The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 294

might have proved both tedious and perilous in the end. God knows the way of the righteous, even when the righteous himself scarcely knows it, Bad as the way was, it is called the way of the Red Ben, and the very sight of those memorable waters Bhould have brought to mind, and kept in mind, an unparalleled imrtance of God's guiding and delivering power. 3. The diswuragement because of the way prevented other and weightier reas= fr:n diswu,·agement fr()'TTI, being felt. The state of the heart within should have caused far more depression and anxiety than the state 0£ the world without. We know the people themselves were in a bad state of heart, for the words of murmuring prove it. Whatever hopes the gushing wateI!l of Meri bah bad raised were carnal, and found no sympathy with God. There are two states of heart on which we may be sure he looks with approval. (1) When his people, in spite of the way, surrounded by poverty, sickness, and all the circumstances of a cold, unsympathetic world, are nevertheless courageous, trustful, grateful, cheerful. (2) When his people, with everything in their circumstances pleasant and attractive, are nevertheless utterly cwrt down because of the proofs they daily get of the power of inbred sin. To trust God, in spite of the badness of the way, and to distrust and abhor self, in spite of the comforts of the way-be it our care to attain and preserve these states of mind as long as they are needed, Robert Hall bas a sermon on ver. 4.-Y. Vere. 6-9. - Destrudwn and safoation throogh the serpent. Each time the people break into open sin there is something new in the treatment of them. Now God gives the fruition of their desires ; they are surfeited with quails, and perish with the delicate morsels in their mouths (eh. xi.). Again he makes as if at one sudden, comprehensive blow he would sweep away the whole nation (eh. xiv. 12). Yet again we read of the fifteen thousand who perished in different ways at the gainsaying of Korab (eh. xvi.). Then there is a complete change of treatment, and though the people murmured bitterly at Meribah, God is gracious to the:m, and visits Moses and Aaron in wrath. Thus we advance to consider this present outbreak of sin, which is treated in a novel and very peculiar way, and one very profitable indeed to consider. I. DESTRUCTION THROUGH THE SERPENT. 1. It was through the serpent. The Lr:nd sent the fiery serpents. It is said that the district abounds in serpents which would be well described by the word.fiery. But the Isrnelites were not allowed to consider the serpents RB one of the perils of the district, into which they had fallen by some kind of chance. The Lord sent the serpents. Because the people ceased to trust in him, he delivered them to one of the dangeI!l of the way (Deut. x.x:xii. 24; Job x.xvi. 13; Jer. viii. 17; Amos ix. 3). 2. The serpent rather tlian another mode of destruction was chosen. God in his wrath does not take the first weapon that comes to hand. If destruction, simply and only destruction, had been in view, doubtless there were other deadly creatures in the wilderness which might have served the purpose. But it is not enough for the people to die; the way in which they die is also significant. Their thoughts are turned back to the very beginning and fountain of human troubles, to Eden before it was lost, and to the serpent who led our first parents into the ways of sin and death. As the serpent had to do with bringing sin into the world, so he is shown RB having to do with the punishment of it. 3. The destruction is represented as bei.ng in many cases complete. "Much people of Ismel died." Probably some of the few aged still surviving and doomed to die in the wilderness (eh. xiv. 29) perished thus, confirmed in their rebellious spirit beyond remedy. Many of those bitten by a serpent toss awhile in puin, looking vaguely for a remedy, but, being ignorant of the original cause of their suffering, and not understanding that God has sent the serpent, the;y do not find tho remedy, and then they die. 4. But in ot!ter cases the destruction is incomplete. The bite of the serpent, with its effects, sets before us that gnawing consciousness of misery which comes to so many, and which no art of man can conjure away. Why were some bitten and others not 1 He who can answer that question can answer another- why some can go through life light-hearted, never having the weight of n wasted !ife on their consciences, never made miserable by anything save physical pain or -:lisappointed selfishness, and happy at once if the pain and disappointment cease ;  ' - f78 THE BOOR 01' NUMBERS. (OB. D'.I, 4-9.