Numb. xxvi. 63 — 65. These are they that were numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who numbered the children of Israel in the plains of Moab, by Jordan near Jericho. But among these there was not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron the priest numbered, when they numbered the children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai : for the Lord had said of them, They shall surely die in the wilderness. And there was not left a man of them, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
THE Israelites in some respects had an advantage over us, inasmuch as they had the most stupendous miracles wrought before their eyes : but we have an incomparably greater advantage over them, in seeing
the accomplishment of many prophecies relating to them, and the design of God in his diversified dis- pensations towards them. The miracles would strike the senses more forcibly for a little time ; but the accomplishment of prophecy commends itself to our judgment, and operates with more permanent effect. The event before us, for instance, carries an irresis- tible conviction with it to every reflecting mind. The Israelites had been numbered in the wilderness of Sinai a: but for their sin at Kadesh-barnea, where they refused to go up and possess the land, they were doomed to die in the wilderness13. Two excep- tions alone were made, Caleb and Joshua, who had boldly testified against the wickedness of the people on that occasion, and encouraged them to maintain a confidence in their God. Now the time for entering into Canaan was nearly arrived ; and Moses and Eleazar were commanded to number the people again, and to ascertain, for the instruction of the nation at large, the perfect accomplishment of this prophecy. Accordingly, it was ascertained by minute investiga- tion, and it is here distinctly affirmed for the benefit of the whole world. The fact that is here asserted, is often mentioned in the New Testament for the benefit of the Church at this day : and it is in this particular view that we shall insist upon it. It was intended to shew us,
I. That sinners derive no security from their num- bers—
[There is a conceit in the minds of men, that God can never condemn so many as they see to be walking in the ways of sin : and though they cannot but acknowledge, that the lives of a few religious persons are far more agreeable to the Scrip- tures than those of the generality of mankind, yet they deem it presumptuous in these to imagine themselves in a safer state than others. As for the distinctions which are made in the word of God, the promises of life to the godly, and the threatening of death to the ungodly, they are accounted of but little weight : men's own surmisings, however groundless, are made to outweigh the plainest declarations of Holy Writ. Here then the matter has been put to a trial. The whole
a Numb. i. 1—3. * Numb. xiv. 28—30.