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diff --git a/7069.txt b/7069.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b30e57e --- /dev/null +++ b/7069.txt @@ -0,0 +1,22570 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Expositions of Holy Scripture, by Alexander Maclaren + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Expositions of Holy Scripture + Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers + +Author: Alexander Maclaren + +Posting Date: October 18, 2012 [EBook #7069] +Release Date: December, 2004 +First Posted: March 5, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE *** + + + + +Produced by Anne Folland, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + + + + + + +EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE + +ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D. D., Litt. D. + +GENESIS, EXODUS, LEVITICUS AND NUMBERS + + + + +EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE + +ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D. D., Litt. D. + +GENESIS + + + + +CONTENTS + + +THE VISION OF CREATION (Genesis i. 26--ii. 3) + +HOW SIN CAME IN (Genesis iii. 1-15) + +EDEN LOST AND RESTORED (Genesis iii. 24; Revelation xxii. 14) + +THE GROWTH AND POWER OF SIN (Genesis iv. 3-16) + +WHAT CROUCHES AT THE DOOR (Genesis iv. 7, R.V.) + +WITH, BEFORE, AFTER (Genesis v. 22; Genesis xvii. 1; Deuteronomy xiii. +4) + +THE COURSE AND CROWN OF A DEVOUT LIFE (Genesis v. 24) + +THE SAINT AMONG SINNERS (Genesis vi. 9-22) + +'CLEAR SHINING AFTER RAIN' (Genesis viii. 1-22) + +THE SIGN FOR MAN AND THE REMEMBRANCER FOR GOD (Genesis ix. 8-17) + +AN EXAMPLE OF FAITH (Genesis xii. 1-9) + +ABRAM AND THE LIFE OF FAITH + +GOING FORTH (Genesis xii. 5) + +COMING IN + +THE MAN OF FAITH (Genesis xii. 6, 7) + +LIFE IN CANAAN (Genesis xii. 8) + +THE IMPORTANCE OF A CHOICE (Genesis xiii. 1-13) + +ABBAM THE HEBREW (Genesis xiv. 13) + +GOD'S COVENANT WITH ABRAM (Genesis xv. 5-18) + +THE WORD THAT SCATTERS FEAR (Genesis xv. 1) + +FAITH AND RIGHTEOUSNESS (Genesis xv. 6) + +WAITING FAITH REWARDED AND STRENGTHENED BY NEW REVELATIONS (Genesis +xvii. 1-9) + +A PETULANT WISH (Genesis xvii. 18) + +'BECAUSE OF HIS IMPORTUNITY' (Genesis xviii. l6-33) + +THE INTERCOURSE OF GOD AND HIS FRIEND + +THE SWIFT DESTROYER (Genesis xix. 15-26) + +FAITH TESTED AND CROWNED (Genesis xxii. 1-14) + +THE CROWNING TEST AND TRIUMPH OF FAITH + +JEHOVAH-JIREH (Genesis xxii. 14) + +GUIDANCE IN THE WAY (Genesis xxiv. 27) + +THE DEATH OF ABRAHAM (Genesis xxv. 8) + +A BAD BARGAIN (Genesis xxv. 27-34) + +POTTAGE _versus_ BIRTHRIGHT (Genesis xxv. 34) + +THE FIRST APOSTLE OF PEACE AT ANY PRICE (Genesis xxvi. 12-25) + +THE HEAVENLY PATHWAY AND THE EARTHLY HEART (Genesis xxviii. 10-22) + +MAHANAIM: THE TWO CAMPS (Genesis xxxii. 1, 2) + +THE TWOFOLD WRESTLE--GOD'S WITH JACOB AND JACOB'S WITH GOD (Genesis +xxxii. 9-12) + +A FORGOTTEN VOW (Genesis xxxv. 1) + +THE TRIALS AND VISIONS OF DEVOUT YOUTH (Genesis xxxvii. 1-11) + +MAN'S PASSIONS AND GOD'S PURPOSE (Genesis xxxvii. 23-36) + +GOODNESS IN A DUNGEON (Genesis xl. 1-15) + +JOSEPH, THE PRIME MINISTER (Genesis xli. 38-48) + +RECOGNITION AND RECONCILIATION (Genesis xlv. 1-15) + +JOSEPH, THE PARDONER AND PRESERVER + +GROWTH BY TRANSPLANTING (Genesis xlvii. 1-12) + +TWO RETROSPECTS OF ONE LIFE (Genesis xlvii. 9; Genesis xlviii. 15, 16) + +'THE HANDS OF THE MIGHTY GOD OF JACOB' (Genesis xlix. 23, 24) + +THE SHEPHERD, THE STONE OF ISRAEL (Genesis xlix. 24) + +A CALM EVENING, PROMISING A BRIGHT MORNING (Genesis l. 14-26) + +JOSEPH'S FAITH (Genesis l. 25) + +A COFFIN IN EGYPT (Genesis l. 26) + + + + + THE VISION OF CREATION + + + 'And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our + likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of + the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the + cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping + thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man + in His own image: in the image of God created He him; + male and female created He them. And God blessed them: + and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and + replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion + over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, + and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. + And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing + seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every + tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; + to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the + earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing + that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I + have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. And + God saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it + was very good. And the evening and the morning were the + sixth day. + + 'Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all + the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended His + work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day + from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the + seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it He + had rested from all His work which God created and made.' + --GENESIS i. 26-ii. 3. + +We are not to look to Genesis for a scientific cosmogony, and are not +to be disturbed by physicists' criticisms on it as such. Its purpose is +quite another, and far more important; namely, to imprint deep and +ineffaceable the conviction that the one God created all things. Nor +must it be forgotten that this vision of creation was given to people +ignorant of natural science, and prone to fall back into surrounding +idolatry. The comparison of the creation narratives in Genesis with the +cuneiform tablets, with which they evidently are most closely +connected, has for its most important result the demonstration of the +infinite elevation above their monstrosities and puerilities, of this +solemn, steadfast attribution of the creative act to the one God. Here +we can only draw out in brief the main points which the narrative +brings into prominence. + +1. The revelation which it gives is the truth, obscured to all other +men when it was given, that one God 'in the beginning created the +heaven and the earth.' That solemn utterance is the keynote of the +whole. The rest but expands it. It was a challenge and a denial for all +the beliefs of the nations, the truth of which Israel was the champion +and missionary. It swept the heavens and earth clear of the crowd of +gods, and showed the One enthroned above, and operative in, all things. +We can scarcely estimate the grandeur, the emancipating power, the +all-uniting force, of that utterance. It is a worn commonplace to us. +It was a strange, thrilling novelty when it was written at the head of +this narrative. _Then_ it was in sharp opposition to beliefs that have +long been dead to us; but it is still a protest against some living +errors. Physical science has not spoken the final word when it has +shown us how things came to be as they are. There remains the deeper +question, What, or who, originated and guided the processes? And the +only answer is the ancient declaration, 'In the beginning God created +the heaven and the earth.' + +2. The record is as emphatic and as unique in its teaching as to the +mode of creation: 'God said ... and it was so.' That lifts us above all +the poor childish myths of the nations, some of them disgusting, many +of them absurd, all of them unworthy. There was no other agency than +the putting forth of the divine will. The speech of God is but a symbol +of the flashing forth of His will. To us Christians the antique phrase +suggests a fulness of meaning not inherent in it, for we have learned +to believe that 'all things were made by Him' whose name is 'The Word +of God'; but, apart from that, the representation here is sublime. 'He +spake, and it was done'; that is the sign-manual of Deity. + +3. The completeness of creation is emphasised. We note, not only the +recurrent 'and it was so,' which declares the perfect correspondence of +the result with the divine intention, but also the recurring 'God saw +that it was good.' His ideals are always realised. The divine artist +never finds that the embodiment of His thought falls short of His +thought. + + 'What act is all its thought had been? + What will but felt the fleshly screen? + +But He has no hindrances nor incompletenesses in His creative work, and +the very sabbath rest with which the narrative closes symbolises, not +His need of repose, but His perfect accomplishment of His purpose. God +ceases from His works because 'the works were finished,' and He saw +that all was very good. + +4. The progressiveness of the creative process is brought into strong +relief. The work of the first four days is the preparation of the +dwelling-place for the living creatures who are afterwards created to +inhabit it. How far the details of these days' work coincide with the +order as science has made it out, we are not careful to ask here. The +primeval chaos, the separation of the waters above from the waters +beneath, the emergence of the land, the beginning of vegetation there, +the shining out of the sun as the dense mists cleared, all find +confirmation even in modern theories of evolution. But the intention of +the whole is much rather to teach that, though the simple utterance of +the divine will was the agent of creation, the manner of it was not a +sudden calling of the world, as men know it, into being, but majestic, +slow advance by stages, each of which rested on the preceding. To apply +the old distinction between justification and sanctification, creation +was a work, not an act. The Divine Workman, who is always patient, +worked slowly then as He does now. Not at a leap, but by deliberate +steps, the divine ideal attains realisation. + +5. The creation of living creatures on the fourth and fifth days is so +arranged as to lead up to the creation of man as the climax. On the +fifth day sea and air are peopled, and their denizens 'blessed,' for +the equal divine love holds every living thing to its heart. On the +sixth day the earth is replenished with living creatures. Then, last of +all, comes man, the apex of creation. Obviously the purpose of the +whole is to concentrate the light on man; and it is a matter of no +importance whether the narrative is correct according to zoology, or +not. What it says is that God made all the universe, that He prepared +the earth for the delight of living creatures, that the happy birds +that soar and sing, and the dumb creatures that move through the paths +of the seas, and the beasts of the earth, are all His creating, and +that man is linked to them, being made on the same day as the latter, +and by the same word, but that between man and them all there is a +gulf, since he is made in the divine image. That image implies +personality, the consciousness of self, the power to say 'I,' as well +as purity. The transition from the work of the first four days to that +of creating living things must have had a break. No theory has been +able to bridge the chasm without admitting a divine act introducing the +new element of life, and none has been able to bridge the gulf between +the animal and human consciousness without admitting a divine act +introducing 'the image of God' into the nature common to animal and +man. Three facts as to humanity are thrown up into prominence: its +possession of the image of God, the equality and eternal +interdependence of the sexes, and the lordship over all creatures. Mark +especially the remarkable wording of verse 27: 'created He _him_ male +and female created He _them_.' So 'neither is the woman without the +man, nor the man without the woman.' Each is maimed apart from the +other. Both stand side by side, on one level before God. The germ of +the most 'advanced' doctrines of the relations of the sexes is hidden +here. + + + + +HOW SIN CAME IN + + + 'Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the + field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the + woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree + of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We + may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of + the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the + garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither + shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said + unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth + know, that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes + shall be opened; and ye shall be as gods, knowing good + and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good + for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a + tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the + fruit thereof, and did eat; and gave also unto her + husband with her, and he did eat. And the eyes of them + both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; + and they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves + aprons. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking + in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his + wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God + amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called + unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he + said, I heard Thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, + because I was naked; and I hid myself. And He said, Who + told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the + tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not + eat And the man said, The woman whom Thou gavest to be + with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the + Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast + done? and the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I + did eat. And the Lord God said onto the serpent. Because + thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, + and above every beast of the field: upon thy belly shalt + thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy + life. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, + and between thy seed and her seed: it shall bruise thy + head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.'--GENESIS iii 1-15. + +It is no part of my purpose to enter on the critical questions +connected with the story of 'the fall.' Whether it is a legend, +purified and elevated, or not, is of less consequence than what is its +moral and religious significance, and that significance is unaffected +by the answer to the former question. The story presupposes that +primitive man was in a state of ignorant innocence, not of intellectual +or moral perfection, and it tells how that ignorant innocence came to +pass into conscious sin. What are the stages of the transition? + +1. There is the presentation of inducement to evil. The law to which +Adam is to be obedient is in the simplest form. There is restriction. +'Thou shalt not' is the first form of law, and it is a form congruous +with the undeveloped, though as yet innocent, nature ascribed to him. +The conception of duty is present, though in a very rudimentary shape. +An innocent being may be aware of limitations, though as yet not +'knowing good and evil.' With deep truth the story represents the first +suggestion of disobedience as presented from without. No doubt, it +might have by degrees arisen from within, but the thought that it was +imported from another sphere of being suggests that it is alien to true +manhood, and that, if brought in from without, it may be cast out +again. And the temptation had a personal source. There are beings who +desire to draw men away from God. The serpent, by its poison and its +loathly form, is the natural symbol of such an enemy of man. The +insinuating slyness of the suggestions of evil is like the sinuous +gliding of the snake, and truly represents the process by which +temptation found its way into the hearts of the first pair, and of all +their descendants. For it begins with casting a doubt on the reality of +the prohibition. 'Hath God said?' is the first parallel opened by the +besieger. The fascinations of the forbidden fruit are not dangled at +first before Eve, but an apparently innocent doubt is filtered into her +ear. And is not that the way in which we are still snared? The reality +of moral distinctions, the essential wrongness of the sin, is obscured +by a mist of sophistication. 'There is no harm in it' steals into some +young man's or woman's mind about things that were forbidden at home, +and they are half conquered before they know that they have been +attacked. Then comes the next besieger's trench, much nearer the +wall--namely, denial of the fatal consequences of the sin: 'Ye shall +not surely die,' and a base hint that the prohibition was meant, not as +a parapet to keep from falling headlong into the abyss, but as a +barrier to keep from rising to a great good; 'for God doth know, that +in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall +be as gods.' These are still the two lies which wile us to sin: 'It +will do you no harm,' and 'You are cheating yourselves out of good by +not doing it.' + +2. Then comes the yielding to the tempter. As long as the prohibition +was undoubted, and the fatal results certain, the fascinations of the +forbidden thing were not felt. But as soon as these were tampered with, +Eve saw 'that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to +the eyes.' So it is still. Weaken the awe-inspiring sense of God's +command, and of the ruin that follows the breach of it, and the heart +of man is like a city without walls, into which any enemy can march +unhindered. So long as God's 'Thou shalt not, lest thou die' rings in +the ears, the eyes see little beauty in the sirens that sing and +beckon. But once that awful voice is deadened, they charm, and allure +to dally with them. + +In the undeveloped condition of primitive man temptation could only +assail him through the senses and appetites, and its assault would be +the more irresistible because reflection and experience were not yet +his. But the act of yielding was, as sin ever is, a deliberate choice +to please self and disobey God. The woman's more emotional, sensitive, +compliant nature made her the first victim, and her greatest glory, her +craving to share her good with him whom she loves, and her power to +sway his will and acts, made her his temptress. 'As the husband is, the +wife is,' says Tennyson; but the converse is even truer: As the wife +is, the man is. + +3. The fatal consequences came with a rush. There is a gulf between +being tempted and sinning, but the results of the sin are closely knit +to it. They come automatically, as surely as a stream from a fountain. +The promise of knowing good and evil was indeed kept, but instead of +its making the sinners 'like gods,' it showed them that they were like +beasts, and brought the first sense of shame. To know evil was, no +doubt, a forward step intellectually; but to know it by experience, and +as part of themselves, necessarily changed their ignorant innocence +into bitter knowledge, and conscience awoke to rebuke them. The first +thing that their opened eyes saw was themselves, and the immediate +result of the sight was the first blush of shame. Before, they had +walked in innocent unconsciousness, like angels or infants; now they +had knowledge of good and evil, because their sin had made evil a part +of themselves, and the knowledge was bitter. + +The second consequence of the fall is the disturbed relation with God, +which is presented in the highly symbolical form fitting for early +ages, and as true and impressive for the twentieth century as for them. +Sin broke familiar communion with God, turned Him into a 'fear and a +dread,' and sent the guilty pair into ambush. Is not that deeply and +perpetually true? The sun seen through mists becomes a lurid ball of +scowling fire. The impulse is to hide from God, or to get rid of +thoughts of Him. And when He _is_ felt to be near, it is as a +questioner, bringing sin to mind. The shuffling excuses, which venture +even to throw the blame of sin on God ('the woman whom _Thou_ gavest +me'), or which try to palliate it as a mistake ('the serpent beguiled +me'), have to come at last, however reluctantly, to confess that 'I' +did the sin. Each has to say, 'I did eat.' So shall we all have to do. +We may throw the blame on circumstances, weakness of judgment, and the +like, while here, but at God's bar we shall have to say, '_Mea_ culpa, +_mea_ culpa.' + +The curse pronounced on the serpent takes its habit and form as an +emblem of the degradation of the personal tempter, and of the perennial +antagonism between him and mankind, while even at that first hour of +sin and retribution a gleam of hope, like the stray beam that steals +through a gap in a thundercloud, promises that the conquered shall one +day be the conqueror, and that the woman's seed, though wounded in the +struggle, shall one day crush the poison-bearing, flat head in the +dust, and end forever his power to harm. 'Known unto God are all his +works from the beginning,' and the Christ was promised ere the gates of +Eden were shut on the exiles. + + + + +EDEN LOST AND RESTORED + + + 'So He drove out the man: and He placed at the east of + the garden of Eden cherubims and a flaming sword which + turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.' + --GENESIS iii. 24. + + 'Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they + may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in + through the gates into the city.' + REVELATION xxii. 14. + +Better is the end of a thing than the beginning.' Eden was fair, but +the heavenly city shall be fairer. The Paradise regained is an advance +on the Paradise that was lost. These are the two ends of the history of +man, separated by who knows how many millenniums. Heaven lay about him +in his infancy, but as he journeyed westwards its morning blush faded +into the light of common day--and only at eventide shall the sky glow +again with glory and colour, and the western heaven at last outshine +the eastern, with a light that shall never die. A fall, and a rise--a +rise that reverses the fall, a rise that transcends the glory from +which he fell,--that is the Bible's notion of the history of the world, +and I, for my part, believe it to be true, and feel it to be the one +satisfactory explanation of what I see round about me and am conscious +of within me. + +1. _Man had an Eden and lost it._ + +I take the Fall to be a historical fact. To all who accept the +authority of Scripture, no words are needed beyond the simple statement +before us, but we may just gather up the signs that there are on the +wide field of the world's history, and in the narrower experience of +individuals, that such a fall has been. + +Look at the condition of the world: its degradation, its savagery-all +its pining myriads, all its untold millions who sit in darkness and the +shadow of death. Will any man try to bring before him the actual state +of the heathen world, and, retaining his belief in a God, profess that +these men are what God meant men to be? It seems to me that the present +condition of the world is not congruous with the idea that men are in +their primitive state, and if this is what God meant men for, then I +see not how the dark clouds which rest on His wisdom and His love are +to be lifted off. + +Then, again--if the world has not a Fall in its history, then we must +take the lowest condition as the one from which all have come; and is +that idea capable of defence? Do we see anywhere signs of an upward +process going on now? Have we any experience of a tribe raising itself? +Can you catch anywhere a race in the act of struggling up, outside of +the pale of Christianity? Is not the history of all a history of +decadence, except only where the Gospel has come in to reverse the +process? + +But passing from this: What mean the experiences of the +individual-these longings; this hard toil; these sorrows? + +How comes it that man alone on earth, manifestly meant to be leader, +lord, etc., seems but cursed with a higher nature that he may know +greater sorrows, and raised above the beasts in capacity that he may +sink below them in woe, this capacity only leading to a more exquisite +susceptibility, to a more various as well as more poignant misery? + +Whence come the contrarieties and discordance in his nature? + +It seems to me that all this is best explained as the Bible explains it +by saying: (1) Sin has done it; (2) Sin is not part of God's original +design, but man has fallen; (3) Sin had a personal beginning. There +have been men who were pure, able to stand but free to fall. + +It seems to me that that explanation is more in harmony with the facts +of the case, finds more response in the unsophisticated instinct of +man, than any other. It seems to me that, though it leaves many dark +and sorrowful mysteries all unsolved, yet that it alleviates the +blackest of them, and flings some rays of hope on them all. It seems to +me that it relieves the character and administration of God from the +darkest dishonour; that it delivers man's position and destiny from the +most hopeless despair; that though it leaves the mystery of the origin +of evil, it brings out into clearest relief the central truths that +evil is evil, and sin and sorrow are not God's will; that it vindicates +as something better than fond imaginings the vague aspirations of the +soul for a fair and holy state; that it establishes, as nothing else +will, at once the love of God and the dignity of man; that it leaves +open the possibility of the final overthrow of that Sin which it treats +as an intrusion and stigmatises as a fall; that it therefore braces for +more vigorous, hopeful conflict against it, and that while but for it +the answer to the despairing question, Hast Thou made all men in vain? +must be either the wailing echo 'In vain,' or the denial that He has +made them at all, there is hope and there is power, and there is +brightness thrown on the character of God and on the fate of man, by +the old belief that God made man upright, and that man made himself a +sinner. + +2. _Heaven restores the lost Eden_. + +'God is not ashamed to be called their God, _for_ He hath prepared them +a _city_.' + +The highest conception we can form of heaven is the reversal of all the +evil of earth, and the completion of its incomplete good: the sinless +purity--the blessed presence of God--the fulfilment of all desires--the +service which is _blessed_, not toil--the changelessness which is +progress, not stagnation. + +3. _Heaven surpasses the lost Eden_. + +(1) Garden--City. + +The perfection of association--the _nations_ of the saved. Here 'we +mortal millions live alone,' even when united with dearest. Like +Egyptian monks of old, each dwelling in his own cave, though all were a +community. + +(2) The richer experience. + +The memory of past sorrows which are understood at last. + +Heaven's bliss in contrast with earthly joys. + +Sinlessness of those who have been sinners will be more intensely +lustrous for its dark background in the past. Redeemed men will be +brighter than angels. + +The impossibility of a fall. + +Death behind us. + +The former things shall no more come to mind, being lost in blaze of +present transcendent experience, but yet shall be remembered as having +led to that perfect state. + +Christ not only repairs the 'tabernacle which was fallen,' but builds a +fairer temple. He brings 'a statelier Eden,' and makes us dwell for +ever in a Garden City. + + + + +THE GROWTH AND POWER OF SIN + + + 'And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought + of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And + Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock, and + of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel, + and to his offering: But unto Cain, and to his offering, + he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his + countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art + thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou + doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest + not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be + his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. And Cain talked + with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they + were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his + brother, and slew him. And the Lord said unto Cain, + Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not. Am + I my brother's keeper? And He said, What hast thou done? + the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto Me from the + ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which + hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from + thy hand. When thou tillest the ground, it shall not + henceforth yield unto thee her strength. A fugitive and + a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. And Cain said unto + the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. + Behold, Thou hast driven me out this day from the face + of the earth; and from Thy face shall I be hid; and I + shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth: and it + shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall + slay me. And the Lord said unto him, Therefore, whosoever + slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. + And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him + should kill him. And Cain went out from the presence of + the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of + Eden.' + GENESIS iv. 3-16. + +Many lessons crowd on us from this section. Its general purport is to +show the growth of sin, and its power to part man from man even as it +has parted man from God. We may call the whole 'The beginning of the +fatal operations of sin on human society.' + +1. The first recorded act of worship occasions the first murder. Is not +that only too correct a forecast of the oceans of blood which have been +shed in the name of religion, and a striking proof of the subtle power +of sin to corrupt even the best, and out of it to make the worst? What +a lesson against the bitter hatred which has too often sprung up on +so-called religious grounds! No malice is so venomous, no hate so +fierce, no cruelty so fiendish, as those which are fed and fanned by +religion. Here is the first triumph of sin, that it poisons the very +springs of worship, and makes what should be the great uniter of men in +sweet and holy bonds their great separator. + +2. Sin here appears as having power to bar men's way to God. Much +ingenuity has been spent on the question why Abel's offering was +accepted and Cain's rejected. But the narrative itself shows in the +words of Jehovah, 'If thou doest well, is there not acceptance?' that +the reason lay in Cain's evil deeds. So, in 1 John iii. 12, the +fratricide is put down to the fact that 'his works were evil, and his +brother's righteous'; and Hebrews xi. 4 differs from this view only in +making the ground of righteousness prominent, when it ascribes the +acceptableness of Abel's offering to faith. Both these passages are +founded on the narrative, and we need not seek farther for the reason +of the different reception of the two offerings. Character, then, or, +more truly, faith, which is the foundation of a righteous character, +determines the acceptableness of worship. Cain's offering had no sense +of dependence, no outgoing of love and trust, no adoration,--though it +may have had fear,--and no moral element. So it had no sweet odour for +God. Abel's was sprinkled with some drops of the incense of lowly +trust, and came from a heart which fain would be pure; therefore it was +a joy to God. So we are taught at the very beginning, that, as is the +man, so is his sacrifice; that the prayer of the wicked is an +abomination. Plenty of worship nowadays is Cain worship. Many reputable +professing Christians bring just such sacrifices. The prayers of such +never reach higher than the church ceiling. Of course, the lesson of +the story is not that a man must be pure before his sacrifice is +accepted. Of course, the faintest cry of trust is heard, and a contrite +heart, however sinful, is always welcome. But we are taught that our +acts of worship must have our hearts in them, and that it is vain to +pray and to love evil. Sin has the awful power of blocking our way to +God. + +3. Note in one word that we have here at the beginning of human history +the solemn distinction which runs through it all. These two, so near in +blood, so separate in spirit, head the two classes into which Scripture +decisively parts men, especially men who have heard the gospel. It is +unfashionable now to draw that broad line between the righteous and the +wicked, believers and unbelievers. Sheep and goats are all one. Modern +liberal sentiment--so-called--will not consent to such narrowness as +the old-fashioned classification. There are none of us black, and none +white; we are all different shades of grey. But facts do not quite bear +out such amiable views. Perhaps it is not less charitable, and a great +deal truer, to draw the line broad and plain, on one side of which is +peace and safety, and on the other trouble and death, if only we make +it plain that no man need stop one minute on the dark side. + +4. The solemn divine voice reads the lesson of the power of sin, when +once done, over the sinner. Like a wild beast, it crouches in ambush at +his door, ready to spring and devour. The evil deed once committed +takes shape, as it were, and waits to seize the doer. Remorse, inward +disturbance, and above all, the fatal inclination to repeat sin till it +becomes a habit, are set forth with terrible force in these grim +figures. What a menagerie of ravenous beasts some of us have at the +doors of our hearts! With what murderous longing they glare at us, +seeking to fascinate us, and make us their prey! When we sin, we cannot +escape the issues; and every wrong thing we do has a kind of horrible +life given it, and sits henceforth there, beside us, ready to rend us. +The tempting, seducing power of our own evils was never put in more +startling and solemnly true words, on which the bitter experience of +many a poor victim of his own past is a commentary. The eternal duty of +resistance is farther taught by the words. Hope of victory, +encouragement to struggle, the assurance that even these savage beasts +may be subdued, and the lion and adder (the hidden and the glaring +evils--those which wound unseen, and which spring with a roar) may be +overcome, led in a silken leash or charmed into harmlessness, are given +in the command, which is also a promise, 'Rule thou over it.' + +5. The deadly fruit of hate is taught us in the brief account of the +actual murder. Notice the impressive plainness and fewness of the +words. 'Cain rose up against his brother, and slew him.' A kind of +horror-struck awe of the crime is audible. Observe the emphasis with +which 'his brother' is repeated in the verse and throughout. Observe, +also, the vivid light thrown by the story on the rise and progress of +the sin. It begins with envy and jealousy. Cain was not wroth because +his offering was rejected. What did he care for that? But what angered +him was that his brother had what he had not. So selfishness was at the +bottom, and that led on to envy, and that to hatred. Then comes a +pause, in which God speaks remonstrances,--as God's +voice--conscience--does now to us all,--between the imagination and the +act of evil. A real or a feigned reconciliation is effected. The +brothers go in apparent harmony to the field. No new provocation +appears, but the old feelings, kept down for a time, come in again with +a rush, and Cain is swept away by them. Hatred left to work means +murder. The heart is the source of all evil. Selfishness is the mother +tincture out of which all sorts of sin can be made. Guard the thoughts, +and keep down self, and the deeds will take care of themselves. + +6. Mark how close on the heels of sin God's question treads! How God +spoke, we know not. Doubtless in some fashion suited to the needs of +Cain. But He speaks to us as really as to him, and no sooner is the +rush of passion over, and the bad deed done, than a revulsion comes. +What we call conscience asks the question in stern tones, which make a +man's flesh creep. Our sin is like touching the electric bells which +people sometimes put on their windows to give notice of thieves. As +soon as we step beyond the line of duty we set the alarm going, and it +wakens the sleeping conscience. Some of us go so far as to have +silenced the voice within; but, for the most part, it speaks +immediately after we have gratified our inclinations wrongly. + +7. Cain's defiant answer teaches us how a man hardens himself against +God's voice. It also shows us how intensely selfish all sin is, and how +weakly foolish its excuses are. It is sin which has rent men apart from +men, and made them deny the very idea that they have duties to all men. +The first sin was only against God; the second was against God and man. +The first sin did not break, though it saddened, human love; the second +kindled the flames of infernal hatred, and caused the first drops to +flow of the torrents of blood which have soaked the earth. When men +break away from God, they will soon murder one another. + +Cain was his brother's keeper. His question answered itself. If Abel +was his brother, then he was bound to look after him. His +self-condemning excuse is but a specimen of the shallow pleas by which +the forgetfulness of duties we owe to all mankind, and all sins, are +defended. + +8. The stern sentence is next pronounced. First we have the grand +figure of the innocent blood having a voice which pierces the heavens. +That teaches in the most forcible way the truth that God knows the +crimes done by 'man's inhumanity to man,' even when the meek sufferers +are silent. According to the fine old legend of the cranes of Ibycus, a +bird of the air will carry the matter. It speaks, too, of God's tender +regard for His saints, whose blood is precious in His sight; and it +teaches that He will surely requite. We cannot but think of the +innocent blood shed on Calvary, of the Brother of us all, whose +sacrifice was accepted of God. His blood, too, crieth from the ground, +has a voice which speaks in the ear of God, but not to plead for +vengeance, but pardon. + + 'Jesus' blood through earth and skies, + Mercy, free, boundless mercy, cries.' + +Then follows the sentence which falls into two parts--the curse of +bitter, unrequited toil, and the doom of homeless wandering. The blood +which has been poured out on the battlefield fertilises the soil; but +Abel's blasted the earth. It was a supernatural infliction, to teach +that bloodshed polluted the earth, and so to shed a nameless horror +over the deed. We see an analogous feeling in the common belief that +places where some foul sin has been committed are cursed. We see a weak +natural correspondence in the devastating effect of war, as expressed +in the old saying that no grass would grow where the hoof of the Turk's +horse had stamped. + +The doom of wandering, which would be compulsory by reason of the +earth's barrenness, is a parable. The murderer is hunted from place to +place, as the Greek fable has it, by the furies, who suffer him not to +rest. Conscience drives a man 'through dry places, seeking rest, and +finding none.' All sin makes us homeless wanderers. There is but one +home for the heart, one place of repose for a man, namely, in the heart +of God, the secret place of the Most High; and he who, for his sin, +durst not enter there, is driven forth into 'a salt land and not +inhabited,' and has to wander wearily there. The legend of the +wandering Jew, and that other of the sailor, condemned for ever to fly +before the gale through stormy seas, have in them a deep truth. The +earthly punishment of departing from God is that we have not where to +lay our heads. Every sinner is a fugitive and a vagabond. But if we +love God we are still wanderers indeed, but we are 'pilgrims and +sojourners with Thee.' + +9. Cain's remonstrance completes the tragic picture. We see in it +despair without penitence. He has no word of confession. If he had +accepted his chastisement, and learned by it his sin, all the +bitterness would have passed away. But he only writhes in agony, and +adds, to the sentence pronounced, terrors of his own devising. God had +not forbidden him to come into His presence. But he feels that he dare +not venture thither. And he was right; for, whether we suppose that +some sensible manifestation of the divine presence is meant by 'Thy +face' or no, a man who had unrepented sin on his conscience, and +murmurings in his heart, could not hold intercourse with God; nor would +he wish to do so. Thus we learn again the lesson that sin separates +from our Father, and that chastisements, not accepted as signs of His +love, build up a black wall between God and us. + +Nor had Cain been told that his life was in danger. But his conscience +made a coward of him, as of us all, and told him what he deserved. +There were, no doubt, many other children of Adam, who would be ready +to avenge Abel's death. The wild justice of revenge is deep in the +heart of men; and the natural impulse would be to hunt down the +murderer like a wolf. It is a dreadful picture of the defiant and +despairing sinner, tortured by well-founded fears, shut out from the +presence of God, but not able to shut out thoughts of Him, and seeing +an avenger in every man. + +We need not ask how God set a mark on Cain. Enough that His doing so +was a merciful alleviation of his lot, and teaches us how God's +long-suffering spares life, and tempers judgment, that there may still +be space for repentance. If even Cain has gracious protection and mercy +blended with his chastisement, who can be beyond the pale of God's +compassion, and with whom will not His loving providence and patient +pity labour? No man is so scorched by the fire of retribution, but many +a dewy drop from God's tenderness falls on him. No doubt, the story of +the preservation of Cain was meant to restrain the blood-feuds so +common and ruinous in early times; and we need the lesson yet, to keep +us from vengeance under the mask of justice. But the deepest lesson and +truest pathos of it lies in the picture of the watchful kindness of God +lingering round the wretched man, like gracious sunshine playing on +some scarred and black rock, to win him back by goodness to penitence, +and through penitence to peace. + + + + +WHAT CROUCHES AT THE DOOR + + + 'If thou doest not well, sin croucheth at the door: and + unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over + him.'--GENESIS iv. 7 (R. V.). + +These early narratives clothe great moral and spiritual truths in +picturesque forms, through which it is difficult for us to pierce. In +the world's childhood God spoke to men as to children, because there +were no words then framed which would express what we call abstract +conceptions. They had to be shown by pictures. But these early men, +simple and childlike as they were, had consciences; and one abstraction +they did understand, and that was sin. They knew the difference between +good and evil. + +So we have here God speaking to Cain, who was wroth because of the +rejection of his sacrifice; and in dim, enigmatical words setting forth +the reason of that rejection. 'If thou doest well, shalt thou not be +accepted?' Then clearly his sacrifice was rejected because it was the +sacrifice of an evil-doer. His description as such is given in the +words of my text, which are hard for us to translate into our modern, +less vivid and picturesque language. 'If thou doest not well, sin lieth +at the door; and unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule +over him.' Strange as the words sound, if I mistake not, they convey +some very solemn lessons, and if well considered, become pregnant with +meaning. + +The key to the whole interpretation of them is to remember that they +describe what happens after, and because of, wrong-doing. They are all +suspended on 'If thou doest not well.' Then, in that case, for the +first thing--'sin lieth at the door.' Now the word translated here +'lieth' is employed only to express the _crouching_ of an animal, and +frequently of a wild animal. The picture, then, is of the wrong-doer's +sin lying at his door there like a crouching tiger ready to spring, and +if it springs, fatal. 'If thou doest not well, a wild beast crouches at +thy door.' + +Then there follow, with a singular swift transition of the metaphor, +other words still harder to interpret, and which have been, as a matter +of fact, interpreted in very diverse fashions. 'And unto thee shall be +_its'_ (I make that slight alteration upon our version) 'desire, and +thou shalt rule over it.' Where did we hear these words before? They +were spoken to Eve, in the declaration of her punishment. They contain +the blessing that was embedded in the curse. 'Thy desire shall be to +thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.' The longing of the pure +womanly heart to the husband of her love, and the authority of the +husband over the loving wife--the source of the deepest joy and purity +of earth, is transferred, by a singularly bold metaphor, to this other +relationship, and, in horrible parody of the wedded union and love, we +have the picture of the sin, that was thought of as crouching at the +sinner's door like a wild beast, now, as it were, wedded to him. He is +mated to it now, and it has a kind of tigerish, murderous desire after +him, while he on his part is to subdue and control it. + +The reference of these clauses to the sin which has just been spoken of +involves, no doubt, a very bold figure, which has seemed to many +readers too bold to be admissible, and the words have therefore been +supposed to refer to Abel, who, as the younger brother, would be +subordinate to Cain. But such a reference breaks the connection of the +sentence, introduces a thought which is not a consequence of Cain's not +doing well, has no moral bearing to warrant its appearance here, and +compels us to travel an inconveniently long distance back in the +context to find an antecedent to the 'his' and 'him' of our text. It +seems to be more in consonance, therefore, with the archaic style of +the whole narrative, and to yield a profounder and worthier meaning, if +we recognise the boldness of the metaphor, and take 'sin' as the +subject of the whole. Now all this puts in concrete, metaphorical +shape, suited to the stature of the bearers, great and solemn truths. +Let us try to translate them into more modern speech. + +1. First think, then, of that wild beast which we tether to our doors +by our wrong-doing. + +We talk about 'responsibility' and 'guilt,' and 'consequences that +never can be effaced,' and the like. And all these abstract and +quasi-philosophical terms are implied in the grim, tremendous metaphor +of my text 'If thou doest not well, a tiger, a wild beast, is crouching +at thy door.' We are all apt to be deceived by the imagination that +when an evil deed is done, it passes away and leaves no permanent +results. The lesson taught the childlike primitive man here, at the +beginning, before experience had accumulated instances which might +demonstrate the solemn truth, was that every human deed is immortal, +and that the transitory evil thought, or word, or act, which seems to +fleet by like a cloud, has a permanent being, and hereafter haunts the +life of the doer, as a real presence. If thou doest not well, thou dost +create a horrible something which nestles beside thee henceforward. The +momentary act is incarnated, as it were, and sits there at the doer's +doorpost waiting for him; which being turned into less forcible but +more modern language, is just this: every sin that a man does has +perennial consequences, which abide with the doer for evermore. + +I need not dwell upon illustrations of that to any length. Let me just +run over two or three ways in which it is true. First of all, there is +that solemn fact which we put into a long word that comes glibly off +people's lips, and impresses them very little--the solemn fact of +responsibility. We speak in common talk of such and such a thing lying +at some one's door. Whether the phrase has come from this text I do not +know. But it helps to illustrate the force of these words, and to +suggest that they mean this, among other things, that we have to answer +for every deed, however evanescent, however long forgotten. Its guilt +is on our heads. Its consequences have to be experienced by us. We +drink as we have brewed. As we make our beds, so we lie on them. There +is no escape from the law of consequences. 'If 'twere done, when 'tis +done, then 'twere well it were done quickly.' But seeing that it is not +done when 'tis done, then perhaps it would be better that it were not +done at all. Your deed of a moment, forgotten almost as soon as done, +lies there at your door; or to take a more modern and commercial +figure, it is debited to your account, and stands inscribed against you +for ever. + +Think how you would like it, if all your deeds from your childhood, all +your follies, your vices, your evil thoughts, your evil impulses, and +your evil actions, were all made visible and embodied there before you. +They are there, though you do not see them yet. All round your door +they sit, ready to meet you and to bay out condemnation as you go +forth. They are there, and one day you will find out that they are. For +this is the law, certain as the revolution of the stars and fixed as +the pillars of the firmament: 'Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he +also reap' There is no seed which does not sprout in the harvest of the +moral life. Every deed germinates according to its kind. For all that a +man does he has to carry the consequences, and every one shall bear his +own burden. 'If thou doest not well,' it is not, as we fondly conceive +it sometimes to be, a mere passing deflection from the rule of right, +which is done and done with, but we have created, as out of our very +own substance, a witness against ourselves whose voice can never be +stifled. 'If thou doest not well' thy sin takes permanent form and is +fastened to thy door. + +And then let me remind you, too, how the metaphor of our text is +confirmed by other obvious facts, on which I need but briefly dwell. +Putting aside all the remoter bearings of that thought of +responsibility, I suppose we all admit that we have consciences; I +suppose that we all know that we have memories; I suppose we all of us +have seen, in the cases of others, and have experienced for ourselves, +how deeds long done and long forgotten have an awful power of rising +again after many long years. + +Be sure that your memory has in it everything that you ever did. A +landscape may be hidden by mists, but a puff of wind will clear them +away, and it will all lie there, visible to the furthest horizon. There +is no fact more certain than the extraordinary swiftness and +completeness with which, in certain circumstances of life, and often +very near the close of it, the whole panorama of the past may rise +again before a man, as if one lightning flash showed all the dreary +desolation that lay behind him. There have been men recovered from +drowning and the like, who have told us that, as in an instant, there +seemed unrolled before their startled eyes the whole scroll of their +earthly career. + +The records of memory are like those pages on which you write with +sympathetic ink, which disappears when dry, and seems to leave the page +blank. You have only to hold it before the fire, or subject it to the +proper chemical process, and at once it stands out legible. You are +writing your biography upon the fleshly tables of your heart, my +brother; and one day it will all be spread out before you, and you will +be bid to read it, and to say what you think of it. The stings of a +nettle will burn for days, if they are touched with water. The sting +and inflammation of your evil deeds, though it has died down, is +capable of being resuscitated, and it will be. + +What an awful menagerie of unclean beasts some of us have at our doors! +What sort of creatures have you tethered at yours? Crawling serpents, +ugly and venomous; wild creatures, fierce and bloody, obscene and foul; +tigers and bears; lustful and mischievous apes and monkeys? or such as +are lovely and of good report,--doves and lambs, creatures pure and +peaceable, patient to serve and gentle of spirit? Remember, remember, +that what a man soweth--be it hemlock or be it wheat--that, and nothing +else, 'shall he reap.' + +2. Now, let us look for a moment at the next thought that is here; +which is put into a strong, and, to our modern notions, somewhat +violent metaphor;--the horrible longing, as it were, of sin toward the +sinner: 'Unto thee shall be its desire.' + +As I explained, these words are drawn from the previous chapter, where +they refer to the holy union of heart and affection in husband and +wife. Here they are transferred with tremendous force, to set forth +that which is a kind of horrible parody of that conjugal relation. A +man is married to his wickedness, is mated to his evil, and it has, as +it were, a tigerish longing for him, unhallowed and murderous. That is +to say--our sins act towards us as if they desired to draw our love to +themselves. This is just another form of the statement, that when once +a man has done a wrong thing, it has an awful power of attracting him +and making him hunger to do it again. Every evil that I do may, indeed, +for a moment create in me a revulsion of conscience; but it also +exercises a fascination over me which it is hard to resist. It is a +great deal easier to find a man who has never done a wrong thing than +to find a man who has only done it once. If the wall of the dyke is +sound it will keep the water out, but if there is the tiniest hole in +it, the flood will come in. So the evil that you do asserts its power +over you, or, in the vigorous metaphor of my text, it has a fierce, +longing desire after you, and it gets you into its clutches. + +'The foolish woman sitteth in the high places of the city, and saith, +Whoso is simple let him turn in hither.' And foolish men go after her, +and--'know not that her guests are in the depth of hell.' Ah! my +brother! beware of that siren voice that draws you away from all the +sweet and simple and pure food which Wisdom spreads upon her table, to +tempt the beast that is in you with the words, 'Stolen waters are +sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.' Beware of the first +step, for as sure as you are living, the first step taken will make the +second seem to become necessary. The first drop will be followed by a +bigger second, and the second, at a shorter interval, by a more copious +third, until the drops become a shower, and the shower becomes a +deluge. The river of evil is ever wider and deeper, and more +tumultuous. The little sins get in at the window, and open the front +door for the full-grown house-breakers. One smooths the path for the +other. All sin has an awful power of perpetuating and increasing +itself. As the prophet says in his vision of the doleful creatures that +make their sport in the desolate city, 'None of them shall want her +mate. The wild beasts of the desert shall meet with the wild beasts of +the island.' Every sin tells upon character, and makes the repetition +of itself more and more easy. 'None is barren among them.' And all sin +is linked together in a slimy tangle, like a field of seaweed, so that +the man once caught in its oozy fingers is almost sure to be drowned. + +3. And now, lastly, one word about the command, which is also a +promise: 'To thee shall be its desire, and thou shalt rule over it.' + +Man's primitive charter, according to the earlier chapters of Genesis, +was to have dominion over the beasts of the field. Cain knew what it +was to war against the wild creatures which contested the possession of +the earth with man, and to tame some of them for his uses. And, says +the divine voice, just as you war against the beasts of prey, just as +you subdue to your purposes and yoke to your implements the tamable +animals over which you have dominion, so rule over _this_ wild beast +that is threatening you. It is needful for all men, if they do not mean +to be torn to pieces, to master the animal that is in them, and the +wild thing that has been created out of them. It is bone of your bone +and flesh of your flesh. It is your own evil that is thus incarnated +there, as it were, before you; and you have to subdue it, if it is not +to tyrannise over you. We all admit that in theory, but how terribly +hard the practice! The words of our text seem to carry but little hope +or comfort in them, to the man who has tried--as, no doubt, many of us +have tried--to flee the lusts that war against the soul, and to bridle +the animal that is in him. Those who have done so most honestly know +best how hard it is, and may fairly ask, Is this useless repetition of +the threadbare injunction all that you have to say to us? If so, you +may as well hold your tongue. A wild beast sits at my door, you say, +and then you bid me, 'Rule thou over it!' Tell me to tame the tiger! +'Canst thou draw out Leviathan with a hook? Wilt thou take him a +servant for ever?' + +I do not undervalue the earnest and sometimes partially successful +efforts at moral reformation which some men of more than usual force of +character are able to make, emancipating themselves from the outward +practice of gross sin, and achieving for themselves much that is +admirable. But if we rightly understand what sin is--namely, the taking +self for our law and centre instead of God--and how deep its working +and all-pervading its poison, we shall learn the tragic significance of +the prophets question, 'Can the leopard change his spots?' Then may a +man cast out sin from his nature by his own resolve, when the body can +eliminate poison from the veins by its own energy. If there is nothing +more to be said to the world than this message, 'Sin lieth at thy +door--rule thou over it,' we have no gospel to preach, and sin's +dominion is secure. For there is nothing in all this world of empty, +windy words, more empty and windy than to come to a poor soul that is +all bespattered and stained with sin, and say to him: 'Get up, and make +thyself clean, and keep thyself so!' It cannot be done. + +So my text, though it keeps itself within the limits of the law and +only proclaims duty, must have hidden, in its very hardness, a sweet +kernel of promise. For what God commands God enables us to do. + +Therefore these words, 'Rule thou over it,' do really point onwards +through all the ages to that one fact in which every man's sin is +conquered and neutralised, and every man's struggles may be made +hopeful and successful, the great fact that Jesus Christ, God's own +Son, came down from heaven, like an athlete descending into the arena, +to fight with and to overcome the grim wild beasts, our passions and +our sins, and to lead them, transformed, in the silken leash of His +love. + +My brother! your sin is mightier than you. The old word of the Psalm is +true about every one of us, 'Our iniquities are stronger than we.' And, +blessed be His name! the hope of the Psalmist is the experience of the +Christian: 'As for my transgressions, Thou wilt purge them away.' +Christ will strengthen you, to conquer; Christ will take away your +guilt; Christ will bear, has borne your burden; Christ will cleanse +your memory; Christ will purge your conscience. Trusting to Him, and by +His power and life within us, we may conquer our evil. Trusting to Him, +and for the sake of His blood shed for us all upon the cross, we are +delivered from the burden, guilt, and power of our sins and of our sin. +With thy hand in His, and thy will submitted to Him, 'thou shalt tread +on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the dragon thou shalt +trample under foot.' + + + + +WITH, BEFORE, AFTER + + + 'Enoch walked with God,'--GENESIS v. 22. + + 'Walk before Me.'--GENESIS xvii. 1. + + 'Ye shall walk after the Lord your God.'--DEUTERONOMY xiii. 4. + +You will have anticipated, I suppose, my purpose in doing what I very +seldom do--cutting little snippets out of different verses and putting +them together. You see that these three fragments, in their +resemblances and in their differences, are equally significant and +instructive. They concur in regarding life as a walk--a metaphor which +expresses continuity, so that every man's life is a whole, which +expresses progress, which expresses change, and which implies a goal. +They agree in saying that God must be brought into a life somehow, and +in some aspect, if that life is to be anything else but an aimless +wandering, if it is to tend to the point to which every human life +should attain. But then they diverge, and, if we put them together, +they say to us that there are three different ways in which we ought to +bring God into our life. We should 'walk _with_ Him,' like Enoch; we +should 'walk _before_' Him, as Abraham was bade to do; and we should +'walk _after_' Him, as the command to do was given to all Israel. And +these three prepositions, _with_, _before_, _after_, attached to the +general idea of life as a walk, give us a triple aspect--which yet is, +of course, fundamentally, one--of the way in which life may be +ennobled, dignified, calmed, hallowed, focussed, and concentrated by +the various relations into which we enter with Him. So I take the three +of them. + +1. 'Enoch walked _with_ God.' + +That is a sweet, simple, easily intelligible, and yet lofty way of +putting the notion which we bring into a more abstract and less +impressive shape when we talk about communion with God. Two men +travelling along a road keep each other company. 'How can two walk +together except they be agreed?' The companion is at our side all the +same, though the mists may have come down and we cannot see Him. We can +hear His voice, we can grasp His hand, we can catch the echoes of His +steps. We know He is there, and that is enough. Enoch and God walked +together, by the simple exercise of the faith that fills the Invisible +with one great, loving Face. By a continuous, definite effort, as we +are going through the bustle of daily life, and amid all the pettiness +and perplexities and monotonies that make up our often weary and always +heavy days, we can realise to ourselves that He is of a truth at our +sides, and by purity of life and heart we can bring Him nearer, and can +make ourselves more conscious of His nearness. For, brethren, the one +thing that parts a man from God, and makes it impossible for a heart to +expatiate in the thought of His presence, is the contrariety to His +will in our conduct. The slightest invisible film of mist that comes +across the blue abyss of the mighty sky will blot out the brightest of +the stars, and we may sometimes not be able to see the mist, and only +know that it is there because we do not see the planet. So unconscious +sin may steal in between us and God, and we shall no longer be able to +say, 'I walk with Him.' + +The Roman Catholics talk, in their mechanical way, of bringing down all +the spiritual into the material and formal, about the 'practice of the +presence of God.' It is an ugly phrase, but it means a great thing, +that Christian people ought, very much more than they do, to aim, day +by day, and amidst their daily duties, at realising that most +elementary thought which, like a great many other elementary thoughts, +is impotent because we believe it so utterly, that wherever we are, we +may have Him with us. It is the secret of blessedness, of tranquillity, +of power, of everything good and noble. + +'I am a stranger with Thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were,' +said the Psalmist of old. If he had left out these two little words, +'with Thee,' he would have been uttering a tragic complaint; but when +they come in, all that is painful, all that is solitary, all that is +transient, bitterly transient, in the long succession of the +generations that have passed across earth's scene, and have not been +kindred to it, is cleared away and changed into gladness. Never mind, +though you are a stranger, if you have that companion. Never mind, +though you are only a sojourner; if you have Him with you, whatever +passes He will not pass; and though we dwell here in a system to which +we do not belong, and its transiency and our transiency bring with them +many sorrows, when we can say, 'Lord! Thou hast been our dwelling-place +in all generations,' we are at home, and that eternal home will never +pass. + +Enoch 'walked with God,' and, of course, 'God took him,' There was +nothing else for it, and there could be no other end, for a life of +communion with God here has in it the prophecy and the pledge of a life +of eternal union hereafter. So, then, 'practise the presence of God.' +An old mystic says: 'If I can tell how many times to-day I have thought +about God, I have not thought about Him often enough.' Walk with Him by +faith, by effort, by purity. + +2. And now take the other aspect suggested by the other word God spoke +to Abraham: 'I am the Almighty God, walk _before_ Me and be thou +perfect.' + +That suggests, as I suppose I do not need to point out, the idea not +only of communion, which the former phrase brought to our minds, but +that of the inspection of our conduct. 'As ever in the great +Taskmaster's eye,' says the stern Puritan poet, and although one may +object to that word 'Taskmaster,' yet the idea conveyed is the correct +expansion of the commandment given to Abraham. Observe how 'walk before +Me' is dovetailed, as it were, between the revelation 'I am the +Almighty God' and the injunction 'Be thou perfect.' The realisation of +that presence of the Almighty which is implied in the expression 'Walk +before Me,' the assurance that we are in His sight, will lead straight +to the fulfilment of the injunction that bears upon the moral conduct. +The same connection of thought underlies Peter's injunction, 'Like as +He ... is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation,' followed +immediately as it is by, 'If ye call on Him as Father, who without +respect of persons judgeth'--as a present estimate--'according to every +mail's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear'--that +reverential awe which will lead you to be 'holy even as I am holy.' + +This thought that we are in that divine presence, and that there is +silently, but most really, a divine opinion being formed of us, +consolidated, as it were, moment by moment through our lives, is only +tolerable if we have been walking with God. If we are sure, by the +power of our communion with Him, of His loving heart as well as of His +righteous judgment, then we can spread ourselves out before Him, as a +woman will lay out her webs of cloth on the green grass for the sun to +blaze down upon them, and bleach the ingrained filth out of them. We +must first walk 'with God' before the consciousness that we are walking +'before' Him becomes one that we can entertain and not go mad. When we +are sure of the 'with' we can bear the 'before.' + +Did you ever see how on a review day, as each successive battalion and +company nears the saluting-point where the General inspecting sits, +they straighten themselves up and dress their ranks, and pull +themselves together as they pass beneath his critical eye. A master's +eye makes diligent servants. If we, in the strength of God, would only +realise, day by day and act by act of our lives, that we are before +Him, what a revolution could be effected on our characters and what a +transformation on all our conduct! + +'Walk before Me' and you will be perfect. For the Hebrew words on which +I am now commenting may be read, in accordance with the usage of the +language, as being not only a commandment but a promise, or, rather, +not as two commandments, but a commandment with an appended promise, +and so as equivalent to 'If you will walk before Me you will be +perfect.' And if we realise that we are under 'the pure eyes and +perfect judgment of' God, we shall thereby be strongly urged and +mightily helped to be perfect as He is perfect. + +3. Lastly, take the other relation, which is suggested by the third of +my texts, where Israel as a whole is commanded to 'walk _after_ the +Lord' their God. + +In harmony with the very frequent expression of the Old Testament about +'going after idols' so Israel here is to 'go after God.' What does that +mean? Communion, the consciousness of being judged by God, will lead on +to aspiration and loving, longing effort to get nearer and nearer to +Him. 'My soul followeth hard after Thee,' said the Psalmist, 'Thy right +hand upholdeth me.' That element of yearning aspiration, of eager +desire to be closer and closer, and liker and liker, to God must be in +all true religion. And unless we have it in some measure, it is useless +to talk about being Christian people. To press onwards, not as though +we had already attained, but following after, if that we may apprehend +that for which also we are apprehended, is the attitude of every true +follower of Christ. The very crown of the excellence of the Christian +life is that it never can reach its goal, and therefore an immortal +youth of aspiration and growth is guaranteed to it. Christian people, +are you following after God? Are you any nearer to Him than you were +ten years ago? 'Walk with Me, walk before Me, walk after Me.' + +I need not do more than remind you of another meaning involved in this +same expression. If I walk after God, then I let Him go before me and +show me my road. Do you remember how, when the ark was to cross Jordan, +the commandment was given to the Israelites to let it go well on in +front, so that there should be no mistake about the course, 'for ye +have not passed this way heretofore.' Do not be in too great a hurry to +press upon the heels of God, if I may so say. Do not let your decisions +outrun His providence. Keep back the impatience that would hurry on, +and wait for His ripening purposes to ripen and His counsels to develop +themselves. Walk after God, and be sure you do not go in front of your +Guide, or you will lose both your way and your Guide. + +I need not say more than a word about the highest aspect which this +third of our commandments takes, 'His sheep follow Him'--'leaving us an +example that we should follow in His steps,' that is the culmination of +the walking 'with,' and 'before,' and 'after' God which these Old +Testament saints were partially practising. All is gathered into the +one great word, 'He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so +to walk even as He walked.' + + + + +THE COURSE AND CROWN OF A DEVOUT LIFE + + + 'And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took + him.' + GENESIS v. 24. + +This notice of Enoch occurs in the course of a catalogue of the +descendants of Adam, from the Creation to the Deluge. It is evidently a +very ancient document, and is constructed on a remarkable plan. The +formula for each man is the same. So-and-so lived, begat his heir, the +next in the series, lived on after that so many years, having anonymous +children, lived altogether so long, and then died. The chief thing +about each life is the birth of the successor, and each man's career is +in broad outline the same. A dreary monotony runs through the ages. How +brief and uniform may be the records of lives of striving and tears and +smiles and love that stretched through centuries! Nine hundred years +shrink into less than as many lines. + +The solemn monotony is broken in the case of Enoch. This paragraph +begins as usual--he 'lived'; but afterwards, instead of that word, we +read that he 'walked with God'--happy they for whom such a phrase is +equivalent to 'live'--and, instead of 'died,' it is said of him that +'he _was not_.' That seems to imply that he, as it were, slipped out of +sight or suddenly disappeared; as one of the psalms says, 'I looked, +and lo! he was not.' He was there a moment ago--now he is gone; and my +text tells how that sudden withdrawal came about. God, with whom he +walked, put out His hand and took him to Himself. Of course. What other +end could there be to a life that was all passed in communion with God +except that apotheosis and crown of it all, the lifting of the man into +closer communion with his Father and his Friend? + +So, then, there are just these two things here--the noblest life and +its crown. + +1. The noblest life. + +'He walked with God.' That is all. There is no need to tell what he did +or tried to do, how he sorrowed or joyed, what were his circumstances. +These may all fade from men's knowledge as they have somewhat faded +from his memory up yonder. It is enough that he walked with God. + +Of course, we have here, underlying the phrase, the familiar comparison +of life to a journey, with all its suggestions of constant change and +constant effort, and with the suggestion, too, that each life should be +a progress directly tending to one clearly recognised goal. But passing +from that, let us just think for a moment of the characteristics which +must go to make up a life of which we can say that it is walking with +God. The first of these clearly is the one that the writer of the +Epistle to the Hebrews puts his finger upon, when he makes faith the +spring of Enoch's career. The first requisite to true communion with +God is vigorous exercise of that faculty by which we realise the fact +of His presence with us; and that not as a jealous-eyed inspector, from +whose scrutiny we would fain escape, but as a companion and friend to +whom we can cleave. 'He that cometh to God,' and walks with God, must +first of all 'believe that He _is_'; and passing by all the +fascinations of things seen, and rising above all the temptations of +things temporal, his realising eye must fix upon the divine Father and +see Him nearer and more clearly than these. You cannot walk with God +unless you are emancipated from the dominion of sense and time, and are +living by the power of that great faculty, which lays hold of the +things that are unseen as the realities, and smiles at the false and +forged pretensions of material things to be the real. We have to invert +the teaching of the world and of our senses. My fingers and my eyes and +my ears tell me that this gross, material universe about me is the +real, and that all beyond it is shadowy and (sometimes we think) +doubtful, or, at any rate, dim and far off. But that is false, and the +truth is precisely the other way. The Unseen is the Real, and the +Material is the merely Apparent. Behind all visible objects, and giving +them all their reality, lies the unchangeable God. + +Cultivate the faculty and habit of vigorous faith, if you would walk +with God. For the world will put its bandages over your eyes, and try +to tempt you to believe that these poor, shabby illusions are the +precious things; and we have to shake ourselves free from its harlot +kisses and its glozing lies, by very vigorous and continual efforts of +the will and of the understanding, if we are to make real to ourselves +that which is real, the presence of our God. + +Besides this vigorous exercise of the faculty of faith, there is +another requisite for a walk with God, closely connected with it, and +yet capable of being looked at separately, and that is, that we shall +keep up the habit of continual occupation of thought with Him. That is +very much an affair of habit with Christian people, and I am afraid +that the neglect of it is the habitual practice of the bulk of +professing Christians nowadays. It is hard, amidst all our work and +thought and joys and sorrows, to keep fresh our consciousness of His +presence, and to talk with Him in the midst of the rush of business. +But what do we do about our dear ones when we are away from them? The +measure of our love of them is accurately represented by the frequency +of our remembrances of them. The mother parted from her child, the +husband and the wife separated from one another, the lover and the +friend, think of each other a thousand times a day. Whenever the spring +is taken off, then the natural bent of the inclination and heart assert +themselves, and the mind goes back again, as into a sanctuary, into the +sweet thought. Is that how we do with God? Do we so walk with Him, as +that thought, when released, instinctively sets in that direction? When +I take off the break, does my spirit turn to God? If there is no hand +at the helm, does the bow always point that way? When the magnet is +withdrawn for a moment, does the needle tremble back and settle itself +northwards? If we are walking with God, we shall, more times a day than +we can count when the evening comes on, have had the thought of Him +coming into our hearts 'like some sweet beguiling melody, so sweet we +know not we are listening to it.' Thus we shall 'walk with God.' + +Then there is another requisite. 'How can two walk together except they +be agreed?' 'He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to +walk even as He walked.' There is no union with God in such communion +possible, unless there be a union with Him by conformity of will and +submission of effort and aim to His commandments. Well, then, is that +life possible for us? Look at this instance before us. We know very +little about how much knowledge of God these people in old days had, +but, at all events, it was a great deal less than you and I have. Their +theology was very different from ours; their religion was absolutely +identical with ours. Their faith, which grasped the God revealed in +their creed, was the same as our faith, though the creed which their +faith grasped was only an outline sketch of yours and mine. But at all +times and in all generations, the element and essence of the religious +life has been the same-that is, the realising sense of the living +divine presence, the effort and aspiration after communion with Him, +and the quiet obedience and conformity of the practical life to His +will. And so we can reach out our hands across all the centuries to +this pre-Noachian, antediluvian patriarch, dim amongst the mists, and +feel that he too is our brother. + +And he has set us the example that in all conditions of life, and under +the most unfavourable circumstances, it is possible to live in this +close touch with God. For in his time, not only was there, as I have +said, an incomplete and rudimentary knowledge of God, but in his time +the earth was filled with violence, and gigantic forms of evil are +represented as having dominated mankind. Amidst it all, the Titanic +pride, the godlessness, the scorn, the rudeness, and the violence, +amidst it all, this one 'white flower of a blameless life' managed to +find nutriment upon the dunghill, and to blossom fresh and fair there. +You and I cannot, whatever may be our hindrances in living a consistent +Christian life, have anything like the difficulties that this man had +and surmounted. For us all, whatever our conditions, such a life is +possible. + +And then there is another lesson that he teaches us, viz. that such a +life is consistent with the completest discharge of all common duties. +The outline, as far as appearance was concerned, of this man's life was +the same as the outline of those of his ancestors and successors. They +are all described in the same terms. The formula is the same. Enoch +lived, Mahalaleel, and all the rest of the half-unpronounceable names, +they lived, they begat their heirs, and sons and daughters, and then +they died. And the same formula is used about this man. He walked with +God, but it was while treading the common path of secular life that he +did so. + +He found it possible to live in communion with God, and yet to do all +the common things that men did then. Anybody's house may be a Bethel--a +house of God--and anybody's work may be worship; and wherever we are +and whatever we do, it is possible therein to serve God, and there to +walk with Him. + +2. And now a word about the crown of this life of communion. 'He was +not, for God took him' + +What wonderful reticence in describing, or rather hinting at, the +stupendous miracle that is here in question! Is that like a book that +came from the legend-loving and legend-making brains of men; or does it +sound like the speech of God, to whom nothing is extraordinary and +nothing needs to have a mark of admiration after it? It was the same to +Him whether Enoch died or whether He simply took him to Himself. If one +wants to know what men would have made of such a thing, if _they_ had +had to tell it, let them read those wretched Rabbinical fables that +have been stitched on to this verse. There they will see how men +describe miracles; and here they will see how God does so. + +'_He was not_.' As I have said, he disappeared; that was what the world +knew. 'God took him'; that was what God tells the world. + +Thus this strange exception to the law of death stood, as I suppose, to +the ancient world as doing somewhat the same office for them that the +translation of Elijah afterwards partially did for Israel, and that the +resurrection of Jesus Christ does completely for us, viz. it brought +the future life into the realm of fact, and took it out of the dim +region of speculation altogether. He establishes a truth who proves it, +and he proves a fact that shows it. A doctrine of a future state is not +worth much, but the fact of a future state, which was established by +this incident then, and is certified for us all now, by the Christ +risen from the dead, is all-important. Our gospel is all built upon +facts, and this is the earliest fact in man's history which made man's +subsistence in other conditions than that of earthly life a certainty. + +And then, again, this wonderful exception shows to us, as it did to +that ancient world, that the natural end of a religious life is union +with God hereafter. It seems to me that the real proofs of a future +life are two: one, the fact of Christ's resurrection, and the other, +the fact of our religious experience. For anything looks to me more +likely, and less incredible, than that a man who could walk with God +should only have a poor earthly life to do it in, and that all these +aspirations, these emotions, should be bounded and ended by a trivial +thing, that touches only the physical frame. Surely, surely, there is +nothing so absurd as to believe that he who can say 'Thou art my God,' +and who has said it, should ever by anything be brought to cease to say +it. Death cannot kill love to God; and the only end of the religious +life of earth is its perfecting in heaven. The experiences that we have +here, in their loftiness and in their incompleteness, equally witness +for us, of the rest and the perfectness that remain for the children of +God. + +Then, again, this man in his unique experience was, and is, a witness +of the fact that death is an excrescence, and results from sin. I +suppose that he trod the road which the divine intention had destined +to be trodden by all the children of men, if they had not sinned; and +that his experience, unique as it is, is a survival, so to speak, of +what was meant to be the law for humanity, unless there had intervened +the terrible fact of sin and its wages, death. The road had been made, +and this one man was allowed to travel along it that we might all +learn, by the example of the exception, that the rule under which we +live was not the rule that God originally meant for us, and that death +has resulted from the fact of transgression. No doubt Enoch had in him +the seeds of it, no doubt there were the possibilities of disease and +the necessity of death in his physical frame, but God has shown us in +that one instance, and in the other of the great prophet's, how _He_ is +not subject to the law that men shall die, although men are subject to +it, and that if He will, He can take them all to Himself, as He did +take these two, and will take them who, at last, shall not die but be +changed. + +Let me remind you that this unique and exceptional end of a life of +communion may, in its deepest, essential character, be experienced by +each of us. There are two passages in the book of Psalms, both of which +I regard as allusions to this incident. The one of them is in the +forty-ninth Psalm and reads thus: 'He will deliver my soul from the +power of the grave, for He will take me.' Our version conceals the +allusion, by its unfortunate and non-literal rendering 'receive.' The +same word is employed there as here. Can we fail to see the reference? +The Psalmist expects his soul to be 'delivered from the power of the +grave,' because God _takes_ it. + +And again, in the great seventy-third Psalm, which marks perhaps the +highwater mark of pre-Christian anticipations of a future state, we +read: 'Thou wilt guide me by Thy counsel, and afterwards _take_ me' +(again the same word) 'to glory.' Here, again, the Psalmist looks back +to the unique and exceptional instance, and in the rapture and ecstasy +of the faith that has grasped the living God as his portion, says to +himself: 'Though the externals of Enoch's end and of mine may differ, +their substance will be the same, and I, too, shall cease to be seen of +men, because God takes me into the secret of His pavilion, by the +loving clasp of His lifting hand.' + +Enoch was led, if I may say so, round the top of the valley, beyond the +head waters of the dark river, and was kept on the high level until he +got to the other side. You and I have to go down the hill, out of the +sunshine, in among the dank weeds, to stumble over the black rocks, and +wade through the deep water; but we shall get over to the same place +where he stands, and He that took him round by the top will 'take' us +through the river; and so shall we 'ever be with the Lord' + +'Enoch walked with God and he was not; for God took him.' This verse is +like some little spring with trees and flowers on a cliff. The dry +genealogical table--and here this bit of human life in it! How unlike +the others--they _lived_ and they _died_; this man's life was walking +with God and his departure was a fading away, a ceasing to be found +here. It is remarkable in how calm a tone the Bible speaks of its +supernatural events. We should not have known this to be a miracle but +for the Epistle to the Hebrews. + +The dim past of these early chapters carries us over many centuries. We +know next to nothing about the men, where they lived, how they lived, +what thoughts they had, what tongue they spoke. Some people would say +that they never lived at all. I believe, and most of you, I suppose, +believe that they did. But how little personality we give them! Little +as we know of environment and circumstances, we know the main thing, +the fact of their having been. Then we are sure that they had sorrow +and joy, strife and love, toil and rest, like the rest of us, that +whether their days were longer or shorter they were filled much as ours +are, that whatever was the pattern into which the quiet threads of +their life was woven it was, warp and weft, the same yarn as ours. In +broad features every human life is much the same. Widely different as +the clothing of these grey fathers in their tents, with their simple +contrivances and brief records, is from that of cultivated busy +Englishmen to-day, the same human form is beneath both. And further, we +know but little as to their religious ideas, how far they were +surrounded with miracles, what they knew of God and of His purposes, +how they received their knowledge, what served them for a Bible. Of +what positive institutions of religion they had we know nothing; +whether for them there was sacrifice and a sabbath day, how far the +original gospel to Adam was known or remembered or understood by them. +All that is perfectly dark to us. But this we know, that those of them +who were godly men lived by the same power by which godly men live +nowadays. Whatever their creed, their religion was ours. Religion, the +bond that unites again the soul to God, has always been the same. + + + + +THE SAINT AMONG SINNERS + + + 'These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man + and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with + God. And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. + The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was + filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, + and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted + His way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end + of all flesh is come before Me; for the earth is filled + with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy + them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood; + rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it + within and without with pitch. And this is the fashion + which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall + be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, + and the height of it thirty cubits. A window shalt thou + make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it + above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the + side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt + thou make it. And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of + waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is + the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing + that is in the earth shall die. But with thee will I + establish My covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, + thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives + with thee. And of every living thing of all flesh, two + of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them + alive with thee; they shall be male and female. Of fowls + after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of + every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of + every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. + And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and + thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food + for thee, and for them. Thus did Noah; according to all + that God commanded him, so did he.'--GENESIS vi. 9-22. + +1. Notice here, first, the solitary saint. Noah stands alone 'in his +generations' like some single tree, green and erect, in a forest of +blasted and fallen pines. 'Among the faithless, faithful only he.' His +character is described, so to speak, from the outside inwards. He is +'righteous,' or discharging all the obligations of law and of his +various relationships. He is 'perfect.' His whole nature is developed, +and all in due symmetry and proportion; no beauty wanting, no grace +cultivated at the expense of others. He is a full man; not a one-sided +and therefore a distorted one. Of course we do not take these words to +imply sinlessness. They express a relative, not an absolute, +completeness. Hence we may learn both a lesson of stimulus and of hope. +We are not to rest satisfied with partial goodness, but to seek to +attain an all-round perfectness, even in regard to the graces least +natural to our dispositions. And we can rejoice to believe that God is +generous in His acceptance and praise. He does not grudge commendation, +but takes account of the deepest desires and main tendencies of a life, +and sees the germ as a full-blown flower, and the bud as a fruit. + +Learn, too, that solitary goodness is possible. Noah stood uninfected +by the universal contagion; and, as is always the case, the evil +around, which he did not share, drove him to a more rigid abstinence +from it. A Christian who is alone 'in his generations,' like a lily +among nettles, has to be, and usually is, a more earnest Christian than +if he were among like-minded men. The saints in 'Caesar's household' +needed to be very unmistakable saints, if they were not to be swept +away by the torrent of godlessness. It is hard, but it is possible, for +a boy at school, or a young man in an office, or a soldier in a +barrack, to stand alone, and be Christlike; but only on condition that +he yields to no temptation to drop his conduct to the level around him, +and is never guilty of compromise. Once yield, and all is over. Flowers +grow on a dunghill, and the very reeking rottenness may make the bloom +finer. + +Learn, too, that the true place for the saint is 'in his generations.' +If the mass is corrupt, so much the more need to rub the salt well in. +Disgust and cowardice, and the love of congenial society, keep +Christian people from mixing with the world, which they must do if they +are to do Christ's work in it. There is a great deal too much union +with the world, and a great deal too much separation from it, nowadays, +and both are of the wrong sort. We cannot keep too far away from it, by +abstinence from living by its maxims, and tampering with its pleasures. +We cannot mix too much with it if we take our Christianity with us, and +remember our vocation to be its light. + +Notice, again, the companion of the solitary saint. What beauty there +is in that description of the isolated man, passing lonely amid his +contemporaries, like a stream of pure water flowing through some foul +liquid, and untouched by it, and yet not alone in his loneliness, +because 'he walked with God!' The less he found congenial companionship +on earth, the more he realised God as by his side. The remarkable +phrase, used only of Enoch and of Noah, implies a closer relation than +the other expression, 'To walk before God.' Communion, the habitual +occupation of mind and heart with God, the happy sense of His presence +making every wilderness and solitary place glad because of Him. the +child's clasping the father's hand with his tiny fingers, and so being +held up and lifted over many a rough place, are all implied. Are we +lonely in outward reality? Here is our unfailing companion. Have we to +stand single among companions, who laugh at us and our religion? One +man, with God to back him, is always in the majority. Though surrounded +by friends, have we found that, after all, we live and suffer, and must +die alone? Here is the all-sufficient Friend, if we have fellowship +with whom our hearts will be lonely no more. + +Observe that this communion is the foundation of all righteousness in +conduct. Because Noah walked with God, he was 'just' and 'perfect.' If +we live habitually in the holy of holies, our faces will shine when we +come forth. If we desire to be good and pure, we must dwell with God, +and His Spirit will pass into our hearts, and we shall bear the +fragrance of his presence wherever we go. Learn, also, that communion +with God is not possible unless we are fighting against our sin, and +have some measure of holiness. We begin communion with Him, indeed, not +by holiness, but by faith. But it is not kept up without the +cultivation of purity. Sin makes fellowship with God impossible. 'Can +two walk together, except they be agreed?' 'What communion hath light +with darkness?' The delicate bond which unites us in happy communion +with God shrivels up, as if scorched, at the touch of sin. 'If we say +that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie.' + +2. Notice the universal apostasy. Two points are brought out in the +sombre description. The first is moral corruption; the second, +violence. Bad men are cruel men. When the bonds which knit society to +God are relaxed, selfishness soon becomes furious, and forcibly seizes +what it lusts after, regardless of others' rights. Sin saps the very +foundations of social life, and makes men into tigers, more destructive +to each other than wild beasts. All our grand modern schemes for the +reformation of society will fail unless they begin with the reformation +of the individual. To walk with God is the true way to make men gentle +and pitying. + +Learn from this dark outline that God gazes in silence on the evil. +That is a grand, solemn expression, 'Corrupt before God.' All this mad +riot of pollution and violence is holding its carnival of lust and +blood under the very eye of God, and He says never a word. So is it +ever. Like some band of conspirators in a dark corner, bad men do deeds +of darkness, and fancy they are unseen, and that God forgets _them_, +because they forget God; and all the while His eye is fixed on them, +and the darkness is light about them. Then comes a further expression +of the same thought: 'God looked upon the earth.' As a sudden beam of +sunshine out of a thunder-cloud, His eye flashes down, not as if He +then began to know, but that His knowledge then began, as it were, to +act. + +3. What does the stern sentence on the rotten world teach us? A very +profound truth, not only of the certain divine retribution, but of the +indissoluble connection of sin with destruction. The same word is +thrice employed in verses 11 and 12 to express 'corruption' and in +verse 13 to express 'destruction.' A similar usage is found in 1 +Corinthians iii. 17, where the same Greek word is translated 'defile' +and 'destroy.' This teaches us that, in deepest reality, corruption is +destruction, that sin is death, that every sinner is a suicide. God's +act in punishment corresponds to, and is the inevitable outcome of, our +act in transgression. So fatal is all evil, that one word serves to +describe both the poison-secreting root and the poisoned fruit. Sin is +death in the making; death is sin finished. + +The promise of deliverance, which comes side by side with the stern +sentence, illustrates the blessed truth that God's darkest threatenings +are accompanied with a revelation of the way of escape. The ark is +always shown along with the flood. Zoar is pointed out when God +foretells Sodom's ruin. We are no sooner warned of the penalties of +sin, than we are bid to hear the message of mercy in Christ. The brazen +serpent is ever reared where the venomous snakes bite and burn. + +4. We pass by the details of the construction of the ark to draw the +final lesson from the exact obedience of Noah. We have the statement +twice over, He did 'according to all that God commanded him.' It was no +easy thing for him to build the ark, amidst the scoffing of his +generations. Smart witticisms fell around him like hail. All the +'practical men' thought him a dreamy fool, wasting his time, while they +prospered and made something of life. The Epistle to the Hebrews tells +us the secret of his obedience: 'By faith, Noah,' etc. He realised the +distant unseen, because he believed Him who warned him of it. The +immediate object of his faith was 'the things not seen as yet'; but the +real, deepest object was God, whose word showed him these. So faith is +always trust in a divine Person, whether it lays hold of the past +sacrifice, the present indwelling Spirit, or the future heaven. + +Noah's example teaches us the practical effects of faith. 'Moved with +godly fear,' says Hebrews; by which is meant, not a mere dread of +personal evil, for Noah was assured of safety--but that godly reverence +and happy fear which dwells with faith, and secures precise obedience. +Learn that a faith which does not work on the feelings is a very poor +thing. Some Christian people have a great horror of emotional religion. +Unemotional religion is a great deal worse. The road by which faith +gets at the hands is through the heart. And he who believes but feels +nothing, will do exactly as much as he feels, and probably does not +really believe much more. + +So after Noah's emotion followed his action. He was bid to prepare his +ark, we have only to take refuge in the ark which God has prepared in +Christ; but the principle of Noah's obedience applies to us all. He +realised so perfectly that future, with its double prospect of +destruction and deliverance, that his whole life was moulded by the +conduct which should lead to his escape. The far-off flood was more +real to him than the shows of life around him. Therefore he could stand +all the gibes, and gave himself to a course of life which was sheer +folly unless that future was real. Perhaps a hundred and twenty years +passed between the warning and the flood; and for all that time he held +on his way, nor faltered in his faith. Does our faith realise that +which lies before us with anything like similar clearness? Do we see +that future shining through all the trivial, fleeting present? Does it +possess weight and solidity enough to shape our lives? Noah's creed was +much shorter than ours; but I fear his faith was as much stronger. + +5. We may think, finally, of the vindication of his faith. For a +hundred and twenty years the wits laughed, and the 'common-sense' +people wondered, and the patient saint went on hammering and pitching +at his ark. But one morning it began to rain; and by degrees, somehow, +Noah did not seem quite such a fool. The jests would look rather +different when the water was up to the knees of the jesters; and their +sarcasms would stick in their throats as they drowned. So is it always. +So it will be at the last great day. The men who lived for the future, +by faith in Christ, will be found out to have been the wise men when +the future has become the present, and the present has become the past, +and is gone for ever; while they who had no aims beyond the things of +time, which are now sunk beneath the dreary horizon, will awake too +late to the conviction that they are outside the ark of safety, and +that their truest epitaph is 'Thou fool!' + + + + +'CLEAR SHINING AFTER RAIN' + + + 'And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all + the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a + wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged; + The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven + were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained; + And the waters returned from off the earth continually: + and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the + waters were abated. And the ark rested in the seventh + month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the + mountains of Ararat. And the waters decreased continually + until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first + day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen. + And it came to pass at the end of forty days that Noah + opened the window of the ark which he had made: And he + sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until + the waters were dried up from off the earth. Also he sent + forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated + from off the face of the ground; But the dove found no + rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him + into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the + whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, + and pulled her in unto him into the ark. And he stayed + yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove + out of the ark; And the dove came in to him in the + evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt + off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off + the earth. And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent + forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any + more. And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first + year, in the first month, the first day of the month, + the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah + removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, + the face of the ground was dry. And in the second month, + on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the + earth dried. And God spake unto Noah, saying, Go forth + of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy + sons wives with thee. Bring forth with thee every living + thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, + and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth + upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the + earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth. + And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and + his sons' wives with him: Every beast, every creeping + thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the + earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark. + And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of + every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered + burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a + sweet savour; and the Lord said in His heart, I will + not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for + the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; + neither will I again smite any more every thing living, + as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and + harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and + day and night shall not cease,'--GENESIS viii. 1-22. + +The universal tradition of a deluge is most naturally accounted for by +admitting that there was a 'universal deluge.' But 'universal' does not +apply to the extent as embracing the whole earth, but as affecting the +small area then inhabited--an area which was probably not greater than +the valleys of the Euphrates and Tigris. The story in Genesis is the +Hebrew version of the universal tradition, and its plain affinity to +the cuneiform narratives is to be frankly accepted. But the +relationship of these two is not certain. Are they mother and daughter, +or are they sisters? The theory that the narrative in Genesis is +derived from the Babylonian, and is a purified, elevated rendering of +it, is not so likely as that both are renderings of a more primitive +account, to which the Hebrew narrative has kept true, while the other +has tainted it with polytheistic ideas. In this passage the cessation +of the flood is the theme, and it brings out both the love of the God +who sent the awful punishment, and the patient godliness of the man who +was spared from it. So it completes the teaching of the flood, and +proclaims that God 'in wrath remembers mercy.' + +1. 'God remembered Noah.' That is a strong 'anthropomorphism,' like +many other things in Genesis--very natural when these records were +written, and bearing a true meaning for all times. It might seem as if, +in the wild rush of the waters from beneath and from above, the little +handful in the ark were forgotten. Had the Judge of all the earth, +while executing 'terrible things in righteousness,' leisure to think of +them who were 'afar off upon the sea'? Was it a blind wrath that had +been let loose? No; in all the severity there was tender regard for +those worthy of it. Judgment was discriminating. The sunshine of love +broke through even the rain-clouds of the flood. + +So the blessed lesson is taught that, in the widest sweep of the most +stormy judgments, there are those who abide safely, fearing no evil. +Though the waters are out, there is a rock on which we may stand safe, +above their highest wave. And why did God 'remember Noah'? It was not +favouritism, arbitrary and immoral. Noah was bid to build the ark, +because he was 'righteous' in a world of evil-doers; he was +'remembered' in the ark, because he had believed God's warning, obeyed +God's command as seeing the judgment 'not seen as yet,' and so 'became +heir of the righteousness which is by faith.' They who trust God, and, +trusting Him, realise as if present the future judgment, and, 'moved +with fear,' take refuge in the ark, are never forgot by Him, even while +the world is drowned. They live in His heart, and in due time He will +show that He remembers them. + +2. The gradual subsidence of the flood is told with singular exactitude +of dates, which are certainly peculiar if they are not historical. The +slow decrease negatives the explanation of the story as being the +exaggerated remembrance of some tidal-wave caused by earthquake and the +like. Precisely five months after the flood began, the ark grounded, +and the two sources, the rain from above and the 'fountains of the +deep' (that is, probably, the sea), were 'restrained,' and a high wind +set in. That date marked the end of the increase of the waters, and +consequently the beginning of their decrease. Seven months and ten days +elapsed between it and the complete restoration of the earth to its +previous condition. That time was divided into stages. Two months and a +half passed before the highest land emerged; two months more and the +surface was all visible; a month and twenty-seven days more before 'the +earth was dry.' The frequent recurrence of the sacred numbers, seven +and ten, is noticeable. The length of time required for the restorative +process witnesses to the magnitude of the catastrophe, impresses the +imagination, and suggests the majestic slowness of the divine working, +and how He uses natural processes for His purposes of moral government, +and rules the wildest outbursts of physical agents. The Lord as king +'sitteth upon the flood,' and opens or seals the fountains of the great +deep as He will. Scripture does not tell of the links between the First +Cause and the physical effect. It brings the latter close up to the +former. The last link touches the fixed staple, and all between may be +ignored. + +But the patient expectance of Noah comes out strongly in the story, as +well as the gradualness of God's working. Not till 'forty days'--a +round number--after the land appeared, did He do anything. He waited +quietly till the path was plain. Eager impatience does not become those +who trust in God. It is not said that the raven was sent out to see if +the waters were abated. No purpose is named, nor is it said that it +returned at all. 'To and fro' may mean over the waste of waters, not +back and forward to and from the ark. The raven, from its blackness, +its habit of feeding on carrion, its fierceness, was a bird of +ill-omen, and sending it forth has a grim suggestion that it would find +food enough, and 'rest for the sole of its foot,' among the swollen +corpses floating on the dark waters. The dove, on the other hand, is +the emblem of gentleness, purity, and tenderness. She went forth, the +very embodiment of meek hope that wings its way over dark and desolate +scenes of calamity and judgment, and, though disappointed at first, +patiently waits till the waters sink further, discerns the earliest +signs of their drying up, and comes back to the sender with a report +which is a prophecy: 'Your peace shall return to you again.' Happy they +who send forth, not the raven, but the dove, from their patient hearts. +Their gentle wishes come back with confirmation of their hopes, 'as +doves to their windows.' + +3. But Noah did not leave the ark, though 'the earth was dry.' God had +'shut him in,' and it must be God who brings him out. We have to take +heed of precipitate departure from the place where He has fixed us. +Like Israel in the desert, it must be 'at the commandment of the Lord' +that we pitch the camp, and at the commandment of the Lord that we +journey. Till He speaks we must remain, and as soon as He speaks we +must remove. 'God spake unto Noah, saying, Go forth ... and Noah went +forth.' Thus prompt must be our obedience. A sacrifice of gratitude is +the fit close of each epoch in our lives, and the fit beginning of each +new one. Before he thought of anything else, Noah built his altar. All +our deeds should be set in a golden ring of thankfulness. So the past +is hallowed, and the future secure of God's protection. It is no +unworthy conception of God which underlies the strongly human +expression that he 'smelled the sweet savour.' He delights in our +offerings, and our trustful, grateful love is 'an odour of a sweet +smell, a sacrifice acceptable' to Him. The pledge that He will not any +more curse the ground for man's sake is occasioned by the sacrifice, +but is grounded on what seems, at first sight, a reason for the very +opposite conclusion. Man's evil heart the reason for God's forbearance? +Yes, because it is _'evil from his youth_.' He deals with men as +knowing our frame, the corruption of our nature, and the need that the +tree should be made good before it can bring forth good fruit. +Therefore He will not smite, but rather seek to draw to repentance by +His goodness, and by the faithful continuance of His beneficence in the +steadfast covenant of revolving seasons, 'filling our hearts with food +and gladness.' + + + + +THE SIGN FOR MAN AND THE REMEMBRANCER FOR GOD + + + 'And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, + saying, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, + and with your seed after you; And with every living + creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, + and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that + go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth. And I + will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all + flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; + neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the + earth. And God said, This is the token of the covenant + which I make between Me and you and every living creature + that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set My + bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a + covenant between Me and the earth. And it shall come to + pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow + shall be seen in the cloud: And I will remember My + covenant, which is between Me and you and every living + creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more + become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall + be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may + remember the everlasting covenant between God and every + living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And + God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, + which I have established between Me and all flesh that + is upon the earth. + GENESIS ix. 8-17. + +The previous verses of this chapter lay down the outlines of the new +order which followed the flood. The blessing and the command to be +fruitful are repeated. The dominion over animals is confirmed, but +enlarged by the permission to use them as food, and by the laying on +them of 'the terror of you and the dread of you.' The sanctity of human +life is laid down with great emphasis. Violence and bloodshed had +brought about the flood. The appalling destruction effected by it might +lead to the mistaken notion that God held man's life cheap. Therefore +the cornerstone of future society is laid in that declaration that life +is inviolable. These blessings and commands are followed by this +remarkable section, which deals with God's covenant with Noah, and its +token in the rainbow. + +1. The covenant is stated, and the parties concerned in it enumerated +in verses 3-11. When Noah came forth from the ark, after the stupendous +act of divine justice, he must have felt that the first thing he needed +was some assurance as to the footing on which he and the new world +round him stood with God. The flood had swept away the old order. It +had revealed terrible possibilities of destruction in nature, and +terrible possibilities of wrath in God. Was any knowledge of His +intentions and ways possible? Could continuance of the new order be +counted on? The answer to such questions was--God's covenant. Now, as +then, when any great convulsions shake what seems permanent, and bring +home to men the thinness of the crust of use and wont roofing an +infinite depth of unknown possibilities of change, on which we walk, +the heart cries out for some assurance of perpetuity, and some +revelation of God's mind. We can have such, as truly as Noah had, if we +use the Revelation given us in Jesus. + +In God's covenant with Noah, the fact of the covenant may first be +noted. What is a covenant? The term usually implies a reciprocal bond, +both parties to which come under obligations by it, each to the other. +But, in this case, there are no obligations on the part of man or of +the creatures. This covenant is God's only. It is contingent on nothing +done by the recipients. He binds Himself, whatever be the conduct of +men. This covenant is the self-motived promise of an unconditional +mercy. May we not say that the 'New Covenant' in Jesus Christ is after +the pattern of this, rather than after the manner of compacts which +require both parties to do their several parts? + +But note the great thought, that God limits His freedom of action by +this definite promise. Noah was not left to grope in dread among the +terrible possibilities opened by the flood. God marked out the line on +which He would move, and marked off a course which He would not pursue. +It is like a king giving his subjects a constitution. Men can reckon on +God. He has let them know much of the principles and methods of His +government. He has buoyed out His course, as it were, on the ocean, or +pricked it down upon a chart. We have not to do with arbitrary power, +with inscrutable will. Our God is not one who 'giveth no account of any +of His matters.' To use a common saying, 'We know where to have Him.' + +The substance of this covenant is noteworthy. It is concerned solely +with physical nature. There is nothing spiritual or 'religious' about +it. There are to be no more universal deluges. That is all which it +guarantees. But consider how important such an assurance was in two +aspects. Note the solemn light which it threw on the past. It taught +that the flood was an exception in the divine government, which should +stand unrepeated for ever, in its dread pre-eminence testifying how +awful it was as a judicial act, and how outrageous had been the guilt +which it drowned out of existence and sight. A wholesome terror at the +unexampled act of judgment would fill the hearts of the little group +which now represented mankind. + +Consider the effect of the covenant in encouraging hope. We have said +that the one thing needful for Noah was some assurance that the new +order would last. He was like a man who has just been rescued from an +earthquake or a volcanic eruption. The ground seems to reel beneath +him. Old habitudes have been curled up like leaves in the fire. Is +there to be any fixity, any ground for continuous action, or for labour +for a moment beyond the present? Is it worth while to plant or sow? Men +who have lived through national tempests or domestic crashes know how +much they need to be steadied afterwards by some reasonable assurance +of comparative continuity. And these men, in the childhood of the race, +would need it much. So they were sent out to till the earth, and to +begin again strenuous lives, with this covenant to keep them from +falling into a hand-to-mouth style of life, which would have brought +them down to barbarism. We all need the same kind of assurance; and +then, when we get it, such is the weakness of humanity, we are tempted +to think that continuity means eternity, and that, because probably +to-morrow shall be as this day, there will never come a to-morrow which +shall be quite unlike to-day. The crust of cooled earth, on which we +walk, is thick enough to bear man and all his works, but there comes a +time when it will crack. The world will not be flooded again, but we +forget, what Noah did not know, that it will be burned. + +The parties to the covenant must be noticed. Note how frequently the +share in it, which all living creatures have, is referred to in the +context. In verse 10 the language becomes strained (in the original), +in order to express the universal participation of all living +creatures; and in verse 13 'the earth' itself is spoken of as one +party. God recognises obligations to all living things, and even to the +dumb, non-sentient earth. He will not causelessly quench one bright, +innocent life, nor harm one clod. Surely this is, at least, an +incipient revelation of a God whose 'tender mercies are over all his +works.' He 'doth take care for oxen'; and man, with all the creatures +that are with him, and all the wild ones that 'come not near' him, and +all the solid structure of the world, are held in one covenant of +protecting and sustaining providence and power. + +2. The sign of the covenant is described at great length in verses +12-17. Note that verses 12, 13 state the general idea of a token or +sign, that verses 14-16 deepen this by stating that the token to man is +a reminder to God, and that verse 17 sums up the whole with emphatic +repetition of the main points. The narrative does not imply, as has +often been supposed, that the rainbow was visible for the first time +after the deluge. To suppose that, is to read more into the story than +is there, or than common sense tolerates. If there were showers and +sunshine, there must have been rainbows. But the fair vision strode +across the sky with no articulate promise in its loveliness, though it +must always have kindled wonder, and sometimes stirred deeper thoughts. +Now, for the first time, it was made 'a sign,' the visible pledge of +God's promise. + +Mark the emphasis with which God's agency is declared and His ownership +asserted. '_I_ do set _My_ bow.' Neither Noah nor the writer knew +anything about refraction or the prismatic spectrum. But perhaps they +knew more about the rainbow than people do who know all about how it +comes, except that God sets it in the cloud, and that it is His. Let us +have the facts which science labels as such, by all means, and the more +the better; but do not let us forget that there are other facts in +nature which science has no means of attaining, but which are as solid +and a great deal deeper than those which it supplies. + +The natural adaptation of the rainbow for this office of a token is too +plain to need dwelling on. It 'fills the sky when storms prepare to +part,' and hence is a natural token that the downpour is being stayed. +Somewhere there must be a bit of blue through which the sun can pierce; +and the small gap, which is large enough to let it out, will grow till +all the sky is one azure dome. It springs into sight in front of the +cloud, without which it could not be, so it typifies the light which +may glorify judgments, and is born of sorrows borne in the presence of +God. It comes from the sunshine smiting the cloud; so it preaches the +blending of love with divine judgment. It unites earth and heaven; so +it proclaims that heavenly love is ready to transform earthly sorrows. +It stretches across the land; so it speaks of an all-embracing care, +which enfolds the earth and all its creatures. + +It is not only a 'sign to men.' It is also, in the strong +anthropomorphism of the narrative, a remembrancer to God. Of course +this is accommodation of the representation of His nature to the +limitations of ours. And the danger of attaching unworthy ideas to it +is lessened by noticing that He is said to set His bow in the cloud, +before it acts as His remembrancer. Therefore, He had remembered before +it appeared. The truth, conveyed in the childlike language, is that God +has His covenant ever before Him, and that He responds to and honours +the appeal made to Him, by that which He has Himself appointed for a +sign to men. The expectant eyes of the trustful man and the eye of God +meet, as it were, in looking on the sign. On earth it nourishes faith; +in heaven it moves to love and blessing. God can be reminded of what He +always remembers. The rainbow reminds Him of His covenant by its calm +light. Jesus Christ reminds Him of His grace by His intercession before +the throne. We remind Him of His plighted faithfulness by our prayers. +'Ye that are the Lord's remembrancers, keep not silence.' + + + + +AN EXAMPLE OF FAITH + + + 'Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy + country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's + house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will + make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and + make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And + I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that + curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth + be blessed. So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken + unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy + and five years old when he departed out of Haran. And + Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, + and all their substance that they had gathered, and the + souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth + to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of + Canaan they came. And Abram passed through the land unto + the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the + Canaanite was then in the land. And the Lord appeared + unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this + land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who + appeared unto him. And he removed from thence unto a + mountain on the east of Beth-el, and pitched his tent, + having Beth-el on the west, and Hai on the east: and + there he builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon + the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed, going on + still toward the south.' + GENESIS xii. 1-9. + + +I + + +We stand here at the well-head of a great river--a narrow channel, +across which a child can step, but which is to open out a broad bosom +that will reflect the sky and refresh continents. The call of Abram is +the most important event in the Old Testament, but it is also an +eminent example of individual faith. For both reasons he is called 'the +Father of the Faithful.' We look at the incident here mainly from the +latter point of view. It falls into three parts. + +1. The divine voice of command and promise.