CHAPTER IX

FROM SINAI TO THE DEATH OF MOSES

IN earlier days the firstborn had acted as the priest of the family, but the organisation of the people as a nation, and the institution of a set form of worship with many rites and ceremonies, made a special priesthood necessary. The response of the tribe of Levi to the question, “Who is on the Lord’s side?” marked them out as the ones for this service, and they were dedicated to that purpose. God said, “Thou shalt take the Levites for Me instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel.”

As the days passed the people began to murmur again. They had tired of the manna; to eat it day after day was too monotonous. They thought of the flesh they had eaten in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, and the garlic. The mixed multitude who had accompanied them, were particularly loud in their complaints, they wanted flesh to eat. God provided flesh; a strong wind brought huge flights of quails, which flew so low that they could be caught as they flew, wearied by their struggle with the wind. All night and all the next day the people gathered them. But when they had partaken of them a plague broke out and great numbers of the people died.

Moses’ life must have been an anxious one. Even Aaron and Miriam spoke against him on account of Ethiopian woman whom he had married. They were both rebuked by God, and Miriam was stricken with leprosy, which was only healed on the inter­cession of Moses. It was on this occasion that God spoke of Moses in a very remarkable way, saying, “If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, I will speak with him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so; he is faithful in all Mine house; with him will I speak mouth to mouth, even manifestly, and not in dark speeches, and the form of the Lord shall be behold.” Fifteen hundred years afterwards these words assumed an important significance when a prophet like unto Moses appeared before the people of Israel.

Spying out the land

At the suggestion of the people twelve spies were sent to see the land to which they were going, to report on its produce, the people who dwelt there, and the sort of fortifications that guarded the cities they would have to capture. For forty days the spies journeyed through the land. On their return they brought, among other things, a specimen of the grapes of the country, a cluster so large that it had to be borne on a staff. The land, they said, was a good land; it flowed with milk and with honey, but the people of the land troubled them. There were giants among them, and they dwelt in cities that were walled and very strong. The goodness of the land was ignored, and the wonders of God’s dealings in the past were forgotten. In vain two of the spies, Caleb and Joshua, sought to still the fears of the people and to reason with them. It was no use. Suddenly the glory of the Lord shone in the pillar of cloud on the tabernacle. In a moment all was stilled, as God spoke to Moses threatening to send a pestilence among the people.

Once more Moses acted as an intercessor, and God’s response to his appeal is one of the outstanding statements in God’s Story. “I have pardoned,” he said, “according to thy word; but as truly as I live all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.” Note the surety, as truly as God lives!-God Who is from everlasting to everlasting, and Who inhabiteth eternity! So surely as He lives all the earth shall be filled with the glory of God. Centuries have passed since the words were spoken, and the earth has not been filled with the glory of the Lord. It cannot be so until the Seed of Abraham sits in the gate of his enemies, Lord of all the earth, when all the evil associated with sin shall be purged from the earth.

Faithless rebellion

The generation that rejected the advice of Joshua and Caleb was not to be associated with any such results. They had despised the words and the power of God, and they had to bear the results of their conduct. Forty days had led to such a discouraging report; forty years were to be spent in the wilderness. During that time the spies and the faithless people were to fall in the wilderness. Only two adults escaped that fate, Caleb and Joshua.

When this punishment was announced the people refused to believe it, and proceeded to take matters into their own hands. They invaded the country of the Amalekites, but were defeated, and they sorrow­fully realised that for forty years they must wander in an inhospitable land. Of that forty years of dis­grace and punishment little is known. The route they followed is recorded, and the camping places are named, but that is all except references to a few happenings which must be narrated.

The first was the rebellion of Korah. In the encamp­ment of the people around the tabernacle, the tribe of Reuben pitched near the Kohathite section of the Levites. Korah, a Levite, resented the position which had been assigned to him in the service of the taber­nacle. Reuben was the firstborn of Jacob, and the tribe resented the comparatively unimportant place it occupied in the camp. So a party was formed, headed by the envious Korah and two leaders of the disgruntled tribe. Two hundred and fifty princes joined them; they seem to have been some of the firstborns who had occupied so important a place in the national organisation before the choice of the Levites.

At last the discontent broke out. “Ye take too much upon you,” the leaders said to Moses and Aaron, “all the congregation are holy.” Moses was very angry, but he appointed the following day for a test by which the Lord would indicate whom He chose. On the morrow the test took place. Korah and his company, with Aaron, and the two hundred and fifty princes attended, each having his censer in his hand. (The fact that the “princes” possessed censers suggests that they had been connected with the priestly functions in the past). When they had assembled round the door of the tabernacle, the glory of the Lord shone forth, and a voice spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them.” Once more Moses acted as intercessor. “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin and wilt Thou be wroth with all the congregation?” The voice spoke again. “Speak unto the congregation saying, Get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.” With anxious forebodings the people did so. As the three men and their families stood there Moses said, “If these men die the common death of all men, then the Lord hath not sent me. But if the Lord make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, . . . then ye shall understand that these men have despised the Lord.” As the people looked the earth opened her mouth, and Korah and his friends, and all that pertained to them, perished, whilst the fire of the Lord consumed the two hundred and fifty princes that offered incense. Next day the discontent broke out again. They charged Moses with killing the people of the Lord, as though he had caused the earth to open and swallow them up. At once a plague broke out, a plague that was only stayed by the intervention of Moses and Aaron, the latter of whom took incense and made atonement for the people.

