The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 274

who will more or Iese consciously tnke their ideas of religion from our practice of it. 6, Tliat Moses e11'ed because he lost hia temper, and regarded the sinful murmuring of the 'J!eople only as a lrial and vematwn to himself. He had in fact nothing to complam of, for he was only an instrument in God's hand, and it was against God that they were sinning. Even so we, if we are angry when men do wrongly and foolishly, are sure to err greatly ; for anger can only see the bad conduct of others as an offence to itself, and so resent it, thereby placing self in the room of God, and presuming to judge and to condemn in hie stead. 7. That Moses_spake unadvisedly with his lips in calling the people "rebels," because he was himself a rebel in heart. He was indeed, considering his position and advantages, more disloyal to his Master at that moment than even they were. Even so when we sit in judgment on others, and call them by hard names, it often happens that we are in truth more unfaithful to our calling than even they, Their unfaithfulness may be of a kind to arouse our disgust and disdain, but ours may be in truth more heinous in the eyes of God. 8. That he spalce yet more unadvisedly in saying, " Must we fetch you water 1" as though it were their power and goodness to which the supply of water was due. Even so it is a sore evil when the stewards of the manifold grace of God magnify themselves even in hasty words, and speak as if they were the authors instead of the mere dis- pensers of the gifts of God, and lead men to look to them instead of through them, and pass ( as it were) the free grace and goodness of God through the discoloured medium of their own selfish tempers. 9. That he erred also through wilfulness, in that he smote the rock twice instead of speaking to it-an error trifling in itself, but betraying the irritation under which he acted, and suggesting that the copious supply was in some way due to his energy. Even so men often err greatly and do harm by acts in themselves inconsiderable which are prompted by impatience and self- will, as though the necessary supply of Divine grace and the blessings of the gospel were really dependent upon their efforts. If we are stewards of the grace of God at all, we have to act (1) with careful obedience towards him, (2) with quiet patience towards his people, knowing that the result lies altogether with him. 10. That Moses was probably tempted to speak and act as he did because God had said to him, " Thou shalt bring /01-th to them water," &c. Even so we find our temptation to a self-asserting temper which dishonours God in the fact that God has really made the interests of religion (humanly Rpeaking) dependent upon his servants' efforts. It is our trial to remember this as far as labour and earnestness are concerned, to forget it (or rather to remember the complemental truth) as far as personal feelings are concerned. 11. That God did not withhold the stream because Moses acted wr01l,f}ly. Even so the blessings of the word and sacraments are not withheld from the souls of men becauHe there is error and even disobedience in those that minister them. 12. That God punislud Moses and .Aaron with personal exclusion from the promised land because they had failed to sanctify him in the eyes of the people; i. e. they had, as far as in them lay, obscured the revelation of the Divine power and goodness, and impaired the good effect of it upon the people. Even so God will certainly lay sin to the charge of all who, being in any way his representatives to others, have in anything dimmed the lustre of his beauty or distorted the fea.tures of his perfection in their eyes. Thus have all, even Moses, sinned and come short of the glory of God, so that none have wholly pleased him except Christ (Matt. iii. 17 ; xvii. 6; 2 Pet, i. 17); nor can any look for an entrance into rest save in Christ. 13. That the Lord was sanctified in the children of Iirrael at Meribah, albeit his appointed servants failed to sanctify him. Their sentence wns perhaps tlie most effective possible revelation of his exceeding holiness. Even so the Lord will make his glory to be known and felt through his servants if they be faithful, but without them if they be faithless. He will be sanctified in us to our great reward in the one case, to our shame and sorrow in the other. III. CONSIDER FURTHERt WITH RESPECT TO THE ERROR 011' MoSES-1, That he was now very old, in hia hunared and twentieth year. An irritable and hasty temper is the special temptation of old age, 2. That he had shown the same temper on at least one previous occasion. (eh. xi,), and had then been betrayed into the use of unseemly and untrue la71,fJ'11,0-ge, which ought to have been a warning to him. There is nothing whioh people have more need to watch very carefully than their temper, for there i11 NUMDll.~B. S  258 THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. [oB, X.X. 1-29,