--God's servants have to be +separated from home and kindred, and all surroundings. The command to +Abram was no mere arbitrary test of obedience. God could not have done +what He meant with him, unless He had got him by himself. So Isaiah +(li. 2) put his finger on the essential when he says, 'I called him +alone.' God's communications are made to solitary souls, and His voice +to us always summons us to forsake friends and companions, and to go +apart with God. No man gets speech of God in a crowd. If you desired to +fill a person with electricity, you used to put him on a stool with +glass legs, to keep him from earthly contact. If the quickening impulse +from the great magnet is to charge the soul, that soul must be +isolated. 'He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy +of Me.' + +The vagueness of the command is significant. Abram did not know +'whither he went.' He is not told that Canaan is the land, till he has +reached Canaan. A true obedience is content to have orders enough for +present duty. Ships are sometimes sent out with sealed instructions, to +be opened when they reach latitude and longitude so-and-so. That is how +we are all sent out. Our knowledge goes no farther ahead than is +needful to guide our next step. If we 'go out' as He bids us, He will +show us what to do next. + + 'I do not ask to see + The distant scene; one step enough for me.' + +Observe the promise. We may notice that it needed a soul raised above +the merely temporal to care much for such promises. They would have +been but thin diet for earthly appetites. 'A great nation'; a divine +blessing; to be a source of blessing to the whole world, and a +touchstone by their conduct to which men would be blessed or +cursed;--what was there in these to fascinate a man, unless he had +faith to teach him the relative importance of the earthly and the +heavenly, the present and the future? Notice that the whole promise +appeals to unselfish desires. It is always, in some measure, elevating +to live for a future, rather than a present, good; but if it be only +the same kind of good as the present would yield, it is a poor affair. +The only really ennobling faith is one which sets before itself a +future full of divine blessing, and of diffusion of that blessing +through us, and which therefore scorns delights, and for such gifts is +content to be solitary and a wanderer. + +2. The obedience of faith.--We have here a wonderful example of prompt, +unquestioning obedience to a bare word. We do not know how the divine +command was conveyed to Abram. We simply read, 'The Lord said'; and if +we contrast this with verse 7, 'The Lord appeared ... and said,' it +will seem probable that there was no outward sign of the divine will. +The patriarch knew that he was following a divine command, and not his +own purpose; but there seems to have been no appeal to sense to +authenticate the inward voice. He stands, then, on a high level, +setting the example of faith as unconditional acceptance of, and +obedience to, God's bare word. + +Observe that faith, which is the reliance on a person, and therefore +trust in his word, passes into both forms of confidence in that word as +promise, and obedience to that word as command. We cannot cut faith in +halves, and exercise the one aspect without the other. Some people's +faith says that it delights in God's promises, but it does not delight +in His commandments. That is no faith at all. Whoever takes God at His +word, will take all His words. There is no faith without obedience; +there is no obedience without faith. + +We have already said enough about the separation which was effected by +Abram's journey; but we may just notice that the departure from his +father's house was but the necessary result of the gulf between them +and him, which had been opened by his faith. They were idolaters; he +worshipped one God. That drove them farther apart than the distance +between Sichem and Haran. When sympathy in religion was at an end, the +breach of all other ties was best. So to-day, whether there be outward +separation or no, depends on circumstances; but every true Christian is +parted from the dearest who is not a Christian, by an abyss wider than +any outward distance can make. The law for us is Abram's law, 'Get thee +out.' Either our faith will separate us from the world, or the world +will separate us from our faith and our God. + +The companionship of Lot, who attaches himself to Abram, teaches that +religion, in its true possessors, exercises an attractive influence +over even common natures, and may win them to a loftier life. Some weak +eyes may discern more glory in the sunshine tinting a poor bit of mist +into ruddy light than in the beam which is too bright to look at. A +faithful Abram will draw Lot after him. + +'They went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of +Canaan they came.' Compare this singular expression with chapter xi. +31, where we have Terah's emigration from Ur described in the same +terms, with the all-important difference in the end, 'They came' not +into Canaan, but 'unto Haran, and dwelt there.' Many begin the course; +one finishes it. Terah's journeying was only in search of pasture and +an abode. So he dropped his wider scheme when the narrower served his +purpose. It was an easy matter to go from Ur to Haran. Both were on the +same bank of the Euphrates. But to cross the broad, deep, rapid river +was a different thing, and meant an irrevocable cutting loose from the +past life. Only the man of faith did that. There are plenty of +half-and-half Christians, who go along merrily from Ur to Haran; but +when they see the wide stream in front, and realise how completely the +other side is separated from all that is familiar, they take another +thought, and conclude they have come far enough, and Haran will serve +their turn. + +Again, the phrase teaches us the certain issue of patient pilgrimage +and persistent purpose. There is no mystery in getting to the journey's +end. 'One foot up, and the other foot down,' continued long enough, +will bring to the goal of the longest march. It looks a weary journey, +and we wonder if we shall ever get thither. But the magic of 'one step +at a time' does it. The guide is also the upholder of our way. 'Every +one of them appeareth before God in Zion.' + +3. The life in the land.--The first characteristic of it is its +continual wandering. This is the feature which the Epistle to the +Hebrews marks as significant. There was no reason but his own choice +why Abram should continue to journey, and prefer to pitch his tent now +under the terebinth tree of Moreh, now by Hebron, rather than to enter +some of the cities of the land. He dwelt in tents because he looked for +the city. The clear vision of the future detached him, as it will +always detach men, from close participation in the present. It is not +because we are mortal, and death is near at the furthest, that the +Christian is to sit loose to this world, but because he lives by the +hope of the inheritance. He must choose to be a pilgrim, and keep +himself apart in feeling and aims from this present. The great lesson +from the wandering life of Abram is, 'Set your affection on things +above.' Cultivate the sense of belonging to another polity than that in +the midst of which you dwell. The Canaanites christened Abram 'The +Hebrew' (Genesis xiv. 13), which may be translated 'The man from the +other side.' That is the name which all true Christians should deserve. +They should bear their foreign extraction in their faces, and never be +naturalised subjects here. Life is wholesomer in the tent under the +spreading tree, with the fresh air blowing about us and clear sky +above, than in the Canaanite city. + +Observe, too, that Abram's life was permeated with worship. Wherever he +pitches his tent, he builds an altar. So he fed his faith, and kept up +his communion with God. The only condition on which the pilgrim life is +possible, and the temptations of the world cease to draw our hearts, is +that all life shall be filled with the consciousness of the divine +presence, our homes altars, and ourselves joyful thankofferings. Then +every abode is blessed. The undefended tent is a safe fortress, in +which dwelling we need not envy those who dwell in palaces. Common +tasks will then be fresh, full of interest, because we see God in them, +and offer them up to Him. The wandering life will be a life of walking +with God, and progressive knowledge of Him; and over all the +roughnesses and the sorrows and the trivialities of it will be spread +'the light that never was on sea or land, the consecration' of God's +presence, and the peacefulness of communion with Him. + +Again, we may notice that the life of obedience was followed by fuller +manifestations of God, and of His will. God 'appeared' when Abram was +in the land. Is it not always true that obedience is blessed by closer +vision and more knowledge? To him that hath shall be given; and he who +has followed the unseen Guide through dimly discerned paths to an +invisible goal, will be gladdened when he reaches the true Canaan, by +the sight of Him whom, having not seen, he loved. Even here on earth +obedience is the path to fuller knowledge; and when the pilgrims who +have left all and followed the Captain of salvation through a deeper, +darker stream than Abram crossed, have touched the other side, God will +appear to them, and say, as the enraptured eye gazes amazed on the +goodly land, 'Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in +the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.' + + + + +ABRAM AND THE LIFE OF FAITH + + +II + + +A great act of renunciation at the divine call lies at the foundation +of Israel's history, as it does at the foundation of every life that +blesses the world or is worth living. The divine Word to Abram first +gives the command in all its authoritativeness and plain setting forth +of how much had to be surrendered, and then in its exuberant setting +forth of how much was to be won by obedience. God does not hide the +sacrifices that have to be made if we will be true to His command. He +will enlist no recruits on false pretences. All ties of country, +kindred, and father's house have to be loosened, and, if need be, to be +cut, for His command is to be supreme, and clinging hands that would +hold back the pilgrim have to be disengaged. If a man realises God's +hold on him, he feels all others relaxed. The magnetism of the divine +command overcomes gravitation, and lifts him high above earth. The life +of faith ever begins as that of 'the Father of the Faithful' began, +with the solemn recognition of a divine will which separates. Further, +Abram saw plainly what he had to leave, but not what he was to win. He +had to make a venture of faith, for 'the land that I will shew thee' +was undefined. Certainly it was somewhere, but where was it? He had to +fling away substance for what seemed shadow to all but the eye of +faith, as we all have to do. The familiar, undeniable good of the +present has to be waived in favour of what 'common sense' calls a misty +possibility in the future. To part with solid acres and get nothing but +hopes of an inheritance in the skies looks like insanity, and is the +only true wisdom. 'Get thee out' is plain; 'the land that I will shew +thee' looks like the doubtful outlines seen from afar at sea, which may +be but clouds. + +But Abram had a great hope blazing in front, none the less bright or +guiding because it all rested on the bare promise of God. It is the +prerogative of faith to give solidity and reality to what the world +thinks has neither. The wanderer who had left his country was to +receive a land for his own; the solitary who had left his kindred was +to become the founder of a nation; the unknown stranger was to win a +great name,--and how wonderfully that has come true! Not only was he to +be blessed, but also to be a blessing, for from him was to flow that +which should bless all the earth,--and how transcendently that has come +true! The attitude of men to him (and to the universal blessing that +should descend from him) was to determine their position in reference +to God and 'blessings' or 'cursings' from him. So the migration of +Abram was a turning-point in universal history. + +Obedience followed the command, immediate as the thunder on the flash, +and complete. 'So Abram went, as the Lord had spoken unto +him,'--blessed they of whose lives that may be the summing-up! Happy +the life which has God's command at the back of every deed, and no +command of His unobeyed! If our acts are closely parallel with God's +speech to us, they will prosper, and we shall be peaceful wherever we +may have to wander. Success followed obedience in Abram's case, as in +deepest truth it always does. That is a pregnant expression: 'They went +forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they +came.' A strange itinerary of a journey, which omits all but the start +and the finish! And yet are these not the most important points in any +journey or life,--whither it was directed and where it arrived? How +little will the weary tramps in the desert be remembered when the goal +has been reached! Dangers and privations soon pass from memory, and we +shall think little of sorrows, cares, and pains, when we arrive at +home. The life of faith is the only one which is always sure of getting +to the place to which it seeks to journey. Others miss their aim, or +drop dead on the road, like the early emigrants out West; Christian +lives get to the city. + +Once in the land, Abram was still a stranger and pilgrim. He first +planted himself in its heart by Sichem, but outside the city, under the +terebinth tree of Moreh. The reason for his position is given in the +significant statement that 'the Canaanite was then in the land.' So he +had to live in the midst of an alien civilisation, and yet keep apart +from it. As Hebrews says, he was 'dwelling in tabernacles,' because he +'looked for a city.' The hope of the permanent future made him keep +clear of the passing present; and we are to feel ourselves pilgrims and +sojourners, not so much because earth is fleeting and we are mortal, as +because our true affinities are with the unseen and eternal. But the +presence of 'the Canaanite' is connected also with the following words, +which tell that 'the Lord appeared unto Abram,' and now after his +obedience told him that this was the land that was to be his. He +unfolds His purposes to those who keep His commandments; obedience is +the mother of insight. The revelation put a further strain on faith, +for the present occupiers of the land were many and strong; but it +matters not how formidably and firmly rooted the Canaanite is, God's +children can be sure that the promise will be fulfilled. We can calmly +look on his power and reckon on its decay, if the Lord appears to us, +as to Abram--and He surely will if we have followed His separating +voice, and dwell as strangers here, because our hearts are with Him. + +After the appearance of God and the promise, we have an outline of the +pilgrim's life, as seen in Abram. He signalised God's further opening +of His purposes, by building an altar on the place where He had been +seen by him. Thankful recognition and commemoration of the times in our +lives when He has most plainly drawn near and shown us glimpses of His +will, are no less blessed than due, and they who thus rear altars to +Him will wonder, when they come to count up how many they have had to +build. But the life of faith is ever a pilgrim life, and Bethel has +soon to be the home instead of Shechem. There, too, Abram keeps outside +the city, and pitches his tent. There, too, the altar rises by the side +of the tent. The transitory provision for housing the pilgrim contrasts +with the solid structure for offering sacrifices. The tent is +'pitched,' and may be struck and carried away to-morrow, but the altar +is 'builded.' That part of our lives which is concerned with the +material and corporeal is, after all, short in duration and small in +importance; that which has to do with God, His revelations, and His +worship and service, lasts. What is left in ancient historic lands, +like Egypt or Greece, is the temples of the gods, while the huts of the +people have perished long centuries ago. What we build for God lasts; +what we pitch for ourselves is transient as we are. + + + + +GOING FORTH + + + 'They went forth to go into the land of Canaan, and into + the land of Canaan they came.'--GENESIS xii. 5. + + +I + + +The reference of these words is to Abram's act of faith in leaving +Haran and setting out on his pilgrimage. It is a strange narrative of a +journey, which omits the journey altogether, with its weary marches, +privations, and perils, and notes but its beginning and its end. Are +not these the main points in every life, its direction and its +attainment? There are-- + + 'Two points in the adventure of the diver, + One--when, a beggar, he prepares to plunge, + One--when, a prince, he rises with his pearl.' + +Abram and his company had a clear aim. But does not the Epistle to the +Hebrews magnify him precisely because he 'went out, not knowing whither +he went'? Both statements are true, for Abram had the same combination +of knowledge and ignorance as we all have. He knew that he was to go to +a land that he should afterwards inherit, and he knew that, in the +first place, Canaan was to be his 'objective point,' but he did not +know, till long after he had crossed the Euphrates and pitched his tent +by Bethel, that it was the land. The ultimate goal was clear, and the +first step towards it was plain, but how that first step was related to +the goal was not plain, and all the steps between were unknown. He went +forth with sealed orders, to go to a certain place, where he would have +further instructions. He knew that he was to go to Canaan, and beyond +that point all was dark, except for the sparkle of the great hope that +gleamed on the horizon in front, as a sunlit summit rises above a sea +of mist between it and the traveller. Like such a traveller, Abram +could not accurately tell how far off the shining peak was, nor where, +in the intervening gorges full of mist, the path lay; but he plunged +into the darkness with a good heart, because he had caught a glimpse of +his journey's end. So with us. We may have clear before us the ultimate +aim and goal of our lives, and also the step which we have to take now, +in pressing towards it, while between these two there stretches a +valley full of mist, the breadth of which may be measured by years or +by hours, for all that we know, and the rough places and green pastures +of which are equally hidden from us. We have to be sure that the +mountain peak far ahead, with the sunshine bathing it, is not delusive +cloud but solid reality, and we have to make sure that God has bid us +step out on the yard of path which we _can_ see, and, having secured +these two certainties, we are to cast ourselves into the obscurity +before us, and to bear in our hearts the vision of the end, to cheer us +amid the difficulties of the road. + +Life is strenuous, fruitful, and noble, in the measure in which its +ultimate aim is kept clearly visible throughout it all. Nearer aims, +prescribed by physical necessities, tastes, circumstances, and the +like, are clear enough, but a melancholy multitude of us have never +reflected on the further question: 'What then?' Suppose I have made my +fortune, or won my wife, or established my position, or achieved a +reputation, behind all these successes lies the larger question. These +are not ends but means, and it is fatal to treat them as being the goal +of our efforts or the chief end of our being. There would be fewer +wrecked lives, and fewer bitter and disappointed old men, if there were +more young ones who, at starting, put clearly before themselves the +question: 'What am I living for? and what am I going to do when I have +secured the nearer aims necessarily prescribed to me?' + +What that aim should be is not doubtful. The only worthy end befitting +creatures with hearts, minds, consciences, and wills like ours is God +Himself. Abram's 'Canaan' is usually regarded as an emblem of heaven, +and that is correct, but the land of our inheritance is not wholly +beyond the river, for God is the portion of our hearts. He _is_ heaven. +To dwell with Him, to have all the current of our being running towards +Him, to set Him before us in the strenuous hours of effort and in the +quiet moments of repose, in the bright and in the dark days, are the +conditions of blessedness, strength, and peace. + +That aim clearly apprehended and persistently pursued gives continuity +to life, such as nothing else can do. How many of the things that drew +us to themselves, and were for a while the objects of desire and +effort, have sunk below the horizon! The lives that are not directed to +God as their chief end are like the voyages of old-time sailors, who +had to creep from one headland to another, and steer for points which, +one after another, were reached, left behind, and forgotten. There is +only one aim so great, so far in advance that we can never reach, and +therefore can never pass and drop it. Life then becomes a chain, not a +heap of unrelated fragments. That aim made ours, stimulates effort to +its highest point, and therefore secures blessedness. It emancipates +from many bonds, and takes the poison out of the mosquito bites of +small annoyances, and the stings of great sorrows. It gleams ever +before a man, sufficiently attained to make him at rest, sufficiently +unattained to give the joy of progress. The pilgrims who had but one +single aim, 'to go to the land of Canaan,' were delivered from the +miseries of conflicting desires, and with simplicity of aim came +concentration of force and calm of spirit. + + + + +COMING IN + + +II + + +If life has a clear, definite aim, and especially if its aim is the +highest, there will be detachment from, and abandonment of, many lower +ones. Nothing worth doing is done, and nothing worth being is realised +in ourselves, except on condition of resolutely ignoring much that +attracts. 'They went forth'; Haran must be given up if Canaan is to be +reached. Artists are content to pay the price for mastery in their art, +students think it no hardship to remain ignorant of much in order to +know their own subject thoroughly; men of business feel it no sacrifice +to give up culture, leisure, and sometimes still higher things, such as +love and purity, to win wealth. And we shall not be Christians after +Christ's heart unless we practise similar restrictions. The stream that +is to flow with impetus sufficient to scour its bed clear of +obstructions must not be allowed to meander in side branches, but be +banked up in one channel. Sometimes there must be actual surrender and +outward withdrawal from lower aims which, by our weakness, have become +rival aims; always there must be subordination and detachment in heart +and mind. The compass in an iron ship is disturbed by the iron, unless +it has been adjusted; the golden apples arrest the runner, and there +are clogs and weights in every life, which have to be laid aside if the +race is to be won. The old pilgrim fashion is still the only way. We +must do as Abram did: leave Haran and its idols behind us, and go +forth, ready to dwell, if need be, in deserts, and as sojourners even +when among cities, or we shall not reach the 'land that is very far +off.' It is near us if we forsake self and the 'things seen and +temporal,' but it recedes when we turn our hearts to these. + +'Into the land of Canaan they came.' No man honestly and rightly seeks +God and fails to find Him. No man has less goodness and Christ-likeness +than he truly desires and earnestly pursues. Nearer aims are often +missed, and it is well that they should be. We should thank God for +disappointments, for hopes unfulfilled, or proving still greater +disappointments when fulfilled. It is mercy that often makes the +harvest from our sowing a scanty one, for so we are being taught to +turn from the quest in which searching has no assurance of finding, to +that in which to seek is to find. 'I have never said to any of the seed +of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain.' We may not reach other lands which seem +to us to be lands of promise, or when we do, may find that the land is +'evil and naughty,' but this land we shall reach, if we desire it, and +if, desiring it, we go forth from this vain world. The Christian life +is the only one which has no failures, no balked efforts, no frustrated +aims, no brave settings out and defeated returnings. The literal +meaning of one of the Old Testament words for _sin_ is missing the +mark, and that embodies the truth that no man wins what he seeks who +seeks satisfaction elsewhere than in God. Like the rivers in Asiatic +deserts, which are lost in the sand and never reach the sea, all lives +which flow towards anything but God are dissipated and vain. + +But the supreme realisation of an experience like Abram's is reserved +for another life. No pilgrim Zion-ward perishes in the wilderness, or +loses his way or fails to come to 'the city of habitation.' 'They go +from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before +God.' And when they appear there, they will think no more, just as this +narrative says nothing, of the sandy, salt, waterless wildernesses, or +the wearinesses, dangers, and toils of the road. The experience of the +happy travellers, who have found all which they sought and are at home +for ever in the fatherland towards which they journeyed, will all be +summed up in this, that 'they went forth to go into the land of Canaan, +and into the land of Canaan they came.' + + + + +THE MAN OF FAITH + + + 'And Abram passed through the land unto the place of + Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was + then in the land. And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and + said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there + builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto + him.'--GENESIS xii. 6, 7. + +Great epoch and man. Steps of Abram's training. First he was simply +called to go--no promise of inheritance--obeyed--came to Canaan-found a +thickly peopled land with advanced social order, and received no divine +vision till he was face to face with the Canaanite. + +1. _God's bit-by-bit leading of us._ + +How slowly the divine purpose was revealed--the trial before the +promise--did not know where, nor that Canaan was land, but only told +enough for his first march. + +So with us--our ignorance of future is meant to have the effect of +keeping us near God and training us to live a day at a time. + +God's finger on the page points to a word at a time. Each day's route +is given morning by morning in the order for the day. + +2. _Obedience often brings us into very difficult places._ + +Abram was ready to say, no doubt, 'This cannot be the land for me, +peopled as it is with all these Canaanites.' We are ever ready to think +that, if we find obstacles, we must have misunderstood God's +directions, but 'many adversaries' often indicate an 'open door.' + +3. _The presence of enemies brings the presence of God._ + +This is the first time we read that God _appeared_ to men. + +As the darkness thickens, the pillar of fire brightens. But not only +does God appear more clearly, but our spirits are more eager and +therefore able to see Him. We are mercifully left to feel the enemies +before we see Him present in His strength. + +4. _The victory for us lies in the vision of God and of His loving +purpose._ + +How superb the confidence of 'Unto thy seed will I give _this_ land.' + +That vision is our true strength. And it will make us feel as pilgrims, +which is in itself more than half the battle. + + + + +LIFE IN CANAAN + + + 'And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east + of Beth-el, and pitched his tent, having Beth-el on the + west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar + unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord.' + GENESIS xii. 3. + +These are the two first acts of Abram in the land of Canaan. + +1. _All life should blend earthly and heavenly._ + +They are not to be separated. Religion should run through everything +and take the whole of life for its field. Where we cannot carry it is +no place for us. It is a shame that heathenism should be more +penetrated by its religion than Christendom is. + +2. _The family should be a church._ + +Domestic religion. New Testament households. Abram a priest. The decay +of family religion, worship, and instruction. + +3. _The service to God should be more costly than to ourselves._ + +Pitching a tent cheaper than building an altar. Give God the best. We +build ourselves ceiled houses and the ark dwells in curtains. Pagans +build elaborate temples, but their houses are hovels. Too many +Christians do the opposite. + +4. _Building for God lasts, for selves perishes._ + +A tent is stricken, and no trace remains but embers. The stones of +Jacob's altar may be standing yet. The Parthenon of Athens remains: +where are the hovels of the people? 'He that doeth the will of God +abideth for ever.' Permanent results of transitory deeds. + + + + +THE IMPORTANCE OF A CHOICE + + + 'And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and + all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south. And + Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. + And he went on his journeys from the south even to Beth-el, + unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, + between Beth-el and Hal; Unto the place of the altar, + which he had made there at the first: and there Abram + called on the name of the Lord. And Lot also, which went + with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents. And the + land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell + together: for their substance was great, so that they + could not dwell together. And there was a strife between + the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's + cattle; and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then + in the land. And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no + strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my + herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren. Is not the + whole land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee, + from me: if thou wilt lake the left hand, then I will + go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, + then I will go to the left. And Lot lifted up his eyes, + and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well + watered every where, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and + Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land + of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. Then Lot chose him + all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and + they separated themselves the one from the other. Abram + dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the + cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom. + But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the + Lord exceedingly.'--GENESIS xiii. 1-13. + +The main lesson of this section is the wisdom of seeking spiritual +rather than temporal good. That is illustrated on both sides. +Prosperity attends Abram and Lot while they think more of obeying God +than of flocks and herds. Lot makes a mistake, as far as this world is +concerned, when he chooses his place of abode for the sake of its +material advantages. But the introductory verses (vv. 1-4) suggest a +question, and seem to teach an important lesson. Was Abram right in so +soon leaving the land to which God had led him, and going down to +Egypt? Was that not taking the bit between his teeth? He had been +commanded to go to Canaan; should he not have stopped there--famine or +no famine--till the same authority commanded him to leave the land? If +God had put him there, should he not have trusted God to keep him alive +in famine? The narrative seems to imply that his going to Egypt was a +failure of faith. It gives no hint of a divine voice leading him +thither. We do not hear that he builded any altar beside his tent +there, as he had done in the happier days of life by trust. His stay +resulted in peril and in something very like lying, for which he had to +bear the disgrace of being rebuked by an idolater, and having no word +of excuse to offer. The great lesson of the whole section, and indeed +of Abram's whole life, receives fresh illustration from the story thus +understood, which preaches loudly that trust is safety and wellbeing, +and that it is always sin and always folly to leave Canaan, where God +has put us, even if there be a famine, and to go down into Egypt, even +if its harvests be abundant. + +But another lesson is also taught. After the interruption of the +Egyptian journey, Abram had to begin all his Canaan life over again. +Very emphatically the narrative puts it, that he went to 'the place +where his tent had been at the beginning,' to the altar which he had +made at the first. Yes! that is the only place for a man who has +faltered and gone aside from the course of obedience. He must begin +over again. The backsliding Christian has to resort anew to the place +of the penitent, and to come to Christ, as he did at first for pardon. +It is a solemn thought that years of obedience and heroisms of +self-surrender, may be so annihilated by some act of self-seeking +distrust that the whole career has, as it were, to be begun anew from +the very starting-point. It is a blessed thought that, however far and +long we may have wandered, we can always return to the place where we +were at the beginning, and there call on the name of the Lord. + +Note how we are taught here the great truth for the Old Testament, that +outward prosperity follows most surely those who do not seek for it. +Abram's wealth has increased, and his companion, Lot, has shared in the +prosperity. It is because he 'went with Abram' that he 'had flocks, and +herds, and tents.' Of course, the connection between despising the +world and possessing it is not thus close in New Testament times. But +even now, one often sees that the men who _will_ be rich fall into a +pit of poverty, and that a heart set on higher things, which counts +earthly advantages second and not first, wins a sufficiency of these +most surely. Foxlike cunning, and wolf-like rapacity, and Devil-like +selfishness, which make up a large portion of what the world calls +'great business capacity,' do not always secure the prize. But the real +possession of earth and all its wealth depends to-day, as much as ever +it did in Abram's times, on seeking 'first the kingdom of God, and His +righteousness.' Only when we are Christ's are all things ours. They are +ours, not by the vulgar way of what the world calls ownership, but in +proportion as we use them to the highest ends of helping us to grow in +wisdom and Christ-likeness, in the measure in which we subordinate them +to heavenly good, in the degree in which we employ them as means of +serving Christ. We can see the Pleiades best by not looking directly +at, but somewhat away from, them; and just as pleasure, if made the +direct object of life, ceases to be pleasure, so the world's goods, if +taken for our chief aim, cease to yield even the imperfect good which +they can bestow. + +But now we have to look at the two dim figures which the remainder of +this story presents to us, and which shine there, in that far-off past, +types and instances of the two great classes into which men are +divided,--Abram, the man of faith; Lot, the man of sense. + +Mark the conduct of the man of faith. Why should he, who has God's +promise that all the land is his, squabble with his kinsman about +pasture and wells? The herdsmen naturally would come to high words and +blows, especially as the available land was diminished by the claims of +the 'Canaanite and Perizzite.' But the direct effect of Abram's faith +was to make him feel that the matter in dispute was too small to +warrant a quarrel. A soul truly living in the contemplation of the +future, and filled with God's promises, will never be eager to insist +on its rights, or to stand on its dignity, and will take too accurate a +measure of the worth of things temporal to get into a heat about them. +The clash of conflicting interests, and the bad blood bred by them, +seem infinitely small, when we are up on the height of communion with +God. An acre or two more or less of grass land does not look +all-important, when our vision of the city which hath foundations is +clear. So an elevated calm and 'sweet reasonableness' will mark the man +who truly lives by faith, and he will seek after the things that make +for peace. Abram could fight, as Old Testament morality permitted, when +occasion arose, as Lot found out to his advantage before long. But he +would not strive about such trifles. + +May we not venture to apply his words to churches and sects? They too, +if they have faith strong and dominant, will not easily fall out with +one another about intrusions on each other's territory, especially in +the presence, as at this day, of the common foe. When the Canaanite and +the Perizzite are in the land, and Unbelief in militant forms is +arrayed against us, it is more than folly, it is sin, for brethren to +be turning their weapons against each other. The common foe should make +them stand shoulder to shoulder. Abram's faith led, too, to the noble +generosity of his proposal. The elder and superior gives the younger +and inferior the right of option, and is quite willing to take Lot's +leavings. Right or left--it mattered not to him; God would be with him, +whichever way he went; and the glorious Beyond, for which he lived, +blazed too bright before his inward sight to let him be very solicitous +where he was. 'I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to +be content.' It does not matter much what accommodation we have on +ship-board, when the voyage is so short. If our thoughts are stretching +across the sea to the landing at home, and the welcome there, we shall +not fight with our fellow-passengers about our cabins or places at the +table. And notice what rest comes when faith thus dwindles the worth of +the momentary arrangements here. The less of our energies are consumed +in asserting ourselves, and scrambling for our rights, and cutting in +before other people, so as to get the best places for ourselves, the +more we shall have to spare for better things; and the more we live in +the future, and leave God to order our ways, the more shall our souls +be wrapped in perfect peace. Mark the conduct of the man of sense. We +can fancy the two standing on the barren hills by Bethel, from one of +which, as travellers tell us, there is precisely the view which Lot +saw. He lifted up his greedy eyes, and there, at his feet, lay that +strange Jordan valley with its almost tropical richness, its dark lines +of foliage telling of abundant water, the palm-trees of Jericho +perhaps, and the glittering cities. Up there among the hills there was +little to tempt,--rocks and scanty herbage; down below, it was like the +lost Eden, or the Egypt from which they had but lately come. + +What need for hesitation? True, the men of the plain were 'wicked and +sinners before the Lord exceedingly,' as the chapter says with grim +emphasis. But Lot evidently never thought about that. He knew it, +though, and ought to have thought about it. It was his sin that he was +guided in his choice only by considerations of temporal advantage. Put +his action into words, and it says, 'Grass for my sheep is more to me +than fellowship with God, and a good conscience.' No doubt he would +have had salves enough. 'I do not need to become like them, though I +live among them.' 'A man must look after his own interests.' 'I can +serve God down there as well as up here.' Perhaps he even thought that +he might be a missionary among these sinners. But at bottom he did not +seek first the kingdom of God, but the other things. + +We have seldom the choice put before us so dramatically and sharply; +but it is as really presented to each. There is the shameless cynicism +of the men who avowedly only ask the question, 'Will it pay?' But there +are subtler forms which affect us all. It is the standing temptation of +Englishmen to apply a money standard to everything, to adopt courses of +action of which the only recommendation is that they promote getting on +in the world. Men who call themselves Christians select schools for +their children, or professions for their boys, or marriages for their +daughters, down in Sodom, because it will give them a lift in life +which they would not get up in the starved pastures at Bethel, with +nobody but Abram and his like to associate with. If the earnestness +with which men pursue an end is to be taken as any measure of its +importance in their eyes, it certainly does not look much as if modern +average Christians did believe that it was of more moment to be united +to God, and to be growing like Him, than to secure a good large share +of earthly possessions. Tried by the test of conduct, their faith in +getting on is a great deal deeper than their faith in getting up. But +if our religion does not make us put the world beneath our feet, and +count all things but loss that we may win Christ, we had better ask +ourselves whether our religion is any better than Lot's, which was +second-hand, and was much more imitation of Abram than obedience to God. + +Lot teaches us that material good may tempt and conquer, even after it +has once been overcome. His early life had been heroic; in his young +enthusiasm, he had thrown in his portion with Abram in his great +venture. He had not been thinking of his flocks when he left Haran. +Probably, as I have just said, he was a good deal galvanised into +imitation; but still, he had chosen the better part. But now he has +tired of a pilgrim's life. There are men who cut down the thorns, and +in whom the seed is sown; but thorns are tenacious of life, and quick +growing, and so they spread over the field and choke the seed. It is +easier to take some one bold step than to keep true through life to its +spirit. Youth contemns, but too often middle-age worships, worldly +success. The world tightens its grasp as we grow older, and Lot and +Demas teach us that it is hard to keep for a lifetime on the heights. +Faith, strong and ever renewed by communion, can do it; nothing else +can. + +Lot's history teaches what comes of setting the world first, and God's +kingdom second. For one thing, the association with it is sure to get +closer. Lot began with choosing the plain; then he crept a little +nearer, and pitched his tent 'towards' Sodom; next time we hear of him, +he is living in the city, and mixed up inextricably with its people. +The first false step leads on to connections unforeseen, from which the +man would have shrunk in horror, if he had been told that he would make +them. Once on the incline, time and gravity will settle how far down we +go. We shall see, in subsequent sections, how far Lot's own moral +character suffered from his choice. But we may so far anticipate the +future narrative as to point out that it affords a plain instance of +the great truth that the sure way to lose the world as well as our own +souls, is to make it our first object. He would have been safe if he +had stopped up among the hills. The shadowy Eastern kings who swooped +down on the plain would never have ventured up there. But when we +choose the world for our portion, we lay ourselves open to the full +weight of all the blows which change and fortune can inflict, and come +voluntarily down from an impregnable fastness to the undefended open. + +Nor is this all; but at the last, when the fiery rain bursts on the +doomed city, Lot has to leave all the wealth for which he has +sacrificed conscience and peace, and escapes with bare life; he suffers +loss even if he himself is 'saved as dragged through the fire.' The +world passeth away and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of +God abideth for ever. The riches which wax not old, and need not to be +left when we leave all things besides, are surely the treasures which +the calmest reason dictates should be our chief aim. God is the true +portion of the soul; if we have Him, we have all. So, let us seek Him +first, and, with Him, all else is ours. + + + + +ABRAM THE HEBREW + + + 'And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the + Hebrew.' + GENESIS xiv. 13. + +This is a singular designation of Abram as 'The Hebrew.' Probably we +have in its use here a trace of the customary epithet which he bore +among the inhabitants of Canaan, and perhaps the presence of the name +in this narrative may indicate the influence of some older account, +traditional or written, which owed its authorship to some of them. At +all events, this is the first appearance of the name in Scripture. As +we all know, it has become that of the nation, but a Jew did not call +himself a 'Hebrew' except in intercourse with foreigners. As in many +other cases, the national name used by other nations was not that by +which the people called themselves. Here, obviously, it is not a +national name, for the very good reason that there was no nation then. +It is a personal epithet, or, in plain English, a nickname, and it +means, probably, as the ancient Greek translation of Genesis gives it, +neither more nor less than 'The man from the other side,' the man that +had come across the water. Just as a mediaeval prince bore the +_sobriquet_ Outremere-the 'man from beyond the sea'--so Abram, to the +aboriginal, or, at least, long-settled, inhabitants of the country, was +known simply as the foreigner, the 'man from the other side' (of the +Jordan, or more probably of the great river Euphrates), the man from +across the water. + +Now that name may suggest, with a permissible, and, I hope, not +misleading play of fancy, just two things, which I seek now to press +upon our hearts and consciences. The one is as to how men become +Christians, and the other is as to how they look to other people when +they are. + +1. Men become Christians by a great emigration. + +'Get thee out from thy father's house, and from thy country, and from +thy kindred,' was the command to Abram. And he became the heir to God's +promises and the father of the faithful, because he did not hesitate a +moment to make the plunge and to leave behind him all his past, his +associations, his loves, much of his possessions, and, in a very +profound sense, his old self, and put a great impassable gulf between +him and them all. + +Now I am not going to say anything so narrow or foolish as that the +Christian life must always begin with a conscious and sudden change; +but this I am quite sure of, that in the vast majority of cases of +thoroughly and out-and-out religious men, there must be a conscious +change, whether it has been diffused through months or years, or +concentrated in one burning moment. There has been a beginning; whether +it has been like the dawn, or whether it has been like the kindling of +a candle, the beginning of the flashing of the divine light into the +heart; and the men that are most really under the influence of +religious truth can, as a rule, looking back upon their past +experience, see that it divides itself into two halves, separated from +each other by a profound gulf--the time on the other side, and that on +this side, of the great river. We must take heed lest by insisting on +any one way of entrance into the kingdom we seem to narrow God's mercy, +or sadden true hearts, or make the method of approach a test of the +fact of entrance. God's city has more than twelve gates; they open to +all the thirty-two points of the compass, yet there is, in the +religious experience of the truest saints, always something analogous +to this change. And what I desire to press upon you is, that unless you +are only religious people after the popular superficial fashion of the +day, there will be something like it in your lives. + +There will be a change in a man's deepest self, so that he will be a +'new creature,' with new tastes, new motives stirring to action, new +desires pressing for satisfaction, new loves sweetly filling his heart, +new insight into the meanings and true good of life and time guiding +his conduct, new aversions withdrawing him from old delights which have +become hateful now, new hopes pluming their growing wings, and new +powers bearing him along a new road. There will be a change in his +relations to God and to God's will. God in Christ will have become his +centre, instead of self, which was so before. He lives in a new world, +being himself a new man. + +Our Lord uses this very illustration when He says, 'He that heareth My +Word, and believeth Him that sent Me, hath eternal life, and cometh not +into judgment, but hath passed out of death into life.' That is a great +migration, is it not, from the condition of a corpse to that of a +living man? Paul, too, gives the same idea with a somewhat different +turn of the illustration, when he gives 'thanks to the Father who +delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the +kingdom of,'--not, as we might expect to complete the antithesis, 'the +light,' but--the 'kingdom of the Son of His love,' which is the same +thing as the light. The illustration is probably drawn from the +practice of the ancient conquering monarchs, who, when they subjugated +a country, were wont to lead away captive long files of its inhabitants +as compulsory colonists, and set them down in another land. Thus the +conquering Christ comes, and those whom He conquers by His love, He +shifts by a great emigration out of the dominion of that darkness which +is at once tyranny and anarchy, and leads them into the happy kingdom +of the light. + +Thus, then, all Christian men become such, because they turn their +backs upon their old selves, and crucify their affections and lusts; +and paste down the leaf, as it were, on which their blotted past is +writ, and turn over a new and a fairer one. And my question to you, +dear brethren, is, Are you men from the other side, who were not born +where you live now, and who have passed out of the native Chaldea into +the foreign--and yet to the new self home--land of union with God? + +2. This designation may be taken as teaching that a Christian should be +known as a foreigner, a man from across the water. + +Everybody in Canaan that knew Abram at all knew him as not one of +themselves. The Hebrew was the name he went by, because his unlikeness +to the others was the most conspicuous thing about him, even to the +shallowest eye. Abram found himself, when he had migrated into Canaan, +in no barbarous country, but plunged at once into the midst of an +organised and compact civilisation, that walled its cities, and had the +comforts and conveniences and regularities of a settled order; and in +the midst of it all, what did he do? He elected to live in a tent. 'He +dwelt in tabernacles, as the Epistle to the Hebrews comments upon his +history, 'because he looked for a city.' The more his expectations were +fixed upon a permanent abode, the more transitory did he make his abode +here. If there had been no other city to fill his eyes, he would have +gone and lived in some of those that were in the land. If there had +been no other order to which he felt himself to belong, he would have +had no objection to cast in his lot with the order and the people with +whom he lived on friendly terms. But although he bought and sold with +them, and fought for them and by their sides, and acquired from them +land in which to bury his dead, he was not one of them, but said, 'No! +I am not going into your city. I stay in my tent under this terebinth +tree; for I am here as a stranger and a sojourner.' No doubt there were +differences of language, dress, and a hundred other little things which +helped the impression made on the men of the land by this strange +visitor who lived in amity but in separation, and they are all +crystallised in the name which the popular voice gave him, 'The man +from the other side.' + +That is the impression which Christian people ought to make in the +world. They should be recognised, by even unobservant eyes who know +nothing of the inner secret of their lives, as plainly belonging to +another order. If we seek to keep fresh in our own minds the +consciousness that we do so, it will make itself manifest in all our +bearing and actions. So that exhortation to cultivate the continual +sense that our true city--the mother city of our hearts and hopes--is +in heaven is ever to be reiterated, and as constantly obeyed, as the +necessary condition of a life worthy of our true affinities and of our +glorious hopes. + +Nor less needful is the other exhortation--live by the laws of your own +land, not by those of the foreign country where you are for a time. If +you do that thoroughly, you will not need to say, 'I am from another +country.' Your conduct will say it for you. An English ship is a bit of +England, in whatever latitude it may be, and however far beyond the +three-mile limit of the King's authority upon the seas it may float. +And so, wherever there is a Christian man, there is a bit of God's +kingdom, and over that little speck in the midst of the ocean of the +world the flag with the Cross on it should fly, and the laws of the +Christ should be the only laws that have currency. If it could be said +of us as Haman said to his king about the Jews, that we were a people +with laws 'diverse from those of all people,' we should be doing more +than, alas! most of us do, to honour Him whom we profess to serve. +Follow Christ, and people will be quick enough to say of you 'The man +from the other side,' 'He does not belong to our city.' There is no +need for ostentation, nor for saying, 'Come and see my zeal for the +Lord,' nor for blowing trumpets before us at street corners or +elsewhere. The less of all that the better. The more we try to do the +common things done by the folk round us, but from another motive, the +more powerful will be our witness for our Master. + +For instance, when John Knox was in the French galleys, he was fastened +to the same oar with some criminal, perhaps a murderer. The two men sat +on the same bench, did the same work, tugged at the same heavy sweep, +were fed with the same food, suffered the same sorrows. Do you think +there was any doubt as to the infinite gulf between them? We may be +working side by side, at the very same tasks, and under similar +circumstances, with men that have no share in our faith, and no +sympathy with our hopes and aspirations, and yet, though doing the same +thing, it will _not_ be the same thing. And if we keep Christ before +us, and follow His steps who has left us an example, depend upon it +people will very soon find out that we are men 'from across the water.' + +Notice, further, how this dissimilarity and obvious aloofness from the +order of things in which we dwell is still perfectly compatible with +all sorts of helpful associations. The context shows us that. There had +come a flood of invasion, under kings with strange and barbarous names, +from the far East. They had swept down upon the fertile valley of +Siddim, and there had inflicted devastation. Amongst the captives had +been Lot, Abram's relative, and all his goods had been taken. One +fugitive, as it appears, had escaped, and the first thing he did was to +go straight to 'the man from the other side,' and tell him about it, as +if sure of sympathy and help. No doubt the relationship between Abram +and Lot was the main reason why the panting survivor made his way to +the hills where Abram's tent was pitched, but there was also confidence +in his willingness to help the Sodomites who had lost their goods. So +it was not to the sons of Heth in Mamre that the fugitive turned in his +extremity, but he 'told Abram the Hebrew.' + +I need not narrate over again the familiar story of how, for once in +his peaceful life, the 'friend of God' girds on his sword and develops +military instincts in his prompt and well-planned pursuit, which show +that if he did not try to conquer some part of the land which he knew +to be his by the will of God, it was not for want of ability, but +because he 'believed God,' and could wait. We all know how he armed his +slaves, and made a swift march to the northern extremity of the land, +and then, by a nocturnal surprise, came down upon the marauders and +scattered them like chaff, before his onset, and recovered Lot and all +the spoil. + +Let us learn that, if Christian men will live well apart from the +world, they will be able to sympathise with and help the world; and +that our religion should fit us for the prompt and heroic undertaking, +as it certainly does for the successful accomplishment, of all deeds of +brotherly kindness and sympathy, bringing help and solace to the weak +and the wearied, liberty to the captives, and hope to the despairing. + +I do not believe that Christian men have any business to draw swords +now. Abram is in that respect the Old Testament type of a God-fearing +hero, with the actual sword in his hands. The New Testament type of a +Christian warrior without a sword is not one jot less, but more, +heroic. The form of sympathy, help, and 'public spirit' which the 'man +from the other side' displayed is worse than an anachronism now in the +light of Christ's law. It is a contradiction. But the spirit which +breathed through Abram's conduct should be ours. We are bound to 'seek +the peace of the city' where we dwell as strangers and pilgrims, +avoiding no duty of sympathy and help, but by prompt, heroic, +self-forgetting service to all the needy, sorrowful, and oppressed, +building up such characters for ourselves that fugitives and desperate +men shall instinctively turn to men from the other side for that help +which, they know full well, the men of the country are too selfish or +cowardly to give. + +May I venture to suggest yet another and very different application of +this name? To the aboriginal inhabitants of heaven, the angels that +kept their first estate, redeemed men are possessors of a unique +experience; and are the 'men from the other side.' They who entered on +their pilgrimage through the Red Sea of conversion, pass out of it +through the Jordan of death. They who become Christ's, by the great +change of yielding their hearts to Him, and who live here as pilgrims +and sojourners, pass dryshod through the stream into His presence. And +there they who have always dwelt in the sunny highlands of the true +Canaan, gather round them, and call them, not unenvying, perhaps, their +experience, 'The men that have crossed.' The 'Hebrews of the Hebrews' +in the heavens are those who have known what it is to be pilgrims and +sojourners, and to whom the promise has been fulfilled in the last hour +of their journey, 'When thou passest through the river, I will be with +thee.' _They_ teach the angels a new song who sing, 'Thou hast led us +through fire and through water, and brought us into a wealthy place.' + + + + +GOD'S COVENANT WITH ABRAM + + + 'And He brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now + toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to + number them: and He said unto him, So shall thy seed be. + And he believed in the Lord; and He counted it to him + for righteousness. And He said unto him, I am the Lord + that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give + thee this land to inherit it. And he said, Lord God, + whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? And He + said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and + a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years + old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. And he took + unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and + laid each piece one against another: but the birds + divided he not. And when the fowls came down upon the + carcases, Abram drove them away. And when the sun was + going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an + horror of great darkness fell upon him. And he said unto + Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger + in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and + they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also + that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and + afterward shall they come out with great substance. And + thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be + buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation + they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the + Amorites is not yet full. And it came to pass, that, + when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking + furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those + pieces. In the same day the Lord made a covenant with + Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, + from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river + Euphrates.'--GENESIS xv. 5-18. + +1. Abram had exposed himself to dangerous reprisals by his victory over +the confederate Eastern raiders. In the reaction following the +excitement of battle, dread and despondency seem to have shadowed his +soul. Therefore the assurance with which this chapter opens came to +him. It was new, and came in a new form. He is cast into a state of +spiritual ecstasy, and a mighty 'word' sounds, audible to his inward +ear. The form which it takes--'I am thy shield'--suggests the thought +that God shapes His revelation according to the moment's need. The +unwarlike Abram might well dread the return of the marauders in force, +to avenge their defeat. Therefore God speaks to his fears and present +want. Just as to Jacob the angels appeared as a heavenly camp guarding +his undefended tents and helpless women; so, here and always, God is to +us what we most need at the moment, whether it be comfort, or wisdom, +or guidance, or strength. The manna tasted to each man, as the rabbis +say, what he most desired. God's gifts take the shape of man's +necessity. + +Abram had just exercised singular generosity in absolutely refusing to +enrich himself from the spoil. God reveals Himself as 'his exceeding +great reward.' He gives Himself as recompense for all sacrifices. +Whatever is given up at His bidding, 'the Lord is able to give thee +much more than this.' Not outward things, nor even an outward heaven, +is the guerdon of the soul; but a larger possession of Him who alone +fills the heart, and fills the heart alone. Other riches may be +counted, but this is 'exceeding great,' passing comprehension, and ever +unexhausted, and having something over after all experience. Both these +aspects of God's preciousness are true for earth; but we need a shield +only while exposed to attack. In the land of peace, He is only our +reward. + +2. Mark the triumphant faith which wings to meet the divine promise. +The first effect of that great assurance is to deepen Abram's +consciousness of the strange contradiction to it apparently given by +his childlessness. It is not distrust that answers the promise with a +question, but it is eagerness to accept the assurance and ingenuous +utterance of difficulties in the hope of their removal. God is too wise +a father not to know the difference between the tones of confidence and +unbelief, however alike they may sound; and He is too patient to be +angry if we cannot take in all His promise at once. He breaks it into +bits not too large for our lips, as He does here. The frequent +reiterations of the same promises in Abram's life are not vain. They +are a specimen of the unwearied repetition of our lessons, 'Here a +little, there a little,' which our teacher gives His slow scholars. So, +once more, Abram gets the promise of posterity in still more glorious +form. Before, it was likened to the dust of the earth; now it is as the +innumerable stars shining in the clear Eastern heaven. As he gazes up +into the solemn depths, the immensity and peace of the steadfast sky +seems to help him to rise above the narrow limits and changefulness of +earth, and a great trust floods his soul. Abram had lived by faith ever +since he left Haran; but the historian, usually so silent about the +thoughts of his characters, breaks through his usual manner of +narrative to insert the all-important words which mark an epoch in +revelation, and are, in some aspects, the most significant in the Old +Testament. Abram 'believed in the Lord; and He counted it to him for +righteousness.' + +Observe the teaching as to the nature and object of faith in that first +clause. The word rendered 'believed' literally means to steady oneself +by leaning on something. So it gives in a vivid picture more +instructive than many a long treatise what faith is, and what it does +for us. As a man leans his trembling hand on a staff, so we lay our +weak and changeful selves on God's strength; and as the most mutable +thing is steadied by being fastened to a fixed point, so we, though in +ourselves light as thistledown, may be steadfast as rock, if we are +bound to the rock of ages by the living band of faith. The metaphor +makes it plain that faith cannot be merely an intellectual act of +assent, but must include a moral act, that of confidence. Belief as +credence is mainly an affair of the head, but belief as trust is an act +of the will and the affections. + +The object of faith is set in sunlight clearness by these words,--the +first in which Scripture speaks of faith. Abram leaned on 'the Lord.' +It was not the promise, but the promiser, that was truly the object of +Abram's trust. He believed the former, because he trusted Him who made +it. Many confusions in Christian teaching would have been avoided if it +had been always seen that faith grasps a person, not a doctrine, and +that even when the person is revealed by doctrine, it is him, and not +only it, which faith lays hold of. Whether God speaks promises, +teachings of truth, or commandments, faith accepts them, because it +trusts Him. Christ is revealed to us for our faith by the doctrinal +statements of the New Testament. But we must grasp Himself, as so +revealed, if we are to have faith which saves the soul. This same +thought of the true object of faith as personal helps us to understand +the substantial identity of faith in all ages and stages of revelation, +however different the substance of the creeds. Abram knew very little +of God, as compared with our knowledge. But it was the same God whom +Abram trusted, and whom we trust as made known in His Son. Hence we can +stretch out our hands across the ages, and clasp his as partaker of +'like precious faith.' We walk in the light of the same sun,--he in its +morning beams, we in its noonday glory. There has never been but one +road to God, and that is the road which Abram trod, when 'he believed +in the Lord.' + +3. Mark the full-orbed gospel truth as to the righteousness of faith +which is embedded in this record of early revelation, 'He counted it to +him for righteousness.' A geologist would be astonished if he came on +remains in some of the primary strata which indicated the existence, in +these remote epochs, of species supposed to be of much more recent +date. So here we are startled at finding the peculiarly New Testament +teaching away back in this dim distance. No wonder that Paul fastened +on this verse, which so remarkably breaks the flow of the narrative, as +proof that his great principle of justification by faith was really the +one only law by which, in all ages, men had found acceptance with God. +Long before law or circumcision, faith had been counted for +righteousness. The whole Mosaic system was a parenthesis; and even in +it, whoever had been accepted had been so because of his trust, not +because of his works. The whole of the subsequent divine dealings with +Israel rested on this act of faith, and on the relation to God into +which, through it, Abram entered. He was not a perfectly righteous man, +as some passages of his life show; but he rose here to the height of +loving and yearning trust in God, and God took that trust in lieu of +perfect conformity to His will. He treated and regarded him as +righteous, as is proved by the covenant which follows. The gospel takes +up this principle, gives us a fuller revelation, presents the perfect +righteousness of Christ as capable of becoming ours by faith, and so +unveils the ground on which Abram and the latest generations are +equally 'accepted in the beloved.' This reckoning of righteousness to +the unrighteous, on condition of their faith, is not because of any +merit in faith. It does not come about in reward of, but by means of, +their faith, which is nothing in itself, but is the channel only of the +blessing. Nor is it a mere arbitrary act of God's, or an unreal +imputing of what is not. But faith unites with Christ; and 'he that is +joined to the Lord is one spirit,' so as that 'in Him we have +redemption.' His righteousness becomes ours. Faith grafts us into the +living Vine, and we are no longer regarded in our poor sinful +individual personality, but as members of Christ. Faith builds us into +the rock; but He is a living Stone, and we are living stones, and the +life of the foundation rises up through all the courses of the great +temple. Faith unites sinful men to God in Christ; therefore it makes +them partakers of the 'blessedness of the man, ... to whom the Lord +will not impute sin,' and of the blessedness of the man to whom the +Lord reckons his faith for righteousness. That same faith which thus +clothes us with the white robe of Christ's righteousness, in lieu of +our own tattered raiment, also is the condition of our becoming +righteous by the actual working out in our character of all things +lovely and of good report. It opens the heart to the entrance of that +divine Christ, who is first made _for_ us, and then, by daily +appropriation of the law of the spirit of life, is made _in_ us, +'righteousness and sanctification, and redemption.' May all who read +these lines 'be found in Him,' having 'that which is through the faith +of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith!' + +4. Consider the covenant which is the consequence of Abram's faith, and +the proof of his acceptance. + +It is important to observe that the whole remainder of this chapter is +regarded by the writer as the result of Abram's believing God. The way +in which verse 7 and the rest are bolted on, as it were, to verse 6, +clearly shows this. The nearer lesson from this fact is, that all the +Old Testament revelation from this point onward rests on the foundation +of faith. The further lesson, for all times, is that faith is ever +rewarded by more intimate and loving manifestations of God's +friendship, and by fuller disclosure of His purposes. The covenant is +not only God's binding Himself anew by solemn acts to fulfil His +promises already made, but it is His entering into far sweeter and +nearer alliance with Abram than even He had hitherto had. That name, +'the friend of God,' by which he is still known over all the Mohammedan +world, contains the very essence of the covenant. In old days men were +wont to conclude a bond of closest amity by cutting their flesh and +interchanging the flowing blood. Henceforth they had, as it were, one +life. We have not here the shedding of Abram's blood, as in the +covenant of circumcision. Still, the slain animals represent the +parties to the covenant, and the notion of a resulting unity of the +closest order as between God and Abram is the very heart of the whole +incident. + +The particulars as to the rite by which the covenant was established +are profoundly illuminative. The significant division of the animals +into two shows that they were regarded as representing the contracting +parties, and the passing between them symbolised the taking up of the +obligations of the covenant. This strange rite, which was widely +spread, derives importance from the use of it probably made in Hebrews +ix 16, 17. The new covenant, bringing still closer friendship and +higher blessings, is sealed by the blood of Christ. He represents both +God and man. In His death, may we not say that the manhood and the +Godhead are parted, and we, standing as it were between them, +encompassed by that awful sacrifice, and enclosed in its mysterious +depths, enter into covenant with God, and become His friends? + +We need not to dwell upon the detailed promises, of which the covenant +was the seal. They are simply the fuller expansion of those already +made, but now confirmed by more solemn guarantees. The new relation of +familiar friendship, established by the covenant itself, is the main +thing. It was fitting that God's friend should be in the secret of His +purposes. 'The servant knoweth not what his lord doeth,' but the friend +does. And so we have here the assurance that faith will pierce to the +discernment of much of the mind of God, which is hid from sense and the +wisdom of this world. If we would know, we must believe. We may be 'men +of God's counsel,' and see deeply into the realities of the present, +and far ahead into what will then become the certainties of the future, +if only we live by faith in the secret place of the Most High, and, +like John, lean so close on the Master's bosom that we can hear His +lowest whisper. + +Notice, too, the lessons of the smoking furnace and the blazing torch. +They are like the pillar of fire and cloud. Darkness and light; a heart +of fire and a wrapping of darkness,--these are not symbols of Israel +and its checkered fate, as Dean Stanley thinks, but of the divine +presence: they proclaim the double aspect of all divine manifestations, +the double element in the divine nature. He can never be completely +known; He is never completely hid. Ever does the lamp flame; ever +around it the smoke wreathes. In all His self-revelation is 'the hiding +of His power'; after all revelation He dwelleth 'in the thick +darkness.' Only the smoke is itself fire, but not illumined to our +vision. The darkness is light inaccessible. Much that was 'smoke' to +Abram has caught fire, and is 'light' to us. But these two elements +will ever remain; and throughout eternity God will be unknown, and yet +well known, pouring Himself in ever-growing radiance on our eyes, and +yet 'the King invisible.' + +Nor is this all the teaching of the symbol. It speaks of that twofold +aspect of the divine nature, by which to hearts that love He is +gladsome light, and to unloving ones He is threatening darkness. As to +the Israelites the pillar was light, and to the Egyptians darkness and +terror; so the same God is joy to some, and dread to others. 'What +maketh heaven, that maketh hell.' Light itself can become the source of +pain the most exquisite, if the eye is diseased. God Himself cannot but +be a torment to men who love darkness rather than light. Love and +wrath, life and death, a God who pities and who cannot but judge, are +solemnly proclaimed by that ancient symbol, and are plainly declared to +us in the perfect revelation in Christ Jesus. + +Observe, too, the manner of the ratification of the covenant. The +symbol of the Divine presence passed between the pieces. No mention is +made of Abram's doing so. Why this one-sided covenant? Because God's +gracious dealings with men are one-sided. He seeks no oaths from us; He +does not exchange blessings for our gifts. His covenant is the free +result of His unmotived love, and is ratified by a solemn sacrifice, +which we do not offer. We have nothing to do but to take what He gives. +All ideas of barter and bargain are far from Him. Our part is but to +embrace His covenant, which is complete and ratified whether we embrace +it or not. What a wonderful thought that is of a covenant-making and a +covenant-keeping God! We do not hear so much of it as our fathers did. +The more is the pity. It means that God has, as it were, buoyed out +across the boundless ocean of His possible modes of action a plain +course, which He binds Himself to keep; that He has frankly let us into +the very secret of His doings; that He has stooped to use human forms +of assurance to make it easier to trust Him; that He has confirmed His +promise by a mighty sacrifice. Therefore we may enter into closest +friendship with Him, and take for our own the exultant swan-song of +Abram's royal son: 'Although my house be not so with God [although my +life be stained, and my righteousness unfit to be offered to His pure +eyes]; yet He hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all +things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire.' + + + + +THE WORD THAT SCATTERS FEAR + + + 'Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding + great reward.' + GENESIS XV. 1. + + +I + + +Abram was now apparently about eighty-five years old. He had been +fourteen years in Palestine, and had, for the only time in his life, +quite recently been driven to have recourse to arms against a +formidable league of northern kings, whom, after a swift forced march +from the extreme south to the extreme north of the land, he had +defeated. He might well fear attack from their overwhelmingly superior +forces. So this vision, like all God's words, fits closely to moments +needs, but is also for all time and all men. + +1. The call to conquer fear. + +Fear not.--(_a_) There is abundant reason for fear in facts of life. +There are so many certain evils, and so many possible evils, that any +man who is not a feather-brained fool must sometimes quail. + +(_b_) Reasons for fear in our relations to divine law. + +(_c_) The only rational way of conquering fears is by showing them to +be unfounded. It is waste of breath to say, Don't be afraid, and to do +nothing to remove the occasions of fear. It is childish to try to get +rid of fears by shutting the eyes tight and refusing to look formidable +facts in the face. + +(_d_) The revelation of God is the true antidote to fear. + +(_e_) 'Fear not' is the characteristic word of divine revelation. It is +of frequent occurrence from Abraham till John in Patmos. + +2. The ground of the call in the Revelation of God as Shield. + + (_a_) As to outward evils, His protection assures us, not of +absolute exemption, but of His entire control of them, so that men and +circumstances are His instruments, and His will only is powerful. +Chedorlaomer and all the allied kings are nothing; 'a noise,' as the +prophet said of a later conqueror. All the bitterness and terror is +taken out of evil. If any fiery dart pass through the shield, all its +poison is wiped off in passage. So there remains no reason for fear, +since all things work together for good. Behind that shield we are safe +as diver in his bell, though seas rave and sea-monsters swim around. + +(_b_) As to inward evils, our Shield assures us of absolute exemption. +'Shield of faith.' Faith is shield because it takes hold of God's +strength. + +3. The ground of the call in the Revelation of God as Reward. Abraham +had refused all share in booty, a large sacrifice, and here he is +promised, A Reward in God, _i.e._ He gives Himself in recompense for +all sacrifices in path of duty. 'The Lord is able to give thee much +more than these.' This promise opens out to general truth that God +Himself is the true reward of a devout life. There are many recompenses +for all sacrifices for God, some of them outward and material, some of +them inward and spiritual, but the reward which surpasses all others is +that by such sacrifices we attain to greater capacity for God, and +therefore possess more of Him. This is the only Reward worth thinking +of--God only satisfies the soul. With Him we are rich; without Him +poor; 'exceeding great'--'riches in glory,' transcending all measure. +The revelations of God as Shield and Reward are both given in reference +to the present life, but the former applies only to earth, where +'without are fighters, within are fears'; while 'the latter is mainly +true for heaven, where those who have fought, having God for their +Shield, will possess Him for their Reward, in a measure and manner +which will make all earthly experiences seem poor. Here the 'heirs of +God' get subsistence money, which is a small instalment of their +inheritance; there they enter into possession of it all. + + +II + + +Many years have passed since Abram was called to go forth from his +father's house, assured that God would make of him a great nation. They +had been years of growing power. He has been dwelling at Mamre, as a +prince among the people of the land, a power. There sweeps down on +Southern Palestine the earliest of those invasions from the vast plains +of the North which afterwards for generations were the standing dread +of Abram's descendants. Like the storm pillars in their own deserts, +are these wild marauders with the wild names that never appear again in +the history. Down on the rich valleys and peaceful pasture lands they +swoop for booty, not for conquest. Like some sea-bird, they snatch +their prey and away. They carry with them among the long train of +captives Abram's ungenerous brother-in-law, Lot. Then the friend of +God, the father of the faithful, musters his men, like an Arab sheikh +as he was, and swiftly follows the track of the marauders over the +hills of Samaria, and across the plain of Jezreel. The night falls, and +down he swoops upon them and scatters them. Coming back he had +interviews with the King of Sodom, when he refuses to take any of the +spoil, and with Melchizedek. Abram is back at Mamre. How natural that +fear and depression should seize him: the reaction from high +excitement; the dread that from the swarming East vengeance would come +for his success in that night surprise; the thought that if it did, he +was a wandering stranger in a strange land and could not count on +allies. Then there would come, perhaps, the remembrance of how long God +had delayed the very beginnings of the fulfilment, 'Seeing I go +childless.' + +To this mood of mind the divine vision is addressed. 'Fear not--I am +thy shield' whatever force comes against thee, 'and thine exceeding +great reward,'--perhaps in reference to his refusal to take anything +from the spoil. But God says this to us all. In these antique words the +very loftiest and purest principles of spiritual religion are set forth. + +He that loves and trusts God possesses God. + +He that possesses God has enough for earth. + +He that possesses God has enough for heaven. + +1. It is possible for a man to have God for his. 'I am thy +Reward,'--not merely Rewarder, but Reward. + +How can one spiritual Being belong to another?--plainly, By mutual love. + +The Gospel assures us of God's love, and makes it possible for ours to +be fixed on Him. + +Faith gives us God for ours. + +The highest view of the blessings of the Gospel is that God Himself +becomes our reward. + +How sad the insanity of men appears, in the ordinary aims of their +life, its rewards and its objects of desire! How they chase after +variety! + +How much loftier and truer a conception of the blessing of religion +this is than notions of mere escape and the like! + +2. The possession of God is enough for earth. + +God the all-sufficient object for our spirits, His love, the +communication of Himself, the sense of His presence, the depths of His +infinite character, of His wondrous ways, of His revealed Truth as an +object for thought: of His authoritative will as imperative for will +and conscience: aspiration towards Him. + +God the Eternal Object. + +To find Him in everything, and everything in Him, is to be at rest. + +This is what He promises-- + +Not a life of outward success and ease--much nobler than if He did. + +Take Abram's as a type. + +In war He will be our Defence. + +In absence of other joys He will be Enough. + +Sphered and included in Him is all sweetness. He sustains all +relations, and does for us what these other joys and goods partially do. + +The possession of His love should put away all fear, since having Him +we are not at the mercy of externals. + +What, then, is Life as men ordinarily make it?--what a blunder! + +3. To possess God is enough for heaven. + +Such a relationship is the great proof of immortality. + +Christ and Sadducees. + +The true glory of heaven is in fuller possession of God: no doubt other +things, but these subsidiary. + +The Reward is God. + +The idea of recompense ample and full for all sorrow. + +More than adequate wages for all work. + +That final reward will show how wise the wanderer was, who left his +father's house and 'looked for a city.' God is not ashamed to be called +their God. + +Christ comes to us--offers Himself. + +Think of how rich with Him, and oh, think of how poor without Him! + +Which will you have on earth? + +Which will you have in another world? + + + + +FAITH AND RIGHTEOUSNESS + + + 'And he believed in the Lord; and He counted it to him + for righteousness.' + GENESIS XV. 6. + +It is remarkable to find this anticipation of New Testament teaching so +far back. It is like finding one full-blown flower in a garden where +all else is but swelling into bud. No wonder that Paul fastened on it +to prove that justification by faith was older than Moses, than law or +circumcision, that his teaching was the real original, and that faith +lay at the foundation of the Old Testament religion. + +1. The Nature of Faith.--The metaphor in the Hebrew word is that of a +man leaning all his weight on some strong stay. Surely that metaphor +says more than many definitions. It teaches that the essence of faith +is absolute reliance, and that unites us with Him on whom we rely. Its +result will be steadfastness. We are weak, mobile, apt to be driven +hither and thither, but light things lashed to fixed things become +fixed. So 'reeds shaken with wind' are changed into iron pillars. + +2. The Object of Faith.--'Lord.' It is a Person, not the promise but +the Promiser. Of course, reliance on the Person results in acceptance +of His word, and here it is God's word as to the future. Our faith has +to do with the future, but also with the past. Its object is Christ, +the historic Christ, the living Christ, the Christ who will come again. +How clear the nature of faith becomes when its object is clear! It +cannot be mere assent, but trust. How clear becomes its identity in all +ages! The creeds may be different in completeness, but the object of +faith is the same, and the emotion is the same. + +3. The effect of Faith.--Righteous is conformity to the will of God. +Abram was not righteous, but he yielded himself to God and trusted Him, +and God accepted that as the equivalent of righteousness. The +acceptance was shown by the Covenant, and by the fulfilment of the +promises. + +So here is the great truth that faith is accepted for righteous. It is +rightly regarded and treated as righteous, by the estimate of God, who +estimates things as they really are. It _is_ righteousness, for-- + +(_a_) Faith is itself a supreme act of righteousness, as being +accordant with God's supreme desire for man. + +(_b_) Faith unites with Christ the righteous. + +(_c_) Faith will blossom out into all righteousness. + + + + +WAITING FAITH REWARDED AND STRENGTHENED BY NEW REVELATIONS + + + 'And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord + appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty + God; walk before Me, and be thou perfect. And I will + make My covenant between Me and thee, and will multiply + thee exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face: and God + talked with him, saying, As for Me, behold, My covenant + is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. + Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy + name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have + I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and + I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of + thee. And I will establish My covenant between Me and + thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an + everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy + seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy + seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, + all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; + and I will be their God. And God said unto Abraham, Thou + shalt keep My covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed + after thee In their generations.' + GENESIS xvii. 1-9. + +Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. He was ninety-nine +when God appeared to him, as recorded in this chapter. There had been +three divine communications in these twenty-five years--one at Bethel +on entering the land, one after the hiving off of Lot, and one after +the battle with the Eastern kings. The last-named vision had taken +place before Ishmael's birth, and therefore more than thirteen years +prior to the date of the lesson. + +We are apt to think of Abraham's life as being crowded with +supernatural revelations. We forget the foreshortening necessary in so +brief a sketch of so long a career, which brings distant points close +together. Revelations were really but thinly sown in Abram's life. For +something over thirteen years he had been left to walk by faith, and, +no doubt, had felt the pressure of things seen, silently pushing the +unseen out of his life. + +Especially would this be the case as Ishmael grew up, and his father's +heart began to cling to him. The promise was beginning to grow dimmer, +as years passed without the birth of the promised heir. As verse 18 of +this chapter shows, Abram's thoughts were turning to Ishmael as a +possible substitute. His wavering confidence was steadied and quickened +by this new revelation. We, too, are often tempted to think that, in +the highest matters, 'a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,' and +to wish that God would be content with our Ishmaels, which satisfy us, +and would not withdraw us from possessed good, to make us live by hope +of good unseen. We need to reflect on this vision when we are thus +tempted. + +1. Note the revelation of God's character, and of our consequent duty, +which preceded the repetition of the covenant. 'I am the Almighty God.' +The aspect of the divine nature, made prominent in each revelation of +Himself, stands in close connection with the circumstances or mental +state of the recipient. So when God appeared to Abram after the +slaughter of the kings, He revealed Himself as 'thy Shield' with +reference to the danger of renewed attack from the formidable powers +which He had bearded and beaten. In the present case the stress is laid +on God's omnipotence, which points to doubts whispering in Abram's +heart, by reason of God's delay in fulfilling His word, and of his own +advancing years and failing strength. Paul brings out the meaning of +the revelation when he glorifies the faith which it kindled anew in +Abram, 'being fully assured that, what He had promised, He was able +also to perform' (Rom. iv. 21). Whenever our 'faith has fallen asleep' +and we are ready to let go our hold of God's ideal and settle down on +the low levels of the actual, or to be somewhat ashamed of our +aspirations after what seems so slow of realisation, or to elevate +prudent calculations of probability above the daring enthusiasms of +Christian hope, the ancient word, that breathed itself into Abram's +hushed heart, should speak new vigour into ours. 'I am the Almighty +God--take My power into all thy calculations, and reckon certainties +with it for the chief factor. The one impossibility is that any word of +Mine should fail. The one imprudence is to doubt My word.' + +What follows in regard to our duty from that revelation? 'Walk before +Me, and be thou perfect.' Enoch walked _with_ God; that is, his whole +active life was passed in communion with Him. The idea conveyed by +'walking _before_ God' is not precisely the same. It is rather that of +an active life, spent in continual consciousness of being 'naked and +opened before the eyes of Him to whom we have to give account.' That +thrilling consciousness will not paralyse nor terrify, if we feel that +we are not only 'ever in the great Task-Master's eye,' but that God's +omniscience is all-knowing love, and is brought closer to our hearts +and clothed in gracious tenderness in Christ whose 'eyes were as a +flame of fire,' but whose love is more ardent still, who knows us +altogether, and pities and loves as perfectly as He knows. + +What sort of life will spring from the double realisation of God's +almightiness, and of our being ever before Him? 'Be thou perfect.' +Nothing short of immaculate conformity with His will can satisfy His +gaze. His desire for us should be our aim and desire for ourselves. The +standard of aspiration and effort cannot be lowered to meet weakness. +This is nobility of life--to aim at the unattainable, and to be ever +approximating towards our aim. It is more blessed to be smitten with +the longing to win the unwon than to stagnate in ignoble contentment +with partial attainments. Better to climb, with faces turned upwards to +the inaccessible peak, than to lie at ease in the fat valleys! It is +the salt of life to have our aims set fixedly towards ideal perfection, +and to say, 'I count not myself to have apprehended: but ... I press +toward the mark.' _Toward_ that mark is better than _to_ any lower. Our +moral perfection is, as it were, the reflection in humanity of the +divine almightiness. + +The wide landscape may be mirrored in an inch of glass. Infinity may +be, in some manner, presented in miniature in finite natures. Our power +cannot represent God's omnipotence, but our moral perfection may, +especially since that omnipotence is pledged to make us perfect if we +will walk before Him. + +2. Note the sign of the renewed covenant. Compliance with these +injunctions is clearly laid down as the human condition of the divine +fulfilment of it. 'Be thou perfect' comes first; 'My covenant is with +thee' follows. There was contingency recognised from the beginning. If +Israel broke the covenant, God was not unfaithful if He should not +adhere to it. But the present point is that a new confirmation is given +before the terms are repeated. The main purpose, then, of this +revelation, did not lie in that repetition, but in the seal given to +Abram by the change of name. + +Another sign was also given, which had a wider reference. The change of +name was God's seal to His part. Circumcision was the seal of the other +party, by which Abram, his family, and afterwards the nation, took on +themselves the obligations of the compact. + +The name bestowed is taken to mean 'Father of a Multitude.' It was the +condensation into a word, of the divine promise. What a trial of +Abram's faith it was to bid him take a name which would sound in men's +ears liker irony than promise! He, close on a hundred years old, with +but one child, who was known not to be the heir, to be called the +father of many! How often Canaanites and his own household would smile +as they used it! What a piece of senile presumption it would seem to +them! How often Abram himself would be tempted to think his new name a +farce rather than a sign! But he took it humbly from God, and he wore +it, whether it brought ridicule from others or assurance in his own +heart. It takes some courage for any of us to call ourselves by names +which rest on God's promise and seem to have little vindication in +present facts. The world is fond of laughing at 'saints,' but +Christians should familiarise themselves with the lofty designations +which God gives His children, and see in them not only a summons to +life corresponding, but a pledge and prophecy of the final possession +of all which these imply. God calls 'things that are not, as though +they were'; and it is wisdom, faith, and humility--not +presumption--which accepts the names as omens of what shall one day be. + +The substance of the covenant is mainly identical with previous +revelations. The land is to belong to Abram's seed. That seed is to be +very numerous. But there is new emphasis placed on God's relation to +Abram's descendants. God promises to be 'a God unto thee, and to thy +seed after thee,' and, again, 'I will be their God' (verses 7, 8). That +article of the old covenant is repeated in the new (Jer. xxxi. 33), +with the addition, 'And they shall be My people,' which is really +involved in it. We do not read later more spiritual ideas into the +words, when we find in them here, at the very beginning of Hebrew +monotheism, an insight into the deep truth of the reciprocal possession +of God by us, and of us by God. What a glimpse into the depths of that +divine heart is given, when we see that we are His possession, precious +to Him above all the riches of earth and the magnificences of heaven! +What a lesson as to the inmost blessedness of religion, when we learn +that it takes God for its very own, and is rich in possessing Him, +whatever else may be owned or lacking! + +To possess God is only possible on condition of yielding ourselves to +Him. When we give ourselves up, in heart, mind, and will, to be His, He +is ours. When we cease to be our own, we get God for ours. The +self-centred man is poor; he neither owns himself nor anything besides, +in any deep sense. When we lose ourselves in God, we find ourselves, +and being content to have nothing, and not even to be our own masters +or owners, we possess ourselves more truly than ever, and have God for +our portion, and in Him 'all things are ours.' + + + + +A PETULANT WISH + + + 'And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live + before Thee! + GENESIS xvii. 18. + +These words sound very devout, and they have often been used by +Christian parents yearning for the best interests of their children, +and sometimes of their wayward and prodigal children. But consecrated +as they are by that usage, I am afraid that their meaning, as they were +uttered, was nothing so devout and good as that which is often attached +to them. + +1. Note the temper in which Abraham speaks here. The very existence of +Ishmael was a memorial of Abraham's failure in faith and patience. For +he thought that the promised heir was long in coming, and so he thought +that he would help God. For thirteen years the child had been living +beside him, winding a son's way into a father's heart, with much in his +character, as was afterwards seen, that would make a frank, daring boy +his old father's darling. Then all at once comes the divine message, +'This is not the son of the Covenant; this is not the heir of the +Promise. Sarah shall have a child, and from him shall come the +blessings that have been foretold.' And what does Abraham do? Fall down +in thankfulness before God? leap up in heart at the conviction that now +at last the long-looked-for fulfilment of the oath of God was +impending? Not he. 'O that _Ishmael_ might live before Thee. Why cannot +_he_ do? Why may he not be the chosen child, the heir of the Promise? +Take him, O God!' + +That is to say, he thinks he knows better than God. He is petulant, he +resists his blessing, he fancies that his own plan is quite as good as +the divine plan. He does not want to draw away his heart from the child +that it has twined round. So he loses the blessing of the revelation +that is being made to him; because he does not bow his will, and accept +God's way instead of his own. Now, do you not think that that is what +we do? When God sends us Isaac, do we not often say, 'Take Ishmael; he +is my own making. I have set all my hopes on him. Why should I have to +wrench them all away?' In our individual lives we want to prescribe to +God, far too often, not only the _ends_, but the _way_ in which we +shall get to the ends; and we think to ourselves, 'That road of my own +engineering that I have got all staked out, that is the true way for +God's providence to take.' And when His path does not coincide with +ours, then we are discontented, and instead of submitting we go with +our pet schemes to Him; and if not in so many words, at least in spirit +and temper, we try to force our way upon God, and when He is speaking +about Isaac insist on pressing Ishmael on His notice. + +It is often so in regard to our individual lives; and it is so in +regard to the united action of Christian people very often. A great +deal of what calls itself earnest contending for 'the faith once +delivered to the saints' is nothing more nor less than insisting that +methods of men's devising shall be continued, when God seems to be +substituting for them methods of His own sending; and so fighting about +externals and church polity, and determining that the world has got to +be saved in my own special fashion, and in no other, though God Himself +seems to be suggesting the new thing to me. That is a very frequent +phenomenon in the experience of Christian communities and churches. +Ishmael is so very dear. He is not the child of promise, but he is the +child that we have thought it advisable to help God with. It is hard +for us to part with him. + +Dear brethren, sometimes, too, God comes to us in various providences, +and not only reduces into chaos and a heap of confusion our nicely +built-up little houses, but He sometimes comes to us, and lifts us out +of some lower kind of good, which is perfectly satisfactory to us, or +all but perfectly satisfactory, in order to give to us something nobler +and higher. And we resist that too; and do not see why Ishmael should +not serve God's turn as he has served ours; or think that there is no +need at all for Isaac to come into our lives. God never takes away from +us a lower, unless for the purpose of bestowing upon us a higher +blessing. Therefore not to submit is the foolishest thing that men can +do. + +But if that be anything like an account of the temper expressed by this +saying, is it not strange that murmuring against God takes the shape of +praying? Ah! there is a great deal of 'prayer' as it calls itself, +which is just moulded upon this petulant word of Abraham's momentarily +failing faith and submission. How many people think that to pray means +to bring their wishes to God, and try to coax Him to make them His +wishes! Why, half the shallow sceptical talk of this generation about +the worthlessness of prayer goes upon that fundamental fallacy that the +notion of prayer is to dictate terms to God; and that unless a man gets +his wishes answered he has no right to suppose that his prayers are +answered. But it is not so. Prayer is not after the type of 'O that +Ishmael might live before Thee!' That is a poor kind of prayer of which +the inmost spirit is resistance to a clear dictate of the divine will; +but the true prayer is, 'O that I may be willing to take what Thou art +willing, in Thy mercy and love, to send!' + +I believe in importunate prayer, but I believe also that a great deal +of what calls itself importunate prayer is nothing more than an +obstinate determination not to be satisfied with what satisfies God. If +a man has been bringing his wishes--and he cannot but have +such--continuously to God, with regard to any outward things, and these +have not been answered, he needs to look very carefully into his own +temper and heart in order to make sure that what seems to be waiting +upon God in importunate petition is not pestering Him with refused +desires. To make a prayer out of my rebellion against His will is +surely the greatest abuse of prayer that can be conceived. And when +Abraham said, 'O that Ishmael might live before Thee!' if he said it in +the spirit in which I think he did, he was not praying, but he was +grumbling. + +2. And then notice, still further, how such a temper and such a prayer +have the effect of hiding joy and blessing from us. + +This was the crisis of Abraham's whole life. It was the moment at which +his hundred years nearly of patient waiting were about to be rewarded. +The message which he had just received was the most lovely and gracious +word that ever had come to him from the heavens, although many such +words had come. And what does he do with it? Instead of falling down +before God, and letting his whole heart go out in jubilant gratitude, +he has nothing to say but 'I would rather that Thou didst it in another +way. It is all very well to speak about sending this heir of promise. I +have no pleasure in that, because it means that my Ishmael is to be +passed by and shelved.' So the proffered joy is turned to ashes, and +Abraham gets no good, for the moment, out of God's greatest blessing to +him; but all the sky is darkened by mists that come up from his own +heart. + +Brethren, if you want to be miserable, perk up your own will against +God's. If you want to be blessed, acquiesce in all that He does send, +in all that He has sent, and, by anticipation, in all that He will +send. For, depend upon it, the secret of finding sunbeams in everything +is simply letting God have His own way, and making your will the +sounding-board and echo of His. If Abraham had done as he ought to have +done, that would have been the gladdest moment of his life. You and I +can make out of our deepest sorrows the occasions of pure, though it is +quiet, gladness, if only we have learned to say, 'Not my will, but Thy +will be done.' That is the talisman that turns everything into gold, +and makes sorrow forget its nature, and almost approximate to solemn +joy. + +3. My last word is this: God loves us all too well to listen to such a +prayer. + +Abraham's passionate cry was so much empty wind, and was like a straw +laid across the course of an express train, in so far as its power to +modify the gracious purpose of God already declared was concerned. And +would it not be a miserable thing if we could deflect the solemn, +loving march of the divine Providence by these hot, foolish, purblind +wishes of ours, that see only the nearer end of things, and have no +notion of where their further end may go, or what it may be? + +Is it not better that we should fall back upon this thought, though, at +first sight, it seems so to limit the power of petition, 'We know that +if we ask anything according to His will He heareth us'? There is +nothing that would more wreck our lives than if what some people want +were to be the case--that God should let us have our own way, and give +us serpents because we asked for them and fancied they were eggs; or +let us break our teeth upon bestowed stones because, like whimpering +children crying for the moon, we had asked for them under the delusion +that they were bread. + +Leave all that in His hands; and be sure of this, that the true way to +peace, to rest, to gladness, and to wringing the last drop of possible +sweetness out of gifts and losses, disappointments and fruitions, is to +have no will but God's will enthroned above and in our own wills. If +Abraham had acquiesced and submitted, Ishmael and Isaac would have been +a pair to bless his life, as they stood together over his grave. And if +you and I will leave God to order all our ways, and not try to +interfere with His purposes by our short-sighted dictation, 'all things +will work together for good to us, because we love God,' and lovingly +accept His will and His law. + + + + +'BECAUSE OF HIS IMPORTUNITY' + + + 'And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward + Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the + way. And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that + thing which I do; Seeing that Abraham shall surely become + a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the + earth shall be blessed in him! For I know him, that he + will command his children and his household after him, + and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice + and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that + which He hath spoken of him. And the Lord said, Because + the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because + their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see + whether they have done altogether according to the cry + of it, which is come unto Me; and if not, I will know. + And the men turned their faces from thence, and went + toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the Lord. + And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt Thou also destroy + the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be + fifty righteous within the city: wilt Thou also destroy + and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that + are therein? That be far from Thee to do after this + manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that + the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from + Thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? + And the Lord said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous + within the city, then I will spare all the place for + their sakes. And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, + I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am + but dust and ashes: Peradventure there shall lack five + of the fifty righteous: wilt Thou destroy all the city + for lack of five? And He said, If I find there forty + and five, I will not destroy it. And he spake unto Him + yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty + found there. And He said, I will not do it for forty's + sake. And he said unto Him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, + and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be + found there. And He said, I will not do it, if I find + thirty there. And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon + me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be + twenty found there. And He said, I will not destroy it + for twenty's sake. And he said, Oh let not the Lord be + angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure + ten shall be found there. And He said, I will not destroy + it for ten's sake. And the Lord went His way, as soon as + He had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned + unto his place.'--GENESIS xviii. 16-33. + + +I + + +The first verse of this chapter says that 'the Lord appeared' unto +Abraham, and then proceeds to tell that 'three men stood over against +him,' thus indicating that these were, collectively, the manifestation +of Jehovah. Two of the three subsequently 'went toward Sodom,' and are +called 'angels' in chapter xix. 1. One remained with Abraham, and is +addressed by him as 'Lord,' but the three are similarly addressed in +verse 3. The inference is that Jehovah appeared, not only in the one +'man' who spake with Abraham, but also in the two who went to Sodom. + +In this incident we have, first, God's communication of His purpose to +Abraham. He was called the friend of God, and friends confide in each +other. 