because of their sinfulness, were forbidden to
approach the mount when God was about to descend upon it to proclaim his
law, lest they should be consumed by the burning glory of his presence.
If such manifestations of his power marked the place chosen for the
proclamation of God’s law, how terrible must be his tribunal when he
comes for the execution of these sacred statutes. How will those who
have trampled upon his authority endure his glory in the great day of
final retribution? The terrors of Sinai were to represent to the people
the scenes of the Judgment. The sound of a trumpet summoned Israel to
meet with God. The voice of the archangel and the trump of God shall
summon, from the whole earth, both the living and the dead to the
presence of their Judge. The Father and the Son, attended by a multitude
of angels, were present upon the mount. At the great Judgment day,
Christ will come “in the glory of his Father with his angels.”[508] He
shall then sit upon the throne of his glory, and before him shall be
gathered all nations.
When the divine presence was manifested upon Sinai, the glory of the
Lord was like devouring fire in the sight of all Israel. But when Christ
shall come in glory with his holy angels, the whole earth shall be
ablaze with the terrible light of his presence. “Our God shall come, and
shall not keep silence; a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be
very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens from
above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.”[509] A fiery
stream shall issue and come forth from before him, which shall cause the
elements to melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that
are therein shall be burned up. “The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from
heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them
that know not God, and that obey not the gospel.”[510]
Never since man was created had there been witnessed such a
manifestation of divine power as when the law was proclaimed from Sinai.
“The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God; even
Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel.”[511]
Amid the most terrific convulsions of nature, the voice of God, like a
trumpet, was heard from the cloud. The mountain was shaken from base to
summit, and the hosts of Israel, pale and trembling with terror, lay
upon their faces upon the earth. He whose voice then shook the earth has
declared, “Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also
heaven.”[512] Says the Scripture, “The Lord also shall roar from on
high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation;” “and the heavens
and the earth shall shake.”[512] In that great coming day, the heaven
itself shall depart “as a scroll when it is rolled together.”[513] And
every mountain and island shall be moved out of its place. “The earth
shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a
cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it
shall fall, and not rise again.”[514]
“Therefore shall all hands be faint,” all faces shall be “turned into
paleness,” “and every man’s heart shall melt. And they shall be afraid;
pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them.” “And I will punish the world
for their evil,” saith the Lord, “and I will cause the arrogancy of the
proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.”[515]
When Moses came from the divine presence in the mount, where he had
received the tables of the testimony, guilty Israel could not endure the
light that glorified his countenance. How much less can transgressors
look upon the Son of God when he shall appear in the glory of his
Father, surrounded by all the heavenly host, to execute judgment upon
the transgressors of his law and the rejecters of his atonement. Those
who have disregarded the law of God and trodden under foot the blood of
Christ, “the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men,
and the chief captains, and the mighty men,” shall hide themselves “in
the dens and in the rocks of the mountains,” and they shall say to the
mountains and rocks, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that
sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day
of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”[516] “In that day
a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, ... to the
moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the
tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his
majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.”[517]
Then it will be seen that Satan’s rebellion against God has resulted in
ruin to himself, and to all that chose to become his subjects. He has
represented that great good would result from transgression; but it will
be seen that “the wages of sin is death.”[518] “For, behold, the day
cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that
do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them
up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor
branch.”[519] Satan, the root of every sin, and all evil-workers, who
are his branches, shall be utterly cut off. An end will be made of sin,
with all the woe and ruin that have resulted from it. Says the psalmist,
“Thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name forever
and ever. O thou enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end.”[520]
But amid the tempest of divine judgment, the children of God will have
no cause for fear. “The Lord will be the hope of his people, and the
strength of the children of Israel.”[521] The day that brings terror and
destruction to the transgressors of God’s law, will bring to the
obedient, “joy unspeakable, and full of glory.” “Gather my saints
together unto me,” saith the Lord, “those that have made a covenant with
me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare his righteousness; for
God is judge himself.”[522]
“Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked,
between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not.”[523]
“Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, _the people in whose heart
is my law_.” “Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of
trembling, ... thou shalt no more drink it again.” “I, even I, am he
that comforteth you.”[524] “For the mountains shall depart, and the
hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither
shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath
mercy on thee.”[525]
The great plan of redemption results in fully bringing back the world
into God’s favor. All that was lost by sin is restored. Not only man but
the earth is redeemed, to be the eternal abode of the obedient. For six
thousand years, Satan has struggled to maintain possession of the earth.
Now God’s original purpose in its creation is accomplished. “The saints
of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom
forever, even forever and ever.”[526]
“From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, the Lord’s
name is to be praised.”[527] “In that day shall there be one Lord, and
his name one.” “And Jehovah shall be king over all the earth.”[528] Says
the Scripture, “Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.” “All
thy commandments are sure. They stand fast forever and ever.”[529] The
sacred statutes which Satan has hated and sought to destroy, will be
honored throughout a sinless universe. And “as the earth bringeth forth
her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to
spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to
spring forth before all the nations.”[530]
[Illustration: “All that was lost by sin is restored.”]
Footnote 500:
Isa. 26:9, 10.
Footnote 501:
See Appendix, Note 5.
Footnote 502:
Ps. 105:43-45.
Footnote 503:
Jer. 10:10-12, 14-16.
Footnote 504:
John 8:44.
Footnote 505:
Isa. 51:7.
Footnote 506:
Isa. 26:21.
Footnote 507:
Mal. 3:2.
Footnote 508:
Matt. 16:27.
Footnote 509:
Ps. 50:3, 4.
Footnote 510:
2 Thess. 1:7, 8.
Footnote 511:
Ps. 68:8.
Footnote 512:
Heb. 12:26; Jer. 25:30; Joel 3:16.
Footnote 513:
Rev. 6:14.
Footnote 514:
Isa. 24:20.
Footnote 515:
Isa. 13:7, 8, 11, 13; Jer. 30:6.
Footnote 516:
Rev. 6:15-17.
Footnote 517:
Isa. 2:20, 21.
Footnote 518:
Rom. 6:23.
Footnote 519:
Mal. 4:1.
Footnote 520:
Ps. 9:5, 6.
Footnote 521:
Joel 3:16.
Footnote 522:
1 Peter 1:8; Ps. 50:5, 6.
Footnote 523:
Mal. 3:18.
Footnote 524:
Isa. 51:7, 22, 12.
Footnote 525:
Isa. 54:10.
Footnote 526:
Dan. 7:18.
Footnote 527:
Ps. 113:3.
Footnote 528:
Zech. 14:9.
Footnote 529:
Ps. 119:89; 111:7, 8.
Footnote 530:
Isa. 61:11.
THE WILDERNESS-TRAINING
“He found him in a desert land, and in the waste, howling
wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the
apple of his eye. As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over
her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on
her wings; so the Lord alone did lead him.”
THE TABERNACLE AND ITS SERVICES—30
The command was communicated to Moses while in the mount with God, “Let
them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them;”[550] and full
directions were given for the construction of the tabernacle. By their
apostasy, the Israelites forfeited the blessing of the divine presence,
and for the time rendered impossible the erection of a sanctuary for God
among them. But after they were again taken into favor with Heaven, the
great leader proceeded to execute the divine command.
Chosen men were especially endowed by God with skill and wisdom for the
construction of the sacred building. God himself gave to Moses the plan
of that structure, with particular directions as to its size and form,
the materials to be employed, and every article of furniture which it
was to contain. The holy places made with hands were to be “figures of
the true,” “patterns of things in the heavens,”[551]—a miniature
representation of the heavenly temple where Christ, our great high
priest, after offering his life as a sacrifice, was to minister in the
sinner’s behalf. God presented before Moses in the mount a view of the
heavenly sanctuary, and commanded him to make all things according to
the pattern shown him. All these directions were carefully recorded by
Moses, who communicated them to the leaders of the people.
For the building of the sanctuary, great and expensive preparations were
necessary; a large amount of the most precious and costly material was
required; yet the Lord accepted only free-will offerings. “Of every man
that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering,”[552]
was the divine command repeated by Moses to the congregation. Devotion
to God and a spirit of sacrifice were the first requisites in preparing
a dwelling-place for the Most High.
All the people responded with one accord. “They came, every one whose
heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and
they brought the Lord’s offering to the work of the tabernacle of the
congregation, and for all his service, and for the holy garments. And
they came, both men and women, as many as were willing-hearted, and
brought bracelets, and earrings, and rings, and tablets, all jewels of
gold; and every man that offered, offered an offering of gold unto the
Lord.”[553]
“And every man with whom was found blue, and purple, and scarlet, and
fine linen, and goats’ hair, and rams’ skins dyed red, and seal skins,
brought them. Every one that did offer an offering of silver and brass,
brought the Lord’s offering; and every man with whom was found acacia
wood for any work of the service, brought it.
“And all the women that were wise-hearted, did spin with their hands,
and brought that which they had spun, the blue, and the purple, the
scarlet, and the fine linen. And all the women whose heart stirred them
up in wisdom, spun the goats’ hair.
“And the rulers brought the onyx stones, and the stones to be set, for
the ephod, and for the breastplate; and the spice, and the oil; for the
light, and for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense.”[554]
While the building of the sanctuary was in progress, the people, old and
young,—men, women, and children,—continued to bring their offerings,
until those in charge of the work found that they had enough, and even
more than could be used. And Moses caused to be proclaimed throughout
the camp, “Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering
of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing.”[555] The
murmurings of the Israelites and the visitations of God’s judgments
because of their sins, are recorded as a warning to after-generations.
And their devotion, their zeal and liberality, are an example worthy of
imitation. All who love the worship of God, and prize the blessing of
his sacred presence, will manifest the same spirit of sacrifice in
preparing a house where he may meet with them. They will desire to bring
to the Lord an offering of the very best that they possess. A house
built for God should not be left in debt, for he is thereby dishonored.
An amount sufficient to accomplish the work should be freely given, that
the workmen may be able to say, as did the builders of the tabernacle,
“Bring no more offerings.”
The tabernacle was so constructed that it could be taken apart and borne
with the Israelites in all their journeyings. It was therefore small,
being not more than fifty-five feet in length, and eighteen in breadth
and height. Yet it was a magnificent structure. The wood employed for
the building and its furniture was that of the acacia tree, which was
less subject to decay than any other to be obtained at Sinai. The walls
consisted of upright boards, set in silver sockets, and held firm by
pillars and connecting bars; and all were overlaid with gold, giving to
the building the appearance of solid gold. The roof was formed of four
sets of curtains, the innermost of “fine-twined linen, and blue, and
purple, and scarlet, with cherubim of cunning work;”[556] the other
three respectively were of goats’ hair, rams’ skins dyed red, and seal
skins, so arranged as to afford complete protection.
The building was divided into two apartments by a rich and beautiful
curtain, or vail, suspended from gold-plated pillars; and a similar vail
closed the entrance of the first apartment. These, like the inner
covering, which formed the ceiling, were of the most gorgeous colors,
blue, purple, and scarlet, beautifully arranged, while inwrought with
threads of gold and silver were cherubim to represent the angelic host
who are connected with the work of the heavenly sanctuary, and who are
ministering spirits to the people of God on earth.
The sacred tent was inclosed in an open space called the court, which
was surrounded by hangings, or screens, of fine linen, suspended from
pillars of brass. The entrance to this inclosure was at the eastern end.
It was closed by curtains of costly material and beautiful workmanship,
though inferior to those of the sanctuary. The hangings of the court
being only about half as high as the walls of the tabernacle, the
building could be plainly seen by the people without. In the court, and
nearest the entrance, stood the brazen altar of burnt-offering. Upon
this altar were consumed all the sacrifices made by fire unto the Lord,
and its horns were sprinkled with the atoning blood. Between the altar
and the door of the tabernacle was the laver, which was also of brass,
made from the mirrors that had been the free-will offering of the women
of Israel. At the laver the priests were to wash their hands and their
feet whenever they went into the sacred apartments, or approached the
altar to offer a burnt-offering unto the Lord.
