The Book of Leviticus contains-the revelation of God sitting upon the throne, where He places Himself that He may be approached by the people-that of the priesthood brought into proximity to the throne, as far as men could have access to it; and then, the promulgation of the commandments relative to these two great facts, in that which concerned the generality of the people.
(* This has been perused by the Author since being translated and printed. Ed.)
In Numbers, we have the service and walk of the people, consequently, that which relates to the Levites and the journey through the wilderness. Now, as Leviticus ended with regulations and warnings respecting the possession of the land, and that with regard to the rights of God, and consequently to the rights of His people, the book of Numbers brings us to the entrance of the people into the land at the end of the wilderness journey, and speaks of that grace, the effect of which was to justify the people, notwithstanding all their unfaithfulnesses.
UM 1The first thing to be noticed is, that God numbers His people exactly, and arranges them, once thus recognized, around His tabernacle: sweet thought, to be thus recognized and placed around God Himself!
Three tribes on each side of the court kept the tabernacle of the Lord. Levi alone was excepted in order to be consecrated to the service of God: therefore the tribe of Levi encamped according to their families directly round the court. Moses, Aaron and the priests were placed opposite the entrance whereby God was approached. The least things in the word deserve to be noticed. Psa. 80 is entirely opened by the position of the tribes. The spirit of the Psalmist asks, in the last days of the desolation of Israel, for God to lead them and to manifest His power as He did when He led them through the wilderness; he asks for the power of His presence on the ark of testimony, as God manifested it when it was said, at the moment when Israel set forward, " Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered." Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh were the three tribes nearest the ark in the camp of Israel; that is why it is said, in the second verse of the Psalm, "before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh."
In the setting forward of the camp, the order given was, that the tabernacle surrounded by the Levites, should be in the midst of the tribes, as it was when the camp was at rest.
UM 2In chap. 2 we find that another arrangement took place as a matter of fact.
UM 3In chap. 3 we have the Levites set apart, according to the thoughts of God, for service. They are a figure of the Church, or rather of the members of the Church in their service, even as the priests are the figure of the Church drawing near to the throne of God.
The Levites were first-fruits offered to God, for they were instead of the first-born in whom God had taken Israel to Himself, when he smote the first-born of the Egyptians. Thus it is, that the Church is as the first-fruits of the world, holy to the Lord. The number of the first-born being greater than that of the Levites, those that were over were redeemed, as a sign that they belonged to God, and the Levites became God's possession for His service (ver. 12, 13). It is the same with regard to the Church: it belongs wholly to God to serve Him down here. But, besides, the Levites were entirely given to Aaron the high-priest; for the service of the Church or of its members is wholly dependent on Christ in the presence of God, and has no other object but that which concerns Him, and that which is connected with the service which He Himself renders to God in the true tabernacle. The service of the Church has no value (on the contrary, it is sin), except so far as it is united to the priesthood. Consequently our service is absolutely good for nothing, if it be not linked, in its, details, with our communion with the Lord and with the priesthood of Christ. Christ is "a Son over His own house"; "there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord." The Holy Ghost gives the capacity and the gift for service; but, in the exercise of this capacity and of this gift, we are the servants of Christ. Thus, as regards our service, we have these three principles:-1. We are redeemed, delivered from the judgments, under which are the enemies of God, being taken from the midst of those enemies;-2. As a consequence of this first fact, we belong absolutely to God; bought with a price, we are no longer our own, but God's to glorify Him in our bodies and in our spirits which are. His; -3. We are entirely given to Christ, who is the head of the house of God, the priest for the service of His tabernacle. Blessed bondage, happy self-renunciation, true deliverance from a world of sin! Service is rendered under the dependence of Christ and in the communion of the Lord: it is linked to the priesthood.
Service appears to be limited to the tabernacle, that is, to be exercised within the Church. The preaching of the Gospel made no part of the Jewish system, which was the shadow, but not the perfect image of the present state of things. The institution of the Levites is here presented to us in principle; we shall find further on, their purification and their consecration to God.
We may remark, on this occasion, with regard to that which is most elevated in the calling of the Church, that she is one. The priests, the high-priest excepted, accomplished all equally, or together, the service of the offerings to God. And so it is with the Church; all its members equally draw near unto God, and are with Him in the same relationship. (A priest acting for another. Israelite who brought an offering or who had sinned, rather represented Christ Himself.)
The order of the service of the Levites was according to the sovereignty of God, who put each one in his place. Thus, in the service of the Church, the greatest differences are found, and each one has his own place assigned him. The same thing will likewise, I believe, take place in the glory (comp. Eph. 4 and 1 Cor. 12). We are all brethren having only one Master. But the Master gives grace to each one according to his own will, according to the counsels of God the Father. He who denies brotherly unity, denies the sole authority of the Master. He who denies the diversity of services, equally denies the authority of the Master who disposes of His servants as He pleases and chooses them according to His wisdom and His divine rights.
Next in order come the arrangements prescribed for the carrying of the things which the tabernacle contained, as well as their coverings, when the camp journeyed in the wilderness. I shall point out what appears to be the typical meaning of these prescribed ordinances. This is of the utmost importance.
After the instructions intended to teach us how it is given us to draw near God, the connection between the manifestations of God in Christ and our walk here below are, for us, what is most essential. Now, this last subject is the one treated of in type, in the arrangements made for the carriage of the chief utensils destined for the service of God. When they were in their place, while the camp rested, they were uncovered. Those which were shut up within the tabernacle, had reference to heaven; the altar and the laver were outside, before coming to it.
In the wilderness, they put on certain characters, one especially; but others also, in certain cases. I consider them therefore as the manifestation of certain relations existing between the walk of the Christian and various manifestations of God in Christ.
The ark of the covenant represented the throne of God in heaven, the holiness and the justice which are there manifested in God. It was first of all covered with the veil of the humanity of Christ, such as He was here below in His person; that is, that divine holiness and righteousness have clothed themselves in humanity. Over all were the badgers'-skins. We have seen, in these skins, that practical and watchful holiness down here, which keeps itself from the evil we are liable to in passing through the wilderness. However, when there is an immediate connection with what God is in heaven itself (and it is thus that He has manifested Himself in Christ), the entirely heavenly character which results therefrom manifests itself outside. It is what took place with regard to Christ; the ark, by the way, in the wilderness finds no perfect antitype but Himself, considered in His personal walk down here.
Nevertheless, the walk of the believer, in as far as it reaches this height, has also its expression in that type. After the ark, comes the table of show-bread: it was a figure of Christ in the divine perfection of justice and holiness, according to the power or the Eternal Spirit, in connection with the perfection of human administration, which manifests itself in the number twelve and in the loaves, of which the twelve tribes and the twelve apostles were the expression. Here the heavenly covering was placed upon the table; the part properly divine put on the heavenly character. Upon this covering were put the utensils and the loaves, which were covered over with a second covering of scarlet, that is, as it appears to me, human glory and splendor. This glory and this splendor were of God, but they were human. Over all were the badgers'-skins to preserve the whole from evil. This external protection is always needful for any one, save the person of Christ. Christ was assuredly sheltered from evil; but it was in an internal and deeper manner. That which was heavenly was seen in Him at the first glance, by those who had eyes to see-"the second Adam was the Lord from heaven." As regards us, we have within ourselves that which is heavenly; but we must keep it carefully with a vigilance most decided, and commensurate with the evil we are passing through, and from which it is of consequence we should keep ourselves. Therefore Christ, in His relations with the government of the world, in Israel, in the age to come, will put on, in principle, that which is here represented by the badgers'-skins, which, in the case of the ark were inside. There will be in Him the divine character, then the heavenly, then the perfection of human government covered over with the brightness of the glory.
Next to the table of show-bread, came the candlestick covered with a cloth of blue and badgers'-skins. It was the spiritual perfection of the light of the Spirit; that which covered it was simply heavenly, with the covering of badgers'-skins. All its utensils bore the same character.
