The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 232

Ver. 22.-" Tlte God of the BF.rits of aJ,l flesh." This name of God reminds ns of some of the relations in which God stands to us his creatures, who are immortal spirits in mortal flesh, We select three, e.nd speak of him- I. As PROPRIETOR. "He jormeth the spirit of man within him" (Zech. xii. 1). The verb used is applied to e. potter or a smith, and reminds us that God he.s modelled the human spirit, with its varied powers, according to his own ideal (Ps. xxxiii. 15). Since he formed man in his own image, he is "the Father of spirits" in e. sense in which he is not the Father of animals. Thus he is our Proprietor, who can say "All souls are mine," who feels e. deep interest in "the work of bis own hands 1' (Ps. cxxxviii. 8), e.nd who will use, according to his judgment, the spirits he has formed and variously endowed. See Moses' use of this truth in Numb. xxvii. 15-17. II. As HEART-SEARCHER, Sin has broken into the natural relation of God to his -creatures. He has to deal with them as sinners with various degrees of criminality. Hence need of discrimination which only the Creator e.nd Searcher of hearts possesses. This truth used by Abraham (Gen. xviii. 23-33) and by Moses and Aaron (ver. 22). It is only the Heart-Searcher who can righteously adjust (1) the direct punishment of sin, which falls only on the guilty (Ezek. xviii. 1-32), and (2) the indirect conse- quences, which may fall on the innocent (Exod. xxxiv. 7), e.s on Dathan's children (vers. 27, 32). In this narrative we see (1) conditional preservation (ver. 24), (2) diverse judgments (vers. 32, 35, 49), (3) bereavements and dishonour to the sur- vivors (eh. xxvii. 3). Faith in "God, the God of the spirits of all flesh," may keep us calm in the midst of judgments (Ise.. !vii. 16). III. As THE SAVIOUR. If God were not a Saviour there would soon be no "spirits of flesh" to be the God of (Me.I. iii. 6). But God's salvation is for all flesh (2 Cor. v. 19; 1 Tim. ii. 6; 1 John ii. 2). If God is our Saviour, then we me.y delight in bis proprietorship of us (Ps. ex.ix. 94; cxvi. 12; Isa. xliii. 1). And we can cheer- fully accept any discipline which our Heart-Searcher sends (Heb. xii. 5-10); for " the God of my life '' is also "the God of my salvation. "-P. Vere. 31-33.-The destructiveness of si1i. Some things are very much dreaded because so destructive. E. g. locusts, we.r, pestilence. But there is nothing so -destructive as sin. As "no man liveth," so no man sinneth, "to himseli" Of Korab, as of Achan or of other transgressors, it may be said, "That me.n perished not alone in his iniquity" (Josh. xxii. 20). The destructive effects of sin are twofold-I. PERSONAL, II. SOCIAL. I. PERSONAL: on the sinner himself, as in the case of Korab the Kohathite, honoured as one of the ministers of God's ark. Illustration-Infection, taken une.wares, may not be suspected by friends, hardly by the victim; but its effects (fever, eruption, &c.) will be seen by and by. Sin cannot always be kept secret (Isa. !ix. 12; James i. 15). "Evil shall slay the wicked." If the consequences are not as fatal as in Korah's case, moral destruction is going on. As Alpine granite may be reduced by frost and damp to a kind of mould, so sin-some sins especially-seems to break up the moral nature and reduce it to ruins. From the personal consequences of sin the destroyer we can only be delivered by Christ elie Saviour (Titus ii 14). II. SOCIAL: on others. In the case of Korab and his conspirators, sin was fatal to their families. So perhaps in the case of Achan (Josh. vii. 24-26; xxii. 20); if not, how terrible for them to see the husband, the father, killed, and to know that he had caused the loss of thirty-six men at Ai I "Curses, like chickens, always come home to roost." We cannot sin with impunity to our family any more than Adam did. Sin propagates sin. It involves others, directly or indirectly, in its fatal con- sequences. Illustration-King Saul, and the catastrophe to both family and nation al; Gilboa. Unrighteous statesmen. Men of high social position who are immoral or infidel. Each sinner a centre of contagion (Eccles. ix. 18). The fate of the children of Korah's company a warning to sinful parents. The children of the godless mliy be expected to become the parents of godless children, and thus the evil may ba perpetuated from generation to generation. Mournful epitaph for a sinner's grave: "That man perished not alone in his iniquity." "But where sin abounded, graca did much more abound" (Rom. v. 20, 21; viii. 2, 3).-P. 214 TIIE BOOK OF NUMBERS. [en. XVI. 1-10·.