The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 401

Vera. 9, 10.-The sabbath ojferimg. I. THE LESSON OF THE SPECIAL OFFERING. Special blessings belonged to the s11bb11th, over and above those of the ordinary day, and it became II duty to recognise them, The s11bbath offerings represented what Israel had go.ined by the rest of the sabbath. We make our gains not only by the food we eat and the work we do, but also by the intervals of rest in the midst of labour. Moreover, by this offering God indicated that the sabbath was to have its own appropriate occupation. Most emphaticnlly, by precept (Exod. xx. 10), and by punitive example (eh. xv. 32-36), God had commanded to Israel the cessation from ordinary work. Here he indicates that the most effectual way of providing for cessation is to find a holy work to do. We cannot be too earnest in finding such a positive use of the day of rest as will please God and promote our own spiritual advancement. Surely, in the judgment, many who have reckoned themselves Chiistians will be convicted of a sore misuse of the weekly opportunity. We may be very precise and even punctilious in our abstentions, but what will this avail by itself? The mind that is not earnestly and comfortably occupied with Divine things will assuredly be occupied in thinking of things that belong to the ordinary day. As it is now, instead of the Sunday casting its brightness on the week-day, the week- day too often casts its shadow on the Sunday. God is able to make the appropriate occupation of his day, if we enter on it in o. right spirit, a joy all the day long. In the world, and through the week, we ha,·e to deal with 1111 sorts of men. There is the strain, the discord, and the suspicion that must belong to all human relations in this mixed and sinful state. The week-day is the world's day, wherein we cannot get away from the world, Thto Lord's day ought to be what the name suggests, the day for us to feel that we ho.ve not only to do with the hard conditions of o. selfish world, but with One in hen·en, who is most considerate, and most able to satisfy us with all good things. II. THE LESSON OF THE DAILY OFFERING WHICH WAS NOT TO BE O:IIITTED. Tho sabbo.th, in respect of God's gifts and dealings in nature, was the same as an ordinary do.y, and therefore had to be acknowledged as such. So far as God's operations in nature are concerned all goes on without a break, Sunday and week-day alike. The ~un rises as on other days, the clouds gather and the rain falls, the rivers run, and the tides flow and ebb. It is as true, Sunday as week-day, that in God we live and move and have our being. The great difference is that while God in nature is making all to go on just as usual, man, if he be in harmony with the will of God in Christ Jesus, is resting from his toils. God needs not rest in the sense in which we need it. He rested from the exercise of his creative energy, but not because of exhaustion. We, who have to eat our bread in the sweat of our face till wo return to the ground, need thnt regular nnd frequent interval of rest which he has so graciously provided. And thus, coming as we sometimes do to the close of the week, utterly spent nud exhausted, ready to welcome the brief respite from toil, we have the joy of recollect- ing, as we see God continuing on the snbbath his work in the natural world, thnt he is indeed the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, he who fainteth not1 neither is weary. "He giveth power to the faint; o.nd to them tho.t have no mignt he increaseth strength" (Isa. xl. 28-31).-Y. Vera. 11-15.-The ojferiny at the new moon. Here the services rendered to man by God in nature are once again linked in with the duties of religion. As God required offerings in the morning and evening of every day, so on the day when the new moon fell there was an additional and largely increased offering. Why should such special notice be taken of this occasion ? I. THE MOON IS OUR OWN SATELLITE AND PECULIAR SERVANT, It has evidently been given for our special benefit. The sun serves us with our share, as it does the other planets that circle round it, but the moon is peculiarly ours. When, therefore, it had passed through all its phases, it was well to mnrk the renewal of service by :\ special .offering. If it be said that Israel was not aware of this nice distinction between the services of the sun o.nd moon, the distinction is nevertheless reo.l, was • oc2  888 THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. [OHS. XXVIII, 1 XXIX.