The altar of incense (spiritual intercession) was covered in the same manner. I leave them to the spiritual reflections of the reader,—the intelligence of the things which have been explained in their principles. It was so with all that was contained in the holy place, for the sanctuary represented the heavenly places.
With regard to the brazen altar, it was different. Its covering was a scarlet cloth, the royal color. If we suffer, we shall reign. There is a connection between the cross and the crown upon the earth and in heaven. Thus was it with Christ, the king of the Jews, according to the superscription written on the cross; and the very throne of God was the answer to His sufferings, in as much as He was the burnt-offering, offered according to the power of the Eternal Spirit acting in man, according to the exigency of the Divine majesty. But what was thus crowned, was Perfection itself; that which was being accomplished in man according to the energy of the Eternal Spirit, was also divine; so that the Lord could say, " Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again." However that which was divine in the act, was divine in the sense of the Eternal Spirit acting in man, the Godhead itself was the source of it, and on that title it could claim the glory of it. The circumstances of the death of Jesus were consequent upon His humanity-a truth most precious to us. He was crucified through weakness; He was delivered into the hands of the Gentiles; His throat was dried up, whilst He waited on His God. He was perfect in all these things. They were manifested outwardly, seen of men: it was man. He who could look within, saw Him who through the Eternal Spirit, offered Himself without spot to God.
Thus all that related to the service was placed on scarlet; the altar was under this covering. The badgers- skins here, as always, were spread over all.
UM 5Let us pursue the study of the book. Chapter 5 presents three things, in connection with the purity of the camp, looked at as the dwelling-place of God. Every defilement was to be purged out. God took knowledge of the wrong done there against a brother. If that be always true, it is the more so, when it is a question of the wrong done to Him who has not been ashamed to call us His brethren.
When the trespass could not be recompensed to the person who had suffered the wrong, or to his kinsman, it was due to God in the person of the priest, beside the sin-offering. In God's camp, no wrong could be committed without amends being made for it.
Then comes the question of jealousy. If the faithfulness of Israel, the church or an individual, to God or to Christ be questioned, there must be the trial of it. It seems to me that the dust of the tabernacle was the power of death in God's presence, fatal to the natural man, but precious, as the death of sin, for him who has life.
The power of the Holy Spirit judging thus, according to the sentence of death against the flesh, the state of unfaithfulness which was thought hidden from the true husband of the people, makes the sin manifest and brings down the chastening and the curse upon the unfaithful one, and that evidently by the just judgment of God. Drinking death according to the power of the Spirit, is life to the soul. By these things," says Hezekiah, " men live, and in all these things is the life of the Spirit;" even when they are the effect of a chastening, which is not always necessarily the case. But if any of the accursed things be hidden, if there be unfaithfulness towards Jesus, undetected it may be by man, and God puts it to the test; if we have allowed ourselves to be enticed by him who has the power of death, and the holy power of God is occupied with death and comes to deal with this power of the enemy, the concealed evil is laid bare, the flesh is reached; its rottenness and its powerlessness are made manifest, however fair its appearances may be. But if she be free from unfaithfulness, the result of the trial is only negative; it shows that the Spirit of holiness finds nothing to judge, when He applies death according to the holiness of God.
In the offering without either oil or frankincense, the woman is set before God, according to the judgment which God has borne against sin, in His holiness and majesty, when Christ was made sin for us. Sin which is confessed has never that effect; for the conscience is purified from it by Christ. The unfaithfulness here spoken of, is that of the heart of Israel,-of the Church to Christ.
The Church would do well to consider how far she has given herself to another. There are some assuredly amongst its members who have not done it with the heart. If Christ did not discover the iniquity, and cause it to be judged, He would be, so to speak, identified with the iniquity of the bride, and defiled thereby (v. 31): therefore He will surely do it. What is here said of the Church, may he equally said of each one of its members. It is plain besides that the question here is one, not of salvation, but of the walk down here:-the walk in the wilderness being moreover the subject of this book. Let us also observe that the soul or the Church can, in other respects, show a zeal, an extraordinary devotedness, which are indeed sincere, whilst it falls into a fault which it conceals from itself up to a certain point. But nothing can counterbalance unfaithfulness to one's husband.
The Nazarite presents us with another character, connected with the walk of the Spirit down here,-special devotedness to God. They separated themselves unto Him, Christ is the perfect example of this. The Church ought to tread in His footsteps. Cases of special call to devote one's self to the Lord come under this class.
There were three things connected with this separation. The Nazarite was to drink no wine; he was to let his hair grow, and he was not to make himself unclean for the dead. Wine designated the joy derived from the pleasures of society, which rejoice the heart of those who give themselves up to them. "Wine which cheers the heart of God and man." Christ was separated from this joy by His vow: "I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine," says the Lord, "until that day when I shall drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." He separated Himself indeed from that intercourse, which, miserable as His own were, His love had led Him to desire to have with them. He had said, "With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you." Natural affections were indeed to be denied, because God's consecration was upon His head. "What have I to do with thee?" says the Lord to His mother. It is not that He had not the most tender affection for her; but now He was separated from everything to be God's.
Secondly, the Nazarite let his hair grow; it was neglecting one's-self, in yielding one's-self to the will of God, renouncing one's dignity and rights as a man; for a long head of hair marked, on the one hand, the neglect of one's person, and on the other, subjection,-power on the head. It was the consecration to God in the giving up of the joy, the dignity, and the natural rights of man, (man considered as the center of the affections proper to him) and that to be wholly God's. Man has his place as the representative and the glory of God, and in that place he is encompassed by a multitude of affections, joys and rights which have their center in himself. He can give up this place for the special service of God, seeing that sin has entered into all these things, which, far from being bad in themselves, are, on the contrary good in their proper place. This Christ has done. Having made himself a Nazarite, He did not take His place as a man, His rights as Son of man; but, for the glory of God, He made Himself completely subject, He submitted to all that that glory required. He identified Himself with the remnant of the sinful people whom He loved, and became a stranger to His mother's children. He did nothing that was not prescribed to Him; He lived by the word that proceeded out of the mouth of God; He separated Himself from all the links of human life to devote Himself to 'the glory, the service of God, and obedience to Him. If He found, in the love of His own, any consolation, which can only have been very small and poor, He had to give up this also. And with regard to this as to anything else, become, in His death, a complete Nazarite, alone in His separation to God. The Church should have followed Him; but alas! She has taken strong drink; she has eaten and drunk with the drunken, and has begun to smite the servants of the house.
The believer may be called to deny himself, through self-denial for the precious service of His Savior, in things which are not bad in themselves. But this act is accomplished inwardly. " The Nazarites were purer than snow," says Jeremiah. Devotedness is inward. It is proper to consider here to what those who fail in this separation expose themselves.
If we have devoted ourselves to the Lord in a way which is pleasing in His sight, enjoyment follows this devotedness in the measure of the testimony which is rendered to Him. God is with His servant according to His call; but it is a secret between His servant and Himself, though the external effects are seen by others. If we have failed in this separateness, we must begin all afresh-Divine influence and power in the work are lost: there may be nothing amiss in other respects, we may arise to shake ourselves, like Samson, but we have lost our strength without being aware of it. God is no longer with us. The case of Samson is an extreme, but a solemn one; for it may be that our strength has placed us in the presence of evil, and then, if God be with us, His magnificent glory manifests itself; but if not with us, the enemy has the sad opportunity of glorying over one long known as a champion for God, and apparently over God Himself. In this second alternative, the inward secret, the true strength of separation unto God, is lost.
Let us beware, in ordinary things, of the first step that would separate us from inward holiness. If grace has called us to separation for an extraordinary service in anything whatever; let us keep ourselves from any lack of obedience to the word of the cross, whereby we are crucified to the world, sin and the law.
