B.C. 1490. 2. His zeal; 3. His love. Improvement :-(1) Examine well cated it to the your own principles; (2) Take diligent heed to the Word of seventy."-Theo- God.g doret. e It was a sign for the occasion, i.e. to assure their own minds, and to accredit them to Moses. d Delitzsch. e Ex. xxxiii. 11; 9 C. Simeon, M.A. v. 24. Origen, op. ii. 286. h T. Fuller. the quails taavah, Hazeroth a Ps. lxxviii. 2628, cv. 40. Envy of the gifts of others.-Lord, I perceive my soul deeply guilty of envy. By my good will I would have none prophesy but mine own Moses. I had rather Thy work were undone, than done better by another than by myself: had rather that Thy enemies were all alive, than that I should kill but my thousand, and others their ten thousands of them. My corruption repines at other men's better parts, as if what my soul wants of them in substance she would supply in swelling. Dispossess me, Lord, of this bad spirit, and turn my envy into holy emulation. Let me labour to exceed them in pains who excel me in parts and knowing that my sword, in cutting down sin, hath a duller edge, let me strike with the greater force: yea, make other men's gifts to be mine, by making me thankful to Thee for them. It was some comfort to Naomi, that, wanting a son herself, she brought up Ruth's child in her bosom. If my soul be too old to be a mother of goodness, Lord, make it but a dry-nurse. Let me feed, and foster, and nourish, and cherish the graces in others, honouring their persons, praising their parts, and glorifying Thy name, who hath given such gifts unto them." 31-35. (31) wind.. Lord," a strong wind fr. the S.E. sea, Red S. quails, see Ex. xvi. 13. let.. camp, threw them Kebroth-hat-down-i.e. the wind beat them down. two.. earth, not that they fell in a heap of two cubs. thickness; but, being driven downwards by the wind, flew along ab. breast high fr. the ground, and so were easily caught. (32) gathered, having b So say some of caught. ten homers, ab. 20 bush., see Le. xxvii. 16. spread, the Rabbis, and etc., prob. to dry in the sun. (33) smote.. plague, result of the Spk. Comm., eating so much of an unaccustomed food. (34) Kibrothetc.: but Rosen-hattaavah (graves of longing),e (35) Hazeroth (villages), sup. müller, Keil, etc., to be 'Ain-el-Hudhera, ab. 18 hrs. fr. Sinai. say that they fell in some places to the height of two cubs., in heaps. Quail, see Topics i. 50. Heb. selav, old Fr. quaille; It. quaglia; Du. quackel; Low Lat. quaquila, fr. the sound the bird makes. c Ez. xlv. 11. d Ps. lxxviii. 30, 31. Nu. xxxiii. 17; De. ix. 22. f W. Jay. "Some are cursed with the fulness of satiety; and how can they bear the ills of Concupiscence punished.—I. Let us remark the power and dominion of God. Every element, every creature, is subject to His authority, and yields to His control. II. See how much more diligent men are in collecting the meat that perisheth, than in labouring for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life. III. Persons may gather and hoard up what they will never live to enjoy. IV. It is not the refusal, but the gratification of our desires that often proves ruinous. Sometimes the things so eagerly lusted after-1. Prove injurious to health; 2. Turn out unsatisfactorily; 3. Prove morally injurious. Reflections:-(1) How impossible it is to determine the love or anger of God from external circumstances; (2) His reflection should crush all envy; (3) The prosperity of the wicked, and the sufferings of the righteous, mysteries which have often perplexed even good men, are here explained; 4. Here we can harmonise the character and promise of God with those denials which He sometimes gives to our petitions; (5) Let us learn with what a reserve we should always pray; (6) The subject teaches us to be moderate in our desires.f Quails. From the apparent improbability of quails, whose life, when its favourite resort is moist pasture land, being found in such vast very pleasures fatigue them?" flights in the desert, it has been suggested that the Hebrew word selar does not mean a quail, but a stork, or some other desert Colton. B.C. 1490. "Satiety comes of a too often repetition; and he himself leisure to who will not give taigne. formance; for "It is probable that God punishes the wish as much as He does the actual perwhat is performance but a wish perfected with is a wish but a power? and what desire wanting bird. But observation of the habits of the quail shows the accuracy of the account; and the name selav is still applied to the quail in the Arabic and its cognate tongues. The time of the first miraculous supply of quails, and probably of the second also, was in the month of April, the exact season when the quail performs its migration in vast flocks. We are told that "at even the be thirsty, can quails came up and covered the camp," and it is well known that never find the the quail, like most other birds of passage, performs its migra- true pleasure of tions only at night. Again, we are told that "there went forth drinking."