The murmuring of the people and God’s answer
We are now brought to turn our thoughts in another direction- to see the conduct of the people in the wilderness; and alas! what is it except a history of unfaithfulness and rebellion? Let us add, however, that it is also that of the forbearance and the grace of God. It is an extremely humbling and instructive picture. We shall briefly review the different forms of unbelief which are here presented to us.
The first thing we find, after the sweet manifestation of the love of God, is the murmuring of the people. They complain of fatigue, where God is seeking a resting-place for them. God chastens them. Humbled, they cry unto Moses, and upon his intercession the chastening is removed; but their heart remains alienated from the Lord, and, seduced by the mixed multitude who accompanied them, and to whom Canaan was not a land of promise, they get wearied with the manna. How often does Christ, the bread of life, not suffice a heart not in communion with God! The heart seeks elsewhere for its nourishment; it wants something else; it remembers what the flesh used to enjoy in the world, while it forgets the bondage in which it was held. It knows no more the power of the word-“he that cometh to me shall never hunger.”
God grants the people the object of their desires: instead of being ashamed when they see that God is equally able to satisfy them in the wilderness, they greedily gather the quails, and the wrath of God falls upon this wicked people.
Moses’ complaint and God’s answer
Moses, wearied of them as of a heavy burden, complains, in his turn, of his glorious position. God relieves him of the weight of his charge, but not without upbraiding him; and He adjoins seventy persons to him to help him in bearing it. The Spirit of God acts in two of them, though they do not present themselves to receive it where Moses was: they prophesy in the camp. Joshua, jealous of the glory of his master, wishes them to be silenced. But if Moses,1 unable to bear the weight of his glory, has been obliged to share it with others, and, up to a certain point, lose part of it, he shows at least, in this circumstance, the depth of the grace that was in him. He does not envy those who prophesy in the camp. “Would God,” he says, “that all were prophets!”
(1. Remark here the difference even in the blessed Apostle’s faith, comparing chapter 11:12 here and Galatians 4:19: see also 2 Corinthians 11:2828Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. (2 Corinthians 11:28). It is possible that this failure of Moses under the pressure of the weight of the people, giving occasion to the prophesying in the camp, was the occasion also of the rising up of Miriam and Aaron against him. At any rate God maintained the authority of His servant, who, as to himself, held his ground by unfeigned meekness, and leaving all that concerned himself to God.)
There is something very beautiful in the spirit which animated this servant of God. Finally, whatever may be God’s arrangements, He is sovereign in the dispensations of His Spirit.