Generally, the unfaithful Nazarite returns to his separation, through the sacrifice of Christ; he is consecrated anew to God. But anything which brings us into contact with sin, produces its effect on our Nazariteship. We lose the power attached to the communion of God, and the special presence of the Spirit with us, whatever be the measure in which this power was granted to us. Alas! The time which has preceded is lost-we must begin again. It is even great grace that all privilege of serving God is not taken from us; therefore sometimes we suffer from the effects of our unfaithfulness, when the power is restored unto us. A blind Samson was obliged to kill himself in killing his enemies. It belongs to us, in any case immediately to acknowledge our defilement, to go to Christ, and not to pretend to be Nazarites externally, when we are not so in the eyes of God. Nothing is more perilous than the service of God, when the conscience is not pure: however, let us ever recollect that we are under grace.
This separateness and this self-denial are not forever. Even Christ will not always be a Nazarite. He will know fullness of joy with God and His own. He will say, "Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved." It is by the alone power of the Spirit that we are separated from that which is evil, and often even from that which is natural, to be vessels of service and enjoyment, a testimony to God in the midst of evil. The time will come, when, the evil being removed, we shall be able to gratify our nature, in which the unfolding of the power of the Holy Spirit will only produce joy, and when everything surrounding us will be in communion with us. Then, Christ will take a place which it was impossible for Him to take heretofore, whilst He was the man perfectly sociable, perfectly accessible to sinners, because He was thoroughly separated from them and set apart for God inwardly, and that He had denied Himself; to live only by the words of God.
Such is the life of God here below. That which He has created cannot be bad. God forbid we should think it! Such an assertion is a sure sign of the latter days. Christ could think about His mother with tenderness, when the work of His soul on the cross was done. But the Holy Spirit comes in as a power foreign to this life, and takes up man to make him go through it according to that power, so that the more man is a stranger to it himself, the more is he able to show, and he does indeed show, sympathy to those who are there according to God. Anything else is only monkish. If we are truly free within, we can sympathize with that which is outside. If we are, not so, we shall become monks, with the vain hope of obtaining this freedom.
Lastly, when the Nazarite vow was fulfilled, all the sacrifices were offered, and the hair of the head of his separation was burnt in the fire which consumed the sacrifice of the peace-offerings,—a type of the full communion which is the result of the sacrifice of Christ. When, in the time fixed by God, the sacrifice of Christ shall have obtained, in its effects, its full and entire efficacy, the energizing power of separation will merge in the communion which will be the happy consequence of this sacrifice. We are thankful to know that the power of the Holy Spirit, now spent, in a great measure, in checking the lusts of the flesh, will then be wholly a power of joy in God and of communion with all that will surround us.
Let us now speak of the ways of God, when the Nazarite vow is ended. Then the result of the work of Christ will be produced; all the varied efficacy of His sacrifice will be acknowledged; His people will enter into the communion of His joy; wine will be taken with joy. Jesus Himself awaits that time. I believe this specially applies to His people here below, to the Jewish remnant in the latter days. Their partaking of the Holy Ghost will be joy and delight. Something similar, however, awaits us, but in a still better way. So we have this joy by anticipation up to a certain point, for the Holy Spirit produces these two things, the joy of communion, and separation in loneliness for the service of God. It is a little what the Apostle means in those words to the Corinthians, "Death worketh in me, but life in you." However, it can always be said of all Christians, "I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you."
After having placed the people around Himself, having counted them by name, having arranged the service, cleansed the camp (which is distinct from the cleansing of defiled individuals, a subject which belongs to Leviticus), and shown the true position of the devoted servant, a position which Israel might have taken, and which Christ, true servant, set apart for God has taken, God ends by putting His blessing and His name on the people. The blessing places them under the keeping, the grace, and in the peace of the Lord; and effectively the Lord first blessed them in a general way; then, in making His face to shine upon them, He caused them to enjoy His grace; lastly, in lifting up His countenance upon them, He gave them the assurance of peace.
Here ends this part of the book. The camp, arranged according to God's order, is placed under His blessing. Thereupon the princes of the people offer a free-will offering to the Lord for the dedication of the altar, according to the number of the tribes. Then we have the form of the communications of the Lord with Moses to instruct him in the way. We see that it is in the tabernacle, from between the cherubim.
UM 7Chapter 8 speaks of the candlestick. The lamps were to give light to it, and cause its beauty to be seen, as well as to diffuse their light around and before it. This is the case, when that which is the vessel of the Holy Spirit shines with the light of God. Whether it be Israel or the Church, it throws light before Him. "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." It is because the profession of the Christian was clear and unequivocal, that men, seeing his good works, knew to whom to attribute them.
We have next the purification of the Levites and their consecration to the service of the Lord. This prefigures the consecration of the Church to God. The Levites were washed, then shorn like the lepers. After that, the whole people laid their hands upon them, and they laid theirs upon the sacrifices. In the offerings which accompanied their consecration, there was no peace-offering, because it was a question of service and not of communion; but the sacrifices which represented the efficacy of the atonement, and the devotedness unto death of the Lord Jesus, were offered.
The children of Levi belonged to the Lord as His redeemed, having been saved when He judged sin, and themselves offered as an offering to the Lord. The laying on of hands identified the person who laid them with the victim; if it were an offering for sin, the offering was identified with the sinner in his sin; if it were a burnt-offering the offerer was identified with the consecration of the victim to God. The Epistle to the Romans, 15, 16 is an allusion to this consecration of the Levites and considers the Church as thus offered to God from among the Gentiles. The Israelites having also laid their hands upon the Levites, the whole people were, so to speak identified in this consecration with them, so that the Levites represented them before the Lord. We find here again what we have already seen, that the Levites were given to Aaron and his sons, as the Church is given to Christ, the true priest and Son over the house of God, to be used in the service of the house. The passover, the memorial of redemption, and in consequence, the symbol of the unity of the people of God, as an assembly redeemed by Him, is obligatory during the journey through the wilderness. Only God makes a provision in grace and forbearance, for those who were not able to keep it according to His will, to whom it had reference. But these provisions of forbearance and grace, kept continually present the idea of a redeemed people; besides which, we have the precious declaration that God Himself conducted His people by His presence. At His commandment they pitched; at His commandment they journeyed. They kept the charge of the Lord, according to the commandment of the Lord. God grant that, we who have His Spirit, may thus be led in all things, to stay or to go entirely under His immediate direction. If we are near God in His communion, we shall be guided by His eye; if not we shall be guided by His external providence, as horses and mules, with bits and bridles that we may not stumble.
UM 10Chapter 10 speaks of the silver trumpets which served for the calling of the people for the journeying of the camps, but which served also for other purposes. It was the testimony of God, rendered publicly, with two chief ends in view: to gather the people, and to make them journey. It is so indeed, practically, the testimony of God gathers His people around Him, and makes them go forward. The testimony of God was the sign of His intervention, whilst, at the same time, its result was to produce it. Thus the priests who, in communion with their Head, were to be in the intimacy of the thoughts of God, sounded the trumpets when needed. All was thus, done according to the communion with God in His sanctuary. After the people were brought into the land, if war arose they sounded an alarm, they proclaimed the testimony of God without being afraid, and God remembered His people and interfered. So with us, we need never fear the attack of the enemy; instead of being frightened, let us give a faithful testimony to which God has pledged Himself to come in in power. Let us not fear.
The trumpets were also used in the solemn feasts, for the testimony and the memorial of God constitute the joy of His gathered people.