In the first apartment, or holy place, were the table of show-bread, the
candlestick, or lamp-stand, and the altar of incense. The table of
show-bread stood on the north. With its ornamental crown, it was
overlaid with pure gold. On this table the priests were each Sabbath to
place twelve cakes, arranged in two piles, and sprinkled with
frankincense. The loaves that were removed, being accounted holy, were
to be eaten by the priests. On the south was the seven-branched
candlestick, with its seven lamps. Its branches were ornamented with
exquisitely wrought flowers, resembling lilies, and the whole was made
from one solid piece of gold. There being no windows in the tabernacle,
the lamps were never all extinguished at one time, but shed their light
by day and by night. Just before the vail separating the holy place from
the most holy and the immediate presence of God, stood the golden altar
of incense. Upon this altar the priest was to burn incense every morning
and evening, its horns were touched with the blood of the sin-offering,
and it was sprinkled with blood upon the great day of atonement. The
fire upon this altar was kindled by God himself, and was sacredly
cherished. Day and night the holy incense diffused its fragrance
throughout the sacred apartments, and without, far around the
tabernacle.
Beyond the inner vail was the holy of holies, where centered the
symbolic service of atonement and intercession, and which formed the
connecting link between heaven and earth. In this apartment was the ark,
a chest of acacia wood, overlaid within and without with gold, and
having a crown of gold about the top. It was made as a depository for
the tables of stone, upon which God himself had inscribed the ten
commandments. Hence it was called the ark of God’s testament, or the ark
of the covenant, since the ten commandments were the basis of the
covenant made between God and Israel.
The cover of the sacred chest was called the mercy-seat. This was
wrought of one solid piece of gold, and was surmounted by golden
cherubim, one standing on each end. One wing of each angel was stretched
forth on high, while the other was folded over the body[557] in token of
reverence and humility. The position of the cherubim, with their faces
turned toward each other, and looking reverently downward toward the
ark, represented the reverence with which the heavenly host regard the
law of God, and their interest in the plan of redemption.
Above the mercy-seat was the shekinah, the manifestation of the divine
presence; and from between the cherubim, God made known his will. Divine
messages were sometimes communicated to the high priest by a voice from
the cloud. Sometimes a light fell upon the angel at the right, to
signify approval or acceptance, or a shadow or cloud rested upon the one
at the left to reveal disapproval or rejection.
The law of God, enshrined within the ark, was the great rule of
righteousness and judgment. That law pronounced death upon the
transgressor; but, above the law was the mercy-seat, upon which the
presence of God was revealed, and from which, by virtue of the
atonement, pardon was granted to the repentant sinner. Thus in the work
of Christ for our redemption, symbolized by the sanctuary service,
“mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed
each other.”[558]
No language can describe the glory of the scene presented within the
sanctuary,—the gold-plated walls reflecting the light from the golden
candlestick, the brilliant hues of the richly embroidered curtains with
their shining angels, the table, and the altar of incense, glittering
with gold; beyond the second vail the sacred ark, with its mystic
cherubim, and above it the holy shekinah, the visible manifestation of
Jehovah’s presence; all but a dim reflection of the glories of the
temple of God in heaven, the great center of the work for man’s
redemption.
A period of about half a year was occupied in the building of the
tabernacle. When it was completed, Moses examined all the work of the
builders, comparing it with the pattern shown him in the mount, and the
directions he had received from God. “As the Lord had commanded, even so
had they done it; and Moses blessed them.”[559] With eager interest the
multitudes of Israel crowded around to look upon the sacred structure.
While they were contemplating the scene with reverent satisfaction, the
pillar of cloud floated over the sanctuary, and descending, enveloped
it. “And the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.”[560] There was a
revealing of the divine majesty, and for a time even Moses could not
enter. With deep emotion, the people beheld the token that the work of
their hands was accepted. There were no loud demonstrations of
rejoicing. A solemn awe rested upon all. But the gladness of their
hearts welled up in tears of joy, and they murmured low, earnest words
of gratitude that God had condescended to abide with them.
By divine direction the tribe of Levi was set apart for the service of
the sanctuary. In the earliest times every man was the priest of his own
household. In the days of Abraham, the priesthood was regarded as the
birthright of the eldest son. Now, instead of the first-born of all
Israel, the Lord accepted the tribe of Levi for the work of the
sanctuary. By this signal honor he manifested his approval of their
fidelity, both in adhering to his service and in executing his judgments
when Israel apostatized in the worship of the golden calf. The
priesthood, however, was restricted to the family of Aaron. Aaron and
his sons alone were permitted to minister before the Lord; the rest of
the tribe were intrusted with the charge of the tabernacle and its
furniture, and they were to attend upon the priests in their
ministration, but they were not to sacrifice, to burn incense, or to see
the holy things till they were covered.
In accordance with their office, a special dress was appointed for the
priests. “Thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, for glory
and for beauty,”[561] was the divine direction to Moses. The robe of the
common priest was of white linen, and woven in one piece. It extended
nearly to the feet, and was confined about the waist by a white linen
girdle embroidered in blue, purple, and red. A linen turban, or miter,
completed his outer costume. Moses at the burning bush was directed to
put off his sandals, for the ground whereon he stood was holy. So the
priests were not to enter the sanctuary with shoes upon their feet.
Particles of dust cleaving to them would desecrate the holy place. They
were to leave their shoes in the court before entering the sanctuary,
and also to wash both their hands and their feet before ministering in
the tabernacle or at the altar of burnt-offering. Thus was constantly
taught the lesson that all defilement must be put away from those who
would approach into the presence of God.
The garments of the high priest were of costly material and beautiful
workmanship, befitting his exalted station. In addition to the linen
dress of the common priest, he wore a robe of blue, also woven in one
piece. Around the skirt it was ornamented with golden bells, and
pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet. Outside of this was the
ephod, a shorter garment of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and white. It
was confined by a girdle of the same colors, beautifully wrought. The
ephod was sleeveless, and on its gold-embroidered shoulder-pieces were
set two onyx stones, bearing the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.
Over the ephod was the breastplate, the most sacred of the priestly
vestments. This was of the same material as the ephod. It was in the
form of a square, measuring a span, and was suspended from the shoulders
by a cord of blue from golden rings. The border was formed of a variety
of precious stones, the same that form the twelve foundations of the
city of God. Within the border were twelve stones set in gold, arranged
in rows of four, and, like those in the shoulder-pieces, engraved with
the names of the tribes. The Lord’s direction was, “Aaron shall bear the
names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his
heart, when he goeth in unto the holy place, for a memorial before the
Lord continually.”[562] So Christ, the great high priest, pleading his
blood before the Father in the sinner’s behalf, bears upon his heart the
name of every repentant, believing soul. Says the psalmist, “I am poor
and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me.”[563]
At the right and left of the breastplate were two large stones of great
brilliancy. These were known as the Urim and Thummim. By them the will
of God was made known through the high priest. When questions were
brought for decision before the Lord, a halo of light encircling the
precious stone at the right was a token of the divine consent or
approval, while a cloud shadowing the stone at the left was an evidence
of denial or disapprobation.
The miter of the high priest consisted of the white linen turban, having
attached to it by a lace of blue, a gold plate bearing the inscription,
“Holiness to Jehovah.” Everything connected with the apparel and
deportment of the priests was to be such as to impress the beholder with
a sense of the holiness of God, the sacredness of his worship, and the
purity required of those who came into his presence.
Not only the sanctuary itself, but the ministration of the priests, was
to “serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things.”[564] Thus it
was of great importance; and the Lord, through Moses, gave the most
definite and explicit instruction concerning every point of this typical
service. The ministration of the sanctuary consisted of two divisions, a
daily and a yearly service. The daily service was performed at the altar
of burnt-offering in the court of the tabernacle, and in the holy place;
while the yearly service was in the most holy.
No mortal eye but that of the high priest was to look upon the inner
apartment of the sanctuary. Only once a year could the priest enter
there, and that after the most careful and solemn preparation. With
trembling he went in before God, and the people in reverent silence
awaited his return, their hearts uplifted in earnest prayer for the
divine blessing. Before the mercy-seat the high priest made the
atonement for Israel; and in the cloud of glory, God met with him. His
stay here beyond the accustomed time filled them with fear, lest because
of their sins or his own he had been slain by the glory of the Lord.
The daily service consisted of the morning and evening burnt-offering,
the offering of sweet incense on the golden altar, and the special
offerings for individual sins. And there were also offerings for
sabbaths, new moons, and special feasts.
Every morning and evening a lamb of a year old was burned upon the
altar, with its appropriate meat-offering, thus symbolizing the daily
consecration of the nation to Jehovah, and their constant dependence
upon the atoning blood of Christ. God expressly directed that every
offering presented for the service of the sanctuary should be “without
blemish.”[565] The priests were to examine all animals brought as a
sacrifice, and were to reject every one in which a defect was
discovered. Only an offering “without blemish” could be a symbol of His
perfect purity who was to offer himself as “a lamb without blemish and
without spot.”[566] The apostle Paul points to these sacrifices as an
illustration of what the followers of Christ are to become. He says, “I
beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present
your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your
reasonable service.”[567] We are to give ourselves to the service of
God, and we should seek to make the offering as nearly perfect as
possible. God will not be pleased with anything less than the best we
can offer. Those who love him with all the heart, will desire to give
him the best service of the life, and they will be constantly seeking to
bring every power of their being into harmony with the laws that will
promote their ability to do his will.
In the offering of incense the priest was brought more directly into the
presence of God than in any other act of the daily ministration. As the
inner vail of the sanctuary did not extend to the top of the building,
the glory of God, which was manifested above the mercy-seat, was
partially visible from the first apartment. When the priest offered
incense before the Lord, he looked toward the ark; and as the cloud of
incense arose, the divine glory descended upon the mercy-seat and filled
the most holy place, and often so filled both apartments that the priest
was obliged to retire to the door of the tabernacle. As in that typical
service the priest looked by faith to the mercy-seat which he could not
see, so the people of God are now to direct their prayers to Christ,
their great high priest, who, unseen by human vision, is pleading in
their behalf in the sanctuary above.
The incense, ascending with the prayers of Israel, represents the merits
and intercession of Christ, his perfect righteousness, which through
faith is imputed to his people, and which can alone make the worship of
sinful beings acceptable to God. Before the vail of the most holy place,
was an altar of perpetual intercession, before the holy, an altar of
continual atonement. By blood and by incense, God was to be
approached,—symbols pointing to the great Mediator, through whom sinners
may approach Jehovah, and through whom alone mercy and salvation can be
granted to the repentant, believing soul.
As the priests morning and evening entered the holy place at the time of
incense, the daily sacrifice was ready to be offered upon the altar in
the court without. This was a time of intense interest to the worshipers
who assembled at the tabernacle. Before entering into the presence of
God through the ministration of the priest, they were to engage in
earnest searching of heart and confession of sin. They united in silent
prayer, with their faces toward the holy place. Thus their petitions
ascended with the cloud of incense, while faith laid hold upon the
merits of the promised Saviour prefigured by the atoning sacrifice. The
hours appointed for the morning and the evening sacrifice were regarded
as sacred, and they came to be observed as the set time for worship
throughout the Jewish nation. And when in later times the Jews were
scattered as captives in distant lands, they still at the appointed hour
turned their faces toward Jerusalem, and offered up their petitions to
the God of Israel. In this custom, Christians have an example for
morning and evening prayer. While God condemns a mere round of
ceremonies, without the spirit of worship, he looks with great pleasure
upon those who love him, bowing morning and evening to seek pardon for
sins committed, and to present their requests for needed blessings.
The show-bread was kept ever before the Lord as a perpetual offering.
Thus it was a part of the daily sacrifice. It was called show-bread, or
“bread of the presence,” because it was ever before the face of the
Lord.[568] It was an acknowledgment of man’s dependence upon God for
both temporal and spiritual food, and that it is received only through
the mediation of Christ. God had fed Israel in the wilderness with bread
from heaven, and they were still dependent upon his bounty, both for
temporal food and spiritual blessings. Both the manna and the show-bread
pointed to Christ, the living bread, who is ever in the presence of God
for us. He himself said, “I am the living bread which came down from
heaven.”[569] Frankincense was placed upon the loaves. When the bread
was removed every Sabbath, to be replaced by fresh loaves, the
frankincense was burned upon the altar as a memorial before God.