'The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him,' and it is +ever true that they who live in amity and communion with God thereby +acquire insight into His purposes. Even in regard to public or +so-called 'political' events, a man who believes in God and His moral +government will often be endowed with a 'terrible sagacity,' which +forecasts consequences more surely than do godless politicians. In +regard to one's own history, it is still more evidently true that the +one way to apprehend God's purposes in it is to keep in close +friendship with Him. Then we shall see the meaning of the else +bewildering whirl of events, and be able to say, 'He that hath wrought +us for the selfsame thing is God.' But the reason assigned for +intrusting Abraham with the knowledge of God's purpose is to be noted. +It was because of his place as the medium of blessing to the nations, +and as the lawgiver to his descendants. God had 'known him,'--that is, +had lovingly brought him into close relations with Himself, not for his +own sake only, but, much more, that he might be a channel of grace to +Israel and the world. His 'commandment' to his descendants was to lead +to their worship of Jehovah and their upright living, and these again +to their possession of the blessings promised to Abraham. That purpose +would be aided by the knowledge of the judgment on Sodom, its source, +and its cause, and therefore Abraham was admitted into the +council-chamber of Jehovah. The insight given to God's friends is given +that they may more fully benefit men by leading them into paths of +righteousness, on which alone they can be met by God's blessings. + +The strongly figurative representation in verses 20, 21, according to +which Jehovah goes down to ascertain whether the facts of Sodom's sin +correspond to the report of it, belongs to the early stage of +revelation, and need not surprise us, but should impress on us the +gradual character of the divine Revelation, which would have been +useless unless it had been accommodated to the mental and spiritual +stature of its recipients. Nor should it hide from us the lofty +conception of God's long-suffering justice, which is presented in so +childlike a form. He does 'not judge after ... the hearing of His +ears,' nor smite without full knowledge of the sin. A later stage of +revelation puts the same thought in language less strange to us, when +it teaches that 'the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are +weighed,' and in His balances many a false estimate, both of virtuous +and vicious acts, is corrected, and retribution is always exactly +adjusted to the deed. + +But the main importance of the incident is in the wonderful picture of +Abraham's intercession, which, in like manner, veils, under a strangely +sensuous representation, lofty truths for all ages. It is to be noted +that the divine purpose expressed in 'I will go down now, and see,' is +fulfilled in the going of the two (men or angels) towards Sodom; +therefore Jehovah was in them. But He was also in the One before whom +Abraham stood. The first great truth enshrined in this part of the +story is that the friend of God is compassionate even of the sinful and +degraded. Abraham did not intercede for Lot, but for the sinners in +Sodom. He had perilled his life in warfare for them; he now pleads with +God for them. Where had he learned this brave pity? Where but from the +God with whom he lived by faith? How much more surely will real +communion with Jesus lead _us_ to look on all men, and especially on +the vicious and outcast, with His eyes who saw the multitudes as sheep +without a shepherd, torn, panting, scattered, and lying exhausted and +defenceless! Indifference to the miseries and impending dangers of +Christless men is impossible for any whom He calls 'not servants, but +friends.' + +Again, we are taught the boldness of pleading which is permitted to the +friend of God, and is compatible with deepest reverence. Abraham is +keenly conscious of his audacity, and yet, though he knows himself to +be but dust and ashes, that does not stifle his petitions. His was the +holy 'importunity' which Jesus sent forth for our imitation. The word +so rendered in Luke xi. 8, which is found in the New Testament there +only, literally means 'shamelessness,' and is exactly the disposition +which Abraham showed here. Not only was he persistent, but he increased +his expectations with each partial granting of his prayer. The more God +gives, the more does the true suppliant expect and crave; and rightly +so, for the gift to be given is infinite, and each degree of possession +enlarges capacity so as to fit to receive more, and widens desire. What +contented us to-day should not content us to-morrow. + +Again, Abraham is bold in appealing to a law to which God is bound to +conform. 'Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?' is often +quoted with an application foreign to its true meaning. Abraham was not +preaching to men trust that the most perplexing acts of God would be +capable of full vindication if we knew all, but he was pleading with +God that His acts should be plainly accordant with the idea of justice +planted by Him in us. The phrase is often used to strengthen the +struggling faith that + + 'All is right which seems most wrong, + If it be His sweet will.' + +But it means not 'Such and such a thing must be right because God has +done it,' but 'Such and such a thing is right, therefore God must do +it.' Of course, our conceptions of right are not the absolute measure +of the divine acts, and the very fact which Abraham thought contrary to +justice is continually exemplified in Providence, that 'the righteous +should be as the wicked' in regard to earthly calamities affecting +communities. So far Abraham was wrong, but the spirit of his +remonstrance was wholly right. + +Again, we learn the precious lesson that prayer for others is a real +power, and does bring down blessings and avert evils. Abraham did not +here pray for Lot, but yet 'God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of +the midst of the overthrow'(chap. xix. 29), so that there had been +unrecorded intercession for him too. The unselfish desires for others, +that exhale from human hearts under the influence of the love which +Christ plants in us, do come down in blessings on others, as the +moisture drawn up by the sun may descend in fructifying rain on far-off +pastures of the wilderness. We help one another when we pray for one +another. + +The last lesson taught is that 'righteous' men are indeed the 'salt of +the earth' not only preserving cities and nations from further +corruption, but procuring for them further existence and probation. God +holds back His judgments so long as hope of amendment survives, and +'will not destroy for the ten's sake.' + + + + +THE INTERCOURSE OF GOD AND HIS FRIEND + + +II + + +We have seen that the fruit of Abraham's faith was God's entrance into +close covenant relations with him; or, as James puts it, 'It was +reckoned unto him for righteousness; and he was called the friend of +God.' This incident shows us the intercourse of the divine and human +friends in its familiarity, mutual confidence, and power. It is a +forecast of Christ's own profound teachings in His parting words in the +upper chamber, concerning the sweet and wondrous intercourse between +the believing soul and the indwelling God. + +1. The friend of God catches a gleam of divine pity and tenderness. +Abraham has no relations with the men of Sodom. Their evil ways would +repel him; and he would be a stranger among them still more than among +the Canaanites, whose iniquity was 'not yet full.' But though he has no +special bonds with them, he cannot but melt with tender compassion when +he hears their doom. Communion with the very Source of all gentle love +has softened his heart, and he yearns over the wicked and fated city. +Where else than from his heavenly Friend could he have learned this +sympathy? It wells up in this chapter like some sudden spring among +solemn solitudes--the first instance of that divine charity which is +the best sign that we have been with God, and have learned of Him. All +that the New Testament teaches of love to God, as necessarily issuing +in love to man, and of the true love to man as overleaping all narrow +bounds of kindred, country, race, and ignoring all questions of +character, and gushing forth in fullest energy towards the sinners in +danger of just punishment, is here in germ. The friend of God must be +the friend of men; and if they be wicked, and he sees the frightful +doom which they do not see, these make his pity the deeper. Abraham +does not contest the justice of the doom. He lives too near his friend +not to know that sin must mean death. The effect of friendship with God +is not to make men wish that there were no judgments for evil-doers, +but to touch their hearts with pity, and to stir them to intercession +and to effort for their deliverance. + +2. The friend of God has absolute trust in the rectitude of His acts. +Abraham's remonstrance, if we may call it so, embodies some thoughts +about the government of God in the world which should be pondered. + +His first abrupt question, flung out without any reverential preface, +assumes that the character of God requires that the fate of the +righteous should be distinguished from that of the wicked. The very +brusqueness of the question shows that he supposed himself to be +appealing to an elementary and indubitable law of God's dealings. The +teachings of the Fall and of the Flood had graven deep on his +conscience the truth that the same loving Friend must needs deal out +rewards to the good and chastisement to the bad. That was the simple +faith of an early time, when problems like those which tortured the +writers of the seventy-third Psalm, or of Job and Ecclesiastes, had not +yet disturbed the childlike trust of the friend of God, because no +facts in his experience had forced them on him. But the belief which +was axiomatic to him, and true for his supernaturally shaped life with +its special miracles and visible divine guard, is not the ultimate and +irrefragable principle which he thought it. In widespread calamities +the righteous are blended with the wicked in one bloody ruin; and it is +the very misery of such judgments that often the sufferers are not the +wrongdoers, but that the fathers eat the sour grapes, and the +children's teeth are set on edge. The whirlwind of temporal judgments +makes no distinctions between the dwellings of the righteous and the +wicked, but levels them both. No doubt, the fact that the impending +destruction was to be a direct Divine interposition of a punitive kind +made it more necessary that it should be confined to the actual +culprits. No doubt, too, Abraham's zeal for the honour of God's +government was right. But his first plea belongs to the stage of +revelation at which he stood, not to that of the New Testament, which +teaches that the eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell were not +sinners above all men in Jerusalem. Abraham's confidence in God's +justice, not Abraham's conceptions of what that justice required, is to +be imitated. A friend of God will hold fast by the faith that 'His way +is perfect,' and will cherish it even in the presence of facts more +perplexing than any which met Abraham's eyes. + +Another assumption in his prayer is that the righteous are sources of +blessing and shields for the wicked. Has he there laid hold of a true +principle? Certainly, it is indeed the law that 'every man shall bear +his own burden,' but that law is modified by the operation of this +other, of which God's providence is full. Many a drop of blessing +trickles from the wet fleece to the dry ground. Many a stroke of +judgment is carried off harmlessly by the lightning conductor. Where +God's friends are inextricably mixed up with evil-doers, it is not rare +to see diffused blessings which are destined indeed primarily for the +former, but find their way to the latter. Christians are the 'salt of +the earth' in this sense too, that they save corrupt communities from +swift destruction, and for their sakes the angels delay their blow. In +the final resort, each soul must reap its own harvest from its own +deeds; but the individualism of Christianity is not isolation. We are +bound together in mysterious community, and a good man is a fountain of +far-flowing good. The truest 'saviours of society' are the servants of +God. + +A third principle is embodied in the solemn question, 'Shall not the +Judge of all the earth do right?' This is not meant in its bearing +here, as we so often hear it quoted, to silence man's questionings as +to mysterious divine acts, or to warn us from applying our measures of +right and wrong to these. The very opposite thought is conveyed; +namely, the confidence that what God does must approve itself as just +to men. He is Judge of all the earth, and therefore bound by His very +nature, as by His relations to men, to do nothing that cannot be +pointed to as inflexibly right. If Abraham had meant, 'What God does, +must needs be right, therefore crush down all questions of how it +accords with thy sense of justice,' he would have been condemning his +own prayer as presumptuous, and the thought would have been entirely +out of place. But the appeal to God to vindicate His own character by +doing what shall be in manifest accord with His name, is bold language +indeed, but not too bold, because it is prompted by absolute confidence +in Him. God's punishments must be obviously righteous to have moral +effect, or to be worthy of Him. + +But true as the principle is, it needs to be guarded. Abraham himself +is an instance that men's conceptions of right do not completely +correspond to the reality. His notion of 'right' was, in some +particulars, as his life shows, imperfect, rudimentary, and far beneath +New Testament ideas. Conscience needs education. The best men's +conceptions of what befits divine justice are relative, progressive; +and a shifting standard is no standard. It becomes us to be very +cautious before we say to God, 'This is the way. Walk Thou in it,' or +dismiss any doctrine as untrue on the ground of its contradicting our +instincts of justice. + +3. The friend of God has power with God. 'Shall I hide from Abraham +that thing which I do?' The divine Friend recognises the obligation of +confidence. True friendship is frank, and cannot bear to hide its +purposes. That one sentence in its bold attribution of a like feeling +to God leads us deep into the Divine heart, and the sweet reality of +his amity. Insight into His will ever belongs to those who live near +Him. It is the beginning of the long series of disclosures of 'the +secret of the Lord' to 'them that fear Him,' which is crowned by +'henceforth I call you not servants; but ... friends; for all things +that I have heard of My Father I have made known unto you.' So much for +the divine side of the communion. + +On the human side, we are here taught the great truth, that God's +friends are intercessors, whose voice has a mysterious but most real +power with God. If it be true, that, in general terms, the righteous +are shields and sources of blessing to the unholy, it is still more +distinctly true that they have access to God's secret place with +petitions for others as well as for themselves. The desires which go up +to God, like the vapours exhaled to heaven, fall in refreshing rain on +spots far away from that whence they rose. In these days we need to +keep fast hold of our belief in the efficacy of prayer for others and +for ourselves. God knows Himself and the laws of His government a great +deal better than any one besides does; and He has abundantly shown us +in His Word, and by many experiences, that breath spent in intercession +is not wasted. In these old times, when worship was mainly sacrificial, +this wonderful instance of pure intercession meets us, an anticipation +of later times. And from thence onwards there has never failed proof to +those who will look for it, that God's friends are true priests, and +help their brethren by their prayers. Our voices should 'rise like a +fountain night and day' for men. But there is a secret distrust of the +power, and a flagrantly plain neglect of the duty, of intercession +nowadays, which need sorely the lesson that God 'remembered Abraham' +and delivered Lot. Luther, in his rough, strong way, says: 'If I have a +Christian who prays to God for me, I will be of good courage, and be +afraid of nothing. If I have one who prays against me, I had rather +have the Grand Turk for my enemy.' + +The tone of Abraham's intercession may teach us how familiar the +intercourse with the Heavenly Friend may be. The boldest words from a +loving heart, jealous of God's honour, are not irreverent in His eyes. +This prayer is abrupt, almost rough. It sounds like remonstrance quite +as much as prayer. Abraham appeals to God to take care of His name and +honour, as if he had said, If Thou doest this, what will the world say +of Thee, but that Thou art unmerciful? But the grand confidence in +God's character, the eager desire that it should be vindicated before +the world, the dread that the least film should veil the silvery +whiteness or the golden lustre of His name, the sensitiveness for His +honour--these are the effects of communion with Him; and for these God +accepts the bold prayer as truer reverence than is found in many more +guarded and lowly sounding words. Many conventional proprieties of +worship may be broken just because the worship is real. 'The frequent +sputter shows that the soul's depths boil in earnest.' We may learn, +too, that the most loving familiarity never forgets the fathomless gulf +between God and it. Abraham remembers that he is 'dust and ashes'; he +knows that he is venturing much in speaking to God. His pertinacious +prayers have a recurring burden of lowly recognition of his place. +Twice he heralds them with 'I have taken upon me to speak unto the +Lord'; twice with 'Oh let not the Lord be angry.' Perfect love casts +out fear and deepens reverence. We may come with free hearts, from +which every weight of trembling and every cloud of doubt has been +lifted. But the less the dread, the lower we shall bow before the +Loftiness which we love. We do not pray aright until we tell God +everything. The 'boldness' which we as Christians ought to have, means +literally a frank speaking out of all that is in our hearts. Such +'boldness and access with confidence' will often make short work of +so-called seemly reverence, but it will never transgress by so much as +a hair's-breadth the limits of lowly, trustful love. + +Abraham's persistency may teach us a lesson. If one might so say, he +hangs on God's skirt like a burr. Each petition granted only encourages +him to another. Six times he pleads, and God waits till he has done +before He goes away; He cannot leave His friend till that friend has +said all his say. What a contrast the fiery fervour and unwearying +pertinacity of Abraham's prayers make to the stiff formalism of the +intercessions one is familiar with! The former are like the successive +pulses of a volcano driving a hot lava stream before it; the latter, +like the slow flow of a glacier, cold and sluggish. Is any part of our +public or private worship more hopelessly formal than our prayers for +others? This picture from the old world may well shame our languid +petitions, and stir us up to a holy boldness and persistence in prayer. +Our Saviour Himself teaches that 'men ought always to pray, and not to +faint,' and Himself recommends to us a holy importunity, which He +teaches us to believe is, in mysterious fashion, a power with God. He +gives room for such patient continuance in prayer by sometimes delaying +the apparent answer, not because He needs to be won over to bless, but +because it is good for us to draw near, and to keep near, the Lord. He +is ever at the door, ready to open, and if sometimes, like Rhoda to +Peter, He does not open immediately, and we have to keep knocking, it +is that our desires may increase by delay, and so He may be able to +give a blessing, which will be the greater and sweeter for the tarrying. + +So the friendship is manifested on both sides: on God's, by disclosure +of His purpose and compliance with His friend's request; on Abraham's, +by speech which is saved from irreverence by love, and by prayer which +is acceptable to God by its very importunity. Jesus Christ has promised +us the highest form of such friendship, when He has said, 'I have +called you friends: for all things that I have heard of My Father I +have made known unto you'; and again, 'If ye abide in Me, ... ye shall +ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.' + + + + +THE SWIFT DESTROYER + + + 'And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened + Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, + which are here; lest them be consumed in the iniquity of + the city. And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon + his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the + hand of his two daughters; the Lord being merciful unto + him: and they brought him forth, and set him without + the city. And it came to pass, when they had brought + them forth abroad, that He said, Escape for thy life; + look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; + escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. And Lot + said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord: Behold now, Thy + servant hath found grace in Thy sight, and Thou hast + magnified Thy mercy, which Thou hast shewed unto me in + saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest + some evil take me, and I die: Behold now, this city is + near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me + escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul + shall live. And He said unto him, See, I have accepted + thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow + this city, for the which thou hast spoken. Haste thee, + escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be + come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called + Zoar. The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered + into Zoar. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon + Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; + And He overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and + all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew + upon the ground. But his wife looked back from behind + him, and she became a pillar of salt.'--GENESIS xix. 15-26. + +The religious significance of this solemn page of revelation is but +little affected by any of the interesting questions which criticism +raises concerning it, so that I am free to look at the whole narrative +for the purpose of deducing its perennial lessons. There are four +clearly marked stages in the story: the lingering of Lot in the doomed +city, and the friendly force which dragged him from it; the prayer of +abject fear, and the wonderful answer; the awful catastrophe; and the +fate of the wretched woman who looked back. + +1. Lot's lingering and rescue by force. Second thoughts are not always +best. When great resolves have to be made, and when a clear divine +command has to be obeyed, the first thought is usually the nobler; and +the second, which pulls it back, and damps its ardour, is usually of +the earth, earthy. So was it with Lot. Overnight, in the excitement of +the terrible scene enacted before his door, Lot had been not only +resolved himself to flee, but his voice had urged his sons-in-law to +escape from the doom which he then felt to be imminent. But with the +cold grey light of morning his mood has changed. The ties which held +him in Sodom reassert their power. Perhaps daylight made his fears seem +less real. There was no sign in the chill Eastern twilight that this +day was to be unlike the other days. Perhaps the angels' summons roused +him from sleep, and their 'arise' is literally meant. It might have +given wings to his flight. Urgent, and resonant, like the morning +bugle, it bids him be stirring lest he be swept away 'in the punishment +of the city.' Observe that the same word means 'sin' and +'punishment,'--a testimony to the profound truth that at bottom they +are one, sin being pain in the root, pain being sin in the flower. So +our own word 'evil' covers all the ground, and means both sin and +sorrow. But even that pealing note does not shatter his hesitation. He +still lingers. What kept him? That which had first taken him +there--material advantages. He had struck root in Sodom. The tent life +which he had kept to at first has been long given up; we find him +sitting in the gate of the city, the place for gossip and friendly +intercourse. He has either formed, or is going to form, marriage +alliances for his daughters with men of the city who are as black as +the rest. Perhaps his wife, whom the story will not name, for pity or +for horror, was a Sodomite. To escape meant to leave all this and his +wealth behind. If he goes out, he goes out a pauper. So his heart, +which is where his treasure is, makes his movements slow. What insanity +his lingering must have seemed to the angels! I wonder if we, who cling +so desperately to the world, and who are so slow to go where God would +have us to be for our own safety, if thereby we shall lose anything of +this world's wealth, seem very much wiser to eyes made clear-sighted +with the wisdom of heaven. This poor hesitating lingerer, too much at +home in the city of destruction to get out of it even to save his life, +has plenty of brothers to-day. Every man who lets the world hold him by +the skirts when Christ is calling him to salvation, and every man who +is reluctant to obey any clear call to sacrifice and separation from +godless men, may see his own face in this glass, and perhaps get a +glimpse of its ugliness. + +What a homely picture, full of weighty truth, the story gives us, of +the angels each taking two of the reluctant four by the hand, and +dragging them with some degree of kindly force from destruction into +safety! So, in a great fire, domestic animals and horses seem to find a +strange fascination in the flames, and have to be carried out of +certain death by main force. They 'set him'--or we might read, 'made +him rest'--outside the city. It was but a little distance, for these +'cities' were tiny places, and the walls were soon reached. But it was +far enough to change Lot's whole feelings. He passes to feeble despair +and abject fear, as we shall see. That forlorn group, homeless, +friendless, stripped of everything, shivering outside the gate in the +cold morning air, may teach us how wise and prudent the man is who +seeks the kingdom of God second, and the other things first. + +2. There was a pause outside the city. A new voice speaks now to Lot. +'They' brought him forth; but 'He' said 'escape.' The same 'Lord' to +whom Abraham had prayed, has now rejoined the mysterious pair whom He +had sent to Sodom. And Lot's entreaty is addressed to Him whom he calls +'my Lord.' He uses singular pronouns throughout, although the narrator +says that he 'said unto _them_.' There seems to be here the same idea +as is embodied in the word 'Elohim'; namely, that the divine powers are +regarded as in some sense separable, and yet all inhering in a personal +unity. At all events, we have here a distinct representation of an +intercourse between God and man, in which thoughts are conveyed to the +human spirit direct from the divine, and desires pass from the human to +the divine. The manner of the intercourse we do not know, but the +possibility of the fact can scarcely be denied by any believer in a +God; and, however we may call this miraculous or abnormal, the essence +of the event can be repeated in the experience of each of us. God still +speaks to men, and men may still plead with God. Unless our religion is +communion, it is nothing. + +The divine voice reiterates the angels' urgent command in still more +stringent words: 'Escape for thy life.' There is to be no more +angel-leading, but Lot's feet are to be made as hinds' feet by the +thought of the flaming death that is pursuing. His lingering looks are +sternly forbidden, since they would delay his flight and divide his +heart. The direction of his flight is for the first time pointed out. +The fertile plain, which had lured him down from the safe hills, is +prohibited. Only on the mountain-side, probably the eastern mountains, +where the morning red was beginning to blush, is there safety. + +Lot's answer shows a complete change of feeling. He is too fully +alarmed now. His fright is so desperate that it has killed faith and +common sense. The natural conclusion from God's mercy, which he +acknowledges, would have been trust and obedience. 'Therefore I can +escape,' not 'but I cannot escape,' would have been the logic of faith. +The latter is the irrationality of fear. When a man who has been +cleaving to this fleeting life of earthly good wakes up to believe his +danger, he is ever apt to plunge into an abyss of terror, in which +God's commands seem impossible, and His will to save becomes dim. The +world first lies to us by 'You are quite safe where you are. Don't be +in a hurry to go.' Then it lies, 'You never can get away now.' Reverse +Lot's whimpering fears, and we get the truth. Are not God's directions +how to escape, promises that we shall escape? Will He begin to build, +and not be able to finish? Will the judgments of His hand overrun their +commission, like a bloodhound which, in its master's absence, may rend +his friend? 'We have all of us one human heart,' and this swift leap +from unreasoning carelessness to as unreasoning dread, this failure to +draw the true conclusion from God's past mercy, and this despairing +recoil from the path pointed for us, and craving for easier ways, +belongs to us. 'A strange servant of God was this,' say we. Yes, and we +are often quite as strange. How many people awakened to see their +danger are so absorbed by the sight that they cannot see the cross, or +think they can never reach it! + +God answered the cry, whatever its fault, and that may well make us +pause in our condemnation. He hears even a very imperfect petition, and +can see the tiniest germ of faith buried under thick clods of doubt and +fear. This stooping readiness to meet Lot's weakness comes in wonderful +contrast with the terrible revelation of judgment which follows. What a +conception of God, which had room for this more than human patience +with weakness, and also for the flashing, lurid glories of destructive +retribution! Zoar is spared, not for the unworthy reason which Lot +suggested--because its minuteness might buy impunity, as some noxious +insect too small to be worth crushing--but in accordance with the +principle which was illustrated in Abraham's intercession, and even in +Lot's safety; namely, that the righteous are shields for others, as +Paul had the lives of all that sailed with him given to him. + +God's 'cannot' answers Lot's 'cannot.' His power is limited by His own +solemn purpose to save His faltering servant. The latter had feared +that, before he could reach the mountain, 'the evil' would overtake +him. God shows him that his safety was a condition precedent to its +outburst. Lot barred the way. God could not 'let slip the dogs of' +judgment, but held them in the leash until Lot was in Zoar. Very awful +is the command to make haste, based on this impossibility, as if God +were weary of delay, and more than ready to smite. However we may find +anthropomorphism in these early narratives, let us not forget that, +when the world has long been groaning under some giant evil, and the +bitter seed is grown up into a waving forest of poison, there is +something in the passionless righteousness of God which brooks no +longer delay, but seeks to make 'a short work' on the earth. + +3. So we are brought face to face with the grim story of the +destruction. There is a world of tragic meaning in the simple note of +time given. 'The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into +Zoar.' The low-lying cities of the plain would lie in shadow for some +time before the sun topped the eastern hills. What a dawn! At that +joyous hour, just when the sunshine struck down on the smiling plain, +and lake and river gleamed like silver, and all things woke to new +hopes and fresh life, then the sky darkened, and the earth sank, and +horrible rain of fiery bitumen fell from the black pall, salt mud +poured in streams, and over all hung a column of fat, oily smoke. It is +not my province to discuss the physical cause of the destruction; but I +may refer to the suggestions of Sir J. W. Dawson, in his _Egypt and +Syria_, and in _The Expositor_ for May 1886, in which he shows that +great beds of bituminous limestone extend below the Jordan valley and +much of the Dead Sea, and that the escape of inflammable gag from these +through the opening of a fissure along a great 'line of fault,' is +capable of producing all the effects described. The 'brimstone' of the +Authorised Version is probably rather some form of bituminous matter +which would be carried into the air by such an escape of gas, and a +thick saline mud would accompany the eruption, encrusting anything it +reached. Subsidence would follow the ejection of quantities of such +matter; and hence the word 'overthrew,' which seems inappropriate to a +mere conflagration, would be explained. + +But, however this may be, we have to recognise a supernatural element +in the starting of the train of natural causes, as well as in the +timing of the catastrophe, and a divine purpose of retribution, which +turns the catastrophe, however effected, into a judgment. + +So regarded, the event has a double meaning. In the first place, it is +a revelation of an element in the divine character and of a feature in +the divine government. To the men of that time, it might be a warning. +To Abraham, and through him to his descendants, and through them to us, +it preaches a truth very unwelcome to many in this day: that there is +in God that which constrains Him to hate, fight against, and punish, +evil. The temper of this generation turns away from such thoughts, and, +in the name of the truth that 'God is love,' would fain obliterate the +truth that He does and will punish. But if the punitive element be +suppressed, and that in God which makes it necessary ignored or +weakened, the result will be a God who has not force enough to love, +but only weakly to indulge. If He does not hate and punish, He does not +pardon. For the sake of the love of God, we must hold firm by the +belief in the judgments of God. The God who destroyed Sodom is not +merely the God of an earlier antiquated creed. 'Is He the God of the +Jews only? Is He not also of the Gentiles? Yea, of the Gentiles also.' + +Again, this event is a prophecy. So our Lord has employed it; and much +of the imagery in which the last judgment is represented is directly +drawn from this narrative. So far from this story showing to us only +the superstitions of a form of belief which we have long outgrown, its +deepest meaning lies far ahead, and closes the history of man on the +earth. We know from the lips which cannot lie, that the appalling +suddenness of that destruction foreshadows the swiftness of the coming +of that last 'day of the Lord.' We know that in literality some of the +physical features shall be reproduced; for the fire which shall burn up +the world and all its works is no figure, nor is it proclaimed only by +such non-authoritative voices as those of Jesus and His apostles, but +also by the modern possessors of infallible certitude, the men of +science. We know that that day shall be a day of retribution. We know, +too, that the crime of Sodom, foul and unnatural as it was, is not the +darkest, but that its inhabitants (who have to face that judgment too) +will find their doom more tolerable, and their sins lighter, than some +who have had high places in the Church, than the Pharisees and wise men +who have not taken Christ for their Saviour. + +4. The fate of the loiterer. Her backward look must have been more than +momentary, for the destruction of the cities did not begin till Lot was +safe in Zoar. She must have lingered far behind, and been overtaken by +the eruption of liquid saline mud, which, as Sir J. W. Dawson has +shown, would attend or follow the outburst of bituminous matter, so +that her fate was the natural consequence of her heart being still in +Sodom. As to the 'pillar of salt' which has excited cavils on the one +hand and foolish legends on the other, probably we are to think rather +of a heap than of a pillar. The word does not occur in either meaning +elsewhere, but its derivation implies something raised above the level +of the ground; and a heap, such as would be formed by a human body +encrusted with salt mud, would suit the requirements of the expression. +Like a man who falls in a snowstorm, or, still more accurately, just as +some of the victims at Pompeii stumbled in their flight, and were +buried under the ashes, which still keep the outline of their figures, +so Lot's wife was covered with the half-liquid slimy mud. Granted the +delay in her flight, the rest is perfectly simple and natural. She was +buried in a horrible tomb; and, in pity to her memory, no name has been +written upon it. She remains to all generations, in a far truer sense +than superstition dreamed of when it pointed to an upright salt rock as +her prison and her monument, a warning of the danger of the backward +look, which betrays the true home of the heart, and may leave us +unsheltered in the open plain when the fiery storm bursts. 'Remember +Lot's wife.' + +When the angels awoke Lot, the day was breaking. By the time that +Abraham had risen 'early in the morning,' and reached the place by his +tent from which he had yesterday looked on the smiling plain, all was +over, and the heavy smoke cloud wrapped the dead with its pall-like +folds. So swift and sudden is to be the coming of the Son of man,--as +the lightning which rushes in one fierce blinding flash from one side +of heaven to the other. Wherefore, God calls to each of us: 'Escape for +thy life; look not behind thee.' + + + + +FAITH TESTED AND CROWNED + + + 'And it came to pass after these things, that God did + tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, + Behold, here I am. And He said, Take now thy son, thine + only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the + land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering + upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. And + Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his + ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac + his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and + rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told + him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, + and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said unto his + young men, 'Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the + lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. + And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid + it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, + and a knife; and they went both of them together. And + Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: + and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the + fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt + offering! And Abraham said, My son, God will provide + Himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both + of them together. And they came to the place which God + had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and + laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and + laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched + forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And + the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, + and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. And + He said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do + thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest + God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only + son from Me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, + and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his + horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered + him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. + And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: + as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it + shall be seen.'--GENESIS xxii. 1-14. + + +I + + +A life of faith and self-denial has usually its sharpest trials at or +near its beginning. A stormy day has generally a calm close. But +Abraham's sorest discipline came all sudden, like a bolt from blue sky. +Near the end, and after many years of peaceful, uneventful life, he had +to take a yet higher degree in the school of faith. Sharp trial means +increased possession of God. So his last terrible experience turned to +his crowning mercy. + +1. The very first words of this solemn narrative raise many questions. +We have God appointing the awful trial. The Revised Version properly +replaces 'tempt' by 'prove.' The former word conveys the idea of +appealing to the worse part of a man, with the wish that he may yield +and do the wrong. The latter means an appeal to the better part of a +man, with the desire that he should stand. Temptation says: 'Do this +pleasant thing; do not be hindered by the fact that it is wrong.' +Trial, or proving, says: 'Do this right and noble thing; do not be +hindered by the fact that it is painful.' The one is 'a sweet, +beguiling melody,' breathing soft indulgence and relaxation over the +soul; the other is a pealing trumpet-call to high achievements. + +God's proving does not mean that He stands by, watching how His child +will behave. He helps us to sustain the trial to which He subjects us. +Life is all probation; and because it is so, it is all the field for +the divine aid. The motive of His proving men is that they may be +strengthened. He puts us into His gymnasium to improve our physique. If +we stand the trial, our faith is increased; if we fall, we learn +self-distrust and closer clinging to Him. No objection can be raised to +the representation of this passage as to God's proving Abraham, which +does not equally apply to the whole structure of life as a place of +probation that it may be a place of blessing. But the manner of the +trial here presents a difficulty. How could God command a father to +kill his son? Is that in accordance with His character? Well, two +considerations deserve attention. First, the final issue; namely, +Isaac's deliverance, was an integral part of the divine purpose from +the beginning of the trial; so that the question really is, Was it +accordant with the divine character to require readiness to sacrifice +even a son at His command? Second, that in Abraham's time, a father's +right over his child's life was unquestioned, and that therefore this +command, though it lacerated Abraham's heart, did not wound his +conscience as it would do were it heard to-day. It is impossible to +conceive of a divine injunction such as this being addressed to us. We +have learned the inalienable sacredness of every life, and the awful +prerogative and burden of individuality. God's command cannot enforce +sin. But it was not wrong in Abraham's eyes for a father to slay his +son; and God might shape His message to the form of the existing +morality without derogation from His character, especially when the +result of the message would be, among other things, to teach His +abhorrence of human sacrifices, and so to lift the existing morality to +a higher level. + +2. The great body of the history sets before us Abraham standing the +terrible test. What unsurpassable beauty is in the simple story! It is +remarkable, even among the scriptural narratives, for the entire +absence of anything but the visible facts. There is not a syllable +about the feelings of father or of son. The silence is more pathetic +than many words. We look as into a magic crystal, and see the very +event before our eyes, and our own imaginations tell us more of the +world of struggle and sorrow raging under that calm outside than the +highest art could do. The pathos of reticence was never more perfectly +illustrated. Observe, too, the minute, prolonged details of the slow +progress to the dread instant of sacrifice. Each step is told in +precisely the same manner, and the series of short clauses, coupled +together by an artless 'and,' are like the single strokes of a passing +bell, or the slow drops of blood heard falling from a fatal wound. The +homely preparations for the journey are made by Abraham himself. He +makes no confidante of Sarah; only God and himself knew what that +bundle of wood meant. What thoughts must have torn his soul throughout +these weary days! How hard to keep his voice round and full while he +spoke to Isaac! How much the long protracted tension of the march +increased the sharpness of the test! It is easier to reach the height +of obedient self-sacrifice in some moment of enthusiasm, than to keep +up there through the commonplace details of slowly passing days. Many a +faith, which could even have slain its dearest, would have broken down +long before the last step of that sad journey was taken. + +The elements of the trial were two: first, Abraham's soul was torn +asunder by the conflict of fatherly love and obedience to God. The +narrative intimates this struggle by continually insisting on the +relationship between the two. The command dwells with emphasis on it: +'thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest.' He takes with him +'Isaac his son'; lays the wood on 'Isaac his son.' Isaac 'spake unto +Abraham his father'; Abraham answers, 'Here am I, my son'; and again, +'My son, God will provide.' He bound 'Isaac his son'; he 'took the +knife to slay his son'; and lastly, in the glad surprise at the end, he +offers the ram 'in the stead of his son.' Thus, at every turn, the +tender bond is forced on our notice, that we may feel how terrible was +the task laid on him--to cut it asunder with his own hand. The friend +of God must hold all other love as less than His, and must be ready to +yield up the dearest at His bidding. Cruel as the necessity seems to +flesh and blood, and specially poignant as his pain was, in essence +Abraham's trial only required of him what all true religion requires of +us. Some of us have been called by God's providence to give up the +light of our eyes, the joy of our homes, to Him. Some of us have had to +make the choice between earthly and heavenly love. All of us have to +throne God in our hearts, and to let not the dearest usurp His place. +In our weakness we may well shrink from such a test. But let us not +forget that the trial of Abraham was not imposed by his own mistaken +conceptions of duty, nor by a sterner God than the New Testament +reveals, but is distinctly set before every Christian in essence, +though not in form, by the gentle lips from which flowed the law of +love more stringent and exclusive in its claims than any other: 'He +that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.' + +The conflict in Abraham's soul had a still more painful aspect in that +it seemed to rend his very religion into two. Faith in the promise on +which he had been living all his life drew one way; faith in the later +command, another. God seemed to be against God, faith against faith, +promise against command. If he obeys now, what is to become of the +hopes that had shone for years before him? His whole career will be +rendered nugatory, and with his own hand he will crush to powder his +life's work. That wonderful short dialogue which broke the stern +silence of the journey seems to throw light on his mood. There is +nothing in literature sacred or secular, fact or fiction, poetry or +prose, more touching than the innocent curiosity of Isaac's boyish +question, and the yearning self-restraint of the father's desperate and +yet calm answer. But its value is not only in its pathos. It seems to +show that, though he knew not how, still he held by the hope that +somehow God would not forget His promise. Out of his very despair, his +faith struck, out of the flint of the hard command, a little spark +which served to give some flicker of light amid the darkness. His +answer to his boy does not make his sacrifice less, but his faith more. +The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews gives a somewhat different +turn to his hopes, when he tells us that he offered up the heir of the +promises, 'accounting that God was able to raise him from the dead.' +Both ways of clinging to the early promise, even while obeying the +later command, seem to have passed through his mind. The wavering from +the one to the other is natural. He is sure that God had not lied +before, and means what He commands now. He is sure that there is some +point of reconciliation--perhaps this, perhaps that, but certainly +somewhat. So he goes straight on the road marked for him, quite sure +that it will not end in a blind alley, from which there is no exit. +That is the very climax of faith--to trust God so absolutely, even when +His ways seem contradictory, as to be more willing to believe apparent +impossibilities than to doubt Him, and to be therefore ready for the +hardest trial of obedience. We, too, have sometimes to take courses +which seem to annihilate the hope and aims of a life. The lesson for us +is to go straight on the path of clear duty wherever it leads. If it +seem to bring us up to inaccessible cliffs, we may be sure that when we +get there we shall find some ledge, though it may be no broader than a +chamois could tread, which will suffice for a path. If it seem to bring +us to a deep and bridgeless stream, we shall find a ford when we get to +the water's edge. If the mountains seem to draw together and bar a +passage, we shall find, when we reach them, that they open out; though +it may be no wider than a canyon, still the stream can get through, and +our boat with it. + +3. So we have the climax of the story--faith rewarded. The first great +lesson which the interposition of the Divine voice teaches us, is that +obedience is complete when the inward surrender is complete. The +outward act was needless. Abraham would have done no more if the +flashing knife had buried itself in Isaac's heart. Here is the first +great proclamation of the truth which revolutionises morality and +religion, the beginnings of the teaching which culminates in the ethics +of the Sermon on the Mount, and in the gospel of salvation, not by +deeds, but through faith. The will is the man, the true action is the +submission of the will. The outward deed is only the coarse medium +through which it is made visible for men: God looks on purpose as +performance. + +Again, faith is rewarded by God's acceptance and approval. 'I know that +thou fearest God,' not meaning that He learned the heart by the +conduct, but that, on occasion of the conduct, He breathes into the +obedient heart that calm consciousness of its service as recognised and +accepted by Him, which is the highest reward that His friend can know. +'To be well pleasing to Him' is our noblest aim, which, cherished, +makes sacrifice sweet, and all difficult things easy. 'Nor know we +anything more fair Than is the smile upon Thy face.' + +Again, faith is rewarded by a deeper insight into God's will. Much has +been said about the sacrifice of Isaac in its bearing upon the custom +of human sacrifice. We do not believe that Abraham was led to his act +by a mistaken idea, borrowed from surrounding idolatries. His position +as the sole monotheist amid these, the absence of evidence that human +sacrifice was practised then among his neighbours, and, above all, the +fact of the divine approval of his intention, forbid our acceptance of +that theory. Nor can we regard the condemnation of such sacrifices as +the main object of the incident. But no doubt an incidental result, +and, we may perhaps say, a subsidiary purpose of it, was to stamp all +such hideous usages with the brand of God's displeasure. The mode of +thought which led to them was deeply rooted in the consciousness of the +Old World, and corresponded to a true conception of the needs of +humanity. The dark sense of sin, the conviction that it required +expiation, and that procurable only by death, drove men to these horrid +rites. And that ram, caught in the thicket, thorn-crowned and +substituted for the human victim, taught Abraham and his sons that God +appointed and provided a lamb for an offering. It was a lesson won by +faith. Nor need we hesitate to see some dim forecast of the great +Substitute whom God provided, who bears the sins of the world. + +Again, faith is rewarded by receiving back the surrendered blessing, +made more precious because it has been laid on the altar. How strange +and solemn must have been the joy with which these two looked in each +other's faces! What thankful wonder must have filled Abraham's heart as +he loosed the cord that had bound his son! It would be many days before +the thrill of gratitude died away, and the possession of his son seemed +to Abraham, or that of life seemed to Isaac, a common thing. He was +doubly now a child of wonder, born by miracle, delivered by miracle. So +is it ever. God gives us back our sacrifices, tinged with a new beauty, +and purified from earthly alloy. + +We never know how sweet our blessings are till we have yielded them to +Him. 'There is no man that hath left' anything or any person for +Christ's sake and the gospel's who will not 'receive a hundred-fold +more in this life, and in the world to come life everlasting.' + +Lastly, Abraham was rewarded by being made a faint adumbration, for all +time, of the yet more wondrous and awful love of the divine Father, +who, for our sakes, has surrendered His only-begotten Son, whom He +loved. Paul quotes the very words of this chapter when he says: 'He +that _spared_ not His _own Son_, but delivered Him up for us all.' Such +thoughts carry us into dim regions, in which, perhaps, silence is best. +Did some shadow of loss and pain pass over the divine all-sufficiency +and joy, when He sent His Son? Was the unresisting innocence of the son +a far-off likeness of the willing eagerness of the sinless Sufferer who +chose to die? Was the resolved surrender of the father a faint prelude +of the deep divine love which gave His only Son for us? Shall we not +say, 'Now I know that Thou lovest me, because Thou hast not withheld +Thy Son, Thine only Son, from me'? Shall we not recognise this as the +crown of Abraham's reward, that his act of surrender of his dearest to +God, his Friend, has been glorified by being made the mirror of God's +unspeakable gift of His Son to us, His enemies? + + + + +THE CROWNING TEST AND TRIUMPH OF FAITH + + +II + + +The first words of this lesson give the keynote for its meaning. 'God +did prove Abraham'; the strange command was a test of his faith. In +recent times the incident has been regarded chiefly as embodying a +protest against child-sacrifices, and no doubt that is part of its +intention, and their condemnation was part of its effect, but the other +is the principal thing. Abraham, as the 'Father of the Faithful,' has +his faith tested by a series of events from his setting out from Haran, +and they culminate in this sharpest of all, the command to slay his +son. The life of faith is ever a life of testing, and very often the +fire that tries increases in heat as life advances. The worst conflicts +are not always at the beginning of the war. + +Our best way of knowing ourselves is to observe our own conduct, +especially when it is hard to do nobly. We may easily cheat ourselves +about what is the basis and ruling motive of our lives, but our actions +will show it us. God does not 'test' us as if He did not know what was +gold and what base metal, but the proving is meant to make clear to +others and ourselves what is the worth and strength of our religion. +The test is also a means of increasing the faith which it demonstrates, +so that the exhortation to 'count it all joy' to have faith tried is no +overstrained counsel of perfection. + +The narrative plainly declares that the command to sacrifice his son +was to Abraham unmistakably divine. The explanation that Abraham, +living beside peoples who practised child-sacrifice, heard but the +voice of his own conscience asking, 'Canst thou do for Jehovah what +these do for Moloch?' does not correspond to the record. No doubt God +does speak through conscience; but what sent Abraham on his terrible +journey was a command which he knew did not spring up within, but came +to him from above. We may believe or disbelieve the possibility or the +actuality of such direct and distinguishable commands from God, but we +do not face the facts of this narrative unless we recognise that it +asserts that God made His will known to Abraham, and that Abraham knew +that it was God's will, not his own thought. + +But is it conceivable that God should ever bid a man commit a crime? To +the question put in that bald way, of course there can be but one +answer, No. But several conditions have to be taken into account. +First, it is conceivable that God should test a man's willingness to +surrender what is most precious to him, and what all his hopes are +fixed on; and this command was given with the purpose that it should +not be obeyed in fact, if the willingness to obey it was proved. Again, +the stage of development of the moral sense at which Abraham stood has +to be remembered. The child-sacrifices around him were not regarded as +crimes, but as worship, and, while his affections were the same as +ours, and his father's heart was wrung, to slay Isaac did not present +itself to him as a crime in the way in which it does so to us. God +deals with men on the moral and spiritual level to which they have +attained, and, by descending to it, raises them higher. + +The purpose of the command was to test faith, even more than to test +whether earthly love or heavenly obedience were the stronger. There is +a beautiful and instructive climax in the designations of Isaac in +verse 2, where four times he is referred to, 'thy son, thine only son,' +in whom all the hopes of fulfilment of the divine promise were +concentrated, so that, if this fruit from the aged tree were cut off, +no other could ever grow; 'whom thou lovest,'--there the sharp point +pierces the father's heart; 'even Isaac,' in which name all the ties +that knit him to Abraham are gathered up. Each word heightens the +greatness of the sacrifice demanded, and is a fresh thrust of the +dagger into Abraham's very life. Each suggests a reason for not slaying +Isaac, which sense might plead. God does not hide the painfulness of +surrender from us. The more precious the treasure is, the more are we +bound to lay it on the altar. But it was Abraham's faith even more than +his love that was tested. The Epistle to the Hebrews lays hold on this +as the main element in the trial, that he who 'had received the +promises' was called to do what seemed to blast all hope of their being +fulfilled. What a cruel position to have God's command and God's +promise apparently in diametrical opposition! But faith loosened even +that seemingly inextricable tangle of contradiction, and felt that to +obey was for man, and to keep His promise was for God. If we do our +duty, He will see to the consequences. 'Tis mine to obey; 'tis His to +provide.' + +Nothing in literature is more tenderly touched or more truly imagined +than that long, torturing journey--Abraham silent, Isaac silently +wondering, the servants silently following. And, like a flash, at last +'the place' was seen afar off. How calmly Abraham speaks to the two +followers, mastering his heart's throbbing even then! 'We will worship, +and come again to you'--was that a 'pious fraud' or did it not rather +indicate that a ray of hope, like pale light from a shrouded sun, shone +for him? He 'accounted that God was able to raise him up even from the +dead.' Somehow, he knew not how, Isaac slain was still to live and +inherit the promises. Anything was possible, but that God's word should +fail was impossible. That picture of the father and son alone, the one +bearing the wood, the other the fire and the knife, exchanging no word +but once, when the innocent wonder of Isaac's question must have shaken +Abraham's steadfastness, and made it hard for him to steady his voice +to answer, touches the deepest springs of pity and pathetic sublimity. +But the answer is in the same spirit as that to the servants, and +indicates the same hope. 'God will provide Himself a lamb, my son.' He +does not know definitely what he expects; he is ready to slay Isaac, +but his faith is not quenched, though the end seems so inevitable and +near. Faith was never more sharply tested, and never more triumphantly +stood the test. + +The divine solution of the riddle was kept back till the last moment, +as it usually is. The place is slowly reached, the hill slowly climbed, +the altar built, the unresisting Isaac bound (with what deep thoughts +in each, who can tell?), the steady hand holding the glittering knife +lifted--a moment more and it will be red with heart's blood, and not +till then does God speak. It is ever so. The trial has 'its perfect +work.' Faith is led to the edge of the precipice, one step farther and +all is over. Then God speaks, all but just too late, and yet 'right +early.' The willingness to make the sacrifice is tested to the utmost, +and being proved, the sacrifice is not required. + +Abraham had said to Isaac, 'God will provide a lamb,' and the word +'provide' is that which appears in the name he gave to the +place--Jehovah-_jireh_. The name, then, commemorated, not the servant's +faith but the Lord's mercy, and the spirit of it was embodied in what +became a popular saying, 'In the mount of the Lord it shall be +provided.' If faith dwells there, its surrenders will be richly +rewarded. How much more dear was Isaac to Abraham as they journeyed +back to Beersheba! And whatever we lay on God's altar comes back a +'hundred-fold more in this life,' and brings in the world to come life +everlasting. + + + + +JEHOVAH-JIREH + + + 'And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh; + (that is, The Lord will provide).'-GENESIS xxii. 14. + +As these two, Abraham and Isaac, were travelling up the hill, the son +bearing the wood, and the father with the sad burden of the fire and +the knife, the boy said: 'Where is the lamb?' and Abraham, thrusting +down his emotion and steadying his voice, said: 'My son, God will +provide Himself a lamb.' When the wonderful issue of the trial was +plain before him, and he looked back upon it, the one thought that rose +in his mind was of how, beyond his meaning, his words had been true. So +he named that place by a name that spoke nothing of his trial, but +everything of God's provision--'The Lord will see,' or 'The Lord will +provide.' + +1. The words have become proverbial and threadbare as a commonplace of +Christian feeling. But it may be worth our while to ask for a moment +what it was exactly that Abraham expected the Lord to provide. We +generally use the expression in reference to outward things, and see in +it the assurance that we shall not be left without the supply of the +necessities for which, because God has made us to feel them, He has +bound Himself to make provision. And most blessedly true is that +application of them, and many a Christian heart in days of famine has +been satisfied with the promise, when the bread that was given has been +scant. + +But there is a meaning deeper than that in the words. It is true, thank +God! that we may cast all our anxiety about all outward things upon +Him, in the assurance that He who feeds the ravens will feed us, and +that if lilies can blossom into beauty without care, we shall be held +by our Father of more value than these. But there is a deeper meaning +in the provision spoken of here. What was it that God provided for +Abraham? What is it that God provides for us? A way to discharge the +arduous duties which, when they are commanded, seem all but impossible +for us, and which, the nearer we come to them, look the more dreadful +and seem the more impossible. And yet, when the heart has yielded +itself in obedience, and we are ready to do the thing that is enjoined, +there opens up before us a possibility provided by God, and strength +comes to us equal to our day, and some unexpected gift is put into our +hand, which enables us to do the thing of which Nature said: 'My heart +will break before I can do it'; and in regard to which even Grace +doubted whether it was possible for us to carry it through. If our +hearts are set in obedience to the command, the farther we go on the +path of obedience, the easier the command will appear, and to try to do +it is to ensure that God will help us to do it. + +This is the main provision that God makes, and it is the highest +provision that He can make. For there is nothing in this life that we +need so much as to do the will of our Father in heaven. All outward +wants are poor compared with that. The one thing worth living for, the +one thing which being secured we are blessed, and being missed we are +miserable, is compliance in heart with the commandment of our Father; +and that compliance wrought out in life. So, of all gifts that He +bestows upon us, and of all the abundant provision out of His rich +storehouses, is not this the best, that we are made ready for any +required service? When we get to the place we shall find some lamb +'caught in the thicket by its horns'; and heaven itself will supply +what is needful for our burnt offering. + +And then there is another thought here which, though we cannot +certainly say it was in the speaker's mind, is distinctly in the +historian's intention, 'The Lord will provide.' Provide what? The lamb +for the burnt offering which He has commanded. It seems probable that +that bare mountain-top which Abraham saw from afar, and named +Jehovah-jireh, was the mountain-top on which afterwards the Temple was +built. And perhaps the wood was piled for the altar, on which Abraham +was called to lay his only son, on that very piece of primitive rock +which still stands visible, though Temple and altar have long since +gone; and which for many a day was the place of the altar on which the +sacrifices of Israel were offered. It is no mere forcing of Christian +meanings on to old stories, but the discerning of that prophetic and +spiritual element which God has impressed upon these histories of the +past, especially in all their climaxes and crises, when we see in the +fact that God provided the ram which became the appointed sacrifice, +through which Isaac's life was preserved, a dim adumbration of the +great truth that the only Sacrifice which God accepts for the world's +sin is the Sacrifice which He Himself has provided. + +This is the deepest meaning of all the sacrificial worship, as of +Israel so of heathen nations--God Himself will provide a Lamb. The +world had built altars, and Israel, by divine appointment, had its +altar too. All these express the want which none of them can satisfy. +They show that man needed a Sacrifice; and that Sacrifice God has +provided. He asked from Abraham less than He gives to us. Abraham's +devotion was sealed and certified because he did not withhold his son, +his only son, from God. And God's love is sealed because He hath not +withheld His only-begotten Son from us. + +So this name that came from Abraham's grateful and wondering lips +contains a truth which holds true in all regions of our wants. On the +lowest level, the outward supply of outward needs; on a higher, the +means of discharging hard duties and a path through sharp trials; and, +on the highest of all, the spotless sacrifice which alone avails for +the world's sins--these are the things which God provides. + +2. So, note again on what conditions He provides them. + +The incident and the name became the occasion of a proverb, as the +historian tells us, which survived down to the period of his writing, +and probably long after, when men were accustomed to say, 'In the mount +of the Lord it shall be provided.' The provision of all sorts that we +need has certain conditions as to the when and the where of the persons +to whom it shall be granted. 'In the mount of the Lord it shall be +provided.' If we wish to have our outward needs supplied, our outward +weaknesses strengthened, power and energy sufficient for duty, wisdom +for perplexity, a share in the Sacrifice which taketh away the sins of +the world, we receive them all on the condition that we are found in +the place where all God's provision is treasured. If a man chooses to +sit outside the baker's shop, he may starve on its threshold. If a man +will not go into the bank, his pockets will be empty, though there may +be bursting coffers there to which he has a right. And if we will not +ascend to the hill of the Lord, and stand in His holy place by simple +faith, and by true communion of heart and life, God's amplest provision +is nought to us; and we are empty in the midst of affluence. Get near +to God if you would partake of what He has prepared. Live in fellowship +with Him by simple love, and often meditate on Him, if you would drink +in of His fulness. And be sure of this, that howsoever within His house +the stores are heaped and the treasury full, you will have neither part +nor lot in the matter, unless you are children of the house. 'In the +mount of the Lord it shall be provided.' And round it there is a waste +wilderness of famine and of death. + +Further, note _when_ the provision is realised. + +When the man is standing with the knife in his hand, and next minute it +will be red with the son's blood--then the call comes: 'Abraham!' and +then he sees the ram caught in the thicket. There had been a long weary +journey from their home away down in the dry, sunny south, a long tramp +over the rough hills, a toilsome climb, with a breaking heart in the +father's bosom, and a dim foreboding gradually stealing on the child's +spirit. But there was no sign of respite or of deliverance. Slowly he +piles together the wood, and yet no sign. Slowly he binds his boy, and +lays him on it, and still no sign. Slowly, reluctantly, and yet +resolvedly, he unsheathes the knife, and yet no sign. He lifts his +hand, and then it comes. + +That is God's way always. Up to the very edge we are driven, before His +hand is put out to help us. Such is the law, not only because the next +moment is always necessarily dark, nor because God will deal with us in +any arbitrary fashion, and play with our fears, but because it is best +for us that we should be forced to desperation, and out of desperation +should 'pluck the flower, safety.' It is best for us that we should be +brought to say, 'My foot slippeth!' and then, just as our toes are +sliding upon the glacier, the help comes and 'Thy mercy held me up.' +'The Lord is her helper, and that right early.' When He delays, it is +not to trifle with us, but to do us good by the sense of need, as well +as by the experience of deliverance. At the last moment, never before +it, never until we have found out how much we need it, and never too +late, comes the Helper. + +So 'it is provided' for the people that quietly and persistently tread +the path of duty, and go wherever His hand leads them, without asking +anything about where it does lead. The condition of the provision is +our obedience of heart and will. To Abraham doing what he was +commanded, though his heart was breaking as he did it, the help was +granted--as it always will be. + +3. And so, lastly, note what we are to do with the provision when we +get it. + +Abraham christened the anonymous mountain-top, not by a name that +reminded him or others of his trial, but by a name that proclaimed +God's deliverance. He did not say anything about his agony or about his +obedience. God spoke about that, not Abraham. He did not want these to +be remembered, but what he desired to hand on to later generations was +what God had done for him. Oh! dear friends, is that the way in which +we look back upon life? Many a bare, bald mountain-top in your career +and mine we have got our names for. Are they names that commemorate our +sufferings or God's blessings? When we look back on the past what do we +see? Times of trial or times of deliverance? Which side of the wave do +we choose to look at, the one that is smitten by the sunshine or the +one that is all black and purple in the shadow? The sea looked at from +the one side will be all a sunny path, and from the other dark as +chaos. Let us name the heights that lie behind us, visible to memory, +by names that commemorate, not the troubles that we had on them, but +the deliverances that on them we received from God. + +This name enshrines the duty of commemoration--ay! and the duty of +expectation. 'The Lord will provide.' How do you know that, Abraham? +and his answer is, 'Because the Lord did provide.' That is a shaky kind +of argument if we use it about one another. Our resources may give out, +our patience may weary. If it is a storehouse that we have to go to, +all the corn that is treasured in it will be eaten up some day; but if +it is to some boundless plain that grows it that we go, then we can be +sure that there will be a harvest next year as there has been a harvest +last. And so we have to think of God, not as a storehouse, but as the +soil from which there comes forth, year by year and generation after +generation, the same crop of rich blessings for the needs and the +hungers of every soul. If we have to draw from reservoirs we cannot +say, 'I have gone with my pitcher to the well six times, and I shall +get it filled at the seventh.' It is more probable that we shall have +to say, 'I have gone so often that I durst not go any more'; but if we +have to go, not to a well, but to a fountain, then the oftener we go, +the surer we become that its crystal cool waters will always be ready +for us. 'Thou hast been with me in six troubles; and in seven thou wilt +not forsake me,' is a bad conclusion to draw about one another; but it +is the right conclusion to draw about God. + +And so, as we look back upon our past lives, and see many a peak +gleaming in the magic light of memory, let us name them all by names +that will throw a radiance of hope on the unknown and un-climbed +difficulties before us, and say, as the patriarch did when he went down +from the mount of his trial and deliverance, 'The Lord will provide.' + + + + +GUIDANCE IN THE WAY + + + 'I being in the way, the Lord led me.'--GENESIS xxiv. 27. + +So said Abraham's anonymous servant when telling how he had found +Rebekah at the well, and known her to be the destined bride of his +master's servant. There is no more beautiful page, even amongst the +many lovely ones in these ancient stories, than this domestic idyll of +the mission of the faithful servant from far Canaan across the desert. +The homely test by which he would determine that the maiden should be +pointed out to him, the glimpse of old-world ways at the well, the +gracious courtesy of the fair damsel, and the simple devoutness of the +speaker, who recognises in what to others were trivial commonplaces +God's guidance to the end which He had appointed, his recognition of +the divine hand moving beneath all the nothings and littlenesses of +daily life--may teach us much. + +1. The first thing that these words seem to me to suggest is the +conditions under which we may be sure that God leads--'I being in the +way.' + +Now, of course, some of you may know that the words of our text are, by +the Revised Version and others, rendered so as to obliterate the clause +telling where the speaker was when the Lord led him, and to make the +whole a continuous expression of the one fact--'As for me, the Lord +hath led me in the way to the house of my master's brethren.' The +literal rendering is, 'I in the way, Jehovah led me.' No doubt the +Hebrew idiom admits of the 'I' being thus emphatically premised, and +then repeated as 'me' after the verb, and possibly no more is to be +made of the words than that. But the fuller and more impressive meaning +is possible, and I venture to retain it, and to see in it the +expression of the truth that it is when we are 'in the way' that God +will certainly lead us. + +So that suggests, first, how the people that have any right to expect +any kind of guidance from God are those who have their feet upon a path +which conscience approves. Many men run into all manner of perplexities +by their own folly and self-will, and never ask whether their acts are +right or wrong, wise or foolish, until they begin to taste the bitter +consequences. Then they cry to God to help them, and think themselves +very religious because they do. That is not the way to get God's help. +Such folk are like Italian brigands who had an image of the Virgin in +their hats, and sometimes had the Pope's commission in their pockets, +and therefore went out to murder and ravish, in sure and certain hope +of God's favour and protection. + +But when we are 'in the way,' and know that we are doing what we ought +to do, and conscience says, 'Go on; never mind what stands against +you,' it is then, and only then, that we have a right to be sure that +the Lord will lead us. Otherwise, the best thing that can happen to us +is that the Lord should thwart us when we are on the wrong road. +Resistance, indeed, may be guidance; and it is often God's manner of +setting our feet in the way of His steps. We have no claim on Him for +guidance, indeed, unless we have submitted ourselves to His +commandments; yet His mercies go beyond our claims. Just as the +obedient child gets guidance, so the petulant and disobedient child +gets resistance, which is guidance too. The angel of the Lord stands in +front of Balaam, amongst the vines, though the seer sometimes does not +see, and blocks the path for him, and hedges up the way with his +flaming sword. Only, if we would have the sweet, gracious, +companionable guidance of our Lord, let us be sure, to begin with, that +we are 'in the way,' and not in any of the bypaths into which arrogance +and self-will and fleshly desires and the like are only too apt to +divert our feet. + +Another consideration suggested by these words, 'I being in the way,' +is that if we expect guidance we must diligently do present duty. We +are led, thank God, by one step at a time. He does with His child, whom +He is teaching to read His will, as we sometimes do with our children, +when we are occupied in teaching them their first book-learning: we +cover the page up, all but the line that we want them to concentrate +their eyes upon; and then, when they have got to the end of that, slip +the hand down, low enough to allow the next line to come into view. So +often God does with us. One thing at a time is enough for the little +brains. And this is the condition of mortal life, for the most +part--though there do come rare exceptions. Not that we have to look a +long way ahead, and forecast what we shall do this time ten years off, +or to make decisions that involve a distant future--except once or +twice in a lifetime--but that we have to settle what is to be done in +this flying minute, and in the one adjacent to it. 'Do the duty that +lies nearest thee,' and the remoter duty will become clearer. There is +nothing that has more power to make a man's path plain before his feet +than that he should concentrate his better self on the manful and +complete discharge of the present moment's service. And, on the other +hand, there is nothing that will so fill our sky with mists, and blur +the marks of the faint track through the moor, as present negligence, +or still more, present sin. Iron in a ship's hull makes the magnet +tremble, and point away from its true source. He that has complied with +evil to-day is the less capable of discerning duty to-morrow; and he +that does all the duty that he knows will thereby increase the +probability that he will know all that he needs. 'If any man wills to +do His will, he shall know of the teaching'--enough, at any rate, to +direct his steps. + +But there is another lesson still in the words; and that is that, if we +are to be guided, we must see to it that we expect and obey the +guidance. + +This servant of Abraham's, with a very imperfect knowledge of the +divine will, had, when he set out on his road, prayed very earnestly +that God would lead him. He had ventured to prescribe a certain token, +naive in its simplicity: 'If the girl drops her pitcher, and gives us +drink gladly, and does not grudge to fill the troughs for the cattle, +that will show that she is of a good sort, and will make the right wife +for Isaac.' He had prayed thus, and he was ready to accept whomsoever +God so designated. He had not made up his mind, 'Bethuel's daughter is +a relation of my master's, and so she will be a suitable wife for his +son.' He left it all with God, and then he went straight on his road, +and was perfectly sure that he would get the guidance that he had +sought. And when it came the good man bowed and obeyed. + +Now there is a picture for us all. There are many people that say, 'O +Lord! guide me.' when all the while they mean, 'Let me guide Thee.' +They are perfectly willing to accept the faintest and moat questionable +indications that may seem to point down the road where their +inclination drives them, and like Lord Nelson at Copenhagen, will put +the telescope to the blind eye when the flag is flying at the admiral's +peak, signalling 'Come out of action,' because they are determined to +stay where they are. + +Do not let us forget that the first condition of securing real guidance +in our daily life is to ask it, and that the next is to look for it, +and that a third is to be quite willing to accept it, whether the +finger points down the broad road that we would like to go upon, or +through some tangled path amongst the brushwood that we would fain +avoid. And if you and I, dear brethren, in the littlenesses of our +daily life, do fulfil these conditions, the heavens will crumble, and +earth will melt, before God will leave His child untaught in the way in +which he should go. + +Only, let us be patient. Do you remember what Joshua said to the +Israelites? 'Let there be a good space of vacant ground between you and +the guiding ark, that you may know by which way you ought to go.' When +men precipitately press on the heels of half-disclosed providences, +they are uncommonly apt to mistake the road. We must wait till we are +sure of God's will before we try to do it. If we are not sure of what +He would have us do, then, for the present, He would have us do nothing +until He speaks. 'I being in the way, the Lord led me.' + +2. Now a word about the manner of the guidance. + +There was no miracle, no supernatural voice, no pillar of cloud or +fire, no hovering glory round the head of the village maiden. All the +indications were perfectly natural and trivial. A thousand girls had +gone to the wells that day all about Haran and done the very same +things that Rebekah did. But the devout man who had prayed for +guidance, and was sure that he was getting it, was guided by her most +simple, commonplace act; and that is how we are usually to be guided. +God leaves a great deal to our common sense. His way of speaking to +common sense is by very common things. If any of us fancy that some +glow at the heart, some sudden flash as of inspiration, is the test of +a divine commandment, we have yet to learn the full meaning of the +Incarnation of Jesus Christ. For that Incarnation, amongst all its +other mighty influences, hallowed the commonest things of life and +turned them into ministers of God's purposes. So remember, God's +guidance may come to you through so insignificant a girl as Rebekah. It +may come to you through as commonplace an incident as tipping the water +of a spring out of an earthen pot into a stone trough. None the less is +it God's guidance; and what we want is the eye to see it. He will guide +us by very common indications of His providence. + +3. And now, the last thing that I would say a word about is the +realisation in daily life of this guidance as a plain actual fact. + +This anonymous trusted servant of Abraham's, whose name we should like +to have known, had a mere segment of the full orb of the knowledge of +God that shines upon our path. With true Oriental freedom to speak +about the deepest matters, he was not afraid nor ashamed to stand +before Bethuel and Laban, and all these other strangers that crowded +round the doorway, and say, 'The Lord led me.' There is a pattern for +some of us tongue-tied, shamefaced Christians. Whatever may be the +truth about the degradations of which heathen religion is full, there +is a great deal in heathen religion that ought to teach, and does +teach, Christendom a lesson, as to willingness to recognise and to +confess God's working in daily life. It may be very superficial; it may +be very little connected with high morality; but so far as it goes it +is a thousand-fold better than the dumb religion that characterises +such hosts of Christian people. + +A realisation of the divine guidance is the talisman that makes crooked +things straight and rough places plain; that brings peace and calmness +into our hearts, amid all changes, losses, and sorrows. If we hold fast +by that faith, it will interpret for us the mysterious in the +providences concerning our own lives, and will help us to feel that, as +I said, resistance to our progress may be true guidance, and thwarting +our wills may be our highest good. For the road which we travel should, +in all its turnings, lead us to God; and whatsoever guides us to Him is +only and always blessed. + +May I, for one moment, turn these words in another direction, and +remind you, dear friends, of how the sublimest application of them is +still to be realised? As a climber on a mountain-peak may look down the +vale up which he had painfully toiled for many days and see the dusty +path lying, like a sinuous snake, down all along it, so, when we get up +yonder, 'Thou shalt remember all the way by which the Lord thy God hath +led thee these many years in the wilderness,' and shalt see the green +pastures and the still waters, valleys of the shadow of death, and +burning roads with sharp flints, which have all brought thee hither at +last. We shall know then what we believe now, that the Lord does indeed +go before them who desire to follow Him, and that the God of Israel is +their reward. Then we shall say with deepened thankfulness, deepened by +complete understanding of life here, seen in the light of its attained +end, 'I being in the way, the Lord led me,' and 'I shall dwell in the +house of the Lord for ever.' + + + + +THE DEATH OF ABRAHAM + + + 'Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old + age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered + to his people.'--GENESIS xxv. 8. + +'Full of years' does not seem to me to be a mere synonym for longevity. +That would be an intolerable tautology, for we should then have the +same thing said three times over--'an old man,' 'in a good old age,' +'full of years.' There must be some other idea than that in the words. +If you notice that the expression is by no means a usual one, that it +is only applied to one or two of the Old Testament characters, and +those selected characters, I think you will see that there must be some +other significance in it than merely to point to length of days. + +It may be well to note the instances. In addition to our text, we find +it employed, first, in reference to Isaac, in Genesis xxxv. 29, where +the words are repeated almost _verbatim_. That calm, contemplative +life, so unlike the active, varied career of his father, also attained +to this blessing at its close. Then we find that the stormy and +adventurous course of the great king David, with its wonderful +alternations both of moral character and of fortune, is represented as +being closed at last with this tranquil evening glory: 'He died in a +good old age, full of days, riches, and honour.' Once more we read of +the great high priest Jehoiada, whose history had been crowded with +peril, change, brave resistance, and strenuous effort, that with all +the storms behind him he died at last, 'full of days.' The only other +instance of the occurrence of the phrase is at the close of the book of +Job, the typical record of the good man suffering, and of the abundant +compensations given by a loving God. The fair picture of returning +prosperity and family joy, like the calm morning sunshine after a night +of storm and wreck, with which that wonderful book ends, has this for +its last touch, evidently intended to deepen the impression of peace +which is breathed over it all: 'So Job died, being old and full of +days.' These are all the instances of the occurrence of this phrase, +and I think we may fairly say that in all it is meant to suggest not +merely length of days, but some characteristic of the long life over +and above its mere length. We shall, I think, understand its meaning a +little better if we make a very slight and entirely warranted change, +and instead of reading '_full_ of years,' read '_satisfied_ with +years.' The men were satisfied with life; having exhausted its +possibilities, having drunk a full draught, having nothing more left to +wish for. The words point to a calm close, with all desires gratified, +with hot wishes stilled, with no desperate clinging to life, but a +willingness to let it go, because all which it could give had been +attained. + +So much for one of the remarkable expressions in this verse. There is +another, 'He was gathered to his people,' of which we shall have more +to say presently. Enough for the present to note the peculiarity, and +to suggest that it seems to contain some dim hint of a future life, and +some glimmer of some of the profoundest thoughts about it. + +We have two main things to consider. + +1. The tranquil close of a life. + +It is possible, then, at the end of life to feel that it has satisfied +one's wishes. Whether it does or no will depend mostly on ourselves, +and very slightly on our circumstances. Length of days, competence, +health, and friends are important; but neither these nor any other +externals will make the difference between a life which, in the +retrospect, will seem to have been sufficient for our desires, and one +which leaves a hunger in the heart. It is possible for us to make our +lives of such a sort, that whether they run on to the apparent maturity +of old age, or whether they are cut short in the midst of our days, we +may rise from the table feeling that it has satisfied our desires, met +our anticipation, and been all very good. + +Possibly, that is not the way in which most of us look at life. That is +not the way in which a great many of us seem to think that it is an +eminent part of Christian and religious character to look at life. But +it is the way in which the highest type of devotion and the truest +goodness always look at it. There are people, old and young, who, +whenever they look back, whether it be over a long tract of years or +over a short one, have nothing to say about it except: 'Vanity of +vanities! all is vanity and vexation of spirit'; a retrospect of weary +disappointments and thwarted plans. + +How different with some of us the forward and the backward look! Are +there not some listening to me, whose past is so dark that it flings +black shadows over their future, and who can only cherish hopes for +to-morrow, by giving the lie to and forgetting the whole of their +yesterdays? It is hard to paint the regions before us like 'the Garden +of the Lord,' when we know that the locusts of our own godless desires +have made all the land behind us desolate. If your past has been a +selfish past, a godless past, in which passion, inclination, whim, +anything but conscience and Christ have ruled, your remembrances can +scarcely be tranquil; nor your hopes bright. If you have only +'prospects drear,' when you 'backward cast your eye,' it is not +wonderful if 'forwards though you cannot see,' you will 'guess and +fear.' Such lives, when they come towards an end, are wont to be full +of querulous discontent and bitterness. We have all seen godless old +men cynical and sour, pleased with nothing, grumbling, or feebly +complaining, about everything, dissatisfied with all which life has +thus far yielded them, and yet clinging desperately to it, and afraid +to go. + +Put by the side of such an end this calm picture of the old man going +down into his grave, and looking back over all those long days since he +came away from his father's house, and became a pilgrim and a stranger. +How all the hot anxieties, desires, occupations, of youth have quieted +themselves down! How far away now seem the warlike days when he fought +the invading kings! How far away the heaviness of heart when he +journeyed to Mount Moriah with his boy, and whetted the knife to slay +his son! His love had all been buried in Sarah's grave. He has been a +lonely man for many years; and yet he looks back, as God looked back +over His creative week, and feels that all has been good. 'It was all +for the best; the great procession of my life has been ordered from the +beginning to its end, by the Hand that shapes beauty everywhere, and +has made all things blessed and sweet. I have drunk a full draught; I +have had enough; I bless the Giver of the feast, and push my chair +back; and get up and go away.' He died an old man, and satisfied with +his life. + +Ay! And what a contrast that makes, dear friends, to another set of +people. There is nothing more miserable than to see a man, as his years +go by, gripping harder and tighter at this poor, fleeting world that is +slipping away from him; nothing sadder than to see how, as +opportunities and capacities for the enjoyment of life dwindle, and +dwindle, and dwindle, people become almost fierce in the desire to keep +it. Why, you can see on the face of many an old man and woman a hungry +discontent, that has not come from the mere wrinkles of old age or +care; an eager acquisitiveness looking out of the dim old eyes, +tragical and awful. It is sad to see a man, as the world goes from him, +grasping at its skirts as a beggar does at the retreating passer-by +that refuses him an alms. Are there not some of us who feel that this +is our case, that the less we have before us of life here on earth, the +more eagerly we grasp at the little which still remains; trying to get +some last drops out of the broken cistern which we know can hold no +water? How different this blessed acquiescence in the fleeting away of +the fleeting; and this contented satisfaction with the portion that has +been given him, which this man had who died willingly, being satisfied +with life! + +Sometimes, too, there is satiety--weariness of life which is not +satisfaction, though it looks like it. Its language is: 'Man delights +me not; nor woman neither. I am tired of it all.' Those who feel thus +sit at the table without an appetite. They think that they have seen to +the bottom of everything, and they have found everything a cheat. They +expect nothing new under the sun; that which is to be hath already +been, and it is all vanity and striving after the wind. They are at +once satiated and dissatisfied. Nothing keeps the power to charm. + +How different from all this is the temper expressed in this text, +rightly understood! Abraham had had a richly varied life. It had +brought him all he wished. He has drunk a full draught, and needs no +more. He is satisfied, but that does not mean loss of interest in +present duties, occupations, or enjoyments. It is possible to keep +ourselves fully alive to all these till the end, and to preserve +something of the keen edge of youth even in old age, by the magic of +communion with God, purity of conduct, and a habitual contemplation of +all events as sent by our Father. When Paul felt himself very near his +end, he yet had interest enough in common things to tell Timothy all +about their mutual friends' occupations, and to wish to have his books +and parchments. + +So, calmly, satisfied and yet not sickened, keenly appreciating all the +good and pleasantness of life, and yet quite willing to let it go, +Abraham died. So may it be with us too, if we will, no matter what the +duration or the externals of our life. If we too are his children by +faith, we shall be 'blessed with faithful Abraham.' And I beseech you +to ask yourselves whether the course of your life is such as that, if +at this moment God's great knife were to come down and cut it in two, +you would be able to say, 'Well! I have had enough, and now contentedly +I go.' + +Again, it is possible at the end of life to feel that it is complete, +because the days have accomplished for us the highest purpose of life. +Scaffoldings are for buildings, and the moments and days and years of +our earthly lives are scaffolding. What are you building inside the +scaffolding, brother? What kind of a structure will be disclosed when +the scaffolding is knocked away? What is the end for which days and +years are given? That they may give us what eternity cannot take +away--a character built upon the love of God in Christ, and moulded +into His likeness. 'Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him +for ever.' Has your life helped you to do that? If it has, though you +be but a child, you are full of years; if it has not, though your hair +be whitened with the snows of the nineties, you are yet incomplete and +immature. The great end of life is to make us like Christ, and pleasing +to Christ. If life has done that for us, we have got the best out of +it, and our life is completed, whatever may be the number of the days. +Quality, not quantity, is the thing that determines the perfectness of +a life. And like as in northern lands, where there is only a week or +two from the melting of the snow to the cutting of the hay, the whole +harvest of a life may be gathered in a very little space, and all be +done which is needed to make the life complete. Has your life this +completeness? Can you be 'satisfied' with it, because the river of the +flowing hours has borne down some grains of gold amidst the mass of +mud, and, notwithstanding many sins and failures, you have thus far +fulfilled the end of your being, that you are in some measure trusting +and serving the Lord Jesus Christ? + +Again, it is possible, at the end of life, to be _willing_ to go as +satisfied. + +Most men cling to life in grim desperation, like a climber to a cliff +giving way, or a drowning man clutching at any straw. How beautiful the +contrast of the placid, tranquil acquiescence expressed in that phrase +of our text! No doubt there will always be the shrinking of the bodily +nature from death. But that may be overcome. There is no passion so +weak but in some case it has 'mated and mastered the fear of death,' +and it is possible for us all to come to that temper in which we shall +be ready for either fortune, to live and serve Him here, or to die and +enjoy Him yonder. Or, to return to an earlier illustration, it is +possible to be like a man sitting at table, who has had his meal, and +is quite contented to stay on there, restful and cheerful, but is not +unwilling to put back his chair, to get up and to go away, thanking the +Giver for what he has received. + +Ah! that is the way to face the end, dear brethren, and how is it to be +done? Such a temper need not be the exclusive possession of the old. It +may belong to us at all stages of life. How is it won? By a life of +devout communion with God. The secret of it lies in obeying the +commandment and realising the truth which Abraham realised and obeyed: +'I am the Almighty God, walk before Me, and be thou perfect.' 'Fear +not, Abram, I am thy shield and thine exceeding great reward.' That is +to say, a simple communion with God, realising His presence and feeling +that He is near, will sweeten disappointment, will draw from it its +hidden blessedness, will make us victors over its pains and its woes. +Such a faith will make it possible to look back and see only blessing; +to look forward and see a great light of hope burning in the darkness. +Such a faith will check weariness, avert satiety, promote satisfaction, +and will help us to feel that life and the great hereafter are but the +outer and inner mansions of the Father's house, and death the short +though dark corridor between. So we shall be ready for life or for +death. + +2. Now I must turn to consider more briefly the glimpse of the joyful +society beyond, which is given us in that other remarkable expression +of our text: 'He was gathered to his people' + +That phrase is only used in the earlier Old Testament books, and there +only in reference to a few persons. It is used of Abraham, Ishmael, +Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and Aaron, and once (Judges ii. 10) of a whole +generation. If you will weigh the words, I think you will see that +there is in them a dim intimation of something beyond this present life. + +'He was gathered to his people' is not the same thing as 'He died,' +for, in the earlier part of the verse, we read, 'Abraham gave up the +ghost and died ... and was gathered to his people.' It is not the same +thing as being buried. For we read in the following verse: 'And his +sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the +field of Ephron, the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre.' +It is then the equivalent neither of death nor of burial. It conveys +dimly and veiledly that Abraham was buried, and yet that was not all +that happened to him. He was buried, but also 'he was gathered to his +people.' Why! his own 'people' were buried in Mesopotamia, and his +grave was far away from theirs. What is the meaning of the expression? +Who were the people he was gathered to? In death or in burial, 'the +dust returns to the earth as it was.' What was it that was gathered to +his people? + +Dimly, vaguely, veiledly, but unmistakably, as it seems to me, is here +expressed at least a premonition and feeling after the thought of an +immortal self in Abraham that was not there in what 'his sons Isaac and +Ishmael laid in the cave at Machpelah,' but was somewhere else and was +for ever. That is the first thing hinted at here--the continuance of +the personal being after death. + +Is there anything more? I think there is. Now, remember, Abraham's +whole life was shaped by that commandment, 'Get thee out from thy +father's house, and from thy kindred, and from thy country.' He never +dwelt with his kindred; all his days he was a pilgrim and a sojourner, +a stranger in a strange land. And though he was living in the midst of +a civilisation which possessed great cities whose walls reached to +heaven, he pitched his tent beneath the terebinth tree at Mamre, and +would have nothing to do with the order of things around him, but +remained an exotic, a waif, an outcast in the midst of Canaan all his +life. Why? Because he 'looked for the city which hath the foundations, +whose builder and maker is God.' And now he has gone to it, he is +gathered to his people. The life of isolation is over, the true social +life is begun. He is no longer separated from those around him, or +flung amidst those that are uncongenial to him. 'He is gathered to his +people'; he dwells with his own tribe; he is at home; he is in the city. + +And so, brethren, life for every Christian man must be lonely. After +all communion we dwell as upon islands dotted over a great archipelago, +each upon his little rock, with the sea dashing between us; but the +time comes when, if our hearts are set upon that great Lord, whose +presence makes us one, there shall be no more sea, and all the isolated +rocks shall be parts of a great continent. Death sets the solitary in +families. We are here like travellers plodding lonely through the night +and the storm, but soon to cross the threshold into the lighted hall, +full of friends. + +If we cultivate that sense of detachment from the present, and of +having our true affinities in the unseen, if we dwell here as strangers +because our citizenship is in heaven, then death will not drag us away +from our associates, nor hunt us into a lonely land, but will bring us +where closer bonds shall knit the 'sweet societies' together, and the +sheep shall couch close by one another, because all are gathered round +the one shepherd. Then many a broken tie shall be rewoven, and the +solitary wanderer meet again the dear ones whom he had 'loved long +since, and lost awhile.' + +Further, the expressions suggest that in the future men shall be +associated according to affinity and character. 'He was gathered to his +people,' whom he was like and who were like him; the people with whom +he had sympathy, the people whose lives were shaped after the fashion +of his own. + +Men will be sorted there. Gravitation will come into play undisturbed; +and the pebbles will be ranged according to their weights on the great +shore where the sea has cast them up, as they are upon Chesil beach, +down there in the English Channel, and many another coast besides; all +the big ones together and sized off to the smaller ones, regularly and +steadily laid out. Like draws to like. Our spiritual affinities, our +religious and moral character, will settle where we shall be, and who +our companions will be when we get yonder. Some of us would not +altogether like to live with the people that are like ourselves, and +some of us would not find the result of this sorting to be very +delightful. Men in the Dantesque circles were only made more miserable +because all around them were of the same sort as, and some of them +worse than, themselves. And an ordered hell, with no company for the +liar but liars, and none for the thief but thieves, and none for impure +men but the impure, and none for the godless but the godless, would be +a hell indeed. + +'He was gathered to his people,' and you and I will be gathered +likewise. What is the conclusion of the whole matter? Let us follow +with our thoughts, and in our lives, those who have gone into the +light, and cultivate in heart and character those graces and +excellences which are congruous with the inheritance of the saints in +light. Above all, let us give our hearts to Christ, by simple faith in +Him, to be shaped and sanctified by Him. Then our country will be where +He is, and our people will be the people in whom His love abides, and +the tribe to which we belong will be the tribe of which He is +Chieftain. So when our turn comes, we may rise thankfully from the +table in the wilderness, which He has spread for us, having eaten as +much as we desired, and quietly follow the dark-robed messenger whom +His love sends to bring us to the happy multitudes that throng the +streets of the city. There we shall find our true home, our kindred, +our King. 'So shall _we_ ever be with the Lord.' + + + + +A BAD BARGAIN + + + 'And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a + man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling + in tents. And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of + his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob. And Jacob sod + pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint: + And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that + same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name + called Edom. And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy + birthright. And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to + die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me? + And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto + him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. Then Jacob + gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat + and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau + despised his birthright.' + GENESIS xxv. 27-34. + +Isaac's small household represented a great variety of types of +character. He himself lacked energy, and seems in later life to have +been very much of a tool in the hands of others. Rebekah had the +stronger nature, was persistent, energetic, and managed her husband to +her heart's content. The twin brothers were strongly opposed in +character; and, naturally enough, each parent loved best the child that +was most unlike him or her: Isaac rejoicing in the very wildness of the +adventurous, dashing Esau; and Rebekah finding an outlet for her +womanly tenderness in an undue partiality for the quiet lad that was +always at hand to help her and be petted by her. + +One's sympathy goes out to Esau. He was 'a man of the field,'--by which +is meant, not cultivated ground, but open country, which we might call +prairie. He was a 'backwoodsman,'--liked the wild hunter's life better +than sticking at home looking after sheep. He had the attractive +characteristics of that kind of men, as well as their faults. He was +frank, impulsive, generous, incapable of persevering work or of looking +ahead, passionate. His descendants prefer cattle-ranching and +gold-prospecting to keeping shops or sitting with their lungs squeezed +against a desk. + +Jacob had neither the high spirits nor the animal courage of his +brother. He was 'a plain man.' The word is literally 'perfect,' but +cannot be used in its deepest sense; for Jacob was very far indeed from +being that, but seems to have a lower sense, which might perhaps be +represented by 'steady-going,' or 'respectable,' in modern phraseology. +He went quietly about his ordinary work, in contrast with his daring +brother's escapades and unsettledness. + +The two types are intensified by civilisation, and the antagonism +between them increased. City life tends to produce Jacobs, and its +Esaus escape from it as soon as they can. But Jacob had the vices as +well as the virtues of his qualities. He was orderly and domestic, but +he was tricky, and keenly alive to his own interest. He was persevering +and almost dogged in his tenacity of purpose, but he was not above +taking mean advantages and getting at his ends by miry roads. He had +little love for his brother, in whom he saw an obstacle to his +ambition. He had the virtues and vices of the commercial spirit. + +But we judge the two men wrongly if we let ourselves be fascinated, as +Isaac was, by Esau, and forget that the superficial attractions of his +character cover a core worthy of disapprobation. They are crude judges +of character who prefer the type of man who spurns the restraints of +patient industry and order; and popular authors, who make their heroes +out of such, err in taste no less than in morals. There is a very +unwholesome kind of literature, which is devoted to glorifying the +Esaus as fine fellows, with spirit, generosity, and noble carelessness, +whereas at bottom they are governed by animal impulses, and incapable +of estimating any good which does not appeal to sense, and that at once. + +The great lesson of this story lies on its surface. It is the folly and +sin of buying present gratification of appetite or sense at the price +of giving up far greater future good. The details are picturesquely +told. Esau's eagerness, stimulated by the smell of the mess of lentils, +is strikingly expressed in the Hebrew: 'Let me devour, I pray thee, of +that red, that red there.' It is no sin to be hungry, but to let +appetite speak so clamorously indicates feeble self-control. Jacob's +coolness is an unpleasant foil to Esau's impatience, and his cautious +bargaining, before he will sell what a brother would have given, shows +a mean soul, without generous love to his own flesh and blood. Esau +lets one ravenous desire hide everything else from him. He wants the +pottage which smokes there, and that one poor dish is for the moment +more to him than birthright and any future good. Jacob knows the +changeableness of Esau's character, and is well aware that a hungry man +will promise anything, and, when fed, will break his promise as easily +as he made it. So he makes Esau swear; and Esau will do that, or +anything asked. He gets his meal. The story graphically describes the +greedy relish with which he ate, the short duration of his enjoyment, +and the dark meaning of the seemingly insignificant event, by that +accumulation of verbs, 'He did eat and drink, and rose up and went his +way: so Esau despised his birthright.' + +Now we may learn, first, how profound an influence small temptations, +yielded to, may exert on a life. + +Many scoffs have been directed against this story, as if it were +unworthy of credence that eating a dish of lentils should have shaped +the life of a man and of his descendants. But is it not always the case +that trifles turn out to be determining points? Hinges are very small, +compared with the doors which move on them. Most lives are moulded by +insignificant events. No temptation is small, for no sin is small; and +if the occasion of yielding to sense and the present is insignificant, +the yielding is not so. + +But the main lesson is, as already noted, the madness of flinging away +greater future good for present gratifications of sense. One cannot +suppose that the spiritual side of 'the birthright' was in the thoughts +of either brother. Esau and Jacob alike regarded it only as giving the +headship of the family. It was merely the right of succession, with +certain material accompanying advantages, which Jacob coveted and Esau +parted with. But even in regard to merely worldly objects, the man who +lives for only the present moment is distinctly beneath him who lives +for a future good, however material it may be. Whoever subordinates the +present, and is able steadily to set before himself a remote object, +for which he is strong enough to subdue the desire of immediate +gratifications of any sort, is, in so far, better than the man who, +like a savage or an animal, lives only for the instant. + +The highest form of that nobility is when time is clearly seen to be +the 'lackey to eternity,' and life's aims are determined with supreme +reference to the future beyond the grave. But how many of us are every +day doing exactly as Esau did--flinging away a great future for a small +present! A man who lives only for such ends as may be attained on this +side of the grave is as 'profane' a person as Esau, and despises his +birthright as truly. He knew that he was hungry, and that lentil +porridge was good, 'What good shall the birthright do me?' He failed to +make the effort of mind and imagination needed in order to realise how +much of the kind of 'good' that he could appreciate it would do to him. +The smell of the smoking food was more to him than far greater good +which he could only appreciate by an effort. A sixpence held close to +the eye can shut out the sun. Resolute effort is needed to prevent the +small, intrusive present from blotting out the transcendent greatness +of the final future. And for lack of such effort men by the thousand +fling themselves away. + +To sell a birthright for a bowl of lentils was plain folly. But is it +wiser to sell the blessedness and peace of communion with God here and +of heaven hereafter for anything that earth can yield to sense or to +soul? How many shrewd 'men of the highest commercial standing' are +making as bad a bargain as Esau's! The 'pottage' is hot and comforting, +but it is soon eaten; and when the bowl is empty, and the sense of +hunger comes back in an hour or two, the transaction does not look +quite as advantageous as it did. Esau had many a minute of rueful +meditation on his bad bargain before he in vain besought his father's +blessing. And suspicions of the folly of their choice are apt to haunt +men who prefer the present to the future, even before the future +becomes the present, and the folly is manifest. 'What doth it profit a +man, to gain the whole world, and forfeit his life?' + +So a character like Esau's, though it has many fine possibilities about +it, and attracts liking, is really of a low type, and may very easily +slide into depths of degrading sensualism, and be dead to all +nobleness. Enterprise, love of stirring life, impatience of dull +plodding, are natural to young lives. Unregulated, impulsive +characters, who live for the moment, and are very sensitive to all +material delights, have often an air of generosity and joviality which +hides their essential baseness; for it _is_ base to live for flesh, +either in more refined or more frankly coarse forms. It is base to be +incapable of seeing an inch beyond the present. It is base to despise +any good that cannot minister to fleeting lusts or fleshly pleasures, +and to say of high thought, of ideal aims of any sort, and most of all +to say of religion, 'What good will it do me?' To estimate such +precious things by the standard of gross utility is like weighing +diamonds in grocers' scales. They will do very well for sugar, but not +for precious stones. The sacred things of life are not those which do +what the Esaus recognise as 'good.' They have another purpose, and are +valuable for other ends. Let us take heed, then, that we estimate +things according to their true relative worth; that we live, not for +to-day, but for eternity; and that we suppress all greedy cravings. If +we do not, we shall be 'profane' persons like Esau, 'who for one morsel +of meat sold his birthright.' + + + + +POTTAGE VERSUS BIRTHRIGHT + + + 'Esau despised his birthright'--GENESIS xxv. 34. + +Broad lessons unmistakable, but points strange and difficult to throw +oneself back to so different a set of ideas. So + +I. Deal with the narrative. + +Not to tell it over again, but bring out the following points:-- + +(_a_) Birthright.--What? + +None of them any notion of sacred, spiritual aspect of it. + +To all, merely material advantages: headship of the clan. All the +loftier aspects gone from Isaac, who thought he could give it for +venison, from Esau, and from the scheming Rebekah and the crafty Jacob. + +(_b_) The Bargain. + +It is not clear whether the transaction was seriously meant, or whether +it only shows Jacob's wish to possess the birthright and Esau's +indifference to it. + +At any rate, the barter was not supposed to complete Jacob's title, as +is shown by a subsequent piece of trickery. + +Isaac's blessing was conceived to confer it; that blessing, if once +given, could not be revoked, even if procured by fraud and given in +error. + +The belief would fulfil itself, as far as the chieftainship was +concerned. + +It is significant of the purely 'secular' tone of all the parties +concerned that only temporal blessings are included in Isaac's words. + +(_c_) The Scripture judgment on all parties concerned. + +Great mistakes are made by forgetting that the Bible is a passionless +narrator of its heroes' acts, and seldom pauses to censure or +praise--so people have thought that Scripture gave its vote for Jacob +as against Esau. + +The character of the two men. + +Esau--frank, impulsive, generous, chivalrous, careless, and sensuous. + +Jacob--meditative, reflective, pastoral, timid, crafty, selfish. Each +has the defects of his qualities. + +But the subsequent history of Jacob shows what heaven thought of him. + +This dirty transaction marred his life, sent him a terrified exile from +Isaac's tent, and shook his soul long years after with guilty +apprehensions when he had to meet Esau. + +All subsequent career to beat his crafty selfishness out of him and to +lift him to higher level. + +II. Broad General Lessons. + +1. The Choice.