At last, the people are called to take the first stage of that journey. The order followed in the march differs from that which had been prescribed, in this, that the tabernacle with its curtains went after the three first tribes, that it might be set up to receive the ark, which followed the second division. Here also does God appear in grace, outside the whole order He had prescribed; for it is the ark itself which precedes the whole camp Moses had asked a child of the wilderness to be to them instead of eyes; but what man does not care to do, God takes upon Himself. He comes out of the place which He had taken in the midst of the tribes to be taken care of there, and makes himself in some sort their servant, seeking a place where they might rest in this unknown way. It was not Canaan, but a place in the wilderness where the Lord went a three days' journey. A beautiful picture of the tender and precious grace of Him who, if He makes us pass through the wilderness for our good, does not fail to be there with us, and who takes care in putting out His sheep, to go before them and to solace them with His love. Mighty Leader of His people by the way, He is their joy and their glory when He comes to rest in their midst!
We are now brought to direct our attention another way, 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, whilst it forgets the bondage in which it was held.
God grants them 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 that wicked people.
Moses, wearied of the people 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, 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 fund of grace that was in him. He does not envy those who prophesy in the camp. "Would God," he says, " that all were prophets!"
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.
After that (for what form will not rebellion assume?) Miriam and Aaron speak against Moses. It is the prophetess and the priest, the twofold character of the people of God, who rise up against him who is king in Jeshurun, with whom God speaks as unto His friend. In this, Moses is in all respects a type of Christ, who stands personally outside the rights which grace has conferred upon the people. Faithful in all the house of God, he enjoys close' intercourse with Him. Miriam and Aaron ought to have been afraid. The excuse of the two rebels was, that Moses had taken an Ethiopian woman, a blessed sign for us of the sovereignty of grace, which has introduced into the blessing of Christ those who had no right or title to it. The people of God, whatever their privileges, ought to have recognized this sovereignty. Israel would not, and have been smitten with leprosy. It is however in their character of witness or prophet that they suffer this chastening. Aaron resumes his place of intercessor, and speaks humbly to Moses, a figure, I think, of the humiliation of Israel grounded on the value of the intercession of Christ, identifying Himself with the position of the people. God's answer is, that Miriam should be humbled and chastened, shut out, for a time, from intercourse with Him, then received into favor again. The people wait for her restoration. Let us remember that the Lord here recalls this fact, that the most glorious position for Moses was that when he was separated from the people. The people had but too much forgotten this. When the Church also, in the thought of making themselves spiritual, take advantage of their glory and position as prophets and priests, (characters which do indeed belong to them) to disown the rights of Christ, the king in Jeshurun, having authority over the house of God, there is room for considering whether they are not guilty of the rebellion here spoken of. For my part I believe they are.
Next the pleasant land is despised. I shall here call the attention of the reader to some points mentioned on this subject in other parts of the Bible.
The Lord has brought the people to the borders of the land; Moses tells them to go up. The people propose sending spies;-Moses consents. It seems that they had God's sanction; for they went according to the word of the Lord. But this request was prompted by the weakness and unbelief of the people. There are many things commanded of God, and which we are bound to do as soon as they are the object of a command from Him, in the result of which His ways are displayed, which, however, are only owing to our lack of faith. The consequence of it is, that the result abundantly confirms the faith of the faithful, of the remnant; but unbelief reaps what it has sown. So it is in this case. First, the report brought to Moses is in a right spirit, but the difficulties immediately present themselves, and unbelief measures them with man, instead of with God. The witnesses draw their words from the unbelief of the people; then they come to declare that the land even is bad, and end with justifying themselves by complaining of God. For now it is no longer Moses who has brought them here, it is God himself; they accuse Him of it. Moreover, they cannot contain their rage against those whose faithful testimony condemns their unbelief. Thereupon God Himself interferes. They are at last going to be dealt with according to their faith; they shall perish in the wilderness according to their wish; the faithful ones and the children will alone be brought into the land, but not without undergoing in their march the consequences of the unbelief of the mass. However, other hopes and other consolations will be their portion. The effect of the intercession of Moses is to obtain from God that the people should be spared; but this is His declaration—He will be glorified in judgment over a rebellious people who despise the promises, and the earth shall thus be filled with His glory. Moses here appeals to the revelation of the name of the Lord, on which footing He governs the people, and not to the promises made to the Fathers; and the answer he receives is in keeping with that name. Caleb prefigures the faithful remnant. Joshua is not named, for he represents Christ introducing the people into the land of promise.
At the end of the forty-years, Caleb was obliged to subdue name for name, the same persons who had filled the souls of the spies with terror. Unbelief, when in spite of it we are to enjoy the effects of the promise, does not make us escape the difficulties. In fine when we have judged the folly of unbelief, and we see the consequences of it, it does not avail to take counsel of these to undertake a work. God is not with us, and if we persist in going up, we shall find the enemy, such as our unbelief has pictured him to us.
UM 15After all this unbelief of the people, when God had declared that the earth shall be filled with His glory by the cutting off of the rebellious congregation, and when one might have supposed they had forfeited the land forever, it is perfectly beautiful in chap. 15 to see the Lord returning into the perfect rest of His fore-ordained counsels and of His immutable Being, and giving instructions relative to the time when the people shall have entered the land He has given them. It speaks of the offerings of righteousness they are invited to offer Him of their free will, and of the wine of joy which was to accompany these offerings; and as this is grace, the love of God diffuses itself beyond Israel, and, bringing the stranger near to His people, He makes one law for both. The first-fruits belong to Him. The sins of ignorance are forgiven by means of the sacrifice required by the perfectness of the ways of God. The sin committed presumptuously alone brings destruction. God orders them to put upon the fringe of the borders of their garments a ribband of blue, that they may remember His commandments and be kept from that which would render them profane. The heavenly principle must enter into the minutest details of life, even into those that are nearest to the earth, if we wish to escape the serious evils which bring down the judgment of God.
Hitherto we have not seen the final apostasy which brings down the judgment at the very moment when it is accomplished.
UM 16The introduction of the stranger in this chapter is of the highest interest as a testimony of grace. Chapter 16 contains the open rebellion against Moses, and the pretention of doing without Aaron. Some of the chiefs of the people were indeed parties in this rebellion; but they were led astray by the ambition of a man who discharged the functions of the ministry. The New Testament calls it "the gain-saying of Core," and he is the very first addressed by Moses. It is not, however, the corruption of ministry itself, as the distinction made by Jude shows us. In Cain we see natural wickedness; in Balaam who taught error for a reward, religious corruption; in Core, the gain-saying which brings destruction. Let us remember that Jude treats of the results, and the end reserved to the corruption and the corruptors of Christianity. The gain-saying of Core is a revolt against the authority of Christ and the necessity of His priesthood; a revolt excited by a man who occupying the position of a minister, pretends that God can be approached without this priesthood.
Reuben was the eldest son of Israel, and Core was of the most favored family amongst the Levites. The tribe of Reuben and the family of Core were near each other in the camp; but nothing of this is apparent in the motives which led them to act.
In a word it was open rebellion and audacity against God Himself. God soon put an end to their pretensions, for who hath hardened himself against him and hath prospered?" Moses appeals to Him. Dathan and Abiram take advantage of the effect of the unbelief of the assembly who might have been in Canaan already, to throw the blame of it upon Moses. As to Core, Moses announces that God will show who is holy and whom He has chosen. Core and the two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly are consumed; Dathan, Abiram, and theirs swallowed up. But the spirit of rebellion had laid hold of the whole assembly. Now the priesthood and the intercession of Aaron are made evident. Aaron with a censer stands between the dead and the living, and the plague is stayed. We shall see the importance of this last remark in what follows, and what is the principle on which alone, considering sins and the flesh, God can bring His people through the wilderness. It is priesthood which, through Core, the princes had been brought to despise; but it is through priesthood that man has got nearest to God. Moses, in replying to Core, declares that God will show whom he had chosen for this end; it is what He is about to do. Moses, vexed at the contempt and the injustice of Dathan and Abiram, appeals to the justice and the judgment of God. God intervenes by a judgment of pure destruction. But the glory and the house of God are at stake, when the question is, who is He to be approached by? Now, authority is insufficient to conduct such as we are through the wilderness; the flesh is rebellious, and the last resource of authority is destruction; but this does not lead a people to a good end for the glory of God, though He is therein glorified in righteousness. Moses is then powerless in that character of authority which strikes in righteousness, in bringing the people into Canaan. It is priesthood, which the rebellion had so despised, which is invested with authority over His rebellious people. It is Christ the priest, in His grace and goodness, who leads us through the wilderness. That is the conclusion we come to at the end of the narrative we have of the journeying of the people of God. From chap. 17 to 20 this subject is set forth with the circumstances relative to it. First the authority of Aaron is established by signs shown by the power of God, in his rod, put with the others near God, the source of all authority. The power of life and blessing displays itself with a rapidity which makes manifest the presence of God. The buds, the flowers and the fruit grow on dry wood. Priesthood living and victorious over death, through divine efficacy, must lead the people; God's authority is entrusted to it. The carnal people, always out of the way, who were bold not long ago in the presence of the majesty of God, now that His grace manifests itself, are afraid of His presence, and say that they cannot draw near Him. This opens the way for still deeper views on the place that priesthood holds in general.
