The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 159

deeds done in the body (2 Cor. v. 10). 3. A godly mother in the midst of daily duties, not only praying but soliloquising, ae in Ps. !xii. 1, 2, 6-7. Whether or not ehe may ea.y Pe. v. 1, God does "give ear," and the words are "acceptable" (Ps. xix. 14). 4. Sufferere lamenting; e. g. Hagar (Gen. xvi. 11); Ishmael (Gen. xxi. 17); Israel in E&YPt (Exod. ii. 24); mourners in Zion (Isa.. xx.x. 19). ll. As A WA.BNING, The truth ha.s its shady as well as its sunny side. We may apply to-1. The swearer's prayer, not intended for the ear of God, but reaching it. 2. Calumnies and backbitings, e. g. against Moses (vers. 1, 2), or other servants of God (cf. Zeph. ii. 8); perhaps disliked because their lives are a rebuke to others (cf. 'Pa. xciv. 4, 7, 8, 9; John xy. 18). 3. Impure words. The youth wo~ld be aahamed all day if his mother accidentally heard. But God heard. 4. Solitary words of repining or rebellion. Spoken~ haste, they are.soon re~retted, 1!nd you say, ".Well, at any rate nobody heard them. ' Stop and think agam (eh. Xl. 1; Ps. c::n:xu:. 7). The ear of God, like his eye, is in every place." Therefore Matt. xii. 37.. This truth leads us by a single step to the heart of the gospel ( Acts x:x, 21 ). Al!d if ~e say Ps. xvii. ·3, God will hear that too, and give us strength to serve htm mth "righteous lips" and "joyful lips" (Ps. xix. 14 ).-P. Vere. 1, 2.-.A hideous ma1tife$t<IJ:ion of mi,de. Amid much obscurity we dis~ern that family jealousies were the occasion o! this outbreak. Some occasion certamly would have arisen so we need not trouble ourselves whether this Cushite wife was Zipporah or a wif~ lately taken. There is room for much conjecture, A.lld real need for none. Out of the heart cometh pride. Pride was in M.iriam's heart; it must come out sooner or later, We specify Miriam, ae she was evidently the principal transgressor. Aaron simply and easily followed where she led. Let 1l8 fix our attention on the hideous revelation of her pride. I. It Wl!.8 A PRIDE TllAT OVEBWHELMl!ID NATURAL AFFECTION. To whom in all Israel might Moeee have more confidently looked for sympathy than his own sister? Especially if it were ehe who stood afar o:ff, and watched the ark of bulrushes (Exod, ii. 4). It wae an unworthy thing of a sister to hinder one on whom God had lnid such great and anxious duties. But when eelf-eeteem is once hurt, the wound soon inflames beyond all control ; and even those on whom we are most dependent, and to whom we owe the most, are made to feel the grievous irritation of our spirits. II. It was A PRIDE THAT MADE MIRUM FOBGET THE OBLIGATIONS OF HER OWN BONOURA:BLE OFFICE. She was a prophetess, even as Moses wns a prophet. She does, ind~ed, in one sense recollect her office. " Hath the Lord not spoken also by us ? " True ; and this was the very reason why she should have been specially careful of what ehe said, even when the Lord was not speaking by her. .A propha's tongue ,should be doubly guarded at all times. Those who speak for God ought never to say anything out of their own thou&'hts incongruous with the Divine message. If Miriam and Aaron had ever been obliged to deal with Moses as once Pnul hnd to deal with Peter, and withstand him to the face because he was to be blamed, then the prophet element in them would have been more glorious thnn ever. But here Miriam stoops from her high rank to give e:ffect to a mean pereonal grudge. III. It was l>RIDE TlIAT PUT ON A PRETENCE OF BEING BADLY TREA'l'ED. It ie very easy for the proud to persuade themselves that they have been badly treated. They are so much in their own thoughts that it becomes easy for them to believe that they are much in the thoughts of other people ; and from this they can soon odvnnce to the suspicion that there may be elaborate designs against them. Men will go step by step to great villainies, justifying themselves all the way. The scribes who sat in Moses' seat no doubt made their conspiracy against Jesus look very laudable to their own eyes. Miriam does not speak here with the arrogonce of a straightforward, •brutal, 11 I wish it, and it must bs 110." The iniquity of her heart sought to veil itself in a plausible plea for justice. IV. It was the WOIIST OF ALL PRIDB, Bl'InlTUAL PRIDE. Pride of birth, of beauty, of wealth, of learning, all these are bad, often ridiculous ; but spiritual pride ie such a contradiction, such an amazin~ example of blindness, that we may well give it a pre-eminence among the evil fruits of the corrupt heart. It is tl1e chief of all pride, most dongerou11 to the subject of it, and most insulting to God. Contrast Miriam  140 THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. [cu. xrr.