The most important part of the daily ministration was the service
performed in behalf of individuals. The repentant sinner brought his
offering to the door of the tabernacle, and placing his hand upon the
victim’s head, confessed his sins, thus in figure transferring them from
himself to the innocent sacrifice. By his own hand the animal was then
slain, and the blood was carried by the priest into the holy place and
sprinkled before the vail, behind which was the ark containing the law
that the sinner had transgressed. By this ceremony the sin was, through
the blood, transferred in figure to the sanctuary. In some cases the
blood was not taken into the holy place;[570] but the flesh was then to
be eaten by the priest, as Moses directed the sons of Aaron, saying,
“God hath given it you to bear the iniquity of the congregation.”[571]
Both ceremonies alike symbolized the transfer of the sin from the
penitent to the sanctuary.
Such was the work that went on day by day throughout the year. The sins
of Israel being thus transferred to the sanctuary, the holy places were
defiled, and a special work became necessary for the removal of the
sins. God commanded that an atonement be made for each of the sacred
apartments, as for the altar, to “cleanse it, and hallow it from the
uncleanness of the children of Israel.”[572]
Once a year, on the great day of atonement, the priest entered the most
holy place for the cleansing of the sanctuary. The work there performed,
completed the yearly round of ministration.
On the day of atonement, two kids of the goats were brought to the door
of the tabernacle, and lots were cast upon them, “one lot for the Lord,
and the other lot for the scape-goat.” The goat upon which the first lot
fell was to be slain as a sin-offering for the people. And the priest
was to bring his blood within the vail, and sprinkle it upon the
mercy-seat. “And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because
of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their
transgressions in all their sins; and so shall he do for the tabernacle
of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their
uncleanness.”[573]
“And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and
confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all
their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of
the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the
wilderness; and the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a
land not inhabited.”[574] Not until the goat had been thus sent away,
did the people regard themselves as freed from the burden of their sins.
Every man was to afflict his soul while the work of atonement was going
forward. All business was laid aside, and the whole congregation of
Israel spent the day in solemn humiliation before God, with prayer,
fasting, and deep searching of heart.
Important truths concerning the atonement were taught the people by this
yearly service. In the sin-offerings presented during the year, a
substitute had been accepted in the sinner’s stead; but the blood of the
victim had not made full atonement for the sin. It had only provided a
means by which the sin was transferred to the sanctuary. By the offering
of blood, the sinner acknowledged the authority of the law, confessed
the guilt of his transgression, and expressed his faith in Him who was
to take away the sin of the world; but he was not entirely released from
the condemnation of the law. On the day of atonement the high priest,
having taken an offering for the congregation, went into the most holy
place with the blood, and sprinkled it upon the mercy-seat, above the
tables of the law. Thus the claims of the law, which demanded the life
of the sinner, were satisfied. Then in his character of mediator the
priest took the sins upon himself, and leaving the sanctuary, he bore
with him the burden of Israel’s guilt. At the door of the tabernacle he
laid his hands upon the head of the scape-goat, and confessed over him
“all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their
transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the
goat.” And as the goat bearing these sins was sent away, they were with
him regarded as forever separated from the people. Such was the service
performed “unto the example and shadow of heavenly things.”[575]
As has been stated, the earthly sanctuary was built by Moses according
to the pattern shown him in the mount. It was “a figure for the time
then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices;” its two
holy places were “patterns of things in the heavens;” Christ, our great
high priest, is “a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true
tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.”[576] As in vision the
apostle John was granted a view of the temple of God in heaven, he
beheld there “seven lamps of fire burning before the throne.” He saw an
angel “having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much
incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the
golden altar which was before the throne.”[577] Here the prophet was
permitted to behold the first apartment of the sanctuary in heaven; and
he saw there the “seven lamps of fire” and the “golden altar”
represented by the golden candlestick and the altar of incense in the
sanctuary on earth. Again, “the temple of God was opened,”[578] and he
looked within the inner vail, upon the holy of holies. Here he beheld
“the ark of His testament,”[578] represented by the sacred chest
constructed by Moses to contain the law of God.
Moses made the earthly sanctuary, “according to the fashion that he had
seen.” Paul declares that “the tabernacle and all the vessels of the
ministry,” when completed, were “the patterns of things in the
heavens.”[579] And John says that he saw the sanctuary in heaven. That
sanctuary, in which Jesus ministers in our behalf, is the great
original, of which the sanctuary built by Moses was a copy.
The heavenly temple, the abiding-place of the King of kings, where
“thousand thousands minister unto him, and ten thousand times ten
thousand stand before him,”[580] that temple filled with the glory of
the eternal throne, where seraphim, its shining guardians, vail their
faces in adoration,—no earthly structure could represent its vastness
and its glory. Yet important truths concerning the heavenly sanctuary
and the great work there carried forward for man’s redemption were to be
taught by the earthly sanctuary and its services.
After his ascension, our Saviour was to begin his work as our high
priest. Says Paul, “Christ is not entered into the holy places made with
hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to
appear in the presence of God for us.”[581] As Christ’s ministration was
to consist of two great divisions, each occupying a period of time and
having a distinctive place in the heavenly sanctuary, so the typical
ministration consisted of two divisions, the daily and the yearly
service, and to each a department of the tabernacle was devoted.
As Christ at his ascension appeared in the presence of God to plead his
blood in behalf of penitent believers, so the priest in the daily
ministration sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice in the holy place in
the sinner’s behalf.
The blood of Christ, while it was to release the repentant sinner from
the condemnation of the law, was not to cancel the sin; it would stand
on record in the sanctuary until the final atonement; so in the type the
blood of the sin-offering removed the sin from the penitent, but it
rested in the sanctuary until the day of atonement.
In the great day of final award, the dead are to be “judged out of those
things which were written in the books, according to their works.”[582]
Then by virtue of the atoning blood of Christ, the sins of all the truly
penitent will be blotted from the books of heaven. Thus the sanctuary
will be freed, or cleansed, from the record of sin. In the type, this
great work of atonement, or blotting out of sins, was represented by the
services of the day of atonement,—the cleansing of the earthly
sanctuary, which was accomplished by the removal, by virtue of the blood
of the sin-offering, of the sins by which it had been polluted.
As in the final atonement the sins of the truly penitent are to be
blotted from the records of heaven, no more to be remembered or come
into mind, so in the type they were borne away into the wilderness,
forever separated from the congregation.
Since Satan is the originator of sin, the direct instigator of all the
sins that caused the death of the Son of God, justice demands that Satan
shall suffer the final punishment. Christ’s work for the redemption of
men and the purification of the universe from sin, will be closed by the
removal of sin from the heavenly sanctuary and the placing of these sins
upon Satan, who will bear the final penalty. So in the typical service,
the yearly round of ministration closed with the purification of the
sanctuary, and the confessing of the sins on the head of the scape-goat.
Thus in the ministration of the tabernacle, and of the temple that
afterward took its place, the people were taught each day the great
truths relative to Christ’s death and ministration, and once each year
their minds were carried forward to the closing events of the great
controversy between Christ and Satan, the final purification of the
universe from sin and sinners.
[Illustration: “As the goat bearing these sins was sent away, they were,
with him, regarded as forever separated from the people.”]
Footnote 550:
Ex. 25:8.
Footnote 551:
Heb. 9:24, 23.
Footnote 552:
Ex. 25:2.
Footnote 553:
Ex. 35:21, 22.
Footnote 554:
Ex. 35:23-28, Rev. Ver.
Footnote 555:
Ex. 36:6.
Footnote 556:
Ex. 26:1.
Footnote 557:
See Eze. 1:11.
Footnote 558:
Ps. 85:10.
Footnote 559:
Ex. 39:43.
Footnote 560:
Ex. 40:34.
Footnote 561:
Ex. 28:2.
Footnote 562:
Ex. 28:29.
Footnote 563:
Ps. 40:17.
Footnote 564:
Heb. 8:5.
Footnote 565:
Ex. 12:5.
Footnote 566:
1 Peter 1:19.
Footnote 567:
Rom. 12:1.
Footnote 568:
Ex. 25:30.
Footnote 569:
John 6:48-51.
Footnote 570:
See Appendix, Note 9.
Footnote 571:
Lev. 10:17.
Footnote 572:
Lev. 16:19.
Footnote 573:
Lev. 16:16.
Footnote 574:
Lev. 16:21, 22.
Footnote 575:
Heb. 8:5.
Footnote 576:
Heb. 9:9, 23; 8:2.
Footnote 577:
Rev. 4:5; 8:3.
Footnote 578:
Rev. 11:19.
Footnote 579:
Acts 7:44; Heb. 9:21, 23.
Footnote 580:
Dan. 7:10.
Footnote 581:
Heb. 9:24.
Footnote 582:
Rev. 20:12.
THE SIN OF NADAB AND ABIHU-31
After the dedication of the tabernacle, the priests were consecrated to
their sacred office. These services occupied seven days, each marked by
special ceremonies. On the eighth day they entered upon their
ministration. Assisted by his sons, Aaron offered the sacrifices that
God required, and he lifted up his hands and blessed the people. All had
been done as God commanded, and he accepted the sacrifice, and revealed
his glory in a remarkable manner; fire came from the Lord, and consumed
the offering upon the altar. The people looked upon this wonderful
manifestation of divine power, with awe and intense interest. They saw
in it a token of God’s glory and favor, and they raised a universal
shout of praise and adoration, and fell on their faces as if in the
immediate presence of Jehovah.
But soon afterward a sudden and terrible calamity fell upon the family
of the high priest. At the hour of worship, as the prayers and praise of
the people were ascending to God, two of the sons of Aaron took each his
censer, and burned fragrant incense thereon, to rise as a sweet odor
before the Lord. But they transgressed his command by the use of
“strange fire.” For burning the incense they took common instead of the
sacred fire which God himself had kindled, and which he had commanded to
be used for this purpose. For this sin, a fire went out from the Lord
and devoured them in the sight of the people.
Next to Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu had stood highest in Israel.
They had been especially honored by the Lord, having been permitted with
the seventy elders to behold his glory in the mount. But their
transgression was not therefore to be excused or lightly regarded. All
this rendered their sin more grievous. Because men have received great
light, because they have, like the princes of Israel, ascended to the
mount, and been privileged to have communion with God, and to dwell in
the light of his glory, let them not flatter themselves that they can
afterward sin with impunity; that because they have been thus honored,
God will not be strict to punish their iniquity. This is a fatal
deception. The great light and privileges bestowed, require returns of
virtue and holiness corresponding to the light given. Anything short of
this, God cannot accept. Great blessings or privileges should never lull
to security or carelessness. They should never give license to sin, or
cause the recipients to feel that God will not be exact with them. All
the advantages which God has given, are his means to throw ardor into
the spirit, zeal into effort, and vigor into the carrying out of his
holy will.
Nadab and Abihu had not in their youth been trained to habits of
self-control. The father’s yielding disposition, his lack of firmness
for right, had led him to neglect the discipline of his children. His
sons had been permitted to follow inclination. Habits of
self-indulgence, long cherished, obtained a hold upon them which even
the responsibility of the most sacred office had not power to break.
They had not been taught to respect the authority of their father, and
they did not realize the necessity of exact obedience to the
requirements of God. Aaron’s mistaken indulgence of his sons, prepared
them to become the subjects of the divine judgments.
God designed to teach the people that they must approach him with
reverence and awe, and in his own appointed manner. He cannot accept
partial obedience. It was not enough that in this solemn season of
worship _nearly_ everything was done as he had directed. God has
pronounced a curse upon those who depart from his commandments, and put
no difference between common and holy things. He declares by the
prophet: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put
darkness for light, and light for darkness!... Woe unto them that are
wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight; ... which
justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the
righteous from him!... They have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts,
and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.”[590] Let no one
deceive himself with the belief that a part of God’s commandments are
non-essential, or that he will accept a substitute for that which he has
required. Said the prophet Jeremiah, “Who is he that saith, and it
cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?”[591] God has placed in
his word no command which men may obey or disobey at will and not suffer
the consequences. If men choose any other path than that of strict
obedience, they will find that “the end thereof are the ways of
death.”[592]
“Moses said unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar and unto Ithamar, his sons,
Uncover not your heads, neither rend your clothes, lest ye die; ... for
the anointing oil of the Lord is upon you.”[593] The great leader
reminded his brother of the words of God, “I will be sanctified in them
that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified.”[593]
Aaron was silent. The death of his sons, cut down without warning, in so
terrible a sin,—a sin which he now saw to be the result of his own
neglect of duty,—wrung the father’s heart with anguish, but he gave his
feelings no expression. By no manifestation of grief must he seem to
sympathize with sin. The congregation must not be led to murmur against
God.