UM 18In chap. 18 the place of priesthood is clearly defined, as well as that of the Levites. The priests alone draw near to the holy place; they alone aye allowed this intimacy with God. But, in consequence of their position, there are sins, iniquities which they are called to bear as an effect of this proximity, which would not be remarked amongst those who are outside. That which is unbecoming the presence and the sanctuary of God, does not become His priests. They bear the iniquity of the holy place. If the people disobeyed the law, doubtless they were punished; but that which defiled the sanctuary fell upon Aaron and his sons. What then is the measure of holiness given to the children of God, alone true priests? The service of the Levites and the Levites themselves were given as a gift to the priests. Priesthood also was a pure gift to Aaron and his sons: because of the anointing, the most holy things were given them to eat, which was a special privilege of the priests. The same thing is true with regard to us, whatever is precious in the offering of Christ, in every point of view, in His life and in His death; in that bread come down from heaven, contemplated in His life of devotedness and grace here below, and in His death for us,—all that is the food and nourishment of our souls, in that communion with God in which we ourselves are kept in our priesthood. The priests only eat the holy things, and they eat them in a holy place. It is only in the sense of the presence of God, and under the efficacy of that oil which is not poured on the flesh, that we can truly realize what is precious in the work of Christ. Verse 10 presents something very remarkable, for what is here said and no where else is, that they were to eat them in the most holy place, the Holy of Holies. There is no difficulty in the terms. I have sometimes thought that it might mean, from among the most holy things; but if it be not that, the meaning is then in the Holy of Holies, and only relates to the antitype, that is, that it is only in the presence and before the throne of the sovereign God Himself, that we can really feed on that precious food. Historically. the priests were not there: being in the sanctuary of God, they were accounted as being there.
There were things which, though truly belonging to the priestly family, were not properly eaten in the priestly character, such as the heave-offerings, the wave-offerings; the daughters ate of it as well as the sons: all that were clean in the house could partake of them. Thus, in the joys of the children of God, there are some that belong to them as a family. We enjoy our blessings, and all that is offered by man to God. It is a joy for the soul. All that the Spirit of Christ works to the glory of God, even in His members, and still more what He does in Christ Himself, is the food of the soul of the household of God and strengthens them. Do not our souls enjoy those first-fruits, the best of the new wine and the wheat-the first-fruits of that fine harvest of God, the produce of His seed on the soil of His election? Yes, we enjoy them in thinking of them. But the sin-offerings, the trespass-offerings, the meat-offerings, all that in which we share in spirit in the deep work of Christ is only eaten in the character and the spirit of a priest. We must enter, according to the efficacy of -this work of Christ, into the spirit in which He presents Himself after His sacrifice, moved by His perfect love, in the presence of the Most High;-into the sentiments of love, devotedness in the consciousness of the holiness of God, in a word into the feelings with which he presents himself as a priest before Him, in order to connect, by love and the efficacy of His offering, the holiness of God and the blessing of him who has sinned, to realize that which is precious in Christ in that work, to share in it (for so it is) in grace. And, effectively, that only takes place in the most holy place, in the presence of God where He appears for us. In fine, either family joys, or this holy participation in spirit in the work of Christ, all we have just been speaking about, belongs to the priesthood. Even the Levites were to recognize, in all that God gave them as strangers in the land of promise, the rights and the authority of the priests. Now, if we wish to make the distinction,-all believers are priests; -the ministers, in their capacity of ministers are only Levites.
It is evident that partaking in spirit (to partake in it in reality is impossible) in the sacrifice of Christ for sin, in eating of it as a priest, is a very holy thing, a privilege enjoyed in a very holy place; everything is specially holiness here. But if on the one band, priesthood must lead the people through the wilderness, and if Moses' rod of authority cannot do this, if it can only smite; on the other, it-must make provision of means for removing the defilements taking place during the journey, that the communion of the people with God may not be interrupted; that is the reason why the sacrifice of the red heifer is placed here apart from all the others, because it was prescribed in order to meet the defilements of the wilderness. But if the consideration of Christ, even though it be Christ offered for sin, and the participation in His priestly work, in connection with that sacrifice, was a most holy thing realized in the communion of the most holy place; being occupied with that sin, even in a brother, and that to purify him, it defiled even -those who were not guilty of it.
This is the ordinance given on this occasion: to touch a dead body was indeed being defiled with sin; for sin is here considered under the point of view of defilement which precluded the entrance into the court of the tabernacle. Christ is presented in the red heifer as unspotted by sin, and as never having borne the yoke of it either; but He is led forth without the camp, as being wholly a sacrifice for sin. The priest who brought the heifer did not kill it; but it was killed in his presence. He was there to take knowledge of the deed. The death of Christ is never the act of priesthood. The heifer was completely burnt without the camp, even its blood, except that which was sprinkled directly before the tabernacle of the congregation, that is, where the people were to meet God. There the blood was sprinkled seven times (because it was there that God met with His people), a perfect testimony in the eyes of God of the atonement made for sin. They had access there according to the value of this blood.
The priest threw into the fire cedar-wood, hyssop and scarlet, that is, all that was of man, and his human glory in the world. From the cedar down to the hyssop, is the expression of nature from her highest elevation to her lowest depth. Crimson is external glory (the world if you please). The whole was burnt in the fire which consumed Christ, the sacrifice for sin. Then, if anybody contracted defilement, though it were merely through neglect, whichever way it might be, God took account of the defilement. To cleanse the defiled person, they took some running water into which they put the ashes of the heifer, and the man was sprinkled on the third and on the seventh day; then he was clean. It signifies that the Spirit of God, without applying anew the blood to the soul, takes the sufferings of Christ, the proof that sin and all that is of the natural man and of the world have been burnt in His expiatory death, and applies them to it. It is the proof, the intimate conviction that nothing is, nor can be imputed: but it produces upon the heart the deeply painful conviction that it has got defiled notwithstanding redemption, and by the sins for which Christ has suffered in accomplishing it, and that in the face of His sufferings for sin, but, alas I in the forgetfulness of them, even for that sin the motions of which we yield to so lightly now, a feeling much deeper than that of having sins imputed; for it is in reality the new man in His best feelings who judges by the Spirit and according to God, and who takes knowledge of the sufferings of Christ and of sin, as seen in Him on the cross. The first feeling is bitterness, although without the thought of imputation-bitterness, precisely because there is no imputation, and that we have sinned against love as well as against holiness, and that we must submit to that conviction. But lastly (and it seems to me it is the reason why there was the second sprinkling) it is the consciousness of that love and of the deep grace of Jesus and the joy of being perfectly clean, through the work of that love. The details show the exactness of God as to these defilements, though He cleanses us from them. They show also that any one who has to do with the sin of another, though it be in the way of duty, to cleanse it, is defiled; not as the guilty person, it is true, but we cannot touch sin without being defiled. The value of grace and of priesthood are also made evident.