--Mona wind from the Lord, and brought quails from the sea." From their weak power of flight, the quails instinctively select the shortest sea passage, and avail themselves of any island as a resting-place. Thus the Mediterranean islands, as Malta, Capri, and others, have frequently been known to be covered with these birds for several days together at the time of the spring migrations, when the wind was adverse. They spend the winter in Central Africa; and in returning to Syria, skirt the western side of the Red Sea, crossing its narrowest part. They always fly with the wind, and wait till it is favourable before they commence to cross. After their passage, they are so utterly ex- opportunity hausted that, as is sometimes the case with woodcocks in action,-a desire sticking in the England, they may be captured in any number by the hand. birth, and misTheir flight is always very low, which is doubtless what is meant carrying for lack by their being" as it were two cubits high upon the face of the of strength and earth;" and finally we are told that the people spread them all cumstances abroad for themselves round about the camp-i.e. dried them for food in the sun, as they had learned to do in Egypt, where Herodotus tells us the Egyptians cooked the quail after this simple fashion (ii. 77). I have myself been fortunate enough to be a witness of this quail migration both in African and Asiatic deserts. I have seen them in the morning covering many acres, where not one had been on the evening before. The wind on one occasion was ahead; and though hundreds were slaughtered, they did not leave for two days, when the wind veered in their favour, and they as suddenly disappeared, leaving scarce a straggler behind. CHAPTER THE TWELFTH. of favourable cir to bring it into the world?"— Dr. g South. 1-5. (1) Ethiopian, Heb. Cushite. Not likely to be Zip- Miriam's porah, who was prob. dead.a Besides if Z. were meant why had rebellion they not spoken bef. (2) hath .. us? this to disparage Moses. Kurtz, Keil, (3) meek..earth, as being the highest officially yet without a Josephus, Philo, pride. (4) suddenly, and in anger. come.. three, God Ewald, Winer, would show them the dif. measure of His communications. (5) Baumgarten. Aaron.. Miriam, to whom He had something special to say. The meekness of Moses.-I. Was manifested most conspicuously on many occasions. II. Was marked by the humble surrender of vi. 4. His will to God. III. Was the more striking in that he was so learned. IV. Exceeded that of all men. V. Yet was not absolutely perfect. The blessing of the meek.-It is in the lowly valley that the sun's warmth is truly genial; unless, indeed, there are mountains so close and abrupt as to overshadow it. Then noisome vapours may be bred there; but otherwise in the valley may we behold Ex. xv. 20; Mi. c Ps. lxxvi. 7-9. b Ps. cv. 26; He. iii. 2-5. e Ex. xxxiii. 11; De. xxxiv. 10; 1 Co. xiii. 12. <l C. Simeon, M.A. "Highest when it stoops lowest before the holy the meaning of the wonderful blessing bestowed upon the meek, that they shall inherit the earth. It is theirs for this very reason, because they do not seek it. They do not exalt their heads like icebergs, which, by the by, are driven away from earth, and cluster, or rather jostle, around the pole; but they flow along the earth humbly and silently: and, wherever they flow, they bless it; and so all its beauty and all its richness are reflected in their pure, calm, peaceful bosoms.d 6-9. (6) if.. you, etc.,a to an ordinary prophet, occasional, special communications shall be made. (7) my.. so, not an ordinary prophet. faithful.. house, and like a faithful servant does not need special instructions in the will of God. (8) speak.. mouth, familiarly. apparently, distinctly. not speeches, parables, enigmas. and.. behold, God would in some way manifest Himself to the eye of Moses. afraid, etc., seeing his vast superiority. (9) them, Miriam and Aaron. C Aaron and Miriam reproved. We shall consider these words as expressing God's displeasure against those who-I. Oppose the civil magistrate. II. Disregard the ministers of the Gospel. III. Neglect the Lord Jesus Christ.a Condition of communion.-Birds cannot converse with men throne; throw s unless they have a rational nature put into them; nor can men down its crown converse with God, unless, being made new creatures, they parabased; forgets take of the Divine nature. Communion with God is a mystery itself, admires, to most. Every one that hangs about the court doth not speak adoring praise." with the king; all that meddle with holy duties, and, as it were, and breathes -Pollok. e T. Watson. Miriam's leprosy a De. xxiv. 9; 2 K. v. 27, xv. 5; 2 Ch. xxvi. 19, 20. 12 S. xxiv. 10; 9; Ps. xxxviii. 