The Lord would teach his people to acknowledge the justice of his
corrections, that others may fear. There were those in Israel whom the
warning of this terrible judgment might save from presuming upon God’s
forbearance until they too should seal their own destiny. The divine
rebuke is upon that false sympathy for the sinner which endeavors to
excuse his sin. It is the effect of sin to deaden the moral perceptions,
so that the wrong-doer does not realize the enormity of transgression;
and without the convicting power of the Holy Spirit he remains in
partial blindness to his sin. It is the duty of Christ’s servants to
show these erring ones their peril. Those who destroy the effect of the
warning, by blinding the eyes of sinners to the real character and
results of sin, often flatter themselves that they thus give evidence of
their charity; but they are working directly to oppose and hinder the
work of God’s Holy Spirit; they are lulling the sinner to rest on the
brink of destruction; they are making themselves partakers in his guilt,
and incurring a fearful responsibility for his impenitence. Many, many,
have gone down to ruin as the result of this false and deceptive
sympathy.
Nadab and Abihu would never have committed that fatal sin, had they not
first become partially intoxicated by the free use of wine. They
understood that the most careful and solemn preparation was necessary
before presenting themselves in the sanctuary where the divine presence
was manifested; but by intemperance they were disqualified for their
holy office. Their minds became confused, and their moral perceptions
dulled, so that they could not discern the difference between the sacred
and the common. To Aaron and his surviving sons was given the warning:
“Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when
ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die. It shall be
a statute forever throughout your generations; and that ye may put
difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean; and
that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord
hath spoken.”[594] The use of spirituous liquors has the effect to
weaken the body, confuse the mind, and debase the morals. It prevents
men from realizing the sacredness of holy things or the binding force of
God’s requirements. All who occupied positions of sacred responsibility
were to be men of strict temperance, that their minds might be clear to
discriminate between right and wrong, that they might possess firmness
of principle, and wisdom to administer justice and to show mercy.
The same obligation rests upon every follower of Christ. The apostle
Peter declares, “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, a peculiar people.”[595] We are required by God to preserve
every power in the best possible condition, that we may render
acceptable service to our Creator. When intoxicants are used, the same
effects will follow as in the case of those priests of Israel. The
conscience will lose its sensibility to sin, and a process of hardening
to iniquity will most certainly take place, till the common and the
sacred will lose all difference of significance. How can we then meet
the standard of the divine requirements? “Know ye not that your body is
the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and
ye are not your own? for ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify
God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” “Whether
therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of
God.”[596] To the church of Christ in all ages is addressed the solemn
and fearful warning, “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God
destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.”[596]
Footnote 590:
Isa. 5:20-24.
Footnote 591:
Lam. 3:37.
Footnote 592:
Prov. 14:12.
Footnote 593:
Lev. 10:6, 7, 3.
Footnote 594:
Lev. 10:9-11.
Footnote 595:
1 Peter 2:9.
Footnote 596:
1 Cor. 6:19, 20; 10:31; 3:17.
THE LAW AND THE COVENANTS—32
Adam and Eve, at their creation, had a knowledge of the law of God; they
were acquainted with its claims upon them; its precepts were written
upon their hearts. When man fell by transgression, the law was not
changed, but a remedial system was established to bring him back to
obedience. The promise of a Saviour was given, and sacrificial offerings
pointing forward to the death of Christ as the great sin-offering were
established. But had the law of God never been transgressed, there would
have been no death, and no need of a Saviour; consequently there would
have been no need of sacrifices.
Adam taught his descendants the law of God, and it was handed down from
father to son through successive generations. But notwithstanding the
gracious provision for man’s redemption, there were few who accepted it
and rendered obedience. By transgression the world became so vile that
it was necessary to cleanse it by the flood from its corruption. The law
was preserved by Noah and his family, and Noah taught his descendants
the ten commandments. As men again departed from God, the Lord chose
Abraham, of whom he declared, “Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my
charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”[600] To him was
given the rite of circumcision, which was a sign that those who received
it were devoted to the service of God,—a pledge that they would remain
separate from idolatry, and would obey the law of God. The failure of
Abraham’s descendants to keep this pledge, as shown in their disposition
to form alliances with the heathen and adopt their practices, was the
cause of their sojourn and bondage in Egypt. But in their intercourse
with idolaters, and their forced submission to the Egyptians, the divine
precepts became still further corrupted with the vile and cruel
teachings of heathenism. Therefore when the Lord brought them forth from
Egypt, he came down upon Sinai, enshrouded in glory and surrounded by
his angels, and in awful majesty spoke his law in the hearing of all the
people.
He did not even then trust his precepts to the memory of a people who
were prone to forget his requirements, but wrote them upon tables of
stone. He would remove from Israel all possibility of mingling heathen
traditions with his holy precepts, or of confounding his requirements
with human ordinances or customs. But he did not stop with giving them
the precepts of the decalogue. The people had shown themselves so easily
led astray, that he would leave no door of temptation unguarded. Moses
was commanded to write, as God should bid him, judgments and laws giving
minute instruction as to what was required. These directions relating to
the duty of the people to God, to one another, and to the stranger, were
only the principles of the ten commandments amplified and given in a
specific manner, that none need err. They were designed to guard the
sacredness of the ten precepts engraved on the tables of stone.
If man had kept the law of God, as given to Adam after his fall,
preserved by Noah, and observed by Abraham, there would have been no
necessity for the ordinance of circumcision. And if the descendants of
Abraham had kept the covenant, of which circumcision was a sign, they
would never have been seduced into idolatry, nor would it have been
necessary for them to suffer a life of bondage in Egypt; they would have
kept God’s law in mind, and there would have been no necessity for it to
be proclaimed from Sinai, or engraved upon the tables of stone. And had
the people practiced the principles of the ten commandments, there would
have been no need of the additional directions given to Moses.
The sacrificial system, committed to Adam, was also perverted by his
descendants. Superstition, idolatry, cruelty, and licentiousness
corrupted the simple and significant service that God had appointed.
Through long intercourse with idolaters, the people of Israel had
mingled many heathen customs with their worship; therefore the Lord gave
them at Sinai definite instruction concerning the sacrificial service.
After the completion of the tabernacle, he communicated with Moses from
the cloud of glory above the mercy-seat, and gave him full directions
concerning the system of offerings, and the forms of worship to be
maintained in the sanctuary. The ceremonial law was thus given to Moses,
and by him written in a book. But the law of ten commandments spoken
from Sinai had been written by God himself on the tables of stone, and
was sacredly preserved in the ark.
There are many who try to blend these two systems, using the texts that
speak of the ceremonial law to prove that the moral law has been
abolished; but this is a perversion of the Scriptures. The distinction
between the two systems is broad and clear. The ceremonial system was
made up of symbols pointing to Christ, to his sacrifice and his
priesthood. This ritual law, with its sacrifices and ordinances, was to
be performed by the Hebrews until type met antitype in the death of
Christ, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. Then all
the sacrificial offerings were to cease. It is this law that Christ
“took out of the way, nailing it to his cross.”[601] But concerning the
law of ten commandments the psalmist declares, “Forever, O Lord, thy
word is settled in heaven.”[602] And Christ himself says, “Think not
that I am come to destroy the law.... Verily I say unto you,”—making the
assertion as emphatic as possible,—“Till heaven and earth pass, one jot
or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be
fulfilled.”[603] Here he teaches, not merely what the claims of God’s
law had been, and were then, but that these claims should hold as long
as the heavens and the earth remain. The law of God is as immutable as
his throne. It will maintain its claims upon mankind in all ages.
Concerning the law proclaimed from Sinai, Nehemiah says, “Thou camest
down also upon Mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and
gavest them _right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and
commandments_.”[604] And Paul, “the apostle to the Gentiles,” declares,
“The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.”[605]
This can be no other than the decalogue; for it is the law that says,
“Thou shalt not covet.”
While the Saviour’s death brought to an end the law of types and
shadows, it did not in the least detract from the obligation of the
moral law. On the contrary, the very fact that it was necessary for
Christ to die in order to atone for the transgression of that law,
proves it to be immutable.
Those who claim that Christ came to abrogate the law of God and to do
away with the Old Testament, speak of the Jewish age as one of darkness,
and represent the religion of the Hebrews as consisting of mere forms
and ceremonies. But this is an error. All through the pages of sacred
history, where the dealings of God with his chosen people are recorded,
there are burning traces of the great I AM. Never has he given to the
sons of men more open manifestations of his power and glory than when he
alone was acknowledged as Israel’s ruler, and gave the law to his
people. Here was a scepter swayed by no human hand; and the stately
goings forth of Israel’s invisible King were unspeakably grand and
awful.
In all these revelations of the divine presence, the glory of God was
manifested through Christ. Not alone at the Saviour’s advent, but
through all the ages after the fall and the promise of redemption, “God
was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself.”[606] Christ was the
foundation and center of the sacrificial system in both the patriarchal
and the Jewish age. Since the sin of our first parents, there has been
no direct communication between God and man. The Father has given the
world into the hands of Christ, that through his mediatorial work he may
redeem man, and vindicate the authority and holiness of the law of God.
All the communion between heaven and the fallen race has been through
Christ. It was the Son of God that gave to our first parents the promise
of redemption. It was he who revealed himself to the patriarchs. Adam,
Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses understood the gospel. They
looked for salvation through man’s Substitute and Surety. These holy men
of old held communion with the Saviour who was to come to our world in
human flesh; and some of them talked with Christ and heavenly angels
face to face.
Christ was not only the leader of the Hebrews in the wilderness,—the
Angel in whom was the name of Jehovah, and who, vailed in the cloudy
pillar, went before the host,—but it was he who gave the law to
Israel.[607] Amid the awful glory of Sinai, Christ declared in the
hearing of all the people the ten precepts of his Father’s law. It was
he who gave to Moses the law engraved upon the tables of stone.
[Illustration: THE CAMP OF ISRAEL. “Never has Christ given to the sons
of men more open manifestations of his power and glory than when he
alone was acknowledged as Israel’s ruler, and gave the law to his
people.”]
It was Christ that spoke to his people through the prophets. The apostle
Peter, writing to the Christian church, says that the prophets
“prophesied of the grace that should come unto you, searching what, or
what manner of time the _Spirit of Christ_ which was in them did
signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the
glory that should follow.”[608] It is the voice of Christ that speaks to
us through the Old Testament. “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of
prophecy.”[609]
In his teachings while personally among men, Jesus directed the minds of
the people to the Old Testament. He said to the Jews, “Ye search the
Scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life; and
these are they which bear witness of me.”[610] At this time the books of
the Old Testament were the only part of the Bible in existence. Again
the Son of God declared, “They have Moses and the prophets; let them
hear them.” And he added, “If they hear not Moses and the prophets,
neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.”[611]
The ceremonial law was given by Christ. Even after it was no longer to
be observed, Paul presented it before the Jews in its true position and
value, showing its place in the plan of redemption and its relation to
the work of Christ; and the great apostle pronounces this law glorious,
worthy of its divine Originator. The solemn service of the sanctuary
typified the grand truths that were to be revealed through successive
generations. The cloud of incense ascending with the prayers of Israel
represents His righteousness that alone can make the sinner’s prayer
acceptable to God; the bleeding victim on the altar of sacrifice
testified of a Redeemer to come; and from the holy of holies the visible
token of the divine presence shone forth. Thus through age after age of
darkness and apostasy, faith was kept alive in the hearts of men until
the time came for the advent of the promised Messiah.
Jesus was the light of his people,—the light of the world,—before he
came to earth in the form of humanity. The first gleam of light that
pierced the gloom in which sin had wrapped the world, came from Christ.
And from him has come every ray of heaven’s brightness that has fallen
upon the inhabitants of the earth. In the plan of redemption, Christ is
the Alpha and the Omega,—the First and the Last.