Miriam the prophetess dies; Israel grows old, so to speak, in the wilderness; and the voice which sang songs of triumph in coming up from the depths of the Red Sea is silent in the tomb. Also they lacked water. The journey was being lengthened; the resources were far from increasing; on the contrary, what there had been of joy and testimony was vanishing. They gather themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. God directs them to the provision He had made against murmurings. If we have witnessed His holiness, we see now His resources and His blessing.
" Take the rod," says God, He knows of no other now, "and speak unto the rock, and it shall give forth its water." There is nothing to be done but to show the sign of grace, of priesthood intervening on the part of God in the grace with which He has clothed His authority, and to speak the word, and the wants of the people shall be immediately supplied. It was not precisely this grace which had followed the people from the Red Sea to Sinai. It was not, either, authority punishing sin; but it was grace taking knowledge of sin and wants, restoring from the defilements of the one, and obtaining all that met the others. But Moses, whilst taking the rod according to the commandment of God, soured by the rebellion of the people, thinks of his authority and their rebellion; he does not apprehend the counsels of grace, and speaks unadvisedly. The rebellion of the people and the contempt of his authority have got a firmer hold on his mind than the intelligence of the grace of God: "he smites the rock with his rod." This must needs have been done the first time. Christ needs to have been smitten, that water might come out in the behalf of His people; but there can be no repetition of this smiting. Now under the priesthood, we have only to speak according to the living power of this priesthood which God has established, and there is an answer in grace to all our wants. The fruit and the blossom would be spoiled, if I may so speak, by smiting with it; that thought is no longer in it. Moses did not sanctify God; he did not sufficiently value the character which God had assumed; he did not respect God in the position He had deigned to take; but God did sanctify Himself the more, by acting in grace and quenching the thirst of the people in spite of this. Moses glorified himself, and before God he was abased. He did not know how to abandon the position he had been placed in, to have sympathy with the thoughts of the abounding, sovereign and good grace of his God, which surpassed in compassion the justice and authority under which He had placed His people. God, however, does not forsake His poor servant. How insignificant we are in comparison with His grace!
The grace of priesthood can alone bring such a people as we are through the wilderness. But the journey is drawing towards its close; and we now come to the enemies who oppose its ending, and the entering of the people into the desired land, that land of promise, so long sought after. Edom, full of jealousy, will not let the way be shortened, Israel turns away from him. There are people who oppose us and from whom it is right to turn away, on account of some external relation existing between them and ourselves, though they are animated with an implacable hatred: we must know how to discern them. God will judge them in His own time; our hand must not be upon them. As to the enemies of God, they must be our enemies; where the power of the enemy is evident, it is God's war. But we meet in the way with those who are descended from the sources of promise, although after the flesh, and who are characterized by the flesh; we leave them to God;-it is His prerogative to judge of them. The occasion for war is not apparent; it would not be legitimate for the people. Now Aaron also departs. Service in the end takes another character: the question is not exactly to conduct the people with patience through the wilderness, where the flesh manifests itself; but there are enemies and difficulties to be met; for there are difficulties distinct from the conduct and the patience of life. The Israelites fight with the Canaanites in the south, though they have not got into the land. But the king of the Canaanites has been informed of their coining by the presence of the spies; this was perhaps another fruit of the want of boldness, of faith, which had caused them to be sent. However, though these enemies seem to prevail at first, when Israel allow themselves to be attacked, when the Israelites are ready utterly to destroy them, God delivers them up to them. Take notice of this. But, the people, wearied, murmur again, for the way was long. were fighting with the Canaanites without yet possessing the land; the question was only about destroying them. God interferes and makes them feel all the power of the enemy, the old serpent. Christ made sin for us is the only perfectly efficacious remedy. The mere sight of that wonder procures healing, for the efficacy is in the thing itself before God. The question is not here about leading the people, but of answering the judgment of God, either final, or in the way of chastening, and the power of the enemy against us in the face of that judgment, and even as the effect of that judgment. In such a case, the question is between our souls and God; it is a question of death, or simply of the death of Jesus. We must submit to that, as being in an irremediable condition, and, submitting to God's righteousness, look to His ordinance.
Next Israel goes forward, but they are not yet in the land. God relieves and refreshes them of His own free grace, without their murmuring. He gathers the people. Israel celebrates anew, close by the land, the wells which are found in the wilderness. They can how say themselves, "Spring up, O well;" no more rock to smite, no more murmurings near the land. Life is no longer the question; at the end of their course, it is salvation; it is the deadly wound of the serpent; they are healed; they walk and drink with joy and songs of praise. They dug, for their activity displayed itself in the presence of the grace of God, and the water sprung up in the wilderness.
We meet with people with whom we do not wish to have war, but they will not let us pass peaceably. Our warfare is with the possessors of our inheritance beyond Jordan. If we are attacked, we must defend ourselves; but we are not to be aggressors. Israel wish to pass quietly through the land of the Amorites; but these will not allow it, and they suffer the consequences of the war they have sought against the people of God. Israel takes their cities, and begins already on this side Jordan to realize, as beforehand, the possession of the promise.
Moab also opposes in vain.-Now they are in the plains of Moab, having only Jordan between them and the land of their rest. But had they a right to enter therein? If the enemy cannot oppose by force, he will try another way, by putting under the curse the people who well deserved it.
Balak sends for Balaam. The grand question in this touching scene is this-" Can Satan succeed in cursing the people of God, so as to prevent their entrance into the land of promise?" It is not merely a question of redemption and of the joy of redemption at the beginning of their course, but in the end, when all their unfaithfulness has been manifested; even after the Lord has brought them to Himself. Can Satan succeed then? No. When Moses, in those same plains, has to say with regard to their conduct towards God, " You have been a perverse and rebellious people from the day that I knew you " (and, indeed, they had been excessively froward, a most stiff-necked people; do we not know this?) Well, God says by the mouth of Balaam, the involuntary-witness of the truth, " He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel." What a testimony! What wonderful grace! What perfection in the ways of God! God sees aright; He makes no mistake. He speaks the truth according to the perfectness of His infinite intelligence; and it is because it is infinite, that He can see no iniquity in the redeemed people. How could He see any in those who are washed in the blood of the Lamb? Nor is it His mind to see it. In His dealings with the people, He will see everything, take knowledge of everything; but with the accuser-it is a question of justice. God only sees this, that, according to the counsels of His grace He has given a ransom; the sins of His people have been atoned for. He could not in justice see those sins. The mouth of the accuser is therefore obliged to confess that there are none, and that there-is no power of the enemy against Jacob.
It is God who, of His own will, interferes to take the part of His people against the enemy, and that even without their knowing it, or asking for it. It is not, as almost all prophecies are, an appeal to the conscience of the people, accompanied by promises calculated to sustain the faith of` the remnant in the midst of the gainsayers. The people know nothing about it; they are perhaps still murmuring in their tents, (so beautiful in the eyes of him who had the vision of the Almighty) against the ways of God with them. It is God declaring His own thoughts and confounding the malice of Satan, the enemy He has to do with. That is the reason why his prophecy is so complete, presenting to us our whole portion, separation, justification, beauty in the eyes of God (all that corresponds with the presence of the Spirit of God), and the crown of glory in the coming of the star of Jacob, of Christ Himself in glory.)