The rebellion of Korah was an opportunity to vindicate the position of Aaron. The prince of each tribe was told to bring a rod, which, together with that of Aaron, was placed in the tabernacle before the Lord. When they were examined next morning the rod of Aaron had budded and brought forth almonds. The rod was placed in the ark of the covenant as a silent witness to the choice of Aaron and his family to act as priests.

The forty years drew to an end and Miriam died in Kadesh, where again there was no water for the people to drink, and Moses was told to take his rod and speak to a rock that it should give water. Moses and Aaron gathered the people together to witness the miracle. But Moses erred, and instead of speaking to the rock he spoke to the people. “Hear now, ye rebels,” he said, “shall we bring you forth water out of this rock?” as he struck the rock twice, and the waters gushed out. It was a lack of faith on Moses’ part, he “believed not to sanctify” God, and it was a complete failure to magnify the God of Israel; he spoke as if he and Aaron were givers of the water. The people’s thirst was quenched, but Moses paid heavily for his mistake. He was not to lead the people into the Promised Land. No one can omit to sanctify God without paying a penalty for such a failure.

The brazen serpent

Now the journey was nearly over, the forty years had almost gone, and Israel had reached Mount Hor, on the edge of the land. There, on Mount Hor, Aaron died and was buried. After thirty days mourning for the dead High Priest the people continued their way. They found this last portion of the journey a terribly hard one. The king of Edom refused to let them pass through his country and they had to go around it. The hardships of the way caused more murmurings. This time punishment came by a visitation of fiery serpents. Multitudes of the people died, but Moses was instructed to make a serpent of brass and place it on a pole. Anyone who had been bitten by a serpent and then gazed at the brazen serpent as it was lifted up, was healed. This was another thing that found a much greater meaning fifteen hundred years afterwards.

When Edom refused to allow Israel to pass through his land the host turned northward to the country of the Amorites. Here they were not only refused passage, but the king, Sihon, came out against them to battle. He was defeated and Israel took possession of his land. Then Og, the king of Bashan, came against them, and met with a similar fate, and at last Israel had a territory of their own, though not in the land they were seeking.

Israel blessed

The triumph of Israel made Balak the king of Moab realise his danger. Against a people who had gained such victories he could do nothing. Away in Pethor there was a prophet named Balaam, who was reputed to be a man of wonderful powers, and Balak sent for him to come and curse Israel. At first Balaam refused. He wanted to go, for great riches were offered as an inducement, but God told him he was not to go. Balak then sent more princes and, at last, Balaam agreed to go. He quieted his conscience because God had said that if they called him he might go. The wages of unrighteousness were too alluring to be resisted, and even a rebuke from his ass, and one from an angel who came to withstand him, did not really influence him. Finally God told him that he might go, but that he was only to say that which God told him.

In the hands of the Spirit of God Balaam could not help himself. Four times he blessed the people whom Balak had hired him to curse. The incident illustrates a truth expressed long afterwards, that prophecy is not from man but from the Holy Spirit. But if an evil man, under the Spirit of prophecy, could not speak the words he desired to utter he could give advice that was likely to lead to the results desired. A religious feast was held in Moab. Such events were associated with much licentiousness, and the men of Israel fell into the trap. The attraction of the women of Moab was too much for them; they joined them in worship and in the orgies of the festival. Moses gave instructions that all who had taken part in the heathen rites were to be killed, and Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron, earned a special commendation by killing a prince of the tribe of Simeon and a Midianitish woman whom he had brought into the camp. War was declared against the Midianites, and in the course of the fighting Balaam was slain.

By the conflicts which had taken place a consider­able territory east of the Jordan fell into the hands of the Israelites. It was a land suitable for pasturage, and two of the tribes, Reuben and Gad, and a part of another, Manasseh, had large possessions of flocks and herds. They asked for permission to settle in these countries; Moses granted their request on condition that they left their women and children, with their flocks and herds, in the strongholds of the land, while the fighting men went over Jordan to help their brethren to conquer their inheritance.

The time had now come for Moses to die. He had lived a long, active, and interesting life. He had been associated with the great movement that was to establish Israel in the land promised to Abraham in which they were to be the Kingdom of God. Like all men he made mistakes, and he had to pay the penalty. Before he did so he gave a final address to the people. He recited the laws, and told them that God would at some time in the future choose a place which should be the centre of their national worship. He promised great blessings if they were faithful to God, and warned them of the terrible things that would happen if they turned to the idols of the nations. The great evils would culminate in their being scattered among all the nations of the earth, though even there they should find no ease, but experience trembling of heart, failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind. History has only too well shown what such predictions meant.

Moses’ death

One of the most striking statements made by Moses on this occasion was, “The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me.” He told them that God would put His words into the mouth of this Prophet and added, “It shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto My words which he shall speak in My name, I will require it of him.” These words found a wonderful significance some fifteen hundred years afterwards when Jesus, the Prophet like unto Moses, actually appeared.

Moses finished his address with the repetition of a song in which he set forth the purpose God had in His dealings with Israel, and pronounced a blessing on each of the tribes. When he had finished he went to the top of Pisgah to view the land he was not to enter. There it lay before him as a great panorama with all its variegated characteristics. It was, as he himself said, “a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven; a land which the Lord thy God careth for; the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.” Having satisfied his eyes with the beauty of the scene, the old man lay down to die. The angels of God buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, “and no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.”

He was a hundred and twenty years old. Forty years had been spent in Egypt gaining experience in governing people. Forty had been passed in the desert where he could commune in quietness with his God. The last forty had been spent in the great task of leading Israel out of Egypt. Finally he died in sight of the goal of his desires. There he sleeps until the God of the spirits of all flesh shall call him to enter the land which he saw but could not enter.