Since the Saviour shed his blood for the remission of sins, and ascended
to heaven “to appear in the presence of God for us,”[612] light has been
streaming from the cross of Calvary and from the holy places of the
sanctuary above. But the clearer light granted us, should not cause us
to despise that which in earlier times was received through the types
pointing to the coming Saviour. The gospel of Christ sheds light upon
the Jewish economy, and gives significance to the ceremonial law. As new
truths are revealed, and that which has been known from the beginning is
brought into clearer light, the character and purposes of God are made
manifest in his dealings with his chosen people. Every additional ray of
light that we receive gives us a clearer understanding of the plan of
redemption, which is the working out of the divine will in the salvation
of man. We see new beauty and force in the inspired word, and we study
its pages with a deeper and more absorbing interest.
The opinion is held by many that God placed a separating wall between
the Hebrews and the outside world; that his care and love, withdrawn to
a great extent from the rest of mankind, were centered upon Israel. But
God did not design that his people should build up a wall of partition
between themselves and their fellow-men. The heart of Infinite Love was
reaching out toward all the inhabitants of the earth. Though they had
rejected him, he was constantly seeking to reveal himself to them, and
make them partakers of his love and grace. His blessing was granted to
the chosen people, that they might bless others.
God called Abraham, and prospered and honored him; and the patriarch’s
fidelity was a light to the people in all the countries of his sojourn.
Abraham did not shut himself away from the people around him. He
maintained friendly relations with the kings of the surrounding nations,
by some of whom he was treated with great respect; and his integrity and
unselfishness, his valor and benevolence, were representing the
character of God. In Mesopotamia, in Canaan, in Egypt, and even to the
inhabitants of Sodom, the God of heaven was revealed through his
representative.
So to the people of Egypt and of all the nations connected with that
powerful kingdom, God manifested himself through Joseph. Why did the
Lord choose to exalt Joseph so highly among the Egyptians? He might have
provided some other way for the accomplishment of his purposes toward
the children of Jacob; but he desired to make Joseph a light, and he
placed him in the palace of the king, that the heavenly illumination
might extend far and near. By his wisdom and justice, by the purity and
benevolence of his daily life, by his devotion to the interests of the
people,—and that people a nation of idolaters,—Joseph was a
representative of Christ. In their benefactor, to whom all Egypt turned
with gratitude and praise, that heathen people were to behold the love
of their Creator and Redeemer. So in Moses also, God placed a light
beside the throne of the earth’s greatest kingdom, that all who would,
might learn of the true and living God. And all this light was given to
the Egyptians before the hand of God was stretched out over them in
judgments.
In the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, a knowledge of the power of God
spread far and wide. The warlike people of the stronghold of Jericho
trembled. “As soon as we had heard these things,” said Rahab, “our
hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man,
because of you; for Jehovah your God, he is God in heaven above, and in
earth beneath.”[613] Centuries after the exodus, the priests of the
Philistines reminded their people of the plagues of Egypt, and warned
them against resisting the God of Israel.
God called Israel, and blessed and exalted them, not that by obedience
to his law they alone might receive his favor, and become the exclusive
recipients of his blessings, but in order to reveal himself through them
to all the inhabitants of the earth. It was for the accomplishment of
this very purpose that he commanded them to keep themselves distinct
from the idolatrous nations around them.
Idolatry and all the sins that followed in its train were abhorrent to
God, and he commanded his people not to mingle with other nations, to
“_do after their works_,”[614] and forget God. He forbade their marriage
with idolaters, lest their hearts should be led away from him. It was
just as necessary then as it is now that God’s people should be pure,
“unspotted from the world.” They must keep themselves free from its
spirit, because it is opposed to truth and righteousness. But God did
not intend that his people, in self-righteous exclusiveness, should shut
themselves away from the world, so that they could have no influence
upon it.
Like their Master, the followers of Christ in every age were to be the
light of the world. The Saviour said, “A city that is set on a hill
cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel,
but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the
house,”—that is, in the world. And he adds, “Let your light so shine
before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father
which is in heaven.”[615] This is just what Enoch, and Noah, Abraham,
Joseph, and Moses did. It is just what God designed that his people
Israel should do.
It was their own evil heart of unbelief, controlled by Satan, that led
them to hide their light, instead of shedding it upon surrounding
peoples; it was that same bigoted spirit that caused them either to
follow the iniquitous practices of the heathen, or to shut themselves
away in proud exclusiveness, as if God’s love and care were over them
alone.
As the Bible presents two laws, one changeless and eternal, the other
provisional and temporary, so there are two covenants. The covenant of
grace was first made with man in Eden, when after the fall, there was
given a divine promise that the seed of the woman should bruise the
serpent’s head. To all men this covenant offered pardon, and the
assisting grace of God for future obedience through faith in Christ. It
also promised them eternal life on condition of fidelity to God’s law.
Thus the patriarchs received the hope of salvation.
This same covenant was renewed to Abraham in the promise, “In thy seed
shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.”[616] This promise
pointed to Christ. So Abraham understood it,[617] and he trusted in
Christ for the forgiveness of sins. It was this faith that was accounted
unto him for righteousness. The covenant with Abraham also maintained
the authority of God’s law. The Lord appeared unto Abraham, and said, “I
am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.”[618] The
testimony of God concerning his faithful servant was, “Abraham obeyed my
voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my
laws.”[619] And the Lord declared to him, “I will establish my covenant
between me and thee, and thy seed after thee in their generations for an
_everlasting covenant_, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after
thee.”[619]
Though this covenant was made with Adam and renewed to Abraham, it could
not be ratified until the death of Christ. It had existed by the promise
of God since the first intimation of redemption had been given; it had
been accepted by faith; yet when ratified by Christ, it is called a
_new_ covenant. The law of God was the basis of this covenant, which was
simply an arrangement for bringing men again into harmony with the
divine will, placing them where they could obey God’s law.
Another compact—called in Scripture the “old” covenant—was formed
between God and Israel at Sinai, and was then ratified by the blood of a
sacrifice. The Abrahamic covenant was ratified by the blood of Christ,
and it is called the “second,” or “new” covenant, because the blood by
which it was sealed was shed after the blood of the first covenant. That
the new covenant was valid in the days of Abraham, is evident from the
fact that it was then confirmed both by the promise and by the oath of
God,—the “two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to
lie.”[620]
But if the Abrahamic covenant contained the promise of redemption, why
was another covenant formed at Sinai?—In their bondage the people had to
a great extent lost the knowledge of God and of the principles of the
Abrahamic covenant. In delivering them from Egypt, God sought to reveal
to them his power and his mercy, that they might be led to love and
trust him. He brought them down to the Red Sea—where, pursued by the
Egyptians, escape seemed impossible—that they might realize their utter
helplessness, their need of divine aid; and then he wrought deliverance
for them. Thus they were filled with love and gratitude to God, and with
confidence in his power to help them. He had bound them to himself as
their deliverer from temporal bondage.
But there was a still greater truth to be impressed upon their minds.
Living in the midst of idolatry and corruption, they had no true
conception of the holiness of God, of the exceeding sinfulness of their
own hearts, their utter inability, in themselves, to render obedience to
God’s law, and their need of a Saviour. All this they must be taught.
God brought them to Sinai; he manifested his glory; he gave them his
law, with the promise of great blessings on condition of obedience: “If
ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ... ye shall be
unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.”[621] The people did
not realize the sinfulness of their own hearts, and that without Christ
it was impossible for them to keep God’s law; and they readily entered
into covenant with God. Feeling that they were able to establish their
own righteousness, they declared, “All that the Lord hath said will we
do, and be obedient.”[622] They had witnessed the proclamation of the
law in awful majesty, and had trembled with terror before the mount; and
yet only a few weeks passed before they broke their covenant with God,
and bowed down to worship a graven image. They could not hope for the
favor of God through a covenant which they had broken; and now, seeing
their sinfulness and their need of pardon, they were brought to feel
their need of the Saviour revealed in the Abrahamic covenant, and
shadowed forth in the sacrificial offerings. Now by faith and love they
were bound to God as their deliverer from the bondage of sin. Now they
were prepared to appreciate the blessings of the new covenant.
The terms of the “old covenant” were, Obey and live: “If a man do, he
shall even live in them;”[623] but “cursed be he that confirmeth not all
the words of this law to do them.”[624] The “new covenant” was
established upon “better promises,”—the promise of forgiveness of sins,
and of the grace of God to renew the heart, and bring it into harmony
with the principles of God’s law. “This shall be the covenant that I
will make with the house of Israel: After those days, saith the Lord, _I
will put my law_ in their inward parts, _and write it in their
hearts_.... I will _forgive_ their iniquity, and I will remember their
sin no more.”[625]
The same law that was engraved upon the tables of stone, is written by
the Holy Spirit upon the tables of the heart. Instead of going about to
establish our own righteousness, we accept the righteousness of Christ.
His blood atones for our sins. His obedience is accepted for us. Then
the heart renewed by the Holy Spirit will bring forth “the fruits of the
Spirit.” Through the grace of Christ we shall live in obedience to the
law of God written upon our hearts. Having the Spirit of Christ, we
shall walk even as he walked. Through the prophet he declared of
himself, “I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my
heart.”[626] And when among men he said, “The Father hath not left me
alone; for I do always those things that please him.”[626]
The apostle Paul clearly presents the relation between faith and the law
under the new covenant. He says: “Being _justified by faith_, we have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” “Do we then make void the
law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law.” “For what the
law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh,”—it could not
justify man, because in his sinful nature he could not keep the
law,—“God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for
sin, condemned sin in the flesh; that _the righteousness of the law_
might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit.”[627]
God’s work is the same in all time, although there are different degrees
of development, and different manifestations of his power, to meet the
wants of men in the different ages. Beginning with the first gospel
promise, and coming down through the patriarchal and Jewish ages, and
even to the present time, there has been a gradual unfolding of the
purposes of God in the plan of redemption. The Saviour typified in the
rites and ceremonies of the Jewish law is the very same that is revealed
in the gospel. The clouds that enveloped his divine form have rolled
back; the mists and shades have disappeared; and Jesus, the world’s
Redeemer, stands revealed. He who proclaimed the law from Sinai, and
delivered to Moses the precepts of the ritual law, is the same that
spoke the sermon on the mount. The great principles of love to God,
which he set forth as the foundation of the law and the prophets, are
only a reiteration of what he had spoken through Moses to the Hebrew
people: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and
with all thy might.” “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”[628] The
teacher is the same in both dispensations. God’s claims are the same.
The principles of his government are the same. For all proceed from Him
“with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”[629]
Footnote 600:
Gen. 26:5.
Footnote 601:
Col. 2:14.
Footnote 602:
Ps. 119:89.
Footnote 603:
Matt. 5:17, 18.
Footnote 604:
Neh. 9:13.
Footnote 605:
Rom. 7:12.
Footnote 606:
2 Cor. 5:19.
Footnote 607:
See Appendix, Note 10.
Footnote 608:
1 Peter 1:10, 11.
Footnote 609:
Rev. 19:10.
Footnote 610:
John 5:39, Rev. Ver.
Footnote 611:
Luke 16:29, 31.
Footnote 612:
Heb. 9:24.
Footnote 613:
Joshua 2:11.
Footnote 614:
Ex. 23:24.
Footnote 615:
Matt. 5:14-16.
Footnote 616:
Gen. 22:18.
Footnote 617:
See Gal. 3:8, 16.
Footnote 618:
Gen. 17:1.
Footnote 619:
Gen. 26:5; 17:7.
Footnote 620:
Heb. 6:18.
Footnote 621:
Ex. 19:5, 6.
Footnote 622:
Ex. 24:7.
Footnote 623:
Eze. 20:11; Lev. 18:5.
Footnote 624:
Deut. 27:26.
Footnote 625:
Jer. 31:33, 34.
Footnote 626:
Ps. 40:8; John 8:29.
Footnote 627:
Rom. 5:1; 3:31; 8:3, 4.
Footnote 628:
Deut. 6:4, 5; Lev. 19:18.
Footnote 629:
James 1:17.
FROM SINAI TO KADESH—33
The building of the tabernacle was not begun for some time after Israel
arrived at Sinai; and the sacred structure was first set up at the
opening of the second year from the exodus. This was followed by the
consecration of the priests, the celebration of the Passover, the
numbering of the people, and the completion of various arrangements
essential to their civil or religious system, so that nearly a year was
spent in the encampment at Sinai. Here their worship had taken more
definite form, the laws had been given for the government of the nation,
and a more efficient organization had been effected preparatory to their
entrance into the land of Canaan.