1 Ps. lxix. 5, xxiv. -7. c Le. xiii. 44-46. d Ja. v. 15, 16. e R. A. Griffin. hang about the court of heaven, have not communion with God: it is only the new creature enjoys God's presence in ordinances, and sweetly converses with him as a child with a father.e 10-13. (10) cloud.. tabernacle, i.e. fr. the door to usual place. Miriam,a prob. the instigator of the rebellion. leprous, she was so in heart bef. Aaron, perh. exempted fr. punishment bec. his leprosy would have interfered with his official duties. (11) lay.. us,' he may have expected it to app. on himself: he confesses and repents of his sin. (12) be.. dead, unnumbered among the people. of whom, etc., as a stillborn child with decomposition begun. (13) Moses, etc., moved by his bro.'s intercession and his sist.'s condition. d The prayer of Moses for Miriam.-Consider-I. The prayer. How conclusively does it attest the excellency of the character of Moses! How worthy of power is one so large-hearted and forgiving. The prayer was-1. Explicit. Nothing vague. He prays not for wrong-doers in the mass, but for one in particular, “Guilt, though it and that one who had wronged him. Many will pray general may attain tem- prayers heartily enough. Lips, willing to say, "Have mercy on poral splendour, us, miserable sinners," refuse to say, "Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner;" 2. Earnest. Did he see the Shekinah receding (v. 10), and would have God return at once? God's withdrawals excite prayer; 3. Generous: "Heal her now." Not make her penitent, or cause her to beg forgiveness, and then heal her, or remove the disease after a certain time; but "Heal her now; "4. Well-timed. He waited not till the memory of her sin and his wrong were fainter; at once his cry goes up. We are not "to give place unto wrath." He gives place who gives time.e can never con fer real happiness. The evident consequences of our crimes long survive their commission, and, like the ghosts of the murdered, for ever haunt the steps of the male factor. The paths Consciousness of guilt.-However vauntingly men may bear great ness, are always themselves in the hour of prosperous villany, proofs enough have B.C. 1490. existed of the fears of guilt, when the hour of calamity ap- of virtue, though proaches. Why did our first parents hide themselves after their seldom those of sin, when they heard the voice of the Lord in the garden? Why worldly did Cain alarm himself at being pursued by the people of the earth? Why shrunk Belshazzar from the handwriting on the wall? Adam had before heard the voice of the Lord, and trembled not: Cain knew that no witness of the murder of his brother existed: Belshazzar understood not the meaning of the writing upon the wall:-and yet they all, after the commission of their several deeds of sin, trembled at the voices that were heard, and the signs that were seen. Whence, then, was this? It was because conscience told them that there is an Eye to which all hearts are open, and whispered the important truth, which has since been proclaimed aloud to all the world, that, "doubtless there is a God that judgeth the earth.”s 14–16. (14) if.. days, how much more shall the fact of the leprosy be marked: this, too, a mark of the disapprobation of God. (15) Miriam.. days,a see Le. xiii. 4, 5. The people would learn that not even their leaders could sin with impunity. people.. again,' sug. of the fact that when officials sin the community suffers. (16) Paran, see Nu. x. 12. The prayer of Moses for Miriam (continued).-Consider-II. Co. xi. 29; Ro. The answer. It was most-1. Gracious: He condescended to return and speak to Moses; intimates that she shall be healed at the expiration of seven days; 2. Wise: seven days she must suffer for (1) Her own good; (2) Aaron's good; (3) All Israel's good; to show that an exalted position in God's service does not exempt from the punishment of sin; 3. Speedy: He answered at once. Why so speedy? Because He desired the innocent should not be afflicted with the guilty. See how God sets forth the case to Moses, so that he, seeing the wisdom of the punishment and God's grace in curtailing it, may be at rest. с Spitting in the face.-Miriam had greatly offended God, and, therefore, she was to be as a daughter, whose father had spit in her face. In De. xxv. 9, the widow was to spit in the face of her late husband's brother, if he refused to marry her. And Job (xxx. 10) in his great misery says of his enemies "they spare not to spit in my face;" and in reference to our Saviour, they did "spit in His face." The most contemptuous, the most exasperating and degrading action, which one man can do to another, is to spit in his face. A person receiving this insult is at once worked up to the highest pitch of anger, and nothing but the rank or power of the individual will prevent him from seeking instant revenge. Indeed, such is the enormity attached to this offence, that it is seldom had recourse to, except in extreme cases. A master, whose slave has deeply offended him, will not beat him (for that would defile him), but he spits in his face. When his anger is at the greatest height, he