The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 273

exist, but hardly live ; there is indeed a movement in them, but it hae no definite aim, it leads no whither; they do but return upon themselves. Only after a long time (if God have mercy upon them) do they find themselves once more in a posi• tion to start afresh, and not one step further forward than all those years or cen turies, a~o. Even eo it is with individuals who will not go resolutely on when they nre called. They are spent and wasted in movement to and fro whicb is not progress. .After many years perhaps-perhaps after a whole lifetime-of wandering in dry places tliey find themselves once more at tbe very point to which they hnd attained, not one step nearer heaven J:!ian so long ngo. ?·. That although Israel was~ more at K?,desh, yet he was in a_far_worse po&itum tha,n on the former occasion. Then he might have marched straight mto Canaan, now he must reach it by a long and circuitous route. Even so with Churches and with individuala which ha,•e done despite to the Spirit of grace. By God's mercy their aimless wanderings may be ended, and they may take up the broken thread of spiritual progress; but they can- not take up the opportunities and possibilities which once were theirs. If theii position be the same, they ar: not the same ; the e:f:1'ects of past faithlessness remain ; a far more weary course awaits them ere they attain to rest than if they had obeyed from the beginning. 3. That Miriam died in Kadesh, and went not with them on the last march. She was a "prophetess," and uttered inspired words of praise and thanksgiving (as Deborah, Hannah, and Mary), and was especially associated with the glorious triumph of the exodus (Exod. xv. 20-22). Even so the soul which has greatly erred and lost itself, and is at last recovered and sets its foce Zionward, may not look to be cheered with songs of gladness and of triumfh on its way, but must do without them. And note that Miriam, Aaron, Moses al died this year, a tittle before the entrance into Canaan under Joshua. The Fathers see in this a figure of the passing away of eropbecy, the priesthood, and the law, and their giving place to Jesus. "Videtur nuhi in Maril (Miriam) Prophetia mortua; in Moyse et Aaron Legi et Sacerdotio Judreorum finis impositus, quod nee ipsi ad terram repromissionis transcendere valeant nee credentem populum de solitudine hujue mundi educere, nisi solus Jesus Dens Salvator." II. 'WITH BESPECT TO THE WATERS OF STBIFE (see at Exod. rvii.). Consider-I. T/Uii, iJ, was in Kadesh that this temptation be/ell the people1 where theu had ap- varently not ezperienced any want of water before. Even so 1t often happens that ,sreat religioUB trials and deprivations are permitted to overtake us when and where ,ve are least prepared to face them, and perhaps at the very moment when we hope •o hegin a new life and make a decided advance. 2. That o/ all gifts which were ti.ecasary to their life, water was the one the absence of which was most terrible. Conceive the su.ffenng and terror of the multitude l E'ven so it is the water from the Rock of Ages, the grace of Christ, upon which we daily and hourly depend in this evil world ; and there are momenta when tbat grace threatens to fail us, and spiritual death stares us in the face (cf. 1 Cor. x. 4; xii. 13). 3. That they should have trust,ed him who had followed them as a spiritual Rock, giving them both water and «luuu in a thirsty land; but their temper and their very words were the same a, Im!! years befare. Even ao do we fail again and again under trial, as i£ all experience went for nothing, and as i£ fallen human nature were never going to he really altered in us for the better. Notliing is niore striking than the way in which a man's behaviour under temptation repeats it~elf in spite of all that he has learnt. 4. That the Lord did not dvYw any di,plea&ure with tliem, but gave them water at once, knowing their sore necessity. Even so patient and Jong-suffering is he with us, how- ever unreasonable and impatient we are, for he knoweth our feebleness, and our great need, and tliat we must die without his grace, 6. That the Lord was a'!11!'71 ( and declared it) with M osea because he spoke and acud impatiently and unwarthilg ,' for what he overlooked a.gain and again in the ignorant and unstable people, that he could not pass over in the wise and powerful leader, who was to them the visible representative and mouthpiece of the invisible God. Even so the Lord will pass ()Ver a thoUBand errors and faults in the poor and ignorant and miserable more easily than one in him that has knoWD him, and that baa a ministry from him, and that stands to others in the place of leader and guide. It is a fearful thing by word <>r Bet to ditihonour God or his gospel in the eyes of those who look up to us, and  ... .n:, I-29.] THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. 267