Consider, Brethren, what I say ; " and the Lord give you understanding in all things."]
Numb. xx. 12. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congre- gation into the land which I have given them.
SCARCELY shall we find any portion of sacred history that is more calculated to affect a pious mind, than this. When we see judgments inflicted on the rebellious Israelites, we acknowledge without hesitation the justice and equity of God: we regret indeed that their impieties called for such severity ; but we approve of the severity itself, or rather, regard it as lenient, in comparison of their deserts. But here our proud hearts are almost ready to revolt, and to exclaim, "Hath God forgotten to be gracious?" " Is it thus that God deals with his chosen servants,
who for forty years have been indefatigable in his service ? Does he thus for one offence exclude them from the promised land, to the possession of which they had looked forward with such ardent desire and assured expectation ?" But we are soon silenced with that unanswerable question, " Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right ?" We are very incompetent to determine, what it becomes the Divine Majesty to do. But though we are not to sit in judgment on his dispensations, we may with propriety inquire into the reasons of them, if only we do so with a view to vin- dicate his ways, and to gain that instruction which they are intended to convey. Let us then, whilst contemplating the exclusion of Moses and Aaron from the land of Canaan, consider,
I. The offence they committed —
Slight as it may appear to us, it was a complicated offence —
There was in it a mixture of,
1. Irreverence —
[" God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of his saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are round about hima." But on this occasion Moses and Aaron seem to have forgotten that they were in the presence of God, or that there was any necessity to lead the murmurers to a becoming affiance in him. They should have reminded the people of his past mercies, and shewn them how to secure the continuance of his favours by penitence and prayer. But, notwithstanding " the glory of the Lord appeared unto them," they omitted, as he complains, " to sanctify him in the eyes of the children of Israel." This was a great offence. They should have remembered, that Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, had been devoured by fire before the Lord for irreverently offering common fire in their censers, instead of the fire that was burning on the altar : and that God on that occasion had said, " I will be sanctified in them that come nigh unto me, and before all the people I will be glorified b." There would therefore have been no ground to arraign the justice of God, even if he had smitten them in like manner on this occasion. Their exclusion from Canaan, though grievous, was less than their iniquity deserved.]
2. Anger —
[A certain kind of anger is allowable : nor is it wrong to
a Ps. lxxxix. 7. b Lev. x. 3.