--Birthright _versus_ Pottage. + +(_a_) The Present _versus_ The Future. + +Suppose it true that to both brothers the birthright seemed to secure +merely material advantage, yet even so the better part would have been +to sacrifice material present for material future. Even on plane of +worldly things, to live for to-morrow ennobles a man, and he is the +higher style of man who 'spurns delights and lives laborious days' for +some issue to be realised in the far future. + +The very same principle extended leads to the conviction that the +highest wisdom is his who lives for the furthest, which is also the +most certain, Future. + +(_b_) The Seen _versus_ The Unseen. + +However material the advantages of the birthright were supposed to be, +they _then_ appealed to imagination, not sense. _There_ was the pottage +in the pan: 'I can see that and smell it. This birthright, can I eat +_it_? Let me get the solid realities, and let who will have the +imaginary.' + +So the unseen good things, such as intellectual culture, fair +reputation, and the like, are better than the gross satisfactions that +can be handled, or tasted, or seen. + +And, on the very same principle, high above the seeker after these--as +high as he is above the drunkard--is the Christian, whose life is +shaped by the loftiest Unseen, even 'Him who is invisible.' + +2. The grim absurdity of the choice. + +The story seems to have a certain undertone of sarcasm, and a keen +perception of the immense stupidity of the man. + +Pottage and a full belly to-day--that was all he got for such a +sacrifice. + +'This their way is their folly.' + +3. How well the bargain worked at first, and what came of it at last. + +No doubt Esau had his meal, and, no doubt, when a man sells his soul to +the devil (the mediaeval form of the story), he generally gets the +price for which he bargained, more or less, and oftentimes with a dash +of vinegar in the porridge, which makes it less palatable. + +What comes of it at last. Put side by side the pictures of Esau's +animal contentment at the moment when he had eaten up his mess, and of +his despair when he wailed, 'Hast thou not one blessing?' + +He finds out his mistake. A sense of the preciousness of the despised +thing wakes in him. + +And it is too late. There _are_ irrevocable consequences of every false +choice. Youth is gone: cannot alter that. Opportunities gone: cannot +alter that. Strength gone: cannot alter that. Habits formed, +associations, reputation, position, character, are all determined. + +But there is a blessed _contrast_ between Esau's experience and what +may be ours. The desire to have the birthright is sure to bring it to +us. No matter how late the desire is of springing, nor how long and +insultingly we have suppressed it, we never go to our Father in vain +with the cry, 'Bless me, even me also.' + +'What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own +soul?' + + + + +THE FIRST APOSTLE OF PEACE AT ANY PRICE + + + 'Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same + year an hundredfold, and the Lord blessed him. And the + man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he + became very great: For he had possession of flocks, and + possession of herds, and great store of servants: and + the Philistines envied him. For all the wells which his + father's servants had digged in the days of Abraham his + father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them + with earth. And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us; + for thou art much mightier than we. And Isaac departed + thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and + dwelt there. And Isaac digged again the wells of water, + which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; + for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of + Abraham: and he called their names after the names by + which his father had called them. And Isaac's servants + digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing + water. And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's + herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the + name of the well Esek; because they strove with him. And + they digged another well, and strove for that also: and + he called the name of it Sitnah. And he removed from + thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove + not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, + For now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be + fruitful in the land. And he went up from thence to + Beer-sheba. And the Lord appeared unto him the same + night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: + fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and + multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake. And he + builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the + Lord, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac's + servants digged a well.'--GENESIS xxvi. 12-25. + +The salient feature of Isaac's life is that it has no salient features. +He lived out his hundred and eighty years in quiet, with little to make +history. Few details of his story are given, and some of these are not +very creditable. He seems never to have wandered far from the +neighbourhood of Beersheba. These quiet, rolling stretches of thinly +peopled land contented him, and gave pasture for his flocks, as well as +fields for his cultivation. Like many of the tribes of that district +still, he had passed from the purely nomad and pastoral life, such as +Abraham led, and had begun to 'sow in that land.' That marks a stage in +progress. His father's life had been like a midsummer day, with bursts +of splendour and heavy thunder-clouds; his was liker a calm day in +autumn, windless and unchanging from morning till serene evening. The +world thinks little of such lives, but they are fruitful. + +Our text begins with a sweet little picture of peaceful industry, +blessed by God, and therefore prospering. Travellers tell us that the +land where Isaac dwelt is still marvellously fertile, even to rude +farming. But to be merely a successful farmer and sheep-owner might +have seemed poor work to the heir of such glowing promises, and the +prospect of a high destiny often disgusts its possessor with lowly +duties. 'But if we hope for that which we see not, then do we with +patience wait for it,' and the best way to fit ourselves for great +things in the future is to bend our backs and wills to humble toil in +the present. Peter expected every day to see the risen Lord, when he +said, 'I go a-fishing.' + +The Philistines' envy was very natural, since Isaac was an alien, and, +in some sense, an intruder. Their stopping of the wells was a common +act of hostility, and an effectual one in that land, where everything +lives where water comes, and dies if it is cut off. Abimelech's reason +for 'extraditing' Isaac might have provoked a more pugnacious person to +stay and defy the Philistines to expel him. 'Thou art much mightier +than we,' and so he could have said, 'Try to put me out, then,' and the +result might have been that Abimelech and his Philistines would have +been the ones to go. But the same spirit was in the man as had been in +the lad, when he let his father bind him and lay him on the altar +without a struggle or a word, and he quietly went, leaving his fields +and pastures. 'Very poor-spirited,' says the world; what does Christ +say? + +Isaac was not 'original.' He cleaned out the wells which his father had +digged, and with filial piety gave them again the old names 'which his +father had called them.' Some of us nowadays get credit for being +'advanced and liberal thinkers,' because we regard our fathers' wells +as much too choked with rubbish to be worth clearing out, and the last +thing we should dream of would be to revive the old names. But the old +wells were not enough for the new time, and so fresh ones were added. +Isaac and his servants did not say, 'We will have no water but what is +drawn from Abraham's wells. What was enough for him is enough for us.' +So, like all wise men, they were conservatively progressive and +progressively conservative. The Gerar shepherds were sharp lawyers. +They took strong ground in saying, 'The _water_ is ours; you have dug +wells, but we are ground-owners, and what is below the surface, as well +as what is on it, is our property.' Again Isaac fielded, moved on a +little way, and tried again. A second well was claimed, and given up, +and all that Isaac did was to name the two 'Contention' and 'Enmity,' +as a gentle rebuke and memorial. Then, as is generally the result, +gentleness wearied violence out, and the Philistines tired of annoying +before Isaac tired of yielding. So he came into a quiet harbour at +last, and traced his repose to God, naming his last well 'Broad +Places,' because the Lord had made room for him. + +Such a quiet spirit, strong in non-resistance, and ready to yield +rather than quarrel, was strangely out of place in these wild days and +lands. He obeyed the Sermon on the Mount millenniums before it was +spoken. Whether from temperament or from faith, he is the first +instance of the Christian type of excellence in the Old Testament. For +there ought to be no question that the spirit of meekness, which will +not meet violence by violence, is the Christian spirit. Christian +morals alter the perspective of moral excellences, and exalt meekness +above the 'heroic virtues' admired by the world. The violets and lilies +in Christ's garden outshine voluptuous roses and flaunting sunflowers. +In this day, when there is a recrudescence of militarism, and we are +tempted to canonise the soldier, we need more than ever to insist that +the highest type is 'the Lamb of God,' who was 'as a sheep before her +shearers.' To fight for my rights is not the Christian ideal, nor is it +the best way to secure them. Isaac will generally weary out the +Philistines, and get his well at last, and will have escaped much +friction and many evil passions. + + 'Tis safer being meek than fierce.' + +Isaac won the friendship of his opponents by his patience, as the +verses after the text tell. Their consciences and hearts were touched, +and they 'saw plainly that the Lord was with him,' and sued him for +alliance. It is better to turn enemies into friends than to beat them +and have them as enemies still. 'I'll knock you down unless you love +me' does not sound a very hopeful way of cementing peaceful relations. +But 'when a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to +be at peace with him.' But Isaac won more than the Philistines' favour +by his meek peacefulness, for 'the Lord appeared unto him,' and assured +him that, undefended and unresisting as he was, he had a strong +defence, and need not be afraid: 'Fear not, for I am with thee.' The +ornament of a meek and quiet spirit is, in the sight of God, of great +price, and that not only for 'a woman'; and it brings visions of God, +and assurances of tranquil safety to him who cherishes it. The Spirit +of God comes down in the likeness of a dove, and that bird of peace +sits 'brooding "only" on the charmed wave' of a heart stilled from +strife and wrath, like a quiet summer's sea. + +Isaac's new home at Beersheba, having been thus hallowed by the +appearance of the Lord, was consecrated by the building of an altar. We +should hallow by grateful remembrance the spots where God has made +Himself known to us. The best beginning of a new undertaking is to rear +an altar. It is well when new settlers begin their work by calling on +the name of the Lord. Beersheba and Plymouth Rock are a pair. First +comes the altar, then the tent can be trustfully pitched, but 'except +the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.' And if +the house is built in faith, a well will not be lacking; for they who +'seek first the kingdom of God' will have all needful 'things added +unto them.' + + + + +THE HEAVENLY PATHWAY AND THE EARTHLY HEART + + + 'And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and went toward + Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried + there all night, because the sun was set; and he took + of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, + and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and + behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it + reached to heaven; and behold the angels of God ascending + and descending on it. And, behold, the Lord stood above + it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, + and the God of Isaac; the land whereon thou liest, to + thee will I give it, and to thy seed; And thy seed shall + be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad + to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to + the south; and in thee and in thy seed shall all the + families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with + thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou + goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I + will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have + spoken to thee of. And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, + and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I + knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful + is this place! this is none other but the house of God, + and this is the gate of heaven. And Jacob rose up early + in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for + his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil + upon the top of it. And he called the name of that place + Beth-el: but the name of that city was called Luz at the + first. And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with + me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give + me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, So that I come + again to my father's house in peace; then shall the Lord + be my God; And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, + shall be God's house; and of all that Thou shalt give me I + will surely give the tenth unto Thee.'--GENESIS xxviii. 10-22. + +From Abraham to Jacob is a great descent. The former embodies the +nobler side of the Jewish character,--its capacity for religious ideas; +its elevation above, and separation from, the nations; its +consciousness of, and peaceful satisfaction in, a divine Friend; its +consequent vocation in the world. These all were deep in the founder of +the race, and flowed to it from him. Jacob, on the other hand, has in +him the more ignoble qualities, which Christian treatment of the Jew +has fostered, and which have become indissolubly attached to the name +in popular usage. He is a crafty schemer, selfish, over-reaching, with +a keen eye to the main chance. Whoever deals with him has to look +sharply after his own interests. Self-advantage in its most earthly +form is uppermost in him; and, like all timid, selfish men, shifty ways +and evasions are his natural weapons. The great interest of his history +lies in the slow process by which the patient God purified him, and out +of this 'stone raised up a worthy child to Abraham.' We see in this +context the first step in his education, and the very imperfect degree +in which he profited by it. + +1. Consider the vision and its accompanying promise. Jacob has fled +from home on account of his nobler brother's fierce wrath at the trick +which their scheming mother and he had contrived. It was an ugly, +heartless fraud, a crime against a doting father, as against Esau. +Rebekah gets alarmed for her favourite; and her fertile brain hits upon +another device to blind Isaac and get Jacob out of harm's way, in the +excuse that she cannot bear his marriage with a Hittite woman. Her +exaggerated expressions of passionate dislike to 'the daughters of +Heth' have no religious basis. They are partly feigned and partly +petulance. So the poor old blind father is beguiled once more, and +sends his son away. Starting under such auspices, and coming from such +an atmosphere, and journeying back to Haran, the hole of the pit whence +Abraham had been digged, and turning his back on the land where God had +been with his house, the wanderer was not likely to be cherishing any +lofty thoughts. His life was in danger; he was alone, a dim future was +before him, perhaps his conscience was not very comfortable. These +things would be in his mind as he lay down and gazed into the violet +sky so far above him, burning with all its stars. Weary, and with a +head full of sordid cares, plans, and possibly fears, he slept; and +then there flamed on 'that inward eye, which is the bliss of solitude' +to the pure, and its terror to the evil, this vision, which speaks +indeed to his then need, as he discerned it, but reveals to him and to +us the truth which ennobles all life, burns up the dross of +earthward-turned aims, and selfish, crafty ways. + +We are to conceive of the form of the vision as a broad stair or +sloping ascent, rather than a ladder, reaching right from the sleeper's +side to the far-off heaven, its pathway peopled with messengers, and +its summit touching the place where a glory shone that paled even the +lustrous constellations of that pure sky. Jacob had thought himself +alone; the vision peoples the wilderness. He had felt himself +defenceless; the vision musters armies for his safety. He had been +grovelling on earth, with no thoughts beyond its fleeting goods; the +vision lifts his eyes from the low level on which they had been gazing. +He had been conscious of but little connection with heaven; the vision +shows him a path from his very side right into its depths. He had +probably thought that he was leaving the presence of his father's God +when he left his father's tent; the vision burns into his astonished +heart the consciousness of God as there, in the solitude and the night. + +The divine promise is the best commentary on the meaning of the vision. +The familiar ancestral promise is repeated to him, and the blessing and +the birthright thus confirmed. In addition, special assurances, the +translation of the vision into word and adapted to his then wants, are +given,--God's presence in his wanderings, his protection, Jacob's +return to the land, and the promise of God's persistent presence, +working through all paradoxes of providence and sins of His servant, +and incapable of staying its operations, or satisfying God's heart, or +vindicating His faithfulness, at any point short of complete +accomplishment of His plighted word. + +We pass from the lone desert and the mysterious twilight of Genesis to +the beaten ways between Galilee and Jordan, and to the clear historic +daylight of the gospel, and we hear Christ renewing the promise to the +crafty Jacob, to one whom He called a son of Jacob in his after better +days, 'an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.' The very heart of +Christ's work was unveiled in the terms of this vision: From henceforth +'ye shall see the heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and +descending upon the Son of man.' So, then, the fleeting vision was a +transient revelation of a permanent reality, and a faint foreshadowing +of the true communication between heaven and earth. Jesus Christ is the +ladder between God and man. On Him all divine gifts descend; by Him all +the angels of human devotion, consecration, and aspiration go up. This +flat earth is not so far from the topmost heaven as sense thinks. The +despairing question of Jewish wisdom, 'Who hath ascended up into +heaven, or descended? ... What is his name, and what is his son's name, +if thou canst tell?'--which has likewise been the question of every age +that has not been altogether sunk in sensual delights--is answered once +for all in the incarnate and crucified and ascended Lord, by and in +whom all heaven has stooped to earth, that earth might be lifted to +heaven. Every child of man, though lonely and earthly, has the +ladder-foot by his side,--like the sunbeam, which comes straight into +the eyes of every gazer, wherever he stands. It becomes increasingly +evident, in the controversies of these days, that there will remain for +modern thought only the alternative,--either Jesus Christ is the means +of communication between God and man, or there is no communication. +Deism and theism are compromises, and cannot live. The cultivated world +in both hemispheres is being more and more shut up to either accepting +Christ as revealer, by whom alone we know, and as medium by whom alone +we love and approach, God; or sinking into abysses of negations where +choke-damp will stifle enthusiasm and poetry, as well as devotion and +immortal hope. + +Jacob's vision was meant to teach him, and is meant to teach us, the +nearness of God, and the swift directness of communication, whereby His +help comes to us and our desires rise to Him. These and their kindred +truths were to be to him, and should be to us, the parents of much +nobleness. Here is the secret of elevation of aim and thought above the +mean things of sense. We all, and especially the young, in whose veins +the blood dances, and to whom life is in all its glory and freshness, +are tempted to think of it as all. It does us good to have this vision +of the eternal realities blazing in upon us, even if it seems to glare +at us, rather than to shine with lambent light. The seen is but a thin +veil of the unseen. Earth, which we are too apt to make a workshop, or +a mere garden of pleasure, is a Bethel,--a house of God. Everywhere the +ladder stands; everywhere the angels go up and down; everywhere the +Face looks from the top. Nothing will save life from becoming, sooner +or later, trivial, monotonous, and infinitely wearisome, but the +continual vision of the present God, and the continual experience of +the swift ascent and descent of our aspirations and His blessings. + +It is the secret of purity too. How could Jacob indulge in his craft, +and foul his conscience with sin, as long as he carried the memory of +what he had seen in the solitary night on the uplands of Bethel? The +direct result of the vision is the same command as Abraham received, +'Walk before Me, and be thou perfect.' Realise My presence, and let +that kill the motions of sin, and quicken to service. + +It is also the secret of peace. Hopes and fears, and dim uncertainty of +the future, no doubt agitated the sleeper's mind as he laid him down. +His independent life was beginning. He had just left his father's tents +for the first time; and, though not a youth in years, he was in the +position which youth holds with us. So to him, and to all young +persons, here is shown the charm which will keep the heart calm, and +preserve us from being 'over exquisite to cast the fashion of uncertain +evils,' or too eagerly longing for possible good. 'I am with thee' +should be enough to steady our souls; and the confidence that God will +not leave us till He has accomplished His own purpose for us, should +make us willing to let Him do as He will with ours. + +2. Notice the imperfect reception of the divine teaching. Jacob's +startled exclamation on awakening from his dream indicates a very low +level both of religious knowledge and feeling. Nor is there any reason +for taking the words in any but their most natural sense; for it is a +mistake to ascribe to him the knowledge of God due to later revelation, +or, at this stage of his life, any depth of religious emotion. He is +alarmed at the thought that God is near. Probably he had been +accustomed to think of God's presence as in some special way associated +with his father's encampment, and had not risen to the belief of His +omnipresence. There seems no joyous leaping up of his heart at the +thought that God is here. Dread, not unmingled with the superstitious +fear that he had profaned a holy place by laying himself down in it, is +his prevailing feeling, and he pleads ignorance as the excuse for his +sacrilege. He does not draw the conclusion from the vision that all the +earth is hallowed by a near God, but only that he has unwittingly +stumbled on His house; and he does not learn that from every place +there is an open door for the loving heart into the calm depths where +God is throned, but only that _here_ he unwittingly stands at the gate +of heaven. So he misses the very inner purpose of the vision, and +rather shrinks from it than welcomes it. Was that spasm of fear all +that passed through his mind that night? Did he sleep again when the +glory died out of the heaven? So the story would appear to suggest. +But, in any case, we see here the effect of the sudden blazing in upon +a heart not yet familiar with the Divine Friend, of the conviction that +He is really near. Gracious as God's promise was, it did not dissipate +the creeping awe at His presence. It is an eloquent testimony of man's +consciousness of sin, that whensoever a present God becomes a reality +to a worldly man, he trembles. 'This place' would not be 'dreadful,' +but blessed, if it were not for the sense of discord between God and me. + +The morning light brought other thoughts, when it filled the silent +heavens, and where the ladder had stretched, there was but empty blue. +The lesson is sinking into his mind. He lifts the rude stone and pours +oil on it, as a symbol of consecration, as nameless races have done all +over the world. His vow shows that he had but begun to learn in God's +school. He hedges about his promise with a punctilious repetition of +God's undertaking, as if resolved that there should be no mistake. +Clause by clause he goes over it all, and puts an 'if' to it. God's +word should have kindled something liker faith than that. What a fall +from 'Abram believed in the Lord, and He counted it to him for +righteousness'! Jacob barely believed, and will wait to see whether all +will turn out as it has been promised. That is not the glad, swift +response of a loving, trusting heart. Nor is he contented with +repeating to God the terms of his engagement, but he adds a couple of +clauses which strike him as being important, and as having been +omitted. There was nothing about 'bread to eat, and raiment to put on,' +nor about coming back again 'in peace,' so he adds these. A true +'Jew,'--great at a bargain, and determined to get all he can, and to +have no mistake about what he must get before he gives anything! Was +Jesus thinking at all of the ancestor when He warned the descendants, +in words which sound curiously like an echo of Jacob's, not to be +anxious 'what ye shall eat,' nor 'what ye shall put on'? As the vow +stands in the Authorised Version, it is farther open to the charge of +suspending his worship of God upon the fulfilment of these conditions; +but it is better to adopt the marginal rendering of the Revised +Version, according to which the clause 'then shall the Lord be my God' +is a part of the conditions, not of the vow, and is to be read 'And +[if] the Lord will be ... then this stone ... shall be,' etc. If this +rendering be adopted, as I think it should be, the vow proper is simply +of outward service,--he will rear an altar, and he will tithe his +substance. Not a very munificent pledge! And where in it is the +surrender of the heart? Where is the outgoing of love and gratitude? +Where the clasping of the hand of his heavenly Friend with calm rapture +of thankful self-yielding, and steadfastness of implicit trust? God did +not want Jacob's altar, nor his tenths; He wanted Jacob. But many a +weary year and many a sore sorrow have to leave their marks on him +before the evil strain is pressed out of his blood; and by the +unwearied long-suffering of his patient Friend and Teacher in heaven, +the crafty, earthly-minded Jacob 'the supplanter' is turned into +'Israel, the prince with God, in whom is no guile.' The slower the +scholar, the more wonderful the forbearance of the Teacher; and the +more may we, who are slow scholars too, take heart to believe that He +will not be soon angry with us, nor leave us until He has done that +which He has spoken to us of. + + + + +MAHANAIM: THE TWO CAMPS + + + 'And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met + him. And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's + host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim' + (_i.e._ Two camps).--GENESIS xxxii. 1, 2. + +This vision came at a crisis in Jacob's life. He has just left the +house of Laban, his father-in-law, where he had lived for many years, +and in company with a long caravan, consisting of wives, children, +servants, and all his wealth turned into cattle, is journeying back +again to Palestine. His road leads him close by the country of Esau. +Jacob was no soldier, and he is naturally terrified to meet his justly +incensed brother. And so, as he plods along with his defenceless +company trailing behind him, as you may see the Arab caravans streaming +over the same uplands to-day, all at once, in the middle of his march, +a bright-harnessed army of angels meets him. Whether visible to the eye +of sense, or, as would appear, only to the eye of faith, they _are_ +visible to this troubled man; and, in a glow of confident joy, he calls +the name of that place 'Mahanaim,' two camps. One camp was the little +one of his down here, with the helpless women and children and his own +frightened and defenceless self, and the other was the great one up +there, or rather in shadowy but most real spiritual presence around +about him, as a bodyguard making an impregnable wall between him and +every foe. We may take some very plain and everlastingly true lessons +out of this story. + +1. First, the angels of God meet us on the dusty road of common life. +'Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.' + +As he was tramping along there, over the lonely fields of Edom, with +many a thought on his mind and many a fear at his heart, but feeling +'There is the path that I have to walk on,' all at once the air was +filled with the soft rustle of angel wings, and the brightness from the +flashing armour of the heavenly hosts flamed across his unexpecting +eye. And so is it evermore. The true place for us to receive visions of +God is in the path of the homely, prosaic duties which He lays upon us. +The dusty road is far more likely to be trodden by angel feet than the +remote summits of the mountain, where we sometimes would fain go; and +many an hour consecrated to devotion has less of the manifest presence +of God than is granted to some weary heart in its commonplace struggle +with the little troubles and trials of daily life. These make the +doors, as it were, by which the visitants draw near to us. + +It is the common duties, 'the narrow round, the daily task,' that not +only give us 'all we ought to ask,' but are the selected means and +channels by which, ever, God's visitants draw near to us. The man that +has never seen an angel standing beside him, and driving his loom for +him, or helping him at his counter and his desk, and the woman that has +never seen an angel, according to the bold realism and homely vision of +the old German picture, working with her in the kitchen and preparing +the meal for the household, have little chance of meeting such +visitants at any other point of their experience or event of their +lives. + +If the week be empty of the angels, you will never catch sight of a +feather of their wings on the Sunday. And if we do not recognise their +presence in the midst of all the prose, and the commonplace, and the +vulgarity, and the triviality, and the monotony, the dust of the small +duties, we shall go up to the summit of Sinai itself and see nothing +there but cold grey stone and everlasting snows. 'Jacob went on his +way, and the angels of God met him.' The true field for religion is the +field of common life. + +And then another side of the same thought is this, that it is in the +path where God has bade us walk that we shall find the angels round us. +We may meet them, indeed, on paths of our own choosing, but it will be +the sort of angel that Balaam met, with a sword in his hand, mighty and +beautiful, but wrathful too; and we had better not front him! But the +friendly helpers, the emissaries of God's love, the apostles of His +grace, do not haunt the roads that we make for ourselves. They confine +themselves rigidly to 'the paths in which God has before ordained that +we should walk in them.' A man has no right to expect, and he will not +get, blessing and help and divine gifts when, self-willedly, he has +taken the bit between his teeth, and is choosing his own road in the +world. But if he will say, 'Lord! here I am; put me where Thou wilt, +and do with me what Thou wilt,' then he may be sure that that path, +though it may be solitary of human companionship, and leading up +amongst barren rocks and over bare moorlands, where the sun beats down +fiercely, will not be unvisited by a better presence, so that in sweet +consciousness of sufficiency of rich grace, he will be able to say, 'I, +being in the way, the Lord met me.' + +2. Still further, we may draw from this incident the lesson that God's +angels meet us punctually at the hour of need. + +Jacob is drawing nearer and nearer to his fear every step. He is now +just on the borders of Esau's country, and close upon opening +communications with his brother. At that critical moment, just before +the finger of the clock has reached the point on the dial at which the +bell would strike, the needed help comes, the angel guards draw near +and camp beside him. It is always so. 'The Lord shall help her, and +that right early.' His hosts come no sooner and no later than we need. +If they appeared before we had realised our danger and our +defencelessness, our hearts would not leap up at their coming, as men +in a beleaguered town do when the guns of the relieving force are heard +booming from afar. Often God's delays seem to us inexplicable, and our +prayers to have no more effect than if they were spoken to a sleeping +Baal. But such delays are merciful. They help us to the consciousness +of our need. They let us feel the presence of the sorrow. They give +opportunity of proving the weakness of all other supports. They test +and increase desire for His help. They throw us more unreservedly into +His arms. They afford room for the sorrow or the burden to work its +peaceable fruits. So, and in many other ways, delay of succour fits us +to receive succour, and our God makes no tarrying but for our sakes. + +It is His way to let us come almost to the edge of the precipice, and +then, in the very nick of time, when another minute and we are over, to +stretch out His strong right hand and save us. So Peter is left in +prison, though prayer is going up unceasingly for him--and no answer +comes. The days of the Passover feast slip away, and still he is in +prison, and prayer does nothing for him. The last day of his life, +according to Herod's purpose, dawns, and all the day the Church lifts +up its voice--but apparently there is no answer, nor any that regarded. +The night comes, and still the vain cry goes up, and Heaven seems deaf +or apathetic. The night wears on, and still no help comes. But in the +last watch of that last night, when day is almost dawning, at nearly +the last minute when escape would have been possible, the angel touches +the sleeping Apostle, and with leisurely calmness, as sure that he had +ample time, leads him out to freedom and safety. It was precisely +because Jesus loved the Household at Bethany that, after receiving the +sisters' message, He abode still for two days in the same place where +He was. However our impatience may wonder, and our faithlessness +venture sometimes almost to rebuke Him when He comes, with words like +Mary's and Martha's--'Lord, if Thou hadst been here, such and such +sorrows would not have happened, and Thou couldst so easily have been +here'--we should learn the lesson that even if He has delayed so long +that the dreaded blow has fallen, He has come soon enough to make it +the occasion for a still more glorious communication of His power. +'Rest in the Lord, wait patiently for Him, and He shall give thee the +desires of thine heart.' + +3. Again, we learn from this incident that the angels of God come in +the shape which we need. + +Jacob's want at the moment was protection. Therefore the angels appear +in warlike guise, and present before the defenceless man another camp, +in which he and his unwieldy caravan of women and children and cattle +may find security. If his special want had been of some blessing of +another kind, no doubt another form of appearance, suited with +precision to his need, would have been imposed upon these angel +helpers. For God's gifts to us change their character; as the Rabbis +fabled that the manna tasted to each man what each most desired. The +same pure heavenly bread has the varying savour that commends it to +varying palates. God's grace is Protean. It takes all the forms that +man's necessities require. As water assumes the shape of any vessel +into which it is put, so this great blessing comes to each of us, +moulded according to the pressure and taking the form of our +circumstances and necessities. His fulness is all-sufficient. It is the +same blood that, passing to all the members, ministers to each +according to the needs and fashion of each. And it is the same grace +which, passing to our souls, in each man is shaped according to his +present condition and ministers to his present wants. + +So, dear brethren, in that great fulness each of us may have the thing +that we need. The angel who to one man is protection, to another shall +be teaching and inspiration; to another shall appear with chariots of +fire and horses of fire to sweep the rapt soul heavenward; to another +shall draw near as a deliverer from his fetters, at whose touch the +bonds shall fall from off him; to another shall appear as the +instructor in duty and the appointer of a path of service, like that +vision that shone in the castle to the Apostle Paul, and said, 'Thou +must bear witness for me at Rome'; to another shall appear as opening +the door of heaven and letting a flood of light come down upon his +darkened heart, as to the Apocalyptic seer in his rocky Patmos. And +'all this worketh that one and the self-same' Lord of angels 'dividing +to every man severally as He will,' and as the man needs. The +defenceless Jacob has the manifestation of the divine presence in the +guise of armed warriors that guard his unwarlike camp. + +I add one last word. Long centuries after Jacob's experience at +Mahanaim, another trembling fugitive found himself there, fearful, like +Jacob, of the vengeance and anger of one who was knit to him by blood. +When poor King David was flying from the face of Absalom his son, the +first place where he made a stand, and where he remained during the +whole of the rebellion, was this town of Mahanaim, away on the eastern +side of the Jordan. Do you not think that to the kingly exile, in his +feebleness and his fear, the very name of his resting-place would be an +omen? Would he not recall the old story, and bethink himself of how +round that other frightened man + + 'Bright-harnessed angels stood in order serviceable' + +and would he not, as he looked on his little band of friends, faithful +among the faithless, have his eyesight cleared to behold the other +camp? Such a vision, no doubt, inspired the calm confidence of the +psalm which evidently belongs to that dark hour of his life, and made +it possible for the hunted king, with his feeble band, to sing even +then, 'I will both lay me down in peace and sleep, for Thou, Lord, +makest me dwell in safety, solitary though I am.' + +Nor is the vision emptied of its power to stay and make brave by all +the ages that have passed. The vision was for a moment; the fact is for +ever. The sun's ray was flashed back from celestial armour, 'the next +all unreflected shone' on the lonely wastes of the desert--but the host +of God was there still. The transitory appearance of the permanent +realities is a revelation to us as truly as to the patriarch; and +though no angel wings may winnow the air around our road, nor any +sworded seraphim be seen on our commonplace march, we too have all the +armies of heaven with us, if we tread the path which God has marked +out, and in our weakness and trembling commit ourselves to Him. The +heavenly warriors die not, and hover around us to-day, excelling in the +strength of their immortal youth, and as ready to succour us as they +were all these centuries ago to guard the solitary Jacob. + +Better still, the 'Captain of the Lord's host' is 'come up' to be our +defence, and our faith has not only to behold the many ministering +spirits sent forth to minister to us, but One mightier than they, whose +commands they all obey, and who Himself is the companion of our +solitude and the shield of our defencelessness. It was blessed that +Jacob should be met by the many angels of God. It is infinitely more +blessed that '_the_ Angel of the Lord'--the One who is more than the +many--'encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them.' + +The postscript of the last letter which Gordon sent from Khartoum +closed with the words, 'The hosts are with me--Mahanaim.' Were they +not, even though death was near? Was that sublime faith a mistake--the +vision an optical delusion? No, for their ranks are arrayed around +God's children to keep them from all evil while He wills that they +should live, and their chariots of fire and horses of fire are sent to +bear them to heaven when He wills that they should die. + + + + +THE TWOFOLD WRESTLE--GOD'S WITH JACOB AND JACOB'S WITH GOD + + + 'And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of + my father Isaac, the Lord which saidst unto me, Return + unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal + well with thee: I am not worthy of the least of all the + mercies, and of all the truth, which Thou hast shewed + unto Thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this + Jordan; and now I am become two bands. Deliver me, I + pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand + of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, + and the mother with the children. And Thou saidst, I + will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand + of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.' + --GENESIS xxxii. 9-12. + +Jacob's subtlety and craft were, as is often the case, the weapons of a +timid as well as selfish nature. No wonder, then, that the prospect of +meeting his wronged and strong brother threw him into a panic, +notwithstanding the vision of the camp of angels by the side of his +defenceless caravan of women and children. Esau had received his abject +message of propitiation in grim silence, sent no welcome back, but with +ominous haste and ambiguous purpose began his march towards him with a +strong force. A few hours will decide whether he means revenge. Jacob's +fright does not rob him of his ready wit; he goes to work at once to +divide his party, so as to ensure safety for half of it. He schemes +first, and prays second. The order might have been inverted with +advantage, but is like the man--in the lowest phase of his character. +His prayer shows that he is beginning to profit by the long years of +schooling. Though its burden is only deliverance from Esau, it pleads +with God on the grounds of His own command and promise, of Jacob's +unworthiness of God's past mercies, and of His firm covenant. A breath +of a higher life is stirring in the shifty schemer who has all his life +been living by his wits. Now he has come to a point where he knows that +his own power can do nothing. With Laban, a man of craft like himself, +it was diamond cut diamond; and Jacob was equal to the position. But +the wild Bedouin brother, with his four hundred men, is not to be +managed so; and Jacob is driven to God by his conscious helplessness. +It is the germ, but only the germ, and needs much tending and growth +before it matures. The process by which this faint dawning of a better +life is broadened into day is begun in the mysterious struggle which +forms the main part of this lesson, and is God's answer to his prayer. + +1. We have, first, the twofold wrestling. The silent night-long wrestle +with the 'traveller unknown' is generally regarded as meaning +essentially the same thing as the wonderful colloquy which follows. But +I venture to take a somewhat different point of view, and to suggest +that there are here two well-marked stages. In the first, which is +represented as transacted in unbroken silence, 'a man' wrestles with +Jacob, and does not prevail; in the second, which is represented as an +interchange of speech, Jacob strives with the 'man,' and does prevail. +Taken together, the two are a complete mirror, not only of the manner +of the transformation of Jacob into Israel, but of universal eternal +truths as to God's dealings with us, and our power with Him. + +As to the former stage, the language of the narrative is to be noted, +'There wrestled a man with him.' The attack, so to speak, begins with +his mysterious antagonist, not with the patriarch. The 'man' seeks to +overcome Jacob, not Jacob the man. There, beneath the deep heavens, in +the solemn silence of night, which hides earth and reveals heaven, that +strange struggle with an unknown Presence is carried on. We have no +material for pronouncing on the manner of it, whether ecstasy, vision, +or an objective and bodily fact. The body was implicated in the +consequences, at all events, and the impression which the story leaves +is of an outward struggle. But the purpose of the incident is the same, +however the question as to its form be answered. Nor can we pronounce, +as some have done, on the other question, of the personality of the +silent wrestler. Angel, or 'the angel of the covenant,' who is a +transient, and possibly only apparent, manifestation in human form of +Him who afterwards became flesh and dwelt among us, or some other +supernatural embodiment, for that one purpose, of the divine +presence,--any of these hypotheses is consistent with the intentionally +reticent text. What it leaves unspoken, we shall wisely leave +undetermined. God acts and speaks through 'the man.' That is all we can +know or need. + +What, then, was the meaning of this struggle? Was it not a revelation +to Jacob of what God had been doing with him all his life, and was +still doing? Was not that merciful striving of God with him the inmost +meaning of all that had befallen him since the far-off day when he had +left his father's tents, and had seen the opened heavens, and the +ladder, which he had so often forgotten? Were not his disappointments, +his successes, and all the swift changes of life, God's attempts to +lead him to yield himself up, and bow his will? And was not God +striving with him now, in the anxieties which gnawed at his heart, and +in his dread of the morrow? Was He not trying to teach him how crime +always comes home to roost, with a brood of pains running behind it? +Was not the weird duel in the brooding stillness a disclosure, which +would more and more possess his soul as the night passed on, of a +Presence which in silence strove with him, and only desired to overcome +that He might bless? The conception of a Divine manifestation wrestling +all night long with a man has been declared 'crude,' 'puerile,' and I +know not how many other disparaging adjectives have been applied to it. +But is it more unworthy of Him, or derogatory to His nature, than the +lifelong pleading and striving with each of us, which He undoubtedly +carries on? The idea of a man contending with God has been similarly +stigmatised; but is it more mysterious than that awful power which the +human will does possess of setting at naught His counsels and resisting +His merciful strivings? + +The close of the first stage of the twofold wrestle is marked by the +laming of Jacob. The paradox that He, who could not overcome, could yet +lame by a touch, is part of the lesson. If His finger could do that, +what would the grip of His hand do, if He chose to put out His power? +It is not for want of strength that He has not crushed the antagonist, +as Jacob would feel, with deepening wonder and awe. What a new light +would be thus thrown on all the previous struggle! It was the striving +of a power which cared not for a mere outward victory, nor put forth +its whole force, lest it should crush him whom it desired to conquer +only by his own yielding. As Job says, 'Will He plead against me with +His great power?' No; God mercifully restrains His hand, in His +merciful striving with men. Desiring to overcome them, He desires not +to do so by mere superior power, but by their willing yielding to Him. + +That laming of Jacob's thigh represents the weakening of all the life +of nature and self which had hitherto been his. He had trusted to his +own cunning and quick-wittedness; he had been shrewd, not +over-scrupulous, and successful. But he had to learn that 'by strength +shall no man prevail,' and to forsake his former weapons. Wrestling +with his hands and limbs is not the way to prevail either with God or +man. Fighting with God in his own strength, he is only able to thwart +God's merciful purpose towards him, but is powerless as a reed in a +giant's grasp if God chooses to summon His destructive powers into +exercise. So this failure of natural power is the turning-point in the +twofold wrestle, and marks as well as symbolises the transition in +Jacob's life and character from reliance upon self and craft to +reliance upon his divine Antagonist become his Friend. It is the path +by which we must all travel if we are to become princes with God. The +life of nature and of dependence on self must be broken and lamed in +order that, in the very moment of discovered impotence, we may grasp +the hand that smites, and find immortal power flowing into our weakness +from it. + +2. So we come to the second stage, in which Jacob strives with God and +does prevail. 'Let me go, for the day breaketh.' Then did the stranger +wish to go; and if he did, why could not he, who had lamed his +antagonist, loose himself from his grasp? The same explanation applies +here which is required in reference to Christ's action to the two +disciples at Emmaus: 'He made as though He would have gone further.' In +like manner, when He came to them on the water, He appeared as though +He 'would have passed by.' In all three cases the principle is the +same. God desires to go, if we do not desire Him to stay. He will go, +unless we keep Him. Then, at last, Jacob betakes himself to his true +weapons. Then, at last, he strangely wishes to keep his apparent foe. +He has learned, in some dim fashion, whom he has been resisting, and +the blessedness of having Him for friend and companion. So here comes +in the account of the whole scene which Hosea gives (Hos. xii. 4): 'He +wept, and made supplication unto Him.' That does not describe the +earlier portion, but is the true rendering of the later stage, of which +our narrative gives a more summary account. The desire to retain God +binds Him to us. All His struggling with us has been aimed at evoking +it, and all His fulness responds to it when evoked. Prayer is power. It +conquers God. We overcome Him when we yield. When we are vanquished, we +are victors. When the life of nature is broken within us, then from +conscious weakness springs the longing which God cannot but satisfy. +'When I am weak, then am I strong.' As Charles Wesley puts it, in his +grand hymn on this incident:-- + + 'Yield to me now, for I am weak, + But confident in self-despair.' + +And God prevails when we prevail. His aim in all the process of His +mercy has been but to overcome our heavy earthliness and selfishness, +which resists His pleading love. His victory is our yielding, and, in +that yielding, obtaining power with Him. He delights to be held by the +hand of faith, and ever gladly yields to the heart's cry, 'Abide with +me.' I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me,' is music to His +ear; and our saying so, in earnest, persistent clinging to Him, is His +victory as well as ours. + +3. We have, next, the new name, which is the prize of Jacob's victory, +and the sign of a transformation in his character. Before this time he +had been Jacob, the worker with wiles, who supplanted his brother, and +met his foes with duplicity and astuteness like their own. He had been +mainly of the earth, earthy. But that solemn hour had led him into the +presence-chamber, the old craft had been mortally wounded, he had seen +some glimpse of God as his friend, whose presence was not 'awful,' as +he had thought it long ago, nor enigmatical and threatening, as he had +at first deemed it that night, but the fountain of blessing and the one +thing needful. A man who has once learned that lesson, though +imperfectly, has passed into a purer region, and left behind him his +old crookedness. He has learned to pray, not as before, prayers for +mere deliverance from Esau and the like, but his whole being has gone +out in yearning for the continual nearness of his mysterious +antagonist-friend. So, though still the old nature remains, its power +is broken, and he is a new creature. Therefore he needs a new name, and +gets it from Him who can name men, because He sees the heart's depths, +and because He has the right over them. To impose a name is the sign of +authority, possession, insight into character. The change of name +indicates a new epoch in a life, or a transformation of the inner man. +The meaning of 'Israel' is 'He (who) strives with God'; and the reason +for its being conferred is more accurately given by the Revised +Version, which translates, 'For thou hast striven with God and with +men,' than in the Authorised rendering. His victory with God involved +the certainty of his power with men. All his life he had been trying to +get the advantage of them, and to conquer them, not by spear and sword, +but by his brains. But now the true way to true sway among men is +opened to him. All men are the servants of the servant and the friend +of God. He who has the ear of the emperor is master of many men. + +Jacob is not always called Israel in his subsequent history. His new +name was a name of character and of spiritual standing, and that might +fluctuate, and the old self resume its power; so he is still called by +the former appellation, just as, at certain points in his life, the +apostle forfeits the right to be 'Peter,' and has to hear from Christ's +lips the old name, the use of which is more poignant than many +reproachful words; 'Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have +you.' But in the last death-bed scene, when the patriarch lifted +himself in his bed, and with prophetic dignity pronounced his parting +benediction on Joseph's sons, the new name reappears with solemn pathos. + +That name was transmitted to his descendants, and has passed over to +the company of believing men, who have been overcome by God, and have +prevailed with God. It is a charter and a promise. It is a stringent +reminder of duty and a lofty ideal. A true Christian is an 'Israel.' +His office is to wrestle with God. Nor can we forget how this +mysterious scene was repeated in yet more solemn fashion, beneath the +gnarled olives of Gethsemane, glistening in the light of the paschal +full moon, when the true Israel prayed with such sore crying and tears +that His body partook of the struggle, and 'His sweat was as it were +great drops of blood falling down to the ground.' The word which +describes Christ's agony is that which is often rendered 'wrestling,' +and perhaps is selected with intentional allusion to this incident. At +all events, when we think of Jacob by the brook Jabbok, and of a +'greater than our father Jacob' by the brook Kedron, we may well learn +what persistence, what earnestness and effort of the whole nature, go +to make up the ideal of prayer, and may well blush for the miserable +indifference and torpor of what we venture to call our prayers. These +are our patterns, 'as many as walk according to this rule,' and are +thereby shown to be 'the Israel of God,'--upon them shall be peace. + +4. We have, as the end of all, a deepened desire after closer knowledge +of God, and the answer to it. Some expositors (as, for instance, +Robertson of Brighton, in his impressive sermon on this section) take +the closing petition, 'Tell me, I pray thee, Thy name,' as if it were +the centre point of the whole incident. But this is obviously a partial +view. The desire to know that name does not come to Jacob, as we might +have expected, when he was struggling with his unknown foe in the dark +there. It is the end, and, in some sense, the issue, of all that has +gone before. Not that he was in any doubt as to the person to whom he +spoke; it is just because he knows that he is speaking with God, who +alone can bless, that he longs to have some deeper, clearer knowledge +still of Him. He is not asking for a word by which he may call Him; the +name is the expression of the nature, and his parting request is for +something far more intimate and deep than syllables which could be +spoken by any lips. The certain sequel of the discovery of God as +striving in mercy with a man, and of yielding to him, is the thirst for +deeper acquaintance with Him, and for a fuller, more satisfying +knowledge of His inmost heart. If the season of mysterious intercourse +must cease, and day hide more than it discloses, and Jacob go to face +Esau, and we come down from the mount to sordid cares and mean tasks, +at least we long to bear with us as a love-token some whisper in our +inmost hearts that may cheer us with the peaceful truth about Him and +be a hidden sweetness. The presence of such a desire is a sure +consequence, and therefore a good test, of real prayer. + +The Divine answer, which sounds at first like refusal, is anything but +that. Why dost thou ask after My name? surely I need not to give thee +more revelation of My character. Thou hast enough of light; what thou +needest is insight into what thou hast already. We have in what God has +made known of Himself already to us--both in His outward revelation, +which is so much larger and sweeter to us than it was to Jacob, but +also in His providences, and in the inward communion which we have with +Him if we have let Him overcome us, and have gained power to prevail +with Him--sources of certain knowledge of Him so abundant and precious +that we need nothing but the loving eye which shall take in all their +beauty and completeness, to have our most eager desires after His name +more than satisfied. We need not ask for more sunshine, but take care +to spread ourselves out in the full sunshine which we have, and let it +drench our eyes and fire our hearts. 'And He blessed him there.' Not +till now was he capable of receiving the full blessing. He needed to +have self beaten out of him; he needed to recognise God as lovingly +striving with Him; he needed to yield himself up to Him; he needed to +have his heart thus cleansed and softened, and then opened wide by +panting desire for the presence and benediction of God; he needed to be +made conscious of his new standing, and of the higher life budding +within him; he needed to experience the yearning for a closer vision of +the face, a deeper knowledge of the name,--and then it was possible to +pour into his heart a tenderness and fulness of blessing which before +there had been no room to receive, and which now answered in sweetest +fashion the else unanswered desire, 'Tell me, I pray thee, Thy name.' + +In like manner we may each be blessed with the presence and benediction +of Him whose merciful strivings, when we knew Him not, came to us in +the darkness; and to whom, if we yield, there will be peace and power +in our hearts, and upon us, too, the sun will rise as we pass from the +place where our foe became our friend, and by faith we saw Him face to +face, and drank in life by the gaze. + + + + +A FORGOTTEN VOW + + + 'Arise, go up to Beth-el, and dwell there: and make + there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when + thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother,' + GENESIS XXXV. 1. + +Thirty years at least had passed since Jacob's vow; ten or twenty since +his return. He is in no haste to fulfil it, but has settled down at +Shechem and bought land there, and seems to have forgotten all about +Bethel. + +1. _The lesson of possible negligence_. + +(_a_) We are apt to forget vows when God has fulfilled His side of +them. Resolutions made in time of trouble are soon forgotten. We pray +and think about God more then than when things go well with us. +Religion is in many men's judgment for stormy weather only. + +(_b_) We are often more resolved to make sacrifices in the beginning of +our Christian course than afterwards. + +Many a brilliant morning is followed by cloudy day. + +Youth is often full of enthusiasms which after-days forget. + +2._ The reasons for the negligence_. + +Jacob felt a gradual fading away of impressions of need. He was +comfortably settled at Shechem. He was surrounded by a wild, godless +household who cherished their idols, and he knew that if he went to +Bethel idolatry must be given up. + +3. _The essentials to communion and service_. + +Surrender. Purity. Must bury idols under oak. + +4._The reward of sacrifice and of duty discharged_. + +The renewed appearance of God. The confirmation of name Israel. +Enlarged promises. So the old man's vision may be better than the +youth's, if he lives up to his youthful vows. + + + + +THE TRIALS AND VISIONS OF DEVOUT YOUTH + + + 'And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a + stranger, in the land of Canaan. These are the generations + of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding + the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the + sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's + wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil + report. Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, + because he was the son of his old age: and he made him + a coat of many colours. And when his brethren saw that + their father loved him more than all his brethren, they + hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him. And + Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and + they hated him yet the more. And he said unto them, Hear, + I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: For, behold, + we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf + arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves + stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf. And + his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over + us? or shalt thou Indeed have dominion over us? And they + hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words. + And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, + and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and behold, + the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance + to me. And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: + and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is + this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother + and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to + thee to the earth? And his brethren envied him; but his + father observed the saying.'--GENESIS xxxvii. 1-11. + +'The generations of Jacob' are mainly occupied with the history of +Joseph, because through him mainly was the divine purpose carried on. +Jacob is now the head of the chosen family, since Isaac's death (Gen. +xxxv. 29), and therefore the narrative is continued under that new +heading. There may possibly be intended a contrast in 'dwelt' and +'sojourned' in verse 1, the former implying a more complete settling +down. + +There are two principal points in this narrative,--the sad insight that +it gives into the state of the household in which so much of the +world's history and hopes was wrapped up, and the preludings of +Joseph's future in his dreams. + +As to the former, the account of it is introduced by the statement that +Joseph, at seventeen years of age, was set to work, according to the +wholesome Eastern usage, and so was thrown into the company of the sons +of the two slave-women, Bilhah and Zilpah. Delitzsch understands 'lad' +in verse 2 in the sense in which we use 'boy,' as meaning an attendant. +Joseph was, then, told off to be subordinate to these two sets of his +rough brothers. The relationship was enough to rouse hatred in such +coarse souls. And, indeed, the history of Jacob's household strikingly +illustrates the miserable evils of polygamy, which makes families +within the family, and turns brothers into enemies. Bilhah's and +Zilpah's sons reflected in their hatred of Rachel's their mothers' envy +of the true wife of Jacob's heart. The sons of the bondwoman were sure +to hate the sons of the free. + +If Joseph had been like his brothers, they would have forgiven him his +mother. But he was horrified at his first glimpse of unrestrained young +passions, and, in the excitement of disgust and surprise, 'told their +evil report.' No doubt, his brothers had been unwilling enough to be +embarrassed by his presence, for there is nothing that wild young men +dislike more than the constraint put on them by the presence of an +innocent youth; and when they found out that this 'milk-sop' of a +brother was a spy and a telltale, their wrath blazed up. So Joseph had +early experience of the shock which meets all young men who have been +brought up in godly households when they come into contact with sin in +fellow-clerks, servants, students, or the like. It is a sharp test of +what a young man is made of, to come forth from the shelter of a +father's care and a mother's love, and to be forced into witnessing and +hearing such things as go on wherever a number of young men are thrown +together. Be not 'partaker of other men's sins.' And the trial is +doubly great when the tempters are elder brothers, and the only way to +escape their unkindness is to do as they do. Joseph had an early +experience of the need of resistance; and, as long as the world is a +world, love to God will mean hatred from its worst elements. If we are +'sons of the day,' we cannot but rebuke the darkness. + +It is an invidious office to tell other people's evil-doing, and he who +brings evil reports of others generally and deservedly gets one for +himself. But there are circumstances in which to do so is plain duty, +and only a mistaken sense of honour keeps silence. But there must be no +exaggeration, malice, or personal ends in the informer. Classmates in +school or college, fellow-servants, employees in great businesses, and +the like, have not only a duty of loyalty to one another, but of +loyalty to their superior. We are sometimes bound to be blind to, and +dumb about, our associates' evil deeds, but sometimes silence makes us +accomplices. + +Jacob had a right to know, and Joseph would have been wrong if he had +not told him, the truth about his brothers. Their hatred shows that his +purity had made their doing wrong more difficult. It is a grand thing +when a young man's presence deprives the Devil of elbow-room for his +tricks. How much restraining influence such a one may exert! + +Jacob's somewhat foolish love, and still more foolish way of showing +it, made matters worse. There were many excuses for him. He naturally +clung to the son of his lost but never-forgotten first love, and as +naturally found, in Joseph's freedom from the vices of his other sons, +a solace and joy. It has been suggested that the 'long garment with +sleeves,' in which he decked the lad, indicated an intention of +transferring the rights of the first-born to him, but in any case it +meant distinguishing affection; and the father or mother who is weak +enough to show partiality in the treatment of children need not wonder +if their unwise love creates bitter heart-burnings. Perhaps, if +Bilhah's and Zilpah's sons had had a little more sunshine of a father's +love, they would have borne brighter flowers and sweeter fruit. It is +fatal when a child begins to suspect that a parent is not fair. + +So these surly brothers, who could not even say 'Peace be to thee!' +(the common salutation) when they came across Joseph, had a good deal +to say for themselves. It is a sad picture of the internal feuds of the +house from which all nations were to be blessed. The Bible does not +idealise its characters, but lets us see the seamy side of the +tapestry, that we may the more plainly recognise the Mercy which +forgives, and the mighty Providence which works through, such imperfect +men. But the great lesson for all young people from the picture of +Joseph's early days, when his whiteness rebuked the soiled lives of his +brothers, as new-fallen snow the grimy cake, hardened and soiled on the +streets, is, 'My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.' Never +mind a world's hatred, if you have a father's love. There is one Father +who can draw His obedient children into the deepest secrets of His +heart without withholding their portion from the most prodigal. + +Joseph's dreams are the other principal point in the narrative. The +chief incidents of his life turn on dreams,--his own, his +fellow-prisoners', Pharaoh's. The narrative recognises them as divinely +sent, and no higher form of divine communication appears to have been +made to Joseph, He received no new revelations of religious truth. His +mission was, not to bring fresh messages from heaven, but to effect the +transference of the nation to Egypt. Hence the lower form of the +communications made to him. + +The meaning of both dreams is the same, but the second goes beyond the +first in the grandeur of the emblems, and in the inclusion of the +parents in the act of obeisance. Both sets of symbols were drawn from +familiar sights. The homeliness of the 'sheaves' is in striking +contrast with the grandeur of the 'sun, moon, and stars.' The +interpretation of the first is ready to hand, because the sheaves were +'your sheaves' and 'my sheaf.' There was no similar key included in the +second, and his brothers do not appear to have caught its meaning. It +was Jacob who read it. Probably Rachel was dead when the dream came, +but that need not make a difficulty. + +Note that Joseph did not tell his dreams with elation, or with a notion +that they meant anything particular. It is plainly the singularity of +them that makes him repeat them, as is clearly indicated by the +repeated 'behold' in his two reports. With perfect innocence of +intention, and as he would have told any other strange dream, the lad +repeats them. The commentary was the work of his brothers, who were +ready to find proofs of his being put above them, and of his wish to +humiliate them, in anything he said or did. They were wiser than he +was. Perhaps they suspected that Jacob meant to set him at the head of +the clan on his decease, and that the dreams were trumped up and told +to them to prepare them for the decision which the special costume may +have already hinted. + +At all events, hatred is very suspicious, and ready to prick up its +ears at every syllable that seems to speak of the advancement of its +object. + +There is a world of contempt, rage, and fear in the questions, 'Shalt +thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us?' +The conviction that Joseph was marked out by God for a high position +seems to have entered these rough souls, and to have been fuel to fire. +Hatred and envy make a perilous mixture. Any sin can come from a heart +drenched with these. Jacob seems to have been wise enough to make light +of the dreams to the lad, though much of them in his heart. Youthful +visions of coming greatness are often best discouraged. The surest way +to secure their fulfilment is to fill the present with strenuous, +humble work. 'Do the duty that is nearest thee.' 'The true +apprenticeship for a ruler is to serve.' 'Act, act, in the living +present.' The sheaves may come to bow down some day, but 'my sheaf' has +to be cut and bound first, and the sooner the sickle is among the corn, +the better. + +But yet, on the other hand, let young hearts be true to their early +visions, whether they say much about them or not. Probably it will be +wisest to keep silence. But there shine out to many young men and +women, at their start in life, bright possibilities of no ignoble sort, +and rising higher than personal ambition, which it is the misery and +sin of many to see 'fade away into the light of common day,' or into +the darkness of night. Be not 'disobedient to the heavenly vision'; for +the dreams of youth are often the prophecies of what God means and +makes it possible for the dreamer to be, if he wakes to work towards +that fair thing which shone on him from afar. + + + + +MAN'S PASSIONS AND GOD'S PURPOSE + + + 'And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his + brethren, that they stript Joseph out of his coat, his + coat of many colours that was on him; And they took him, + and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there + was no water in it. And they sat down to eat bread: and + they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a + company of Ishmeelites came from Gilead with their + camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to + carry it down to Egypt. And Judah said unto his brethren, + What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal + his blood! Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmeelites, + and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother + and our flesh. And his brethren were content. Then there + passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and + lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the + Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought + Joseph into Egypt. And Reuben returned unto the pit; and, + behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his + clothes. And he returned unto his brethren, and said, + The child is not; and I, whither shall I go? And they + took Joseph's coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and + dipped the coat in the blood; And they sent the coat of + many colours, and they brought it to their father; and + said, This have we found: know now whether it be thy + son's coat or no. And he knew it, and said, It is my + son's coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is + without doubt rent in pieces. And Jacob rent his clothes, + and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his + son many days. And all his sons and all his daughters + rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; + and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my + son mourning. Thus his father wept for him. And the + Midianites sold him into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer + of Pharaoh's and captain of the guard.'--GENESIS xxxvii. 23-36. + +We have left the serene and lofty atmosphere of communion and saintship +far above us. This narrative takes us down into foul depths. It is a +hideous story of vulgar hatred and cruelty. God's name is never +mentioned in it; and he is as far from the actors' thoughts as from the +writer's words. The crime of the brothers is the subject, and the +picture is painted in dark tones to teach large truths about sin. + +1. The broad teaching of the whole story, which is ever being +reiterated in Old Testament incidents, is that God works out His great +purposes through even the crimes of unconscious men. There is an irony, +if we may so say, in making the hatred of these men the very means of +their brother's advancement, and the occasion of blessing to +themselves. As coral insects work, not knowing the plan of their reef, +still less the fair vegetation and smiling homes which it will one day +carry, but blindly building from the material supplied by the ocean a +barrier against it; so even evil-doers are carrying on God's plan, and +sin is made to counterwork itself, and be the black channel through +which the flashing water of life pours. Joseph's words (Gen. 1. 20) +give the point of view for the whole story: 'Ye thought evil against +me; but God meant it unto good ... to save much people alive.' We can +scarcely forget the still more wonderful example of the same thing, in +the crime of crimes, when his brethren slew the Son of God--like +Joseph, the victim of envy--and, by their crime, God's counsel of mercy +for them and for all was fulfilled. + +2. Following the narrative, verses 23, 24, and 25 show us the poisonous +fruit of brotherly hatred. The family, not the nation, is the social +unit in Genesis. From the beginning, we find the field on which sin +works is the family relation. Cain and Abel, Ishmael and Isaac, Esau +and Jacob, and now the other children of Jacob and Joseph, attest the +power of sin when it enters there, and illustrate the principle that +the corruption of the best is the worst. The children of Rachel could +not but be hated by the children of other mothers. Jacob's undisguised +partiality for Joseph was a fault too, which wrought like yeast on the +passions of his wild sons. The long-sleeved garment which he gave to +the lad probably meant to indicate his purpose to bestow on him the +right of the first-born forfeited by Reuben, and so the violent rage +which it excited was not altogether baseless. The whole miserable +household strife teaches the rottenness of the polygamous relation on +which it rested, and the folly of paternal favouritism. So it carries +teaching especially needed then, but not out of date now. + +The swift passage of the purely inward sin of jealous envy into the +murderous act, as soon as opportunity offered, teaches the short path +which connects the inmost passions with the grossest outward deeds. +Like Jonah's gourd, the smallest seed of hate needs but an hour or two +of favouring weather to become a great tree, with all obscene and +blood-seeking birds croaking in its branches. 'Whosoever hateth his +brother is a murderer,' Therefore the solemn need for guarding the +heart from the beginnings of envy, and for walking in love. + +The clumsy contrivance for murder without criminality, which Reuben +suggested, is an instance of the shallow pretexts with which the +sophistry of sin fools men before they have done the wrong thing. Sin's +mask is generally dropped very soon after. The bait is useless when the +hook is well in the fish's gills. 'Don't let us kill him. Let us put +him into a cistern. He cannot climb up its bottle-shaped, smooth sides. +But that is not our fault. Nobody will ever hear his muffled cries from +its depths. But there will be no blood on our hands.' It was not the +first time, nor is it the last, that men have tried to blink their +responsibility for the consequences which they hoped would come of +their crimes. Such excuses seem sound when we are being tempted; but, +as soon as the rush of passion is past, they are found to be worthless. +Like some cheap castings, they are only meant to be seen in front, +where they are rounded and burnished. Get behind them, and you find +them hollow. + +'They sat down to eat bread,' Thomas Fuller pithily says: 'With what +heart could they say grace, either before or after meat?' What a grim +meal! And what an indication of their rude natures, seared consciences, +and deadened affections! + +This picture of the moral condition of the fathers of the Jewish tribes +is surely a strong argument for the historical accuracy of the +narrative. It would be strange if the legends of a race, instead of +glorifying, should blacken, the characters of its founders. No motive +can be alleged which would explain such a picture; its only explanation +is its truth. The ugly story, too, throws vivid light on that thought, +which prophets ever reiterated, 'not for your sakes, but for My name's +sake.' The divine choice of Israel was grounded, not on merit, but on +sovereign purpose. And the undisguised plainness of the narrative of +their sins is but of a piece with the tone of Scripture throughout. It +never palliates the faults even of its best men. It tells its story +without comment. It never indulges in condemnation any more than in +praise. It is a perfect mirror; its office is to record, not to +criticise. Many misconceptions of Old Testament morality would have +been avoided by keeping that simple fact in view. + +3. The ill-omened meal is interrupted by the sudden appearance, so +picturesquely described, of the caravan of Ishmaelites with their +loaded camels. Dothan was on or near the great trade route to Egypt, +where luxury, and especially the custom of embalming, opened a +profitable market for spices. The traders would probably not be +particular as to the sort of merchandise they picked up on their road, +and such an 'unconsidered trifle' as a slave or two would be neither +here nor there. This opportune advent of the caravan sets a thought +buzzing in Judah's brain, which brings out a new phase of the crime. +Hatred darkening to murder is bad enough; but hatred which has also an +eye to business, and makes a profit out of a brother, is a shade or two +blacker, because it means cold-blooded calculation and selfish +advantage instead of raging passion. Judah's cynical question avows the +real motive of his intervention. He prefers the paltry gain from +selling Joseph to the unprofitable luxury of killing him. It brings in +regard to brotherly ties at the end, as a kind of homage paid to +propriety, as if the obligations they involved were not broken as +really by his proposal as by murder. Certainly it is strange logic +which can say in one breath, 'Let us sell him; ... for he is our +brother,' and finds the clause between buffer enough to keep these two +contradictories from collision. + +If any touch of conscience made the brothers prefer the less cruel +alternative, one can only see here another illustration of the strange +power which men have of limiting the working of conscience, and of the +fact that when a greater sin has been resolved on, a smaller one gets +to look almost like a virtue. Perhaps Judah and the rest actually +thought themselves very kind and brotherly when they put their brother +into strangers' power, and so went back to their meal with renewed +cheerfulness, both because they had gained their end without bloodshed, +and because they had got the money. They did not think that every tear +and pang which Joseph would shed and feel would be laid at their door. + +We do not suppose that Joseph was meant to be, in the accurate sense of +the word, a type of Christ. But the coincidence is not to be passed by, +that these same powerful motives of envy and of greed were combined in +His case too, and that there again a Judah (Judas) appears as the agent +of the perfidy. + +We may note that the appearance of the traders in the nick of time, +suggesting the sale of Joseph, points the familiar lesson that the +opportunity to do ill deeds often makes ill deeds done. The path for +entering on evil is made fatally easy at first; that gate always stands +wide. The Devil knows how to time his approaches. A weak nature, with +an evil bias in it, finds everywhere occasions and suggestions to do +wrong. But it is the evil nature which makes innocent things +opportunities for evil. Therefore we have to be on our guard, as +knowing that if we fall it is not circumstances, but ourselves, that +made stumbling-blocks out of what might have been stepping-stones. + +4. Leaving Joseph to pursue his sad journey, our narrative introduces +for the first time Reuben, whose counsel, as the verses before the text +tell us, it had been to cast the poor lad into the cistern. His motive +had been altogether good; he wished to save life, and as soon as the +others were out of the way, to bring Joseph up again and get him safely +back to Jacob. In chapter xlii. 22, Reuben himself reminds his brothers +of what had passed. There he says that he had besought them not to 'sin +against the child,' which naturally implies that he had wished them to +do nothing to him, and that they 'would not hear.' In the verses before +the text he proposes the compromise of the pit, and the others 'hear.' +So there seem to have been two efforts made by him--first, to shield +Joseph from any harm, and then that half-and-half measure which was +adopted. He is absent, while they carry out the plan, and from the +cruel merriment of the feast--perhaps watching his opportunity to +rescue, perhaps in sickness of heart and protest against the deed. Well +meant and kindly motived as his action was--and self-sacrificing too, +if, as is probable, Joseph was meant by Jacob as his successor in the +forfeited birthright--his scheme breaks down, as attempts to mitigate +evil by compliance and to make compromises with sinners usually do. The +only one of the whole family who had some virtue in him, was too timid +to take up a position of uncompromising condemnation. He thought it +more polite to go part of the way, and to trust to being able to +prevent the worst. That is always a dangerous experiment. It is often +tried still; it never answers. Let a man stand to his guns, and speak +out the condemnation that is in his heart; otherwise, he will be sure +to go farther than he meant, he will lose all right of remonstrance, +and will generally find that the more daring sinners have made his +well-meant schemes to avert the mischief impossible. + +5. The cruel trick by which Jacob was deceived is perhaps the most +heartless bit of the whole heartless crime. It came as near an insult +as possible. It was maliciously meant. The snarl about the coat, the +studied use of 'thy son' as if the brothers disowned the brotherhood, +the unfeeling harshness of choosing such a way of telling their +lie--all were meant to give the maximum of pain, and betray their +savage hatred of father and son, and its causes. Was Reuben's mouth +shut all this time? Evidently. From his language in chapter xlii., 'His +blood is required,' he seems to have believed until then that Joseph +had been killed in his absence. But he dared not speak. Had he told +what he did know, the brothers had but to add, 'And he proposed it +himself,' and his protestations of his good intentions would have been +unheeded. He believed his brother dead, and perhaps thought it better +that Jacob should think him slain by wild beasts than by brothers' +hands, as Reuben supposed him to be. But his shut mouth teaches again +how dangerous his policy had been, and how the only road, which it is +safe, in view of the uncertainties of the future, to take, is the plain +road of resistance to evil and non-fellowship with its doers. + +6. And what of the poor old father? His grief is unworthy of God's +wrestler. It is not the part of a devout believer in God's providence +to refuse to be comforted. There was no religious submission in his +passionate sorrow. How unlike the quiet resignation which should have +marked the recognition that the God who had been his guide was working +here too! No doubt the hypocritical condolences of his children were as +vinegar upon nitre. No doubt the loss of Joseph had taken away the one +gentle and true son on whom his loneliness rested since his Rachel's +death, while he found no solace in the wild, passionate men who called +him 'father' and brought him no 'honour.' But still his grief is beyond +the measure which a true faith in God would have warranted; and we +cannot but see that the dark picture which we have just been looking at +gets no lighter or brighter tints from the demeanour of Jacob. + +There are few bitterer sorrows than for a parent to see the children of +his own sin in the sins of his children. Jacob might have felt that +bitterness, as he looked round on the lovelessness and dark, passionate +selfishness of his children, and remembered his own early crimes +against Esau. He might have seen that his unwise fondness for the son +of his Rachel had led to the brothers' hatred, though he did not know +that that hatred had plunged the arrow into his soul. Whether he knew +it or not, his own conduct had feathered the arrow. He was drinking as +he had brewed; and the heart-broken grief which darkened his later +years had sprung from seed of his own sowing. So it is always. +'Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.' + +It is a miserable story of ignoble jealousy and cruel hate; and yet, +over all this foaming torrent, God's steadfast bow of peace shines. +These crimes and this 'affliction of Joseph' were the direct path to +the fulfilment of His purposes. As blind instruments, even in their +rebellion and sin, men work out His designs. The lesson of Joseph's +bondage will one day be the summing up of the world's history. 'Thou +makest the wrath of man to praise Thee: and with the remainder thereof +Thou girdest Thyself.' + + + + +GOODNESS IN A DUNGEON + + + 'And Joseph's master took him, and put him into the + prison, a place where the king's prisoners were bound: + and he was there in the prison. But the Lord was with + Joseph, and showed him mercy, and gave him favour in + the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper + of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the + prisoners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they + did there, he was the doer of it. The keeper of the + prison looked not to any thing that was under his hand; + because the Lord was with him, and that which he did, + the Lord made it to prosper.'--GENESIS xxxix. 20-23. + +'And it came to pass after these things, that the butler of the king of +Egypt and his baker had offended their lord the king of Egypt. And +Pharaoh was wroth against two of his officers, against the chief of the +butlers, and against the chief of the bakers. And he put them in ward +in the house of the captain of the guard, into the prison, the place +where Joseph was bound. And the captain of the guard charged Joseph +with them, and he served them: and they continued a season in ward. And +they dreamed a dream both of them, each man his dream in one night, +each man according to the interpretation of his dream, the butler and +the baker of the king of Egypt, which were bound in the prison. And +Joseph came in unto them in the morning, and looked upon them, and, +behold, they were sad. And he asked Pharaoh's officers that were with +him in the ward of his lord's house, saying, Wherefore look ye so sadly +to day? And they said unto him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is +no interpreter of it. And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretations +belong to God? tell me them, I pray you. And the chief butler told his +dream to Joseph, and said to him, In my dream, behold, a vine was +before me; And in the vine were three branches: and it was as though it +budded, and her blossoms shot forth; and the clusters thereof brought +forth ripe grapes: And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand: and I took the +grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into +Pharaoh's hand. And Joseph said unto him, This is the interpretation of +it: The three branches are three days: Yet within three days shall +Pharaoh lift up thine head, and restore thee unto thy place: and thou +shalt deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand, after the former manner when +thou wast his butler. But think on me when it shall be well with thee, +and shew kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto +Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house: For indeed I was stolen away +out of the land of the Hebrews: and here also have I done nothing that +they should put me into the dungeon.'--GENESIS xl. 1-15. + +Potiphar was 'captain of the guard,' or, as the title literally runs, +chief of the executioners. In that capacity he had charge of the +prison, which was connected with his house (Gen. xl. 3). It is, +therefore, quite intelligible that he should have put Joseph in +confinement on his own authority, and the distinction drawn between +such a prisoner and the 'king's prisoners,' who were there by royal +warrant or due process of law, is natural. Such high-handed treatment +of a slave was a small matter, and it was merciful as well as arrogant, +for death would have been the punishment of the crime of which Joseph +was accused. Either Potiphar was singularly lenient, or, as is perhaps +more probable, he did not quite believe his wife's story, and thought +it best to hush up a scandal. The transfer of Joseph from the house to +the adjoining prison would be quietly managed, and then no more need be +said about an ugly business. + +So now we see him at the lowest ebb of his fortunes, flung down in a +moment by a lie from the height to which he had slowly been climbing, +having lost the confidence of his master, and earned the unslumbering +hatred of a wicked woman. He had wrecked his career by his goodness. +'What a fool!' says the world. 'How badly managed things are in this +life,' say doubters, 'that virtue should not be paid by prosperity!' +But the end, even the nearer end in this life, will show whether he was +a fool, and whether things are so badly arranged; and the lesson +enforced by the picture of Joseph in his dungeon, and which young +beginners in life have special need to learn, is that, come what will +of it, right is right, and sin is sin, that consequences are never to +deter from duty, and that it is better to have a clean conscience and +be in prison than do wickedness and sit at a king's table. A very +threadbare lesson, but needing to be often repeated. + +'But the Lord was with Joseph.' That is one of the eloquent 'buts' of +Scripture. The prison is light when God is there, and chains do not +chafe if He wraps His love round them. Many a prisoner for God since +Joseph's time has had his experience repeated, and received tenderer +tokens from Him in a dungeon than ever before. Paul the prisoner, John +in Patmos, Bunyan in Bedford jail, George Fox in Lancaster Castle, +Rutherford in Aberdeen, and many more, have found the Lord with them, +and showing them His kindness. We may all be sure that, if ever +faithfulness to conscience involves us in difficulties, the +faithfulness and the difficulties will combine to bring to us sweet and +strong tokens of God's approval and presence, the winning of which will +make a prison a palace and a gate of heaven. + +Joseph's relations to jailer and fellow-prisoners are beautiful and +instructive. The former is called 'the keeper of the prison,' and is +evidently Potiphar's deputy, in more immediate charge of the prison. Of +course, the great man had an underling to do the work, and probably +that underling was not chosen for sweetness of temper or facile +leniency to his charges. But he fell under the charm of Joseph's +character--all the more readily, perhaps, because his occupation had +not brought many good men to his knowledge. This jewel would flash all +the more brightly for the dark background of criminals, and the jailer +would wonder at a type of character so unlike what he was accustomed +to. Eastern prisons to-day present a curious mixture of cruelty and +companionship. The jailers are on intimate terms with prisoners, and +yet are ready to torture them. There is no discipline, nor any rules, +nor inspection. The jailer does as he likes. So it seems to have been +in Egypt, and there would be nothing unnatural in making a prisoner +jailer of the rest, and leaving everything in his hands. The 'keeper of +the prison' was lazy, like most of us, and very glad to shift duties on +to any capable shoulders. Such a thing would, of course, be impossible +with us, but it is a bit of true local colouring here. + +Joseph won hearts because God was with him, as the story is careful to +point out. Our religion should recommend us, and therefore itself, to +those who have to do with us. It is not enough that we should be +severely righteous, as Joseph had been, or ready to meet trouble with +stoical resignation, but we are to be gentle and lovable, gracious +towards men, because we receive grace from God. We owe it to our Lord +and to our fellows, and to ourselves, to be magnets to attract to +Jesus, by showing how fair He can make a life. Joseph in prison found +work to do, and he did not shirk it. He might have said to himself: +'This is poor work for me, who had all Potiphar's house to rule. Shall +such a man as I come down to such small tasks as this?' He might have +sulked or desponded in idleness, but he took the kind of work that +offered, and did his best by it. Many young people nowadays do nothing, +because they think themselves above the small humdrum duties that lie +near them. It would do some of us good to remember Joseph in the jail, +and his cheerful discharge of what his hands found to do there. + +Of course, work done 'because the Lord was with him,' in the +consciousness of His presence, and in obedience to Him, went well. 'The +Lord made it to prosper,' as He always will make such work. + + 'When thou dost favour any action, + It runs, it flies.' + +And even if, sometimes, work done in the fear of the Lord does not +outwardly prosper, it does so in deepest truth, if it work in us the +peaceable fruit of righteousness. We need to have a more Christian idea +of what constitutes prosperity, and then we shall understand that there +are no exceptions to the law that, if a man does his work by God and +with God and for God, 'that which he does, the Lord makes it to +prosper.' + +The help that Joseph gave by interpreting the two high officials' +dreams cannot be considered here in detail, but we note that the names +of similar officers, evidently higher in rank than we should suppose, +with our notions of bakers and butlers, are found in Egyptian +documents, and that these two were 'king's prisoners,' and put in +charge of Potiphar, who alleviated their imprisonment by detailing +Joseph as their attendant, thus showing that his feeling to the young +Hebrew was friendly still. Dreams are the usual method of divine +communication in Genesis, and belong to a certain stage in the process +of revelation. The friend of God, who is in touch with Him, can +interpret these. 'The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him,' +and it is still true that they who live close by God have insight into +His purposes. Joseph showed sympathy with the two dreamers, and his +question, 'Why look ye so sadly?' unlocked their hearts. He was not so +swallowed up in his own trouble as to be blind to the signs of +another's sorrow, or slow to try to comfort. Grief is apt to make us +selfish, but it is meant to make us tender of heart and quick of hand +to help our fellows in calamity. We win comfort for our own sorrows by +trying to soothe those of others. Jesus stooped to suffer that He might +succour them that suffer, and we are to tread in His steps. + + + + +JOSEPH, THE PRIME MINISTER + + + 'And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a + one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is? And + Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath shewed + thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou + art: Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy + word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne + will I be greater than thou. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, + See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. And + Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon + Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, + and put a gold chain about his neck; And he made him to + ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried + before him, Bow the knee: and he made him ruler over all + the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am + Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand + or foot in all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh called + Joseph's name Zaphnath-paaneah; and he gave him to wife + Asenath the daughter of Poti-pherah priest of On. And + Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt. And Joseph + was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king + of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of + Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt. And + in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by + handfuls. And he gathered up all the food of the seven + years, which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the + food in the cities: the food of the field, which was + round about every city, laid he up in the same.' + GENESIS xli. 38-48. + +At seventeen years of age Joseph was sold for a slave; at thirty he was +prime minister of Egypt (Gen. xxxvii, 2; xli. 46). How long his prison +life lasted is uncertain; but it was long enough for the promises +contained in his early dreams to 'try him' (Ps. cv. 19) whether his +faith would stand apparent disappointment and weary delay. Like all the +Scripture narratives, this history of Joseph has little to say about +feelings, and prefers facts. But we can read between the lines, and be +tolerably sure that the thirteen years of trial were well endured, and +that the inward life had grown so as to fit him for his advancement. We +have here a full-length portrait of the prime minister, or vizier, +which brings out three points--his elevation, his naturalisation, and +his administration. + +Joseph had not only interpreted Pharaoh's dream, but had suggested a +policy in preparation for the coming famine. He had recommended the +appointment of 'a wise and discreet man,' with supreme authority over +the land. Pharaoh first consulted 'his servants,' and, with their +consent, possibly not very hearty, appointed the proposer of the plan +as its carrier-out, quoting to him his own words, 'wise and discreet.' + +The sudden installing of an unknown prisoner in high office has often +been thought hard to believe, and has been pointed to as proof of the +legendary character of the story. But the ground on which Pharaoh put +it goes far to explain it. He and his servants had come to believe that +'God' spoke through this man, that 'the Spirit of God' was in him. So +here was a divinely sent messenger, whom it would be impiety and +madness to reject. Observe that Pharaoh and Joseph both speak in this +chapter of 'God.' There was a common ground of recognition of a divine +Being on which they met. The local colour of the story indicates a +period before the fuller revelation, which drew so broad a line of +demarcation between Israel and the other nations. + +Joseph's sudden promotion is made the more intelligible by the +probability which the study of Egyptian history has given, that the +Pharaoh who made him his second in command was one of the Hyksos +conquerors who dominated Egypt for a long period. They would have no +prejudices against Joseph on account of his being a foreigner. A +dynasty of alien conquerors has generally an open door for talent, and +cares little who a man's father is, or where he comes from, if he can +do his work. And Joseph, by not being an Egyptian born, would be all +the fitter an instrument for carrying out the policy which he had +suggested. + +His ceremonial investiture with the insignia of office is true to +Egyptian manners. The signet ring, as the emblem of full authority; the +chain, as a mark of dignity; the robe of 'fine linen' (or rather of +cotton), which was a priestly dress--all are illustrated by the +monuments. The proclamation made before him as he rode in the second +chariot has been very variously interpreted. It has been taken for a +Hebraised Egyptian word, meaning 'Cast thyself down'; and this +interpretation was deemed the most probable, until Assyrian discovery +brought to light 'that _abarakku_ is the Assyrian name of the grand +vizier' (Fr. Delitzsch, _Hebrew Language Viewed in the Light of +Assyrian Research_, p. 26). Sayce proposes another explanation, also +from the cuneiform tablets: 'There was a word _abrik_ in the Sumerian +language, which signified a seer, and was borrowed by the Semitic +Babylonians under the varying forms of _abrikku_ and _abarakku_. It is +_abrikku_ which we have in Genesis, and the title applied by the people +to the "seer" Joseph proves to be the one we should most naturally +expect.' The Tel el-Amarna tablets show that the knowledge of cuneiform +writing was common in Egypt (Sayce, _Higher Criticism and the +Monuments_, p. 214). This explanation is tempting, but it is perhaps +scarcely probable that the proclamation should have been in any other +language than Egyptian, or should have had reference to anything but +Joseph's new office. It was not as seer that he was to be obeyed, but +as Pharaoh's representative, even though he had become the latter +because he had proved himself the former. + +But in any case, the whole context is accurately and strongly Egyptian. +Was there any point in the history of Israel, down to an impossibly +late date, except the time of Moses, at which Jewish writers were so +familiar with Egypt as to have been capable of producing so true a +picture? + +The lessons of this incident are plain. First stands out, clear and +full, the witness it bears to God's faithfulness, and to His sovereign +sway over all events. What are all the persons concerned in the +narrative but unconscious instruments of His? The fierce brothers, the +unconcerned slave-dealers, Potiphar, his wife, the prisoners, Pharaoh, +are so many links in a chain; but they are also men, and therefore free +to act, and guilty if acting wrongly. Men execute God's purposes, even +when unconscious or rebellious, but are responsible, and often +punished, for the acts which He uses to effect His designs. + +Joseph's thirteen years of trial, crowned with sudden prosperity, may +read all of us, and especially young men and women, a lesson of +patience. Many of us have to fight our way through analogous +difficulties at the outset of our career; and we are apt to lose heart +and get restive when success seems slow to come, and one hindrance +after another blocks our road. But hindrances are helps. If one of +Joseph's misfortunes had been omitted, his good fortune would never +have come. If his brethren had not hated him, if he had not been sold, +if he had not been imprisoned, he would never have ruled Egypt. Not one +thread in the tapestry could have been withdrawn without spoiling the +pattern. We cannot afford to lose one of our sorrows or trials. There +would be no summer unless winter had gone before. There is a bud or a +fruit for every snowflake, and a bird's song for every howl of the +storm. + +Plainly, too, does the story read the lesson of quiet doing of the work +and accepting the circumstances of the moment. Joseph was being +prepared for the administration of a kingdom by his oversight of +Potiphar's house and of the prison. His character was matured by his +trials, as iron is consolidated by heavy hammers. To resist temptation, +to do modestly and sedulously whatever work comes to our hands, to be +content to look after a jail even though we have dreamed of sun and +moon bowing down to us, is the best apprenticeship for whatever +elevation circumstances--or, to speak more devoutly, God--intends for +us. Young men thrown into city life far away from their homes, and +whispered to by many seducing voices, have often to suffer for keeping +themselves unspotted; but they are being strengthened by rough +discipline, and will get such promotion, in due time, as is good for +them. But outward success is not God's best gift. It was better to be +the Joseph who deserved his high place, than to have the place. The +character which he had grown into was more than the trappings which +Pharaoh put on him. And such a character is always the reward of such +patience, faith, and self-control, whether chains and chariots are +added or not. + +Little need be said about the other points of the story. Joseph's +naturalisation as an Egyptian was complete. His name was changed, in +token that he had completely become a subject of Pharaoh's. The meaning +of the formidable-looking polysyllable, which Egyptian lips found +easier than 'Joseph,' is uncertain. 'At present the origin of the first +syllable is still doubtful, and though the latter part of the name is +certainly the Egyptian _n-ti-pa-ankh_ ("of the life"), it is difficult +to say in which of its different senses the expression _pa-ankh_ ("the +life") is employed' (Sayce, _ut supra_, p. 213). The prevailing opinion +of Egyptian experts is that it means 'Support of life.' + +The naturalising was completed by his marriage to Asenath (supposed to +mean 'One belonging to the goddess Neith'), a daughter of a high +officer of state, Poti-phera (meaning, like its shortened form, +Potiphar, 'The gift of Ra' the sun-god). Such an alliance placed him at +once in the very innermost circle of Egyptian aristocracy. It may have +been a bitter pill for the priest to swallow, to give his daughter to a +man of yesterday, and an alien; but, just as probably, he too looked to +Joseph with some kind of awe, and was not unwilling to wed Asenath to +the first man in the empire, wherever he had started up from. + +But should not Joseph's religion have barred such a marriage? The +narrator gives no judgment on the fact, and we have to form our own +estimate. But it is not to be estimated as if it had occurred five or +six centuries later. The family of Jacob was not so fenced off, nor was +its treasure of revelation so complete, as afterwards. We may be fairly +sure that Joseph felt no inconsistency between his ancestral faith, +which had become his own in his trials, and this union. He was risking +a great deal; that is certain. Whether the venture ended well or ill, +we know not. Only we may be very sure that a marriage in which a common +faith is not a strong bond of union lacks its highest sanctity, and is +perilously apt to find that difference in religious convictions is a +strong separator. + +Joseph's administration opens up questions as to Egyptian land tenure, +and the like, which cannot be dealt with here. 'In the earlier days of +the monarchy the country was in the hands of great feudal lords; ... +the land belonged to them absolutely.... But after the convulsion +caused by the Hyksos conquest and the war of independence, this older +system of land tenure was completely changed.... The Pharaoh is the +fountain head, not only of honour, but of property as well.... The +people ceased to have any rights of their own' (Sayce, _ut supra_, p. +216). + +We may note Joseph's immediate entrance upon office and his +characteristic energy in it. He 'went out from the presence of Pharaoh, +and went throughout all the land of Egypt.' No grass grew under this +man's feet. He was ubiquitous, personally overseeing everything for +seven long years. Wasteful consumption of the abundant crops had to be +restrained, storehouses to be built, careful records of the contents to +be made, after Egyptian fashion. The people, who could not look so far +as seven years ahead, and wanted to enjoy, or make money out of, the +good harvests, had to be looked after, and an army of officials to be +kept in order. Dignity meant work for him. Like all true men, he +thought more of his duty than of his honours. Depend on it, he did not +wear his fine clothes or ride in the second chariot, when he was +hurrying about the country at his task. + +He had come 'out of prison to reign,' and, as we all find, if we are +God's servants, to reign means to serve, and the higher the place the +harder the task. The long years of waiting had nourished powers which +the seven years of busy toil tested. We must make ourselves, by God's +help, ready, in obscurity, and especially in youth, for whatever may be +laid on us in after days. And if we understand what life here means, we +shall be more covetous of spheres of diligent service than of places of +shining dignity. Whatever our task, let us do it, as Joseph did his, +with strenuous concentration, knowing, as he did, that the years in +which it is possible are but few at the longest. + + + + +RECOGNITION AND RECONCILIATION + + + 'Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them + that stood by him; and he cried, Cause every man to go + out from me. And there stood no man with him, while + Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. And he + wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh + heard. And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph; + doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not + answer him; for they were troubled at his presence. And + Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray + you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your + brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not + grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me + hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. + For these two years hath the famine been in the land: + and yet there are five years, in the which there shall + neither be earing nor harvest. And God sent me before + you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to + save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not + you that sent me hither, but God: and He hath made me + a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a + ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. Haste ye, and + go up to my father, and say unto him. Thus saith thy son + Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt: come down + unto me, tarry not: And thou shalt dwell in the land of + Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me, thou, and thy + children, and thy children's children, and thy flocks, + and thy herds, and all that thou hast: And there will I + nourish thee; for yet there are five years of famine; + lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, + come to poverty. And, behold, your eyes see, and the + eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that + speaketh unto you. And ye shall tell my father of all + my glory in Egypt, and of all that ye have seen; and ye + shall haste and bring down my father hither. And he fell + upon his brother Benjamin's neck, and wept; and Benjamin + wept upon his neck. Moreover he kissed all his brethren, + and wept upon them: and after that his brethren talked + with him.' + GENESIS xlv. 1-15. + + +I + + +If the writer of this inimitable scene of Joseph's reconciliation with +his brethren was not simply an historian, he was one of the great +dramatic geniuses of the world, master of a vivid minuteness like +Defoe's, and able to touch the springs of tears by a pathetic +simplicity like his who painted the death of Lear. Surely theories of +legend and of mosaic work fail here. + +1. We have, first, disclosure. The point at which the impenetrable, +stern ruler breaks down is significant. It is after Judah's torrent of +intercession for Benjamin, and self-sacrificing offer of himself for a +substitute and a slave. Why did this touch Joseph so keenly? Was it not +because his brother's speech shows that filial and fraternal affection +was now strong enough in him to conquer self? He had sent Joseph to the +fate which he is now ready to accept. He and the rest had thought +nothing of the dagger they plunged into their father's heart by selling +Joseph; but now he is prepared to accept bondage if he may save his +father's grey head an ache. The whole of Joseph's harsh, enigmatical +treatment had been directed to test them, and to ascertain if they were +the same fierce, cruel men as of old. Now, when the doubt is answered, +he can no longer dam back the flood of forgiving love. The wisest +pardoning kindness seeks the assurance of sorrow and change in the +offender, before it can safely and wholesomely enjoy the luxury of +letting itself out in tears of reconciliation. We do not call Joseph a +type of Christ; but the plain process of forgiveness in his brotherly +heart is moulded by the law which applies to God's pardon as to ours. +All the wealth of yearning pardon is there, before contrition and +repentance; but it is not good for the offender that it should be +lavished on him, impenitent. + +What a picture that is of the all-powerful ruler, choking down his +emotion, and hurriedly ordering the audience chamber to be cleared! How +many curious glances would be cast over their shoulders, by the slowly +withdrawing crowd, at the strange group--the viceroy, usually so calm, +thus inexplicably excited, and the huddled, rude shepherds, bewildered +and afraid of what was coming next, in this unaccountable country! How +eavesdroppers would linger as near as they durst, and how looks would +be exchanged as the sounds of passionate weeping rewarded their open +ears! The deepest feelings are not to be flaunted before the world. The +man who displays his tears, and the man who is too proud to shed them, +are both wrong; but perhaps it is worse to weep in public than not to +weep at all. + +'I am Joseph.' Were ever the pathos of simplicity, and the simplicity +of pathos, more nobly expressed than in these two words?--(There are +but two in the Hebrew.) Has the highest dramatic genius ever winged an +arrow which goes more surely to the heart than that? The question, +which hurries after the disclosure, seems strange and needless; but it +is beautifully self-revealing, as expressive of agitation, and as +disclosing a son's longing, and perhaps, too, as meant to relieve the +brothers' embarrassment, and, as it were, to wrap the keen edge of the +disclosure in soft wool. + +2. We have, next, conscience-stricken silence. No wonder his brethren +'could not answer' and 'were troubled at his presence.' They had found +their brother a ruler; they had found the ruler their brother. Their +former crime had turned what might have been a joy into a terror. +Already they had come to know and regret it. It might seem to their +startled consciences as if now they were about to expiate it. They +would remember the severity of Joseph's past intercourse; they see his +power, and cannot but be doubtful of his intentions. Had all his +strange conduct been manoeuvring to get them, Benjamin and all, into +his toils, that one blow might perfect his revenge? Our suspicions are +the reflections of our own hearts. So there they stand in open-mouthed, +but dumb, wonder and dread. It would task the pencil of him who +painted, on the mouldering refectory wall at Milan, the conflicting +emotions of the apostles, at the announcement of the betrayer, to +portray that silent company of abased and trembling criminals. They are +an illustration of the profitlessness of all crime. Sin is, as one of +its Hebrew names tells us, missing the mark--whether we think of it as +fatally failing to reach the ideal of conduct, or as always, by a +divine nemesis, failing to hit even the shabby end it aims at. 'Every +rogue is a roundabout fool.' They put Joseph in the pit, and here he is +on a throne. They have stained their souls, and embittered their +father's life for twenty-two long years, and the dreams have come true, +and all their wickedness has not turned the stream of the divine +purpose, any more than the mud dam built by a child diverts the +Mississippi. One flash has burned up their whole sinful past, and they +stand scorched and silent among the ruins. So it always is. Sooner or +later the same certainty of the futility of his sin will overwhelm +every sinful man, and dumb self-condemnation will stand in silent +acknowledgment of evil desert before the throne of the Brother, who is +now the Prince and the Judge, on whose fiat hangs life or death. To see +Christ enthroned should be joy; but it may be turned into terror and +silent anticipation of His just condemnation. + +3. We have encouragement and complete forgiveness. That invitation to +come close up to him, with which Joseph begins the fuller disclosure of +his heart, is a beautiful touch. We can fancy how tender the accents, +and how, with some lightening of fear, but still hesitatingly and +ashamed, the shepherds, unaccustomed to courtly splendours, approached. +The little pause while they draw near helps him to self-command, and he +resumes his words in a calmer tone. With one sentence of assurance that +he is their brother, he passes at once into that serene region where +all passion and revenge die, unable to breathe its keen, pure air. The +comfort which he addresses to their penitence would have been +dangerous, if spoken to men blind to the enormity of their past. But it +will not make a truly repentant conscience less sensitive, though it +may alleviate the aching of the wound, to think that God has used even +its sin for His own purposes. It will not take away the sense of the +wickedness of the motive to know that a wonderful providence has +rectified the consequences. It will rather deepen the sense of evil, +and give new cause of adoration of the love that pardons the wrong, and +the providence that neutralises the harm. + +Joseph takes the true point of view, which we are all bound to occupy, +if we would practise the Christian grace of forgiveness. He looks +beyond the mere human hate and envy to the divine purpose. 