Balsam was a sad character: forced to see from afar off the blessing of God upon His people; when he is near, he sees nothing but the way of error, in which he wishes to drag them along, that they may forfeit that blessing (if that were possible). We 'cannot think of any iniquity worse than that: we shall say a few words as to its typical character. Let us come to the history. Balak seeks him. Balaam wishes to inquire of the Lord, either from instinctive fear, or to attach the importance of the name of the Lord to what He does. Effectively God does interfere, and even goes first to Balaam. However it may be, He takes the matter in hand, and has power over the unjust mind of Balaam against his will; for Balaam has no understanding of the mind of God. God had said, "Thou shalt not go, they are blessed." What is his answer? "The Lord refuseth to give me leave to go." He would gladly have gone; his heart was set upon the reward of Balak, but he fears before God. The blessing of the people does not come into his mind; he is a complete stranger to the generosity of grace. Consequently when there is a renewal of the temptation, he says that he cannot transgress the commandment of the Lord his God; he puts on piety, and, in reality, he was not entirely without sincerity, for God held him close, indeed he allowed all this; but, at the same time, Balaam induces the messengers of Balak to tarry and see what God would say further. What did he want to know more about an invitation to curse that people who God had told him were blessed? He had no sympathy whatever with the thoughts of the heart of God, not one for Him. Otherwise, he would have been so happy in the blessing of the people, that he would have shuddered at the idea of cursing what God had blessed. God, however, will use him, to give a glorious testimony on behalf of His people, whilst, at the same time, condemning the crooked ways of the prophet, for they were indeed crooked. He shows him his perverseness, his folly to be more stupid than the ass he was riding: but, at the same time, He makes him go on in his way. This meeting in the way does serve to force him, through fear, to utter faithfully what God should put into his mouth. Balaam goes to meet, he does not say what. It is plain (xxiv. 1.), that he had mixed enchantments with the profession of the name of the Lord, and that he had thus been the enemy's instrument. He was thus going to meet his mysterious power which came there, and Elohim came to meet him. God restrains and hinders on the behalf of His people all power of the enemy, and causes Balaam to say what he wishes to be said. Balaam looks upon Israel from above, and utters his prophecy. This prophecy is divided into four parts. It has Israel for its object; but as to the principle of it, it applies also. to the church. The first announces the separation of the people from the world. "The people shall dwell alone, separated unto God, a people not reckoned among the nations." The second prophecy declares that God does not repent. God has blessed them; shall He not confirm what He has said? The people are justified, and without sin in the eyes of God. God it was who had brought them out of Egypt. This people had "the strength of the unicorn," and the enemy had no power against them.
Balaam, seeing at last that God was bent upon blessing, yields to the power of God, goes no longer to the meeting of enchantments, and the Spirit of God conies upon him. The justification of the people being now declared, the Spirit of God can bear testimony to them, instead of confining His testimony to the thoughts and intentions of God. Balaam sees them from above; seeing the vision, of the Almighty, he sees the people according to the thoughts of the Spirit of God, as seen in the mind of God from above. The eyes of the prophet are open. Therefore, observe that it is neither the anticipation of Canaan, nor Israel in their permanent habitations, Balaam turns his face towards the wilderness, and sees Israel abiding in their tents. There, the Spirit sees them, and declares the beauty and the order of the people in the eyes of God. The water of the refreshing of God was also always there with them; God had planted the trees, therefore will they be great amongst the nations, a source of power and joy. God had brought them out of Egypt, they were the work of God, and "the power of God was to go with them against their enemies. We get here-thirdly, beauty-a freshness, the sources of which do not dry up, and power (what the Spirit does for the Church). Then in the fourth place, the coming of Christ, the Star of Jacob, who crowns the glory of the people. Only, as it comes in the midst of Israel, it is in judgment. With regard to us, it will be to take us hence, in order to make us participate in the joy of His presence,-to the marriage of the Lamb.
In a word, we see the separation of the people from the world, their justification, their order, their beauty, as planted by God near the everlasting sources of the river of God, and then the coming of Christ. The prophecy is perfectly beautiful.
It is very important for us to see sometimes the Church from above, in the wilderness; but, in the beauty of the thoughts of God, a pearl without price. In the midst of the camp below, in the desert, what murmurings, complainings, how much indifference, what carnal motives would have been witnessed and heard? From above, for him who has the vision of God, who has his eyes open, everything is beautiful. "I stand in doubt of you," says the Apostle; and, immediately after, "I have confidence in you, through the Lord." We must get up to Him, and we shall have His thoughts of grace, who sees the beauty of His people, of His Church, through everything else, for she is beautiful; but for this, one would be, either entirely discouraged, or one would be satisfied with evil. This vision of God removes these two thoughts at once. We see the final judgment of the ships of Chittim, that is, of the West, north of the Mediterranean, and that of their chief, after he has afflicted Asshur and Eber also. It will be the terrible judgment of God at the end of this age.
A few words more on the position of Balaam.
At the end of a dispensation based on any knowledge whatever of God, when faith is lost and profession retained, this last obtains a renown of which men glory, as now, of the name of Christianity: Satan uses it. Power is sought from him; they go to meet enchantments, because, whilst glorying in the revealed name of God, they seek to satisfy their own lusts, and the importance of the name of God is tacked on to the work of the devil. However, God is acknowledged, up to a certain point. They fear Him, and He may interfere; but the system is diabolical; under the name of the Lord, with a partial fear of the Lord, and a dread which recognizes Him as an object of fear. The people of God are preserved; but it is a very solemn thought, and it is truly the history of the Christian system.
At last, the unhappy Balaam, whose heart was in the bonds of iniquity, seeing that he cannot curse by the power of Satan, seeks to frustrate the blessing of God, by leading the people into sin and idolatry. As regards the people, he is but too successful. God sends a chastening, and, the people humbling themselves, the enormity of the evil excites the indignation of Phinehas, who, acting with an energy suitable to the circumstances, stops the plague and acquires a perpetual priesthood in his family.
The journey being now ended, God numbers afresh His people and counts them by name, as heirs ready to take possession of the inheritance. He has kept them through everything and brought them as far as Canaan; their raiment even did not wax old. He settles the details of the inheritance, and appoints a leader in the room of Moses, to introduce them into the land of promise. Chapter 26 presents us with the numbering.
UM 27In the beginning of chapter 27 are details upon the order according to which they were to inherit. Moses is favored with a view of the land, and the people are placed under the conduct of Joshua to enter therein. Moses and Aaron had led them through the wilderness; but here it is a new scene, and Joshua (as to the Church, Christ in the power of His Spirit) is appointed to conquer the land. But he is dependent on the priesthood in his progress onward, as effectively the presence and the operations of the Holy Spirit are dependent on the presence of Christ in the holy(place.
UM 28-29In chaps. 28 and 29 we have the worship of the people, the sacrifices whi h, are the meat of God. We shall dwell a little on these chapters. They are not the ways of God, a gathering together as in chap. xxiii. of Leviticus, but the offerings themselves, and especially those of sweet savor, made by fire', except that which was purely accessory. First there are lambs for the regular service; that is, for that of the morning and evening, and for that of the Sabbath, two lambs. Then, bullocks and goats also for the extraordinary feasts. The lamb has the most simple meaning; it is the constant presentation of the value of Christ and of believers in Him, the true Lamb of God,-the sweet savor of His sacrifice ascending continually, by day and by night; and when the true Sabbath is come, its efficacy will only ascend more abundantly, as a matter of intelligence and application. This can be said as regards God Himself, as to the fruit of the travail of the Savior's soul. The bullocks seem to me to represent rather the energy of the devotedness of persons in their estimate of that sacrifice. It was the largest thing that could be offered: still having regard to the sacrifice of Christ and the price set upon it.
The ram was always a victim of consecration, or of amend for some violation of the rights of consecration. As to the number of these two last kinds they were in general two bullocks, a ram and seven lambs. Then, a bullock and a ram the first day of the seventh month, and the decreasing number of the feast of tabernacles.
For this kind of sacrifice, see Types of Leviticus.
It appears to me that all this gives the testimony of the worship rendered to God upon the earth. Thus, when this testimony is renewed, when God revives the light which produces it, the first feast noticed here, the answer on the part of man is simple and perfect, the two bullocks (as there were two lambs on the Sabbath day) the full and complete testimony of the devotedness of man, for two gave a valid testimony. The ram of consecration is the estimate of the sacrifice of Christ fully developed. Man being still down here, and sin not out of question, the goat was added as an offering for sin.