The government of Israel was characterized by the most thorough
organization, wonderful alike for its completeness and its simplicity.
The order so strikingly displayed in the perfection and arrangement of
all God’s created works was manifest in the Hebrew economy. God was the
center of authority and government, the sovereign of Israel. Moses stood
as their visible leader, by God’s appointment, to administer the laws in
his name. From the elders of the tribes a council of seventy was
afterward chosen to assist Moses in the general affairs of the nation.
Next came the priests, who consulted the Lord in the sanctuary. Chiefs,
or princes, ruled over the tribes. Under these were “captains over
thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and
captains over tens;” and, lastly, officers who might be employed for
special duties.[640]
The Hebrew camp was arranged in exact order. It was separated into three
great divisions, each having its appointed position in the encampment.
In the center was the tabernacle, the abiding place of the invisible
King. Around it were stationed the priests and Levites. Beyond these
were encamped all the other tribes.
To the Levites was committed the charge of the tabernacle and all that
pertained thereto, both in the camp and on the journey. When the camp
set forward, they were to strike the sacred tent; when a halting-place
was reached, they were to set it up. No person of another tribe was
allowed to come near, on pain of death. The Levites were separated into
three divisions, the descendants of the three sons of Levi, and each was
assigned its special position and work. In front of the tabernacle, and
nearest to it, were the tents of Moses and Aaron. On the south were the
Kohathites, whose duty it was to care for the ark and the other
furniture; on the north the Merarites, who were placed in charge of the
pillars, sockets, boards, etc.; in the rear the Gershonites, to whom the
care of the curtains and hangings was committed.
The position of each tribe also was specified. Each was to march and to
encamp beside its own standard, as the Lord had commanded: “Every man of
the children of Israel shall pitch by his own standard, with the ensign
of their father’s house. Far off about the tabernacle of the
congregation shall they pitch.” “As they encamp, so shall they set
forward, every man in his place by their standards.”[641] The mixed
multitude that had accompanied Israel from Egypt were not permitted to
occupy the same quarters with the tribes, but were to abide upon the
outskirts of the camp; and their offspring were to be excluded from the
community until the third generation.[642]
Scrupulous cleanliness as well as strict order throughout the encampment
and its environs was enjoined. Thorough sanitary regulations were
enforced. Every person who was unclean from any cause was forbidden to
enter the camp. These measures were indispensable to the preservation of
health among so vast a multitude; and it was necessary also that perfect
order and purity be maintained, that Israel might enjoy the presence of
a holy God. Thus he declared: “The Lord thy God walketh in the midst of
thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee;
therefore shall thy camp be holy.”
In all the journeyings of Israel, “the ark of the covenant of the Lord
went before them, ... to search out a resting place for them.”[643]
Borne by the sons of Kohath, the sacred chest containing God’s holy law
was to lead the van. Before it went Moses and Aaron; and the priests,
bearing silver trumpets, were stationed near. These priests received
directions from Moses, which they communicated to the people by the
trumpets. It was the duty of the leaders of each company to give
definite directions concerning all the movements to be made, as
indicated by the trumpets. Whoever neglected to comply with the
directions given, was punished with death.
God is a God of order. Everything connected with heaven is in perfect
order; subjection and thorough discipline mark the movements of the
angelic host. Success can only attend order and harmonious action. God
requires order and system in his work now no less than in the days of
Israel. All who are working for him are to labor intelligently, not in a
careless, hap-hazard manner. He would have his work done with faith and
exactness, that he may place the seal of his approval upon it.
God himself directed the Israelites in all their travels. The place of
their encampment was indicated by the descent of the pillar of cloud;
and so long as they were to remain in camp, the cloud rested over the
tabernacle. When they were to continue their journey, it was lifted high
above the sacred tent. A solemn invocation marked both the halt and the
departure. “It came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said,
Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that
hate thee flee before thee. And when it rested, he said, Return, O Lord,
unto the many thousands of Israel.”[644]
A distance of only eleven days’ journey lay between Sinai and Kadesh, on
the borders of Canaan; and it was with the prospect of speedily entering
the goodly land, that the hosts of Israel resumed their march, when the
cloud at last gave the signal for an onward movement. Jehovah had
wrought wonders in bringing them from Egypt, and what blessings might
they not expect, now that they had formally covenanted to accept him as
their sovereign, and had been acknowledged as the chosen people of the
Most High?
Yet it was almost with reluctance that many left the place where they
had so long encamped. They had come almost to regard it as their home.
Within the shelter of those granite walls, God had gathered his people,
apart from all other nations, to repeat to them his holy law. They loved
to look upon the sacred mount, on whose hoary peaks and barren ridges
the divine glory had so often been displayed. The scene was so closely
associated with the presence of God and holy angels that it seemed too
sacred to be left thoughtlessly, or even gladly.
At the signal from the trumpeters, however, the entire camp set forward,
the tabernacle borne in the midst, and each tribe in its appointed
position, under its own standard. All eyes were turned anxiously to see
in what direction the cloud would lead. As it moved toward the east,
where were only mountain masses huddled together, black and desolate, a
feeling of sadness and doubt arose in many hearts.
As they advanced, the way became more difficult. Their route lay through
stony ravine and barren waste. All around them was the great
wilderness,—“a land of deserts and of pits,” “a land of drought, and of
the shadow of death,” “a land that no man passed through, and where no
man dwelt.”[645] The rocky gorges, far and near, were thronged with men,
women, and children, with beasts and wagons, and long lines of flocks
and herds. Their progress was necessarily slow and toilsome; and the
multitudes, after their long encampment, were not prepared to endure the
perils and discomforts of the way.
After three days’ journey, open complaints were heard. These originated
with the mixed multitude, many of whom were not fully united with
Israel, and were continually watching for some cause of censure. The
complainers were not pleased with the direction of the march, and they
were continually finding fault with the way in which _Moses_ was leading
them, though they well knew that he, as well as they, was following the
guiding cloud. Dissatisfaction is contagious, and it soon spread in the
encampment.
Again they began to clamor for flesh to eat. Though abundantly supplied
with manna, they were not satisfied. The Israelites, during their
bondage in Egypt, had been compelled to subsist on the plainest and
simplest food; but the keen appetite induced by privation and hard labor
had made it palatable. Many of the Egyptians, however, who were now
among them, had been accustomed to a luxurious diet; and these were the
first to complain. At the giving of the manna, just before Israel
reached Sinai, the Lord had granted them flesh in answer to their
clamors; but it was furnished them for only one day.
God might as easily have provided them with flesh as with manna; but a
restriction was placed upon them for their good. It was his purpose to
supply them with food better suited to their wants than the feverish
diet to which many had become accustomed in Egypt. The perverted
appetite was to be brought into a more healthy state, that they might
enjoy the food originally provided for man,—the fruits of the earth,
which God gave to Adam and Eve in Eden. It was for this reason that the
Israelites had been deprived in a great measure of animal food.
Satan tempted them to regard this restriction as unjust and cruel. He
caused them to lust after forbidden things, because he saw that the
unrestrained indulgence of appetite would tend to produce sensuality,
and by this means the people could be more easily brought under his
control. The author of disease and misery will assail men where he can
have the greatest success. Through temptations addressed to the appetite
he has, to a large extent, led men into sin from the time when he
induced Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit. It was by this same means
that he led Israel to murmur against God. Intemperance in eating and
drinking, leading as it does to the indulgence of the lower passions,
prepares the way for men to disregard all moral obligations. When
assailed by temptation, they have little power of resistance.
God brought the Israelites from Egypt, that he might establish them in
the land of Canaan, a pure, holy, and happy people. In the
accomplishment of this object he subjected them to a course of
discipline, both for their own good and for the good of their posterity.
Had they been willing to deny appetite, in obedience to his wise
restrictions, feebleness and disease would have been unknown among them.
Their descendants would have possessed both physical and mental
strength. They would have had clear perceptions of truth and duty, keen
discrimination, and sound judgment. But their unwillingness to submit to
the restrictions and requirements of God, prevented them, to a great
extent, from reaching the high standard which he desired them to attain,
and from receiving the blessings which he was ready to bestow upon them.
Says the psalmist: “They tempted God in their heart by asking meat for
their lust. Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a
table in the wilderness? Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters
gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he
provide flesh for his people? Therefore the Lord heard this, and was
wroth.”[646] Murmuring and tumults had been frequent during the journey
from the Red Sea to Sinai, but in pity for their ignorance and blindness
God had not then visited the sin with judgments. But since that time he
had revealed himself to them at Horeb. They had received great light, as
they had been witnesses to the majesty, the power, and the mercy of God;
and their unbelief and discontent incurred the greater guilt.
Furthermore, they had covenanted to accept Jehovah as their king, and to
obey his authority. Their murmuring was now rebellion, and as such it
must receive prompt and signal punishment, if Israel was to be preserved
from anarchy and ruin. “The fire of Jehovah burnt among them, and
consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp.”[647] The
most guilty of the complainers were slain by lightning from the cloud.
The people in terror besought Moses to entreat the Lord for them. He did
so, and the fire was quenched. In memory of this judgment he called the
name of the place Taberah, “a burning.”
But the evil was soon worse than before. Instead of leading the
survivors to humiliation and repentance, this fearful judgment seemed
only to increase their murmurings. In all directions the people were
gathered at the door of their tents, weeping and lamenting. “The mixed
multitude that was among them fell a lusting; and the children of Israel
also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember
the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the
melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic; but now our soul
is dried away; there is nothing at all, besides this manna, before our
eyes.” Thus they manifested their discontent with the food provided for
them by their Creator. Yet they had constant evidence that it was
adapted to their wants; for notwithstanding the hardships they endured,
there was not a feeble one in all their tribes.
The heart of Moses sunk. He had pleaded that Israel should not be
destroyed, even though his own posterity might then become a great
nation. In his love for them, he had prayed that his name might be
blotted from the book of life rather than that they should be left to
perish. He had imperiled all for them, and this was their response. All
their hardships, even their imaginary sufferings, they charged upon him;
and their wicked murmurings made doubly heavy the burden of care and
responsibility under which he staggered. In his distress he was tempted
even to distrust God. His prayer was almost a complaint. “Wherefore hast
thou afflicted thy servant? and wherefore have I not found favor in thy
sight, that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me?... Whence
should I have flesh to give unto all this people? for they weep unto me,
saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat. I am not able to bear all this
people alone, because it is too heavy for me.”
The Lord hearkened to his prayer, and directed him to summon seventy men
of the elders of Israel,—men not only advanced in years, but possessing
dignity, sound judgment, and experience. “And bring them unto the
tabernacle of the congregation,” he said, “that they may stand there
with thee. And I will come down and talk with thee there; and I will
take of the Spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and
they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it
not thyself alone.”
The Lord permitted Moses to choose for himself the most faithful and
efficient men to share the responsibility with him. Their influence
would assist in holding in check the violence of the people, and
quelling insurrection; yet serious evils would eventually result from
their promotion. They would never have been chosen had Moses manifested
faith corresponding to the evidences he had witnessed of God’s power and
goodness. But he had magnified his own burdens and services, almost
losing sight of the fact that he was only the instrument by which God
had wrought. He was not excusable in indulging, in the slightest degree,
the spirit of murmuring that was the curse of Israel. Had he relied
fully upon God, the Lord would have guided him continually, and would
have given him strength for every emergency.
Moses was directed to prepare the people for what God was about to do
for them. “Sanctify yourselves against to-morrow, and ye shall eat
flesh; for ye have wept in the ears of the Lord, saying, Who shall give
us flesh to eat? for it was well with us in Egypt; therefore the Lord
will give you flesh, and ye shall eat. Ye shall not eat one day, nor two
days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days; but even a whole
month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you;
because that ye have despised the Lord which is among you, and have wept
before him, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt?”
“The people among whom I am,” exclaimed Moses, “are six hundred thousand
footmen; and thou hast said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a
whole month. Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for them, to
suffice them? or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for
them?”
He was reproved for his distrust: “Is the Lord’s hand waxed short? Thou
shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not.”