'The sword +is theirs; the hand is Thine.' He can even be grateful to his foes who +have been unintentionally his benefactors. He thinks of the good that +has come out of their malice, and anger dies within him. + +Highest attainment of all, the good for which he is grateful is not his +all-but-regal dignity, but the power to save and gladden those who +would fain have slain, and had saddened him for many a weary year. We +read in these utterances of a lofty piety and of a singularly gentle +heart, the fruit of sorrow and the expression of thoughts which had +slowly grown up in his mind, and had now been long familiar there. Such +a calm, certain grasp of the divine shaping and meaning of his life +could not have sprung up all at once in him, as he looked at the +conscience-stricken culprits cowering before him. More than natural +sweetness and placability must have gone to the making of such a temper +of forgiveness. He must have been living near the Fountain of all mercy +to have had so full a cup of it to offer. Because he had caught a gleam +of the divine pardon, he becomes a mirror of it; and we may fairly see +in this ill-used brother, yearning over the half-sullen sinners, and +seeking to open a way for his forgiveness to steal into their hearts, +and rejoicing over his very sorrows which have fitted him to save them +alive, and satisfy them in the days of famine, an adumbration of our +Elder Brother's forgiving love and saving tenderness. + +4. The second part of Joseph's address is occupied with his message to +Jacob, and shows how he longed for his father's presence. There is +something very natural and beautiful in the repeated exhortations to +haste, as indicating the impatient love of a long-absent son. If his +heart was so true to his father, why had he sent him no message for all +these years? Egypt was near enough, and for nine years now he had been +in power. Surely he could have gratified his heart. But he could not +have learned by any other means his brethren's feelings, and if they +were still what they had been, no intercourse would be possible. He +could only be silent, and yearn for the way to open in God's +providence, as it did. + +The message to Jacob is sent from 'thy son Joseph,' in token that the +powerful ruler lays his dignity at his father's feet. No elevation will +ever make a true son forget his reverence for his father. If he rise +higher in the world, and has to own an old man, away in some simple +country home, for his sire, he will be proud to do it. The enduring +sanctity of the family ties is not the least valuable lesson from our +narrative for this generation, where social conditions are so often +widely different in parents and in children. There is an affectionate +spreading out of all his glory before his father's old eyes; not that +he cared much about it for himself, since, as we have seen, elevation +to him meant mainly work, but because he knew how the eyes would +glisten at the sight. His mother, who would have been proud of him, is +gone, but he has still the joy of gladdening his father by the +exhibition of his dignity. It bespeaks a simple nature, unspoiled by +prosperity, to delight thus in his father's delight, and to wish the +details of all his splendour to be told him. A statesman who takes most +pleasure in his elevation because of the good he can do by it, and +because it will please the old people at home, must be a pure and +lovable man. The command has another justification in the necessity to +assure his father of the wisdom of so great a change. God had set him +in the Promised Land, and a very plain divine injunction was needed to +warrant his leaving it. Such a one was afterwards given in vision; but +the most emphatic account of his son's honour and power was none the +less required to make the old Jacob willing to abandon so much, and go +into such strange conditions. + +We have another instance of the difference between man's purposes and +God's counsel in this message. Joseph's only thought is to afford his +family temporary shelter during the coming five years of famine. +Neither he nor they knew that this was the fulfilment of the covenant +with Abraham, and the bringing of them into the land of their +oppression for four centuries. No shadow of that future was cast upon +their joy, and yet, the steady march of God's plan was effected along +the path which they were ignorantly preparing. The road-maker does not +know what bands of mourners, or crowds of holiday makers, or troops of +armed men may pass along it. + +5. This wonderfully beautiful scene ends with the kiss of full +reconciliation and frank communion. All the fear is out of the +brothers' hearts. It has washed away all the envy along with it. The +history of Jacob's household had hitherto been full of sins against +family life. Now, at last, they taste the sweetness of fraternal love. +Joseph, against whom they had sinned, takes the initiative, flinging +himself with tears on the neck of Benjamin, his own mother's son, +nearer to him than all the others, crowding his pent-up love in one +long kiss. Then, with less of passionate affection, but more of +pardoning love, he kisses his contrite brothers. The offender is ever +less ready to show love than the offended. The first step towards +reconciliation, whether of man with man or of man with God, comes from +the aggrieved. We always hate those whom we have harmed; and if enmity +were ended only by the advances of the wrong-doer, it would be +perpetual. The injured has the prerogative of praying the injurer to be +reconciled. So was it in Pharaoh's throne-room on that long past day; +so is it still in the audience chamber of heaven. 'He that might the +vantage best have took found out the remedy.' 'We love Him, because He +first loved us.' + +The pardoned men find their tongues at last. Forgiveness has opened +their lips, and though their reverence and thanks are no less, their +confidence and familiarity are more. How they would talk when once the +terror was melted away! So should it be with the soul which has tasted +the sweetness of Christ's forgiving love, and has known 'the kisses of +His mouth.' Long, unrestrained, and happy should be the intercourse +which we forgiven sinners keep up with our Brother, the Prince of all +the land. 'After that his brethren talked with him.' + + + + +JOSEPH, THE PARDONER AND PRESERVER + + +II + + +THE noble words in which Joseph dissipates his brothers' doubts have, +as their first characteristic, the recognition of the God by whom his +career had been shaped, and, for their next, the recognition of the +purpose for which it had been. There is a world of tenderness and +forgivingness in the addition made to his first words in verse 4, +'Joseph, _your brother_.' He owns the mystic bond of kindred, and +thereby assures them of his pardon for their sin against it. It was +right that he should remind them of their crime, even while declaring +his pardon. But he rises high above all personal considerations and +graciously takes the place of soother, instead of that of accuser. Far +from cherishing thoughts of anger or revenge, he tries to lighten the +reproaches of their own consciences. Thrice over in four verses he +traces his captivity to God. He had learned that wisdom in his long +years of servitude, and had not forgotten it in those of rule. + +There will be little disposition in us to visit offences against +ourselves on the offenders, if we discern God's purpose working through +our sorrows, and see, as the Psalmist did, that even our foes are 'men +which are Thy hand, O Lord.' True, His overruling providence does not +make their guilt less; but the recognition of it destroys all +disposition to revenge, and injured and injurer may one day unite in +adoring the result of what the One suffered at the other's hands. +Surely, some Christian persecutors and their victims have thus joined +hands in heaven. If we would cultivate the habit of seeing God behind +second causes, our hearts would be kept free from much wrath and +bitterness. + +Joseph was as certain of the purpose as of the source of his elevation. +He saw now what he had been elevated for, and he eagerly embraced the +task which was a privilege. No doubt, he had often brooded over the +thought, 'Why am I thus lifted up?' and had felt the privilege of being +a nation's saviour; but now he realises that he has a part to play in +fulfilling God's designs in regard to the seed of Abraham. Cloudy as +his outlook into the future may have been, he knew that great promises +affecting all nations were intertwined with his family, separation from +whom had been a sorrow for years. But now the thought comes to him with +sudden illumination and joy: 'This, then, is what it all has meant, +that I should be a link in the chain of God's workings.' He knows +himself to be God's instrument for effecting His covenant promises. How +small a thing honour and position became in comparison! + +We cannot all have great tasks in the line of God's purposes, but we +can all feel that our little ones are made great by being seen to be in +it. The less we think about chariots and gold chains, and the more we +try to find out what God means by setting us where we are, and to do +that, the better for our peace and true dignity. A true man does not +care for the rewards of work half as much as for the work itself. Find +out what God intends, and never mind whether He puts you in a dungeon +or in a palace. Both places lie on the road which He has marked and, in +either, the main thing is to do His will. + +Next comes the swiftly devised plan for carrying out God's purpose. It +sounds as if Joseph, with prompt statesmanship, had struck it out then +and there. At all events, he pours it forth with contagious earnestness +and haste. Note how he says over and over again 'My father,' as if he +loved to dwell on the name, but also as if he had not yet completely +realised the renewal of the broken ties of brotherhood. It was some +trial of the stuff he was made of, to have to bring his father and his +family to be stared at, and perhaps mocked at, by the court. Many a +successful man would be very much annoyed if his old father, in his +country clothes, and hands roughened by toil, sat down beside him in +his prosperity. Joseph had none of that baseness. Jacob would come, if +at all, as a half-starved immigrant, and would be 'an abomination to +the Egyptians.' But what of that? He was 'my father,' and his son knows +no better use to make of his dignity than to compel reverence for +Jacob's grey hairs, which he will take care shall _not_ be 'brought +down with sorrow to the grave.' It is a very homely lesson--never be +ashamed of your father. But in these days, when children are often +better educated than their parents, and rise above them in social +importance, it is a very needful one. + +The first overtures of reconciliation should come from the side of the +injured party. That is Christ's law, and if it were Christians' +practice, there would be fewer alienations among them. It is Christ's +law, because it is Christ's own way of dealing with us. He, too, was +envied, and sold by His brethren. His sufferings were meant 'to +preserve life.' Stephen's sermon in the Sanhedrin dwells on Joseph as a +type of Christ; and the typical character is seen not least distinctly +in this, that He against whom we have sinned pleads with us, seeks to +draw us nearer to Himself, and to lead us to put away all hard thoughts +of Him, and to cherish all loving ones towards Him, by showing us how +void His heart is of anger against us, and how full of yearning love +and of gracious intention to provide for us a dwelling-place, with +abundance of all needful good, beside Himself, while the years of +famine shall last. + + + + +GROWTH BY TRANSPLANTING + + + 'Then Joseph came and told Pharaoh, and said, My father + and my brethren, and their flocks, and their herds, and + all that they have, are come out of the land of Canaan; + and, behold, they are in the land of Goshen. And he took + some of his brethren, even five men, and presented them + unto Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said unto his brethren, What + is your occupation? And they said unto Pharaoh, Thy + servants are shepherds, both we, and also our fathers. + They said moreover unto Pharaoh, For to sojourn in the + land are we come; for thy servants have no pasture for + their flocks, for the famine is sore in the land of + Canaan: now therefore, we pray thee, let thy servants + dwell in the land of Goshen. And Pharaoh spake unto + Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come + unto thee: The land of Egypt is before thee; in the + best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell; + in the land of Goshen let them dwell: and if thou knowest + any men of activity among them, then make them rulers + over my cattle. And Joseph brought in Jacob his father, + and set him before Pharaoh: and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. + And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old art thou? And Jacob + said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage + are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the + days of the years of my life been, and have not attained + unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in + the days of their pilgrimage. And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, + and went out from before Pharaoh. And Joseph placed his + father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in + the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land + of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. And Joseph nourished + his father, and his brethren, and all his father's + household, with bread, according to their families.' + --GENESIS xlvii. 1-12. + +1. The conduct of Joseph in reference to the settlement in Goshen is an +example of the possibility of uniting worldly prudence with high +religious principle and great generosity of nature. He had promised his +brothers a home in that fertile eastern district, which afforded many +advantages in its proximity to Canaan, its adaptation to pastoral life, +and its vicinity to Joseph when in Zoan, the capital. But he had not +consulted Pharaoh, and, however absolute his authority, it scarcely +stretched to giving away Egyptian territory without leave. So his first +care, when the wanderers arrive, is to manage the confirmation of the +grant. He goes about it with considerable astuteness--a hereditary +quality, which is redeemed from blame because used for unselfish +purposes and unstained by deceit. He does not tell Pharaoh how far he +had gone, but simply announces that his family are in Goshen, as if +awaiting the monarch's further pleasure. Then he introduces a +deputation, no doubt carefully chosen, of five of his brothers (as if +the whole number would have been too formidable), previously instructed +how to answer. He knows what Pharaoh is in the habit of asking, or he +knows that he can lead him to ask the required question, which will +bring out the fact of their being shepherds, and utilise the prejudice +against that occupation, to ensure separation in Goshen. All goes as he +had arranged. Thanks partly to the indifference of the king, who seems +to have been rather a _roi faineant_ in the hands of his energetic +_maire du palais_, and to have been contented to give, with a flourish +of formality, as a command to Joseph, what Joseph had previously +carefully suggested to him (vers. 6, 7). There is nothing unfair in all +this. It is good, shrewd management, and no fault can be found with it; +but it is a new trait in the ideal character of a servant of God, and +contrasts strongly with the type shown in Abraham. None the less, it is +a legitimate element in the character and conduct of a good man, set +down to do God's work in such a world. Joseph is a saint and a +politician. His shrewdness is never craft; sagacity is not alien to +consecration. No doubt it has to be carefully watched lest it +degenerate; but prudence is as needful as enthusiasm, and he is the +complete man who has a burning fire down in his heart to generate the +force that drives him, and a steady hand on the helm, and a keen eye on +the chart, to guide him. Be ye 'wise as serpents' but also 'harmless as +doves.' + +2 We may note in Joseph's conduct also an instance of a man in high +office and not ashamed of his humble relations. One of the great +lessons meant to be taught by the whole patriarchal period was the +sacredness of the family. That is, in some sense, the keynote of +Joseph's history. Here we see family love, which had survived the trial +of ill-usage and long absence, victorious over the temptation of +position and high associates. It took some nerve and a great deal of +affection, for the viceroy, whom envious and sarcastic courtiers +watched, to own his kin. What a sweet morsel for malicious tongues it +would be, 'Have you heard? He is only the son of an old shepherd, who +is down in Goshen, come to pick up some crumbs there!' One can fancy +the curled lips and the light laugh, as the five brothers, led by the +great man himself, made their rustic reverences to Pharaoh. It is as if +some high official in Paris were to walk in half a dozen peasants in +blouse and sabots, and present them to the president as 'my brothers.' +It was a brave thing to do; and it teaches a lesson which many people, +who have made their way in the world, would be nobler and more esteemed +if they learned. + +3. The brother's words to Pharaoh are another instance of that ignorant +carrying out of the divine purposes which we have already had to +notice. They evidently contemplate only a temporary stay in the +country. They say that they are come 'to _sojourn_'--the verb from +which are formed the noun often rendered '_strangers_,' and that which +Jacob uses in verse 9, 'my _pilgrimage_.' The reason for their coming +is given as the transient scarcity of pasturage in Canaan, which +implies the intention of return as soon as that was altered. Joseph had +the same idea of the short duration of their stay; and though Jacob had +been taught by vision that the removal was in order to their being made +a great nation, it does not seem that his sons' intentions were +affected by that--if they knew it. So mistaken are our estimates. We go +to a place for a month, and we stay in it for twenty years. We go to a +place to settle for life, and our tent-pegs are pulled up in a week. +They thought of five years, and it was to be nearly as many centuries. +They thought of temporary shelter and food; God meant an education of +them and their descendants. Over all this story the unseen Hand hovers, +chastising, guiding, impelling; and the human agents are free and yet +fulfilling an eternal purpose, blind and yet accountable, responsible +for motives, and mercifully ignorant of consequences. So we all play +our little parts. We have no call to be curious as to what will come of +our deeds. This end of the action, the motive of it, is our care; the +other end, the outcome of it, is God's business to see to. + +4. We may also observe how trivial incidents are wrought into God's +scheme. The Egyptian hatred of the shepherd class secured one of the +prime reasons for the removal from Canaan--the unimpeded growth of a +tribe into a nation. There was no room for further peaceful and +separate expansion in that thickly populated country. Nor would there +have been in Egypt, unless under the condition of comparative +isolation, which could not have been obtained in any other way. Thus an +unreasonable prejudice, possibly connected with religious ideas, became +an important factor in the development of Israel; and, once again, we +have to note the wisdom of the great Builder who uses not only gold, +silver, and precious stones, but even wood, hay, stubble--follies and +sins--for His edifice. + +5. The interview of Jacob with Pharaoh is pathetic and beautiful. The +old man comports himself, in all the later history of Joseph, as if +done with the world, and waiting to go. 'Let me die, since I have seen +thy face,' was his farewell to life. He takes no part in the +negotiation about Goshen, but has evidently handed over all temporal +cares to younger hands. A halo of removedness lies round his grey +hairs, and to Pharaoh he behaves as one withdrawn from fleeting things, +and, by age and nearness to the end, superior even to a king's dignity. +As he enters the royal presence he does not do reverence, but invokes a +blessing upon him. 'The less is blessed of the better.' He has nothing +to do with court ceremonials or conventionalities. The hoary head is a +crown of honour, Pharaoh recognises his right to address him thus by +the kindly question as to his age, which implied respect for his years. +The answer of the 'Hebrew Ulysses,' as Stanley calls him, breathes a +spirit of melancholy not unnatural in one who had once more been +uprooted, and found himself again a wanderer in his old age. The +tremulous voice has borne the words across all the centuries, and has +everywhere evoked a response in the hearts of weary and saddened men. +Look at the component parts of this pensive retrospect. + +Life has been to him a 'pilgrimage'. He thinks of all his wanderings +from that far-off day when at Bethel he received the promise of God's +presence 'in all places whither thou goest,' till this last happy and +yet disturbing change. But he is thinking not only, perhaps not +chiefly, of the circumstances, but of the spirit, of his life. This is, +no doubt, the confession 'that they were strangers and pilgrims' +referred to in the Epistle to the Hebrews. He was a pilgrim, not +because he had often changed his place of abode, but because he sought +the 'city which hath foundations,' and therefore could not be at home +here. The goal of his life lay in the far future; and whether he looked +for the promises to be fulfilled on earth, or had the unformulated +consciousness of immortality, and saluted the dimly descried coast from +afar while tossing on life's restless ocean, he was effectually +detached from the present, and felt himself an alien in the existing +order. We have to live by the same hope, and to let it work the same +estrangement, if we would live noble lives. Not because all life is +change, nor because it all marches steadily on to the grave, but +because our true home--the community to which we really belong, the +metropolis, the mother city of our souls--is above, are we to feel +ourselves strangers upon earth. They who only take into account the +transiency of life are made sad, or sometimes desperate, by the +unwelcome thought. But they whose pilgrimage is a journey home may look +that transiency full in the face, and be as glad because of it as +colonists on their voyage to the old country which they call 'home,' +though they were born on the other side of the world and have never +seen its green fields. + +To Jacob's eyes his days seem 'few.' Abraham's one hundred and +seventy-five years, Isaac's one hundred and eighty, were in his mind. +But more than these was in his mind. The law of the moral perspective +is other than that of the physical. The days in front, seen through the +glass of anticipation, are drawn out; the days behind, viewed through +the telescope of memory, are crowded together. What a moment looked all +the long years of his struggling life--shorter now than even had once +seemed the seven years of service for his Rachel, that love had made to +fly past on such swift wings! That happy wedded life, how short it +looked! A bright light for a moment, and + + 'Ere a man could say "Behold!" + The jaws of darkness did devour it up.' + +It is well to lay the coolness of this thought on our fevered hearts, +and, whether they be torn by sorrows or gladdened with bliss, to +remember 'this also will pass' and the longest stretch of dreary days +be seen in retrospect, in their due relation to eternity, as but a +moment. That will not paralyse effort nor abate sweetness, but it will +teach proportion, and deliver from the illusions of this solid-seeming +shadow which we call life. + +The pensive retrospect darkens as the old man's memory dwells upon the +past. His days have not only been few--that could be borne--but they +have been 'evil' by which I understand not unfortunate so much as +faulty. We have seen in preceding pages the slow process by which the +crafty Jacob had his sins purged out of him, and became 'God's +wrestler.' Here we learn that old wrong-doing, even when forgiven--or, +rather, when and because forgiven--leaves regretful memories lifelong. +The early treachery had been long ago repented of and pardoned by God +and man. The nature which hatched it had been renewed. But here it +starts up again, a ghost from the grave, and the memory of it is full +of bitterness. No lapse of time deprives a sin of its power to sting. +As in the old story of the man who was killed by a rattlesnake's poison +fang embedded in a boot which had lain forgotten for years, we may be +wounded by suddenly coming against it, long after it is forgiven by God +and almost forgotten by ourselves. Many a good man, although he knows +that Christ's blood has washed away his guilt, is made to possess the +iniquities of his youth. 'Thou shalt be ashamed and confounded, and +never open thy mouth any more, when I am pacified toward thee for all +that thou hast done.' + +But this shaded retrospect is one-sided. It is true, and in some moods +seems all the truth; but Jacob saw more distinctly, and his name was +rightly Israel, when, laying his trembling hands on the heads of +Joseph's sons, he laid there the blessing of 'the God which fed me all +my life long, ... 'the Angel which redeemed me from all evil.' That was +his last thought about his life, as it began to be seen in the breaking +light of eternal day. Pensive and penitent memory may call the years +few and evil, but grateful faith even here, and still more the cleared +vision of heaven, will discern more truly that they have been a long +miracle of loving care, and that all their seeming evil has been +transmuted into good. + + + + +TWO RETROSPECTS OF ONE LIFE + + + 'And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, Few and evil have the + days of the years of my life been.'--GENESIS xlvii. 9. + + 'The God which fed me all my life long unto this day; + the Angel which redeemed me from all evil.' + --GENESIS xlviii. 15,16. + +These are two strangely different estimates of the same life to be +taken by the same man. In the latter Jacob categorically contradicts +everything that he had said in the former. 'Few and evil,' he said +before Pharaoh. 'All my life long,' 'the Angel which redeemed me from +all evil,' he said on his death-bed. + +If he meant what he said when he spoke to Pharaoh, and characterised +his life thus, he was wrong. He was possibly in a melancholy mood. Very +naturally, the unfamiliar splendours of a court dazzled and bewildered +the old man, accustomed to a quiet shepherd life down at Hebron. He had +not come to see Pharaoh, he only cared to meet Joseph; and, as was +quite natural, the new and uncongenial surroundings depressed him. +Possibly the words are only a piece of the etiquette of an Eastern +court, where it is the correct thing for the subject to depreciate +himself in all respects as far inferior to the prince. And there may be +little more than conventional humility in the words of my first text. +But I am rather disposed to think that they express the true feeling of +the moment, in a mood that passed and was followed by a more wholesome +one. + +I put the two sayings side by side just for the sake of gathering up +one or two plain lessons from them. + +1. We have here two possible views of life. + +Now the key to the difference between these two statements and moods of +feeling seems to me to be a very plain one. In the former of them there +is nothing about God. It is all Jacob. In the latter we notice that +there is a great deal more about God than about Jacob, and that +determines the whole tone of the retrospect. In the first text Jacob +speaks of 'the days of the years of _my_ pilgrimage,' 'the days of the +years of _my_ life,' and so on, without a syllable about anything +except the purely earthly view of life. Of course, when you shut out +God, the past is all dark enough, grey and dismal, like the landscape +on some cloudy day, where the woods stand black, and the rivers creep +melancholy through colourless fields, and the sky is grey and formless +above. Let the sun come out, and the river flashes into a golden +mirror, and the woods are alive with twinkling lights and shadows, and +the sky stretches a blue pavilion above them, and all the birds sing. +Let God into your life, and its whole complexion and characteristics +change. The man who sits whining and complaining, when he has shut out +the thought of a divine Presence, finds that everything alters when he +brings that in. + +And, then, look at the two particulars on which the patriarch dwells. +'I am only one hundred and thirty years old,' he says; a mere infant +compared with Abraham and Isaac! How did he know he was not going to +live to be as old as either of them? And 'if his days were evil,' as he +said, was it not a good thing that they were few? But, instead of that, +he finds reasons for complaint in the brevity of the life which, if it +were as evil as he made it out to be, must often have seemed +wearisomely long, and dragged very slowly. Now, both things are +true--life is short, life is long. Time is elastic--you can stretch it +or you can contract it. It is short compared with the duration of God; +it is short, as one of the Psalms puts it pathetically, as compared +with this Nature round us--'The earth abideth for ever'; we are +strangers upon it, and there is no abiding for us. It is short as +compared with the capacities and powers of the creatures that possess +it; but, oh! if we think of our days as a series of gifts of God, if we +look upon them, as Jacob looked upon them when he was sane, as being +one continued shepherding by God, they stretch out into blessed length. +Life is long enough if it manifests that God takes care of us, and if +we learn that He does. Life is long enough if it serves to build up a +God-pleasing character. + +It is beautiful to see how the thought of God enters into the dying +man's remembrances in the shape which was natural to him, regard being +had to his own daily avocations. For the word translated 'fed' means +much more than supplied with nourishment. It is the word for doing the +office of shepherd, and we must not forget, if we want to understand +its beauty, that Jacob's sons said, 'Thy servants are shepherds; both +we and also our fathers.' So this man, in the solitude of his pastoral +life, and whilst living amongst his woolly people who depended upon his +guidance and care, had learned many a lesson as to how graciously and +tenderly and constantly fed, and led, and protected, and fostered by +God were the creatures of His hand. + +It was he, I suppose, who first gave to religious thought that metaphor +which has survived temple and sacrifice and priesthood, and will +survive even earth itself; for 'I am the Good Shepherd' is as true +to-day as when first spoken by Jesus, and 'the Lamb which is in the +midst of the throne shall lead them,' and be their Shepherd when the +flock is carried to the upper pastures and the springs that never fail. +The life which has brought us that thought of a Shepherd-God has been +long enough; and the days which have been so expanded as to contain a +continuous series of His benefits and protections need never be +remembered as 'few,' whatsoever be the arithmetic that is applied to +them. + +The other contradiction is equally eloquent and significant. 'Few and +evil' have my days been, said Jacob, when he was not thinking about +God; but when he remembered the Angel of the Presence, that mysterious +person with whom he had wrestled at Peniel, and whose finger had lamed +the thigh while His lips proclaimed a blessing, his view changed, and +instead of talking about 'evil' days, he says, 'The Angel that redeemed +me from all evil.' Yes, his life had been evil, whether by that we mean +sorrowful or sinful, and the sorrows and the sins had been closely +connected. A sorely tried man he had been. Far away back in the past +had been his banishment from home; his disappointment and hard service +with the churlish Laban; the misbehaviour of his sons; the death of +Rachel--that wound which was never stanched; and then the twenty years' +mourning for Rachel's son, the heir of his inheritance. These were the +evils, the sins were as many, for every one of the sorrows, except +perhaps the chiefest of them all, had its root in some piece of +duplicity, dishonesty, or failure. But he was there in Egypt beside +Joseph. The evils had stormed over him, but he was there still. And so +at the end he says, 'The Angel ... redeemed me from evil, though it +smote me. Sorrow became chastisement, and I was purged of my sin by my +calamities.' The sorrows are past, like some raging inundation that +comes up for a night over the land and then subsides; but the blessing +of fertility which it brought in its tawny waves abides with me yet. +Joseph is by my side. 'I had not thought to see thy face, and God hath +showed me the face of thy seed.' That sorrow is over. Rachel's grave is +still by the wayside, and that sorest of sorrows has wrought with +others to purify character. Jacob has been tried by sorrows; he has +been purged from sins. 'The Angel delivered me from all evil.' So, dear +friends, sorrow is not evil if it helps to strip us from the evil that +we love, and the ills that we bear are good if they alienate our +affections from the ills that we do. + +2. Secondly, note the wisdom and the duty of taking the completer and +brighter view. + +These first words of Jacob's are very often quoted as if they were the +pattern of the kind of thing people ought to say, 'Few and evil have +been the days of the years of my pilgrimage.' That is a text from which +many sermons have been preached with approbation of the pious +resignation expressed in it. But it does not seem to me that that is +the tone of them. If the man believed what he said, then he was very +ungrateful and short-sighted, though there were excuses to be made for +him under the circumstances. If the days had been evil, he had made +them so. + +But the point which I wish to make now is that it is largely a matter +for our own selection which of the two views of our lives we take. We +may make our choice whether we shall fix our attention on the brighter +or on the darker constituents of our past. + +Suppose a wall papered with paper of two colours, one black, say, and +the other gold. You can work your eye and adjust the focus of vision so +that you may see either a black background or a gold one. In the one +case the prevailing tone is gloomy, relieved by an occasional touch of +brightness; and in the other it is brightness, heightened by a +background of darkness. And so you can do with life, fixing attention +on its sorrows, and hugging yourselves in the contemplation of these +with a kind of morbid satisfaction, or bravely and thankfully and +submissively and wisely resolving that you will rather seek to learn +what God means by darkness, and not forgetting to look at the +unenigmatical blessings, and plain, obvious mercies, that make up so +much of our lives. We have to govern memory as well as other faculties, +by Christian principle. We have to apply the plain teaching of +Christian truth to our sentimental, and often unwholesome, +contemplations of the past. There is enough in all our lives to make +material for plenty of whining and complaining, if we choose to take +hold of them by that handle. And there is enough in all our lives to +make us ashamed of one murmuring word, if we are devout and wise and +believing enough to lay hold of them by that one. Remember that you can +make your view of your life either a bright one or a dark one, and +there will be facts for both; but the facts that feed melancholy are +partial and superficial, and the facts that exhort, 'Rejoice in the +Lord alway; and again I say, Rejoice,' are deep and fundamental. + +3. So, lastly, note how blessed a thing it is when the last look is the +happiest. + +When we are amongst the mountains, or when we are very near them, they +look barren enough, rough, stony, steep. When we travel away from them, +and look at them across the plain, they lie blue in the distance; and +the violet shadows and the golden lights upon them and the white peaks +above make a dream of beauty. Whilst we are in the midst of the +struggle, we are often tempted to think that things go hardly with us +and that the road is very rough. But if we keep near our dear Lord, and +hold by His hand, and try to shape our lives in accordance with His +will--whatever be their outward circumstances and texture--then we may +be very sure of this, that when the end comes, and we are far enough +away from some of the sorrows to see what they lead to and blossom +into, then we shall be able to say, It was all very good, and to thank +Him for all the way by which the Lord our God has led us. + +In the same conversation in which the patriarch, rising to the height +of a prophet and organ of divine revelation, gives this his dying +testimony of the faithfulness of God, and declares that he has been +delivered from all evil, he recurs to the central sorrow of his life; +and speaks, though in calm words, of that day when he buried Rachel by +'Ephrath, which is Bethel.' But the pain had passed and the good was +present to him. And so, leaving life, he left it according to his own +word, 'satisfied with favour, and full of the blessing of the Lord.' So +we in our turns may, at the last, hope that what we know not now will +largely be explained; and may seek to anticipate our dying verdict by a +living confidence, in the midst of our toils and our sorrows, that 'all +things work together for good to them that love God.' + + + + +'THE HANDS OF THE MIGHTY GOD OF JACOB' + + + The archers shot at him, but his bow abode in strength, + and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands + of the mighty God of Jacob.' + GENESIS xlix. 23, 24. + +These picturesque words are part of what purports to be one of the +oldest pieces of poetry in the Bible--the dying Jacob's prophetic +blessing on his sons. Of these sons there are two over whom his heart +seems especially to pour itself--Judah the ancestor of the royal tribe, +and Joseph. The future fortunes of their descendants are painted in +most glowing colours. And of these two, the blessing on the 'son who +was dead and is alive again, who was lost and is found' is the fuller +of tender desire and glad prediction. The words of our text are +probably to be taken as prophecy, not as history--as referring to the +future conflicts and victories of the tribe, not to the past trials and +triumphs of its father. But be that as it may, they contain, in most +vivid metaphor, the earliest utterance of a very familiar truth. They +are the first hint of that thought which is caught up and expanded in +many a later saying of psalmist, and prophet, and apostle. We hear +their echoes in the great song ascribed to David 'in the day that the +Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand +of Saul': 'He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is +broken by mine arms'; and the idea receives its fullest carrying out +and noblest setting forth, in the trumpet-call of the apostle, who had +seen more formidable weapons and a more terrible military discipline in +Rome's legions than Jacob knew, and who pressed them into his +stimulating call: 'Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His +might.' 'Put on the whole armour of God.' Strength for conflict by +contact with the strength of God is the common thought of all these +passages--a very familiar thought, which may perhaps be freshened for +us by the singular intensity with which this metaphor of our text +presents it. Look at the picture.--Here stands the solitary man, ringed +all round by enemies full of bitter hate. Their arrows are on the +string, their bows drawn to the ear. The shafts fly thick, and when +they have whizzed past him, and he can be seen again, he stands +unharmed, grasping his unbroken bow. The assault has shivered no +weapon, has given no wound. He has been able to stand in the evil +day--and look! a pair of great, gentle, strong hands are laid upon his +hands and arms, and strength passes into his feebleness from the touch +of 'the hands of the mighty God of Jacob.' So the enemy have two, not +one, to reckon with. By the side of the hunted man stands a mighty +figure, and it is His strength, not the mortal's impotence, that has to +be overcome. Some dream of such divine help in the struggle of battle +has floated through the minds, and been enshrined in the legends, of +many people, as when the panoplied Athene has been descried leading the +Grecian armies, or, through the dust of conflict, the gleaming armour +and white horses of the Twin Brethren were seen far in advance of the +armies of Rome. But the dream is for us a reality. It _is_ true that we +go not to warfare at our own charges, nor by our own strength. If we +love Him and try to make a brave stand against our own evil, and to +strike a manful blow for God in this world, we shall not have to bear +the brunt alone. Remember he who fights for God never fights without +God. + +There is a strange story in a later book of Scripture, which almost +reads as if it had been modelled on some reminiscence of these words of +the dying Jacob--and is, at any rate, a remarkable illustration of +them. The kingdom of Israel, of which the descendants of Joseph were +the most conspicuous part, was in the very crisis and agony of one of +its Syrian wars. Its principal human helper was 'fallen sick of the +sickness whereof he died.' And to his death-bed came, in a passion of +perplexity and despair, the irresolute weakling who was then king, +bewailing the impending withdrawal of the nation's best defence. The +dying Elisha, with curt authority, pays no heed to the tears of Joash, +but bids him take bow and arrows. 'And he said to the king of Israel, +Put thine hand upon the bow,' and he put his hand upon it; and '_Elisha +put his hands upon the king's hands_.' Then, when the thin, wasted, +transparent fingers of the old man were thus laid, guiding and infusing +strength, by a strange paradox, into the brown, muscular hands of the +young king, he tells him to open the casement that looked eastward +towards the lands of the enemy, and, as the blinding sunshine and the +warm air streamed into the sick-chamber, he bids him draw the bow. He +was obeyed, and, as the arrow whizzed Jordanwards, the dying prophet +followed its flight with words brief and rapid like it, 'the arrow of +the Lord's deliverance.' Here we have all the elements of our text +singularly repeated--the dying seer, the king the representative of +Joseph in the royal dignity to which his descendants have come, the +arrows and the bow, the strength for conflict by the touch of hands +that had the strength of God in them. The lesson of that paradox that +the dying gave strength to the living, the feeble to the strong, was +the old one which is ever new, that mere human power is weakness when +it is strongest, and that power drawn from God is omnipotent when it +seems weakest. And the further lesson is the lesson of our text, that +our hands are then strengthened, when His hands are laid upon them, of +whom it is written: 'Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is Thy hand, and +high is Thy right hand. + +As a father in old days might have taken his little boy out to the +butts, and put a bow into his hand, and given him his first lesson in +archery, directing his unsteady aim by his own firmer finger, and +lending the strength of his wrist to his child's feebler pull, so God +does with us. The sure, strong hand is laid on ours, and is 'profitable +to direct.' A wisdom not our own is ever at our side, and ready for our +service. We but dimly perceive the conditions of the conflict, and the +mark at which we should aim is ever apt to be obscured to our +perceptions. But in all cases where conscience is perplexed, or where +the judgment is at fault, we may, if we will, have Him for our teacher. +And when we know not where to strike the foes that seem invulnerable, +like the warrior who was dipped in the magic stream, or clothed in mail +impenetrable as rhinoceros' hide, He will make us wise to know the one +spot where a wound is fatal. We shall not need to fight as he that +beats the air; to strike at random; or to draw our bow at a venture, if +we will let Him guide us. + +Or if ever the work be seen clearly enough, but our poor hands cannot +take aim for very trembling, or shoot for fear of striking something +very dear to us, He will steady our nerves and make our aim sure and +true. We have often, in our fight with ourselves, and in our struggle +to get God's will done in the world, to face as cruel a perplexity as +the father who had to split the apple on his son's head. The evil +against which we have to contend is often so closely connected with +things very precious to us, that it is hard to smite the one when there +is such danger of grazing the other. Many a time our tastes, our +likings, our prejudices, our hopes, our loves, make our sight dim, and +our pulses too tumultuous to allow of a good, long, steady gaze and a +certain aim. It is hard to keep the arrow's point firm when the heart +throbs and the hand shakes. But in all such difficult times He is ready +to help us. 'Behold, we know not what to do, but our eyes are upon +Thee,' is a prayer never offered in vain. + +The word that is here rendered 'made strong,' might be translated 'made +pliable,' or 'flexible' conveying the notion of deftness and dexterity +rather than that of simple strength. It is practised strength that He +will give, the educated hand and arm, masters of the manipulation of +the weapon. The stiffness and clumsiness of our handling, the obstinate +rigidity as well as the throbbing feebleness of our arms, the dimness +of our sight, may all be overcome. At His touch the raw recruit is as +the disciplined veteran; the prophet who cannot speak because he is a +child, gifted with a mouth and wisdom which all the adversaries shall +not be able to gainsay nor to resist. Do not be disheartened by your +inexperience, or by your ignorance; but as the prophet said to the +young king, Take the bow and shoot. God's strong hand will hold yours, +and the arrow will fly true. + +That strong hand is laid on ours, and lends its weight to our feeble +pull. The bow is often too heavy for us to bend, but we do not need to +strain our strength in the vain attempt to do it alone. Tasks seem too +much for us. The pressure of our daily work overwhelms us. The burden +of our daily anxieties and sorrows is too much. Some huge obstacle +starts up in our path. Some great sacrifice for truth, honour, duty, +which we feel we cannot make, is demanded of us. Some daring defiance +of some evil, which has caught us in its toils, or which it is +unfashionable to fight against, seems laid upon us. We cannot rise to +the height of the occasion, or bring ourselves to the wrench that is +required. Or the wearing recurrence of monotonous duties seems to take +ail freshness out of our lives, and all spring out of ourselves; and we +are ready to give over struggling any more, and let ourselves drift. +Can we not feel that large hand laid on ours; and does not power, more +and other than our own, creep into our numb and relaxed fingers? Yes, +if we will let Him. His strength is made perfect in our weakness; and +every man and woman who will make life a noble struggle against evil, +vanity, or sin, may be very sure that God will direct and strengthen +their hands to war, and their fingers to fight. + +But the remarkable metaphor of the text not only gives the fact of +divine strength being bestowed, but also the _manner_ of the gift. What +a boldness of reverent familiarity there is in that symbol of the hands +of God laid on the hands of the man! How strongly it puts the contact +between us and Him as the condition of our reception of power from Him! +A true touch, as of hand to hand, conveys the grace. It is as when the +prophet laid himself down with his warm lip on the dead boy's cold +mouth, and his heart beating against the still heart of the corpse, +till the life passed into the clay, and the lad lived. So, if we may +say it, our Quickener bends Himself over all our deadness, and by His +own warmth reanimates us. + +Perhaps this same thought is one of the lessons which we are meant to +learn from the frequency with which our Lord wrought His miracles of +healing by the touch of His hand. 'Come and lay Thy hand on him, and he +shall live.' 'And He put forth His hand and touched him, and said, I +will, be thou clean.' 'Many said, He is dead; but Jesus took him by the +hand and lifted him up, and he arose.' The touch of His hand is healing +and life. The touch of our hands is faith. In the mystery of His +incarnation, in the flow of His sympathy, in the forth-putting of His +power, He lays hold not on angels, but He lays hold on the seed of +Abraham. By our lowly trust, by the forth-putting of our desires, we +stretch 'lame hands of faith,' and, blessed be God! we do not 'grope,' +but we grasp His strong hand and are held up. + +The contact of our spirits with His Spirit is a contact far more real +than the touch of earthly hands that grasp each other closest. There is +ever some film of atmosphere between the palms. But 'he that is joined +to the Lord is one spirit,' and he that clasps Christ's outstretched +hand of help with his outstretched hand of weakness, holds Him with a +closeness to which all unions of earth are gaping gulfs of separation. +You remember how Mary cast herself at Christ's feet on the resurrection +morning, and would have flung her arms round them in the passion of her +joy. The calm word which checked her has a wonderful promise in it. +'Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father'; plainly leading +to the inference, 'When I am ascended, then you may touch Me.' And that +touch will be more reverent, more close, more blessed, than any +clasping of His feet, even with such loving hands, and is possible for +us all for evermore. + +Nothing but such contact will give us strength for conflict and for +conquest. And the plain lesson therefore is--see to it, that the +contact is not broken by you. Put away the metaphor, and the simple +English of the advice is just this:--First, live in the desire and the +confidence of His help in all your need, of His strength as all your +power. As a part of that confidence--its reverse and under side, so to +speak--cherish the profound sense of your own weakness. + + 'In our own strength we nothing can; + Full soon were we down-ridden'-- + +as Luther has taught us to sing. Let there be a constant renewal, in +the midst of your duties and trials, of that conscious dependence and +feeling of insufficiency. Stretch out the empty hands to Him in that +desire and hope, which, spoken or silent, is prayer. Keep the +communications open, by which His strength flows into your souls. Let +them not be choked with self-confidence, with vanities, with the +rubbish of your own nature, or of the world. Do not twitch away your +hands from under the strong hands that are laid so gently upon them. +But let Him cover, direct, cherish, and strengthen your poor fingers +till they are strong and nimble for all your work and warfare. If you +go into the fight trusting to your own wit and wisdom, to the vigour of +your own arm, or the courage of your own heart, that very foolhardy +confidence is itself defeat, for it is sin as well as folly, and +nothing can come of it but utter collapse and disaster. But if you will +only go to your daily fight with yourself and the world, with your hand +grasping God's hand, you will be able to 'withstand in the evil day, +and having done all, to stand.' The enemies may compass you about like +bees, but in the name of the Lord you can destroy them. Their arrows +may fly thick enough to darken the sun, but, as the proud old boast has +it, 'then we can fight in the shade'; and when their harmless points +have buried themselves in the ground, you will stand unhurt, your +unshivered bow ready for the next assault, and your hands made strong +by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. 'In all these things we are +more than conquerors, through Him that loved us.' + + + + +THE SHEPHERD, THE STONE OF ISRAEL + + + '... The mighty God of Jacob. From thence is the Shepherd, + the stone of Israel.'--GENESIS xlix. 24. + +A slight alteration in the rendering will probably bring out the +meaning of these words more correctly. The last two clauses should +perhaps not be read as a separate sentence. Striking out the supplement +'is,' and letting the previous sentence run on to the end of the verse, +we get a series of names of God, in apposition with each other, as the +sources of the strength promised to the arms of the hands of the +warlike sons of Joseph. From the hands of the mighty God of Jacob--from +thence, from the Shepherd, the stone of Israel--the power will come for +conflict and for conquest. This exuberant heaping together of names of +God is the mark of the flash of rapturous confidence which lit up the +dying man's thoughts when they turned to God. When he begins to think +of Him he cannot stay his tongue. So many aspects of His character, so +many remembrances of His deeds, come crowding into his mind; so +familiar and so dear are they, that he must linger over the words, and +strive by this triple repetition to express the manifold preciousness +of Him whom no name, nor crowd of names, can rightly praise. So earthly +love ever does with its earthly objects, inventing and reiterating +epithets which are caresses. Such repetitions are not tautologies, for +each utters some new aspect of the one subject, and comes from a new +gush of heart's love towards it. And something of the same rapture and +unwearied recurrence to the Name that is above every name should mark +the communion of devout souls with their heavenly Love. What a +wonderful burst of such praise flowed out from David's thankful heart, +in his day of deliverance, like some strong current, with its sevenfold +wave, each crested with the Name--'The Lord is my rock, and my +fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; +my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.' + +Those three names which we find here are striking and beautiful in +themselves; in their juxtaposition; in their use on Jacob's lips. They +seem to have been all coined by him, for, if we accept this song as a +true prophecy uttered by him, we have here the earliest instance of +their occurrence. They all have a history, and appear again expanded +and deepened in the subsequent revelation. Let us look at them as they +stand. + +1. _The Mighty God of Jacob_.--The meaning of such a name is clear +enough. It is He who has shown Himself mighty and mine by His deeds for +me all through my life. The dying man's thoughts are busy with all that +past from the day when he went forth from the tent of Isaac, and took +of the stones of the field for his pillow when the sun went down. A +perplexed history it had been, with many a bitter sorrow, and many a +yet bitterer sin. Passionate grief and despairing murmurs he had felt +and flung out, while it slowly unfolded itself. When the Pharaoh had +asked, 'How old art thou?' he had answered in words which owe their +sombreness partly to obsequious assumption of insignificance in such a +presence, but have a strong tinge of genuine sadness in them too: 'Few +and evil have the days of the years of my life been.' But lying dying +there, with it all well behind him, he has become wiser; and now it all +looks to him as one long showing forth of the might of his God, who had +been with him all his life long, and had redeemed him from all evil. He +has got far enough away to see the lie of the land, as he could not do +while he was toiling along the road. The barren rocks and white snow +glow with purple as the setting sun touches them. The struggles with +Laban; the fear of Esau; the weary work of toilsome years; the sad day +when Rachel died, and left to him the 'son of her sorrow'; the heart +sickness of the long years of Joseph's loss--all have faded away, or +been changed into thankful wonder at God's guidance. The one thought +which the dying man carries out of life with him is: God has shown +Himself mighty, and He has shown Himself mine. + +For each of us, our own experience should be a revelation of God. The +things about Him which we read in the Bible are never living and real +to us till we have verified them in the facts of our own history. Many +a word lies on the page, or in our memories, fully believed and utterly +shadowy, until in some soul's conflict we have had to grasp it, and +found it true. Only so much of our creed as we have proved in life is +really ours. If we will only open our eyes and reflect upon our history +as it passes before us, we shall find every corner of it filled with +the manifestations to our hearts and to our minds of a present God. But +our folly, our stupidity, our impatience, our absorption with the mere +outsides of things, our self-will, blind us to the Angel with the drawn +sword who resists us, as well as to the Angel with the lily who would +lead us. So we waste our days; are deaf to His voice speaking through +all the clatter of tongues, and blind to His bright presence shining +through all the dimness of earth; and, for far too many of us, we never +can see God in the present, but only discern Him when He has passed by, +like Moses from his cleft. Like this same Jacob, we have to say: +'Surely God was in this place, and I knew it not.' Hence we miss the +educational worth of our lives, are tortured with needless cares, are +beaten by the poorest adversaries, and grope amidst what seems to us a +chaos of pathless perplexities, when we might be marching on assured +and strong, with God for our guide, and the hands of the Mighty One of +Jacob for our defence. + +Notice, too, how distinctly the thought comes out in this name--that +the very vital centre of a man's religion is his conviction that God is +his. Jacob will not be content with thinking of God as the God of his +fathers; he will not even be content with associating himself with them +in the common possession; but he must feel the full force of the +intensely personal bond that knits him to God, and God to him. Of +course such a feeling does not ignore the blessed fellowship and family +who also are held in this bond. The God of Jacob is to the patriarch +also the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob. But that comes +second, and this comes first. Each man for himself must put forth the +hand of his own faith, and grasp that great hand for his own guide. +'_My_ Lord and _my_ God' is the true form of the confession. 'He loved +_me_ and gave Himself for _me_,' is the shape in which the Gospel of +Christ melts the soul. God is mine because His love individualises me, +and I have a distinct place in His heart, His purposes, and His deeds. +God is mine, because by my own individual act--the most personal which +I can perform--I cast myself on Him, by my faith appropriate the common +salvation, and open my being to the inflow of His power. God is mine, +and I am His, in that wonderful mutual possession, with perpetual +interchange of giving and receiving not only gifts but selves, which +makes the very life of love, whether it be love on earth or love in +heaven. + +Remember, too, the profound use which our Lord made of this name, +wherein Jacob claims to possess God. Because Moses at the bush called +God, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, they cannot have +ceased to be. The personal relations, which subsist between God and the +soul that clasps Him for its own, demand an immortal life for their +adequate expression, and make it impossible that Death's skeleton +fingers should have power to untie such a bond. Anything is +conceivable, rather than that the soul which can say 'God is mine' +should perish. And that continued existence demands, too, a state of +being which shall correspond to itself, in which its powers shall all +be exercised, its desires fulfilled, its possibilities made facts. +Therefore there must be the resurrection. 'God is not ashamed to be +called their God, for He hath prepared for them a city.' + +The dying patriarch left to his descendants the legacy of this great +name, and often, in later times, it was used to quicken faith by the +remembrance of the great deeds of God in the past. One instance may +serve as a sample of the whole. 'The Lord of Hosts is with us, the God +of Jacob is our refuge.' The first of these two names lays the +foundation of our confidence in the thought of the boundless power of +Him whom all the forces of the universe, personal and impersonal, +angels and stars, in their marshalled order, obey and serve. The second +bids later generations claim as theirs all that the old history reveals +as having belonged to the 'world's grey fathers.' They had no special +prerogative of nearness or of possession. The arm that guided them is +unwearied, and all the past is true still, and will for evermore be +true for all who love God. So the venerable name is full of promise and +of hope for us: 'The God of Jacob is our refuge.' + +2. _The Shepherd_.--How that name sums up the lessons that Jacob had +learned from the work of himself and of his sons! 'Thy servants are +shepherds' they said to Pharaoh; 'both we, and also our sons.' For +fourteen long, weary years he had toiled at that task. 'In the day the +drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep departed from +mine eyes,' and his own sleepless vigilance and patient endurance seem +to him to be but shadows of the loving care, the watchful protection, +the strong defence, which 'the God, who has been my Shepherd all my +life long,' had extended to him and his. Long before the shepherd king, +who had been taken from the sheepcotes to rule over Israel, sang his +immortal psalm, the same occupation had suggested the same thought to +the shepherd patriarch. Happy they whose daily work may picture for +them some aspect of God's care--or rather, happy they whose eyes are +open to see the dim likeness of God's care which every man's earthly +relations, and some part of his work, most certainly present. + +There can be no need to draw out at length the thoughts which that +sweet and familiar emblem has conveyed to so many generations. Loving +care, wise guidance, fitting food, are promised by it; and docile +submission, close following at the Shepherd's heels, patience, +innocence, meekness, trust, are required. But I may put emphasis for a +moment on the connection between the thought of 'the mighty God of +Jacob' and that of 'the Shepherd.' The occupation, as we see it, does +not call for a strong arm, or much courage, except now and then to wade +through snowdrifts, and dig out the buried and half-dead creatures. But +the shepherds whom Jacob knew, had to be hardy, bold fighters. There +were marauders lurking ready to sweep away a weakly guarded flock. +There were wild beasts in the gorges of the hills. There was danger in +the sun by day on these burning plains, and in the night the wolves +prowled round the flock. We remember how David's earliest exploits were +against the lion and the bear, and how he felt that even his duel with +the Philistine bully was not more formidable than these had been. If we +will read into our English notions of a shepherd this element of danger +and of daring, we shall feel that these two clauses are not to be taken +as giving the contrasted ideas of strength and gentleness, but the +connected ones of strength, and therefore protection and security. We +have the same connection in later echoes of this name. 'Behold, the +Lord God shall come with _strong_ hand; He shall feed His flock like a +shepherd.' And our Lord's use of the figure brings into all but +exclusive prominence the good shepherd's conflict with the ravening +wolves--a conflict in which he must not hesitate even 'to lay down his +life for the sheep.' As long as the flock are here, amidst dangers and +foes, and wild weather, the arm that guides must be an arm that can +guard; and none less mighty than the Mighty One of Jacob can be the +Shepherd of men. But a higher fulfilment yet awaits this venerable +emblem, when in other pastures, where no lion nor any ravening beast +shall come, the 'Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne,' and is +Shepherd as well as Lamb, 'shall feed them, and lead them by living +fountains of waters.' + +3. _The Stone of Israel_.--Here, again, we have a name, that after-ages +have caught up and cherished, used for the first time. I suppose the +Stone of Israel means much the same thing as the Rock. If so, that +symbol, too, which is full of such large meanings, was coined by Jacob. +It is, perhaps, not fanciful to suppose that it owes its origin to the +scenery of Palestine. The wild cliffs of the eastern region where +Peniel lay, or the savage fastnesses in the southern wilderness, a +day's march from Hebron, where he lived so long, came back to his +memory amid the flat, clay land of Egypt; and their towering height, +their immovable firmness, their cool shade, their safe shelter, spoke +to him of the unalterable might and impregnable defence which he had +found in God. So there is in this name the same devout, reflective +laying-hold upon experience which we have observed in the preceding. + +There is also the same individualising grasp of God as his very own; +for 'Israel' here is, of course, to be taken not as the name of the +nation but as his own name, and the intention of the phrase is +evidently to express what God had been to him personally. + +The general idea of this symbol is perhaps firmness, solidity. And that +general idea may be followed out in various details. God is a rock for +a foundation. Build your lives, your thoughts, your efforts, your hopes +there. The house founded on the rock will stand though wind and rain +from above smite it, and floods from beneath beat on it like battering +rams. God is a rock for a fortress. Flee to Him to hide, and your +defence shall be the 'munitions of rocks,' which shall laugh to scorn +all assault, and never be stormed by any foe. God is a rock for shade +and refreshment. Come close to Him from out of the scorching heat, and +you will find coolness and verdure and moisture in the clefts, when all +outside that grateful shadow is parched and dry. + +The word of the dying Jacob was caught up by the great law-giver in his +dying song. 'Ascribe ye greatness to our God. He is the Rock.' It +reappears in the last words of the shepherd king, whose grand prophetic +picture of the true King is heralded by 'The Book of Israel spake to +me.' It is heard once more from the lips of the greatest of the +prophets in his glowing prophecy of the song of the final days: 'Trust +ye in the Lord for ever; for in the Lord Jehovah is the Rock of Ages,' +as well as in his solemn prophecy of the Stone which God would lay in +Zion. We hear it again from the lips that cannot lie: 'Did ye never +read in the Scriptures, The Stone which the builders rejected, the same +is become the headstone of the corner?' And for the last time the +venerable metaphor which has cheered so many ages appears in the words +of that Apostle who was 'surnamed Cephas, which is by interpretation a +stone': 'To whom coming as unto a living Stone, yea also as living +stones are built up.' As on some rocky site in Palestine, where a +hundred generations in succession have made their fortresses, one may +see stones with the bevel that tells of early Jewish masonry, and above +them Roman work, and higher still masonry of crusading times, and above +it the building of to-day; so we, each age in our turn, build on this +great rock foundation, dwell safe there for our little lives, and are +laid to peaceful rest in a sepulchre in the rock. On Christ we may +build. In Him we may dwell and rest secure. We may die in Jesus, and be +gathered to our own people, who, having died, live in Him. And though +so many generations have reared their dwellings on that great rock, +there is ample room for us too to build. We have not to content +ourselves with an uncertain foundation among the shifting rubbish of +perished dwellings, but can get down to the firm virgin rock for +ourselves. None that ever builded there have been confounded. We clasp +hands with all who have gone before us. At one end of the long chain +this dim figure of the dying Jacob, amid the strange vanished life of +Egypt, stretches out his withered hands to God the Stone of Israel; at +the other end, we lift up ours to Jesus, and cry:-- + + 'Rock of Ages! cleft for me, + Let me hide myself in Thee.' + +The faith is one. One will be the answer and the reward. May it be +yours and mine! + + + + +A CALM EVENING, PROMISING A BRIGHT MORNING + + + 'And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brethren, + and all that went up with him to bury his father, after + he had buried his father. And when Joseph's brethren + saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will + peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all + the evil which we did unto him. And they sent a messenger + unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he + died, saying, So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I + pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their + sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, + forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy + father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him. And + his brethren also went and fell down before his face; + and they said, Behold, we be thy servants. And Joseph + said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? + But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God + meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, + to save much people alive Now therefore fear ye not: I + will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted + them, and spake kindly unto them. And Joseph dwelt in + Egypt, he, and his father's house: and Joseph lived an + hundred and ten years. And Joseph saw Ephraim's children + of the third generation: the children also of Machir the + son of Manasseh were brought up upon Joseph's knees. And + Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely + visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land + which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And + Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, + God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones + from hence. So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten + years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a + coffin in Egypt.'--GENESIS l. 14-26. + +Joseph's brothers were right in thinking that he loved Jacob better +than he did them; and they knew only too well that he had reasons for +doing so. But their fear that Jacob's death would be followed by an +outbreak of long-smothered revenge betrayed but too clearly their own +base natures. They thought him like themselves, and they knew +themselves capable of nursing wrath to keep it warm through long years +of apparent kindliness. They had no room in their hearts for frank, +full forgiveness. So they had lived on through numberless signs of +their brother's love and care, and still kept the old dread, and, +probably, not a little of the old envy. How much happiness they had +lost by their slowness to believe in Joseph's love! + +Is there nothing like this in our thoughts of God? Do men not live for +years on His bounty, and all the while cherish suspicions of His heart? +'Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself.' It is +hard to believe in a love which has no faintest trace of desire for +vengeance for all past slights. It is hard for hearts conscious of +their own slowness to pardon, to realise undoubtingly God's infinite +placability. + +The brothers' procedure is marked by unwarrantable lack of trust in +Joseph. Why did they not go to him at once, and appeal to his brotherly +affection? Their roundabout way of going to work by sending a messenger +was an insult to their brother, though it may have been meant as honour +to the viceroy. The craft which was their father's by nature seems to +have been amply transmitted. The story of Jacob's dying wish looks very +apocryphal. If he had been afraid of Joseph's behaviour when he was +gone, he was much more likely to have spoken to Joseph about it before +he went, than to have left the gun loaded and bid them fire it after +his death. Jacob knew his son better, and trusted him more than his +brothers did. + +We note, too, the ingenious way of slipping in motives for forgiving, +first in putting the mention of their relationship into Jacob's mouth, +and then claiming to be worshippers of 'thy (not our) father's God.' +They had proved how truly they were both, when they sold him to the +Midianites! + +Joseph's tears were a good answer. No doubt they were partly drawn out +by the shock of finding that he had been so misunderstood, but they +were omens of his pardon. So, when they were reported to the brothers, +they came themselves, and fulfilled the old dream by falling down +before him in abjectness. They do not call themselves his brethren, but +his slaves, as if grovelling was the way to win love or to show it. A +little affection would have gone farther than much submission. If their +attitude truly expressed their feelings, their hearts were as untouched +by Joseph's years of magnanimous kindness as a rock by falling rain. If +it was a theatrical display of feigned subjection, it was still worse. +Our Brother, against whom we have sinned, wants love, not cowering; and +if we believe in His forgiveness, we shall give Him the hearts which He +desires, and after that shall render the unconditional submission which +only trust and love can yield. + +Joseph's answer is but the reiteration of his words at his first making +himself known. He soothes unworthy fears, says not a word of reproach +for their misunderstanding of him, waives all pretension to deal out +that retribution which God alone sends, and shows that he has lost all +bitterness in thinking of the past, since he sees in it, not the +working of their malice, but of God's providence, and is ready to +thank, if not them, at any rate Him, for having, by even so painful a +way, made him the instrument of widespread good. A man who sees God's +hand in his past, and thinks lightly of his sorrows and nobly of the +opportunities of service which they have brought him, will waste no +feeling on the men who were God's tools. If we want to live high above +low hatreds and revenges, let us cultivate the habit of looking behind +men to God. So we shall be saved from many fruitless pangs over +irrevocable losses and from many disturbing feelings about other people. + +The sweet little picture of the great minister's last days is very +tenderly touched. Surrounded by his kindred, probably finding in a +younger generation the reverence and affection which the elder had +failed to give, he wears away the calm evening of the life which had +opened so stormily. It 'came in like a lion, it goes out like a lamb.' +The strong domestic instincts so characteristic of the Hebrew race had +full gratification. Honours and power at court and kingdom probably +continued, but these did not make the genial warmth which cheered the +closing years. It was that he saw his children's children's children, +and that they gathered round his knees in confidence, and received from +him his benediction. + +But it is in his death that the flame shoots up most brightly at the +last. 'By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of +the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.' He +had been an Egyptian to all appearance all his life from the day of his +captivity, filling his place at court, marrying an Egyptian woman, and +bearing an Egyptian name, but his dying words show how he had been a +stranger in the midst of it all. As truly as his fathers who dwelt in +tents, he too felt that he here had no continuing city. He lived by +faith in God's promises, and therefore his heart was in the unseen +future far more than in the present. + +He died with the ancestral assurance on his lips. Jacob, dying, had +said to him, 'Behold, I die; but God shall be with you, and bring you +again unto the land of your fathers' (Gen. xlviii. 21). Joseph hands on +the hope to his descendants. It is a grand instance of indomitable +confidence in God's word, not nonplussed, bewildered, or weakened, +though the man who cherishes it dies without seeing even a beginning of +fulfilment. Such a faith bridges the gulf of death as a very small +matter. In the strength of it we may drop our unfinished tasks, and, +needful as we may seem to wider or narrower circles, may be sure that +God and His word live, though we die. No man is necessary. Israel was +safe in Egypt, and sure to come out of it, though Joseph's powerful +protection was withdrawn. + +His career may teach another lesson; namely, that true faith does not +detach us from strenuous interest and toil in the present. Though the +great hope burned in his heart, he did all his work as prime minister +all the better because of it. It should always be so. Life here is not +worth living if there is not another. The distance dignifies the +foreground. The highest importance and nobleness of the life that now +is, lie in its being preparation or apprenticeship for the greater +future. The Egyptian vizier, with Canaan written on his heart, and +Egypt administered by his hands, is a type of what every Christian +should be. + +Possibly Joseph's 'commandment concerning his bones may have been +somewhat influenced by the Egyptian belief which underlies their +practice of embalming the body. He, too, may have thought that, in some +mysterious way, he would share in the possession of the land in which +his bones were to be laid. Or he may simply have been yielding to +natural sentiment. It is noteworthy that Jacob desired to be laid +beside his ancestors, and Joseph to be kept in Egypt for a time. Both +had the same assurance as to future possession of Canaan, but it led to +different wishes as to burial. Perhaps Joseph felt that his position in +Egypt required that his embalmed body should for a while remain there. +Perhaps he wished to leave with his people a silent witness of his own +hope, and a preacher, eloquent in its dumbness, of the duty of their +keeping alive that hope, whatever might come upon them. + +'In a coffin in Egypt'--so the book ends. It might seem that that +mummy-case proclaimed rather the futility of the hope of restoration to +the land, and, as centuries rolled away, and the bondage became +heavier, no doubt many a wondering and doubting look was turned to it. +But there it lay, perhaps neglected, for more than three hundred years, +the visible embodiment of a hope which smiled at death and counted +centuries as nothing. At last the day came which vindicated the +long-deferred confidence; and, as the fugitives in their haste +shouldered the heavy sarcophagus, and set out with it for the Land of +Promise, surely some thrill of trust would pass through their ranks, +and in some hearts would sound the exhortation, 'If the vision tarry, +wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.' + +We have not a dead Joseph to bid us wait with patience and never lose +our firm grip of God's promises, but we have a living Jesus. Our march +to the land of rest is headed, not by the bones of a departed leader, +but by the Forerunner, 'who is for us entered' whither He will bring +all who trust in Him. Therefore we should live, as Joseph lived, with +desires and trust reaching out beyond things seen to the land assured +to us by God's promise, doing our day's task all the more vigorously +because we do not belong to the order of things in the midst of which +we live; and then, when we lie down at the end of our life's work, we +shall not be saddened by disappointed hopes, nor reluctantly close our +eyes on good to come, when we shall not be there to share it, but be +sure that we shall 'see the good of Thy chosen,' and 'rejoice in the +gladness of Thy nation.' + + + + +JOSEPH'S FAITH + + + 'Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, + God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones + from hence.'--GENESIS l. 25. + +This is the one act of Joseph's life which the author of the Epistle to +the Hebrews selects as the sign that he too lived by faith. 'By faith +Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of +Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.' + +It was at once a proof of how entirely he believed God's promise, and +of how earnestly he longed for its fulfilment. It was a sign too of how +little he felt himself at home in Egypt, though to outward appearance +he had become completely one of its people. The ancestral spirit was in +him true and strong though he was 'separate from his brethren.' He bore +an Egyptian name, a swelling title, he married an Egyptian woman, he +had an Egyptian priest for father-in-law, but he was an Israelite in +heart; and in the midst of official cares and a surfeit of honours, his +desires turned away from them all towards the land promised by God to +his fathers. + +And when he lay dying, he could not bear to think that his bones should +moulder in the country where his life had been spent. 'I know that this +is not our land after all; swear to me that when the promise that has +tarried so long comes at last, you will take me, all that is left of +me, and carry it up, and lay it in some corner of the blessed soil, +that I too may somehow share in the inheritance of His people. God +shall surely visit you. Carry my bones up hence.' + +Perhaps there is in this wish a trace of something besides faith in +God's promises. Of course, there is a natural sentiment which no +clearness of knowledge of a future state wholly dispels. We all feel as +if somehow our bodies remain a part of ourselves even after death, and +we have wishes where they shall lie. But perhaps Joseph had a more +definite belief on the matter than that. What theory of another life +does an Egyptian mummy express? Why all that sedulous care to preserve +the poor relics? Was it not a consequence of the belief that somehow or +other there could be no life without a body, and that in some +mysterious way the preservation of that contributed to the continuance +of this? And so Joseph, who was himself going to be embalmed and put +into a mummy-case, may have caught something of the tone of thought +prevalent around him, and have believed that to carry his bones to the +land of promise was, in some obscure manner, to carry _him_ thither. Be +that as it may, whether the wish came from a mistake about the relation +of flesh and spirit, or only from the natural desire which we too +possess, that our graves may not be among strangers, but beside our +father's and our mother's--that is not the main thing in this fact. The +main thing is that this dying man believed God's promise, and claimed +his share in it. + +And on this the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, whoever he was, +fastens. Neglecting the differences in knowledge between Joseph and the +Christians whom he addresses, and pointing back to the strong +confidence in God and longing for participation in the promises which +brightened the glazing eye and gave _him_ 'hope in his death,' he +declares that the principle of action which guided this man in the dim +twilight of early revelation, is that same faith which ought to guide +us who live in the full light of the unsetting sun. + +Taking, then, this incident, with the New Testament commentary upon it, +it leads us to a truth which we often lose sight of, but which is +indispensable if we would understand the relations of the earlier and +later days. + +1. _Faith is always the same, though knowledge varies._--There is a +vast difference between a man's creed and a man's faith. The one may +vary, does vary within very wide limits; the other remains the same. +The things believed have been growing from the beginning--the attitude +of mind and will by which they have been grasped has been the same from +the beginning, and will be the same to the end. And not only so, but it +will be substantially the same in heaven as it is on earth. For there +is but one bond which unites men to God; and that emotion of loving +trust is one and the same in the dim twilight of the world's morning, +and amid the blaze of the noonday of heaven. The contents of faith, +that on which it relies, the treasure it grasps, changes; the essence +of faith, the act of reliance, the grasp which holds the treasure, does +not change. + +It is difficult to decide how much Joseph's gospel contained. From our +point of view it was very imperfect. The spiritual life was nourished +in him and in the rest of 'the world's grey fathers' on what looks to +us but like seven basketsful of fragments. They had promises, indeed, +in which we, looking at them with the light of fulfilment blazing upon +them, can see the broad outlines of the latest revelation, and can +trace the future flower all folded together and pale in the swelling +bud. But we shall err greatly if we suppose, as we are apt to do, that +those promises were to them anything like what they are to us. It +requires a very vigorous exercise of very rare gifts to throw ourselves +back to their position, and to gain any vivid and approximately +accurate notion of the theology of these ancient lovers of God. + +This, at any rate, we may, perhaps, say: they had a sure and clear +knowledge of the living God, who had talked with them as with a friend; +they knew His inspiring, guiding presence; they knew the forgiveness of +sins; they knew, though they very dimly understood, the promise, 'In +thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.' How far they +looked across the gulf of death and beheld anything--even cloudland--on +the other side, is a question very hard to answer, and about which +confident dogmatism, either affirmative or negative, is unwarranted. +But it is to be remembered that, whether they had any notion of a +future state or no, they had a promise which fulfilled for them +substantially the same office as that does for us. The promise of the +land of Canaan gleaming before them through the mists, bare and +'earthly' as it seems to us when compared with our hope of an +inheritance incorruptible in the heavens, is, by the author of the +Epistle to the Hebrews, identified with that hope of ours, for he +expressly says that, whilst they were looking for an earthly Canaan, +they were 'desiring a better country, that is an heavenly.' So that, +whether they definitely expected a life after death or not, the +anticipation of the land promised to them and to their fathers held the +same place in their creed, and as a moral agent in their lives, which +the rest that remains for the people of God ought to do in ours. + +And it is to be taken into account also that fellowship with God has in +it the germ of the assurance of immortality. It seems almost impossible +to suppose a state of mind in which a man living in actual communion +with God shall believe that death is to end it all. Christ's proof that +immortal life was revealed in the Pentateuch, was the fact that God +there called Himself the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob; by +which our Lord meant us to learn that men who are brought into personal +relations with God can never die, that it is impossible that a soul +which has looked up to the face of the unseen Father with filial love +should be left in the grave, or that those who are separated to be His, +as He is theirs, should see corruption. The relation once established +is eternal, and some more or less definite expectation of that eternity +seems inseparable from the consciousness of the relation. + +But be that as it may, and even taking the widest possible view of the +contents of the patriarchal creed, what a rude outline it looks beside +ours! Can there be anything in common between us? Can they be in any +way a pattern for us? Yes; as I said, faith is one thing, creed is +another. Joseph and his ancestors were joined to God by the very same +bond which unites us to Him. There has never been but one path of life: +'They _trusted_ God and were lightened, and their faces were not +ashamed.' In that Old Covenant the one thing needful was trust in the +living Jehovah. In the New, the one thing needful is the very same +emotion, directed to the very same Lord, manifested now and incarnate +in the divine Son, our Saviour. In this exercise of loving confidence, +in which reason and will and affection blend in the highest energy and +holiest action, Joseph and we are one. Across the gulf of centuries we +clasp hands; and in despite of all superficial differences of culture +and civilisation, and all deeper differences in knowledge of God and +His loving will, Pharaoh's prime minister, and the English workman, and +the Hindoo ryot, may be alike in what is deepest--the faith which +grasps God. How all that mysterious Egyptian life fades away as we +think of the fundamental identity of religious emotion then and now! It +disguises our brother from us, as it did from the wandering Arabs who +came to buy corn, and could not recognise in the swarthy, imperious +Egyptian, with strange head-dress and unknown emblems hanging by chains +of gold about his neck, the fair boy whom they had sold to the +merchants. But beneath it all is the brother's heart, fed by the same +life-blood which feeds ours. He trusts in God, he expects a future +because God has promised it, and, therefore, he is separated from those +among whom he dwells, and knit to us in this far-off island of the sea, +who so many centuries after are partakers of like precious faith. + +And incomplete as his creed was, Joseph may have been a better +Christian than some of us, and was so, if what he knew nourished his +spiritual life more than what we know nourishes ours, and if his heart +and will twined more tenaciously round the fragments of revelation +which he possessed, and drew from them more support and strength than +we do from the complete Gospel which we have. + +Brethren, what makes us Christians is not the theology we have in our +heads, but the faith and love we have in our hearts. We must, indeed, +have a clear statement of truth in orderly propositions--that is, a +system of dogmas--to have anything to trust to at all. There can be no +saving faith in an unseen Person, except through the medium of thoughts +concerning Him, which thoughts put into words are a creed. The +antithesis which is often eagerly urged upon us--not doctrines, but +Christ--is a very incomplete and misleading one. 'Christ' is a mere +name, empty of all significance till it is filled with definite +statements of who and what Christ is. But whilst I, for my part, +believe that we must have doctrines to make Christ a reality and an +object of faith to grasp at all, I would urge all the more earnestly, +because I thus believe, that, when we have these doctrines, it is not +the creed that saves, but the faith. We are united to Christ, not by +the doctrine of His nature and work, needful as that is, but by +trusting in Him as that which the doctrine declares Him to +be--Redeemer, Friend, Sacrifice, Divine Lover of our souls. Let us +always remember that it is not the amount of religious knowledge which +I have got, but the amount which I use, that determines my religious +position and character. Most of us have in our creeds principles that +have no influence upon our moral and active life; and, if so, it +matters not one whit how pure, how accurate, how comprehensive, how +consistent, how scriptural my conceptions of the Gospel may be. If they +are not powers in my soul, they only increase my responsibility and my +liability to condemnation. The dry light of the understanding is of no +use to anybody. You must turn your creed into a faith before it has +power to bless and save. + +There are hosts of so-called Christians who get no more good out of the +most solemn articles of their orthodox belief than if they were +heathens. What in the use of your saying that you believe in God the +Father Almighty, when there is no child's love and happy confidence in +your heart? What the better are you for believing in Jesus Christ, His +divine nature, His death and glory, when you have no reliance on Him, +nor any least flutter of trembling love towards Him? Is your belief in +the Holy Ghost of the smallest consequence, if you do not yield to His +hallowing power? What does it matter that you believe in the +forgiveness of sins, so long as you do not care a rush whether yours +are pardoned or no? And is it anything to you or to God that you +believe in the life everlasting, if all your work, and hopes, and +longings are confined to 'this bank and shoal of time'? Are you any +more a Christian because of all that intellectual assent to these +solemn verities? Is not your life like some secularised monastic +chamber, with holy texts carved on the walls, and saintly images +looking down from glowing windows on revellers and hucksters who defile +its floor? Your faith, not your creed, determines your religion. Many a +'true believer' is a real 'infidel.' + +Thank God that the soul may be wedded to Christ, even while a very +partial conception of Christ is in the understanding. The more complete +and adequate the creed, indeed, the mightier and more fruitful in +blessing will the faith naturally be; and every portion of the full orb +of the Sun of Righteousness which is eclipsed by the shadow of our +intellectual misconceptions, will diminish the light and warmth which +falls upon our souls. It is no part of our duty to pronounce what is +the minimum of a creed which faith needs for its object. For myself, I +confess that I do not understand how the spiritual life can be +sustained in its freshness and fervour, in its fulness and reality, +without a belief in the divinity and saving work of Jesus Christ. But +with that belief for the centre which faith grasps, the rest may vary +indefinitely. All who stand around that centre, some nearer, some +further off, some mazed in errors which others have cast behind them, +some of them seeing and understanding more, and some less of Him and of +His work--are His. He loves them, and will save them all. Knowledge +varies. The faith which unites to God remains the same. + +2. We may gather from this incident another consideration, namely, that +_Faith has its noblest office in detaching from the present_. + +All his life long, from the day of his captivity, Joseph was an +Egyptian in outward seeming. He filled his place at Pharaoh's court, +but his dying words open a window into his soul, and betray how little +he had felt that he belonged to the order of things in the midst of +which he had been content to live. This man, too, surrounded by an +ancient civilisation, and dwelling among granite temples and solid +pyramids and firm-based sphinxes, the very emblems of eternity, +confessed that here he had no continuing city, but sought one to come. +As truly as his ancestors who dwelt in tabernacles, like Abraham +journeying with his camels and herds, and pitching his tent outside the +walls of Hebron, like Isaac in the grassy plains of the South country, +like Jacob keeping himself apart from the families of the land, their +descendant, an heir with them of the same promise, showed that he too +regarded himself as a 'stranger and a sojourner.' Dying, he said, +'Carry my bones up from hence. Therefore we may be sure that, living, +the hope of the inheritance must have burned in his heart as a hidden +light, and made him an alien everywhere but on its blessed soil. + +And faith will always produce just such effects. In exact proportion to +its strength, that living trust in God will direct our thoughts and +desires to the 'King in His beauty, and the land that is very far off.' +In proportion as our thoughts and desires are thus directed, they will +be averted from what is round about us; and the more longingly our eyes +are fixed on the furthest horizon, the less shall we see the flowers at +our feet. To behold God pales the otherwise dazzling lustre of created +brightness. They whose souls are fed with heavenly manna, and who have +learned that it is their necessary food, will scent no dainties in the +fleshpots of Egypt, for all their rank garlic and leeks. It is simply a +question as to which of two classes of ideas occupies the thoughts, and +which of two sets of affections engages the heart. If vulgar brawling +and rude merrymakers fill the inn, there will be no room for the +pilgrim thoughts which bear the Christ in their bosom, and have angels +for their guard; and if these holy wayfarers enter, their serene +presence will drive forth the noisy crowd, and turn the place into a +temple. Nothing but Christian faith gives to the furthest future the +solidity and definiteness which it must have, if it is to be a +breakwater for us against the fluctuating sea of present cares and +thoughts. + +If the unseen is ever to rule in men's lives, it must be through their +thoughts. It must become intelligible, clear, real. It must be brought +out of the flickering moonlight of fancy and surmises, into the +sunlight of certitude and knowledge. Dreams, and hopes, and +peradventures are too unsubstantial stuff to be a bulwark against the +very real, undeniable present. And such certitude is given through +faith which grasps the promises of God, and twines the soul round the +risen Saviour so closely that it sits with Him in heavenly places. Such +certitude is given by faith alone. + +If the unseen is ever to rule in men's lives, it must become not only +an object for certain knowledge, but also for ardent wishes. The vague +sense of possible evils lurking in its mysteries must be taken out of +the soul, and there must come somehow an assurance that all it wraps in +its folds is joy and peace. It must cease to be doubtful, and must seem +infinitely desirable. Does anything but Christian faith engage the +heart to love, and all the longing wishes to set towards, the things +that are unseen and eternal? Where besides, then, can there be found a +counterpoise weighty enough to heave up the souls that are laden with +the material, and cleaving to the dust? Nowhere. The only possible +deliverance from the tyrannous pressure of the trifles amidst which we +live is in having the thoughts familiarised with Christ in heaven, +which will dwarf all that is on earth, and in having the affections +fixed on Him, which will emancipate them from the pains and sorrows +that ever wait upon love of the mutable and finite creatures. + +Let us remember that such deliverance from the present is the condition +of all noble, joyous, pure life. It needs Christianity to effect it +indeed, but it does not need Christianity to see how desirable it is, +and how closely connected with whatever is lovely and of good report is +this detachment from the near and the visible. A man that is living for +remote objects is, in so far, a better man than one who is living for +the present. He will become thereby the subject of a mental and moral +discipline that will do him good. And, on the other hand, a life which +has no far-off light for its guiding star, has none of the unity, of +the self-restraint, of the tension, of the conscious power which makes +our days noble and strong. Whether he accomplish them or fail, whether +they be high or low, the man who lets future objects rule present +action is in advance of others. 'To scorn delights and live laborious +days,' which is the prerogative of the man with a future, is always +best. He is rather a beast than a man, who floats lazily on the warm, +sunny wavelets as they lift him in their roll, and does not raise his +head high enough above them to see and steer for the solid shore where +they break. But only he has found the full, controlling, blessing, +quickening power that lies in the thought of the future, and in life +directed by it, to whom that future is all summed in the name of his +Saviour. Whatever makes a man live in the past and in the future raises +him; but high above all others stand those to whom the past is an +apocalypse of God, with Calvary for its centre, and all the future is +fellowship with Christ, and joy in the heavens. Having these hopes, it +will be our own faults if we are not pure and gentle, calm in changes +and sorrows, armed against frowning dangers, and proof against smiling +temptations. They are our armour--'Put on the breastplate of faith ... +and for an helmet the hope of salvation.' + +A very sharp test for us all lies in these thoughts. This change of the +centre of interest from earth to heaven is the uniform effect of faith. +What, then, of us? On Sundays we profess to seek for a city; but what +about the week, from Monday morning to Saturday night? What difference +does our faith make in the current of our lives? How far are they +unlike--I do not mean externally and in occupations, but in +principle--the lives of men who 'have no hope'? Are you living for +other objects than theirs? Are you nurturing other hopes in your +hearts, as a man may guard a little spark of fire with both his hands, +to light him amid the darkness and the howling storm? Do you care to +detach yourself from the world? or are you really 'men of this world, +which have their portion in this life,' even while Christians by +profession? A question which I have no right to ask, and no power to +answer but for myself; a question which it concerns your souls to ask +and to answer very definitely for yourselves. There is no need to +preach an exaggerated and impossible abstinence from work and enjoyment +in the world where God has put us, or to set up a standard 'too high +for mortal life beneath the sky.' Whatever call there may have +sometimes been to protest against a false asceticism, and withdrawing +from active life for the sake of one's personal salvation, times are +changed now. What we want to-day is: 'Come ye out and be ye separate, +and touch not the unclean thing.' In my conscience I believe that +multitudes are having the very heart of the Christian life eaten out by +absorption in earthly pursuits and loves, and by the effacing of all +distinction in outward life, in occupation, in recreation, in tastes +and habits, between people who call themselves Christians, and people +who do not care at all whether there is another world or not. There can +be but little strength in our faith if it does not compel us to +separation. If it has any power to do anything at all, it will +certainly do that. If we are naturalised as citizens there, we cannot +help being aliens here. 'Abraham,' says the New Testament, 'dwelt in +tabernacles, _for_ he looked for a city.' Just so! The tent life will +always be the natural one for those who feel that their mother-country +is beyond the stars. We should be like the wandering Swiss, who hear in +a strange land the rude, old melody that used to echo among the Alpine +pastures. The sweet, sad tones kindle home-sickness that will not let +them rest. No matter where they are, or what they are doing, no matter +what honour they have carved out for themselves with their swords, they +throw off the livery of the alien king which they have worn, and +turning their backs upon pomp and courts, seek the free air of the +mountains, and find home better than a place by a foreign throne. Let +us esteem the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of +Egypt, and go forth to Him without the camp, for here have we no +continuing city. + +3. Again, we have here an instance that _Faith makes men energetic in +the duties of the present_. + +The remarks which I have been making must be completed by that +consideration, or they become hurtful and one-sided. You know that +common sarcasm, that Christianity degrades this present life by making +it merely the portal to a better, and teaches men to think of it as +only evil, to be scrambled through anyhow. I confess that I wish the +sneer were a less striking contrast to what Christian people really +think. But it is almost as gross a caricature of the teaching of +Christianity as it is of the practice of Christians. + +Take this story of Joseph as giving us a truer view of the effect on +present action of faith in, and longing for, God's future. He was, as I +said, a true Hebrew all his days. But that did not make him run away +from Pharaoh's service. He lived by hope, and that made him the better +worker in the passing moment, and kept him tugging away all his life at +the oar, administering the affairs of a kingdom. + +Of course it is so. The one thing which saves this life from being +contemptible is the thought of another. The more profoundly we feel the +reality of the great eternity whither we are being drawn, the greater +do all things here become. They are made less in their power to absorb +or trouble, but they are made infinitely greater in importance as +preparations for what is beyond. When they are first they are small, +when they are second they are great. When the mist lifts, and shows the +snowy summits of the 'mountains of God,' the nearer lower ranges, which +we thought the highest, dwindle indeed, but gain in sublimity and +meaning by the loftier peaks to which they lead up. Unless men and +women live for eternity, they _are_ 'merely players,' and all their +busy days 'like a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, +_signifying nothing_.' How absurd, how monotonous, how trivial it all +is, all this fret and fume, all these dying joys and only less fleeting +pains, all this mill-horse round of work which we pace, unless we are, +mill-horse-like, driving a shaft that goes _through the wall_, and +grinds something that falls into 'bags that wax not old' on the other +side. The true Christian faith teaches us that this world is the +workshop where God makes men, and the next, the palace where He shows +them. All here is apprenticeship and training. It is of no more value +than the attitudes into which gymnasts throw themselves, but as a +discipline most precious. The end makes the means important; and if we +believe that God is preparing us for immortal life with Him by all our +work, then we shall do it with a will: otherwise we may well be languid +as we go on for thirty or forty years, some of us, doing the same +trivial things, and getting nothing out of them but food, occupation of +time, and a mechanical aptitude for doing what is not worth doing. + +It is the horizon that gives dignity to the foreground. A picture +without sky has no glory. This present, unless we see gleaming beyond +it the eternal calm of the heavens, above the tossing tree-tops with +withering leaves, and the smoky chimneys, is a poor thing for our eyes +to gaze at, or our hearts to love, or our hands to toil on. But when we +see that all paths lead to heaven, and that our eternity is affected by +our acts in time, then it is blessed to gaze, it is possible to love, +the earthly shadows of the uncreated beauty, it is worth while to work. + +Remember, too, that faith will energise us for any sort of work, seeing +that it raises all to one level and brings all under one sanction, and +shows all as cooperating to one end. Look at that muster-roll of heroes +of faith in the Epistle to the Hebrews, and mark the variety of grades +of human life represented there--statesmen, soldiers, prophets, +shepherds, widow women, martyrs--all fitted for their tasks and +delivered from the snare that was in their calling, by that faith which +raised them above the world, and therefore fitted them to come down on +the world with stronger strokes of duty. This is the secret of doing +with our might whatsoever our hand finds to do-to trust Christ, to live +_with_ Him, and _by_ the hope of the inheritance. + +Then, brethren, let us see that our clearer revelation bears fruit in a +faith in the great divine promises as calm and firm as this dying +patriarch had. Then the same power will work not only the same +detachment and energy in life, but the same calmness and solemn light +of hope in death. It is very beautiful to notice how Joseph dying +almost overleaps the thought of death as a very small matter. His +brethren who stood by his bedside might well fear what might be the +consequences to their people when the powerful protector, the prime +minister of the kingdom, was gone. But the dying man has firm hold of +God's promises, and he knows that these will be fulfilled, whether he +live or no. 'I die,' says he, 'but God shall surely visit you. _He_ is +not going to die; and though I stand no more before Pharaoh, you will +be safe.' + +Thus we may contemplate our own going away, or the departure of the +dearest from our homes, and of the most powerful for good in human +affairs, and in the faith of God's true promises may feel that no one +is indispensable to our well-being or to the world's good. God's +chariot is self-moving. One after another, who lays his hand upon the +ropes, and hauls for a little space, drops out of the ranks. But it +will go on, and in His majesty He will ride prosperously. + +And for himself, too, the dying man felt that death was a very small +matter. 'Whether I live or die I shall have a share in the promise. +Living, perhaps my feet would stand upon its soil; dying, my bones will +rest there.' And we, who know a resurrection, have in it that which +makes Joseph's fond fancy a reality, and reduces the importance of that +last enemy to nothing. Some will be alive and remain till the coming of +the Lord, some will be laid in the grave till His voice calls them +forth, and carries their bones up from hence to the land of the +inheritance. But whether we be of generations that fell on sleep +looking for the promise of His coming, or whether of the generation +that go forth to meet Him when He comes, it matters not. All who have +lived by faith will then be gathered at last. The brightest hopes of +the present will be forgotten. Then, when we too shall stand in the +latter day, wearing the likeness of His glory, and extricated wholly +from the bondage of corruption and the dust of death, we, perfected in +body, soul, and spirit, shall enter the calm home, where we shall +change the solitude of the desert and the transitoriness of the tent +and the dangers of the journey, for the society and the stability and +the security of the city which hath foundations, whose builder and +maker is God. + + + + +A COFFIN IN EGYPT + + + 'They embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.' + --GENESIS l. 26. + +So closes the book of Genesis. All its recorded dealings of God with +Israel, and all the promises and the glories of the patriarchal line, +end with 'a coffin in Egypt'. Such an ending is the more striking, when +we remember that a space of three hundred years intervenes between the +last events in Genesis and the first in Exodus, or almost as long a +time as parts the Old Testament from the New. And, during all that +period, Israel was left with a mummy and a hope. The elaborately +embalmed body of Joseph lay in its gilded and pictured case, somewhere +in Goshen, and was, no doubt, in the care of the Israelites, as is +plain from the fact that they carried it with them at the exodus. For +three centuries, that silent 'coffin in Egypt' preached its impressive +messages. What did it say? It spoke, no doubt, to ears often deaf, but +still some faint whispers of its speechless testimony would sound in +some hearts, and help to keep vivid some hopes. + +First, it was a silent reminder of mortality. Egyptian consciousness +was much occupied with death. The land was peopled with tombs. But the +corpse of Joseph was perhaps not laid in one of these, but remained +housed somewhere in sight, as it were, of all Israel. Many a passer-by +would pause for a moment, and think; Here is the end of dignity second +only to Pharaoh's, to this has come that strong brain, that true heart, +Israel's pride and protection is shut up in that wooden case. + + 'The glories of our birth and state + Are shadows, not substantial things; + There is no armour against fate, + Death lays his icy hand on kings.' + +Yes, but let us remember that while that silent sarcophagus enforced +the old, old lesson to the successive generations that looked on it and +little heeded its stern, sad teaching of mortality, it had other +brighter truths to tell. For the shrivelled, colourless lips that lay +in it, covered with many a fold of linen, had left as their last +utterance, 'I die, but God will surely visit you,' No man is necessary. +Israel can survive the loss of the strongest and wisest. God lives, +though a hundred Josephs die. It is pure gain to lose human helpers, if +thereby we become more fully conscious of our need of a divine arm and +heart, and more truly feel that we have these for our all-sufficient +stay. Blessed is the fleeting of all that can pass, if its withdrawal +lets the calm light of the Eternal, which cannot pass, stream in +uninterrupted on us! When the leaves fall, we see more clearly the rock +which their short-lived greenness in its pride veiled. When the +many-hued and ever-shifting clouds are swept out of the sky by the +wind, the sun that lent them all their colour shines the more brightly. +The message of every death-bed and grave is meant to be, 'This and that +man dies, but God lives.' The last result of our contemplation of +mortality, as affecting our dearest and most needful ones, and as sure +to include ourselves in its far-reaching, close-woven net, ought to be +to drive us to God's breast, that there we may find a Friend who does +not pass, and may dwell in 'the land of the living,' on whose soil the +foot of all-conquering Death dare never tread. + +Nor are these thoughts all the message of that 'coffin in Egypt.' In +the first verses of the next book, that of Exodus, there is a +remarkable juxtaposition of ideas, when we read that 'Joseph died and +all his brethren and all that generation.' But was that the end of +Israel? By no means, for the narrative goes on immediately to +say--linking the two things together by a simple 'and'--that 'the +children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and +multiplied and waxed exceeding mighty.' + +So life springs side by side with death. There are cradles as well as +graves. + + 'The individual withers, + And the race is more and more.' + +Leaves drop and new leaves come. The April days are not darkened, and +the tender green of the fresh leaf-buds is all the more vigorous and +luxuriant, because it is fed from the decaying leaves that litter the +roots of the long-lived oak. Thus through the ages the pathetic +alternation goes on. Penelope's web is ever being woven and run down +and woven again. Joseph dies; Israel grows. Let us not take half-views, +nor either fix our thoughts on the universal law of dissolution and +decay, nor on the other side of the process--the universal emergence of +life from death, reconstruction from dissolution. In our individual +histories and on the wider field of the world's history, the same large +law is at work, which is expressed in the simplest terms by these old +words, 'Joseph died, and all his brethren and all that generation'--and +'the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly.' So the +wholesome lesson of mortality is stripped of much of its sadness, and +retains all its pathos, solemnity, and power to purify the heart. + +Again, that 'coffin in Egypt' was a herald of Hope. The reason for +Joseph's dying injunction that his body should be preserved after the +Egyptian fashion, and laid where it could be lifted and carried away, +when the long-expected deliverance was effected, was the dying +patriarch's firm confidence that, though he died, he had still somehow +a share in God's faithful promise. We do not know the precise shape +which his thought of that share took. It may have been merely the +natural sentiment which desires that the unconscious frame shall +moulder quietly beside the mouldering forms which once held our dear +ones. This naturalised Egyptian did his work manfully in the land of +his adoption, and flung himself eagerly into its interests, but his +heart turned to the cave at Machpelah, and, though he lived in Egypt, +he could not bear to think of lying there for ever when dead, +especially of being left there alone. There may have been some trace in +his wish of the peculiar Egyptian belief that the preservation of the +body contributed in some way to the continuance of personal life, and +that a certain shadowy self hovered about the spot where the mummy was +laid. Our knowledge of the large place filled by a doctrine of a future +life in Egyptian thought makes it most probable that Joseph had at +least some forecast of that hope of immortality, which seems to us to +be inseparable from the consciousness of present communion with God. + +But, in any case, Israel had charge of that coffin because the dead man +that lay in it had, on the very edge of the gulf of death, believed +that he had still a portion in Israel's hope, and that, when he had +taken the plunge into the great darkness, he had not sunk below the +reach of God's power to give him personal fulfilment of His yet +unfulfilled promise. His dying command was the expression of his +unshaken faith that, though he was dead, God would visit him with His +salvation, and give him to see the prosperity of His chosen, that he +might rejoice in the gladness of the nation, and glory with His +inheritance. He had lived, trusting in God's bare promise, and, as he +lived, he died. The Epistle to the Hebrews lays hold of the true motive +power in the incident, when it points to Joseph's dying 'commandment +concerning his bones' as a noble instance of Faith. + +Thus, through slow creeping centuries, this silent preacher said--'Hope +on, though the vision tarry, wait for it, for it will surely come. God +is faithful, and will perform His word.' There was much to make hope +faint. To bring Israel out of Canaan seemed a strange way of investing +it with the possession of Canaan. As the tardy years trickled away, +drop by drop, and the promise seemed no nearer fulfilment, some film of +doubt must have crept over Hope's bright eyes. When new dynasties +reigned, and Israel slowly sank into the state of bondage, it must have +been still harder to believe that the shortest road to the inheritance +was round by Goshen. But through all the darkening course of Israel in +these sad centuries, there stood the 'coffin,' the token of a +triumphant faith which had leapt, as a trifle, over the barrier of +death, and grasped as real the good which lay beyond that frowning +wall. We have a better Herald of hope than a mummy-case and a pyramid +built round it. We have an empty grave and an occupied Throne, by which +to nourish our confidence in Immortality and our estimate of the +insignificance of death. Our Joseph does not say--'I die, but God will +surely visit you,' but He gives us the wonderful assurance of +identification with Himself, and consequent participation in His +glory--'Because I live, ye shall live also.' Therefore our hope should +be as much brighter and more confirmed than this ancient one was as +that on which it is based is better and more joyous. But, alas, there +is no invariable proportion between food supplied and strength derived. +An orchid can fling out gorgeous blooms, though it grows on a piece of +dry wood, but plants set in rich soil often show poor flowers. Our hope +will be worthy of its foundation, only on condition of our habitually +reflecting on the firmness of that foundation, and cultivating +familiarity with the things hoped for. + +There are many ways in which the apostle's great saying that 'we are +saved by hope' approves itself as true. Whatever leads us to grasp the +future rather than the present, even if it is but an earthly future, +and to live by hope rather than by fruition, even if it is but a +short-reaching hope, lifts us in the scale of being, ennobles, +dignifies, and in some respects purifies us. Even men whose +expectations have not wing-power enough to cross the dreadful ravine of +Death, are elevated in the degree in which they work towards a distant +goal. Short-sighted hopes are better than blind absorption in the +present. Whatever puts the centre of gravity of our lives in the future +is a gain, and most of all is that hope blessed, which bids us look +forward to an eternal sitting with Jesus at the right hand of God. + +If such hope has any solidity in it, it will certainly detach us from +the order of things in which we dwell. The world is always tempting us +to 'forget the imperial palace' whither we go. The Israelites must have +been swayed by many inducements to settle down for good and all in the +low levels of fertile Goshen, and to think themselves better off there +than if going out on a perilous enterprise to win no richer pastures +than they already possessed. In fact, when the deliverance came, it was +not particularly welcome, oven though oppression was embittering the +peoples' lives. But, when hope had died down in them, and desire had +become languid, and ignoble contentment with their flocks and herds had +dulled their spirits, Joseph's silent coffin must have pealed in their +ears--'This is not your rest; arise and claim your inheritance.' In +like manner, the pressure of the apparently solid realities of to-day, +the growth of the 'scientific' temper of mind which confines knowledge +to physical facts, the drift of tendency among religious people to +regard Christianity mainly in its aspect of dealing with social +questions and bringing present good, powerfully reinforce our natural +sluggishness of Hope, and have brought it about that the average +Christian of this day has fewer of his thoughts directed to the future +life than his predecessors had, or than it is good for him to have. + +Among the many truths which almost need to be rediscovered by their +professed believers, that of the rest that remains for the people of +God is one. For the test of believing a truth is its influence on +conduct, and no one can affirm that the conduct of the average +Christian of our times bears marks of being deeply influenced by that +Future, or by the hope of winning it. Does he live as if he felt that +he was an alien among the material things surrounding him? Does it look +as if his true affinities were beyond the grave and above the stars? If +we did thus feel, not at rare intervals, when 'in seasons of calm +weather, our souls have sight of that immortal sea,' which lies glassy +before the throne, and on whose banks the minstrels stand singing the +song of Moses and of the Lamb, but habitually and with a vivid +realisation, which makes the things hoped for more solid than what we +touch and handle, our lives would be far other than they are. We should +not work less, but more, earnestly at our present duties, whatever +these may be, for they would be seen in new importance as bearing on +our place in that world of consequences. The more our goal and prize +are seen gleaming through the dust of the race-ground, the more +strenuous our effort here. Nothing ennobles the trifles of our lives in +time like the streaming in on these of the light of eternity. That +vision ever present with us will not sadden. The fact of mortality is +grim enough, if forced upon us unaccompanied by the other fact that +Death opens the gate of our Home. But when the else depressing thought +that 'here we have no continuing city' is but the obverse and result of +the fact that 'we seek one to come,' it is freed from its sadness, and +becomes powerful for good and even for joy. We need, even more than +Israel in its bondage did, to realise that we are strangers and +pilgrims. It concerns the depth of our religion and the reality of our +profiting by the discipline, as well as of our securing the enjoyment +of the blessings, of the fleeting and else trivial present, that we +shall keep very clear in view the great future which dignifies and +interprets this enigmatical earthly life. + +Further, that 'coffin in Egypt' was a preacher of patience. As we have +seen, three centuries at least, probably a somewhat longer period, +passed between the time when Joseph's corpse was laid in it, and the +night when it was lifted out of it by the departing Israelites. No +doubt, hope deferred had made many a heart sick, and the weary +question, 'Where is the promise of His coming?' had in some cases +changed into bitter disbelief that the promise would ever be fulfilled. +But, for all these years, the dumb monitor stood there proclaiming, 'If +the vision tarry, wait for it.' + +Surely we need the same lesson. It is hard for us to acquiesce in the +slow march of the divine purposes. Life is short, and desire would fain +see the great harvests reaped before death seals our eyes. Sometimes +the very prospect of the great things that shall one day be +accomplished in the world, and we not there to see, weighs heavily on +us. Reformers, philanthropists, idealists of all sorts are +constitutionally impatient, and in their generous haste to see their +ideals realised, forget that 'raw haste' is 'half-sister to delay' and +are indignant with man for his sluggishness and with God for His +majestic slowness. Not less do we fret and fume and think the days drag +with intolerable slowness, before some eagerly expected good rises like +a star on our individual lives. But there is deep truth in Paul's +apparent paradox, that 'if we hope for that we see not, then do we with +patience wait for it.' The more sure the confidence, the more quiet the +patient waiting. It is uncertainty which makes earthly hope short of +breath, and impatient of delay. + +But since a Christian man's hope is consolidated into certainty, and +when it is set on God, cannot only say, I trust that it will be so and +so, but, I know that it shall, it may well be content to be patient for +the fulfilment, 'as the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of +the earth, and hath long patience for it.' 