repeat tl1emselvos in their manner of receiving God's promises, Moses tn.lks here aa the disciples did at the ~eeding of the five thousand (Matt. xiv. 15). And yet, after all his wonderful expenences, tl1ere should not have been the slightest difficulty in receiving what God had said. Of all possible convictions, this should have rested on solid ground-that wh3:tGod had promised he assuredly had power to perform, Is not this one of the great ddferences between God and men? Men promise and forg·et, or fall short ; God is always better than his promises, for they have to be spoken in defective human words, while they are fulfilled in complete Divine actions. • II. THE CAUSE OF THIS IMPERFECT APPRECIATION. Can \VG not detect, and especi- ally in the light of his subsequent language, something like doubt, something like leaning npon creature supports instead of God1 in the invitation which he gave to Hobab? If this be so, we wonder little at his language of bitter complaint and despair (Yers. 11-15); and we wonder less that he so soon showed himself out of sympathy with the Divine purposes. The eye of faith had become dim; self-preserv• ation, escape from an intolerable burden, occupied his thoughts. Was it astonishing tltnt, unbelief ha-ring found a temporo.ry lodgment in the heart of the leader, the followers should have failed to take in all the purport of God's message? Learn from this how carefully spirituality of mind needs to be guarded. We must not be seduced into leaning upon men i'IIGtead of trusting in God. Men may solace and encourage us as companions ; they are never to take the place of Providence. Bo neither are we to be terrified and paralysed by sudden a.nd stupendous revelations of human wickedness. In the midst of them all we hear the one voice speaking, " Be still, and know that I am God."-Y, Vers. 26-29.-Fooluh <Ulviu wisity r,;jeaeil. God fulfils his promise, and gives to these seventy men a spirit which doubtless brings them into more active sympathy with Moses, and takes away the carnal and selfish views which had prevailed in their minds. The difference between their present and former state was probably much like that between the state of the apostles aft.er and before the day of Pentecost, They had a perspicacity, alower, a courage, a zeal, which did not belong to them before. As they prophesie , may we not suppose that Moses heard from them ex- pressioDB quite new to his ears as coming from Israelite lips? And to make the occasion more memorable and significant, two of the seventy, who for some un- explained reason remained in the camp, nevertheless prophesied, as did those in the tabernacle. The intelligence was very quickl7 brought to Moses. Some of the Israelites would be greatly shocked by such an irregular proceeding, though perhaps they had seen nothing very censurable in the general cry of the people for flesh. Punctiliousness in ceremony and etiquette is often joined with laxity in things of moment (Matt. mii. 23). The reception of the news is followed by- I. THE FOOLISH ADVICE OD' JosHUA. Foolish, altlwugh given by a devoted friend. Joshua would probably have died for Moses, but he could not, therefore, give him good counsel. Attachment it.self has not unfrequently a blinding effect on the judg- ment. A stranger might advise more wisely, It is the right of friendship to offer advice but it is often the hei.gkt of friendship, the very bloom and delicacy of it, to refrain'. We find similar instances (Matt. xvi. 21-23; Acts xxi. 12, 13). Foolish, becaUBe evidently given without consideratwn. The circumstances were quite novel to Joshua. The grounds on which he dashed out his advice were mere matters of hearsay. There wae eMugh to have made him ca.utiOWJ. Eldad and Medad were among the chosen ones; those present bad been gifted with the spirit; what more likely then upon consideration, what more worthy of reverent accel?tance, than that the absentees should have been similarly visited? Advice, when 1t is given with full knowledge of circumstanCP-B and full consideration of them, may be indeed precious, the very salvation and security of a perplexed mind. Otherwise, the greater the ignorance the greater the mischief. Advice should mostly come in 1esponee to a request for it. Foolish, because it concerned the status of Moses rather tlw:11, the glory of God. Much of the advice of friendship ia vitiated, through shutting out all save personal ccnsiderations. One friend advisee another as a counsel does his client, not that justice may be done, but that his client may gain his end. Joshua. was consider• big how the reputation 8.Jld in6ue11ce of H lrls {ord ¥oS!llf" would ho affecteq, OB. xn.] THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. 129
Foolish because it was given to a man who was in no doubt. Moses wns rejoicing in escape from a heavy burden, and the visitation upon Eldad and Medad was tlrn '\l'ery thing still further to comfort him. The folly of the advice is crowned, as we observe that it re,commended an impossihility. "Forbid them." Forbid what? That they should prophesy I As well forbid the branches not to sway with a strong wind as forbid men to prophesy when the Spirit comes upon them. Even Balaam could not help uttering the Lord's prophecies and blessing Israel from the very mouth that would fain, in its greed of filthy lucre, have uttered a curse. II. THIS FOOLISH ADVICE WISELY REJE0"""ZD. 1. As to the substance of the rejec- tion. Possibly if Moses had been a different kind of man, he might have said to himself, "There is something in what Joshua says." But he was not one of the aut Cresar aut nullus order. Joshua, in his impetuous word, was concerned for his master's honour; the master himself was concerned about bis grievous burden. Not even Joshua understood the bitter experiences through which Moses had lately passed. "Would that all the Lord's people were prophets I" Our measure before God does not depend on our standing among men.. Moses would no_t _have bee!l one whit less esteemed in heaven if every other Israelite had been as spmtually-mmded as himself. Joshua had been speaking to a man who, like Christian, had been toil- ing on with a weary weight on his back. He bas just got rid of it, and " Forbid them" really meant, "Take the burden up again." 2. As to the irpirit of the rejec- tion. Moses shows here the meekness and gentleness with which he is so emphatic- ally credited in the next chapter. Advice, when it cannot be taken, even when it is most foolish and meddlesome, should be pushed gently away ; and if the spirit in which it has been given is evidently kind and generouR, let the refusal be mingled with gratefulness. Joshua loved Moses, and Moses loved Joshua. "Enviest thou for my sake?" Thus Moses recognises the devotion and bonafida of his friend.-Y.
EXPOSITION.