Moses repeated to the congregation the words of the Lord, and announced
the appointment of the seventy elders. The great leader’s charge to
these chosen men might well serve as a model of judicial integrity for
the judges and legislators of modern times: “Hear the causes between
your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother,
and the stranger that is with him. Ye shall not respect persons in
judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not
be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s.”[648]
Moses now summoned the seventy to the tabernacle. “And the Lord came
down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the Spirit that was
upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders. And it came to pass,
that, when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not
cease.” Like the disciples on the day of Pentecost, they were endued
with “power from on high.” It pleased the Lord thus to prepare them for
their work, and to honor them in the presence of the congregation, that
confidence might be established in them as men divinely chosen to unite
with Moses in the government of Israel.
Again evidence was given of the lofty, unselfish spirit of the great
leader. Two of the seventy, humbly counting themselves unworthy of so
responsible a position, had not joined their brethren at the tabernacle;
but the Spirit of God came upon them where they were, and they too
exercised the prophetic gift. On being informed of this, Joshua desired
to check such irregularity, fearing that it might tend to division.
Jealous for the honor of his master, “My lord Moses,” he said, “forbid
them.” The answer was, “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.”
A strong wind blowing from the sea, now brought flocks of quails, “about
a day’s journey on this side, and a day’s journey on the other side,
round about the camp, and about two cubits above the face of the
earth.”[649] All that day and night, and the following day, the people
labored in gathering the food miraculously provided. Immense quantities
were secured. “He that gathered least gathered ten homers.” All that was
not needed for present use was preserved by drying, so that the supply,
as promised, was sufficient for a whole month.
God gave the people that which was not for their highest good, because
they persisted in desiring it; they would not be satisfied with those
things that would prove a benefit to them. Their rebellious desires were
gratified, but they were left to suffer the result. They feasted without
restraint, and their excesses were speedily punished. “The Lord smote
the people with a very great plague.” Large numbers were cut down by
burning fevers, while the most guilty among them were smitten as soon as
they tasted the food for which they had lusted.
At Hazeroth, the next encampment after leaving Taberah, a still more
bitter trial awaited Moses. Aaron and Miriam had occupied a position of
high honor and leadership in Israel. Both were endowed with the
prophetic gift, and both had been divinely associated with Moses in the
deliverance of the Hebrews. “I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and
Miriam,”[650] are the words of the Lord by the prophet Micah. Miriam’s
force of character had been early displayed, when as a child she watched
beside the Nile the little basket in which was hidden the infant Moses.
Her self-control and tact God had made instrumental in preserving the
deliverer of his people. Richly endowed with the gifts of poetry and
music, Miriam had led the women of Israel in song and dance on the shore
of the Red Sea. In the affections of the people and the honor of Heaven
she stood second only to Moses and Aaron. But the same evil that first
brought discord in heaven, sprung up in the heart of this woman of
Israel, and she did not fail to find a sympathizer in her
dissatisfaction.
In the appointment of the seventy elders, Miriam and Aaron had not been
consulted, and their jealousy was excited against Moses. At the time of
Jethro’s visit, while the Israelites were on the way to Sinai, the ready
acceptance by Moses of the counsel of his father-in-law had aroused in
Aaron and Miriam a fear that his influence with the great leader
exceeded theirs. In the organization of the council of elders they felt
that their position and authority had been ignored. Miriam and Aaron had
never known the weight of care and responsibility which had rested upon
Moses; yet because they had been chosen to aid him they regarded
themselves as sharing equally with him the burden of leadership, and
they regarded the appointment of further assistants as uncalled for.
Moses felt the importance of the great work committed to him as no other
man had ever felt it. He realized his own weakness, and he made God his
counselor. Aaron esteemed himself more highly, and trusted less in God.
He had failed when intrusted with responsibility, giving evidence of the
weakness of his character by his base compliance in the matter of the
idolatrous worship at Sinai. But Miriam and Aaron, blinded by jealousy
and ambition, lost sight of this. Aaron had been highly honored by God
in the appointment of his family to the sacred office of the priesthood;
yet even this now added to the desire for self-exaltation. “And they
said, Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath he not spoken also
by us?”[651] Regarding themselves as equally favored by God, they felt
that they were entitled to the same position and authority.
Yielding to the spirit of dissatisfaction, Miriam found cause of
complaint in events that God had especially overruled. The marriage of
Moses had been displeasing to her. That he should choose a woman of
another nation, instead of taking a wife from among the Hebrews, was an
offense to her family and national pride. Zipporah was treated with
ill-disguised contempt.
Though called a “Cushite woman,”[652] the wife of Moses was a Midianite,
and thus a descendant of Abraham. In personal appearance she differed
from the Hebrews in being of a somewhat darker complexion. Though not an
Israelite, Zipporah was a worshiper of the true God. She was of a timid,
retiring disposition, gentle and affectionate, and greatly distressed at
the sight of suffering; and it was for this reason that Moses, when on
the way to Egypt, had consented to her return to Midian. He desired to
spare her the pain of witnessing the judgments that were to fall on the
Egyptians.
When Zipporah rejoined her husband in the wilderness, she saw that his
burdens were wearing away his strength, and she made known her fears to
Jethro, who suggested measures for his relief. Here was the chief reason
for Miriam’s antipathy to Zipporah. Smarting under the supposed neglect
shown to herself and Aaron, she regarded the wife of Moses as the cause,
concluding that her influence had prevented him from taking them into
his counsels as formerly. Had Aaron stood up firmly for the right, he
might have checked the evil; but instead of showing Miriam the
sinfulness of her conduct, he sympathized with her, listened to her
words of complaint, and thus came to share her jealousy.
Their accusations were borne by Moses in uncomplaining silence. It was
the experience gained during the years of toil and waiting in
Midian,—the spirit of humility and long-suffering there developed,—that
prepared Moses to meet with patience the unbelief and murmuring of the
people, and the pride and envy of those who should have been his
unswerving helpers. Moses “was very meek, above all the men which were
upon the face of the earth,” and this is why he was granted divine
wisdom and guidance above all others. Says the Scripture, “The meek will
he guide in judgment, and the meek will he teach his way.”[653] The meek
are guided by the Lord, because they are teachable, willing to be
instructed. They have a sincere desire to know and to do the will of
God. The Saviour’s promise is, “If any man will do his will, he shall
know of the doctrine.”[654] And he declares by the apostle James, “If
any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men
liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him.”[655] But his
promise is only to those who are willing to follow the Lord wholly. God
does not force the will of any; hence he cannot lead those who are too
proud to be taught, who are bent upon having their own way. Of the
double-minded man—he who seeks to follow his own will, while professing
to do the will of God—it is written, “Let not that man think that he
shall receive anything of the Lord.”[655]
God had chosen Moses, and had put his Spirit upon him; and Miriam and
Aaron, by their murmurings, were guilty of disloyalty, not only to their
appointed leader, but to God himself. The seditious whisperers were
summoned to the tabernacle, and brought face to face with Moses. “And
Jehovah came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of
the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam.” Their claim to the
prophetic gift was not denied; God might have spoken to them in visions
and dreams. But to Moses, whom the Lord himself declared “faithful in
all mine house,” a nearer communion had been granted. With _him_ God
spake mouth to mouth. “Wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak
against my servant Moses? And the anger of the Lord was kindled against
them, and he departed.” The cloud disappeared from the tabernacle in
token of God’s displeasure, and Miriam was smitten. She “became leprous,
white as snow.” Aaron was spared, but he was severely rebuked in
Miriam’s punishment. Now, their pride humbled in the dust, Aaron
confessed their sin, and entreated that his sister might not be left to
perish by that loathsome and deadly scourge. In answer to the prayers of
Moses, the leprosy was cleansed. Miriam was, however, shut out of the
camp for seven days. Not until she was banished from the encampment did
the symbol of God’s favor again rest upon the tabernacle. In respect for
her high position, and in grief at the blow that had fallen upon her,
the whole company abode in Hazeroth, awaiting her return.
This manifestation of the Lord’s displeasure was designed to be a
warning to all Israel, to check the growing spirit of discontent and
insubordination. If Miriam’s envy and dissatisfaction had not been
signally rebuked, it would have resulted in great evil. Envy is one of
the most satanic traits that can exist in the human heart, and it is one
of the most baleful in its effects. Says the wise man, “Wrath is cruel,
and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?”[656] It
was envy that first caused discord in heaven, and its indulgence has
wrought untold evil among men. “Where envying and strife is, there is
confusion and every evil work.”[657]
It should not be regarded as a light thing to speak evil of others, or
to make ourselves judges of their motives or actions. “He that speaketh
evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law,
and judgeth the law; but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of
the law, but a judge.” There is but one judge,—He “who both will bring
to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the
counsels of the hearts.”[658] And whoever takes it upon himself to judge
and condemn his fellow-men is usurping the prerogative of the Creator.
The Bible specially teaches us to beware of lightly bringing accusation
against those whom God has called to act as his ambassadors. The apostle
Peter, describing a class who are abandoned sinners, says, “Presumptuous
are they, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.
Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing
accusation against them before the Lord.”[659] And Paul, in his
instruction for those who are placed over the church, says, “Against an
elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three
witnesses.”[660] He who has placed upon men the heavy responsibility of
leaders and teachers of his people, will hold the people accountable for
the manner in which they treat his servants. We are to honor those whom
God has honored. The judgment visited upon Miriam should be a rebuke to
all who yield to jealousy, and murmur against those upon whom God lays
the burden of his work.
Footnote 640:
Deut. 1:15.
Footnote 641:
Num. 2:2, 17.
Footnote 642:
Deut. 23:7, 8.
Footnote 643:
Num. 10:33.
Footnote 644:
Num. 10:35, 36.
Footnote 645:
Jer. 2:6.
Footnote 646:
Ps. 78:18-21.
Footnote 647:
See Numbers 11.
Footnote 648:
Deut. 1:16, 17.
Footnote 649:
Num. 11:31, Rev. Ver.
Footnote 650:
Micah 6:4.
Footnote 651:
See Numbers 12.
Footnote 652:
Num. 12:1, Rev. Ver.
Footnote 653:
Ps. 25:9.
Footnote 654:
John 7:17.
Footnote 655:
James 1:5, 7.
Footnote 656:
Prov. 27:4.
Footnote 657:
James 3:16.
Footnote 658:
James 4:11; 1 Cor. 4:5.
Footnote 659:
2 Peter 2:10, 11.
Footnote 660:
1 Tim. 5:19.
THE TWELVE SPIES—34
Eleven days after leaving Mount Horeb, the Hebrew host encamped at
Kadesh, in the wilderness of Paran, which was not far from the borders
of the promised land. Here it was proposed by the people that spies be
sent up to survey the country. The matter was presented before the Lord
by Moses, and permission was granted, with the direction that one of the
rulers of each tribe should be selected for this purpose. The men were
chosen as had been directed, and Moses bade them go and see the country,
what it was, its situation and natural advantages; and the people that
dwelt therein, whether they were strong or weak, few or many; also to
observe the nature of the soil and its productiveness, and to bring of
the fruit of the land.
They went, and surveyed the whole land, entering at the southern border,
and proceeding to the northern extremity. They returned after an absence
of forty days. The people of Israel were cherishing high hopes, and were
waiting in eager expectancy.
The news of the spies’ return was carried from tribe to tribe, and was
hailed with rejoicing. The people rushed out to meet the messengers, who
had safely escaped the dangers of their perilous undertaking. The spies
brought specimens of the fruit, showing the fertility of the soil. It
was in the time of ripe grapes, and they brought a cluster of grapes so
large that it was carried between two men. They also brought of the figs
and pomegranates which grew there in abundance.
The people rejoiced that they were to come into possession of so goodly
a land, and they listened intently as the report was brought to Moses,
that not a word should escape them. “We came unto the land whither thou
sentest us,” the spies began, “and surely it floweth with milk and
honey; and this is the fruit of it.”[670] The people were enthusiastic;
they would eagerly obey the voice of the Lord, and go up at once to
possess the land. But after describing the beauty and fertility of the
land, all but two of the spies enlarged upon the difficulties and
dangers that lay before the Israelites should they undertake the
conquest of Canaan. They enumerated the powerful nations located in
various parts of the country, and said that the cities were walled and
very great, and the people who dwelt therein were strong, and it would
be impossible to conquer them. They also stated that they had seen
giants, the sons of Anak, there, and it was useless to think of
possessing the land.