If the worship of the people was in connection with the resurrection of Christ: it was the same thing, as in the case of the work of the Spirit in gathering together. It was the exercise of power on the part of God which made an opportunity for worship; the answer on the part of the people was the same. Now, the first day of the seventh month had reference to the recall of Israel, which was a specialty and not the general and complete testimony; whilst the resurrection of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit which allowed the gentiles also to come in, and thus extended to the perfect testimony of the relations between God and man, produced an answer from below which fully recognized the good which God had done and the relations established thereupon, in being to Him according to the sweet savor of Christ, either in consecration, or in the intelligent estimate of the offering of Christ.
The unction of the Spirit and joy accompanied it. In this case, then, that is, at the feast of the first day of the seventh month, there was but one bullock. It is evident that the same principle applies to the tenth day of the seventh month. It is the application of the atonement of Christ to Israel on earth. There was but one bullock. The principle of consecration and the intrinsic value of the sacrifice remained the same.
The feast of tabernacles introduced another order of ideas, at least a new development of those ideas-it is the coming dispensation. There is not perfection in that which is offered joyfully of one's own free will to God; but that is nearly realized,-thirteen bullocks are offered. The millennium will bring upon earth a joy of worship and thanksgiving, which, Satan being bound, and the blessing of the reign of Christ being spread everywhere, will be, externally at least, almost perfect. The two rams manifest the testimony of abundant consecration, and perhaps outwardly the introduction of Jews and Gentiles (not consecrated in one body) but witnesses upon earth in a distinct manner of this consecration to God. Then the testimony of the perfectness of the work of Christ being full,(upon earth, either for Israel, or for the blessing of the Gentiles, its complete efficacy was manifested upon earth,;-and the question here is only about this manifestation upon earth (understood by faith however). There were fourteen lambs.
There is, however, a declining in this devotedness of joy and testimony towards God: h does not cease from being complete, it is true; but its abundance gradually ceases to manifest itself, as it did at the beginning. The thing, as established of God, remains in its perfection. This was found in the seventh day, which completed the part purely earthly.
On the eighth day, we come back to one bullock, one ram and seven lambs. It was the counter-part of the day of atonement: for, if the seventh day designated Israel alone brought back to God, the eighth day, on the other hand, designates that which was outside earthly perfection, and the heavenly people apart. This, it seems to me, is the general idea of what the Spirit of God gives us in this passage.
UM 30Chapter 30 is the case of the vows of women, which has reference also to the fate of Israel, who have indeed taken these vows upon themselves, in the hearing of God who has not disannulled them in His government here below; and Israel have continued responsible to the vow wherewith they have bound themselves, and of which the precious Savior has been obliged to take the burden upon Himself.
War is found in the wilderness (though it is not characteristic of it), whenever we fall into the snares the enemy there lays for us. There are always conflicts in the heavenly places in order to the enjoyment of the things promised there. But in the wilderness, it is patience which is in exercise. But if there be failure, if we fall into idolatry, if we commit fornication with the world by yielding to its baits, if in any way whatever we contract friendship with the world in the desert, we make wars for ourselves, without having even the advantage of acquiring, in this kind of warfare any spiritual ground. God is obliged to make our relations with the world undergo a total change. If we had not formed intimacies with them, we should not have had that trouble; but, since as our friends they deceive us, we must become enemies. Having no relations whatever with them is our proper and peaceful position. How often we must act the part of enemies with the world, because we have sought to have to do with them as friends and that they were a snare to our souls! However, God gives a complete victory as soon as we treat them as foes; only, all that seduced must be utterly destroyed; there must be nothing spared, no concession.
The Lord orders also concerning the joy resulting from the wars of His people with their enemies. He chooses whom He will for the war and honors them; but He will also honor in their place those who have been left there according to His sovereign will, and who have faithfully discharged the perhaps less arduous task allotted to them, but who have, however, done it according to His will. God Himself is also recognized there in the Levites and the Priests. There is another thing connected with this; if we have occasioned wars out of Canaan, it is also through the indispensable wars of the people of God against those who opposed their march through the wilderness, that they have acquired a good land, and up to a certain point, rest, on this side Jordan, that river of death which serves as a boundary to the true land of promise. Having possessions down here to which the heart clings, this heart clings also to the blessings which are on this side Jordan, to that measure of rest which the people of God have acquired out of Canaan. "Bring us not," they say, "over Jordan." Moses felt the bearing of this wish. If he could not enter the land, according to the government of God, his heart was there nevertheless. He recalls the contempt of the pleasant land at Kadesh-barnea, and severely rebukes Reuben and Gad. However the tribes engaging to go equally forward until the land be conquered, he grants their request and settles them in the land, with the half-tribe of Manasseh. Nevertheless, the history of the holy Book shows us that these tribes were the first to suffer and to fall into the hands of the Gentiles. " Do you not know," says Ahab, " that Ramoth in Gilead is ours, and the possession of the Syrians?" Happy they who patiently wait for the blessings of God, till they have gone over Jordan, and who, in the meanwhile, take patience for their portion, rather than the blessings which are on this side, though they are the gifts of the providence of God? They are less secure. There are no frontiers like Jordan, appointed by God as such in His counsels of grace. If God numbers His people name by name, He shows at the same time His government and His faithfulness; for, while keeping them, yet there were none of the first numbering left, save Caleb and Joshua. Also does He remember all their long journey through the wilderness; each stage is before His eyes and in His memory; and now He lays down, in principle, the possession of the land by the people, and the total destruction of the inhabitants who were to be entirely driven away and not abide in the midst of Israel, else those who were left would be a torment for the people, and God also would do unto Israel, as He had done to those nations. It is a dangerous charity, then, that which spares the enemies of God, or rather which spares itself, through unbelief, in its conflicts with them, and which is soon led to form with them connections that bring the judgment which those enemies have inherited, and themselves also deserved. Finally God takes care of His people in all respects; He marks the limits of the country they were to enjoy. He settles the taking possession, the portion of His servants, the Levites, which were not to have any inheritance. Six of their cities were to be refuges for those who had unwilfully committed murder; a precious type of Israel themselves, who, in their ignorance killed the Christ. In this sense, God judges them to be innocent. They are guilty of blood which they could not bear; but guilty in their ignorance like Saul himself, who is a striking figure, as an abortion (εκτρωμα, 1 Cor. 15:88And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. (1 Corinthians 15:8)), of this same position. Such a murderer, however, remains out of his possession, until the death of the priest living in those days. And so it will be with regard to Israel. As long as Christ retains his actual priesthood above, Israel will remain out of their possession, but under the safe keeping of God. The servants of God at least, who have no inheritance, serve as a refuge to them, and understand their position and welcome them as being under the keeping of God. When this priesthood above, such as it is, ends, Israel will return into their possession. If they did before, it would be to pass over the blood of Christ, and the land would be defiled thereby. Now, the actual position of Christ is always a testimony of this rejection, and of His death in the midst of the people. Therefore God keeps the inheritance such as He has appointed it (36). All this then presents, not the passage itself through the desert, but the relations between that position and the possession of the promises and of the rest which follows. It is in the plains of Moab that Moses bore testimony, and a true testimony, to the perverseness of the people; but where God justified them, chewing His counsels of grace, in taking their side against the enemy, without even their knowledge, and pursued all the designs of His grace and of His determinate purpose for the complete establishment of His people in the land He had promised them. Blessed be His name Happy are we, in being allowed to study His ways!
D.
Numbers.
The name NUMBERS is probably taken from the LXX, in which Ἀριθμοι is the title of the Book. In Hebrew במדבר is the title; which is the fifth word in the first verse of its first chapter, "And the Lord spake unto Moses in the Wilderness."-Ed.