will not even condescend to do that, but order a fellow-servant, or some one near to spit in his face. Is a person too respectable for this indignity; then the offended individual will spit upon the ground. Schoolmasters, also, when very angry with a scholar, do not, as in England, begin to beat him, but spit in his face, or order some one else to do it. To a person making use of offensive language, bystanders say, "Spit in his face." Moses interriam cedes for a Nu. v. 2, 3; Le. xiii. 4--6; Ps. ciii. 2-4, 8-14. b Ga. vi. 1, 2; 2 IV. 1-4. c Ge. xxi. 20, 21. intemperance of it ill to be railed Just so should a wise man treat all mankind, as a physician does his patient, and look upon them extravagant."Seneca. only as sick and "The ancient councils and synods, as is noted by the ecclesiastical story, when they deprived any bishop, never recorded the offence, but buried it in perpetual silence." Bacon. e Roberts. Lord B.C. 1490. the twelve spies a De. i. 19, 22. b Nu. xiii. 26. c Jos. xiv. 6-14. d J. Burns. "The eye as it is used will either CHAPTER THE THIRTEENTH. 1-8. (1, 2) search, etc.," examine for themselves, and for the people. ruler, a man of judgment and experience. (3) from. Paran, i.e. fr. Kadesh. (4) Shammua (rumour). Zaccur (mindful). (5) Shaphat (judge). Hori (dweller in caverns). (6) Caleb (dog). Jephunneh (beholder). (7) Igal (God will avenge). Joseph (he will add). (8) Oshea (deliverance), aft. called Joshua. Nun (fish). Glimpses of the better land.-I. The search. II. The retreat. be a help or a III. An emblem of God's dealings with His people. 1. The snare; either it children of Israel were sent back to the wilderness on account of will let in the their sin; 2. While they are sent back in judgment, they go back sparks of temptation, or en- of their own accord; 3. Through the fruit of sin, and the token kindle the fire of of God's righteous displeasure, all was overruled for their good; true devotion. 4. Though chastened and afflicted, they are not cast off: they windows which are Divinely delivered, sustained, guided, and chastened. ImGod hath placed provement:-(1) Let young believers not be high-minded, but in the top of the fear; (2) Let backsliders remember, and weep; (3) Let tried and troubled saints take fresh courage.d These are the building, that man from thence may contemplate God's works and take a prospect of heaven, the place of eternal resi our dence."-T. Man ton. "He sees theirs ; where а religion. By at Grandfather's eyes.-Never was little Myra better pleased than when going a walk with her grandfather; for he was so kind and gentle, and talked to her about the things they saw in so pleasant and cheerful a manner, that it was quite a treat to her. If they saw any ants at work, "Oh! oh!" he would say, "what makes you so busy, when none of you have any rent or tax to pay? But I see how it is: you are at work for one another. Remember, with Myra, we must not be idle; for when we have nothing to do for other eyes than ourselves, we may always help other people.' If they saw a bee they behold winging his way from flower to flower, he was almost sure to sun, he spies a speak of it. "Well, Mr. Buzzabout, will you tell us what you Deity."-Young. are doing? But we understand it very well, and will learn a "Prudence and lesson from you. Mind, Myra, that, as the bees get honey from economy are every flower, you and I get good from everything." In this way practical parts of Myra used to be entertained by her grandfather, who likened her tending to these to a fresh bud that would soon burst into flower, and himself to duties we may a faded leaf which was almost ready to fall from the tree. One avoid the crimi-day, after Myra had a pleasant walk with her grandfather, she credit of busy-sat down to do a little sewing with her mother, and then they bodies, and may talked together in the following manner : I wish I had grandthe better exer- father's eyes, mother." "Do you, dear? I hardly think that he cise the duties of could spare them. But what can you possibly want with the hospitality and liberality in the eyes of your grandfather, Myra?" "Oh! if I had his eyes, I cause of the Sa- should see all that he sees when we are walking together; but now I cannot see half so much as he does." "No! that is very strange, when you are young and he is old. He often says that his sight is not what it used to be; and then, you know, though the Bible is in large print, he is obliged to use spectacles." "Yes, Origen, op. ii. "Tell me 293 Bp. Hall, mother, but for all that he can see more than I can." Cont.; J. Saurin, what you mean, love, for I cannot at all understand you." Dis. Hist. ii. 392,"Why, when we walk out into the fields and lanes, let us look at Diss. 557; Dr. what we will, he says he sees God's goodness in everything." Hawker, Wks., "Ah! Myra, it is not grandfather's eyes, but grandfather's faith nality and dis viour and of His poor disciples." -Cobbin. e Methodist. v. 387. |