Now the scene changed. Hope and courage gave place to cowardly despair,
as the spies uttered the sentiments of their unbelieving hearts, which
were filled with discouragement prompted by Satan. Their unbelief cast a
gloomy shadow over the congregation, and the mighty power of God, so
often manifested in behalf of the chosen nation, was forgotten. The
people did not wait to reflect; they did not reason that He who had
brought them thus far would certainly give them the land; they did not
call to mind how wonderfully God had delivered them from their
oppressors, cutting a path through the sea, and destroying the pursuing
hosts of Pharaoh. They left God out of the question, and acted as though
they must depend solely on the power of arms.
In their unbelief they limited the power of God, and distrusted the hand
that had hitherto safely guided them. And they repeated their former
error of murmuring against Moses and Aaron. “This, then, is the end of
all our high hopes,” they said. “This is the land we have traveled all
the way from Egypt to possess.” They accused their leaders of deceiving
the people and bringing trouble upon Israel.
The people were desperate in their disappointment and despair. A wail of
agony arose, and mingled with the confused murmur of voices. Caleb
comprehended the situation, and bold to stand in defense of the word of
God, he did all in his power to counteract the evil influence of his
unfaithful associates. For an instant the people were stilled to listen
to his words of hope and courage respecting the goodly land. He did not
contradict what had already been said; the walls were high, and the
Canaanites strong. But God had promised the land to Israel. “Let us go
up at once, and possess it,” urged Caleb; “for we are well able to
overcome it.”
But the ten, interrupting him, pictured the obstacles in darker colors
than at first. “We be not able to go up against the people,” they
declared; “for they are stronger than we.... All the people that we saw
in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons
of Anak, which come of the giants; and we were in our own sight as
grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.”
These men, having entered upon a wrong course, stubbornly set themselves
against Caleb and Joshua, against Moses, and against God. Every advance
step rendered them the more determined. They were resolved to discourage
all effort to gain possession of Canaan. They distorted the truth in
order to sustain their baleful influence. “It is a land that eateth up
the inhabitants thereof,” they said. This was not only an evil report,
but it was also a lying one. It was inconsistent with itself. The spies
had declared the country to be fruitful and prosperous, and the people
of giant stature, all of which would be impossible if the climate were
so unhealthful that the land could be said to “eat up the inhabitants.”
But when men yield their hearts to unbelief, they place themselves under
the control of Satan, and none can tell to what lengths he will lead
them.
“And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the
people wept that night.” Revolt and open mutiny quickly followed; for
Satan had full sway, and the people seemed bereft of reason. They cursed
Moses and Aaron, forgetting that God hearkened to their wicked speeches,
and that, enshrouded in the cloudy pillar, the Angel of his presence was
witnessing their terrible outburst of wrath. In bitterness they cried
out, “Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we
had died in this wilderness!” Then their feelings rose against God:
“Wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land, to fall by the
sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? Were it not
better for us to return into Egypt? And they said one to another, Let us
make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.” Thus they accused not
only Moses, but God himself, of deception, in promising them a land
which they were not able to possess. And they went so far as to appoint
a captain to lead them back to the land of their suffering and bondage,
from which they had been delivered by the strong arm of Omnipotence.
In humiliation and distress, “Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before
all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel,” not
knowing what to do to turn them from their rash and passionate purpose.
Caleb and Joshua attempted to quiet the tumult. With their garments rent
in token of grief and indignation, they rushed in among the people, and
their ringing voices were heard above the tempest of lamentation and
rebellious grief: “The land, which we passed through to search it, is an
exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us
into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and
honey; only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of
the land; for they are bread for us. Their defense is departed from
them, and the Lord is with us. Fear them not.”
The Canaanites had filled up the measure of their iniquity, and the Lord
would no longer bear with them. His protection being removed, they would
be an easy prey. By the covenant of God, the land was insured to Israel.
But the false report of the unfaithful spies was accepted, and through
it the whole congregation were deluded. The traitors had done their
work. If only the two men had brought the evil report, and all the ten
had encouraged them to possess the land in the name of the Lord, they
would still have taken the advice of the two in preference to the ten,
because of their wicked unbelief. But there were only two advocating the
right, while ten were on the side of rebellion.
The unfaithful spies were loud in denunciation of Caleb and Joshua, and
the cry was raised to stone them. The insane mob seized missiles with
which to slay those faithful men. They rushed forward with yells of
madness, when suddenly the stones dropped from their hands, a hush fell
upon them, and they shook with fear. God had interposed to check their
murderous design. The glory of his presence, like a flaming light,
illuminated the tabernacle. All the people beheld the signal of the
Lord. A mightier one than they had revealed himself, and none dared
continue their resistance. The spies who brought the evil report,
crouched terror-stricken, and with bated breath sought their tents.
Moses now arose, and entered the tabernacle. The Lord declared to him,
“I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will
make of thee a greater nation.” But again Moses pleaded for his people.
He could not consent to have them destroyed, and himself made a mightier
nation. Appealing to the mercy of God, he said: “I beseech thee, let the
power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, The
Lord is long-suffering, and of great mercy.... Pardon, I beseech thee,
the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy,
and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”
The Lord promised to spare Israel from immediate destruction; but
because of their unbelief and cowardice he could not manifest his power
to subdue their enemies. Therefore in his mercy he bade them, as the
only safe course, to turn back toward the Red Sea.
In their rebellion the people had exclaimed, “Would God we had died in
this wilderness!” Now this prayer was to be granted. The Lord declared:
“As ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: your carcasses
shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you,
according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward.... But
your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in,
and they shall know the land which ye have despised.” And of Caleb he
said, “My servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and
hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he
went; and his seed shall possess it.” As the spies had spent forty days
in their journey, so the hosts of Israel were to wander in the
wilderness forty years.
When Moses made known to the people the divine decision, their rage was
changed to mourning. They knew that their punishment was just. The ten
unfaithful spies, divinely smitten by the plague, perished before the
eyes of all Israel; and in their fate the people read their own doom.
Now they seemed sincerely to repent of their sinful conduct; but they
sorrowed because of the result of their evil course, rather than from a
sense of their ingratitude and disobedience. When they found that the
Lord did not relent in his decree, their self-will again arose, and they
declared that they would not return into the wilderness. In commanding
them to retire from the land of their enemies, God tested their apparent
submission, and proved that it was not real. They knew that they had
deeply sinned in allowing their rash feelings to control them, and in
seeking to slay the spies who had urged them to obey God; but they were
only terrified to find that they had made a fearful mistake, the
consequences of which would prove disastrous to themselves. Their hearts
were unchanged, and they only needed an excuse to occasion a similar
outbreak. This presented itself when Moses, by the authority of God,
commanded them to go back into the wilderness.
The decree that Israel was not to enter Canaan for forty years was a
bitter disappointment to Moses and Aaron, Caleb and Joshua; yet without
a murmur they accepted the divine decision. But those who had been
complaining of God’s dealings with them, and declaring that they would
return to Egypt, wept and mourned greatly when the blessings which they
had despised were taken from them. They had complained at nothing, and
now God gave them cause to weep. Had they mourned for their sin when it
was faithfully laid before them, this sentence would not have been
pronounced; but they mourned for the judgment; their sorrow was not
repentance, and could not secure a reversing of their sentence.
The night was spent in lamentation; but with the morning came a hope.
They resolved to redeem their cowardice. When God had bidden them go up
and take the land, they had refused; and now when he directed them to
retreat, they were equally rebellious. They determined to seize upon the
land and possess it; it might be that God would accept their work, and
change his purpose toward them.
God had made it their privilege and their duty to enter the land at the
time of his appointment; but through their willful neglect that
permission had been withdrawn. Satan had gained his object in preventing
them from entering Canaan; and now he urged them on to do the very
thing, in the face of the divine prohibition, which they had refused to
do when God required it. Thus the great deceiver gained the victory by
leading them to rebellion the second time. They had distrusted the power
of God to work with their efforts in gaining possession of Canaan; yet
now they presumed upon their own strength to accomplish the work
independent of divine aid. “We have sinned against the Lord,” they
cried; “we will go up and fight, according to all that the Lord our God
commanded us.”[671] So terribly blinded had they become by
transgression. The Lord had never commanded them to “go up and fight.”
It was not his purpose that they should gain the land by warfare, but by
strict obedience to his commands.
Though their hearts were unchanged, the people had been brought to
confess the sinfulness and folly of their rebellion at the report of the
spies. They now saw the value of the blessing which they had so rashly
cast away. They confessed that it was their own unbelief which had shut
them out from Canaan. “We have sinned,” they said, acknowledging that
the fault was in themselves, and not in God, whom they had so wickedly
charged with failing to fulfill his promises to them. Though their
confession did not spring from true repentance, it served to vindicate
the justice of God in his dealings with them.
The Lord still works in a similar manner to glorify his name by bringing
men to acknowledge his justice. When those who profess to love him
complain of his providence, despise his promises, and, yielding to
temptation, unite with evil angels to defeat the purposes of God, the
Lord often so overrules circumstances as to bring these persons where,
though they may have no real repentance, they will be convinced of their
sin, and will be constrained to acknowledge the wickedness of their
course, and the justice and goodness of God in his dealings with them.
It is thus that God sets counter-agencies at work to make manifest the
works of darkness. And though the spirit which prompted to the evil
course is not radically changed, confessions are made that vindicate the
honor of God, and justify his faithful reprovers, who have been opposed
and misrepresented. Thus it will be when the wrath of God shall be
finally poured out. When “the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his
saints to execute judgment upon all,” he will also “convince all that
are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds.”[672] Every sinner
will be brought to see and acknowledge the justice of his condemnation.
Regardless of the divine sentence, the Israelites prepared to undertake
the conquest of Canaan. Equipped with armor and weapons of war, they
were, in their own estimation, fully prepared for conflict; but they
were sadly deficient in the sight of God and his sorrowful servants.
When, nearly forty years later, the Lord directed Israel to go up and
take Jericho, he promised to go with them. The ark containing his law
was borne before their armies. His appointed leaders were to direct
their movements, under the divine supervision. With such guidance, no
harm could come to them. But now, contrary to the command of God and the
solemn prohibition of their leaders, without the ark, and without Moses,
they went out to meet the armies of the enemy.
The trumpet sounded an alarm, and Moses hastened after them with the
warning, “Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the Lord?
But it shall not prosper. Go not up, for the Lord is not among you; that
ye be not smitten before your enemies. For the Amalekites and the
Canaanites are there before you, and ye shall fall by the sword.”[673]
The Canaanites had heard of the mysterious power that seemed to be
guarding this people, and of the wonders wrought in their behalf; and
they now summoned a strong force to repel the invaders. The attacking
army had no leader. No prayer was offered that God would give them the
victory. They set forth with the desperate purpose to reverse their fate
or to die in battle. Though untrained in war, they were a vast multitude
of armed men, and they hoped by a sudden and fierce assault to bear down
all opposition. They presumptuously challenged the foe that had not
dared to attack them.
The Canaanites had stationed themselves upon a rocky table-land reached
only by difficult passes and a steep and dangerous ascent. The immense
numbers of the Hebrews could only render their defeat more terrible.
They slowly threaded the mountain paths, exposed to the deadly missiles
of their enemies above. Massive rocks came thundering down, marking
their path with the blood of the slain. Those who reached the summit,
exhausted with their ascent, were fiercely repulsed, and driven back
with great loss. The field of carnage was strewn with the bodies of the
dead. The army of Israel was utterly defeated. Destruction and death was
the result of that rebellious experiment.
Forced to submission at last, the survivors “returned, and wept before
the Lord;” but “the Lord would not hearken to their voice.”[674] By
their signal victory, the enemies of Israel, who had before awaited with
trembling the approach of that mighty host, were inspired with
confidence to resist them. All the reports they had heard concerning the
marvelous things that God had wrought for his people, they now regarded
as false, and they felt that there was no cause for fear. That first
defeat of Israel, by inspiring the Canaanites with courage and
resolution, had greatly increased the difficulties of the conquest.
Nothing remained for Israel but to fall back from the face of their
victorious foes, into the wilderness, knowing that here must be the
grave of a whole generation.
Footnote 670:
Num. 13:17-33; chapter 14.
Footnote 671:
Deut. 1:41.