'One day is with the Lord as +a thousand years' in respect of the magnitude of the changes which may +be wrought by the instantaneous operation of His hand when the +appointed hour shall strike, and therefore it should not strain our +patience nor stagger our faith that 'a thousand years' should be 'as +one day,' in respect of the visible approximation achieved in them, +towards the establishment of His purpose. The world was prepared for +man through countless millenniums. Man was prepared for the advent of +Christ through long centuries. Nineteen hundred years have effected +comparatively little in incorporating the issues of Christ's work in +the consciousness and characters of mankind. Much of the slowness of +that progress of Christianity is due to the faithlessness and sloth of +professing Christians. But it still remains true that God lifts His +foot slowly, and plants it firmly, in His march through the world. So, +both in regard to the progress of truth, and the diffusion of the +highest, and of the secondary, blessings of Christianity through the +nations, and in respect to the reception of individual good gifts, we +shall do wisely to leave God to settle the 'when' since we are sure +that He has bound Himself to accomplish the fact. + +Finally, that 'coffin in Egypt' was a pledge of possession. It lay long +among the Israelites to uphold fainting faith, and at last was carried +up before their host, and reverently guarded during forty years' +wanderings, till it was deposited in the cave at Machpelah, beside the +tombs of the fathers of the nation. Thus it became to the nation, and +remains for us, a symbol of the truth that no hope based upon God's +bare word is ever finally disappointed. From all other anticipations +grounded on anything less solid, the element of uncertainty is +inseparable, and Fear is ever the sister of Hope. With keen insight +Spenser makes these two march side by side, in his wonderful procession +of the attendants of earthly Love. There is always a lurking sadness in +Hope's smiles, and a nameless dread in her eyes. And all expectations +busied with or based upon the contingencies of this poor life, whether +they are fulfilled or disappointed, prove less sweet in fruition than +in prospect, and often turn to ashes in the eating, instead of the +sweet bread which we had thought them to be. One basis alone is sure, +and that is the foundation on which Joseph rested and risked +everything--the plain promise of God. He who builds on that rock will +never be put to shame, and when floods sweep away every refuge built on +sand, he will not need to 'make haste' to find, amid darkness and +storm, some less precarious shelter, but will look down serenely on the +wildest torrent, and know it to be impotent to wash away his fortress +home. + +There is no nobler example of victorious faith which prolonged +confident expectation beyond the insignificant accident of death than +Joseph's dying 'commandment concerning his bones.' His confidence, +indeed, grasped a far lower blessing than ours should reach out to +clasp. It was evoked by less clear and full promises and pledges than +we have. The magnitude and loftiness of the Christian hope of +Immortality, and the certitude of the fact on which it reposes, the +resurrection of Jesus Christ, should result in a corresponding increase +in the firmness and clearness of our hope, and in its power in our +lives. The average Christian of to-day may well be sent to school to +Joseph on his death-bed. Is our faith as strong as--I will not ask if +it is stronger than--that of this man who, in the morning twilight of +revelation, and with a hope of an eternal possession of an earthly +inheritance, which, one might have thought, would be shattered by +death, was able to fling his anchor clean across the gulf when he gave +injunction, 'Carry my bones up hence'? We have a better inheritance, +and fuller, clearer promises and facts on which to trust. Shame to us +if we have a feebler faith. + + + + + + + +EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE + +ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D. D., Litt. D. + +EXODUS, LEVITICUS AND NUMBERS + + + + +CONTENTS + + +THE BOOK OF EXODUS + +FOUR SHAPING CENTURIES (Exodus i. 1-14) + +DEATH AND GROWTH (Exodus i. 6, 7) + +THE ARK AMONG THE FLAGS (Exodus ii. 1-10) + +THE BUSH THAT BURNED, AND DID NOT BURN OUT (Exodus iii. 2) + +THE CALL OF MOSES (Exodus iii. 10-20) + +A LAST MERCIFUL WARNING (Exodus xi. 1-10) + +THE PASSOVER: AN EXPIATION AND A FEAST, A MEMORIAL AND A PROPHECY +(Exodus xii. 1-14) + +THOUGHT, DEED, WORD (Exodus xiii. 9) + +A PATH IN THE SEA (Exodus xiv. 19-31) + +'MY STRENGTH AND SONG' (Exodus xv. 2) + +THE SHEPHERD AND THE FOLD (Exodus xv. 13) + +THE ULTIMATE HOPE (Exodus xv. 17) + +MARAH (Exodus xv. 23-25) + +THE BREAD OF GOD (Exodus xvi. 4-12) + +JEHOVAH NISSI (Exodus xvii. 15) + +GERSHOM AND ELIEZER (Exodus xviii. 3, 4) + +THE IDEAL STATESMAN (Exodus xviii. 21) + +THE DECALOGUE:--I. MAN AND GOD (Exodus xx. 1-11) + +THE DECALOGUE:--II. MAN AND MAN (Exodus xx. 12-21) + +THE FEAST OF INGATHERING IN THE END OF THE YEAR (Exodus xxiii. 16) + +'THE LOVE OF THINE ESPOUSALS' (Exodus xxiv. 1-12) + +THE BREAD OF THE PRESENCE (Exodus xxv. 30) + +THE GOLDEN LAMPSTAND (Exodus xxv. 31) + +THE NAMES ON AARON'S BREASTPLATE (Exodus xxviii. 12,29) + +THREE INSCRIPTIONS WITH ONE MEANING (Exodus xxviii. 36; Zech. xiv. 20; +Rev. xxii. 4) + +THE ALTAR OF INCENSE (Exodus xxx. 1) + +RANSOM FOR SOULS--I. (Exodus xxx. 12) + +RANSOM FOR SOULS--II. (Exodus xxx. 15) + +THE GOLDEN CALF (Exodus xxxii. 1-8, 30-35) + +THE SWIFT DECAY OF LOVE (Exodus xxxii. 15-26) + +THE MEDIATOR'S THREEFOLD PRAYER (Exodus xxxiii. 12-23) + +GOD PROCLAIMING HIS OWN NAME (Exodus xxxiv. 6) + +SIN AND FORGIVENESS (Exodus xxxiv. 7) + +BLESSED AND TRAGIC UNCONSCIOUSNESS (Exodus xxxiv. 29; Judges xvi. 20) + +AN OLD SUBSCRIPTION LIST (Exodus xxxv. 21) + +THE COPIES OF THINGS IN THE HEAVENS (Exodus xl. 1-16) + + + + +THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS + + +THE BURNT OFFERING A PICTURE AND A PROPHECY (Lev. i. 1-9) + +STRANGE FIRE (Lev. x. 1-11) + +THE FIRST STAGE IN THE LEPER'S CLEANSING (Lev. xiv 1-7) + +THE DAY OF ATONEMENT (Lev. xvi. 1-19) + +'THE SCAPEGOAT' (Lev. xvi. 22) + +THE CONSECRATION OF JOY (Lev. xxiii. 33-44) + +SOJOURNERS WITH GOD (Lev. xxv. 23) + +GOD'S SLAVES (Lev. xxv. 42) + +THE KINSMAN REDEEMER (Lev. xxv. 48) + +THE OLD STORE AND THE NEW (Lev. xxvi. 10) + +EMANCIPATED SLAVES (Lev. xxvi. 13) + + + + +THE BOOK OF NUMBERS + + +THE WARFARE OF CHRISTIAN SERVICE (Num. iv. 23) + +THE GUIDING PILLAR (Num. ix. 16) + +HOBAB (Num. x. 29) + +THE HALLOWING OF WORK AND OF REST (Num. x. 35, 36) + +MOSES DESPONDENT (Num. xi. 14) + +AFRAID OF GIANTS (Num. xiii. 17-33) + +WEIGHED, AND FOUND WANTING (Num. xiv. 1-10) + +MOSES THE INTERCESSOR (Num. xiv. 19) + +SERVICE A GIFT (Num. xviii. 7) + +THE WATERS OF MERIBAH (Num. xx. 1-13) + +THE POISON AND THE ANTIDOTE (Num. xxi. 4-9) + +BALAAM (Num. xxii. 5) + +AN UNFULFILLED DESIRE (Num. xxiii. 10; xxxi. 8) + + + + +THE BOOK OF EXODUS + + + + +FOUR SHAPING CENTURIES + + + 'Now these are the names of the children of Israel, + which came into Egypt: every man and his household + came with Jacob. 2. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, + 3. Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, 4. Dan and Naphtali, + Gad and Asher. 5. And all the souls that came out of + the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was + in Egypt already. 6. And Joseph died, and all his + brethren, and all that generation. 7, And the children + of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and + multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land + was filled with them. 8. Now there arose up a new king + over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. 9. And he said unto + his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel + are more and mightier than we: 10. Come on, let us deal + wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to + pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join + also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get + them up out of the land. 11. Therefore they did set over + them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And + they built for Pharaoh treasure-cities, Pithom and + Raamses. 12. But the more they afflicted them, the more + they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because + of the children of Israel. 13. And the Egyptians made + the children of Israel to serve with rigour: 14. And + they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in + mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in + the field: all their service, wherein they made them + serve, was with rigour.'--EXODUS i. 1-14. + +The four hundred years of Israel's stay in Egypt were divided into two +unequal periods, in the former and longer of which they were prosperous +and favoured, while in the latter they were oppressed. Both periods had +their uses and place in the shaping of the nation and its preparation +for the Exodus. Both carry permanent lessons. + +I. The long days of unclouded prosperity. These extended over +centuries, the whole history of which is summed up in two words: death +and growth. The calm years glided on, and the shepherds in Goshen had +the happiness of having no annals. All that needed to be recorded was +that, one by one, the first generation died off, and that the new +generations 'were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, +and waxed exceeding mighty.' The emphatic repetitions recall the +original promises in Genesis xii. 2, xvii. 4,5, xviii. 18. The +preceding specification of the number of the original settlers +(repeated from Genesis xlvi. 27) brings into impressive contrast the +small beginnings and the rapid increase. We may note that eloquent +setting side by side of the two processes which are ever going on +simultaneously, death and birth. + +One by one men pass out of the warmth and light into the darkness, and +so gradually does the withdrawal proceed that we scarcely are aware of +its going on, but at last 'all that generation' has vanished. The old +trees are all cleared off the ground, and everywhere their place is +taken by the young saplings. The web is ever being woven at one end, +and run down at the other. 'The individual withers, but the race is +more and more.' How solemn that continual play of opposing movements +is, and how blind we are to its solemnity! + +That long period of growth may be regarded in two lights. It effected +the conversion of a horde into a nation by numerical increase, and so +was a link in the chain of the divine working. The great increase, of +which the writer speaks so strongly, was, no doubt, due to the +favourable circumstances of the life in Goshen, but was none the less +regarded by him, and rightly so, as God's doing. As the Psalmist sings, +'_He_ increased His people greatly.' 'Natural processes' are the +implements of a supernatural will. So Israel was being multiplied, and +the end for which it was peacefully growing into a multitude was hidden +from all but God. But there was another end, in reference to which the +years of peaceful prosperity may be regarded; namely, the schooling of +the people to patient trust in the long-delayed fulfilment of the +promise. That hope had burned bright in Joseph when he died, and he +being dead yet spake of it from his coffin to the successive +generations. Delay is fitted and intended to strengthen faith and make +hope more eager. But that part of the divine purpose, alas! was not +effected as the former was. In the moral region every circumstance has +two opposite results possible. Each condition has, as it were, two +handles, and we can take it by either, and generally take it by the +wrong one. Whatever is meant to better us may be so used by us as to +worsen us. And the history of Israel in Egypt and in the desert shows +only too plainly that ease weakened, if it did not kill, faith, and +that Goshen was so pleasant that it drove the hope and the wish for +Canaan out of mind. 'While the bridegroom tarried they all slumbered +and slept.' Is not Israel in Egypt, slackening hold of the promise +because it tarried, a mirror in which the Church may see itself? and do +_we_ not know the enervating influence of Goshen, making us reluctant +to shoulder our packs and turn out for the pilgrimage? The desert +repels more strongly than Canaan attracts. + +II. The shorter period of oppression. Probably the rise of a 'new king' +means a revolution in which a native dynasty expelled foreign monarchs. +The Pharaoh of the oppression was, perhaps, the great Rameses II., +whose long reign of sixty-seven years gives ample room for protracted +and grinding oppression of Israel. The policy adopted was +characteristic of these early despotisms, in its utter disregard of +humanity and of everything but making the kingdom safe. It was not +intentionally cruel, it was merely indifferent to the suffering it +occasioned. 'Let us deal _wisely_ with them'--never mind about justice, +not to say kindness. Pharaoh's 'politics,' like those of some other +rulers who divorce them from morality, turned out to be impolitic, and +his 'wisdom' proved to be roundabout folly. He was afraid that the +Israelites, if they were allowed to grow, might find out their strength +and seek to emigrate; and so he set to work to weaken them with hard +bondage, not seeing that that was sure to make them wish the very thing +that he was blunderingly trying to prevent. The only way to make men +glad to remain in a community is to make them at home there. The sense +of injustice is the strongest disintegrating force. If there is a +'dangerous class' the surest way to make them more dangerous is to +treat them harshly. It was a blunder to make 'lives bitter,' for hearts +also were embittered. So the people were ripened for revolt, and Goshen +became less attractive. + +God used Pharaoh's foolish wisdom, as He had used natural laws, to +prepare for the Exodus. The long years of ease had multiplied the +nation. The period of oppression was to stir them up out of their +comfortable nest, and make them willing to risk the bold dash for +freedom. Is not that the explanation, too, of the similar times in our +lives? It needs that we should experience life's sorrows and burdens, +and find how hard the world's service is, and how quickly our Goshens +may become places of grievous toil, in order that the weak hearts, +which cling so tightly to earth, may be detached from it, and taught to +reach upwards to God. 'Blessed is the man ... in whose heart are thy +ways,' and happy is he who so profits by his sorrows that they stir in +him the pilgrim's spirit, and make him yearn after Canaan, and not +grudge to leave Goshen. Our ease and our troubles, opposite though they +seem and are, are meant to further the same end,--to make us fit for +the journey which leads to rest and home. We often misuse them both, +letting the one sink us in earthly delights and oblivion of the great +hope, and the other embitter our spirits without impelling them to seek +the things that are above. Let us use the one for thankfulness, growth, +and patient hope, and the other for writing deep the conviction that +this is not our rest, and making firm the resolve that we will gird our +loins and, staff in hand, go forth on the pilgrim road, not shrinking +from the wilderness, because we see the mountains of Canaan across its +sandy flats. + + + + +DEATH AND GROWTH + + + 'And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that + generation. 7. And the children of Israel were fruitful, + and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed + exceeding mighty....'--EXODUS i. 6, 7. + +These remarkable words occur in a short section which makes the link +between the Books of Genesis and of Exodus. The writer recapitulates +the list of the immigrants into Egypt, in the household of Jacob, and +then, as it were, having got them there, he clears the stage to prepare +for a new set of actors. These few words are all that he cares to tell +us about a period somewhat longer than that which separates us from the +great Protestant Reformation. He notes but two processes--silent +dropping away and silent growth. 'Joseph died, and all his brethren, +and all that generation.' Plant by plant the leaves drop, and the stem +rots and its place is empty. Seed by seed the tender green spikelets +pierce the mould, and the field waves luxuriant in the breeze and the +sunshine. 'The children of Israel were fruitful, and increased +abundantly.' + +I. Now, then, let us look at this twofold process which is always at +work--silent dropping away and silent growth. + +It seems to me that the writer, probably unconsciously, being +profoundly impressed with certain features of that dropping away, +reproduces them most strikingly in the very structure of his sentence: +'Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation.' The +uniformity of the fate, and the separate times at which it befell +individuals, are strongly set forth in the clauses, which sound like +the threefold falls of earth on a coffin. They all died, but not all at +the same time. They went one by one, one by one, till, at the end, they +were all gone. The two things that appeal to our imagination, and ought +to appeal to our consciences and wills, in reference to the succession +of the generations of men, are given very strikingly, I think, in the +language of my text--namely, the stealthy assaults of death upon the +individuals, and its final complete victory. + +If any of you were ever out at sea, and looked over a somewhat stormy +water, you will have noticed, I dare say, how strangely the white +crests of the breakers disappear, as if some force, acting from +beneath, had plucked them under, and over the spot where they gleamed +for a moment runs the blue sea. So the waves break over the great ocean +of time; I might say, like swimmers pulled under by sharks, man after +man, man after man, gets twitched down, till at the end--'Joseph died, +and all his brethren, and _all_ that generation.' + +There is another process going on side by side with this. In the +vegetable world, spring and autumn are two different seasons: May +rejoices in green leaves and opening buds, and nests with their young +broods; but winter days are coming when the greenery drops and the +nests are empty, and the birds flown. But the singular and impressive +thing (which we should see if we were not so foolish and blind) which +the writer of our text lays his finger upon is that at the same time +the two opposite processes of death and renewal are going on, so that +if you look at the facts from the one side it seems nothing but a +charnel-house and a Golgotha that we live in, while, seen from the +other side, it is a scene of rejoicing, budding young life, and growth. + +You get these two processes in the closest juxtaposition in ordinary +life. There is many a house where there is a coffin upstairs and a +cradle downstairs. The churchyard is often the children's playground. +The web is being run down at the one end and woven at the other. +Wherever we look-- + + 'Every moment dies a man, + Every moment one is born.' + +'Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. And the +children of Israel ... multiplied ... exceedingly.' + +But there is another thought here than that of the contemporaneousness +of the two processes, and that is, as it is written on John Wesley's +monument in Westminster Abbey, 'God buries the workmen and carries on +the work.' The great Vizier who seemed to be the only protection of +Israel is lying in 'a coffin in Egypt.' And all these truculent +brothers of his that had tormented him, they are gone, and the whole +generation is swept away. What of that? They were the depositories of +God's purposes for a little while. Are God's purposes dead because the +instruments that in part wrought them are gone? By no means. If I might +use a very vulgar proverb, 'There are as good fish in the sea as ever +came out of it,' especially if God casts the net. So when the one +generation has passed away there is the other to take up the work. Thus +the text is a fitting introduction to the continuance of the history of +the further unfolding of God's plan which occupies the Book of Exodus. + +II. Such being the twofold process suggested by this text, let us next +note the lessons which it enforces. + +In the first place, let us be quite sure that we give it its due weight +in our thoughts and lives. Let us be quite sure that we never give an +undue weight to the one half of the whole truth. There are plenty of +people who are far too much, constitutionally and (perhaps by reason of +a mistaken notion of religion) religiously, inclined to the +contemplation of the more melancholy side of these truths; and there +are a great many people who are far too exclusively disposed to the +contemplation of the other. But the bulk of us never trouble our heads +about either the one or the other, but go on, forgetting altogether +that swift, sudden, stealthy, skinny hand that, if I might go back to +my former metaphor, is put out to lay hold of the swimmer and then pull +him underneath the water, and which will clasp us by the ankles one day +and drag us down. Do you ever think about it? If not, surely, surely +you are leaving out of sight one of what ought to be the formative +elements in our lives. + +And then, on the other hand, when our hearts are faint, or when the +pressure of human mortality--our own, that of our dear ones, or that of +others--seems to weigh us down, or when it looks to us as if God's work +was failing for want of people to do it, let us remember the other +side--'And the children of Israel ... increased ... and waxed exceeding +mighty; ... and the land was filled with them.' So we shall keep the +middle path, which is the path of safety, and so avoid the folly of +extremes. + +But then, more particularly, let me say that this double contemplation +of the two processes under which we live ought to stimulate us to +service. It ought to say to us, 'Do you cast in your lot with that work +which is going to be carried on through the ages. Do you see to it that +your little task is in the same line of direction as the great purpose +which God is working out--the increasing purpose which runs through the +ages.' An individual life is a mere little backwater, as it were, in +the great ocean. But its minuteness does not matter, if only the great +tidal wave which rolls away out there, in the depths and the distance +amongst the fathomless abysses, tells also on the tiny pool far inland +and yet connected with the sea by some narrow, long fiord. + +If my little life is part of that great ocean, then the ebb and flow +will alike act on it and make it wholesome. If my work is done in and +for God, I shall never have to look back and say, as we certainly shall +say one day, either here or yonder, unless our lives be thus part of +the divine plan, 'What a fool I was! Seventy years of toiling and +moiling and effort and sweat, and it has all come to nothing; like a +long algebraic sum that covers pages of intricate calculations, and the +_pluses_ and _minuses_ just balance each other; and the net result is a +great round nought.' So let us remember the twofold process, and let it +stir us to make sure that 'in our embers' shall be 'something that doth +live,' and that not 'Nature,' but something better--God--'remembers +what was so fugitive.' It is not fugitive if it is a part of the mighty +whole. + +But further, let this double contemplation make us very content with +doing insignificant and unfinished work. + +Joseph might have said, when he lay dying: 'Well! perhaps I made a +mistake after all. I should not have brought this people down here, +even if I have been led hither. I do not see that I have helped them +one step towards the possession of the land.' Do you remember the old +proverb about certain people who should not see half-finished work? All +our work in this world has to be only what the physiologists call +functional. God has a great scheme running on through ages. Joseph +gives it a helping hand for a time, and then somebody else takes up the +running, and carries the purpose forward a little further. A great many +hands are placed on the ropes that draw the car of the Ruler of the +world. And one after another they get stiffened in death; but the car +goes on. We should be contented to do our little bit of the work. Never +mind whether it is complete and smooth and rounded or not. Never mind +whether it can be isolated from the rest and held up, and people can +say, 'He did that entire thing unaided.' That is not the way for most +of us. A great many threads go to make the piece of cloth, and a great +many throws of the shuttle to weave the web. A great many bits of glass +make up the mosaic pattern; and there is no reason for the red bit to +pride itself on its fiery glow, or the grey bit to boast of its silvery +coolness. They are all parts of the pattern, and as long as they keep +their right places they complete the artist's design. Thus, if we think +of how 'one soweth and another reapeth,' we may be content to receive +half-done works from our fathers, and to hand on unfinished tasks to +them that come after us. It is not a great trial of a man's modesty, if +he lives near Jesus Christ, to be content to do but a very small bit of +the Master's work. + +And the last thing that I would say is, let this double process going +on all round us lift our thoughts to Him who lives for ever. Moses +dies; Joshua catches the torch from his hand. And the reason why he +catches the torch from his hand is because God said, 'As I was with +Moses so I will be with thee.' Therefore we have to turn away in our +contemplations from the mortality that has swallowed up so much wisdom +and strength, eloquence and power, which the Church or our own hearts +seem so sorely to want: and, whilst we do, we have to look up to Jesus +Christ and say, 'He lives! He lives! No man is indispensable for public +work or for private affection and solace so long at there is a living +Christ for us to hold by.' + +Dear brethren, we need that conviction for ourselves often. When life +seems empty and hope dead, and nothing is able to fill the vacuity or +still the pain, we have to look to the vision of the Lord sitting on +the empty throne, high and lifted up, and yet very near the aching and +void heart. Christ lives, and that is enough. + +So the separated workers in all the generations, who did their little +bit of service, like the many generations of builders who laboured +through centuries upon the completion of some great cathedral, will be +united at the last; 'and he that soweth, and he that reapeth, shall +rejoice together' in the harvest which was produced by neither the +sower nor the reaper, but by Him who blessed the toils of both. + +'Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation'; but Jesus +lives, and therefore His people 'grow and multiply,' and His servants' +work is blessed; and at the end they shall be knit together in the +common joy of the great harvest, and of the day when the headstone is +brought forth with shoutings of 'Grace! grace unto it.' + + + + +THE ARK AMONG THE FLAGS + + + 'And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to + wife a daughter of Levi. 2. And the woman conceived, and + bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly + child, she hid him three months. 3. And when she could + not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, + and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the + child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's + brink. 4. And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would + be done to him. 5. And the daughter of Pharaoh came down + to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked + along by the river's side; and when she saw the ark among + the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. 6. And when + she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the + babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This + is one of the Hebrews' children. 7. Then said his sister + to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse + of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for + thee? 8. And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the + maid went and called the child's mother. 9. And Pharaoh's + daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse + it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman + took the child, and nursed it. 10. And the child grew, + and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he + became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she + said, Because I drew him out of the water.'--EXODUS ii. 1-10. + +I. It is remarkable that all the persons in this narrative are +anonymous. We know that the names of 'the man of the house of Levi' and +his wife were Amram and Jochebed. Miriam was probably the anxious +sister who watched what became of the little coffer. The daughter of +Pharaoh has two names in Jewish tradition, one of which corresponds to +that which Brugsch has found to have been borne by one of Rameses' very +numerous daughters. One likes to think that the name of the +gentle-hearted woman has come down to us; but, whether she was called +'Meri' or not, she and the others have no name here. The reason can +scarcely have been ignorance. But they are, as it were, kept in shadow, +because the historian saw, and wished us to see, that a higher Hand was +at work, and that over all the events recorded in these verses there +brooded the informing, guiding Spirit of God Himself, the sole actor. + + 'Each only as God wills + Can work--God's puppets, best and worst, + Are we: there is no last nor first.' + +II. The mother's motive in braving the danger to herself involved in +keeping the child is remarkably put. 'When she saw that he was a goodly +child, she hid him.' It was not only a mother's love that emboldened +her, as it does all weak creatures, to shelter her offspring at her own +peril, but something in the look of the infant, as it lay on her bosom, +touched her with a dim hope. According to the Septuagint translation, +both parents shared in this. And so the Epistle to the Hebrews unites +them in that which is here attributed to the mother only. Stephen, too, +speaks of Moses as 'fair in God's sight.' As if the prescient eyes of +the parents were not blinded by love, but rather cleared to see some +token of divine benediction resting on him. The writer of the _Hebrews_ +lifts the deed out of the category of instinctive maternal affection up +to the higher level of faith. So we may believe that the aspect of her +child woke some prophetic vision in the mother's soul, and that she and +her husband were of those who cherished the hopes naturally born from +the promise to Abraham, nurtured by Jacob's and Joseph's dying wish to +be buried in Canaan, and matured by the tyranny of Pharaoh. Their +faith, at all events, grasped the unseen God as their helper, and made +Jochebed bold to break the terrible law, as a hen will fly in the face +of a mastiff to shield her brood. Their faith perhaps also grasped the +future deliverance, and linked it in some way with their child. We may +learn how transfiguring and ennobling to the gentlest and weakest is +faith in God, especially when it is allied with unselfish human love. +These two are the strongest powers. If they are at war, the struggle is +terrible: if they are united, 'the weakest is as David, and David as an +angel of God.' Let us seek ever to blend their united strength in our +own lives. + +Will it be thought too fanciful if we suggest that we are taught +another lesson,--namely, that the faith which surrenders its earthly +treasures to God, in confidence of His care, is generally rewarded and +vindicated by receiving them back again, glorified and sanctified by +the altar on which they have been laid? Jochebed clasped her recovered +darling to her bosom with a deeper gladness, and held him by a surer +title, when Miriam brought him back as the princess's charge, than ever +before. We never feel the preciousness of dear ones so much, nor are so +calm in the joy of possession, as when we have laid them in God's +hands, and have learned how wise and wonderful His care is. + +III. How much of the world's history that tiny coffer among the reeds +held! How different that history would have been if, as might easily +have happened, it had floated away, or if the feeble life within it had +wailed itself dead unheard! The solemn possibilities folded and +slumbering in an infant are always awful to a thoughtful mind. But, +except the manger at Bethlehem, did ever cradle hold the seed of so +much as did that papyrus chest? The set of opinion at present minimises +the importance of the individual, and exalts the spirit of the period, +as a factor in history. Standing beside Miriam, we may learn a truer +view, and see that great epochs require great men, and that, without +such for leaders, no solid advance in the world's progress is achieved. +Think of the strange cradle floating on the Nile; then think of the +strange grave among the mountains of Moab, and of all between, and +ponder the same lesson as is taught in yet higher fashion by Bethlehem +and Calvary, that God's way of blessing the world is to fill men with +His message, and let others draw from them. Whether it be 'law,' or +'grace and truth,' a man is needed through whom it may fructify to all. + +IV. The sweet picture of womanly compassion in Pharaoh's daughter is +full of suggestions. We have already noticed that her name is handed +down by one tradition as 'Merris,' and that 'Meri' has been found as +the appellation of a princess of the period. A rabbinical authority +calls her 'Bithiah,' that is, 'Daughter of Jehovah'; by which was, no +doubt, intended to imply that she became in some sense a proselyte. +This may have been only an inference from her protection of Moses. +There is a singular and very obscure passage in I Chronicles iv. 17, +18, relating the genealogy of a certain Mered, who seems to have had +two wives, one 'the Jewess,' the other 'Bithiah, the daughter of +Pharaoh.' We know no more about him or her, but Keil thinks that Mered +probably 'lived before the exodus'; but it can scarcely be that the +'daughter of Pharaoh,' his wife, is our princess, and that she actually +became a 'daughter of Jehovah,' and, like her adopted child, refused +royal dignity and preferred reproach. In any case, the legend of her +name is a tender and beautiful way of putting the belief that in her +'there was some good thing towards the God of Israel.' + +But, passing from that, how the true woman's heart changes languid +curiosity into tenderness, and how compassion conquers pride of race +and station, as well as regard for her father's edict, as soon as the +infant's cry, which touches every good woman's feelings, falls on her +ear! 'One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.' All the centuries +are as nothing; the strange garb and the stranger mental and spiritual +dress fade, and we have here a mere woman, affected, as every true +sister of hers to-day would be, by the helpless wailing. God has put +that instinct there. Alas that it ever should be choked by frivolity or +pride, and frozen by indifference and self-indulgence! Gentle souls +spring up in unfavourable soil. Rameses was a strange father for such a +daughter. How came this dove in the vulture's cage? Her sweet pity +beside his cold craft and cruelty is like the lamb couching by the +lion. Note, too, that gentlest pity makes the gentlest brave. She sees +the child is a Hebrew. Her quick wit understands why it has been +exposed, and she takes its part, and the part of the poor weeping +parents, whom she can fancy, against the savage law. No doubt, as +Egyptologists tell us, the princesses of the royal house had separate +households and abundant liberty of action. Still, it was bold to +override the strict commands of such a monarch. But it was not a +self-willed sense of power, but the beautiful daring of a compassionate +woman, to which God committed the execution of His purposes. + +And that is a force which has much like work trusted to it in modern +society too. Our great cities swarm with children exposed to a worse +fate than the baby among the flags. Legislation and official charity +have far too rough hands and too clumsy ways to lift the little life +out of the coffer, and to dry the tears. We must look to Christian +women to take a leaf out of 'Bithiah's' book. First, they should use +their eyes to see the facts, and not be so busy about their own luxury +and comfort that they pass the poor pitch-covered box unnoticed. Then +they should let the pitiful call touch their heart, and not steel +themselves in indifference or ease. Then they should conquer prejudices +of race, pride of station, fear of lowering themselves, loathing, or +contempt. And then they should yield to the impulses of their +compassion, and never mind what difficulties or opponents may stand in +the way of their saving the children. If Christian women knew their +obligations and their power, and lived up to them as bravely as this +Egyptian princess, there would be fewer little ones flung out to be +eaten by crocodiles, and many a poor child, who is now abandoned from +infancy to the Devil, would be rescued to grow up a servant of God. +She, there by the Nile waters, in her gracious pity and prompt wisdom, +is the type of what Christian womanhood, and, indeed, the whole +Christian community, should be in relation to child life. + +V. The great lesson of this incident, as of so much before, is the +presence of God's wonderful providence, working out its designs by all +the play of human motives. In accordance with a law, often seen in His +dealings, it was needful that the deliverer should come from the heart +of the system from which he was to set his brethren free. The same +principle which sent Saul of Tarsus to be trained at the feet of +Gamaliel, and made Luther a monk in the Augustinian convent at Erfurt, +planted Moses in Pharaoh's palace and taught him the wisdom of Egypt, +against which he was to contend. It was a strange irony of Providence +that put him so close to the throne which he was to shake. For his +future work he needed to be lifted above his people, and to be familiar +with the Egyptian court as well as with Egyptian learning. If he was to +hate and to war against idolatry, and to rescue an unwilling people +from it, he must know the rottenness of the system, and must have lived +close enough to it to know what went on behind the scenes, and how +foully it smelled when near. He would gain influence over his +countrymen by his connection with Pharaoh, whilst his very separation +from them would at once prevent his spirit from being broken by +oppression, and would give him a keener sympathy with his people than +if he had himself been crushed by slavery. His culture, heathen as it +was, supplied the material on which the divine Spirit worked. God +fashioned the vessel, and then filled it. Education is not the +antagonist of inspiration. For the most part, the men whom God has used +for His highest service have been trained in all the wisdom of their +age. When it has been piled up into an altar, then 'the fire of the +Lord' falls. + +Our story teaches us that God's chosen instruments are immortal till +their work is done. No matter how forlorn may seem their outlook, how +small the probabilities in their favour, how divergent from the goal +may seem the road He leads them, He watches them. Around that frail +ark, half lost among the reeds, is cast the impregnable shield of His +purpose. All things serve that Will. The current in the full river, the +lie of the flags that stop it from being borne down, the hour of the +princess's bath, the direction of her idle glance, the cry of the child +at the right moment, the impulse welling up in her heart, the swift +resolve, the innocent diplomacy of the sister, the shelter of the happy +mother's breast, the safety of the palace,--all these and a hundred +more trivial and unrelated things are spun into the strong cable +wherewith God draws slowly but surely His secret purpose into act. So +ever His children are secure as long as He has work for them, and His +mighty plan strides on to its accomplishment over all the barriers that +men can raise. + +How deeply this story had impressed on devout minds the truth of the +divine protection for all who serve Him, is shown by the fact that the +word employed in the last verse of our lesson, and there translated +'drawn,' of which the name 'Moses' is a form, is used on the only +occasion of its occurrence in the Old Testament (namely Psalm xviii. +16, and in the duplicate in 2 Sam. xxii. 17) with plain reference to +our narrative. The Psalmist describes his own deliverance, in answer to +his cry, by a grand manifestation of God's majesty; and this is the +climax and the purpose of the earthquake and the lightning, the +darkness and the storm: 'He sent from above, He took me, He drew me out +of many waters.' So that scene by the margin of the Nile, so many years +ago, is but one transient instance of the working of the power which +secures deliverance from encompassing perils, and for strenuous, though +it may be undistinguished, service to all who call upon Him. God, who +put the compassion into the heart of Pharaoh's dusky daughter, is not +less tender of heart than she, and when He hears us, though our cry be +but as of an infant, 'with no language but a cry,' He will come in His +majesty and draw us from encompassing dangers and impending death. We +cannot all be lawgivers and deliverers; but we may all appeal to His +great pity, and partake of deliverance like that of Moses and of David. + + + + +THE BUSH THAT BURNED, AND DID NOT BURN OUT + + + 'And, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush + was not consumed.' EXODUS iii. 1 + +It was a very sharp descent from Pharaoh's palace to the wilderness, +and forty years of a shepherd's life were a strange contrast to the +brilliant future that once seemed likely for Moses. But God tests His +weapons before He uses them, and great men are generally prepared for +great deeds by great sorrows. Solitude is 'the mother-country of the +strong,' and the wilderness, with its savage crags, its awful silence, +and the unbroken round of its blue heaven, was a better place to meet +God than in the heavy air of a palace, or the profitless splendours of +a court. + +So as this lonely shepherd is passing slowly in front of his flock, he +sees a strange light that asserted itself, even in the brightness of +the desert sunshine. 'The bush' does not mean one single shrub. Rather, +it implies some little group, or cluster, or copse, of the dry thorny +acacias, which are characteristic of the country, and over which any +ordinary fire would have passed like a flash, leaving them all in grey +ashes. But this steady light persists long enough to draw the attention +of the shepherd, and to admit of his travelling some distance to reach +it. And then--and then--the Lord speaks. + +The significance of this bush, burning but not consumed, is my main +subject now, for I think it carries great and blessed lessons for us. + +Now, first, I do not think that the bush burning but not consumed, +stands as it is ordinarily understood to stand, for the symbolical +representation of the preservation of Israel, even in the midst of the +fiery furnace of persecution and sorrow. + +Beautiful as that idea is, I do not think it is the true explanation; +because if so, this symbol is altogether out of keeping with the law +that applies to all the rest of the symbolical accompaniments of divine +appearances, all of which, without exception, set forth in symbol some +truth about God, and not about His Church; and all of which, without +exception, are a representation in visible and symbolical form of the +same truth which was proclaimed in articulate words along with them. +The symbol and the accompanying voice of God in all other cases have +one and the same meaning. + +That, I think, is the case here also; and we learn from the Bush, not +something about God's Church, however precious that may be, but what is +a great deal more important, something about God Himself; namely, the +same thing that immediately afterwards was spoken in articulate words. + +In the next place, let me observe that the fire is distinctly a divine +symbol, a symbol of God not of affliction, as the ordinary explanation +implies. I need not do more than remind you of the stream of emblem +which runs all through Scripture, as confirming this point. There are +the smoking lamp and the blazing furnace in the early vision granted to +Abraham. There is the pillar of fire by night, that lay over the desert +camp of the wandering Israelites. There is Isaiah's word, 'The light of +Israel shall be a flaming fire.' There is the whole of the New +Testament teaching, turning on the manifestation of God through His +Spirit. There are John the Baptist's words, 'He shall baptize you with +the Holy Ghost and with fire.' There is the day of Pentecost, when the +'tongues of fire sat upon each of them.' And what is meant by the great +word of the Epistle to the Hebrews, 'Our God is a consuming fire'? + +Not Israel only, but many other lands--it would scarcely be an +exaggeration to say, all other lands--have used the same emblem with +the same meaning. In almost every religion on the face of the earth, +you will find a sacred significance attached to fire. That significance +is not primarily destruction, as we sometimes suppose, an error which +has led to ghastly misunderstandings of some Scriptures, and of the God +whom they reveal. When, for instance, Isaiah (xxxiii. 14) asks, 'Who +among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell +with everlasting burnings?' he has been supposed to be asking what +human soul is there that can endure the terrors of God's consuming and +unending wrath. But a little attention to the words would have shown +that 'the devouring fire' and the 'everlasting burnings' mean God and +not hell, and that the divine nature is by them not represented as too +fierce to be approached, but as the true dwelling-place of men, which +indeed only the holy can inhabit, but which for them is life. Precisely +parallel is the Psalmist's question, 'Who shall ascend into the hill of +the Lord, and who shall stand in His holy place?' + +Fire is the source of warmth, and so, in a sense, of life. It is full +of quick energy, it transmutes all kinds of dead matter into its own +ruddy likeness, sending up the fat of the sacrifices in wreathes of +smoke that aspire heavenward; and changing all the gross, heavy, +earthly dullness into flame, more akin to the heaven into which it +rises. + +Therefore, as cleansing, as the source of life, light, warmth, change, +as glorifying, transmuting, purifying, refining, fire is the fitting +symbol of the mightiest of all creative energy. And the Bible has +consecrated the symbolism, and bade us think of the Lord Himself as the +central fiery Spirit of the whole universe, a spark from whom +irradiates and vitalises everything that lives. + +Nor should we forget, on the other side, that the very felicity of this +emblem is, that along with all these blessed thoughts of life-giving +and purifying, there does come likewise the more solemn teaching of +God's destructive power. 'What maketh heaven, that maketh hell'; and +the same God is the fire to quicken, to sanctify, to bless; and +resisted, rejected, neglected, is the fire that consumes; the savour of +life unto life, or the savour of death unto death. + +And then, still further, notice that this flame is undying--steady, +unflickering. What does that mean? Adopting the principle which I have +already taken as our guide, that the symbol and the following oral +revelation teach the same truth, there can be no question as to that +answer. 'I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and +of Jacob. 'I AM THAT I AM.' + +That is to say, the fire that burns and does not burn out, which has no +tendency to destruction in its very energy, and is not consumed by its +own activity, is surely a symbol of the one Being whose being derives +its law and its source from Himself, who only can say--'I AM THAT I +AM'--the law of His nature, the foundation of His being, the only +conditions of His existence being, as it were, enclosed within the +limits of His own nature. You and I have to say, 'I am that which I +have become,' or 'I am that which I was born,' or 'I am that which +circumstances have made me.' He says, 'I AM THAT I AM.' All other +creatures are links; this is the staple from which they all hang. All +other being is derived, and therefore limited and changeful; this Being +is underived, absolute, self-dependent, and therefore unalterable for +evermore. Because we live we die. In living the process is going on of +which death is the end. But God lives for evermore, a flame that does +not burn out; therefore His resources are inexhaustible, His power +unwearied. He needs no rest for recuperation of wasted energy. His +gifts diminish not the store which He has to bestow. He gives, and is +none the poorer; He works, and is never weary; He operates unspent; He +loves, and He loves for ever; and through the ages the fire burns on, +unconsumed and undecayed. + +O brethren! is not that a revelation--familiar as it sounds to our ears +now, blessed be God!--is not that a revelation of which, when we +apprehend the depth and the preciousness, we may well fix an +unalterable faith upon it, and feel that for us, in our fleeting days +and shadowy moments, the one means to secure blessedness, rest, +strength, life, is to grasp and knit ourselves to Him who lives for +ever, and whose love is lasting as His life? 'The eternal God, the Lord +... fainteth not, neither is weary. They that wait upon Him shall renew +their strength.' + +The last thought suggested to me by this symbol is this. Regarding the +lowly thorn-bush as an emblem of Israel--which unquestionably it is, +though the fire be the symbol of God--in the fact that the symbolical +manifestation of the divine energy lived in so lowly a shrine, and +flamed in it, and preserved it by its burning, there is a great and +blessed truth. + +It is the same truth which Jesus Christ, with a depth of interpretation +that put to shame the cavilling listeners, found in the words that +accompanied this vision: 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, +and the God of Jacob.' He said to the sneering Sadducees, who, like all +other sneerers, saw only the surface of what they were sarcastic about, +'Did not Moses teach you,' in the section about the bush, 'that the +dead rise, when he said: I AM the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of +Jacob.' A man, about whom it can once be said that God is his God, +cannot die. Such a bond can never be broken. The communion of earth, +imperfect as it is, is the prophecy of Heaven and the pledge of +immortality. And so from that relationship which subsisted between the +fathers and God, Christ infers the certainty of their resurrection. It +seems a great leap, but there are intervening steps not stated by our +Lord, which securely bridge the gulf between the premises and the +conclusion. Such communion is, in its very nature, unaffected by the +accident of death, for it cannot be supposed that a man who can say +that God is _His_ God can be reduced to nothingness, and such a bond be +snapped by such a cause. Therefore Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are still +living, 'for all' those whom we call dead, as well as those whom we +call living, 'live unto Him,' and though so many centuries have passed, +God still _is_, not _was_, their God. The relation between them is +eternal and guarantees their immortal life. But immortality without +corporeity is not conceivable as the perfect state, and if the dead +live still, there must come a time when the whole man shall partake of +redemption; and in body, soul, and spirit the glorified and risen +saints shall be 'for ever with the Lord.' + +That is but the fuller working out of the same truth that is taught us +in the symbol 'the bush burned and was not consumed.' God dwelt in it, +therefore it flamed; God dwelt in it, therefore though it flamed it +never flamed out. Or in other words, the Church, the individual in whom +He dwells, partakes of the immortality of the indwelling God. 'Every +one shall be salted with fire,' which shall be preservative and not +destructive; or, as Christ has said, 'Because I live ye shall live +also.' + +Humble as was the little, ragged, sapless thorn-bush, springing up and +living its solitary life amidst the sands of the desert, it was not too +humble to hold God; it was not too gross to burst into flame when He +came; it was not too fragile to be gifted with undying being; like His +that abode in it. And for us each the emblem may be true. If He dwell +in us we shall live as long as He lives, and the fire that He puts in +our heart shall be a fountain of fire springing up into life +everlasting. + + + + +THE CALL OF MOSES + + + 'Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, + that thou mayest bring forth My people the children of + Israel, out of Egypt. 11. And Moses said unto God, Who + am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should + bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? 12. + And He said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this + shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When + thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall + serve God upon this mountain. 13. And Moses said unto + God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, + and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath + sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is His + name? what shall I say unto them? 14. And God said unto + Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and He said, thus shalt thou say + unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. + 15. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou + say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your + fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the + God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for + ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations. + 16. Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and + say unto them, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of + Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, + saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which + is done to you in Egypt: 17. And I have said, I will + bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the + land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the + Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the + Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. + 18. And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt + come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of + Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The Lord God of the + Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech + Thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, that we + may sacrifice to the Lord our God. 19. And I am sure + that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by + a mighty hand. 20. And I will stretch out my hand, and + smite Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in the + midst thereof: and after that he will let you go.' + --EXODUS iii 10-20. + +The 'son of Pharaoh's daughter' had been transformed, by nearly forty +years of desert life, into an Arab shepherd. The influences of the +Egyptian court had faded from him, like colour from cloth exposed to +the weather; nor is it probable that, after the failure of his early +attempt to play the deliverer to Israel, he nourished further designs +of that sort. He appears to have settled down quietly to be Jethro's +son-in-law, and to have lived a modest, still life of humble toil. He +had flung away fair prospects,--and what had he made of it? The world +would say 'Nothing,' as it ever does about those who despise material +advantages and covet higher good. Looking after sheep in the desert was +a sad downcome from the possibility of sitting on the throne of Egypt. +Yes, but it was in the desert that the vision of the bush burning, and +not burning out, came; and it would not have come if Moses had been in +a palace. + +This passage begins in the midst of the divine communication which +followed and interpreted the vision. We note, first, the divine charge +and the human shrinking from the task. It was a startling transition +from verse 9, which declares God's pitying knowledge of Israel's +oppression, to verse 10, which thrusts Moses forward into the thick of +dangers and difficulties, as God's instrument. 'I will send thee' must +have come like a thunder-clap. The commander's summons which brings a +man from the rear rank and sets him in the van of a storming-party may +well make its receiver shrink. It was not cowardice which prompted +Moses' answer, but lowliness. His former impetuous confidence had all +been beaten out of him. Time was when he was ready to take up the +_role_ of deliverer at his own hand; but these hot days were past, and +age and solitude and communion with God had mellowed him into humility. +His recoil was but one instance of the shrinking which all true, devout +men feel when designated for tasks which may probably make life short, +and will certainly make it hard. All prophets and reformers till to-day +have had the same feeling. Men who can do such work as the Jeremiahs, +Pauls, Luthers, Cromwells, can do, are never forward to begin it. + +Self-confidence is not the temper which God uses for His instruments. +He works with 'bruised reeds,' and breathes His strength into them. It +is when a man says 'I can do nothing,' that he is fit for God to +employ. 'When I am weak, then I am strong.' Moses remembered enough of +Egypt to know that it was no slight peril to front Pharaoh, and enough +of Israel not to be particularly eager to have the task of leading +them. But mark that there is no refusal of the charge, though there is +profound consciousness of inadequacy. If we have reason to believe that +any duty, great or small, is laid on us by God, it is wholesome that we +should drive home to ourselves our own weakness, but not that we should +try to shuffle out of the duty because we are weak. Moses' answer was +more of a prayer for help than of a remonstrance, and it was answered +accordingly. + +God deals very gently with conscious weakness. 'Certainly I will be +with thee.' Moses' estimate of himself is quite correct, and it is the +condition of his obtaining God's help. If he had been self-confident, +he would have had no longing for, and no promise of, God's presence. In +all our little tasks we may have the same assurance, and, whenever we +feel that they are too great for us, the strength of that promise may +be ours. God sends no man on errands which He does not give him power +to do. So Moses had not to calculate the difference between his +feebleness and the strength of a kingdom. Such arithmetic left out one +element, which made all the difference in the sum total. 'Pharaoh +_versus_ Moses' did not look a very hopeful cause, but 'Pharaoh +_versus_ Moses and Another'--that other being God--was a very different +matter. God and I are always stronger than any antagonists. It was +needless to discuss whether Moses was able to cope with the king. That +was not the right way of putting the problem. The right way was, Is God +able to do it? + +The sign given to Moses is at first sight singular, inasmuch as it +requires faith, and can only be a confirmation of his mission when that +mission is well accomplished. But there was a help to present faith +even in it, for the very sacredness of the spot hallowed now by the +burning bush was a kind of external sign of the promise. + +One difficulty being solved, Moses raised another, but not in the +spirit of captiousness or reluctance. God is very patient with us when +we tell Him the obstacles which we seem to see to our doing His work. +As long as these are presented in good faith, and with the wish to have +them cleared up, He listens and answers. The second question asked by +Moses was eminently reasonable. He pictures to himself his addressing +the Israelites, and their question, What is the name of this God who +has sent you? Apparently the children of Israel had lost much of their +ancestral faith, and probably had in many instances fallen into +idolatry. We do not know enough to pronounce with confidence on that +point, nor how far the great name of Jehovah had been used before the +time of Moses, or had been forgotten in Egypt. + +The questions connected with these points and with the history of the +name do not enter into our present purpose. My task is rather to point +out the religious significance of the self-revelation of God contained +in the name, and how it becomes the foundation of Israel's deliverance, +existence, and prerogatives. Whatever opinions are adopted as to the +correct form of the name and other grammatical and philological +questions, there is no doubt that it mainly reveals God as +self-existent and unchangeable. He draws His being from no external +source, nor 'borrows leave to be.' Creatures are what they are made or +grow to be; they are what they were not; they are what they will some +time not any more be. But He is what He is. Lifted above time and +change, self-existing and self-determined, He is the fountain of life, +the same for ever. + +This underived, independent, immutable being is a Person who can speak +to men, and can say 'I am.' Being such, He has entered into close +covenant relations with men, and has permitted Himself to be called +'the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.' The name Jehovah lifts Him high +above all creatures; the name 'the God of your fathers' brings Him into +tender proximity with men, and, in combination with the former +designation, guarantees that He will forever be what He has been, even +to all generations of children's children. That mighty name is, indeed, +His 'memorial to all generations,' and is as fresh and full of +blessedness to us as to the patriarchs. Christ has made us understand +more of the treasures for heart and mind and life which are stored in +it. 'Our Father which art in heaven' is the unfolding of its inmost +meaning. + +We may note that the bush burning but not consumed expressed in symbol +the same truth which the name reveals. It seems a mistake to take the +bush as the emblem of Israel surviving persecution. Rather the +revelation to the eye says the same thing as that to the ear, as is +generally the case. As the desert shrub flamed, and yet did not burn +away, so that divine nature is not wearied by action nor exhausted by +bestowing, nor has its life any tendency towards ending or extinction, +as all creatural life has. + +The closing verses of this passage (vs. 16-20) are a programme of +Moses' mission, in which one or two points deserve notice. First, the +general course of it is made known from the beginning. Therein Moses +was blessed beyond most of God's servants, who have to risk much and to +labour on, not knowing which shall prosper. If we could see, as he did, +the lie of the country beforehand, our journeys would be easier. So we +often think, but we know enough of what shall be to enable us to have +quiet hearts; and it is best for us not to see what is to fail and what +to succeed. Our ignorance stimulates effort, and drives to clinging to +God's hand. + +Then we may note the full assurances to be given to the 'elders of +Israel.' Apparently some kind of civic organisation had been kept up, +and there were principal people among the slaves who had to be +galvanised first into enthusiasm. So they are to be told two +things,--that Jehovah has appeared to Moses, and that He, not Moses +only, will deliver them and plant them in the land. The enumeration of +the many tribes (v. 17) might discourage, but it is intended to fire by +the thought of the breadth of the land, which is further described as +fertile. The more exalted our conceptions of the inheritance, the more +willing shall we be to enter on the pilgrimage towards it. The more we +realise that Jehovah has promised to lead us thither, the more willing +shall we be to face difficulties and dangers. + +The directions as to the opening of communications with Pharaoh have +often been made a difficulty, as if there was trickery in the modest +request for permission to go three days' journey into the wilderness. +But that request was to be made, knowing that it would not be granted. +It was to be a test of Pharaoh's willingness to submit to Jehovah. Its +very smallness made it so more effectually. If he had any disposition +to listen to the voice speaking through Moses, he would yield that +small point. It is useless to speculate on what would have happened if +he had done so. But probably the Israelites would have come back from +their sacrificing. + +Of more importance is it to note that the failure of the request was +foreseen, and yet the effort was to be made. Is not that the same +paradox which meets us in all the divine efforts to win over +hard-hearted men to His service? Is it not exactly what our Lord did +when He appealed to Judas, while knowing that all would be vain? + +The expression in verse 19, 'not by a mighty hand,' is very obscure. It +may possibly mean that Pharaoh was so obstinate that no human power was +strong enough to bend his will. Therefore, in contrast to the 'mighty +hand' of man, which was not mighty enough for this work, God will +stretch out His hand, and that will suffice to compel obedience from +the proudest. God can force men by His might to comply with His will, +so far as external acts go; but He does not regard that as obedience, +nor delight in it. We can steel ourselves against men's power, but +God's hand can crush and break the strongest will. 'It is a fearful +thing to fall into the hands of the living God.' It is a blessed thing +to put ourselves into them, in order to be moulded by their loving +touch. The alternative is laid before every soul of man. + + + + +A LAST MERCIFUL WARNING + + + 'And the Lord said unto Moses, Yet will I bring one + plague more upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt; afterwards + he will let you go hence: when he shall let you go, he + shall surely thrust you out hence altogether. 2. Speak + now in the ears of the people, and let every man borrow + of his neighbour, and every woman of her neighbour, + jewels of silver, and jewels of gold. 3. And the Lord + gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians. + Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of + Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants, and in the + sight of the people. 4. And Moses said, Thus saith the + Lord, About midnight will I go out into the midst of + Egypt; 5. And all the first-born in the land of Egypt + shall die, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sitteth + upon his throne, even unto the first-born of the + maid-servant that is behind the mill; and all the + first-born of beasts. 6. And there shall be a great cry + throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none + like it, nor shall be like it any more. 7. But against + any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his + tongue, against man or beast: that ye may know how that + the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and + Israel. 8. And all these thy servants shall come down + unto Me, and bow themselves unto Me, saying, Get Thee + out, and all the people that follow Thee: and after that + I will go out. And he went out from Pharaoh in a great + anger. 9. And the Lord said unto Moses, Pharaoh shall + not hearken unto you; that My wonders may be multiplied + in the land of Egypt. 10. And Moses and Aaron did all + these wonders before Pharaoh: and the Lord hardened + Pharaoh's heart, so that he would not let the children + of Israel go out of his land.'--EXODUS xi. 1-10. + +The first point to be noted in this passage is that it interposes a +solemn pause between the preceding ineffectual plagues and the last +effectual one. There is an awful lull in the storm before the last +crashing hurricane which lays every obstacle flat. 'There is silence in +heaven' before the final peal of thunder. Verses 1 to 3 seem, at first +sight, out of place, as interrupting the narrative, since Moses' +denunciation and prophecy in verses 4 to 8 must have been spoken at the +interview with Pharaoh which we find going on at the end of the +preceding chapter. But it is legitimate to suppose that, at the very +moment when Pharaoh was blustering and threatening, and Moses was +bearding him, giving back scorn for scorn, the latter heard with the +inward ear the voice which made Pharaoh's words empty wind, and gave +him the assurances and commands contained in verses 1 to 3, and that +thus it was given him in that hour what he should speak; namely, the +prediction that follows in verses 4 to 8. Such a view of the sequence +of the passage makes it much more vivid, dramatic, and natural, than to +suppose that the first verses are either interpolation or an awkward +break referring to a revelation at some indefinite previous moment. +When a Pharaoh or a Herod or an Agrippa threatens, God speaks to the +heart of a Moses or a Paul, and makes His servant's face 'strong +against their faces.' + +The same purpose of parting off the preceding plagues from the past +ones explains the introduction of verses 9 and 10, which stand as a +summary of the whole account of these, and, as it were, draw a line +across the page, before beginning the story of that eventful day and +night of Israel's deliverance. + +Moses' conviction, which he knew to be not his own thought but God's +revelation of His purpose, pointed first to the final blow which was to +finish Pharaoh's resistance. He had been vacillating between compliance +and refusal, like an elastic ball which yields to compression and +starts back to its swelling rotundity as soon as the pressure is taken +off. But at last he will collapse altogether, like the same ball when a +slit is cut in it, and it shrivels into a shapeless lump. Weak people's +obstinate fits end like that. He will be as extreme in his eagerness to +get rid of the Israelites as he had been in his determination to keep +them. The sail that is filled one moment tumbles in a heap the next, +when the halyards are cut. It is a poor affair when a man's actions are +shaped mainly by fear of consequences. Fright always drives to +extremes. 'When he shall let you go, he shall surely thrust you out +hence altogether.' Many a stout, God-opposing will collapses altogether +when God's finger touches it. 'Can thy heart endure in the days that I +shall deal with thee?' + +Verses 2 and 3 appear irrelevant here, but the command to collect from +the Egyptians jewels, which might be bartered for necessaries, may well +have been given to Moses simultaneously with the assurance that he +would lead forth the people after the next plague, and the particulars +of the people's favour and of Moses' influence in the eyes of the +native inhabitants, come in anticipatively to explain why the request +for such contributions was granted when made. + +With the new divine command swelling in his heart, Moses speaks his +last word to Pharaoh, towering above him in righteous wrath, and +dwindling his empty threats into nothingness. What a contrast between +the impotent rage of the despot, with his vain threat, 'Thou shalt +die,' and the unblenching boldness of the man with God at his back! One +cannot but note in Moses' prediction of the last plague the solemn +enlargement on the details of the widespread calamity, which is not +unfeeling gloating over an oppressor's misery, but a yearning to save +from hideous misery by timely and plain depicting of it. There is a +flash of national triumph in the further contrast between the universal +wailing in Egypt and the untouched security of the children of Israel, +but that feeling merges at once into the higher one of 'the Lord's' +gracious action in establishing the 'difference' between them and their +oppressors. It is not safe to dwell on superiority over others, either +as to condition or character, unless we print in very large letters +that it is 'the Lord' who has made it. There is a flash, too, of +natural triumph in the picture of the proud courtiers brought down to +prostrate themselves before the shepherd from Horeb, and to pray him to +do what their master and they had so long fought against his doing. And +there is a most natural assertion of non-dependence on their leave in +that emphatic 'After that _I will_ go out.' He is not asserting himself +against God, but against the cowering courtiers. 'Hot anger' was +excusable, but it was not the best mood in which to leave Pharaoh. +Better if he had gone out unmoved, or moved only to 'great heaviness +and sorrow of heart' at the sight of men setting themselves against +God, and rushing on the 'thick bosses of the Almighty's buckler' to +their own ruin. Moses' anger we naturally sympathise with, Christ's +meekness we should try to copy. + +The closing verses, as we have already noticed, are a kind of +summing-up of the whole narrative of the plagues and their effects on +Pharaoh. They open two difficult questions, as to how and why it was +that the effect of the successive strokes was so slight and transient. +They give the 'how' very emphatically as being that 'Jehovah hardened +Pharaoh's heart.' Does that not free Pharaoh from guilt? And does it +not suggest an unworthy conception of God? It must be remembered that +the preceding narrative employs not only the phrase that 'Jehovah +hardened Pharaoh's heart,' but also the expression that Pharaoh +hardened his own heart. And it is further to be noted that the latter +expression is employed in the accounts of the earlier plagues, and that +the former one appears only towards the close of the series. So then, +even if we are to suppose that it means that there was a direct +hardening action by God on the man's heart, such action was not first, +but subsequent to obstinate hardening by himself. God hardens no man's +heart who has not first hardened it himself. But we do not need to +conclude that any inward action on the will is meant. Was not the +accumulation of plagues, intended, as they were, to soften, a cause of +hardening? Does not the Gospel, if rejected, harden, making consciences +and wills less susceptible? Is it not a 'savour of death unto death,' +as our fathers recognised in speaking of 'gospel-hardened sinners'? The +same fire softens wax and hardens clay. Whosoever is not brought near +is driven farther off, by the influences which God brings to bear on us. + +The 'why' is stated in terms which may suggest difficulties,--'that my +wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.' But we have to +remember that the Old Testament writers are not wont to distinguish so +sharply as more logical Westerns do between the actual result of an +event and its purpose. With their deep faith in the all-ruling power of +God, whatever had come to pass was what He had meant to come to pass. +In fact, Pharaoh's obstinacy had not thwarted the divine purpose, but +had been the dark background against which the blaze of God's +irresistible might had shone the brighter. He makes the wrath of man to +praise Him, and turns opposition into the occasion of more +conspicuously putting forth His omnipotence. + + + + +THE PASSOVER: AN EXPIATION AND A FEAST, A MEMORIAL AND A PROPHECY + + + 'And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land + of Egypt, saying, 2. This month shall be unto you the + beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the + year to you. 3. Speak ye unto all the congregation of + Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they + shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the + house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: 4. And if + the household be too little for the lamb, let him and + his neighbour next unto his house take it according to + the number of the souls; every man according to his + eating shall make your count for the lamb. 5. Your lamb + shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye + shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: + 6. And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of + the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation + of Israel shall kill it in the evening. 7. And they shall + take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts + and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they + shall eat it. 8. And they shall eat the flesh in that + night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with + bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9. Eat not of it raw, + nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his + head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. + 10. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the + morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning + ye shall burn with fire. 11. And thus shall ye eat it; + with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and + your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: + it is the Lord's passover. 12. For I will pass through + the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the + firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and + against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: + I am the Lord. 13. And the blood shall be to you for a + token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the + blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be + upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. + 14. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and + ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your + generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance + for ever.'--EXODUS xii. 1-14. + +The Passover ritual, as appointed here, divides itself into two main +parts--the sprinkling of the sacrificial blood on the door-posts and +lintels, and the feast on the sacrifice. These can best be dealt with +separately. They were separated in the later form of the ritual; for, +when there was a central sanctuary, the lambs were slain there, and the +blood sprinkled, as in other expiatory sacrifices, on the altar, while +the domestic feast remained unaltered. The former was more especially +meant to preserve the Israelites from the destruction of their +first-born; the latter as a permanent memorial of their deliverance. +But both have perpetual fitness as prophetic of varying aspects of the +Christian redemption. + +I. The ritual of the protecting blood. + +In the hurry and agitation of that eventful day, it must have seemed +strange to the excited people that they should be called upon to +observe such a service. But its institution at that crisis is in +accordance with the whole tone of the story of the Exodus, in which man +is nothing and God all. Surely, never was national deliverance effected +so absolutely without effort or blow struck. If we try to realise the +state of mind of the Israelites on that night, we shall feel how +significant of the true nature of their deliverance this summons to an +act of worship, in the midst of their hurry, must have been. + +The domestic character of the rite is its first marked feature. Of +course, there were neither temple nor priests then; but that does not +wholly account for the provision that every household, unless too few +in number to consume a whole lamb, should have its own sacrifice, slain +by its head. The first purpose of the rite, to provide for the safety +of each house by the sprinkled blood, partly explains it; but the +deepest reason is, no doubt, the witness which was thereby borne to the +universal priesthood of the nation. The patriarchal order made each man +the priest of his house. This rite, which lay at the foundation of +Israel's nationality, proclaimed that a restricted priestly class was a +later expedient. The primitive formation crops out here, as witness +that, even where hid beneath later deposits, it underlies them all. + +We have called the Passover a sacrifice. That has been disputed, but +unreasonably. No doubt, it was a peculiar kind of sacrifice, unlike +those of the later ritual in many respects, and scarcely capable of +being classified among them. But it is important to keep its strictly +sacrificial character in view; for it is essential to its meaning and +to its typical aspect. The proofs of its sacrificial nature are +abundant. The instructions as to the selection of the lamb; the method +of disposing of the blood, which was sprinkled with hyssop--a +peculiarly sacrificial usage; the treatment of the remainder after the +feast; the very feast itself,--all testify that it was a sacrifice in +the most accurate use of the word. The designation of it as 'a passover +to the Lord,' and in set terms as a 'sacrifice,' in verse 27 and +elsewhere, to say nothing of its later form when it became a regular +Temple sacrifice, or of Paul's distinct language in 1 Corinthians v. 7, +or of Peter's quotation of the very words of verse 5, applied to +Christ, 'a lamb without blemish,' all point in the same direction. + +But if a sacrifice, what kind of sacrifice was it? Clearly, the first +purpose was that the blood might be sprinkled on the door-posts and +lintels, and so the house be safe when the destroying angel passed +through the land. Such is the explanation given in verse 13, which is +the divine declaration of its meaning. This is the centre of the rite; +from it the name was derived. Whether readers accept the doctrines of +substitution and expiation or not, it ought to be impossible for an +honest reader of these verses to deny that these doctrines or thoughts +are there. They may be only the barbarous notions of a half-savage age +and people. But, whatever they are, there they are. The lamb without +blemish carefully chosen and kept for four days, till it had become as +it were part of the household, and then solemnly slain by the head of +the family, was their representative. When they sprinkled its blood on +the posts, they confessed that they stood in peril of the destroying +angel by reason of their impurity, and they presented the blood as +their expiation. In so far, their act was an act of confession, +deprecation, and faith. It accepted the divinely appointed means of +safety. The consequence was exemption from the fatal stroke, which fell +on all homes from the palace to the slaves' hovel, where that red +streak was not found. If any son of Abraham had despised the provision +for safety, he would have been partaker of the plague. + +All this refers only to exemption from outward punishment, and we are +not obliged to attribute to these terrified bondmen any higher +thoughts. But clearly their obedience to the command implied a measure +of belief in the divine voice; and the command embodied, though in +application to a transient judgment, the broad principles of +sacrificial substitution, of expiation by blood, and of safety by the +individual application of that shed blood. + +In other words, the Passover is a Gospel before the Gospel. We are +sometimes told that in its sacrificial ideas Christianity is still +dressing itself in 'Hebrew old clothes.' We believe, on the contrary, +that the whole sacrificial system of Judaism had for its highest +purpose to shadow forth the coming redemption. Christ is not spoken of +as 'our Passover,' because the Mosaic ritual had happened to have that +ceremonial; but the Mosaic ritual had that ceremonial mainly because +Christ is our Passover, and, by His blood shed on the Cross and +sprinkled on our consciences, does in spiritual reality that which the +Jewish Passover only did in outward form. All other questions about the +Old Testament, however interesting and hotly contested, are of +secondary importance compared with this. Is its chief purpose to +prophesy of Christ, His atoning death, His kingdom and church, or is it +not? The New Testament has no doubt of the answer. The Evangelist John +finds in the singular swiftness of our Lord's death, which secured the +exemption of His sacred body from the violence inflicted on His +fellow-sufferers, a fulfilment of the paschal injunction that not a +bone should be broken; and so, by one passing allusion, shows that he +recognised Christ as the true Passover. John the Baptist's rapturous +exclamation, 'Behold the Lamb of God!' blends allusions to the +Passover, the daily sacrifice, and Isaiah's great prophecy. The day of +the Crucifixion, regarded as fixed by divine Providence, may be taken +as God's own finger pointing to the Lamb whom He has provided. Paul's +language already referred to attests the same truth. And even the last +lofty visions of the Apocalypse, where the old man in Patmos so +touchingly recurs to the earliest words which brought him to Jesus, +echo the same conviction, and disclose, amidst the glories of the +throne, 'a Lamb as it had been slain.' + +II. The festal meal on the sacrifice. + +After the sprinkling of the blood came the feast. Only when the house +was secure from the destruction which walked in the darkness of that +fateful night, could a delivered household gather round the board. That +which had become their safety now became their food. Other sacrifices +were, at a later period, modelled on the same type; and in all cases +the symbolism is the same, namely, joyful participation in the +sacrifice, and communion with God based upon expiation. In the +Passover, this second stage received for future ages the further +meaning of a memorial. But on that first night it was only such by +anticipation, seeing that it preceded the deliverance which it was +afterwards to commemorate. + +The manner of preparing the feast and the manner of partaking of it are +both significant. The former provided that the lamb should be roasted, +not boiled, apparently in order to secure its being kept whole; and the +same purpose suggested the other prescriptions that it was to be served +up entire, and with bones unbroken. The reason for this seems to be +that thus the unity of the partakers was more plainly shown. All ate of +one undivided whole, and were thus, in a real sense, one. So the +Apostle deduces the unity of the Church from the oneness of the bread +of which they in the Christian Passover partake. + +It was to be eaten with the accompaniments of bitter herbs, usually +explained as memorials of the bondage, which had made the lives bitter, +and the remembrance of which would sweeten their deliverance, even as +the pungent condiments brought out the savour of the food. The further +accompaniment of unleavened bread seems to have the same signification +as the appointment that they were to eat with their garments gathered +round their loins, their feet shod, and staves in hand. All these were +partly necessities in their urgent hurry, and partly a dramatic +representation for later days of the very scene of the first Passover. +A strange feast indeed, held while the beat of the pinions of the +destroying angel could almost be heard, devoured in hot haste by +anxious men standing ready for a perilous journey, the end whereof none +knew! The gladness would be strangely dashed with terror and +foreboding. Truly, though they feasted on a sacrifice, they had bitter +herbs with it, and, standing, swallowed their portions, expecting every +moment to be summoned to the march. + +The Passover as a feast is a prophecy of the great Sacrifice, by virtue +of whose sprinkled blood we all may be sheltered from the sweep of the +divine judgment, and on which we all have to feed if there is to be any +life in us. Our propitiation is our food. 'Christ for us' must become +'Christ in us,' received and appropriated by our faith as the strength +of our lives. The Christian life is meant to be a joyful feast on the +Sacrifice, and communion with God based upon it. We feast on Christ +when the mind feeds on Him as truth, when the heart is filled and +satisfied with His love, when the conscience clings to Him as its +peace, when the will esteems the 'words of His mouth more than' its +'necessary food,' when all desires, hopes, and inward powers draw their +supplies from Him, and find their object in His sweet sufficiency. + +Nor will the accompaniments of the first Passover be wanting. Here we +feast in the night; the dawn will bring freedom and escape. Here we eat +the glad Bread of God, not unseasoned with bitter herbs of sorrow and +memories of the bondage, whose chains are dropping from our uplifted +hands. Here we should partake of that hidden nourishment, in such +manner that it hinders not our readiness for outward service. It is not +yet time to sit at His table, but to stand with loins girt, and feet +shod, and hands grasping the pilgrim staff. Here we are to eat for +strength, and to blend with our secret hours of meditation the holy +activities of the pilgrim life. + +That feast was, further, appointed with a view to its future use as a +memorial. It was held before the deliverance which it commemorated had +been accomplished. A new era was to be reckoned from it. The month of +the Exodus was thenceforward to be the first of the year. The memorial +purpose of the rite has been accomplished. All over the world it is +still observed, so many hundred years after its institution, being +thus, probably, the oldest religious ceremonial in existence. Once more +aliens in many lands, the Jewish race still, year by year, celebrate +that deliverance, so tragically unlike their homeless present, and with +indomitable hope, at each successive celebration, repeat the +expectation, so long cherished in vain, 'This year, here; next year, in +the land of Israel. This year, slaves; next year, freemen.' There can +be few stronger attestations of historical events than the keeping of +days commemorating them, if traced back to the event they commemorate. +So this Passover, like Guy Fawkes' Day in England, or Thanksgiving Day +in America, remains for a witness even now. + +What an incomprehensible stretch of authority Christ put forth, if He +were no more than a teacher, when He brushed aside the Passover, and +put in its place the Lord's Supper, as commemorating His own death! +Thereby He said, 'Forget that past deliverance; instead, remember Me.' +Surely this was either audacity approaching insanity, or divine +consciousness that He Himself was the true Paschal Lamb, whose blood +shields the world from judgment, and on whom the world may feast and be +satisfied. Christ's deliberate intention to represent His death as +expiation, and to fix the reverential, grateful gaze of all future ages +on His Cross, cannot be eliminated from His founding of that memorial +rite in substitution for the God-appointed ceremonial, so hoary with +age and sacred in its significance. Like the Passover, the Lord's +Supper was established before the deliverance was accomplished. It +remains a witness at once of the historical fact of the death of Jesus, +and of the meaning and power which Jesus Himself bade us to see in that +death. For us, redeemed by His blood, the past should be filled with +His sacrifice. For us, fed on Himself, all the present should be +communion with Him, based upon His death for us. For us, freed bondmen, +the memorial of deliverance begun by His Cross should be the prophecy +of deliverance to be completed at the side of His throne, and the hasty +meal, eaten with bitter herbs, the adumbration of the feast when all +the pilgrims shall sit with Him at His table in His kingdom. Past, +present, and future should all be to us saturated with Jesus Christ. +Memory should furnish hope with colours, canvas, and subjects for her +fair pictures, and both be fixed on 'Christ our Passover, sacrificed +for us.' + + + + +THOUGHT, DEED, WORD + + + 'It shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and + for a memorial between thine eyes, that the Lord's law + may be in thy mouth.'--EXODUS xiii. 9. + +The question may be asked, whether this command is to be taken +metaphorically or literally. No doubt the remembrance of the great +deliverance was intrusted to acts. Besides the annual Passover feasts, +inscriptions on the door-posts and fringes on the dress were appointed +for this purpose. And the Jews from a very early period, certainly +before our Lord's time, wore phylacteries fastened, as this and other +places prescribe, on the left arm and on the forehead, and alleged +these words as the commandment which they therein obeyed. But it seems +more probable that the meaning is metaphorical, and that what is +enjoined is rather a constant remembrance of the great deliverance, and +a constant regulation of the practical life by it. For what is it that +is to be 'a sign'? It is the Passover feast. And the 'therefore' of the +next verse seems to say that keeping this ordinance in its season is +the fulfilment of this precept. Besides, the expression 'for a sign,' +'for a memorial,' may just as well mean 'it shall serve as,' or 'it +shall be like,' as 'you shall wear.' So I think we must say that this +is a figure, not a fact; the enjoining of an object for thought and a +motive for life, not of a formal observance. And it is very +characteristic of the Jew, and of the universal tendency to harden and +lower religion into outward rites, that a command so wide and profound +was supposed to be kept by fastening little boxes with four slips of +parchment containing extracts from the Pentateuch on arm and forehead. +Jewish rabbis are not the only people who treat God's law like that. +Even if literal, the injunction is for the purpose of remembering. +Taking that meaning, then, the text sets forth principles that apply +quite as much to us. You will observe 'hand,' 'eyes,' 'mouth'; the +symbols of practice, knowledge, expression; work, thought, and word. +Observe also that there is a slight change in construction in the three +clauses; the two former are to be done in order that the latter may +come to pass. Then the memorial of the great deliverance is to be 'on +the hand' and 'before the eyes,' in order that 'the Lord's law' may be +'in the mouth.' Keeping these points in view-- + +I. God's great deliverance should be constantly before our thoughts. It +is more than an accident that both Judaism and Christianity should +begin with a great act of deliverance; that that act of deliverance +should constitute a community, and that a memorial rite should be the +centre of the ritual of both. The Lord's Supper historically took the +place of the Passover. It was instituted at the Passover and instead of +it. It is precisely the same in design, a memorial feast appointed to +keep up the vivid remembrance of the historical fact to which +redemption is traced; and not only to keep up its remembrance, but to +proclaim the importance of extending that remembrance through all life. + +Notice the peculiarity of both the Jewish and the Christian rite, that +the centre point of both is a historical fact, a redeeming act. Judaism +and Christianity are the only religions in regard to which this is true +to anything like the same extent or in the same way. Christianity as a +revelation is not so much the utterance in words of great religious +thoughts as the history of a life and a death, a fact wrought upon the +earth, which is at once the means of revelation and the means of +redemption. This is a feature unshared by other religions. + +This characteristic determines the principal object of our religious +thought. The true object for religious thought is Christ, and His life +and death. + +All religious truth flows from and is wrapped up in that: _e.g._ +theology, or the nature of God; anthropology, or the nature of man; +soteriology, morality, etc. All truth for the individual and for the +race has its source in God's great redeeming act. Religious emotion is +best fed at this source, _e.g._ thankfulness, wonder, love: all these +transcendent feelings which are melted together in adoration. Here is +where they are kindled. You cannot pump them up, or bring them into +existence by willing, or scourge yourself into them, any more than you +can make a seed grow by pulling at the germ with a pair of pincers, but +this gives the warmth and moisture which make it germinate. + +The clear perception of this truth is valuable, as correcting false +tendencies in religion, _e.g._ the tendency to be much occupied with +the derived truths, and to think of them almost to the exclusion of the +great fact from which they come; the tendency to substitute melancholy +self-inspection for objective facts; the tendency to run out into mere +feeling. + +The command requires of us a habitual occupation of mind with the great +deliverance. + +And the habitual presence of this thought will be best secured by +specific times of occupation with it. Let every Christian practise the +habit of meditation, which in an age of so many books, newspapers, and +the distractions of our busy modern life, is apt to become obsolete. + +II. The great deliverance is to be ever present in practical life. + +The 'hand' is clearly the seat and home of power and practical effort. +So the remembrance is to be present and to preside over our practical +work. + +How it is fitted to do so. + +_(a)_ It gives the law for all our activity. + +The pattern. The death as well as the life of Christ teaches us what we +ought to be. + +The motive. He died for me! Shall I not serve Him who redeemed me? + +_(b)_ That remembered deliverance arms us against temptations, and +lifts us above sinking into sin. + +How blessed such a life would be! How victorious over the small motives +that rule one's life, the deadening influence of routine, the duties +that are felt to be overwhelmingly great and those that are felt to be +wearisomely and monotonously small! How this unity of motive would give +unity to life and simplify its problems! How it would free us from many +a perplexity! There are so many things that seem doubtful because we do +not bring the test of the highest motive to bear on them. Complications +would fall away when we only wished to know and be like Christ. Many a +tempting amusement, or occupation, or speculation would start up in its +own shape when this Ithuriel spear touched it. How it would save from +distractions! How strong it would make us, like a belt round the waist +bracing the muscles tighter! 'This one thing I do' is always a +strengthening principle. + +How far is this possible? Not absolutely, but we may approximate very +closely and indefinitely towards it. For there is the possibility of +such thought blending with common motives, like a finer perfume in the +scentless air, or some richer elixir in a cup. There is the possibility +of its doing to other motives what light does to landscape when a +sudden sunbeam gleams across the plain, and everything leaps into +increased depth of colour. Let us try more and more to rescue life from +the slavery of habit and the distractions of all these smaller forces, +and to bring it into the greatness and power of submission to the +dominion of this sovereign, unifying motive. Our lives would thus be +greatened and strengthened, even as Germany and Italy have been, by +being delivered from a rabble of petty dukes and brought under the sway +of one emperor or king. Let us try to approach nearer and nearer to the +fusion of action and contemplation, and to the blending with all other +motives of this supreme one. + +This command supplies us with an easily applied and effective test. Is +there any place where you cannot take it, any act which you feel it +would be impossible to do for His sake? Avoid such. Where the +safety-lamp burns blue and goes out, is no place for you. + +It is a beautiful thought that Jesus does for us what we are thus +commanded to do for Him. The high priest bore the names of the tribes +on his shoulders and in his heart. 'I have graven thee on the palms of +my hands.' We bear Him in our hands and in our hearts. 'I bear in my +body the marks of the Lord Jesus.' + +III. The great deliverance is to be ever on our lips. + +The three regions here named are the inward thought, the outward +practice, and the testimony of the lips. Note that that testimony is a +consequence of thought and practice. + +1. The purpose of the deliverance is to make 'prophets of His law.' +Such was the divine intention as to Israel. Such is God's purpose as to +all Christians. The very meaning of redemption is there. He has 'opened +our lips' that we 'should show forth His praise.' He has regard to 'His +own name.' He desires to make us vocal, for the same purpose for which +a man strings a harp, to bring sweet music out of it. Words of +testimony are a form of love. + +2. The other two are incomplete without this vocal testimony. + +3. The utterance of the lips, to be worth anything, must rest on and +follow the other two. How noble, then, and blessed, how strong and calm +and simple our lives would be, if we had this for the one great object +of our thoughts, of our practical endeavour, of our words, if all our +being was sustained, impelled, made vocal, by one thought, one love! + +O my brother, see to it that you give yourself to Him. That great Light +will gladden your eyes, will guide your activity, and, like the sunrise +striking Memnon's voiceless, stony lips, will bring music. Thought will +have one boundless home of 'many mansions.' Work will have one law, one +motive, its consecration and strength; and as in some solemn +procession, all our steps and all our movements will keep time to the +music of our praise to 'Him who loved us.' + + + + +A PATH IN THE SEA + + + 'And the angel of God, which went before the camp of + Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of + the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind + them: 20. And it came between the camp of the Egyptians + and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness + to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that + the one came not near the other all the night. 21. And + Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord + caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that + night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were + divided. 22. And the children of Israel went into the + midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters + were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their + left. 23. And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after + them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, + his chariots, and his horsemen. 24. And it came to pass, + that in the morning watch the Lord looked unto the host + of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the + cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, 25. And + took off their chariot-wheels, that they drave them + heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from + the face of Israel; for the Lord fighteth for them + against the Egyptians. 26. And the Lord said unto Moses, + Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may + come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and + upon their horsemen. 27. And Moses stretched forth his + hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength + when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against + it; and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of + the sea. 28. And the waters returned, and covered the + chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh + that came into the sea after them; there remained not + so much as one of them. 29. But the children of Israel + walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the + waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and + on their left. 30. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day + out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the + Egyptians dead upon the sea-shore. 31. And Israel saw + that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians: + and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, + and His servant Moses.'--EXODUS xiv. 19-31. + +This passage begins at the point where the fierce charge of the +Egyptian chariots and cavalry on the straggling masses of the fugitives +is inexplicably arrested. The weary day's march, which must have seemed +as suicidal to the Israelites as it did to their pursuers, had ended in +bringing them into a position where, as Luther puts it, they were like +a mouse in a trap or a partridge in a snare. The desert, the sea, the +enemy, were their alternatives. And, as they camped, they saw in the +distance the rapid advance of the dreaded force of chariots, probably +the vanguard of an army. No wonder that they lost heart. Moses alone +keeps his head and his faith. He is rewarded with the fuller promise of +deliverance, and receives the power accompanying the command, to +stretch forth his hand, and part the sea. Then begins the marvellous +series of incidents here recorded. + +I. The first step in the leisurely march of the divine deliverance is +the provision for checking the Egyptian advance and securing the safe +breaking up of the Israelitish camp. The pursuers had been coming +whirling along at full speed, and would soon have been amongst the +disorderly mass, dealing destruction. There was no possibility of +getting the crossing effected unless they were held at bay. When an +army has to ford a river in the face of hostile forces, the hazardous +operation is possible only if a strong rearguard is left on the enemy's +side, to cover the passage. This is exactly what is done here. The +pillar of fire and cloud, the symbol of the divine presence, passed +from the van to the rear. Its guidance was not needed, when but one +path through the sea was possible. Its defence was needed when the foe +was pressing eagerly on the heels of the host. His people's needs +determined then, as they ever do, the form of the divine presence and +help. Long after, the prophet seized the great lesson of this event, +when he broke into the triumphant anticipation of a yet future +deliverance,--which should repeat in fresh experience the ancient +victory, 'The Lord will go before you; and the God of Israel will be +your rearward,' In the place where the need is sorest, and in the form +most required, there and that will God ever be to those who trust Him. + +We can see here, too, a frequent characteristic of the miraculous +element in Scripture, namely, its reaching its end not by a leap, but +by a process. Once admit miracle, and it appears as if adaptation of +means to ends was unnecessary. It would have been as easy to have +transported the Israelites bodily and instantaneously to the other side +of the sea, as to have taken these precautions and then cleft the +ocean, and made them march through it. Legendary miracle would have +preferred the former way. The Bible miracle usually adapts methods to +aims, and is content to travel to its goal step by step. + +Nor can we omit to notice the double effect of the one manifestation of +the divine presence. The same pillar was light and darkness. The side +which was cloud was turned to the pursuers; that which was light, to +Israel. The former were paralysed, and hindered from advancing a step, +or from seeing what the latter were doing; these, on the other hand, +had light thrown on their strange path, and were encouraged and helped +to plunge into the mysterious road, by the ruddy gleam which disclosed +it. So every revelation is either light or darkness to men, according +to the use they make of it. The ark, which slew Philistines, and flung +Dagon prone on his own threshold, brought blessing to the house of +Obededom. The Child who was to be 'set for the fall,' was also for 'the +rising of many.' The stone laid in Zion is 'a sure foundation,' and 'a +stone of stumbling.' The Gospel is the savour of life unto life, or of +death unto death. The same fire melts wax and hardens clay. The same +Christ is salvation and destruction. God is to each of us either our +joy or our dread. + +II. The sudden march of the Egyptians having thus been arrested, there +is leisure, behind the shelter of the fiery barrier, to take the next +step in the deliverance. The sea is not divided in a moment. Again, we +have a process to note, and that brought about by two things,--Moses' +outstretched rod, and the strong wind which blew all night. The +chronology of that fateful night is difficult to adjust from our +narrative. It would appear, from verse 20, that the Egyptians were +barred advancing until morning; and, from verse 21, that the wind which +ploughed with its strong ploughshare a furrow through the sea, took all +night for its work. But, on the other hand, the Israelites must have +been well across, and the Egyptians in the very midst of the passage, +'in the morning watch,' and all was over soon after 'the morning +appeared.' Probably the wind continued all the night, so as to keep up +the pressure which dammed back the waters, but the path was passable +some hours before the gale abated. It must have been a broad way to +admit of some two million frightened people with wives and children +effecting a crossing in the short hours of part of one night. + +But though God used the wind as His besom to sweep a road clear for His +people, the effect produced by ordinary means was extraordinary. No +wind that ever blew would blow water in two opposite directions at +once, as a man might shovel snow to right and left, and heap it in +mounds by the sides of the path that he dug. That was what the text +tells us was done. The miracle is none the less a miracle because God +employed physical agents, just as Christ's miracles were no less +miraculous when He anointed blind eyes with moistened clay, or sent men +to wash in Siloam, than when His bare word raised the dead or stilled +the ocean. Wind or no wind, Moses' rod or no rod, the true explanation +of that broad path cleared through the sea is--'the waters saw Thee, O +God.' The use of natural means may have been an aid to feeble faith, +encouraging it to step down on to the untrodden and slippery road. The +employment of Moses and his rod was to attest his commission to act as +God's mouthpiece. + +III. Then comes the safe passage. It is hard to imagine the scene. The +vivid impression made by our story is all the more remarkable when we +notice how wanting in detail it is. We do not know the time nor the +place. We have no information about how the fugitives got across, the +breadth of the path, or its length. Characteristically enough, Jewish +legends know all about both, and assure us that the waters were parted +into twelve ways, one for each tribe, and that the length of the road +was three hundred miles! But Scripture, with characteristic reticence, +is silent about all but the fact. That is enough. We gather, from the +much later and poetical picture of it in Psalm lxxvii., that the +passage was accomplished in the midst of crashing thunder and flashing +lightnings; though it may be doubted whether these are meant to be +taken as real or ideal. At all events, we have to think of these two +millions of people--women, children, and followers--plunging into the +depths in the night. + +What a scene! The awestruck crowds, the howling wind, perhaps the +thunderstorm, the glow of the pillar glistening on the wet and slimy +way, the full paschal moon shining on the heaped waters! How the awe +and the hope must both have increased with each step deeper in the +abyss, and nearer to safety! The Epistle to the Hebrews takes this as +an instance of 'faith' on the part of the Israelites; and truly we can +feel that it must have taken some trust in God's protecting hand to +venture on such a road, where, at any moment, the walls might collapse +and drown them all. They were driven to venture by their fear of +Pharaoh; but faith, as well as fear, wrought in them. Our faith, too, +is often called upon to venture upon perilous paths. We may trust Him +to hold back the watery walls from falling. The picture of the crossing +carries eternal truth for us all. The way of safety does not open till +we are hemmed in, and Pharaoh's chariots are almost come up. It often +leads into the very thick of what we deem perils. It often has to be +ventured on in the dark, and with the wind in our faces. But if we +tread it in faith, the fluid will be made solid, and the pathless +passable, or any other apparent impossibility be realised, before our +confidence shall be put to shame, or one real evil reach us. + +IV. The next stage is the hot pursuit and the panic of the Egyptians. +The narrative does not mark the point at which the pillar lifted and +disclosed the escape of the prey. It must have been in the night. The +baffled pursuers dash after them, either not seeing, or too excited and +furious to heed where they were going. The rough sea bottom was no +place for chariots, and they would be hopelessly distanced by the +fugitives on foot. How long they stumbled and weltered we are not told, +but 'in the morning watch,' that is, while it was yet dark, some awful +movement in the fiery pillar awed even their anger into stillness, and +drove home the conviction that they were fighting against God. There is +something very terrible in the vagueness, if we may call it so, of that +phrase 'the Lord looked ... through the pillar.' It curdles the blood +as no minuteness of narrative would do. And what a thought that His +look should be a trouble! 'The steady whole of the judge's face' is +awful, and some creeping terror laid hold on that host of mad pursuers +floundering in the dark, as that more than natural light flared on +their path. The panic to which all bodies of soldiers in strange +circumstances are exposed, was increased by the growing difficulty of +advance, as the chariot wheels became clogged or the ground more of +quicksand. At last it culminates in a shout of '_Sauve qui peut!_' We +may learn how close together lie daring rebellion against God and +abject terror of Him; and how in a moment, a glance of His face, a turn +of His hand, bring the wildest blasphemer to cower in fear. We may +learn, too, to keep clear of courses which cannot be followed a moment +longer, if once a thought that God sees us comes in. And we may learn +the miserable result of all departure from Him, in making what ought to +be our peace and blessing, our misery and terror, and turning the +brightness of His face into a consuming fire. + +V. Then comes, at last, the awful act of destruction, of which a man is +the agent and an army the victim. We must suppose the Israelites all +safe on the Arabian coast, when the level sunlight streams from the +east on the wild hurry of the fleeing crowd making for the Egyptian +shore. What a solemn sight that young morning looked on! The wind had +dropped, the rod is stretched out, the sea returns to its strength; and +after a few moments' despairing struggle all is over, and the sun, as +it climbs, looks down upon the unbroken stretch of quiet sea, bearing +no trace of the awful work which it had done, or of the quenched hatred +and fury which slept beneath. + +We can understand the stern joy which throbs so vehemently in every +pulse of that great song, the first blossom of Hebrew poetry, which the +ransomed people sang that day. We can sympathise with the many echoes +in psalm and prophecy, which repeated the lessons of faith and +gratitude. But some will be ready to ask, Was that triumphant song +anything more than narrow national feeling, and has Christianity not +taught us another and tenderer thought of God than that which this +lesson carries? We may ask in return, Was it divine providence that +swept the Spanish Armada from the sea, fulfilling, as the medal struck +to commemorate it bore, the very words of Moses' song, 'Thou didst blow +with Thy wind, the sea covered them'? Was it God who overwhelmed +Napoleon's army in the Russian snows? Were these, and many like acts in +the world's history, causes for thankfulness to God? Is it not true +that, as has been well said, 'The history of the world is the judgment +of the world'? And does Christianity forbid us to rejoice when some +mighty and ancient system of wrong and oppression, with its tools and +accomplices, is cleared from off the face of the earth? 'When the +wicked perish, there is shouting.' Let us not forget that the love and +gentleness of the Gospel are accompanied by the revelation of divine +judgment and righteous retribution. This very incident has for its last +echo in Scripture that wonderful scene in the Apocalypse, where, in the +pause before the seven angels bearing the seven plagues go forth, the +seer beholds a company of choristers, like those who on that morning +stood on the Red Sea shore, standing on the bank of the 'sea of glass +mingled with fire,'--which symbolises the clear and crystalline depth +of the stable divine judgments, shot with fiery retribution,--and +lifting up by anticipation a song of thanksgiving for the judgments +about to be wrought. That song is expressly called 'the song of Moses' +and 'of the Lamb,' in token of the essential unity of the two +dispensations, and especially of the harmony of both in their view of +the divine judgments. Its ringing praises are modelled on the ancient +lyric. It, too, triumphs in God's judgments, regards them as means of +making known His name, as done not for destruction, but that His +character may be known and honoured by men, to whom it is life and +peace to know and love Him for what He is. + +That final victory over 'the beast,' whether he be a person or a +tendency, is to reproduce in higher fashion that old conquest by the +Red Sea. There is hope for the world that its oppressors shall not +always tyrannise; there is hope for each soul that, if we take Christ +for our deliverer and our guide, He will break the chains from off our +wrists, and bring us at last to the eternal shore, where we may stand, +like the ransomed people, and, as the unsetting morning dawns, see its +beams touching with golden light the calm ocean, beneath which our +oppressors lie buried for ever, and lift up glad thanksgivings to Him +who has 'led us through fire and through water, and brought us out into +a wealthy place.' + + + + +'MY STRENGTH AND SONG' + + + 'The Lord is my strength and song, and He is become my + salvation....' + EXODUS xv. 2. + +These words occur three times in the Bible: here, in Isaiah xii. 2, and +in Psalm cxviii. 14. + +I. The lessons from the various instances of their occurrence. The +first and second teach that the Mosaic deliverance is a +picture-prophecy of the redemption in Christ. The third (Psalm cxviii. +14), long after, and the utterance of some private person, teaches that +each age and each soul has the same mighty Hand working for it. 'As we +have heard, so have we seen.' + +II. The lessons from the words themselves. + +_(a)_ True faith appropriates God's universal mercy as a personal +possession. '_My_ Lord and _my_ God!' 'He loved _me_, and gave Himself +for _me_.' + +_(b)_ Each single act of mercy should reveal God more clearly as 'My +strength.' The 'and' in the second clause is substantially equivalent +to 'for.' It assigns the reason for the assurance expressed in the +first. Because of the experienced deliverance and God's manifestation +of Himself in it as the author of 'salvation,' my faith wins happy +increase of confidence that He 'is the strength of my heart.' Blessed +they who bring that treasure out of all the sorrows of life! + +_(c)_ The end of His deliverances is 'praise.' 'He is my song.' This is +true for earth and for heaven. The 'Song of Moses and the Lamb.' + + + + +THE SHEPHERD AND THE FOLD + + + '... Thou hast guided them in Thy strength unto Thy + holy habitation.' + EXODUS XV. 13. + +What a grand triumphal ode! The picture of Moses and the children of +Israel singing, and Miriam and the women answering: a gush of national +pride and of worship! We belong to a better time, but still we can feel +its grandeur. The deliverance has made the singer look forward to the +end, and his confidence in the issue is confirmed. + +I. The guiding God: or the picture of the leading. The original is +'lead gently.' _Cf._ Isaiah xl. 11, Psalm xxiii. 2. The emblem of a +flock underlies the word. There is not only guidance, but gentle +guidance. The guidance was gentle, though accompanied with so +tremendous and heart-curdling a judgment. The drowned Egyptians were +strange examples of gentle leading. But God's redemptive acts are like +the guiding pillar of fire, in that they have a side that reveals wrath +and evokes terror, and a side that radiates lambent love and kindles +happy trust. + +'In Thy strength.' _Cf._ Isaiah xl. 10, 'with strong hand.' 'He shall +gently lead.' Note the combination with gentleness. That divine +strength is the only power which is able to guide. We are so weak that +it takes all His might to hold us up. It is His strength, not ours. 'My +strength is made perfect in (thy) weakness.' + +'To the resting-place of Thy holiness.' The word is used for pasture, +or resting-places for cattle. Here it meant Canaan; for us it means +Heaven--'the green pastures' of real participation in His holiness. + +II. The triumphant confidence as to the future based upon the +deliverance of the past. _'Hast,'_ a past tense. It is as good as done. +The believing use of God's great past, and initial mercy, to make us +sure of His future. + +_(a)_ In that He will certainly accomplish it. + +_(b)_ In that even now there is a foretaste--rest in toil. He guides to +the 'waters of resting.' A rest now (Heb. iv. 3); a rest 'that +remaineth' (Heb. iv. 3, 9). + +III. The warning against confidence in self. These people who sang thus +perished in the wilderness! They let go hold of God's hand, so they +'sank like lead.' So He will fulfil begun work (Philippians i. 6). Let +us cleave to Him. In Hebrews iii. and iv. lessons are drawn from the +Israelites not 'entering in.' See also Psalm xcv. + + + + +THE ULTIMATE HOPE + + + 'Thou shalt bring them in and plant them in the mountain + of Thine inheritance....'--EXODUS xv. 17. + +I. The lesson taught by each present deliverance and kindness is that +we shall be brought to His rest at last. + +_(a)_ Daily mercies are a pledge and a pattern of His continuous acts. +The confidence that we shall be kept is based upon no hard doctrine of +final perseverance, but on the assurance that God is always the same, +like the sunshine which has poured out for all these millenniums and +still rushes on with the same force. Consider-- + +The inexhaustibleness of the divine resources. + +The steadfastness of the divine purposes. + +The long-suffering of the divine patience. + +_(b)_ Thus daily mercies should lead on our thoughts to heavenly +things. They should not prison us in their own sweetness. We should see +the great Future shining through them as a transparent, not an opaque +medium. + +_(c)_ That ultimate future should be the great object of our hope. +Surely it is chiefly in order that we may have the light of that great +to-morrow brightening and magnifying our dusty to-days, that we are +endowed with the faculty of looking forward and 'calling things that +are not as though they were.' So we should engage and enlarge our minds +with it. + +II. The form which that ultimate future assumes. + +The Israelites thought of Canaan, and in particular of 'Zion,' its +centre-point. + +_(a)_ Perpetual rest. 'Bring in and plant'--a contrast to the desert +nomad life. + +_(b)_ Perpetual safety. 'The sanctuary which Thy hands have +established,' _i.e._ made firm. + +_(c)_ Perpetual dwelling in God. 'Thy dwelling,' 'Thy mountain,' '_Thy_ +holy habitation' (ver. 13), rather than '_our_ land.' For Israel their +communion with Jehovah was perfected on Zion by the Temple and the +sacrifices, including the revelation of (priestly) national service. + +_(d)_ Perpetual purity. 'Thy sanctuary.' 'Without' holiness 'no man +shall see the Lord.' + + + + +MARAH + + + 'And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of + the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore + the name of it was called Marah. 24. And the people + murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? + 25. And he cried unto the Lord; and the Lord showed him + a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the + waters were made sweet....'--EXODUS xv. 23-25. + +I. The time of reaching Marah--just after the Red Sea. The Israelites +were encamped for a few days on the shore to shake themselves together, +and then at this, their very first station, they began to experience +the privations which were to be their lot for forty years. Their course +was like that of a ship that is in the stormy Channel as soon as it +leaves the shelter of the pier at Dover, not like that of one that +glides down the Thames for miles. + +After great moments and high triumphs in life comes Marah. + +Marah was just before Elim--the alternation, how blessed! The shade of +palms and cool water of the wells, one for each tribe and one for each +'elder.' So we have alternations in life and experience. + +II. The wrong and the right ways of taking the bitter experience. The +people grumbled: Moses cried to the Lord. The quick forgetfulness of +deliverances. The true use of speech is not complaint, but prayer. + +III. The power that changes bitter to sweet. The manner of the miracle +is singular. God hides Himself behind Moses, and His miraculous power +behind the material agent. Perhaps the manner of the miracle was +intended to suggest a parallel with the first plague. There the rod +made the Nile water undrinkable. There is a characteristic economy in +the miraculous, and outward things are used, as Christ used the pool +and the saliva and the touch, to help the weak faith of the deaf and +dumb man. + +What changes bitter to sweet for us?--the Cross, the remembrance of +Christ's death. 'Consider Him that endured.' The Cross is the true tree +which, when 'cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet.' + +Recognition of and yielding to God's will: that is the one thing which +for us changes all. The one secret of peace and of getting sweetness +out of bitterness is loving acceptance of the will of God. + +Discernment of purpose in God's 'bitter' dealings--'for our profit.' +The dry rod 'budded.' The Prophet's roll was first bitter, then sweet. +Affliction 'afterwards yieldeth the peaceable fruit.' + + + + +THE BREAD OF GOD + + + 'Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain + bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out + and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove + them, whether they will walk in My law, or no. 5. And + it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall + prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice + as much as they gather daily. 6. And Moses and Aaron said + unto all the children of Israel, At even, then ye shall + know that the Lord hath brought you out from the land of + Egypt: 7. And in the morning, then ye shall see the glory + of the Lord; for that He heareth your murmurings against + the Lord: and what are we, that ye murmur against us? + 8. And Moses said, This shall be, when the Lord shall give + you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread + to the full; for that the Lord heareth your murmurings + which ye murmur against Him: and what are we? your murmurings + are not against us, but against the Lord, 9. And Moses + spake unto Aaron, Say unto all the congregation of the + children of Israel, Come near before the Lord: for He + hath heard your murmurings. 10. And it came to pass, as + Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children + of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and, + behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. + 11. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 12. I have + heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak + unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in + the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall + know that I am the Lord your God.'--EXODUS xvi. 4-12. + +Unbelief has a short memory. The Red Sea is forgotten in a month. The +Israelites could strike their timbrels and sing their lyric of praise, +but they could not believe that to-day's hunger could be satisfied. +Discontent has a slippery memory. They wish to get back to the +flesh-pots, of which the savour is in their nostrils, and they have +forgotten the bitter sauce of affliction. When they were in Egypt, they +shrieked about their oppression, and were ready to give up anything for +liberty; when they have got it, they are ready to put their necks in +the yoke again, if only they can have their stomachs filled. Men do not +know how happy they are till they cease to be so. Our present miseries +and our past blessings are the themes on which unbelief harps. Let him +that is without similar sin cast the first stone at these grumbling +Israelites. Without following closely the text of the narrative, we may +throw together the lessons of the manna. + +I. Observe God's purpose in the gift, as distinctly expressed in the +promise of it. + +'That I may prove them, whether they will walk in My law or no.' How +did the manna become a test of this? By means of the law prescribed for +gathering it. There was to be a given quantity daily, and twice as much +on the sixth day. If a man trusted God for to-morrow, he would be +content to stop collecting when he had filled his omer, tempting as the +easily gathered abundance would be. Greed and unbelief would masquerade +then as now, under the guise of prudent foresight. The old Egyptian +parallels to 'make hay while the sun shines,' and suchlike wise sayings +of the philosophy of distrust, would be solemnly spoken, and listened +to as pearls of wisdom. When experience had taught that, however much a +man gathered, he had no more than his omer full, after all,--and is not +that true yet?--then the next temptation would be to practise economy, +and have something over for to-morrow. Only he who absolutely trusted +God to provide for him would eat up his portion, and lie down at night +with a quiet heart, knowing that He who had fed him would feed. When +experience had taught that what was saved rotted, then laziness would +come in and say, 'What is the use of gathering twice as much on the +sixth day? Don't we know that it will not keep?' So the whole of the +gift was a continual training of, and therefore a continual test for, +faith. God willed to let His gifts come in this hand-to-mouth fashion, +though He could have provided at once what would have obviously lasted +them all their wilderness life, in order that they might be habituated +to cling to Him, and that their daily bread might be doubly for their +nourishment, feeding their bodies and strengthening that faith which, +to them as to us, is the condition of all blessedness. God lets our +blessings, too, trickle to us drop by drop, instead of pouring them in +a flood all at once upon us, for the same reason. He does so, not +because of any good to Him from our faith, except that the Infinite +love loves infinitely to be loved; but for our sakes, that we may taste +the peace and strength of continual dependence, and the joy of +continual receiving. He could give us the principal down; but He +prefers to pay us the interest, as we need it. + +Christianity does not absolutely forbid laying up money or other +resources for future wants. But the love of accumulating, which is so +strong in many professing Christians, and the habit of amassing beyond +all reasonable future wants, is surely scarcely permitted to those who +profess to believe that incarnate wisdom forbade taking anxious care +for the morrow, and sent its disciples to lilies and birds to learn the +happy immunities of faith. We too get our daily mercies to prove us. +The letter of the law for the manna is not applicable to us who gain +our bread by God's blessing on our labour. But the spirit is, and the +members of great commercial nations have surely little need to be +reminded that still the portion put away is apt to breed worms. How +often it vanishes, or, if it lasts, tortures its owner, who has more +trouble keeping it than he had in getting it; or fatally corrupts his +own character, or ruins his children! All God's gifts are tests, +which--thanks be to Him--is the same as to say that they are means of +increasing faith, and so adding to joy. + +II. The manna was further a disclosure of the depth of patient +long-suffering in God. + +Very strikingly the 'murmurings' of the children of Israel are four +times referred to in this context, and on each occasion are stated as +the reason for the gift of the manna. It was God's answer to the +peevish complaints of greedy appetites. When they were summoned to come +near to the Lord, with the ominous warning that 'He hath heard your +murmurings,' no doubt many a heart began to quake; and when the Glory +flashed from the Shechinah cloud, it would burn lurid to their +trembling consciences. But the message which comes from it is sweet in +its gentleness, as it promises the manna because they have murmured, +and in order that they may know the Lord. A mother soothes her crying +infant by feeding it from her own bosom. God does not take the rod to +His whimpering children, but rather tries to win them by patience, and +to shame their unbelief by His swift and over-abundant answers to their +complaints. When He must, He punishes; but when He can, He complies. +Faith is the condition of our receiving His highest gifts; but even +unbelief touches His heart with pity, and what He can give to it, He +does, if it may be melted into trust. The farther men stray from Him, +the more tender and penetrating His recalling voice. We multiply +transgressions, He multiplies mercies. + +III. The manna was a revelation in miraculous and transient form of an +eternal truth. + +The God who sent it sends daily bread. The words which Christ quoted in +His wilderness hunger are the explanation of its meaning as a witness +to this truth: 'Man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word +that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.' To a Christian, the divine +power is present and operative in all natural processes as really as in +those which we call miraculous. God is separable from the universe, but +the universe is not separable from God. If it were separated, it would +cease. So far as the reality of the divine operation is concerned, it +matters not whether He works in the established fashion, through +material things, or whether His will acts directly. The chain which +binds a phenomenon to the divine will may be long or short; the +intervening links may be many, or they may be abolished, and the divine +cause and the visible effect may touch without anything between. But in +either case the power is of God. Bread made out of flour grown on the +other side of the world, and fashioned by the baker, and bought by the +fruits of my industry, is as truly the gift of God as was the manna. +For once, He showed these men His hand at work, that we all might know +that it was at work, when hidden. The lesson of the 'angel's food' +eaten in the wilderness is that men are fed by the power of God's +expressed and active will,--for that is the meaning of 'the word that +proceedeth out of the mouth of God,'--in whatever fashion they get +their food. The gift of it is from Him; its power to nourish is from +Him. It is as true to-day as ever it was: 'Thou openest Thine hand, and +satisfiest the desire of every living thing.' The manna ceased when the +people came near cornfields and settled homes. Miracles end when means +are possible. But the God of the miracle is the God of the means. + +Commentators make much of what is supposed to be a natural substratum +for the manna, in a certain vegetable product, found in small +quantities in parts of the Arabian peninsula. No doubt, we are to +recognise in the plagues of Egypt, and in the dividing of the Red Sea, +the extraordinary action of ordinary causes; and there is no objection +in principle to doing so here. But that an exudation from the bark of a +shrub, which has no nutritive properties at all, is found only in one +or two places in Arabia, and that only at certain seasons and in +infinitesimal quantity, seems a singularly thin 'substratum' on which +to build up the feeding of two millions of people, more or less +exclusively and continuously for forty years, by means of a substance +which has nothing to do with tamarisk-trees, and is like the natural +product in nothing but sweetness and name. Whether we admit connection +between the two, or not, the miraculous character of the manna of the +Israelites is unaffected. It was miraculous in its origin--'rained from +heaven,' in its quantity, in its observance of times and seasons, in +its putrefaction and preservation,--as rotting when kept for greed, and +remaining sweet when preserved for the Sabbath. It came straight from +the creative will of God, and whether its name means 'What is it?' or +'It is a gift,' the designation is equally true and appropriate, +pointing, in the one case, to the mystery of its nature; in the other, +to the love of the Giver, and in both referring it directly to the hand +of God. + +IV. The manna was typical of Christ. + +Our Lord Himself has laid His hand upon it, and claimed it as a faint +foreshadowing of what He is. The Jews, not satisfied with the miracle +of the loaves, demand from Him a greater sign, as the condition of what +they are pleased to call 'belief'--which is nothing but accepting the +testimony of sense. They quote Moses as giving the manna, and imply +that Messiah is expected to repeat the miracle. Christ accepts the +challenge, and goes on to claim that He not only gives, but Himself is, +for all men's souls, all and more than all which the manna had been to +the bodies of that dead generation. Like it, He came--but in how much +more profound a sense!--from heaven. Like it, He was food. But unlike +it, He could still for ever the craving of the else famishing soul; +unlike it, He not only nourished a bodily life already possessed, but +communicated a spiritual life which never dies; and, unlike it, He was +meant to be the food of the whole world. His teaching passed beyond the +symbolism of the manna, when He not only declared Himself to be the +'true bread from heaven which gives life to the world,' but opened a +glimpse into the solemn mystery of His atoning death by the startling +and apparently repulsive paradox that 'His flesh was food indeed and +His blood drink indeed.' The manna does not typically teach Christ's +atonement, but it does set Him forth as the true sustenance and +life-giver, sweet as honey to the soul, sent from heaven for us each, +but needing to be made ours by the act of our faith. An Israelite would +have starved, though the manna lay all round the camp, if he did not go +forth and secure his portion; and he might no less have starved, if he +did not eat what Heaven had sent. 'Crede et manducasti,' 'Believe, and +thou hast eaten,'--as St. Augustine says. The personal appropriating +act of faith is essential to our having Christ for the food of our +souls. The bread that nourishes our bodies is assimilated to their +substance, and so becomes sustenance. This bread of God, entering into +our souls by faith, transforms them into its substance, and so gives +and feeds an immortal life. The manna was for a generation; this bread +is 'the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.' That was for a +handful of men; this is for the world. Nor is the prophetic value of +the manna exhausted when we recognise its witness to Christ. The food +of the wilderness is the food of the city. The bread that is laid on +the table, 'spread in the presence of the enemy,' is the bread that +makes the feast in the king's palace. The Christ who feeds the pilgrim +soldiers is the Christ on whom the conquerors banquet. 'To him that +overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna.' + + + + +JEHOVAH NISSI + + + 'And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it + Jehovah Nissi [that is, the Lord is my Banner].' + --EXODUS xvii. 15. + +We are all familiar with that picturesque incident of the conflict +between Israel and Amalek, which ended in victory and the erection of +this memorial trophy. Moses, as you remember, went up on the mount +whilst Joshua and the men of war fought in the plain. But I question +whether we usually attach the right meaning to the symbolism of this +event. We ordinarily, I suppose, think of Moses as interceding on the +mountain with God. But there is no word about prayer in the story, and +the attitude of Moses is contrary to the idea that his occupation was +intercession. He sat there, with the rod of God in his hand, and the +rod of God was the symbol and the vehicle of divine power. When he +lifted the rod Amalek fled before Israel; when the rod dropped Israel +fled before Amalek. That is to say, the uplifted hand was not the hand +of intercession, but the hand which communicated power and victory. And +so, when the conflict is over, Moses builds this memorial of +thanksgiving to God, and piles together these great stones--which, +perhaps, still stand in some of the unexplored valleys of that weird +desert land--to teach Israel the laws of conflict and the conditions of +victory. These laws and conditions are implied in the name which he +gave to the altar that he built--Jehovah Nissi, 'the Lord is my Banner.' + +Now, then, what do these stones, with their significant name, teach us, +as they taught the ancient Israelites? Let me throw these lessons into +three brief exhortations. + +I. First, realise for whose cause you fight. + +The Banner was the symbol of the cause for which an army fought, or the +cognizance of the king or commander whom it followed. So Moses, by that +name given to the altar, would impress upon the minds of the cowardly +mob that he had brought out of Egypt--and who now had looked into an +enemy's eyes for the first time--the elevating and bracing thought that +they were God's soldiers, and that the warfare which they waged was not +for themselves, nor for the conquest of the country for their own sake, +nor for mere outward liberty, but that they were fighting that the will +of God might prevail, and that He might be the King now of one land--a +mere corner of the earth--and thereby might come to be King of all the +earth. That rude altar said to Israel: 'Remember, when you go into the +battle, that the battle is the Lord's; and that the standard under +which you war is the God for whose cause you contend--none else and +none less than Jehovah Himself. You are consecrated soldiers, set apart +to fight for God.' + +Such is the destination of all Christians. They have a battle to fight, +of which they do not think loftily enough, unless they clearly and +constantly recognise that they are fighting on God's side. + +I need not dwell upon the particulars of this conflict, or run into +details of the way in which it is to be waged. Only let us remember +that the first field upon which we have to fight for God we carry about +within ourselves; and that there will be no victories for us over other +enemies until we have, first of all, subdued the foes that are within. +And then let us remember that the absorbing importance of inward +conflict absolves no Christian man from the duty of strenuously +contending for all things that are 'lovely and of good report,' and +from waging war against every form of sorrow and sin which his +influence can touch. There is no surer way of securing victory in the +warfare within and conquering self than to throw myself into the +service of others, and lose myself in their sorrows and needs. There is +no possibility of my taking my share in the merciful warfare against +sin and sorrow, the tyrants that oppress my fellows, unless I conquer +myself. These two fields of the Christian warfare are not two in the +sense of being separable from one another, but they are two in the +sense of being the inside and the outside of the same fabric. The +warfare is one, though the fields are two. + +Let us remember, on the other hand, that whilst it is our simple +bounden duty, as Christian men and women, to reckon ourselves as +anointed and called for the purpose of warring against sin and sorrow, +wherever we can assail them, there is nothing more dangerous, and few +things more common, than the hasty identification of fighting for some +whim, or prejudice, or narrow view, or partial conception of our own, +with contending for the establishment of the will of God. How many +wicked things have been done in this world for God's glory! How many +obstinate men, who were really only forcing their own opinions down +people's throats because they were theirs, have fancied themselves to +be pure-minded warriors for God! How easy it has been, in all +generations, to make the sign of the Cross over what had none of the +spirit of the Cross in it; and to say, 'The cause is God's, and +therefore I war for it'; when the reality was, 'The cause is mine, and +therefore I take it for granted that it is God's.' + +Let us beware of the 'wolf in sheep's clothing,' the pretence of +sanctity which is only selfishness with a mask on. And, above all, let +us beware of the uncharitableness and narrowness of view, the vehemence +of temper, the fighting for our own hands, the enforcing of our own +notions and whims and peculiarities, which have often done duty as +being true Christian service for the Master's sake. We are God's host, +but we are not to suppose that every notion that we take into our +heads, and for which we may contend, is part of the cause of God. + +And then remember what sort of men the soldiers in such an army ought +to be. 'Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord.' These bearers +may either be regarded as a solemn procession of priests carrying the +sacrificial vessels; or, as is more probable from the context of the +original, as the armour-bearers of the great King. They must be pure +who bear His weapons, for these are His righteous love, His loving +purity. If our camp is the camp of the Lord, no violence should be +there. What sanctity, what purity, what patience, what long-suffering, +what self-denial, and what enthusiastic confidence of victory there +should be in those who can say, 'We are the Lord's host, Jehovah is our +Banner!' He always wins who sides with God. And he only worthily takes +his place in the ranks of the sacramental host of the Most High who +goes into the warfare knowing that, because He is God's soldier, he +will come out of it, bringing his victorious shield with him, and ready +for the laurels to be twined round his undinted helmet. That is the +first of the thoughts, then, that are here. + +II. The second of the exhortations which come from the altar and its +name is, Remember whose commands you follow. + +The banner in ancient warfare, even more than in modern, moved in front +of the host, and determined the movements of the army. And so, by the +stones that he piled and the name which he gave them, Moses taught +Israel and us that they and we are under the command of God, and that +it is the movements of His staff that are to be followed. Absolute +obedience is the first duty of the Christian soldier, and absolute +obedience means the entire suppression of my own will, the holding of +it in equilibrium until He puts His finger on the side that He desires +to dip and lets the other rise. They only understand their place as +Christ's servants and soldiers who have learned to hush their own will +until they know their Captain's. In order to be blessed, to be strong, +to be victorious, the indispensable condition is that our inmost desire +shall be, 'Not my will, but Thine be done.' + +Sometimes, and often, there will be perplexities in our daily lives, +and conflicts very hard to unravel. We shall often be brought to a +point where we cannot see which way the Banner is leading us. What +then? 'It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait' for the +salvation and for the guidance of his God. And we shall generally find +that it is when we are looking too far ahead that we do not get +guidance. You will not get guidance to-day for this day next week. When +this day next week comes, it will bring its own enlightenment with it. + + 'Lead, kindly Light, ... + ... One step enough for me.' + +Let us take short views both of duty and of hope, and we shall not so +often have to complain that we are left without knowing what the +Commander's orders are. Sometimes we are so left, and that is a lesson +in patience, and is generally God's way of telling us that it is not +His will that we should do anything at all just yet. Sometimes we are +so left in order that we may put our hand out through the darkness, and +hold on by Him, and say, 'I know not what to do, but mine eyes are +towards Thee.' + +And be sure of this, brethren, that He will not desert His own promise, +and that they who in their inmost hearts can say, 'The Lord is my +Banner,' will never have to complain that He led them into a 'pathless +wilderness where there was no way.' It is sometimes a very narrow +track, it is often a very rough one, it is sometimes a dreadfully +solitary one; but He always goes before us, and they who hold His hand +will not hold it in vain. 'The Lord is my Banner'; obey His orders and +do not take anybody else's; nor, above all, the suggestions of that +impatient, talkative heart of yours, instead of His commandments. + +III. Lastly, the third lesson that these grey stones preach to us is, +Recognise by whose power you conquer. + +The banner, I suppose, to us English people, suggests a false idea. It +suggests the notion of a flag, or some bit of flexible drapery which +fluttered and flapped in the wind; but the banner of old-world armies +was a rigid pole, with some solid ornament of bright metal on the top, +so as to catch the light. The banner-staff spoken of in the text links +itself with the preceding incident. I said that Moses stood on the +mountain-top with the rod in his hand. Now that rod was exactly a +miniature banner, and when he lifted it, victory came to Israel; and +when it fell, victory deserted their arms. So by the altar's name he +would say, Do not suppose that it was Moses that won the battle, nor +that it was the rod that Moses carried in his hand that brought you +strength. The true Victor was Jehovah, and it was He who was Moses' +Banner. It was by Him that the lifted rod brought victory; as for +Moses, he had nothing to do with it; and the people had to look higher +than the hill-top where he sat. + +This thought puts stress on the first word of the phrase instead of on +the last, as in my previous remarks. 'The Lord is my Banner,'--no +Moses, no outward symbol, no man or thing, but only He Himself. +Therefore, in all our duties, and in all our difficulties, and in all +our conflicts, and for all our conquests, we are to look away from +creatures, self, externals, and to look only to God. We are all too apt +to trust in rods instead of in Him, in Moses instead of in Moses' Lord. + +We are all too apt to trust in externals, in organisations, sacraments, +services, committees, outside aids of all sorts, as our means for doing +God's work, and bringing power to us and blessing to the world. Let us +get away from them all, dig deeper down than any of these, be sure that +these are but surface reservoirs, but that the fountain which fills +them with any refreshing liquid which they may bear lies in God +Himself. Why should we trouble ourselves about reservoirs when we can +go to the Fountain? Why should we put such reliance on churches and +services and preaching and sermons and schemes and institutions and +organisations when we have the divine Lord Himself for our strength? +'Jehovah is my Banner,' and Moses' rod is only a symbol. At most it is +like a lightning-conductor, but it is not the lightning. The lightning +will come without the rod, if our eyes are to the heaven, for the true +power that brings God down to men is that forsaking of externals and +waiting upon Him which He never refuses to answer. + +In like manner we are too apt to put far too much confidence in human +teachers and human helpers of various kinds. And when God takes them +away we say to ourselves that there is a gap that can never be filled. +Ay! but the great sea can come in and fill any gap, and make the +deepest and the driest of the excavations in the desert to abound in +sweet water. + +So let us turn away from everything external, gather in our souls and +fix our hopes on Him; let us recognise the imperative duty of the +Christian warfare which is laid upon us; let us docilely submit +ourselves to His sweet commands, and trust in His sufficient and +punctual guidance, and not expect from any outward sources that which +no outward sources can ever give, but which He Himself will +give--strength to our fingers to fight, and weapons for the warfare, +and covering for our heads in the day of battle. + +And then, when our lives are done, may the only inscription on the +stone that covers us be 'Jehovah Nissi: the Lord is my banner'! The +trophy that commemorates the Christian's victory should bear no name +but His by whose grace we are more than conquerors. 'Thanks be to God +who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.' + + + + +GERSHOM AND ELIEZER + + + 'The name of the one [of Moses' sons] was Gershom ... and + the name of the other was Eliezer....'--EXODUS xviii. 3, 4. + +In old times parents often used to give expression to their hopes or +their emotions in the names of their children. Very clearly that was +the case in Moses' naming of his two sons, who seem to have been the +whole of his family. The significance of each name is appended to it in +the text. The explanation of the first is, 'For he said, I have been an +alien in a strange land'; and that of the second, 'For the God of my +fathers, said he, was mine help, and delivered me from the sword of +Pharaoh.' These two names give us a pathetic glimpse of the feelings +with which Moses began his exile, and of the better thoughts into which +these gradually cleared. The first child's name expresses his father's +discontent, and suggests the bitter contrast between Sinai and Egypt; +the court and the sheepfold; the gloomy, verdureless, gaunt peaks of +Sinai, blazing in the fierce sunshine, and the cool, luscious +vegetation of Goshen, the land for cattle. The exile felt himself all +out of joint with his surroundings, and so he called the little child +that came to him 'Gershom,' which, according to one explanation, means +'banishment,' and, according to another (a kind of punning etymology), +means 'a stranger here'; in the other case expressing the same sense of +homelessness and want of harmony with his surroundings. But as the +years went on, Moses began to acclimatise himself, and to become more +reconciled to his position and to see things more as they really were. +So, when the second child is born, all his murmuring has been hushed, +and he looks beyond circumstances, and lays his hand upon God. 'And the +name of the second was Eliezer, for, he said, the God of my fathers was +my help.' + +Now, there are the two main streams of thought that filled these forty +years; and it was worth while to put Moses into the desert for all that +time, and to break off the purposes and hopes of his life sharp and +short, and to condemn him to comparative idleness, or work that was all +unfitted to bring out his special powers, for that huge scantling out +of his life, one-third of the whole of it, in order that there might be +burnt into him, not either of these two thoughts separately, but the +two of them in their blessed conjunction; 'I am a stranger here'; 'God +is my Help.' And so these are the thoughts which, in like +juxtaposition, ought to be ours; and in higher fashion with regard to +the former of them than was experienced by Moses. Let me say a word or +two about each of these two things. Let us think of the strangers, and +of the divine helper that is with the strangers. + +I. 'A stranger here.' + +Now, that is true, in the deepest sense, about all men; for the one +thing that makes the difference between the man and the beast is that +the beast is perfectly at home in his surroundings, and gets all that +he needs out of them, and finds in them a field for all that he can do, +and is fully developed to the very highest point of his capacity by +what people nowadays call the 'environment' in which he is put. But the +very opposite is the case in regard to us men. 'Foxes have holes,' and +they are quite comfortable there; 'and the birds of the air have +roosting-places,' and tuck their heads under their wings and go to +sleep without a care and without a consciousness. 'But the Son of man,' +the ideal Humanity as well as the realised ideal in the person of Jesus +Christ, 'hath not where to lay His head.' No; because He is so 'much +better than they.' Their immunity from care is not a prerogative--it is +an inferiority. We are plunged into the midst of a scene of things +which obviously does not match our capacities. There is a great deal +more in every man than can ever find a field of expression, of work, or +of satisfaction in anything beneath the stars. And no man that +understands, even superficially, his own character, his own +requirements, can fail to feel in his sane and quiet moments, when the +rush of temptation and the illusions of this fleeting life have lost +their grip upon him: 'This is not the place that can bring out all that +is in me, or that can yield me all that I desire.' Our capacities +transcend the present, and the experiences of the present are all +unintelligible, unless the true end of every human life is not here at +all, but in another region, for which these experiences are fitting us. + +But, then, the temptations of life, the strong appeals of flesh and +sense, the duties which in their proper place are lofty and elevating +and refining, and put out of their place, are contemptible and +degrading, all come in to make it hard for any of us to keep clearly +before us what our consciousness tells us when it is strongly appealed +to, that we are strangers and sojourners here and that this is not 'our +rest, because it is polluted.' Therefore it comes to be the great glory +and blessedness of the Christian Revelation that it obviously shifts +the centre for us, and makes that future, and not this present, the aim +for which, and in the pursuit of which, we are to live. So, Christian +people, in a far higher sense than Moses, who only felt himself 'a +stranger there,' because he did not like Midian as well as Egypt, have +to say, 'We are strangers here'; and the very aim, in one aspect, of +our Christian discipline of ourselves is that we shall keep vivid, in +the face of all the temptations to forget it, this consciousness of +being away from our true home. + +One means of doing that is to think rather oftener than the most of us +do, about our true home. You have heard, I dare say, of half-reclaimed +gipsies, who for a while have been coaxed out of the free life of the +woods and the moors, and have gone into settled homes. After a while +there has come over them a rush of feeling, a remembrance of how +blessed it used to be out in the open and away from the squalor and +filth where men 'sit and hear each other groan' and they have flung off +'as if they were fetters' the trappings of 'civilisation,' and gone +back to liberty. That is what we ought to do--not going back from the +higher to the lower, but smitten with what the Germans call the +_heimweh_, the home-sickness, that makes us feel that we must get +clearer sight of that land to which we truly belong. + +Do you think about it, do you feel that where Jesus Christ is, is your +home? I have no doubt that most of you have, or have had, dear ones +here on earth about whom you could say that, 'Where my husband, my wife +is; where my beloved is, or my children are, that is my home, wherever +my abode may be.' Are you, Christian people, saying the same thing +about heaven and Jesus Christ? Do you feel that you are strangers here, +not only because you, reflecting upon your character and capacities and +on human life, see that all these require another life for their +explanation and development, but because your hearts are knit to Him, +and 'where your treasure is there your heart is also'; and where your +heart is there you are? We go home when we come into communion with +Jesus Christ. Do you ever, in the course of the rush of your daily +work, think about the calm city beyond the sea, and about its King, and +that you belong to it? 'Our citizenship is in heaven' and here we are +strangers. + +II. Now let me say a word about the other child's name. + +'God is Helper.' We do not know what interval of time elapsed between +the birth of these two children. There are some indications that the +second of them was in years very much the junior. Perhaps the +transition from the mood represented in the one name to that +represented in the other, was a long and slow process. But be that as +it may, note the connection between these two names. You can never say +'We are strangers here' without feeling a little prick of pain, unless +you say too 'God is my Helper.' There is a beautiful variation of the +former word which will occur to many of you, I have no doubt, in one of +the old psalms: 'I am a stranger _with Thee_, and a sojourner, as were +all my fathers.' There is the secret that takes away all the mourning, +all the possible discomfort and pain, out of the thought: 'Here we have +no continuing city,' and makes it all blessed. It does not matter +whether we are in a foreign land or no, if we have that Companion with +us. His presence will make blessedness in Midian, or in Thebes. It does +not matter whether it is Goshen or the wilderness, if the Lord is by +our side. So sweetness is breathed into the thought, and bitterness is +sucked out of it, when the name of the second child is braided into the +name of the first; and we can contemplate quietly all else of tragic +and limiting and sad that is involved in the thought that we are +sojourners and pilgrims, when we say 'Yes! we are; but the Lord is my +Helper.' + +Then, on the other hand, we shall never say and feel 'the Lord is my +Helper,' as we ought to do, until we have got deep in our hearts, and +settled in our consciousness, the other conviction that we are +strangers here. It is only when we realise that there is no other +permanence for us that we put out our hands and grasp at the Eternal, +in order not to be swept away upon the dark waves of the rushing stream +of Time. It is only when all other props are stricken from us that we +rest our whole weight upon that one strong central pillar, which can +never be moved. Learn that God helps, for that makes it possible to say +'I am a stranger,' and not to weep. Learn that you are strangers, for +that stimulates to take God for out help. Just as when the floods are +out, men are driven to the highest ground to save their lives; so when +the billows of the waters of time are seen to be rolling over all +creatural things, we take our flight to the Rock of Ages. Put the two +together, and they fit one another and strengthen us. + +This second conviction was the illuminating light upon a perplexed and +problematic past. Moses, when he fled from Egypt, thought that his +life's work was rent in twain. He had believed that his brethren would +have seen that it was God's purpose to use him as the deliverer. For +the sake of being such, he had surrendered the court and its delights. +But on his young ambition and innocent enthusiasm there came this +_douche_ of cold water, which lasted for forty years, and sent him away +into the wilderness, to be a shepherd under an Arab sheikh, with +nothing to look forward to. At first he said, 'This is not what I was +meant for; I am out of my element here.' But before the forty years +were over he said, 'The God of my father was my help, and He delivered +me from the sword of Pharaoh.' What had looked a disaster turned out to +be a deliverance, a manifestation of divine help, and not a hindrance. +He had got far enough away from that past to look at it sanely, that is +to say gratefully. So we, when we get far enough away from our sorrows, +can look back at them, sometimes even here on earth, and say, 'The +mercy of the Lord compassed me about.' Here is the key that unlocks all +the perplexities of providence, 'The Lord was my Helper.' + +And that conviction will steady and uphold a man in a present, however +dark. It was no small exercise of his faith and patience that the great +lawgiver should for so many years have such unworthy work to do as he +had in Midian. But even then he gathered into his heart this +confidence, and brought summer about him into the mid-winter of his +life, and light into the midst of darkness; 'for he said'--even then, +when there was no work for him to do that seemed much to need a divine +help--'the Lord is my Helper.' + +And so, however dark may be our present moment, and however obscure or +repulsive our own tasks, let us fall back upon that old word, 'Thou +hast been my Help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my +salvation.' + +When Moses named his boy, his gratitude was allied with faith in +favours to come; and when he said 'was,' he meant also 'will be.' And +he was right. He dreamt very little of what was coming, but this +confidence that was expressed in his second child's name was warranted +by that great future that lay before him, though he did not know it. +When the pinch came his confidence faltered. It was easy to say 'The +Lord is my Helper,' when there was nothing very special for which God's +help was needed, and nothing harder to do than to look after a few +sheep in the wilderness. But when God said to him, 'Go and stand before +Pharaoh,' Moses for the moment forgot all about God's being his helper, +and was full of all manner of cowardly excuses, which, like the excuses +of a great many more of us for not doing our plain duty, took the shape +of a very engaging modesty and diffidence as to his capacities. But God +said to him, 'Surely I will be with thee.' He gave him back 'Eliezer' +in a little different form. 'You used to say that I was your helper. +What has become of your faith now? Has it all evaporated when the trial +comes? Surely I will be with thee.' If we will set ourselves to our +tasks, not doubting God's help, we shall have occasion in the event to +be sure that God did help us. + +So, brethren, let us cherish these two thoughts, and never keep them +apart, and God will be, as our good old hymn has it-- + + 'Our help while troubles last, + And our eternal home.' + + + + +THE IDEAL STATESMAN [Footnote: Preached on occasion of Mr. Gladstone's +death.] + + 'Thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, + such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; + and place such over them.'--EXODUS xviii. 21. + +You will have anticipated my purpose in selecting this text. I should +be doing violence to your feelings and mine if I made no reference to +the event which has united the Empire and the world in one sentiment. +The great tree has fallen, and the crash has for the moment silenced +all the sounds of the forest. Wars abroad and controversies at home are +hushed. All men, of all schools of opinion, creeds, and parties, see +now, in the calm face of the dead, 'the likeness to the great of old'; +and it says something, with all our faults, for the soundness of the +heart of English opinion, that all sorts and conditions of men have +brought their sad wreaths to lay them on that coffin. + +But, whilst much has been said, far more eloquently and authoritatively +than I can say it, about the many aspects of that many-sided life, +surely it becomes us, as Christian people, to look at it from the +distinctively Christian point of view, and to gather some of the +lessons which, so regarded, it teaches us. + +My text is part of the sagacious advice which Jethro, the father-in-law +of Moses, gave him about the sort of men that he should pick out to be +his lieutenants in civic government. Its old-fashioned, simple +phraseology may hide from some of us the elevation and +comprehensiveness of the ideal that it sets forth. But it is a grand +ideal; and amongst the great names of Englishmen who have guided the +destinies of this land, none have approached more nearly to it than he +whose death has taken away the most striking personality from our +public life. + +So let me ask you to look with me, first, at the ideal of a politician +that is set forth here. + +The free life of the desert, far away from the oppressions of +surrounding military despotisms, that remarkable and antique +constitution of the clan, with all its beautiful loyalty, had given +this Arab sheikh a far loftier conception of what a ruler of men was +than he could have found exemplified at Pharaoh's court; or than, alas! +has been common in many so-called Christian countries. The field upon +which he intended that these great qualities should be exercised was a +very limited one, to manage the little affairs of a handful of +fugitives in the desert. But the scale on which we work has nothing to +do with the principles by which we work, and the laws of perspective +and colouring are the same, whether you paint the minutest miniature or +a gigantic fresco. So what was needed for managing the little concerns +of Moses' wanderers in the wilderness is the ideal of what is needed +for the men who direct the public affairs of world-wide empires. + +Let me run over the details. They must be 'able men,' or, as the +original has it, 'men of strength.' There is the intellectual basis, +and especially the basis of firm, brave, strongly-set will which will +grasp convictions, and, whatever comes, will follow them to their +conclusions. The statesman is not one that puts his ear down to the +ground to hear the tramp of some advancing host, and then makes up his +mind to follow in their paths; he is not sensitive to the varying winds +of public opinion, nor does he trim his sails to suit them, but he +comes to his convictions by first-hand approach to, and meditation on, +the great principles that are to guide, and then holds to them with a +strength that nothing can weaken, and a courage that nothing can daunt. +'Men of strength' is what democracies like ours do most need in their +leaders; a 'strong man, in a blatant land,' who knows his own mind, and +is faithful to it for ever. That is a great demand. + +'Such as fear God'--there is the secret of strength, not merely in +reference to the intellectual powers which are not dependent for their +origin, though they may be for the health and vigour of their work, +upon any religious sentiment, but in regard to all true power. He that +would govern others must first be lord of himself, and he only is lord +of himself who is consciously and habitually the servant of God. So +that whatever natural endowment we start with, it must be heightened, +purified, deepened, enlarged, by the presence in our lives of a deep +and vital religious conviction. That is true about all men, leaders and +led, large and small. That is the bottom-heat in the greenhouse, as it +were, that will make riper and sweeter all the fruits which are the +natural result of natural capacities. That is the amulet and the charm +which will keep a man from the temptations incident to his position and +the weaknesses incident to his character. The fear of God underlies the +noblest lives. That is not to-day's theory. We are familiar with the +fact, and familiar with the doctrine formulated out of it, that there +may be men of strong and noble lives and great leaders in many a +department of human activity without any reference to the Unseen. Yes, +there may be, but they are all fragments, and the complete man comes +only when the fear of the Lord is guide, leader, impulse, polestar, +regulator, corrector, and inspirer of all that he is and all that he +does. + +'Men of truth'--that, of course, glances at the crooked ways which +belong not only to Eastern statesmanship, but it does more than that. +He that is to lead men must himself be led by an eager haste to follow +after, and to apprehend, the very truth of things. And there must be in +him clear transparent willingness to render his utmost allegiance, at +any sacrifice, to the dawning convictions that may grow upon him. It is +only fools that do not change. Freshness of enthusiasm, and fidelity to +new convictions opening upon a man, to the end of his life, are not the +least important of the requirements in him who would persuade and guide +individuals or a nation. + +'Hating covetousness'; or, as it might be rendered, 'unjust gain.' That +reference to the 'oiling of the palms' of Eastern judges may be taken +in a loftier signification. If a man is to stand forth as the leader of +a people, he must be clear, as old Samuel said that he was, from all +suspicion of having been following out his career for any form of +personal advantage. 'Clean hands,' and that not only from the vulgar +filth of wealth, but from the more subtle advantages which may accrue +from a lofty position, are demanded of the leader of men. + +Such is the ideal. The requirements are stern and high, and they +exclude the vermin that infest 'politics,' as they are called, and +cause them to stink in many nostrils. The self-seeking schemer, the +one-eyed partisan, the cynic who disbelieves in ideals of any sort, the +charlatan who assumes virtues that he does not possess, and mouths +noble sentiments that go no deeper than his teeth, are all shut out by +them. The doctrine that a man may do in his public capacity things +which would be disgraceful in private life, and yet retain his personal +honour untarnished, is blown to atoms by this ideal. It is much to be +regretted, and in some senses to be censured, that so many of our +wisest, best, and most influential men stand apart from public life. +Much of that is due to personal bias, much more of it is due to the +pressure of more congenial duties, and not a little of it is due to the +disregard of Jethro's ideal, and to the degradation of public life +which has ensued thereby. But there have been great men in our history +whose lives have helped to lift up the ideal of a statesman, who have +made such a sketch as Jethro outlined, though they may not have used +his words, their polestar; and amongst the highest of these has been +the man whose loss we to-day lament. + +Let me try to vindicate that expression of opinion in a word or two. I +cannot hope to vie in literary grace, or in completeness, with the +eulogies that have been abundantly poured out; and I should not have +thought it right to divert this hour of worship from its ordinary +themes, if I had had no more to say than has been far better said a +thousand times in these last days. But I cannot help noticing that, +though there has been a consensus of admiration of, and a practically +unanimous pointing to, character as after all the secret of the spell +which Mr. Gladstone has exercised for two generations, there has not +been, as it seems to me, equal and due prominence given to what was, +and what he himself would have said was, the real root of his character +and the productive cause of his achievements. + +And so I venture now to say a word or two about the religion of the man +that to his own consciousness underlay all the rest of him. It is not +for me to speak, and there is no need to speak, about the marvellous +natural endowments and the equally marvellous, many-sided equipment of +attainment which enriched the rich, natural soil. Intermeddling as he +did with all knowledge, he must necessarily have been but an amateur in +many of the subjects into which he rushed with such generous eagerness. +But none the less is the example of all but omnivorous acquisitiveness +of everything that was to be known, a protest, very needful in these +days, against the possible evils of an excessive specialising which the +very progress of knowledge in all departments seems to make inevitable. +I do not need to speak, either, of the flow, and sometimes the torrent, +of eloquence ever at his command, nor of the lithe and sinewy force of +his extraordinarily nimble, as well as massive, mind; nor need I say +more than one word about the remarkable combination of qualities so +generally held and seen to be incompatible, which put into one +personality a genius for dry arithmetical figures and a genius for +enthusiasm and sympathy with all the oppressed. All these things have +been said far better than I can say them, and I do not repeat them. + +But I desire to hammer this one conviction into your hearts and my own, +that the inmost secret of that noble life, of all that wealth of +capacity, all that load of learning, which he bore lightly like a +flower, was the fact that the man was, to the very depths of his +nature, a devout Christian. He would have been as capable, as eloquent, +and all the rest of it, if he had been an unbeliever. But he would +never have been nor done what he was and did, and he would never have +left the dint of an impressive and lofty personality upon a whole +nation and a world, if beneath the intellect there had not been +character, and beneath character Christianity. + +He was far removed, in ecclesiastical connections, from us +Nonconformists, and he held opinions in regard to some very important +ecclesiastical questions which cut straight across some of our deepest +convictions. We never had to look for much favour from his hands, +because his intellectual atmosphere removed him far from sympathy with +many of the truths which are dearest to the members of the Free +Evangelical Churches. But none the less we recognise in him a brother +in Jesus Christ, and rejoice that there, on the high places of a +careless and sceptical generation, there stood a Christian man. + +In this connection I cannot but, though I have no right to do so, +express how profoundly thankful I, for one, was to the present Prime +Minister of England that in his brief eulogium on, I was going to say, +his great rival, he ended all by the emphatic declaration that Mr. +Gladstone was, first and foremost, a great Christian man. Yes; and +there was the secret, as I have already said, not of his merely +political eminence, but of the universal reverence which a nation +expresses to-day. All detraction is silenced, and all calumnies have +dropped away, as filth from the white wings of a swan as it soars, and +with one voice the Empire and the world confess that he was a great and +a good man. + +I need not dwell in detail on the thoughts of how, by reason of this +deep underlying fear of God, the other qualifications which are +sketched in our ideal found their realisation in him; how those who, +all through his career, smiled most at the successive enthusiasms which +monopolised his mind, and sometimes at the contrasts between these, are +now ready to admit that, whether the enthusiasms were right or wrong, +there is something noble in the spectacle of a man ever keeping his +mind, even when its windows were beginning to be dimmed by the frosts +of age, open to the beams of new truth. And the greatest, as some +people think, of his political blunders, as we are beginning, all of +us, to recognise, now that party strife is hushed, was the direct +consequence of that ever fresh and youthful enthusiasm for new thoughts +and new lines of action. Innovators aged eighty are not too numerous. + +Nor need I say more than one word about the other part of the ideal, +'hating covetousness.' The giver of peerages by the bushel died a +commoner. The man that had everything at his command made no money, nor +anything else, out of his long years of office, except the satisfaction +of having been permitted to render what he believed to be the highest +of service to the nation that he loved so well. Like our whilom +neighbour, the other great commoner, John Bright, he lived among his +own people; and like Samuel, of whom I have already spoken, he could +stretch out his old hands and say, 'They are clean.' One scarcely feels +as if, to such a life, a State funeral in Westminster Abbey was +congruous. One had rather have seen him laid among the humble villagers +who were his friends and companions, and in the quiet churchyard which +his steps had so often traversed. But at all events the ideal was +realised, and we all know what it was. + +Might I say one word more? As this great figure passes out of men's +sight to nobler work, be sure, on widened horizons corresponding to his +tutored and exercised powers, does he leave no lessons behind for us? +He leaves one very plain, homely one, and that is, 'Work while it is +called to-day.' No opulence of endowment tempted this man to indolence, +and no poverty of endowment will excuse us for sloth. Work is the law +of our lives; and the more highly we are gifted, the more are we bound +to serve. + +He leaves us another lesson. Follow convictions as they open before +you, and never think that you have done growing, or have reached your +final stage. + +He leaves another lesson. Do not suppose that the Gospel of Jesus +Christ cannot satisfy the keenest intellect, nor dominate the strongest +will. It has come to be a mark of narrowness and fossilhood to be a +devout believer in Christ and His Cross. Some of you young men make an +easy reputation for cleverness and advanced thought by the short and +simple process of disbelieving what your mother taught you. Here is a +man, probably as great as you are, with as keen an intellect, and he +clung to the Cross of Christ, and had for his favourite hymn-- + + 'Rock of Ages, cleft for me, + Let me hide myself in Thee.' + +He leaves another lesson. If you desire to make your characters all +that it is in them to be made, you must, like him, go to Jesus Christ, +and get your teaching and your inspiration from that great Lord. We +cannot all be great men. Never mind. It is character that tells; we can +all be good men, and we can all be Christian men. And whether we build +cottages or palaces, if we build on one foundation, and only if we do, +they will stand. + +Moses leaves another lesson, as he glides into the past. 'This man, +having served his generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was +gathered to his fathers, and saw corruption'; but He 'whom God hath +raised up saw no corruption.' The lamps are quenched, the sun shines. +Moses dies, 'The prophets, do they live for ever?' but when Moses and +Elias faded from the Mount of Transfiguration 'the apostles saw no man +any more, save Jesus only,' and the voice said, 'This is My beloved +Son; hear ye Him.' + + + + +THE DECALOGUE: I--MAN AND GOD + + + 'And God spake all these words, saying, 2. I am the Lord + thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of + Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3. Thou shalt have + no other gods before me. 4. Thou shalt not make unto + thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing + that is in the heaven above, or that is in the earth + beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5. + Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: + for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the + iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third + and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6. And + shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and + keep my commandments. 7. Thou shalt not take the name of + the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him + guiltless that taketh his name in vain. 8. Remember the + sabbath-day, to keep it holy. 9. Six days shalt thou + labour, and do all thy work: 10. But the seventh day is + the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do + any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy + man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor + thy stranger that is within thy gates: 11. For in six + days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all + that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore + the Lord blessed the sabbath-day, and hallowed it.' + --EXODUS xx. 1-11. + +An obscure tribe of Egyptian slaves plunges into the desert to hide +from pursuit, and emerges, after forty years, with a code gathered into +'ten words,' so brief, so complete, so intertwining morality and +religion, so free from local or national peculiarities, so close +fitting to fundamental duties, that it is to-day, after more than three +thousand years, authoritative in the most enlightened peoples. The +voice that spoke from Sinai reverberates in all lands. The Old World +had other lawgivers who professed to formulate their precepts by divine +inspiration: they are all fallen silent. But this voice, like the +trumpet on that day, waxes louder and louder as the years roll. Whose +voice was it? The only answer explaining the supreme purity of the +commandments, and their immortal freshness, is found in the first +sentence of this paragraph, 'God spake all these words.' + +I. We have first the revelation, which precedes and lays the foundation +for the commandments; 'I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee +out of the land of Egypt.' God speaks to the nation as a whole, +establishing a special relation between Himself and them, which is +founded on His redeeming act, and is reciprocal, requiring that they +should be His people, as He is their God. The manifestation in act of +His power and of His love precedes the claim for reverence and +obedience. This is a universal truth. God gives before He asks us to +give. He is not a hard taskmaster, 'gathering where He has not strawn.' +Even in that system which is eminently 'the law,' the foundation is a +divine act of deliverance, and only when He has won the people for +Himself by redeeming them from bondage does He call on them for +obedience. His rule is built on benefits. He urges no mere right of the +mightier, nor cares for service which is not the glad answer of +gratitude. The flashing flames which ran as swift heralds before His +descending chariot wheels, the quaking mountain, the long-drawn blasts +of the trumpet, awed the gathered crowd. But the first articulate words +made a tenderer appeal, and sought to found His right to command on His +love, and their duty to obey on their gratitude. The great gospel +principle, that the Redeemer is the lawgiver, and the redeemed are +joyful subjects because their hearts are touched with love, underlies +the apparently sterner system of the Old Testament. God opens His heart +first, and then asks for men's. + +This prelude certainly confines the Decalogue to the people of Israel. +Their deliverance is the ground on which the law is rested, therefore, +plainly, the obligation can be no wider than the benefit. But though we +are not bound to obey any of the Ten Commandments, because they were +given to Israel, they are all, with one exception, demonstrably, a +transcript of laws written on the heart of mankind; and this fact +carries with it a strong presumption that the law of the Sabbath, which +is the exception referred to, should be regarded as not an exception, +but as a statute of the primeval law, witnessed to by conscience, +republished in wondrous precision and completeness in these venerable +precepts. The Ten Commandments are binding on us; but they are not +binding as part, though the fundamental part, of the Jewish law. + +Two general observations may be made. One is on the negative character +of the commandments as a whole. Law prohibits because men are sinful. +But prohibitions pre-suppose as their foundation positive commands. We +are forbidden to do something because we are inclined to do it, and +because we ought to do the opposite. Every 'thou shalt not' implies a +deeper 'thou shalt.' The cold negation really rests on the converse +affirmative command. + +The second remark on the law as a whole is as to the relation which it +establishes between religion and morality, making the latter a part of +the former, but regarding it as secured only by the prior discharge of +the obligations of the former. Morality is the garb of religion; +religion is the animating principle of morality. The attempts to build +up a theory of ethics without reference to our relations to God, or to +secure the practice of righteousness without such reference, or to +substitute, with a late champion of unbelief, 'the service of man' for +the worship of God, are all condemned by the deeper and simpler wisdom +of this law. Christians should learn the lesson, which the most Jewish +of the New Testament writers had drawn from it, that, 'pure and +undefiled service' of God is the service of man, and should beware of +putting asunder what God has joined so closely. + +II. The first commandment bears in its negative form marks of the +condition of the world when it was spoken, and of the strong temptation +to polytheism which the Israelites were to resist. Everywhere but in +that corner among the wild rocks of Sinai, men believed in 'gods many.' +Egypt swarmed with them; and, no doubt, the purity of Abraham's faith +had been sadly tarnished in his sons. We cannot understand the strange +fascination of polytheism. It is a disease of humanity in an earlier +stage than ours. But how strong it was and is, all history shows. All +these many gods were on amicable terms with one another, and ready to +welcome newcomers. But the monotheism, which was here laid at the very +foundation of Israel's national life, parted it by a deep gulf from all +the world, and determined its history. + +The prohibition has little force for us; but the positive command which +underlies it is of eternal force. We should rather think of it as a +revelation and an invitation than as a mere command. For what is it but +the declaration that at the centre of things is throned, not a rabble +of godlings, nor a stony impersonal somewhat, nor a hypothetical +unknowable entity, nor a shadowy abstraction, but a living Person, who +can say 'Me,' and whom we can call on as 'Thou,' and be sure that He +hears? No accumulation of finite excellences, however fair, can satisfy +the imagination, which feels after one Being, the personal ideal of all +perfectness. The understanding needs one ultimate Cause on which it can +rest amid the dance of fleeting phenomena; the heart cannot pour out +its love to be shared among many. No string of goodly pearls will ever +give the merchantman assurance that his quest is complete. Only when +human nature finds all in One, and that One a living Person, the Lover +and Friend of all souls, does it fold its wings and rest as a bird +after long flight. + +The first commandment enjoins, or rather blesses us by showing us that +we may cherish, supreme affection, worship, trust, self-surrender, +aspiration, towards one God. After all, our God is that which we think +most precious, for which we are ready to make the greatest sacrifices, +which draws our warmest love; which, lost, would leave us desolate; +which, possessed, makes us blessed. If we search our hearts with this +'candle of the Lord,' we shall find many an idol set up in their dark +corners, and be startled to discover how much we need to bring +ourselves to be judged and condemned by this commandment It is the +foundation of all human duty. Obedience to it is the condition of peace +and blessedness, light and leading for mind, heart, will, affections, +desires, hopes, fears, and all the world within, that longs for one +living Person even when it least knows the meaning of its longings and +the reason of its unrest. + +III. The second commandment forbids all representations, whether of the +one God or of false deities. The golden calf, which was a symbol of +Jehovah, is condemned equally with the fair forms that haunted the +Greek Olympus, or the half-bestial shapes of Egyptian mythology. The +reasons for the prohibition may be considered as two,--the +impossibility of setting forth the glory of the Infinite Spirit in any +form, and the certainty that the attempt will sink the worshipper +deeper in the mire of sense. An image degrades God and damages men. By +it religion reverses its nature, and becomes another clog to keep the +soul among the things seen, and an ally of all fleshly inclinations. We +know how idolatry seemed to cast a spell over the Israelites from Egypt +to Babylon, and how their first relapse into it took place almost +before the voice which 'spake all these words' had ceased. + +In its grosser form, we have no temptation to it. But there are other +ways of breaking the commandment than setting up an image. All sensuous +worship in which the treacherous aid of art is called in to elevate the +soul, comes perilously near to contradicting its spirit, if not its +letter. The attempt to make of the senses a ladder for the soul to +climb to God by, is a great deal more likely to end in the soul's going +down the ladder than up it. The history of public worship in the +Christian Church teaches that the less it has to do with such slippery +help the better. There is a strong current running in England, at all +events, in the direction of bringing in a more artistic, or, as it is +called, a 'less bare,' form of service. We need to remember that the +God who is a Spirit is worshipped 'in spirit,' and that outward forms +may easily choke, and outward aids hinder, that worship. + +The especial difficulty of obedience to this commandment is marked by +the reason or sanction annexed. That opens a wide field, on which it +would be folly to venture here. There is a glimpse of God's character, +and a statement of a law of His working. He is a 'jealous' God, We need +not be afraid of the word. It means nothing but what is congruous with +the loftiest conception of a loving God. It means that He allows of no +rival in our hearts' affection, or in our submission for love's sake to +Him. A half trust in God is no trust. How can worship be shared, or +love be parted out, among a pantheon? Our poor hearts ask of one +another and get from one another, wherever a man and a woman truly +love, just what God asks,--'All in all, or not at all.' His jealousy is +but infinite love seeking to be known as such, and asking for a whole +heart. + +The law of His providence sounds hard, but it is nothing more than +stating in plain words the course of the world's history, which cannot +be otherwise if there is to be any bond of human society at all. We +hear a great deal in modern language about solidarity (and sometimes it +is spelled with a final 'e,' to look more philosophical) and heredity. +The teaching of this commandment is simply a statement of the same +facts, with the addition that the Lawgiver is visible behind the law. +The consequences of conduct do not die with the doers. 'The evil that +men do, lives after them.' The generations are so knit together, and +the full results of deeds are often so slow-growing, that one +generation sows and another reaps. Who sowed the seed that fruited in +misery, and was gathered in a bitter harvest of horrors and crimes in +the French Revolution? Who planted the tree under which the citizens of +the United States sit? Did not the seedling go over in the _Mayflower_? +As long as the generations of men are more closely connected than those +of sheep or birds, this solemn word must be true. Let us see that we +sow no tares to poison our children when we are in our graves. The +saying had immediate application to the consequences of idolatry in the +history of Israel, and was a forecast of their future. But it is true +evermore and everywhere. + +IV. The third commandment must be so understood as to bring it into +line with the two preceding, as of equal breadth and equally +fundamental. It cannot, therefore, be confined to the use of the name +of God in oaths, whether false or trivial. No doubt, perjury and +profane swearing are included in the sweep of the prohibition; but it +reaches far beyond them. The name of God is the declaration of His +being and character. We take His name 'in vain' when we speak of Him +unworthily. Many a glib and formal prayer, many a mechanical or +self-glorifying sermon, many an erudite controversy, comes under the +lash of this prohibition. Professions of devotion far more fervid than +real, confessions in which the conscience is not stricken, orthodox +teachings with no throb of life in them, unconscious hypocrisies of +worship, and much besides, are gibbeted here. The most vain of all +words are those which have become traditional stock in trade for +religious people, which once expressed deep convictions, and are now a +world too wide for the shrunk faith which wears them. + +The positive side underlying the negative is the requirement that our +speech of God shall fit our thought of God, and our thought of Him +shall fit His Name; that our words shall mirror our affections, and our +affection be a true reflection of His beauty and sweetness; that +cleansed lips shall reverently utter the Name above every name, which, +after all speech, must remain unspoken; and that we shall feel it to be +not the least wonderful or merciful of His condescensions that He 'is +extolled with our tongues.' + +V. The series of commandments referring to Israel's relations with God +is distinctly progressive from the first to the fourth, which deals +with the Sabbath. The fact that it appears here, side by side with +these absolutely universal and first principles of religion and +worship, clearly shows that the giver of the code regarded it as of +equal comprehensiveness. If we believe that the giver of the code was +God, we seem shut up to the conclusion that, though the Sabbath is a +positive institution, and in so far unlike the preceding commandments, +it is to be taken as not merely a temporary or Jewish ordinance. The +ground on which it is rested here points to the same conclusion. The +version of the Decalogue in Deuteronomy bases it on the Egyptian +deliverance, but this, on the divine rest after creation. As we have +already said, we do not regard the Decalogue as binding on us because +given to Israel; but we do regard it as containing laws universally +binding, which are written by God's finger, not on tables of stone, but +on 'the fleshly tables of the heart.' All the others are admittedly of +this nature. Is not the Sabbath law likewise? It is not, indeed, +inscribed on the conscience, but is the need for it not stamped on the +physical nature? The human organism requires the seventh-day rest, +whether men toil with hand or brain. Historically, it is not true that +the Sabbath was founded by this legislation. The traces of its +observance in Genesis are few and doubtful; but we know from the +inscriptions that the seventh, fourteenth, twenty-first, and +twenty-eighth days of the moon were set apart by the Assyrians, and +scholars can supply other instances. The 'Remember' of this commandment +can scarcely be urged as establishing this, for it may quite as +naturally be explained to mean 'Remember, as each successive seventh +day comes round, to consecrate it.' But apart from that, the law +written on body, mind, and soul says plainly to all men, 'Rest on the +seventh day.' Body and mind need repose; the soul needs quiet communion +with God. No vigorous physical, intellectual, or religious life will +long be kept up, if that need be disregarded. The week was meant to be +given to work, which is blessed and right if done after the pattern of +God's. The Sabbath was meant to lift to a share in His rest, to bring +eternity into time, to renew wasted strength 'by a wise passiveness,' +and to draw hearts dissipated by contact with fleeting tasks back into +the stillness where they can find themselves in fellowship with God. + +We have not the Jewish Sabbath, nor is it binding on us. But as men we +ought to rest, and resting, to worship, on one day in the week. The +unwritten law of Christianity, moulding all outward forms by its own +free spirit, gradually, and without premeditation, slid from the +seventh to the first day, as it had clear right to do. It was the day +of Christ's resurrection, probably of His ascension, and of Pentecost. +It is 'the Lord's Day.' In observing it, we unite both the reasons for +the Sabbath given in Exodus and Deuteronomy,--the completion of a +higher creation in the resurrection rest of the Son of God, and the +deliverance from a sorer bondage by a better Moses. The Christian +Sunday and its religious observance are indispensable to the religious +life of individuals and nations. The day of rest is indispensable to +their well-being. Our hard-working millions will bitterly rue their +folly, if they are tempted to cast it away on the plea of obtaining +opportunities for intellectual culture and enjoyment. It is + + 'The couch of time, care's balm and bay,' + +and we shall be wise if we hold fast by it; not because the Jews were +bid to hallow the seventh day, but because we need it for repose, and +we need it for religion. + + + + +THE DECALOGUE: II.--MAN AND MAN + + + 'Honour thy father and thy mother; that thy days may be + long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. + 13. Thou shalt not kill. 14. Thou shalt not commit + adultery. 15. Thou shalt not steal. 16. Thou shalt not + bear false witness against thy neighbour. 17. Thou + shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not + covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his man-servant, nor + his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing + that is thy neighbour's. 18. And all the people saw the + thunderings and the lightnings, and the noise of the + trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and, when the people + saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. 19. And they + said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: + but let not God speak with us, lest we die. 20. And Moses + said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove + you, and that His fear may be before your faces, that ye + sin not. 21. And the people stood afar off: and Moses + drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.' + --EXODUS xx. 12-21. + +I. The broad distinction between the two halves of the Decalogue is +that the former deals with man's relations to God, and the latter with +His relations to men. This double division is recognised in the New +Testament summary of 'all the law,' as found in two commandments, and +is probably implied in the two tables on which it was inscribed. +Commentators have been much exercised, however, about how to divide the +commandments between these two parts. The fifth, which is the first in +this division, belongs in substance to the second half, but its form +connects it with the first table. It is like the preceding ones in +having a reason appended, and in naming 'the Lord thy God'; while the +following are all bare, curt prohibitions. The fact seems to be that it +is a transition commandment, and meant to cast special sacredness round +the parental relationship, by paralleling it, in some sense, with that +to God, of which it is a reflection. Other duties to other men stand on +a different level from duties to parents. 'Honour,' which is to be +theirs, is not remote from the reverence due to God. They are, as it +were, His shadows to the child. The fatherhood of God is dimly revealed +in that parting off the commandment from the second table, and +assimilating it in form to the laws of the first. + +II. The connection of the two halves of the Decalogue teaches some +important truth. Josephus said a wise thing when he remarked that, +'whereas other legislators had made religion a department of virtue, +Moses made virtue a department of religion.' No theory of morals is +built upon the deepest foundation which does not recognise the final +ground of the obligation of duty in the voice of God. Duty is +_debitum_-debt. Who is the creditor? Myself? An impersonal law? +Society? No, God. The practice of morality depends, like its theory, on +religion. In the long-run, and on the wide scale, nations and periods +which have lost the latter will not long keep the former in any vigour +or purity. He who begins by erasing the first commandment will sooner +or later make a clean sweep of all the ten. And, on the other hand, +wherever there is true worship of the one God, there all fair charities +between man and man will flourish and fruit. The two tables are one +law. Duties to God come first, and those to man, who is made in the +image of God, flow from these. + +III. The order of these human duties is significant. We have, next +after the law of parental reverence, three commandments, which, in a +descending series of importance, forbid crimes against life, marriage, +and property. Then the law passes from deeds to the more subtle, and, +as men think, less grave, offences of the tongue. Next it crosses the +boundary which divides human from divine law, and crimes from sins, to +take cognisance of unspoken and unacted desires. So the order of +progress in the first table is exactly the reverse of that in the +second. There we begin with inward devotion, and travel outwards by +deed and word to the sabbatical institution; here we begin with overt +acts, and travel inwards, through words, to the hidden desire. The end +touches the beginning. For that which we 'covet' is our God; and the +first commandment is only obeyed when our hearts hunger after Him, and +not after earth. The sequence here corresponds to the order of progress +in our knowledge and practice of our human duties. The first thing that +the rudest state of society has to do is to establish some kind of +security for life and property and woman's honour. The worst men know +that much as their duty, however foul may be their lips, and hot their +passions. Then the recognition of the sanctity of the great gift of +speech, and the supreme obligations of veracity, grow upon men as they +get above the earlier stage. Most children pass through a phase when +they tell lies as pastime, and most rude societies and half-moralised +men have a similar epoch. Last of all, when actions have been bridled +and the tongue taught the law of truth, comes the full recognition that +the work is not done till the silent longing of a hungry heart is +stilled, and that unselfish love of our neighbour is only perfect when +we can rejoice in his good and wish none of it for ourselves. The +second table is a chart of moral progress. + +IV. The scope of these laws has often been violently stretched so as to +include all human duty; but without tugging at them so as to make them +cover everything, we may note briefly how far they extend. We are +scarcely warranted in taking any of them but the last, as going deeper +than overt acts, for, though our Lord has taught in the Sermon on the +Mount that hatred is murder, and impure desire adultery, that is His +deepening of the commandment. But it is quite fair to bring out the +positive precept which, in each case, underlies the stern, short +prohibition. + +The fifth commandment shares with the fourth the distinction of being a +positive command. It enjoins 'honour,' not 'love,' partly because, in +olden times, the father was a prince in his house in a sense that has +long since ceased to be true, partly because there was less need to +enjoin the affection which is in some degree instinctive, than the +submission and respect which the children are tempted to withhold, +partly in order to suggest the analogy with reverence to God. A strange +change has passed over the relations of parents and children, even +within a generation. There is more, perhaps, of frank familiar +intercourse, which, no doubt, is an improvement on the old style. But +there is a great deal less of what the commandment enjoins. City life, +education, the general impairing of the idea of authority, which we see +everywhere, have told upon many families; and many a father who, by +indulgence or by too much engrossment in business, lets the children +twitch the reins out of his hands, might lament, as his grown-up +children spurn control, 'If then I be a father, where is mine honour?' +There is no one of the commandments which it is more needful to preach +in England than this. + +The promise attached to it has another side of threatening. It is a +plain fact that when the paternal relation is corrupted, a powerful +solvent has been introduced which rapidly tends to disintegrate +society. The most ancient empire in the world today, China, has, amid +many vices and follies, been preserved mainly by the profound reverence +to ancestors which is largely its real working religion. The most +vigorous power in the old world, Rome, owed its iron might not only to +its early simplicity of life and its iron tenacity, but to the strength +of paternal authority and the willingness of filial obedience. No more +serious damage can be inflicted on society or on individuals than the +weakening of the honour paid to fathers and mothers. + +'Thou shalt not kill' forbids not only the act of murder, but all that +endangers life. It enjoins all care, diligence, and effort to preserve +it. A man who looks on while another drowns, or who sends a ship out +half manned and overloaded, breaks it as really as a red-handed +murderer. But the commandment was not intended to touch the questions +of capital punishment or of war. These were allowed under the Jewish +code, and cannot therefore be supposed to be prohibited here. How far +either is consistent with the deepest meaning of the law, as expanded +and reconsecrated in Christianity, is another question. Their defenders +have to execute some startling feats of gymnastics to harmonise either +with the New Testament. + + 'Curus kind o' Christian dooty, + This 'ere cuttin' folks's throats.' + +The ground of the commandment is not given, seeing that conscience is +expected to admit its force as soon as stated. But its place at the +head of the second table brings it into connection with the first +commandment, and suggests that man's life is sacred because he is the +image of God. As Christians, we are bound to interpret it on the lines +which Christ has laid down; according to which, hatred is murder, and +love is the fulfilling of this as of all other laws. So Luther's +comprehensive summing up of the duties enjoined may be accepted: +'Patience, gentleness, kindliness, peaceableness, pity, and, of all +things, a sweet, friendly heart, without any hate, anger, bitterness, +toward any, even enemies.' + +In like manner, the seventh commandment sanctifies wedded life, and is +the first step in that true reverence of woman which marked the Jewish +people through all their history, and was in such contrast to her +position in all other ancient societies. Purity in all the relations of +the sexes, the control of passion, the reverence for marriage, are +subjects difficult to speak of in public. But modern society sorely +needs some plain speaking on these subjects--abundance of bread and +idleness, facilities for divorce, the filth which newspapers lay down +on every breakfast-table, the insidious sensuality of much fiction and +art, the licence of the stage. The opportunities for secret profligacy +in great cities conspire to loosen the bonds of morality. I would +venture to ask public teachers seriously to consider their duty in this +matter, and to seek for opportunities wisely to warn budding youth of +the pitfalls in its path. + +What is 'stealing'? As Luther says, 'It is the smallest part of the +thieves that are hung. If we are to hang them all, where shall we get +rope enough? We must make all our belts and straps into halters.' + +Theft is the taking or keeping what is not 'mine.' But what do we mean +by 'mine'? Communists tell us that 'property is theft.' But that is the +exaggeration of the scriptural teaching that all property is trust +property, that possessions are 'mine' on conditions and for purposes, +that I cannot 'do what I will with mine own,' but am a steward, set to +dispense it to those who want. The Christian doctrine of stewardship +extends this commandment over much ground which we seldom think of as +affected by it. All sharp practice in business, the shopkeeper's false +weights and the merchant's equivalents of these, adulterations, +pirating trademarks, imitating a rival's goods, infringing patents, and +the like, however disguised by fine names, are neither more nor less +than stealing. Many a prosperous gentleman says solemnly every Sunday +of his life, 'Incline our hearts to keep this law,' who would have to +live in a much more modest fashion if his prayer were, by any +unfortunate accident, answered. + +False witness is not only given in court. The sins of the tongue +against the law of love are more subtle and common than those of act. +'Come, let us enjoy ourselves, and abuse our neighbours,' is the real +meaning of many an invitation to social intercourse. If some fairy +could treat our newspapers as the Russian censors do, and erase all the +lies about the opposite side, which they report and coin, how many +blank columns there would be! If all the words of ill-natured calumny, +of uncharitable construction of their friends which people speak, could +be made inaudible, what stretches of silence would open out in much +animated talk! 'A man that beareth false witness against his neighbour +is a maul, and a sword, and a sharp arrow.' + +But deed and word will not be right unless the heart be right; and the +heart will be wrong unless it be purged of the bitter black drop of +covetousness. The desire to make my neighbour's goods mine is the +parent of all breaches of neighbourly duty, even as its converse 'love' +is the fulfilling of it all; for such desire implies that I am ruled by +selfishness, and that I would willingly deprive another of goods, for +my own gratification. Such a temper, like a wild boar among vineyards, +will trample down all the rich clusters in order to slake its own +thirst. Find a man who yields to his desires after his neighbour's +goods, and you find a man who will break all commandments like a hornet +in a spider's web. Be he a Napoleon, and glorified as a conqueror and +hero, or be he some poor thief in a jail, he has let his covetousness +get the upper hand, and so all wrong-doing is possible. Nor is it only +the second table which covetousness dashes to fragments. It serves the +first in the same fashion; for, as St. Paul puts it, the covetous man +'is an idolater,' and is as incapable of loving God as of loving his +neighbour. This final commandment, overleaping the boundary between +conduct and character, and carrying the light of duty into the dark +places of the heart, where deeds are fashioned, sets the whole flock of +bats and twilight-loving creatures in agitation. It does what is the +main work of the law, in compelling us to search our hearts, and in +convincing of sin. It is the converse of the thought that all the law +is contained in love; for it closes the list of sins with one which +begets them all, and points us away from actions and words which are +its children to selfish desire as in itself the transgression of all +the law, whether it be that which prescribes our relations to God or +that which enjoins our duties to man, + + + + +THE FEAST OF INGATHERING IN THE END OF THE YEAR + + + 'And the feast of harvest, the first-fruits of thy + labours, which them hast sown In thy field: and the + feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, + when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.' + --EXODUS xxiii. 16. + +The Israelites seem to have had a double beginning of the year--one in +spring, one at the close of harvest; or it may only be that here the +year is regarded from the natural point of view--a farmer's year. This +feast was at the gathering in of the fruits, which was the natural +close of the agricultural year. + +This festival of ingathering was the Feast of Tabernacles. It is +remarkable that the three great sacred festivals, the Passover, +Pentecost, Tabernacles, had all a reference to agriculture, though two +of them also received a reference to national deliverances. This fact +may show that they were in existence before Moses, and that he simply +imposed a new meaning on them. + +Be that as it may, I take these words now simply as a starting-point +for some thoughts naturally suggested by the period at which we stand. +We have come to the end of another year--looked for so long, passed so +swiftly, and now seeming to have so utterly departed! + +I desire to recall to you and to myself the solemn real sense in which +for us too the end of the year is a 'time of ingathering' and +'harvest.' We too begin the new year with the accumulated consequences +of these past days in our 'barns and garners.' + +Now, in dealing with this thought, let me put it in two or three forms. + +I. Think of the past as still living in and shaping the present. + +It is a mere illusion of sense that the past is gone utterly. 'Thou +carriest them away, as with a flood.' We speak of it as irrevocable, +unalterable, that dreadful past. It is solemnly true that 'ye shall no +more return that way.' + +But there is a deeper truth in the converse thought that the apparently +transient is permanent, that nothing human ever dies, that the past is +present. 'The grass withereth, the flower fadeth,'--yes, but only its +petals drop, and as they fall, the fruit which they sheltered swells +and matures. + +The thought of the present as the harvest from the past brings out in +vivid and picturesque form two solemn truths. + +The first is the passing away of all the external, but of it only. It +has all gone where the winter's cold, the spring rains, the summer's +heats have gone. But just as these live in the fruitful results that +have accrued from them, just as the glowing sunshine of the departed +ardent summer is in the yellow, bending wheat-ear or glows in the +cluster, so, in a very solemn sense, 'that which hath been is now' in +regard to every life. The great law of continuity makes the present the +inheritor of the past. That law operates in national life, in which +national characteristics are largely precipitates, so to speak, from +national history. But it works even more energetically, and with yet +graver consequences, in our individual lives. 'The child is father of +the man.' What we are depends largely on what we have been, and what we +have been powerfully acts in determining what we shall be. Life is a +mystic chain, not a heap of unconnected links. + +And there is another very solemn way in which the past lives on in each +of us. For not only is our present self the direct descendant of our +past selves, but that past still subsists in that we are responsible +for it, and shall one day have to answer for it. The writer of +Ecclesiastes followed the statement just now quoted as to the survival +of the past, with another, which is impressive in its very vagueness: +'God seeketh again that which is passed away.' + +So the undying past lives in its results in ourselves, and in our being +answerable for it to God. + +This metaphor is insufficient in one respect. There is not one epoch +for sowing and another for reaping, but the two processes are +simultaneous, and every moment is at once a harvest and a seed-time. + +This fact masks the reality of the reaping here, but it points on to +the great harvest when God shall say, 'Gather the wheat into My barns!' + +II. Notice some specific forms of this reaping and ingathering. + +(1) Memory. + +It is quite possible that in the future it may embrace all the life. + +'Chambers of imagery.' + +(2) Habits and character. Like the deposit of a flood. 'Habitus' means +clothing, and cloth is woven from single threads. + +(3) Outward consequences, position, reputation, etc. + +III. Make a personal reference to ourselves. + +What sort of harvest are we carrying over from this year? Lay this to +heart as certain, that we enter on no new year--or new +day--empty-handed, but always 'bearing our sheaves with us.' 'Be not +deceived! God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he +also reap.' + +But remember, that while this law remains, there is also the law of +forgiveness, 'Go in peace!' and there may be a new beginning, 'Sin no +more!' + + + + +'THE LOVE OF THINE ESPOUSALS' + + + 'And He said unto Moses, Come up unto the Lord, thou, + and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders + of Israel; and worship ye afar off. 2. And Moses alone + shall come near the Lord; but they shall not come nigh, + neither shall the people go up with him. 3. And Moses + came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and + all the judgments: and all the people answered with one + voice, and said, All the words which the Lord hath said + will we do. 4. And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, + and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar + under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the + twelve tribes of Israel. 5. And he sent young men of the + children of Israel, which offered burnt-offerings, and + sacrificed peace-offerings of oxen unto the Lord. 6. And + Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons; and + half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 7. And he + took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience + of the people: and they said, All that the Lord hath said + will we do, and be obedient. 8. And Moses took the blood, + and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the + blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you + concerning all these words. 9. Then went up Moses and + Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of + Israel; 10. And they saw the God of Israel: and there + was under His feet as it were a pared work of a sapphire-stone, + and as it were the body of heaven in His clearness. + 11. And upon the nobles of the children of Israel He laid + not His hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink. + 12. And the Lord said unto Moses, Come up to Me into the + mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of + stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; + that thou mayest teach them,'--EXODUS xxiv. 1-12. + +An effort is needed to feel what a tremendous and unique fact is +narrated in these words. Next to the incarnation, it is the most +wonderful and far-reaching moment in history. It is the birthday of a +nation, which is God's son. It is the foundation stone of all +subsequent revelation. Its issues oppress that ancient people to-day, +and its promises are not yet exhausted. It is history, not legend, nor +the product of later national vanity. Whatever may come of analysing +'sources' and of discovering 'redactors,' Israel held a relation to God +all its own; and that relation was constituted thus. + +I. Note the preliminaries of the covenant. The chapter begins with the +command to Moses to come up to the mount, with Aaron and other +representatives of the people. But he was already there when the +command was given, and a difficulty has been found (or, shall we say, +made) out of this. The explanation seems reasonable and plain enough, +that the long section extending from Exodus xx. 22, and containing the +fundamental laws as spoken by God, is closed by our verses 1 and 2, +which imply, in the very order to Moses to come up with his companions, +that he must first go down to bring them. God dismisses him as a king +might end an audience with his minister, by bidding him return with +attendants. The singular use of the third person in reference to Moses +in the third verse is not explained by supposing another writer; for, +whoever wrote it, it would be equally anomalous. + +So he comes down from the stern cloud-encircled peak to that great +plain where the encampment lay, and all eyes watch his descent. The +people gather round him, eager and curious. He recounts 'all the +judgments,' the series of laws, which had been lodged in his mind by +God, and is answered by the many-voiced shout of too swiftly promised +obedience. Glance over the preceding chapters, and you will see how +much was covered by 'all that the Lord hath spoken.' Remember that +every lip which united in that lightly made vow drew its last breath in +the wilderness, because of disobedience, and the burst of homage +becomes a sad witness to human weakness and changefulness. The glory of +God flashed above them on the barren granite, the awful voice had +scarcely died into desert silence, nerves still tingled with +excitement, and wills were bowed before Jehovah, manifestly so near. +For a moment, the people were ennobled, and obedience seemed easy. They +little knew what they were saying in that brief spasm of devotion. It +was high-water then, but the tide soon turned, and all the ooze and +ugliness, covered now, lay bare and rotting. 'Better is it that thou +shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.' We may +take the lesson to ourselves, and see to it that emotion consolidates +into strenuous persistency, and does not die in the very excitement of +the vow. + +The pledge of obedience was needed before the Covenant could be made, +and, as we shall find, was reiterated in the very centre of the +ceremonial ratification. For the present, it warranted Moses in +preparing for the morrow's ritual. His first step was to prepare a +written copy of the laws to which the people had sworn. Here we come +across an old, silenced battery from which a heavy fire used to be +directed against the historical accuracy of the Pentateuch. Alphabetic +writing was of a later date. There could not have been a written code. +The statement was a mere attempt of a later age to claim antiquity for +comparatively modern legislation. It was no more historical than +similar traditions in other countries, Sibylline books, etc. All that +is out of court now. Perhaps some other guns will be spiked in due +time, that make a great noise just at present. Then comes the erection +of a rude altar, surrounded by twelve standing stones, just as on the +east of Jordan we may yet see dolmens and menhirs. The altar represents +the divine presence; and the encircling stones, Israel gathered around +its God. The group is a memorial and a witness to the people,--and a +witness against them, if disobedient. Thus two permanent records were +prepared, the book and the monument. The one which seemed the more +lasting has perished; the more fragile has endured, and will last to +the world's end. + +II. Note the rite of ratification of the covenant. The ceremonial is +complex and significant. We need not stay on the mere picture, +impressive and, to our eyes, strange as it is, but rather seek to bring +out the meaning of these smoking offerings, and that blood flung on the +altar and on the crowd. First came two sorts of sacrifices, offered not +by priests, but by selected young men, probably one for each tribe, +whose employment in sacrificial functions shows the priestly character +of the whole nation, according to the great words of Exodus xix. 6. +Burnt-offerings and peace-offerings differed mainly in the use made of +the sacrifice, which was wholly consumed by fire in the former, while +it was in part eaten by the offerer in the latter. The one symbolised +entire consecration; the other, communion with God on the basis of +sacrifice. The sin-offering does not appear here, as being of later +origin, and the product of the law, which deepened the consciousness of +transgression. But these sacrifices, at the threshold of the covenant, +receive an expiatory character by the use made of the blood, and +witness to the separation between God and man, which renders amity and +covenant friendship impossible, without a sacrifice. + +They must have yielded much blood. It is divided into two parts, +corresponding to the two parties to the covenant, like the cloven +animals in Abraham's covenant. One half is 'sprinkled' on the altar, +or, as the word means, 'swung,'--which suggests a larger quantity and a +more vehement action than 'sprinkling' does. That drenching of the +altar with gore is either a piece of barbarism or a solemn symbol of +the central fact of Christianity no less than of Judaism, and a token +that the only footing on which man can be received into fellowship with +God is through the offering of a pure life, instead of the sinner, +which, accepted by God, covers or expiates sin. There can be no +question that the idea of expiation is at the very foundation of the +Old Testament ritual. It is fashionable to regard the expiatory element +of Christianity as 'Hebrew old clothes,' but the fact is the other way +about. It is not that Christianity has not been able to rid itself of a +rude and false conception, but that 'Judaism' had its sacrifices +appointed by God, in order to prepare the way for the true offering, +which takes away sin. + +The expiation by blood having been thus made, the hindrances to the +nation's entering into covenant are removed. Therefore follows in +logical order the next step, their formal (alas! how purely formal it +proved to be) taking on themselves its obligations. The freshly written +'book' is produced, and read there, to the silent people, before the +bloody altar, beneath the peak of Sinai. Again the chorus of assent +from a thousand throats echoes among the rocks. They accept the +conditions. They had done so last night; but this is the actual +contract on their part, and its place in the whole order of the +ceremony is significant. It follows expiation, without which man cannot +enter into friendship with God, without the acceptance of which man +will not yield himself in obedience. The vows which God approves are +those of men whose sins are covered. + +The final step was the sprinkling of the people with the blood. The +division of the blood into two portions signifies that it had an office +in regard to each party to the covenant. If it had been possible to +pour it all on the altar, and then all on the people, that would have +been done. The separation into two portions was inevitable; but in +reality it is the same blood which, sprinkled on the altar, expiates, +and on the worshipper, consecrates, cleanses, unites to God, and brings +into covenant with Him. Hence Moses accompanies the sprinkling of the +people with the explanation, 'This is the blood of the covenant, which +the Lord hath made with you, upon all these conditions' (Rev. Ver. +margin). It ratifies the compact on both sides. God 'hath made' it, in +accepting the sprinkled blood; they have made it, in being sprinkled +therewith. But while the rite sets forth the great gospel truth of +expiation, the Covenant moves within the region of law. It is made 'on +the basis of all these words,' and is voidable by disobedience. It is +the _Magna Charta_ of the nation, and its summing up is 'this do, and +thou shalt live.' Its promises are mainly of outward guardianship and +national blessings. And these are suspended by it, as they were in fact +contingent, on the national observance of the national vow. The general +idea of a covenant is that of a compact between two parties, each of +whom comes under obligations contingent on the other's discharge of +his. Theologians have raised the question whether God's covenant is of +this kind. Surely it is. His promises to Israel had an 'if,' and the +fulfilment of the conditions necessarily secured the accomplishment of +the promises. The ritual of the first covenant transcends the strictly +retributive compact which it ratified, and shadows a gospel beyond law, +even the new covenant which brings better gifts, and does not turn on +'do,' but simply on the sprinkling with the blood of Jesus. The words +of Moses were widened to carry a blessing beyond his thoughts, which +was disclosed when, in an upper chamber, a dying man said to the twelve +representatives of the true Israel, 'This is the new covenant in My +blood, drink ye all of it.' The blood which Moses sprinkled gave ritual +cleansing, but it remained outside the man. The blood of Jesus gives +true purification, and passes into our veins to become our life. The +covenant by Moses was 'do and live'; that in Christ is 'believe and +live.' Moses brought commandments, and on them his covenant was built; +Christ brings gifts, and His covenant is all promises, which are ours +on the simple condition of taking them. + +III. Note the vision and feast on the basis of the covenant. The little +company that climbed the mountain, venturing within the fence, +represented the whole people. Aaron and his sons were the destined +priests. The elders were probably seventy, because that number is the +product of the two perfect numbers, and perhaps with allusion to the +seventy souls who went down into Egypt with Jacob. It is emphatically +said that they saw 'the God of Israel,' for that day's covenant had +made him so in a new closeness of relationship. In token of that new +access to and possession in Him, which was henceforth to be the +prerogative of the obedient people, some manifestation of His immediate +presence was poured on their astonished eyes. It is needless to inquire +its nature, or to ask how such a statement is consistent with the +spirituality of the divine nature, or with what this same book of +Exodus says, 'There shall no man see Me, and live.' The plain intention +is to assert that there was a visible manifestation of the divine +presence, but no attempt is made to describe it. Our eyes are stayed at +the pavement beneath His feet, which was blue as sapphire, and bright +as the cloudless sky gleaming above Sinai. It is enough to learn that +'the secret of the Lord is with them' to whom He shows 'His covenant'; +that, by the power of sacrifice, a true vision of God may be ours, +which is 'in a mirror, darkly,' indeed, but yet is real and all +sufficing. Before the covenant was made, Israel had been warned to keep +afar lest He should break through on them, but now 'He laid not His +hand' upon them; for only blessing can stream from His presence now, +and His hand does not crush, but uphold. + +Nor is this all which we learn of the intercourse with God which is +possible on the ground of His covenant. They 'did eat and drink.' That +may suggest that the common enjoyments of the natural life are in no +way inconsistent with the vision of God; but more probably it is meant +to teach a deeper lesson. We have remarked that the ritual of the +peace-offering included a feast on the sacrifice 'before the Lord,' by +which was signified communion with Him, as at His table, and this meal +has the same meaning. They who stand in covenant relations with God, +feed and feast on a sacrifice, and thereby hold fellowship with Him, +since He too has accepted the sacrifice which nourishes them. So that +strange banquet on Sinai taught a fact which is ever true, prophesied +the deepest joys of Christian experience, which are realised in the +soul that eats the flesh and drinks the blood of Christ, the Mediator +of the new covenant, and dimly shadowed the yet future festival, when, +cleansed and consecrated by His blood, they who have made a covenant +with Him by His sacrifice, shall be gathered unto Him in the heavenly +mount, where He makes a 'feast of fat things and wines on the lees well +refined,' and there shall sit, for ever beholding His glory, and +satisfied with the provisions of His house. + + + + +THE BREAD OF THE PRESENCE + + + 'Thou shalt set upon the table shew-bread before Me + alway.'--EXODUS xxv. 30. + +I suspect that to many readers the term 'shew-bread' conveys little +more meaning than if the Hebrew words had been lifted over into our +version. The original expression, literally rendered, is 'bread of the +face'; or, as the Revised Version has it in the margin, 'presence +bread,' and the meaning of that singular designation is paraphrased and +explained in my text: 'Thou shalt set upon the table, bread of the +presence before Me always.' It was bread, then, which was laid in the +presence of God. The directions with regard to it may be very briefly +stated. Every Sabbath the priests laid upon the table which stood on +one side of the Altar of Incense, in the Inner Court, two piles of +loaves, on each of which piles was placed a pan of incense. They lay +there for a week, being replaced by fresh ones on the coming Sabbath. + +The Altar of Incense in the middle symbolised the thought that the +priestly life, which was the life of the nation, and is the life of the +Christian both individually and collectively, is to be centrally and +essentially a life of prayer. On one side of it stood the great golden +lamp which, in like manner, declared that the activities of the +priestly life, which was the life of Israel, and is the life of the +Christian individually and collectively, is to be, in its manward +aspect, a light for the world. On the other side of the Altar of +Incense stood this table with its loaves. What does it say about the +life of the priest, the Church, and the individual Christian? That is +the question that I wish to try to answer here; and in doing so let me +first ask you to look at the thing itself, and then to consider its +connection with the other two articles in connection with which it made +a threefold oneness. + +I. Let me deal with this singular provision of the ancient ritual by +itself alone. + +Bread is a product at once of God's gift and of man's work. In the +former aspect, He 'leaves not Himself without witness, in that,' in the +yearly miracle of the harvest, 'He gives us bread from Heaven, and +fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness'; in the +latter, considered as a product of man's activity, agriculture is, if +not the first, at all events in settled communities the prime, form of +human industry. The farmer and the baker begin the series of man's +industries. So that these loaves were fitly taken as representatives of +all kinds of human industry and their products, and as such were +consecrated to God. That is the broad significance of this institution, +which, as we shall have to see, links itself with the other two +conceptions of the priestly life in its Godward and in its manward +aspect. Now the first thing that is suggested, therefore, is the plain +obligation, which is also a blessed privilege, for all men who are +priests of God by faith in, and union with, the great High Priest, that +they lay all their activities as an offering before God. The loaves in +their very place on that table, right in front of the veil that parted +the Inner Court from the inmost of all, where the Shekinah shone, and +the Cherubim bowed in worship, tell us that in some sense they, too, +were an offering, and that the table was an altar. Their sacrificial +character is emphasised by the fact that upon the top of each of the +piles there was laid a pan of incense. + +So, then, the whole was an offering of Israel's activities and its +results to God. And we, Christian men and women, have to make an +offering of all our active life, and all its products. That thought +opens up many considerations, one or two of which I ask leave to touch +briefly. First, then, if my active life is to be an offering to God, +that means that I am to surrender myself. And that surrender means +three things: first that in all my daily work I am to set Him before me +as my end; second, that in all my daily work I am to set Him before me +as my law; third, that in all my daily work I am to set Him before me +as my power. As for the first, whatever a man does for any motive +other, and with any end less, than God and His Glory, that act, +beautiful as it may be in other respects, loses its supreme beauty, and +falls short of perfect nobleness, just in the measure in which other +motives, or other ends, than this supreme one, are permitted to +dominate it. I do not contend for such an impossible suppression of +myself as that my own blessedness and the like shall be in no manner my +end, but I do maintain this, that in good old language, 'Man's chief +end is to glorify God,' and that anything which I do, unless it is +motived by this regard to Him as its 'chief end,' loses its noblest +consecration, and is degraded from its loftiest beauty. The Altar +sanctifies, and not only sanctifies but ennobles, the gift. That which +has in it the taint of self-regard so pronouncedly and dominantly as +that God is shut out, is like some vegetation down in low levels at the +bottom of a vale, which never has the sun to shine upon it. But let it +rise as some tree above the brushwood until its topmost branches are in +the light, and then it is glorified. To live to self is ignoble and +mean; to live for others is higher and nobler. But highest and noblest +of all is to offer the loaves to God, and to make Him the end of all +our activities. + +Again, there is another consideration, bearing on another region in +which the assertive self is only too apt to spoil all work. And that +is, that if our activities are offerings to God, this means that His +supreme Will is to be our law, and that we obey His commands and accept +His appointments in quiet submission. The tranquillity of heart, the +accumulation of power, which come to men when they, from the depths, +say, 'Not my will but Thine be done'; 'Speak, Lord! for Thy servant +heareth,' cannot be too highly stated. There is no such charm to make +life quiet and strong as the submission of the will to God's +providences, and the swift obedience of the will to God's commandments. +And whilst to make self my end mars what else is beautiful, making self +my law mars it even more. + +Further, we offer our activities to God when we fall back upon Him as +our one power, and say, 'Perfect Thy strength in my weakness.' He that +goes out into the world to do his daily work, of whatsoever sort it +is--you in your little sphere, or I in mine--in dependence upon +himself, is sure to be defeated. He that says 'we have no strength +against this great multitude that cometh against us, but our eyes are +unto Thee,' will, sooner or later, be able to go back with joy, and +say, 'the Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad.' The +man that goes into the fight like that foolish prime minister of France +under the Empire, 'with a light heart.' will very soon find his Sedan, +and have shamefully to surrender. Brethren, these three things, making +God the end of my work; making God's will the law of my work; making +God's strength the power of my work; these are the ways by which we, +too, can bring our little pile of barley bread, and lay it upon that +table. + +Again, this consecration of life's activities is to be carried out by +treating their products, as well as themselves, as offerings to God. +The loaves were the results of human activity. They were also the +products of divine gifts elaborated by human effort. And both things +are true about all the bread that you and I have been able to make for +the satisfaction of our desires, or the sustenance of our strength--it +comes ultimately from the gift of God. In regard to this consecration +of the product of our activities, as well as of our activities +themselves, I have but two words to offer, and the one is, let us see +to it that we consecrate our enjoyment of God's gifts by bringing that +enjoyment, as well as the activities which He has blessed to produce +it, into His presence. That table bore the symbols of the grateful +recognition of God's mercies by the people. And when our hearts are +glad, and our 'bosom's lord sits lightly on his throne,' we have +special need to take care that our joy be not godless, nor our +enjoyment of His gifts be without reference to Himself. 'Ah,' you say, +'that is a threadbare commonplace.' Yes, it is, dear friends; it is a +commonplace just because it is needful at every turn, if we are to make +our lives what they ought to be. + +May I say another thing? and that is, that the loaves that were laid +within the Sanctuary were not intended to be separated from the others +that were eaten in the tents, nor were they meant to be a kind of +purchasing of an indulgence, or of a right, by surrendering a little, +to the godless and selfish enjoyment of the rest of the batch, or of +the rest of the harvest. Let us apply that to our money, which is one +of the products of our activities; and not fancy, as a great many +people do, that what we give as a subscription to some benevolent or +religious institution buys for us the right to spend all the rest +selfishly. That is another commonplace, very threadbare and very +feeble, when we speak it, but with claws and teeth in it that will lay +hold of us, when we try to put it in practice. The enjoyments and the +products of our daily activities are to be offered to God. + +Still further, this table with its burden has suggestions that as +Christians we are bound to bring all our work to Him for His judgment +upon it. The loaves were laid right in front of the veil, behind which +blazed the light of His presence. And that meant that they were laid +before 'those pure eyes and perfect judgment of all-judging' God. +Whether we bring our activities there or no, of course in a very real +and solemn sense they are there. But what I desire to insist upon now +is how important, for the nobleness and purity of our daily lives, it +is that we should be in the continual habit of realising to ourselves +the thought that whatever we do, we do before His Face. The Roman +Catholics talk about 'the practice of the presence of God.' One does +not like the phrase, but all true religion will practise what is meant +by it. And for us it should be as joyous to think, 'Thou God seest me,' +as it is for a child to play or work with a quiet heart, because it +knows that its mother is sitting somewhere not very far off and +watching that no harm comes to it. That thought of being in His +presence would be for us a tonic, and a test. How it would pull us up +in many a meanness, and keep our feet from wandering into many +forbidden ways, if there came like a blaze of light into our hearts the +thought: 'Thou God seest me!' There are many of our activities, I am +afraid, which we should not like to put down on that table. Can _you_ +think of any in _your_ lives that you would be rather ashamed to lay +there, and say to Him, 'Judge Thou this'? Then do not do it. That is a +brief, but a very stringent, easily applied, and satisfactory test of a +great many doubtful things. If you cannot take them into the Inner +Court, and lay them down there, and say, 'Look, Lord! this is my +baking,' be sure that they are made, not of wholesome flour, but of +poisoned grain, and that there is death in them. + +Further, this table, with its homely burden of twelve poor loaves, may +suggest to us how the simplest, smallest, most secular of our +activities is a fit offering to Him. The loaves were not out of place +amidst the sanctities of the spot, nor did they seem to be incongruous +with the golden altar and the golden lamp-stand, and yet they were but +twelve loaves. The poorest of our works is fit to be carried within the +shrine, and laid upon His altar. We may be sure that He delights even +in the meanest and humblest of them, if only we take them to Him and +say: 'All things come of Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee.' +Ah! there are a great many strange things in Christ's treasury. Mothers +will hoard up trifles that belonged to their children, which everybody +else thinks worthless. Jesus Christ has in His storehouse a 'cup of +cold water,' the widows' mites, and many another thing that the world +counts of no value, and He recognises as precious. There is an old +story about some great emperor making a progress through his dominions, +where he had been receiving precious gifts from cities and nobles, and +as the gay cortege was passing a poor cottage, the peasant-owner came +out with a coarse earthenware cup filled with spring water in his hand, +and offered it to his overlord as the only gift that he could give. The +king accepted it, and ennobled him on the spot. Take your barley loaves +to Christ, and He will lay them up in His storehouse. + +II. Now I need only say a word or two about the other aspect of this +table of shew-bread, taken with the other two articles in conjunction +with which it formed a unity. + +The lamp and the table go together. They are both offshoots from the +altar in the middle. That is to say, your lives will not shine before +men unless your activities are offered to God. The smallest taint of +making self your end, your law, or your strength, mingling with your +lives, and manifest in their actions, will dim the light which shines +from them, and men will be very quick to find out and say, 'He calls +himself a Christian; but he lives for himself.' Neither the light, +which is the radiance of a Christian life manwards, can be sustained +without the offering of the life in its depths to God, nor can the +activities of the life be acceptably offered to Him, unless the man +that offers them 'lets his light shine before men.' The lamp and the +table must go together. + +The lamp and the table must together be offshoots from the altar. If +there be not in the centre of the life aspiration after Him in the +depths of the heart, communion with Him in the silent places of the +soul, then there will be little brightness in the life to ray out +amongst men, and there will be little consecration of the activities to +be laid before God. The reason why the manifold bustle and busy-ness of +the Christian Church today sows so much and reaps so little, lies +mainly here, that they have forgotten to a large extent how the altar +in the centre must give the oil for the lamp to shine, and the grain to +be made into the loaves. And, on the other hand, the altar in the +middle needs both its flanking accompaniments. For the Christian life +is to be no life of cloistered devotion and heavenward aspiration only +or mainly, but is to manifest its still devotion and its heavenward +aspiration by the consecration of its activities to God, and the raying +of them out into a darkened world. The service of man is the service of +God, for lamp and table are offshoots of the altar. But the service of +God is the basis of the best service of man, for the altar stands +between the lamp and the table. + +So, brethren, let us blend these three aspects into a unity, the Altar, +the Lamp, the Table, and so shall we minister aright, and men will call +us the 'priests of the Most High God,' till we pass within the veil +where, better than the best of us here can do, we shall be able to +unite still communion and active service, and shine as the sun in the +Kingdom of our Father. 'His servants shall serve Him' with priestly +ministrations, 'and shall see His face, and His name shall be in their +foreheads.' + + + + +THE GOLDEN LAMPSTAND + + + 'Thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold....' + --EXODUS xxv. 31. + +If we could have followed the Jewish priest as he passed in his daily +ministrations into the Inner Court, we should have seen that he first +piled the incense on the altar which stood in its centre, and then +turned to trim the lamps of the golden candlestick which flanked it on +one side. Of course it was not a candlestick, as our versions +misleadingly render the word. That was an article of furniture unknown +in those days. It was a lampstand; from a central upright stem branched +off on either side three arms decorated with what the Book calls +'beaten work,' and what we in modern jewellers' technicality call +_repousse_ work, each of which bore on its top, like a flower on its +stalk, a shallow cup filled with oil, in which a wick floated. There +were thus seven lamps in all, including that on the central stem. The +material was costly, the work adorning it was artistic, the oil with +which it was fed was carefully prepared, the number of its lamps +expressed perfection, it was daily trimmed by the priest, and there, +all through the night, it burned, the one spot of light in a dark +desert. + +Now, this Inner Court of the Tabernacle or Temple was intended, with +its furniture, to be symbolical of the life of Israel, the priestly +nation. The Altar of Incense, which was the main article of +ecclesiastical equipment there, and stood in the central place, +represented the life of Israel in its Godward aspect, as being a life +of continual devotion. The Candlestick on the one hand, and the Table +of Shew-bread on the other, were likewise symbolical of other aspects +of that same life. I have to deal now with the meaning and lessons of +this golden lampstand, and it teaches us-- + +I. The office manwards of the Church and of the individual Christian. + +Let me just for a moment recall the various instances in which this +symbol reappears in Scripture. We have, in the vision of the prophet +who sustained and animated the spirits of Israel in their Restoration, +the repetition of the emblem, in the great golden candlestick which +Zechariah saw, fed by two 'olive trees,' one on either side of it; and +in the last book of Scripture we have that most significant and lovely +variation of it, the reappearance, not of the _one_ golden candlestick +or lampstand, but of _seven_. The formal unity is at an end, but the +seven constitute a better, more vital unity, because Christ is in the +midst. We may learn the lesson that the Christian conception of the +oneness of the Church towers above the Jewish conception of the oneness +of Israel by all the difference that there is between a mere +mechanical, external unity, and a vital oneness--because all are +partakers of the one Christ. I may recall, also, how our Lord, in that +great programme of the Kingdom which Matthew has gathered together in +what we call 'the Sermon on the Mount,' immediately after the +Beatitudes, goes on to speak of the office of His people under the two +metaphors of 'the salt of the earth' and 'the light of the world,' and +immediately connects with the latter of the two a reference to a lamp +lit and set upon its stand; and clinches the whole by the exhortation, +'Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, +and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.' + +A remarkable and beautiful variation of that exhortation is found in +one of the Apostolic writings when Paul, instead of saying, 'Ye are the +light of the world,' says, 'Shine as lights in the world,' and so gives +us the individual, as well as the collective and ecclesiastical, aspect +of these great functions. That is a hint that is very much needed. +Christian people are quite willing to admit that the Church, the +abstraction, the generalisation, is 'the light of the world.' But they +are wofully apt to slip their own necks out from under the yoke of the +obligation, and to forget that the collective light is only the product +of the millions of individual lights rushing together--just as in some +gas-lights you have a whole series of minute punctures, each of which +gives out its own little jet of radiance, and all run together into one +brilliant circle. So do not let us escape the personal pressure of this +office, or lay it all on the broad shoulders of that generalised +abstraction 'the Church.' But, since the collective light is but the +product of the individual small shinings, let us take the two lessons: +first, contribute our part to the general lustre; second, be content +with having our part lost in the general light. + +But now let me turn for a little while to the more specific meaning of +this symbol. The life which, by the central position of the Altar of +Incense, was symbolised as being centrally, essentially in its depths +and primarily, a life of habitual devotion and communion with God, in +its manward aspect is a life that shines 'to give the light of the +knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.' That is the +solemn obligation, the ideal function, of the Christian Church and of +each individual who professes to belong to it. Now, if you recur to our +Lord's own application of this metaphor, to which I have already +referred, you will see that the first and foremost way by which +Christian communities and individuals discharge this function is by +conduct. 'Let your light so shine before men'--that they may hear your +eloquent proclamation of the Gospel? No! 'Let your light so shine +before men'--that you may convince the gainsayers by argument, or move +the hard-hearted by appeals and exhortations; that you may preach and +talk? No! 'That _they may see your good works_, and glorify your Father +which is in Heaven.' We may say of the Christian community, and of the +Christian individual, with all reverence, what the Scripture in an +infinitely deeper and more sacred sense says of Jesus Christ Himself, +'the life was the light.' It is conduct, whereby most effectually, most +universally, and with the least risk of rousing antagonism and hostile +feelings, Christian people may 'shine as lights in the world.' For we +all know how the inconsistencies of a Christian man block the path of +the Gospel far more than a hundred sermons or talks further it. We all +know how there are people, plenty of them, who, however illogically yet +most naturally, compare our lives in their daily action with oar +professed beliefs, and, saying to themselves, 'I do not see that there +is much difference between them and me,' draw the conclusion that it +matters very little whether a man is a Christian or not, seeing that +the conduct of the men who profess to be so is little more radiant, +bright with purity and knowledge and joy, than is the conduct of +others. Dear brethren, you can do far more to help or hinder the spread +of Christ's Kingdom by the way in which you do common things, side by +side with men who are not partakers of the 'like precious faith' with +yourselves, than I or my fellow-preachers can do by all our words. It +is all very well to lecture about the efficiency of a machine; let us +see it at work, and that will convince people. We preach; but you +preach far more eloquently, and far more effectively, by your lives. +'In all labour,' says the Book of Proverbs, 'there is profit'--which we +may divert from its original meaning to signify that in all Christian +living there is force to attract--'but the talk of the lips tendeth +only to poverty.' Oh! if the Christian men and women of England would +live their Christianity, they would do more to convert the unconverted, +and to draw in the outcasts, than all of us preachers can do. 'From +you,' said the Apostle once to a church very young, and just rescued +from the evils of heathenism--'from you sounded out,' as if blown from +a trumpet, 'the Word of the Lord, so that we need not to speak +anything.' Live the life, and thereby you diffuse the light. + +Nor need we forget that this most potent of all weapons is one that can +be wielded by all Christian people. Our gifts differ. Some of us cannot +speak for Jesus; some of us who think we can had often better hold our +tongues. But we can all live like and for Him. And this most potent and +universally diffused possibility is also the weapon that can be wielded +with least risk of failure. There is a certain assumption, which it is +often difficult to swallow, in a Christian man's addressing another on +the understanding that he, the speaker, possesses something which the +other lacks. By words we may often repel, and often find that the ears +that we seek to enter with our message close themselves against us and +are unwilling to hear. But there is no chance of offending anybody, or +of repelling anybody, by living Christlike. We can all do that, and it +is the largest contribution that any of us can make to the collective +light which shines out from the Christian Church. + +But, brethren, we have to remember that there are dangers attending the +life that reveals its hidden principles as being faith in Christ and +obedience to Him. Did you ever notice how, in the Sermon on the Mount, +there are two sets of precepts which seem diametrically opposite to one +another? There is a whole series of illustrations of the one +commandment, 'Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men, +to be seen of them,' and then there Is the precept, 'Let your light so +shine before men that they may see your good works.' So that whilst, on +the one hand, there is to be the manifestation in daily conduct of the +inner principles that animate us, on the other hand, if there comes in +the least taint or trace of ostentation, everything is spoiled, and the +light is darkness. The light of the sun makes all things visible and +hides itself. We do not see the sunbeams, but we see what the sunbeams +illuminate. It is the coarser kinds of light which are themselves +separately visible, and they are so only because they have not power +enough to make everything around them as brilliant as they themselves +are. So our light is to be silent, our light is--if I might use such a +phrase--to hide itself in 'a glorious privacy,' whilst it enables men +to see, even through our imperfect ministration, the face of our Father +in Heaven. + +But let me remind you that the same variation by Paul of our Lord's +words to which I have already referred as bringing out the difference +between the collective and the individual function, also brings out +another difference; for Paul says, 'Ye shine as lights in the world, +holding forth the word of life.' He slightly varies the metaphor. We +are no longer regarded as being ourselves illuminants, but simply as +being the stands on which the light is placed. And that means that +whilst the witness by life is the mightiest, the most universally +possible, and the least likely to offend, there must also be, as +occasion shall serve, without cowardice, without shamefaced reticence, +the proclamation of the great Gospel which has made us 'lights in the +world.' And that is a function which every Christian man can discharge +too, though I have just been saying that they cannot all preach and +speak; for every Christian soul has some other soul to whom its word +comes with a force that none other can have. + +So the one office that is set forth here is the old familiar one, the +obligation of which is fully recognised by us all, and pitifully +ill-discharged by any of us, to shine by our daily life, and to shine +by the actual communication by speech of 'the Name that is above every +name.' That is the ideal; alas for the reality! 'Ye are the light of +the world.' What kind of light do we--the Church of Christ that gathers +here--ray out into the darkness of Manchester? Socially, +intellectually, morally, in the civic life, in the national life, are +Christian people in the van? They ought to be. There is a church clock +in our city which has a glass dial that professes to be illuminated at +night, so that the passer-by may tell the hour; but it is generally +burning so dimly that nobody can see on its grimy face what o'clock it +is. That is like a great many of our churches, and I ask you to ask +yourselves whether it is like you or not--a dark lantern, a most +imperfectly illuminated dial, which gives no guidance and no +information to anybody. + +This golden lampstand teaches us-- + +II. How this office is to be discharged. + +Remember simply these two points. It stood, as I have already said, on +one side of the Altar of Incense which was central to everything. It +was daily tended by the priests, and fed with fresh oil. Hence we may +derive some important practical lessons. + +To begin with, we note that our light is a derived light, and therefore +can only be kept bright when we keep close to the source from whence it +is derived. + +'That was the true Light, which coming into the world lighteth every +man'--there is the source of all illumination, in Jesus Christ Himself. +He alone is _the_ Light, and as for all others we must say of them what +was said of His great forerunner, 'Not that light, but sent to bear +witness of that light'; and again, 'he was a light kindled,' and +therefore 'shining,' and so his shining was but 'for a season.' But +Jesus is for ever the light of the world, and all our illumination +comes from Him. As Paul says, 'Now are ye light in the Lord,' therefore +only in the measure in which we are 'in the Lord,' shall we be light. +Keep near to Him and you will shine; break the connection with Him, and +you are darkness, darkness for yourselves, and darkness for the world. +Switch off, and the light is darkness. + +Change the metaphor, and instead of saying 'derived light' say +'reflected light.' _There_ is a pane of glass in a cottage, miles away +across the moor. It was invisible a moment ago, and suddenly it gleams +like a diamond. Why? The sun has struck it; and in a moment after it +will be invisible again. As long as Jesus Christ is shining on my +heart, so long, and not a moment longer, shall I give forth the light +that will illumine the world. Astronomers have a contrivance by which +they can keep a photographic film on which they are seeking to get the +image of a star, moving along with the movement of the heavens, so that +on the same spot the star shall always shine. We have to keep ourselves +steady beneath the white beam from Jesus, and then we, too, shall be +'light in the Lord.' + +Our light is fed light. Daily came the priest, daily the oil that had +been exhausted by shining was replenished. We all know what that oil +means and is; the Divine Spirit which comes into every heart which is +open by faith in Christ, and which abides in every heart where there +are desire, obedience, and the following of Him; which can be quenched +by my sin, by my negligence, by my ceasing to wish it, by my not using +its gifts when I have them; which can be grieved by my inconsistencies, +and by the spots of darkness that so often take up more of the sphere +of my life than the spots of illumination. But we can have as much of +that oil of the Divine Spirit, the 'unction from the Holy One,' as we +desire, and expect, and use. And unless we have, dear brethren, there +is no shining for us. This generation in its abundant activities tends +to a Christianity which has more spindles than power, which is more +surface than depth, which is so anxious to do service that it forgets +the preliminary of all right service, patient, solitary, silent +communion with God. Suffer the word of exhortation--let shining be +second, let replenishing with the oil be first. First the Altar of +Incense, then the Candlestick. + +III. This golden lampstand tells us of the fatal effect of neglecting +the Church's and the individual's duty. + +Where is the seven-branched candlestick of the second Temple? No one +knows. Possibly, according to one statement, it lies at the bottom of +the Mediterranean. Certainly we know that it is pictured on that sad +panel in the conqueror's arch at Rome, and that it became a trophy of +the insolent victor. It disappeared, and the Israel whom it vainly +endeavoured through the centuries to stir to a consciousness of its +vocation, has never since had a gleam of light to ray out into the +world. Where are the seven candlesticks, which made a blessed unity +because Christ walked in their midst? Where are the churches of +Ephesus, Smyrna, Philadelphia, Thyatira, and the rest? Where they stood +the mosque is reared, and from its minaret day by day rings out--not +the proclamation of the Name, but--'There is no God but God, and +Mahomet is His Prophet.' The Pharos that ought to have shone out over +stormy seas has been seized by wreckers, and its light is blinded, and +false lights lure the mariner to the shoals and to shipwreck. + +'Take heed lest He also spare not thee.' O brethren! is it not a bitter +irony to call _us_ 'lights of the world'? Let us penitently recognise +the inconsistencies of our lives, and the reticence of our speech. Let +us not lose sight of the high ideal, that we may the more penitently +recognise the miserable falling short of our reality. And let us be +thankful that _the_ Priest is tending the lamps. 'He will not quench +the smoking wick,' but will replenish it with oil, and fan the dying +flame. Only let us not resist His ministrations, which are always +gentle, even when He removes the charred blacknesses that hinder our +being what we should be, and may be, if we will--lights of the world. +'Arise! shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is +risen upon thee.' + + + + +THE NAMES ON AARON'S BREASTPLATE + + + Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord, upon his + two shoulders, for a memorial.... And Aaron shall bear + the names of the Children of Israel in the breastplate + of judgment upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the + Holy Place.'--EXODUS xxviii. 12,29. + +Every part of the elaborately prescribed dress of the high priest was +significant. But the significance of the whole was concentrated in the +inscription upon his mitre, 'Holiness to the Lord,' and in those others +upon his breastplate and his shoulder. + +The breastplate was composed of folded cloth, in which were lodged +twelve precious stones, in four rows of three, each stone containing +the name of one of the tribes. It was held in position by the ephod, +which consisted of another piece of cloth, with a back and front part, +which were united into one on the shoulders. On each shoulder it was +clasped by an onyx stone bearing the names of six of the tribes. Thus +twice, on the shoulders, the seat of power, and on the heart, the organ +of thought and of love, Aaron, entering into the presence of the Most +High, bore 'the names of the tribes for a memorial continually.' + +Now, I think we shall not be indulging in the very dangerous amusement +of unduly spiritualising the externalities of that old law if we see +here, in these two things, some very important lessons. + +I. The first one that I would suggest to you is--here we have the +expression of the great truth of representation of the people by the +priest. + +The names of the tribes laid upon Aaron's heart and on his shoulders +indicated the significance of his office--that he represented Israel +before God, as truly as he represented God to Israel. For the moment +the personality of the official was altogether melted away and absorbed +in the sanctity of his function, and he stood before God as the +individualised nation. Aaron was Israel, and Israel was Aaron, for the +purposes of worship. And that was indicated by the fact that here, on +the shoulders from which, according to an obvious symbol, all acts of +power emanate, and on the heart from which, according to most natural +metaphor, all the outgoings of the personal life proceed, were written +the names of the tribes. That meant, 'This man standing here is the +Israel of God, the concentrated nation.' + +The same thought works the other way. The nation is the diffused +priest, and all its individual components are consecrated to God. All +this was external ceremonial, with no real spiritual fact at the back +of it. But it pointed onwards to something that is not ceremonial. It +pointed to this, that the true priest must, in like manner, gather up +into himself, and in a very profound sense be, the people for whom he +is the priest; and that they, in their turn, by the action of their own +minds and hearts and wills, must consent to and recognise that +representative relation, which comes to the solemn height of +identification in Christ's relation to His people. 'I am the Vine, ye +are the branches,' says He, and also, 'That they all may be one in us +as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee.' So Paul says, 'I live, yet +not I, but Christ liveth in me.' 'The life which I live in the flesh, I +live by the faith of the Son of God,' + +So Christ gathers us all, if we will let Him, into Himself; and our +lives may be hid with Him--in a fashion that is more than mere external +and formal representation, or as people have a member of Parliament to +represent them in the councils of the nation--even in a true union with +Him in whom is the life of all of us, if we live in any real sense. +Aaron bore the names of the tribes on shoulder and heart, and Israel +was Aaron, and Aaron was Israel. + +II. Further, we see here, in these eloquent symbols, the true +significance of intercession. + +Now, that is a word and a thought which has been wofully limited and +made shallow and superficial by the unfortunate confining of the +expression, in our ordinary language, to a mere action by speech. +Intercession is supposed to be verbal asking for some good to be +bestowed on, or some evil to be averted from, some one in whom we are +interested. But the Old Testament notion of the priest's intercession, +and the New Testament use of the word which we so render, go far beyond +any verbal utterances, and reach to the very heart of things. +Intercession, in the true sense of the word, means the doing of any act +whatsoever before God for His people by Jesus Christ. Whensoever, as in +the presence of God, He brings to God anything which is His, that is +intercession. He undertakes for them, not by words only, though His +mighty word is, 'I will that they whom Thou hast given Me be with Me +where I am,' but by acts which are more than even the words of the +Incarnate Word. + +If we take these two inscriptions upon which I am now commenting, we +shall get, I think, what covers the whole ground of the intercession on +which Christians are to repose their souls. For, with regard to the one +of them, we read that the high priest's breastplate was named 'the +breastplate of judgment'; and what that means is explained by the last +words of the verse following that from which my text is taken: 'Aaron +shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before +the Lord.' Judgment means a judicial sentence; in this case a judicial +sentence of acquittal. And that Aaron stood before God in the Holy +Place, ministering with this breastplate upon his heart, is explained +by the writer of these regulations to mean that he carried there the +visible manifestation of Israel's acquittal, based upon his own +sacrificial function. Now, put that into plain English, and it is just +this--Jesus Christ's sacrifice ensures, for all those whose names are +written on these gems on His heart, their acquittal in the judgment of +Heaven. Or, in other words, the first step in the intercession of our +great High Priest is the presenting before God for ever and ever that +great fact that He, the Sinless, has died for the love of sinful men, +and thereby has secured that the judgment of Heaven on them shall now +be 'no condemnation.' Brethren, there is the root of all our hope in +Christ, and of all that Christ is to individuals and to society--the +assurance that the breastplate of judgment is on His heart, as a sign +that all who trust Him are acquitted by the tribunal of Heaven. + +The other side of this great continual act of intercession is set forth +by the other symbol--the names written on the shoulders, the seat of +power. There is a beautiful parallel, which yet at first sight does not +seem to be one, to the thought that lies here, in the Book of the +Prophet Isaiah, where, addressing the restored and perfected Israel, he +says, speaking in the person of Jehovah: 'I have graven thee upon the +palms of My hands.' That has precisely the same meaning that I take to +be conveyed by this symbol in the text. The names of the tribes are +written on His shoulders; and not until that arm is wearied or palsied, +not till that strong hand forgets its cunning, will our defence fail. +If our names are thus written on the seat of power, that means that all +the divine authority and omnipotence which Jesus Christ, the Eternal +Son of the Father, wields in His state of royal glory, are exercised on +behalf of, or at all events on the side of, those whose names He thus +bears upon His shoulders. That is the guarantee for each of us that our +hands shall be made strong, according to the ancient prophetic +blessing, 'by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob.' Just as a father +or a mother will take their child's little tremulous hand in theirs and +hold it, that it may be strengthened for some small task beyond its +unbacked, uninvigorated power; so Jesus Christ will give us strength +within, and also will order the march of His Providence and send the +gift of His Spirit, for the succour and the strengthening of all whose +names are written on His ephod. He has gone within the veil. He has +left us heavy tasks, but our names are on His shoulders, and we 'can do +all things in Christ who strengthened us.' + +III. Still further, this symbol suggests to us the depth and reality of +Christ's sympathy. + +The heart is, in our language, the seat of love. It is not so in the +Old Testament. Affection is generally allocated to another part of the +frame; but here the heart stands for the organ of care, of thought, of +interest. For, according to the Old Testament view of the relation +between man's body and man's soul, the very seat and centre of the +individual life is in the heart. I suppose that was because it was +known that, somehow or other, the blood came thence. Be that as it may, +the thought is clear throughout all the Old Testament that the heart is +the man, and the man is the heart. And so, if Jesus bears our names +upon His heart, that does not express merely representation nor merely +intercession, but it expresses also personal regard, individualising +knowledge. For Aaron wore not one great jewel with 'Israel' written on +it, but twelve little ones, with 'Dan,' 'Benjamin,' and 'Ephraim,' and +all the rest of them, each on his own gem. + +So we can say, 'Such a High Priest became us, who could have compassion +upon the ignorant, and upon them that are out of the way'; and we can +fall back on that old-fashioned but inexhaustible source of consolation +and strength: 'In all their affliction He was afflicted'; and though +the noise of the tempests which toss us can scarcely be supposed to +penetrate into the veiled place where He dwells on high, yet we may be +sure--and take all the peace and consolation and encouragement out of +it that it is meant to give us--that 'we have not a High Priest that +cannot be touched with a feeling of our infirmities,' but that Himself, +having known miseries, 'is able to succour them that are tempted.' Our +names are on Christ's heart. + +IV. Then, lastly, we have here a suggestion of how precious to Aaron +Israel is. + +Jewels were chosen to symbolise the tribes. Bits of tin, potsherds, or +anything else that one could have scratched letters upon, would have +done quite as well. But 'the precious things of the everlasting +mountains' were chosen to bear the dear names. 'The Lord's portion is +His people'; and precious in the eyes of Christ are the souls for whom +He has given so much. They are not only precious, but lustrous, +flashing back the light in various colours indeed, according to their +various laws of crystallisation, but all receptive of it and all +reflective of it. I said that the names on the breastplate of judgment +expressed the acquittal and acceptance of Israel. But does Christ's +work for us stop with simple acquittal? Oh no! 'Whom He justified them +He also glorified,' And if our souls are 'bound in the bundle of life,' +and our names are written on the heart of the Christ, be sure that mere +forgiveness and acquittal is the least of the blessings which He +intends to give, and that He will not be satisfied until in all our +nature we receive and flash back the light of His own glory. + +It is very significant in this aspect that the names of the twelve +tribes are described as being written on the precious stones which make +the walls of the New Jerusalem. Thus borne on Christ's heart whilst He +is within the veil and we are in the outer courts, we may hope to be +carried by His sustaining and perfecting hand into the glories, and be +made participant of the glories. Let us see to it that we write His +name on our hearts, on their cares, their thought, their love, and on +our hands, on their toiling and their possessing; and then, God helping +us, and Christ dwelling in us, we shall come to the blessed state of +those who serve Him, and bear His name flaming conspicuous for ever on +their foreheads. + + + + +THREE INSCRIPTIONS WITH ONE MEANING + + + 'Thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon + it ... HOLINESS TO THE LORD.'--EXODUS xxviii. 36. + + 'In that day there shall be upon the bells of the horses, + HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD.'--ZECH. xiv. 20. + + 'His name shall be in their foreheads.'--REV. xxii. 4. + +You will have perceived my purpose in putting these three widely +separated texts together. They all speak of inscriptions, and they are +all obviously connected with each other. The first of them comes from +the ancient times of the institution of the ceremonial ritual, and +describes a part of the high priest's official dress. In his mitre was +a thin plate of gold on which was written, 'Holiness to the Lord.' The +second of them comes from almost the last portion recorded of the +history of Israel in the Old Testament, and is from the words of the +great Prophet of the Restoration--his ideal presentation of the +Messianic period, in which he recognises as one feature, that the +inscription on the mitre of the high priest shall be written on 'the +bells of the horses.' And the last of them is from the closing vision +of the celestial kingdom, the heavenly and perfected form of the +Christian Church. John, probably remembering the high priest and his +mitre, with its inscription upon the forehead, says: 'His servants +shall do Him priestly service'--for that is the meaning of the word +inadequately translated 'serve Him'--'and see His face, and His name +shall be in their foreheads.' + +These three things, then--the high priest's mitre, the horses' bells, +the foreheads of the perfected saints--present three aspects of the +Christian thought of holiness. Take them one by one. + +I. The high priest's mitre. + +The high priest was the official representative of the nation. He stood +before God as the embodied and personified Israel. For the purposes of +worship Israel was the high priest, and the high priest was Israel. And +so, on his forehead, not to distinguish him from the rest of the +people, but to include all the people in his consecration, shone a +golden plate with the motto, 'Holiness to the Lord.' So, at the very +beginning of Jewish ritual there stands a protest against all notions +that make 'saint' the designation of any abnormal or exceptional +sanctity, and confine the name to the members of any selected +aristocracy of devoutness and goodness. All Christian men, _ex +officio_, by the very fact of their Christianity, are saints, in the +true sense of the word. And the representative of the whole of Israel +stood there before God, with this inscription blazing on his forehead, +as a witness that, whatsoever holiness may be, it belongs to every +member of the true Israel. + +And what is it? It is a very unfortunate thing--indicating +superficiality of thought--that the modern popular notion of 'holiness' +identifies it with purity, righteousness, moral perfection. Now that +idea _is_ in it, but is not the whole of it. For, not to spend time +upon mere remarks on words, the meaning of the word thus rendered is in +Hebrew, as well as in Greek and in our own English, one and the same. +The root-meaning is 'separated,' 'set apart,' and the word expresses +primarily, not moral character, but relation to God. That makes all the +difference; and it incalculably deepens the conception, as well as puts +us on the right track for understanding the only possible means by +which there can ever be realised that moral perfection and excellence +which has unfortunately monopolised the meaning of the word in most +people's minds. The first thought is 'set apart to God.' That is +holiness, in its root and germ. + +And how can we be set apart for God? You may devote a dead thing for +certain uses easily enough. How can a man be separated and laid aside? + +Well, there is only one way, brethren, and that is by self-surrender. +'Yield yourselves to God' is but the other side, or, rather, the +practical shape, of the Old and the New Testament doctrine of holiness. +A man becomes God's when he says, 'Lord, take me and mould me, and fill +me and cleanse me, and do with me what Thou wilt.' In that +self-surrender, which is the tap-root of all holiness, the first and +foremost thing to be offered is that most obstinate of all, the will +that is in us. And when we yield our wills in submission both to +commandments and providences, both to gifts and to withdrawals, both to +gains and to losses, both to joys and to sorrows, then we begin to +write upon our foreheads 'Holiness to the Lord.' And when we go on to +yield our hearts to Him, by enshrining Him sole and sovereign in their +innermost chamber, and turning to Him the whole current of our lives +and desires, and hopes and confidences, which we are so apt to allow to +run to waste and be sucked up in the desert sands of the world, then we +write more of that inscription. And when we fill our minds with joyful +submission to His truth, and occupy our thoughts with His mighty Name +and His great revelation, and carry Him with us in the hidden corners +of our consciousness, even whilst we are busy about daily work, then we +add further letters to it. And when the submissive will, and the +devoted heart, and the occupied thoughts are fully expressed in daily +life and its various external duties, then the writing is complete. +'Holiness to the Lord' is self-surrender of will and heart and mind and +everything. And that surrender is of the very essence of Christianity. + +What is a saint? Some man or woman that has practised unheard-of +austerities? Somebody that has lived an isolated and self-regarding +life in convent or monastery or desert? No! a man or woman in the world +who, moved by the mercies of God, yields self to God as 'a living +sacrifice.' + +So the New Testament writers never hesitate to speak even of such very +imperfect Christians as were found in abundance in churches like +Corinth and Galatia as being all 'saints,' every man of them. That is +not because the writers were minimising their defects, or idealising +their persons, but because, if they are Christians at all, they are +saints; seeing that no man is a Christian who has not been drawn by +Christ's great sacrifice for him to yield himself a sacrifice for +Christ. + +Of course that intrusive idea which has, in popular apprehension, so +swallowed up the notion of holiness--viz. that of perfection of moral +character or conduct--is included in this other, or rather is developed +from it. For the true way to conquer self is to surrender self; and the +more entire our giving up of ourselves, the more certainly shall we +receive ourselves back again from His hands. 'By the mercies of God, I +beseech you, yield yourselves living sacrifices.' + +II. I come to my next text--the horses' bells. + +Zechariah has a vision of the ideal Messianic times, and, of course, as +must necessarily be the case, his picture is painted with colours laid +upon his palette by his experience, and he depicts that distant future +in the guise suggested to him by what he saw around him. So we have to +disentangle from his words the sentiment which he expresses, and to +recognise the symbolic way in which he puts it. His thought is +this,--the inscription on the high priest's mitre will be written on +the bells which ornament the harness of the horses, which in Israel +were never used as with us, but only either for war or for pomp and +display, and the use of which was always regarded with a certain kind +of doubt and suspicion. Even these shall be consecrated in that far-off +day. + +And then he goes on with variations on the same air, 'In that day there +shall be upon the bells of the horses, "Holiness unto the Lord,"' and +adds that 'the pots in the Lord's house'--the humble vessels that were +used for the most ordinary parts of the Temple services--'shall be like +the bowls before the altar,' into which the sacred blood of the +offerings was poured. The most external and secular thing bearing upon +religion shall be as sacred as the sacredest. But that is not all. +'Yea! every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the +Lord of hosts, and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of +them,' and put their offerings therein. That is to say, the coarse +pottery vessels that were in every poverty-stricken house in the city +shall be elevated to the rank of the sacred vessels of the Temple. +Domestic life with all its secularities shall be hallowed. The kitchens +of Jerusalem shall be as truly places of worship as is the inner shrine +of the Most High. + +On the whole, the prophet's teaching is that, in the ideal state of man +upon earth, there will be an entire abolition of the distinction +between 'sacred' and 'secular'; a distinction that has wrought infinite +mischief in the world, and in the lives of Christian people. + +Let me translate these words of our prophet into English equivalents. +Every cup and tumbler in a poor man's kitchen may be as sacred as the +communion chalice that passes from lip to lip with the 'blood of Jesus +Christ' in it. Every common piece of service that we do, down among the +vulgarities and the secularities and the meannesses of daily life, may +be lifted up to stand upon precisely the same level as the sacredest +office that we undertake. The bells of the horses may jingle to the +same tune as the trumpets of the priests sounded within the shrine, and +on all, great and small, may be written, 'Holiness to the Lord.' + +But let us remember that that universally diffused sanctity will need +to have a centre of diffusion, else there will be no diffusion, and +that all life will become sacred when the man that lives it has +'Holiness to the Lord' written on his forehead, and not else. If that +be the inscription on the driver's heart, the horses that he drives +will have it written on their bells, but they will not have it unless +it be. Holy men make all things holy. 'To the pure all things are +pure,' but unto them that are unclean and disobedient there is nothing +pure. Hallow thyself, and all things are clean unto thee. + +III. And so I come to my third text--the perfected saints' foreheads. + +The connection between the first and the last of these texts is as +plain and close as between the first and the second. For John in his +closing vision gives emphasis to the priestly idea as designating in +its deepest relations the redeemed and perfected Christian Church. +Therefore he says, as I have already explained, 'His servants shall do +Him _priestly_ service, and His name shall be in their foreheads.' The +old official dress of the high priest comes into his mind, and he +paints the future, just as Zechariah did, under the forms of the past, +and sees before the throne the perfected saints, each man of them with +that inscription clear and conspicuous. + +But there is an advance in his words which I think it is not fanciful +to note. It is only the _name_ that is written in the perfected saint's +forehead. Not the 'Holiness unto the Lord,' but just the bare name. +What does that mean? Well, it means the same as your writing your name +in one of your books does, or as when a man puts his initials on the +back of his oxen, or as the old practice of branding the master's mark +upon the slave did. It means absolute ownership. + +But it means something more. The name is the manifested personality, +the revealed God, or, as we say in an abstract way, the character of +God. That Name is to be in the foreheads of His perfected people. How +does it come to be there? Read also the clause before the text--'His +servants shall see His face, and His name shall be in their foreheads.' +That is to say, the perfected condition is not reached by surrender +only, but by assimilation; and that assimilation comes by +contemplation. The faces that are turned to Him, and behold Him, are +smitten with the light and shine, and those that look upon them see 'as +it had been the face of an angel,' as the Sanhedrim saw that of +Stephen, when he beheld + the Son of Man 'standing at the right hand of God.' + +My last text is but a picturesque way of saying what the writer of it +says in plain words when he declares, 'We shall be like Him, for we +shall see Him as He is.' The name is to be 'in their foreheads,' where +every eye can see it. Alas! alas! it is so hard for us to live out our +best selves, and to show to the world what is in us. Cowardice, +sheepishness, and a hundred other reasons prevent it. In this poor +imperfect state no emotion ever takes shape and visibility without +losing more or less of its beauty. But yonder the obstructions to +self-manifestation will be done away; and 'when He shall be manifested, +we also shall be manifested with Him in glory.' + +'Then shall the righteous blaze forth like the sun in My heavenly +Father's Kingdom.' But the beginning of it all is 'Holiness to the +Lord' written on our hearts; and the end of that is the vision which is +impossible without holiness, and which leads on to the beholder's +perfect likeness to his Lord. + + + + +THE ALTAR OF INCENSE + + + 'Thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon.' + --EXODUS xxx. 1. + +Ceremonies are embodied thoughts. Religious ceremonies are moulded by, +and seek to express, the worshipper's conception of his God, and his +own relation to Him; his aspirations and his need. Of late years +scholars have been busy studying the religions of the more backward +races, and explaining rude and repulsive rites by pointing to the often +profound and sometimes beautiful ideas underlying them. When that +process is applied to Australian and Fijian savages, it is honoured as +a new and important study; when we apply it to the Mosaic Ritual it is +pooh-poohed as 'foolish spiritualising.' Now, no doubt, there has been +a great deal of nonsense talked in regard to this matter, and a great +deal of ingenuity wasted in giving a Christian meaning--or, may I say, +a Christian twist?--to every pin of the Tabernacle, and every detail of +the ritual. Of course, to exaggerate a truth is the surest way to +discredit a truth, but the truth remains true all the same, and +underneath that elaborate legislation, which makes such wearisome and +profitless reading for the most of us, in the Pentateuch, there lie, if +we can only grasp them, great thoughts and lessons that we shall all be +the better for pondering. + +To one item of these, this altar of incense, I call attention now, +because it is rich in suggestions, and leads us into very sacred +regions of the Christian life which are by no means so familiar to many +of us as they ought to be. Let me just for one moment state the facts +with which I wish to deal. The Jewish Tabernacle, and subsequently the +Temple, were arranged in three compartments: the outermost court, which +was accessible to all the people; the second, which was trodden by the +priests alone; and the third, where the Shechinah dwelt in solitude, +broken only once a year by the foot of the High Priest. That second +court we are concerned with now. There are three pieces of +ecclesiastical furniture in it: an altar in the centre, flanked on +either side by a great lampstand, and a table on which were piled +loaves. It is to that central piece of furniture that I ask your +attention now, and to the thoughts that underlie it, and the lessons +that it teaches. + +I. This altar shows us what prayer is. + +Suppose we had been in that court when in the morning or in the evening +the priest came with the glowing pan of coals from another altar in the +outer court, and laid it on this altar, and heaped upon it the sticks +of incense, we should have seen the curling, fragrant wreaths ascending +till 'the House was filled with smoke,' as a prophet once saw it. We +should not have wanted any interpreter to tell us what that meant. What +could that rising cloud of sweet odours signify but the ascent of the +soul towards God? Put that into more abstract words, and it is just the +old, hackneyed commonplace which I seek to try to freshen a little now, +that incense is the symbol of prayer. That that is so is plain enough, +not only from the natural propriety of the case, but because you find +the identification distinctly stated in several places in Scripture, of +which I quote but two instances. In one psalm we read, 'Let my prayer +come before Thee as incense.' In the Book of the Apocalypse we read of +'golden bowls full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.' And +that the symbolism was understood by, and modified the practice of, the +nation, we are taught when we read that whilst Zechariah the priest was +within the court offering incense, as it was his lot to do, 'the whole +multitude of the people were without praying,' doing that which the +priest within the court symbolised by his offering. So then we come to +this, dear friends, that we fearfully misunderstand and limit the +nobleness and the essential character of prayer when, as we are always +tempted to do by our inherent self-regard, we make petition its main +feature and form. Of course, so long as we are what we shall always be +in this world, needy and sinful creatures; and so long as we are what +we shall ever be in all worlds, creatures absolutely dependent for life +and everything on the will and energy of God, petition must necessarily +be a very large part of prayer. But the more we grow into His likeness, +and the more we understand the large privileges and the glorious +possibilities which lie in prayer, the more will the relative +proportions of its component parts be changed, and petition will become +less, and aspiration will become more. The essence of prayer, the +noblest form of it, is thus typified by the cloud of sweet odours that +went up before God. + +In all true prayer there must be the lowest prostration in reverence +before the Infinite Majesty. But the noblest prayer is that which lifts +'them that are bowed down' rather than that which prostrates men before +an inaccessible Deity. And so, whilst we lie low at His feet, that may +be the prayer of a mere theist, but when our hearts go out towards Him, +and we are drawn to Himself, that is the prayer that befits Christian +aspiration; the ascent of the soul toward God is the true essence of +prayer. As one of the non-Christian philosophers--seekers after God, if +ever there were such, and who, I doubt not, found Him whom they +sought--has put it, 'the flight of the lonely soul to the only God'; +that is prayer. Is that my prayer? We come to Him many a time burdened +with some very real sorrow, or weighted with some pressing +responsibility, and we should not be true to ourselves, or to Him, if +our prayer did not take the shape of petition. But, as we pray, the +blessing of the transformation of its character should be realised by +us, and that which began with the cry for help and deliverance should +always be, and it always will be, if the cry for help and deliverance +has been of the right sort, sublimed into 'Thy face, Lord, will I +seek.' The Book of Ecclesiastes describes death as the 'return of the +spirit to God who gave it.' That is the true description of prayer, a +going back to the fountain's source. Flames aspire; to the place +'whence the rivers came thither they return again.' The homing pigeon +or the migrating bird goes straight through many degrees of latitude, +and across all sorts of weather, to the place whence it came. Ah! +brethren, let us ask ourselves if our spirits thus aspire and soar. Do +we know what it is to be, if I might so say, like those captive +balloons that are ever yearning upwards, and stretching to the loftiest +point permitted them by the cord that tethers them to earth? + +Now another thought that this altar of incense may teach us is that the +prayer that soars must be kindled. There is no fragrance in a stick of +incense lying there. No wreaths of ascending smoke come from it. It has +to be kindled before its sweet odour can be set free and ascend. That +is why so much of our prayer is of no delight to God, and of no benefit +to us, because it is not on fire with the flame of a heart kindled into +love and thankfulness by the great sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The cold +vapours lie like a winding-sheet down in the valleys until the sun +smites them, warms them, and draws them up. And our desires will hover +in the low levels, and be dank and damp, until they are drawn up to the +heights by the warmth of the Sun of righteousness. Oh! brethren, the +formality and the coldness, to say nothing of the inconsecutiveness and +the interruptedness by rambling thoughts that we all know in our +petitions, in our aspirations, are only to be cured in one way:-- + + 'Come! shed abroad a Saviour's love, + And that will kindle ours.' + +It is the stretched string that gives out musical notes; the slack one +is dumb. And if we desire that we may be able to be sure, as our Master +was, when He said, 'I know that Thou hearest me always,' we must pray +as He did, of whom it is recorded that 'He prayed the more earnestly,' +and 'was heard in that He feared.' The word rendered 'the more +earnestly' carries in it a metaphor drawn from that very fact that I +have referred to. It means 'with the more stretched-out extension and +intensity.' If our prayers are to be heard as music in heaven, they +must come from a stretched string. + +Once more, this altar of incense teaches us that kindled prayer +delights God. That emblem of the sweet odour is laid hold of with great +boldness by more than one Old and New Testament writer, in order to +express the marvellous thought that there is a mutual joy in the prayer +of faith and love, and that it rises as 'an odour of a sweet smell, a +sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God.' The cuneiform inscriptions +give that thought with characteristic vividness and grossness when they +speak about the gods being 'gathered like flies round the steam of the +sacrifice.' We have the same thought, freed from all its grossness, +when we think that the curling wreaths going up from a heart aspiring +and enflamed, come to Him as a sweet odour, and delight His soul. +People say, 'that is anthropomorphism--making God too like a man.' +Well, man is like God, at any rate, and surely the teaching of that +great name 'Father' carries with it the assurance that just as fathers +of flesh are glad when they see that their children like best to be +with them, so there is something analogous in that joy before the +angels of heaven which the Father has, not only because of the prodigal +who comes back, but because of the child who has long been with Him, +and is ever seeking to nestle closer to His heart. The Psalmist was +lost in wonder and thankfulness that he was able to say 'He was +extolled with my tongue.' Surely it should be a gracious, encouraging, +strengthening thought to us all, that even our poor aspirations may +minister to the divine gladness. + +Now let us turn to another thought. + +II. This altar shows us where prayer stands in the Christian life. + +There are two or three points in regard to its position which it is no +fanciful spiritualising, but simply grasping the underlying meaning of +the institution, if we emphasise. First, let me remind you that there +was another altar in the outer court, whereon was offered the daily +sacrifice for the sins of the people. That altar came first, and the +sacrifice had to be offered on it first, before the priest came into +the inner court with the coals from that altar, and the incense kindled +by them. What does that say to us? The altar of incense is not +approached until we have been to the altar of sacrifice. It is no mere +arbitrary appointment, nor piece of evangelical narrowness, which says +that there is no real access to God, in all the fullness and reality of +His revealed character for us sinful men, until our sins have been +dealt with, taken away by the Lamb of God, sacrificed for us. And it is +simply the transcript of experience which declares that there will be +little inclination or desire to come to God with the sacrifice of +praise and prayer until we have been to Christ, the sacrifice of +propitiation and pardon. Brethren, we need to be cleansed, and we can +only be delivered from the unholiness which is the perpetual and +necessary barrier to our vision of God by making our very own, through +simple faith, the energy and the blessedness of that great Sacrifice of +propitiation. Then, and then only, do we properly come to the altar of +incense. Its place in the Christian life is second, not first. 'First +be reconciled to thy' Father, 'then lay' the incense 'on the altar.' + +Again, great and deep lessons are given to us in the place of our altar +in regard to the other articles that stood in that inner court. I have +said that there were three of them. In the centre this altar of +incense; on the one hand the great lampstand; on the other hand the +table with loaves thereon. The one symbolised Israel's function in the +world to be its light, which in our function too, and the other with +loaves thereon symbolised the consecration to God of Israel's +activities, and their results. + +But between the two, central to both, stood the altar of incense. What +does that say as to the place of prayer, defined as I have defined it, +in the Christian life? It says this, that the light will burn dim and +go out, and the loaves, the expression and the consequences of our +activities, will become mouldy and dry, unless both are hallowed and +sustained by prayer. And that lesson is one which we all need, and +which I suppose this generation needs quite as much as, if not more +than, any that has gone before it. For life has become so swift and +rushing, and from all sides, the Church, the world, society, there come +such temptations, and exhortations, and necessities, for strenuous and +continuous work, that the basis of all wholesome and vigorous work, +communion with God, is but too apt to be put aside and relegated to +some inferior position. The carbon points of the electric arc-light are +eaten away with tremendous rapidity in the very act of giving forth +their illumination, and they need to be continually approximated and to +be frequently renewed. The oil is burned away in the act of shining, +and the lamp needs to be charged again. If we are to do our work in the +world as its lights, and if we are to have any activities fit to be +consecrated to God and laid on the Table before the Veil, it can only +be by our making the altar of incense the centre, and these others +subsidiary. + +One last thought--the place of prayer in the Christian life is shadowed +for us by the position of this altar in reference to 'the secret place +of the Most High,' that mysterious inner court which was dark but for +the Shechinah's light, and lonely but for the presence of the +worshipping cherubim and the worshipped God. It stood, as we are told a +verse or two after my text, 'before the veil.' A straight line drawn +from the altar of sacrifice would have bisected the altar of incense as +it passed into the mercy-seat and the glory. And that just tells us +that the place of prayer in the Christian lift is that it is the direct +way of coming close to God. Dear brother, we shall never lift the veil, +and stand in 'the secret place of the Most High,' unless we take the +altar of incense on our road. + +There is one more thought here-- + +III. The altar of incense shows us how prayer is to be cultivated. + +Twice a day, morning and evening, came the officiating priest with his +pan of coals and incense, and laid it there; and during all the +intervening hours between the morning and the evening the glow lay half +hidden in the incense, and there was a faint but continual emission of +fragrance from the smouldering mass that had been renewed in the +morning, and again in the evening. And does not that say something to +us? There must be definite times of distinct prayer if the aroma of +devotion is to be diffused through our else scentless days. I ask for +no pedantic adherence, with monastic mechanicalness, to hours and +times, and forms of petitions. These are needful crutches to many of +us. But what I do maintain is that all that talk which we hear so much +of in certain quarters nowadays as to its not being necessary for us to +have special times of prayer, and as to its being far better to have +devotion diffused through our lives, and of how _laborare est +orare_--to labour is to pray--all that is pernicious nonsense if it is +meant to say that the incense will be fragrant and smoulder unless it +is stirred up and renewed night and morning. There must be definite +times of prayer if there is to be diffused devotion through the day. +What would you think of people that said, 'Run your cars by +electricity. Get it out of the wires; it will come! Never mind putting +up any generating stations'? And not less foolish are they who seek for +a devotion permeating life which is not often concentrated into +definite and specific acts. + +But the other side is as true. It is bad to clot your religion into +lumps, and to leave the rest of the life without it. There must be the +smouldering all day long. 'Rejoice evermore; pray without ceasing.' You +can pray thus. Not set prayer, of course; but a reference to Him, a +thought of Him, like some sweet melody, 'so sweet we know not we are +listening to it,' may breathe its fragrance, and diffuse its warmth +into the commonest and smallest of our daily activities. It was when +Gideon was threshing wheat that the angel appeared to him. It was when +Elisha was ploughing that the divine inspiration touched him. It was +when the disciples were fishing that they saw the Form on the shore. +And when we are in the way of our common life it is possible that the +Lord may meet us, and that our souls may be aspiring to Him. Then work +will be worship; then burdens will be lightened; then our lamps will +burn; then the fruits of our daily lives will ripen; then our lives +will be noble; then our spirits will rest as well as soar, and find +fruition and aspiration perpetually alternating in stable succession of +eternal progress. + + + + +RANSOM FOR SOULS--I. + + + 'Then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul.' + --EXODUS xxx. 12. + +This remarkable provision had a religious intention. Connect it with +the tax-money which Peter found in the fish's mouth. + +I. Its meaning. Try to realise an Israelite's thoughts at the census. +'I am enrolled among the people and army of God: am I worthy? What am +I, to serve so holy a God?' The payment was meant-- + +_(a)_ To excite the sense of sin. This should be present in all +approach to God, in all service; accompanying the recognition of our +Christian standing. Our sense of sin is far too slight and weak; this +defect is at the root of much feebleness in popular religion. The sense +of sin must embrace not outward acts only, but inner spirit also. + +_(b)_ To suggest the possibility of expiation. It was 'ransom' _i.e._ +'covering,' something paid that guilt might be taken away and sin +regarded as non-existent. This is, of course, obviously, only a symbol. +No tax could satisfy God for sin. The very smallness of the amount +shows that it is symbolical only. 'Not with corruptible things as +silver' is man redeemed. + +II. Its identity for all. Rich or poor, high or low, all men are equal +in sin. There are surface differences and degrees, but a deep identity +beneath. So on the same principle all souls are of the same value. Here +is the true democracy of Christianity. So there is one ransom for all, +for the need of all is identical. + +III. Its use. It was melted down for use in the sanctuary, so as to be +a 'memorial' permanently present to God when His people met with Him. +The greater portion was made into bases for the boards of the +sanctuary. That is, God's dwelling with men and our communion with Him +all rest on the basis of ransom. We are 'brought nigh by the blood of +Christ.' + + + + +RANSOM FOR SOULS--II. + + 'The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not + give less than half a shekel....'--EXODUS xxx. 15. + +This tax was exacted on numbering the people. It was a very small +amount, about fifteen pence, so it was clearly symbolical in its +significance. Notice-- + +I. The broad principle of equality of all souls in the sight of God. +Contrast the reign of caste and class in heathendom with the democracy +of Judaism and of Christianity. + +II. The universal sinfulness. Payment of the tax was a confession that +all were alike in this: not that all were equally sinful, but all were +sinful, whatever variations of degree might exist. + +'There is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the +glory of God.' + +III. The one ransom. It was a prophecy of which _we_ know the meaning. +Recall the incident of the 'stater' in the fish's mouth. + +Christ declares His exemption from the tax. Yet He voluntarily comes +under it, and He provides the payment of it for Himself and for Peter. + +He does so by a miracle. + +The Apostle has to 'take and give it'; so faith is called into exercise. + +Thus there is but one Sacrifice for all; and the poorest can exercise +faith and the richest can do no more. 'None other name.' + + + + +THE GOLDEN CALF + + + 'And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come + down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves + together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us + gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, + the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, + we wot not what is become of him. 2. And Aaron said + unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in + the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your + daughters, and bring them unto me. 3. And all the people + brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, + and brought them unto Aaron. 4. And he received them at + their hand, and fashioned it with a graving-tool, after + he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be + thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the + land of Egypt. 5. And when Aaron saw it, he built an + altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, + To-morrow is a feast to the Lord. 6. And they rose up + early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and + brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat + and to drink, and rose up to play. 7. And the Lord said + unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which + thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted + themselves: 8. They have turned aside quickly out of the + way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten + calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed + thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which + have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.... 30. And + it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the + people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up + unto the Lord; peradventure I shall make an atonement + for your sin. 31. And Moses returned unto the Lord, and + said, Oh! this people have sinned a great sin, and have + made them gods of gold. 32. Yet now, if Thou wilt forgive + their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of Thy + book which Thou hast written. 33. And the Lord said unto + Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against Me, him will I blot + out of My book. 34. Therefore now go, lead the people + unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee. Behold, + Mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day + when I visit I will visit their sin upon them. 35. And + the Lord plagued the people, because they made the calf, + which Aaron made.'--EXODUS xxxii. 1-8; 30-35. + +It was not yet six weeks since the people had sworn, 'All that the Lord +hath spoken will we do, and be obedient.' The blood of the covenant, +sprinkled on them, was scarcely dry when they flung off allegiance to +Jehovah. Such short-lived loyalty to Him can never have been genuine. +That mob of slaves was galvanised by Moses into obedience; and since +their acceptance of Jehovah was in reality only yielding to the power +of one strong will and its earnest faith, of course it collapsed as +soon as Moses disappeared. + +We have to note, first, the people's universal revolt. The language of +verse 1 may easily hide to a careless reader the gravity and unanimity +of the apostasy. 'The people gathered themselves together.' It was a +national rebellion, a flood which swept away even some faithful, timid +hearts. No voices ventured to protest. What were the elders, who +shortly before 'saw the God of Israel,' doing to be passive at such a +crisis? Was there no one to bid the fickle multitude look up to the +summit overhead, where the red flames glowed, or to remind them of the +hosts of Egypt lying stark and dead on the shore? Was Miriam cowed too, +and her song forgotten? + +We need not cast stones at these people; for we also have short +memories for either the terrible or the gracious revelations of God in +our own lives. But we may learn the lesson that God's lovers have to +set themselves sometimes dead against the rush of popular feeling, and +that there are times when silence or compliance is sin. + +It would have been easy for the rebels to have ignored Aaron, and made +gods for themselves. But they desired to involve him in their apostasy, +and to get 'official sanction' for it. He had been left by Moses as his +lieutenant, and so to get him implicated was to stamp the movement as a +regular and entire revolt. + +The demand 'to make gods' (or, more probably, 'a god') flew in the face +of both the first and second commandments. For Jehovah, who had +forbidden the forming of any image, was denied in the act of making it. +To disobey Him was to cast Him off. The ground of the rebellion was the +craving for a visible object of trust and a visible guide, as is seen +by the reason assigned for the demand for an image. Moses was out of +sight; they must have something to look at as their leader. Moses had +disappeared, and, to these people who had only been heaved up to the +height of believing in Jehovah by Moses, Jehovah had disappeared with +him. They sank down again to the level of other races as soon as that +strong lever ceased to lift their heavy apprehensions. + +How ridiculous the assertion that they did not know what had become of +Moses! They knew that he was up there with Jehovah. The elders could +have told them that. The fire on the mount might have burned in on all +minds the confirmation. Note, too, the black ingratitude and plain +denial of Jehovah in 'the _man_ that brought us up out of the land of +Egypt.' They refuse to recognise God's part. It was Moses only who had +done it; and now that he is gone they must have a visible god, like +other nations. + +Still sadder than their sense-bound wish is Aaron's compliance. He knew +as well as we do what he should have said, but, like many another man +in influential position, when beset by popular cries, he was +frightened, and yielded when he should have 'set his face like a +flint.' His compliance has in essentials been often repeated, +especially by priests and ministers of religion who have lent their +superior abilities or opportunities to carry out the wishes of the +ignorant populace, and debased religion or watered down its +prohibitions, to please and retain hold of them. The Church has +incorporated much from heathenism. Roman Catholic missionaries have +permitted 'converts' to keep their old usages. Protestant teachers have +acquiesced in, and been content to find the brains to carry out, +compromises between sense and soul, God's commands and men's +inclinations. + +We need not discuss the metallurgy of verse 4. But clearly Aaron asked +for the earrings, not, as some would have it, hoping that vanity and +covetousness would hinder their being given, but simply in order to get +gold for the bad work which he was ready to do. The reason for making +the thing in the shape of a calf is probably the Egyptian worship of +Apis in that form, which would be familiar to the people. + +We must note that it was the people who said, 'These be thy gods, O +Israel!' Aaron seems to keep in the rear, as it were. He makes the +calf, and hands it over, and leaves them to hail it and worship. Like +all cowards, he thought that he was lessening his guilt by thus keeping +in the background. Feeble natures are fond of such subterfuges, and +deceive themselves by them; but they do not shift their sin off their +shoulders. + +Then he comes in again with an impotent attempt to diminish the gravity +of the revolt. 'When he _saw_ this,' he tried to turn the flood into +another channel, and so proclaimed a 'feast to Jehovah'!--as if He +could be worshipped by flagrant defiance of His commandments, or as if +He had not been disavowed by the ascription to the calf, made that +morning out of their own trinkets, of the deliverance from Egypt. A +poor, inconsequential attempt to save appearances and hallow sin by +writing God's name on it! The 'god' whom the Israelites worshipped +under the image of a calf, was no less another 'god before Me,' though +it was called by the name of Jehovah. If the people had their idol, it +mattered nothing to them, and it mattered as little to Jehovah, what +'name' it bore. The wild orgies of the morrow were not the worship +which He accepts. + +What a contrast between the plain and the mountain! Below, the shameful +feast, with its parody of sacrifice and its sequel of lust-inflamed +dancing; above, the awful colloquy between the all-seeing righteous +Judge and the intercessor! The people had cast off Jehovah, and Jehovah +no more calls them 'My,' but '_thy_ people.' They had ascribed their +Exodus first to Moses, and next to the calf. Jehovah speaks of it as +the work of Moses. + +A terrible separation of Himself from them lies in '_thy_ people, which +_thou_ broughtest up,' and Moses' bold rejoinder emphasises the +relation and act which Jehovah seems to suppress (verse 11). Observe +that the divine voice refuses to give any weight to Aaron's trick of +compromise. These are no worshippers of Jehovah who are howling and +dancing below there. They are 'worshipping _it_, and sacrificing to +it,' not to Him. The cloaks of sin may partly cover its ugliness here, +but they are transparent to His eyes, and many a piece of worship, +which is said to be directed to Him, is, in His sight, rank idolatry. + +We do not deal with the magnificent courage of Moses, his single-handed +arresting of the wild rebellion, and the severe punishment by which he +trampled out the fire. But we must keep his severity in mind if we +would rightly judge his self-sacrificing devotion, and his +self-sacrificing devotion if we would rightly judge his severity. + +No words of ours can make more sublime his utter self-abandonment for +the sake of the people among whom he had just been flaming in wrath, +and smiting like a destroying angel. That was a great soul which had +for its poles such justice and such love. The very words of his prayer, +in their abruptness, witness to his deep emotion. 'If Thou wilt forgive +their sin' stands as an incomplete sentence, left incomplete because +the speaker is so profoundly moved. Sometimes broken words are the best +witnesses of our earnestness. The alternative clause reaches the +high-water mark of passionate love, ready to give up everything for the +sake of its objects. The 'book of life' is often spoken of in +Scripture, and it is an interesting study to bring together the places +where the idea occurs (see Ps. lxix. 28; Dan. xii. 1; Phil. iv. 3; Rev. +iii. 5). The allusion is to the citizens' roll (Ps. lxxxvii. 6). Those +whose names are written there have the privileges of citizenship, and, +as it is the 'book of life' (or '_of the living_'), life in the widest +sense is secured to them. To blot out of it, therefore, is to cut a man +off from fellowship in the city of God, and from participation in life. + +Moses was so absorbed in his vocation that his life was less to him +than the well-being of Israel. How far he saw into the darkness beyond +the grave we cannot say; but, at least, he was content, and desirous to +die on earth, if thereby Israel might continue to be God's people. And +probably he had some gleam of light beyond, which enhanced the +greatness of his offered sacrifice. To die, whatever loss of communion +with God that involved here or hereafter, would be sweet if thereby he +could purchase Israel's restoration to God's favour. We cannot but +think of Paul willing to be separated from Christ for his brethren's +sake. + +We may well think of a greater than Moses or Paul, who did bear the +loss which they were willing to bear, and died that sin might be +forgiven. Moses was a true type of Christ in that act of supreme +self-sacrifice; and all the heroism, the identification of himself with +his people, the love which willingly accepts death, that makes his +prayer one of the greatest deeds on the page of history, are repeated +in infinitely sweeter, more heart-subduing fashion in the story of the +Cross. Let us not omit duly to honour the servant; let us not neglect +to honour and love infinitely more the Lord. 'This man was counted +worthy of more glory than Moses.' Let us see that we render Him + + 'Thanks never ceasing, + And infinite love.' + + + + +THE SWIFT DECAY OF LOVE + + + 'And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and + the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the + tables were written on both their sides; on the one + side and on the other were they written. 16. And the + tables were the work of God, and the writing was the + writing of God, graven upon the tables. 17. And when + Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, + he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp. + 18. And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout + for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry + for being overcome: but the noise of them that sing do + I hear. 19. And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh + unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: + and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out + of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. 20. And + he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in + the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon + the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. + 21. And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto + thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them? + 22. And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: + thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief. + 23. For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go + before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought + us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become + of him. 24. And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any + gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then + I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf. + 25. And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for + Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their + enemies:) 26. Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, + and said, Who is on the Lord's side? let him come unto + me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together + unto him.'--EXODUS xxxii. 15-26. + +Moses and Joshua are on their way down from the mountain, the former +carrying the tables in his hands and a heavier burden in his +heart,--the thought of the people's swift apostasy. Joshua's soldierly +ear interprets the shouts which are borne up to them as war-cries; 'He +snuffeth the battle afar off, and saith Aha!' But Moses knew that they +meant worse than war, and his knowledge helped his ear to distinguish a +cadence and unison in the noise, unlike the confused mingling of the +victors' yell of triumph and the shriek of the conquered. If we were +dealing with fiction, we should admire the masterly dramatic instinct +which lets the ear anticipate the eye, and so prepares us for the +hideous sight that burst on these two at some turn in the rocky descent. + +I. Note, then, what they saw. The vivid story puts it all in two +words,--'the calf and the dancing.' There in the midst, perhaps on some +pedestal, was the shameful copy of the Egyptian Apis; and whirling +round it in mad circles, working themselves into frenzy by rapid motion +and frantic shouts, were the people,--men and women, mingled in the +licentious dance, who, six short weeks before, had sworn to the +Covenant. Their bestial deity in the centre, and they compassing it +with wild hymns, were a frightful contradiction of that grey altar and +the twelve encircling stones which they had so lately reared, and which +stood unregarded, a bowshot off, as a silent witness against them. Note +the strange, irresistible fascination of idolatry. Clearly the personal +influence of Moses was the only barrier against it. The people thought +that he had disappeared, and, if so, Jehovah had disappeared with him. +We wonder at their relapses into idolatry, but we forget that it was +then universal, that Israel was at the beginning of its long training, +that not even a divine revelation could produce harvest in seedtime, +and that to look for a final and complete deliverance from the 'veil +that was spread over all nations,' at this stage, is like expecting a +newly reclaimed bit of the backwoods to grow grass as thick and velvety +as has carpeted some lawn that has been mown and cared for for a +century. Grave condemnation is the due of these short-memoried rebels, +who set up their 'abomination' in sight of the fire on Sinai; but that +should not prevent our recognising the evidence which their sin affords +of the tremendous power of idolatry in that stage of the world's +history. Israel's proneness to fall back to heathenism makes it certain +that a supernatural revelation is needed to account for their +possession of the loftier faith which was so far above them. + +That howling, leaping crowd tells what sort of religion they would have +'evolved' if left to themselves. Where did 'Thou shalt have none other +gods beside Me' come from? Note the confusion of thought, so difficult +for us to understand, which characterises idolatry. What a hopelessly +inconsequential cry that was, 'Make us gods, which shall go before us!' +and what a muddle of contradictions it was that men should say 'These +be thy gods,' though they knew that the thing was made yesterday out of +their own earrings! It took more than a thousand years to teach the +nation the force of the very self-evident argument, as it seems to us, +'the workman made it, therefore it is not God.' The theory that the +idol is only a symbol is not the actual belief of idolaters. It is a +product of the study, but the worshipper unites in his thought the +irreconcilable beliefs that it was made and is divine. A goldsmith will +make and sell a Madonna, and when it is put in the cathedral, will +kneel before it. + +Note what was the sin here. It is generally taken for granted that it +was a breach of the second, not of the first, commandment, and Aaron's +proclamation of 'a feast to the Lord' is taken as proving this. Aaron +was probably trying to make an impossible compromise, and to find some +salve for his conscience; but it does not follow that the people +accepted the half-and-half suggestion. Leaders who try to control a +movement which they disapprove, by seeming to accept it, play a +dangerous game, and usually fail. But whether the people call the calf +'Jehovah' or 'Apis' matters very little. There would be as complete +apostasy to another god, though the other god was called by the same +name, if all that really makes his 'name' was left out, and foreign +elements were brought in. Such worship as these wild dances, offered to +an image, broke both the commandments, no matter by what name the image +was invoked. + +The roots of idolatry are in all men. The gross form of it is +impossible to us; but the need for aid from sense, the dependence on +art for wings to our devotion, which is a growing danger to-day, is +only the modern form of the same dislike of a purely spiritual religion +which sent these people dancing round their calf. + +II. Mark Moses' blaze of wrath and courageous, prompt action. He dashes +the tables on the rock, as if to break the record of the useless laws +which the people have already broken, and, with his hands free, flings +himself without pause into the midst of the excited mob. Verses 19 and +20 bear the impression of his rapid, decisive action in their +succession of clauses, each tacked on to the preceding by a simple +'and.' Stroke followed stroke. His fiery earnestness swept over all +obstacles, the base riot ceased, the ashamed dancers slunk away. Some +true hearts would gather about him, and carry out his commands; but he +did the real work, and, single-handed, cowed and controlled the mob. No +doubt, it took more time than the brief narrative, at first sight, +would suggest. The image is flung into the fire from which it had come +out. The fire made it, and the fire shall unmake it. We need not find +difficulty in 'burning' a golden idol. That does not mean 'calcined,' +and the writer is not guilty of a blunder, nor needed to be taught that +you cannot burn gold. The next clause says that after it was 'burned,' +it was still solid; so that, plainly, all that is meant is, that the +metal was reduced to a shapeless lump. That would take some time. Then +it was broken small; there were plenty of rocks to grind it up on. That +would take some more time, but not a finger was lifted to prevent it. +Then the more or less finely broken up fragments are flung into the +brook, and, with grim irony, the people are bid to drink. 'You shall +have enough of your idol, since you love him so. Here, down with him! +You will have to take the consequences of your sin. You must drink as +you have brewed.' It is at once a contemptuous demonstration of the +idol's impotence, and a picture of the sure retribution. + +But we may learn two things from this figure of the indignant lawgiver. +One is, that the temper in which to regard idolatry is not one of +equable indifference nor of scientific investigation, but that some +heat of moral indignation is wholesome. We are all studying comparative +mythology now, and getting much good from it; but we are in some danger +of forgetting that these strange ideas and practices, which we examine +at our ease, have spread spiritual darkness and moral infection over +continents and through generations. Let us understand them, by all +means; let us be thankful to find fragments of truth in, or innocent +origins of, repulsive legends; but do not let the student swallow up +the Christian in us, nor our minds lose their capacity of wholesome +indignation at the systems, blended with Christ-like pity and effort +for the victims. + +We may learn, further, how strong a man is when he is all aflame with +true zeal for God. The suddenness of Moses' reappearance, the very +audacity of his act, the people's habit of obedience, all helped to +carry him through the crisis; but the true secret of his swift victory +was his own self-forgetting faith. There is contagion in pure religious +enthusiasm. It is the strongest of all forces. One man, with God at his +back, is always in the majority. He whose whole soul glows with the +pure fire, will move among men like flame in stubble. 'All things are +possible to him that believeth.' Consecrated daring, animated by love +and fed with truth, is all-conquering. + +III. Note the weaker nature of Aaron, taking refuge in a transparent +lie. Probably his dialogue with his brother came in before the process +described in the former verses was accomplished. But the narrative +keeps all that referred to the destruction of the idol together, and +goes by subject rather than by time. We do not learn how Moses had come +to know Aaron's share in the sin, but his question is one of +astonishment. Had they bewitched him anyhow? or what inducement had led +him so far astray? The stronger and devouter soul cannot conceive how +the weaker had yielded. Aaron's answer puts the people's wish forward. +'They said, Make us gods'; that was all which they had 'done.' A poor +excuse, as Aaron feels even while he is stammering it out. What would +Moses have answered if the people had 'said' so to him? Did he, +standing there, with the heat of his struggle on him yet, look like a +man that would acknowledge any demand of a mob as a reason for a +ruler's compliance? It is the coward's plea. How many ecclesiastics and +statesmen since then have had no better to offer for their acts! Such +fear of the Lord as shrivelled before the breath of popular clamour +could have had no deep roots. One of the first things to learn, whether +we are in prominent or in private positions, is to hold by our +religious convictions in supreme indifference to all surrounding +voices, and to let no threats nor entreaties lead us to take one step +beyond or against conscience. + +Aaron feels the insufficiency of the plea, when he has to put it into +plain words to such a listener, and so he flies to the resource of +timid and weak natures, a lie. For what did he ask the gold, and put it +into the furnace, unless he meant to make a god? Perhaps he had told +the people the same story, as priests in all lands have been apt to +claim a miraculous origin for idols. And he repeats it now, as if, were +it true, he would plead the miracle as a vindication of the worship as +well as his absolution. But the lie is too transparent to deserve even +an answer, and Moses turns silently from him. + +Aaron's was evidently the inferior nature, and was less deeply stamped +with the print of heaven than his brother's. His feeble compliance is +recorded as a beacon for all persons in places of influence or +authority, warning them against self-interested or cowardly yielding to +a popular demand, at the sacrifice of the purity of truth and the +approval of their own consciences. He was not the last priest who has +allowed the supposed wishes of the populace to shape his +representations of God, and has knowingly dropped the standard of duty +or sullied the clear brightness of truth in deference to the +many-voiced monster. + +IV. Note the rallying of true hearts round Moses. The Revised Version +reads 'broken loose' instead of 'naked,' and the correction is +valuable. It explains the necessity for the separation of those who yet +remained bound by the restraints of God's law, and for the terrible +retribution that followed. The rebellion had not been stamped out by +the destruction of the calf; and though Moses' dash into their midst +had cowed the rebels for a time, things had gone too far to settle down +again at once. The camp was in insurrection. It was more than a riot, +it was a revolution. With the rapid eye of genius, Moses sees the +gravity of the crisis, and, with equally swift decisiveness, acts so as +to meet it. He 'stood in the gate of the camp,' and made the nucleus +for the still faithful. His summons puts the full seriousness of the +moment clearly before the people. They have come to a fork in the road. +They must be either for Jehovah or against Him. There can be no mixing +up of the worship of Jehovah and the images of Egypt, no tampering with +God's service in obedience to popular clamour. It must be one thing or +other. This is no time for the family of 'Mr. Facing-both-ways'; the +question for each man is, 'Under which King?' Moses' unhesitating +confidence that he is God's soldier, and that to be at his side is to +be on God's side, was warranted in him, but has often been repeated +with less reason by eager contenders, as they believed themselves to +be, for God. No doubt, it becomes us to be modest and cautious in +calling all true friends of God to rank themselves with us. But where +the issue is between foul wrong and plain right, between palpable +idolatry, error, or unbridled lust, and truth, purity, and +righteousness, the Christian combatant for these is entitled to send +round the fiery cross, and proclaim a crusade in God's name. There will +always be plenty of people with cold water to pour on enthusiasm. We +should be all the better for a few more, who would venture to feel that +they are fighting for God, and to summon all who love Him to come to +their and His help. + +Moses' own tribe responded to the summons. And, no doubt, Aaron was +there too, galvanised into a nobler self by the courage and fervour of +his brother, and, let us hope, urged by penitence, to efface the memory +of his faithlessness by his heroism now. + +We do not go on to the dreadful retribution, which must be regarded, +not as massacre, but as legal execution. It is folly to apply to it, or +to other analogous instances, the ideas of this Christian century. We +need not be afraid to admit that there has been a development of +morality. The retributions of a stern age were necessarily stern. But +if we want to understand the heart of Moses, or of Moses' God, we must +not look only at the ruler of a wild people trampling out a revolt at +the sacrifice of many lives, but listen to him, as the next section of +the narrative shows him, pleading with tears for the rebels, and +offering even to let his own name be blotted out of God's book if their +sin might be forgiven. So, coupling the two parts of his conduct +together, we may learn a little more clearly a lesson, of which this +age has much need,--the harmony of retributive justice and pitying +love; and may come to understand that Moses learned both the one and +the other by fellowship with the God in whom they both dwell in +perfection and concord. + + + + +THE MEDIATOR'S THREEFOLD PRAYER + + + 'And Moses said unto the Lord, See, Thou sayest unto me, + Bring up this people: and Thou hast not let me know whom + Thou wilt send with me. Yet Thou hast said, I know thee + by name, and thou hast also found grace in My sight. + 13. Now therefore, I pray Thee, if I have found grace + in Thy sight, show me now Thy way, that I may know Thee, + that I may find grace in Thy sight: and consider that + this nation is Thy people. 14. And He said, My presence + shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. 15. And + he said unto Him, If Thy presence go not with me, carry + us not up hence. 16. For wherein shall it be known here + that I and Thy people have found grace in Thy sight? Is it + not in that Thou goest with us! So shall we be separated, I + and Thy people, from all the people that are upon the + face of the earth, 17. And the Lord said unto Moses, I + will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou + hast found grace in My sight, and I know thee by name. + 18. And he said, I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory. + 19. And He said, I will make all My goodness pass before + thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before + thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, + and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. 20. And + he said, Thou canst not see My face: for there shall no + man see Me, and live. 21. And the Lord said, Behold, + there is a place by Me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: + 22. And it shall come to pass, while My glory passeth + by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and + will cover thee with My hand while I pass by: 23. And + I will take away Mine hand, and thou shall see My back + parts; but My face shall not be seen.'--EXODUS xxxiii. 12-23. + +The calf worship broke the bond between God and Israel. Instead of His +presence, 'an angel' is to lead them, for His presence could only be +destruction. Mourning spreads through the camp, in token of which all +ornaments are laid aside. The fate of the nation is in suspense, and +the people wait, in sad attire, till God knows 'what to do unto' them. +The Tabernacle is carried beyond the precincts of the camp, in witness +of the breach, and all the future is doubtful. The preceding context +describes (vs. 7-11) not one event, but the standing order of these +dark days, when the camp had to be left if God was to be found, and +when Moses alone received tokens of God's friendship, and the people +stood wistfully and tremblingly gazing from afar, while the cloudy +pillar wavered down to the Tabernacle door. Duty brought Moses back +from such communion; but Joshua did not need to come near the tents of +the evil-doers, and, in the constancy of devout desire, made his home +in the Tabernacle. In one of these interviews, so close and familiar, +the wonderful dialogue here recorded occurred. It turns round three +petitions, to each of which the Lord answers. + +I. We have the leader's prayer for himself, with the over-abundant +answer of God. In the former chapter, we had the very sublimity of +intercession, in which the stern avenger of idolatry poured out his +self-sacrificing love for the stiff-necked nation whom he had had to +smite, and offered himself a victim for them. Here his first prayer is +mainly for himself, but it is not therefore a selfish prayer. Rather he +prays for gifts to himself, to fit him for his service to them. We may +note separately the prayer, and the pleas on which it is urged. 'Show +me now Thy way (or ways), that I may know Thee.' The desire immediately +refers to the then condition of things. As we have pointed out, it was +a time of suspense. In the strong metaphor of the context, God was +making up His mind on His course, and Israel was waiting with hushed +breath for the _denouement_. It was not the entrance of the nation into +the promised land which was in doubt, but the manner of their guidance, +and the penalties of their idolatry. These things Moses asked to know, +and especially, as verse 12 shows, to receive some more definite +communication as to their leader than the vague 'an angel.' But the +specific knowledge of God's 'way' was yearned for by him, mainly, as +leading on to a deeper and fuller and more blessed knowledge of God +Himself, and that again as leading to a fuller possession of God's +favour, which, as already in some measure possessed, lay at the +foundation of the whole prayer. The connection of thought here goes far +beyond the mere immediate blessing, which Moses needed at the moment. +That cry for insight into the purposes and methods of Him whom the soul +trusts, amid darkness and suspense, is the true voice of sonship. The +more deeply it sees into these, the more does the devout soul feel the +contrast between the spot of light in which it lives and the encircling +obscurity, and the more does it yearn for the further setting back of +the boundaries. Prayer does more than effort, for satisfying that +desire. Nor is it mere curiosity or the desire for intellectual +clearness that moves the longing. For the end of knowing God's ways is, +for the devout man, a deeper, more blessed knowledge of God Himself, +who is best known in His deeds; and the highest, most blessed issue of +the God-given knowledge of God, is the conscious sunshine of His favour +shining ever on His servant. That is not a selfish religion which, +beginning with the assurance that we have found grace in His sight, +seeks to climb, by happy paths of growing knowledge of Him as +manifested in His ways, to a consciousness of that favour which is made +stable and profound by clear insight into the depths of His purposes +and acts. + +The pleas on which this prayer is urged are two: the suppliant's heavy +tasks, and God's great assurances to him. He boldly reminds God of what +He has set him to do, and claims that he should be furnished with what +is needful for discharging his commission. How can he lead if he is +kept in the dark? When we are as sure as Moses was of God's charge to +us, we may be as bold as he in asking the needful equipment for it. God +does not send His servants out to sow without seed, or to fight without +a sword. His command is His pledge. He smiles approval when His +servants' confidence assumes even bold forms, which sound like +remonstrance and a suspicion that He was forgetting, for He discerns +the underlying eagerness to do His will, and the trust in Him. The +second plea is built on God's assurances of intimate and distinguishing +knowledge and favour. He had said that He knew Moses 'by name,' by all +these calls and familiar interviews which gave him the certainty of his +individual relation to, and his special appointment from, the Lord. +Such prerogative was inconsistent with reserve. The test of friendship +is confidence. So pleads Moses, and God recognises the plea. 'I call +you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth; but +I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my +Father I have made known unto you.' + +The plea based upon the relation of the people to God is subordinate in +this first prayer. It is thrown in at the end almost as an +afterthought; it boldly casts responsibility off Moses on to God, and +does so to enforce the prayer that he should be equipped with all +requisites for his work, as if he had said, 'It is more Thy concern +than mine, that I should be able to lead them.' The divine answer is a +promise to go not with the people, but with Moses. It is therefore not +yet a full resolving of the doubtful matter, nor directly a reply to +Moses' prayer. In one aspect it is less, and in another more, than had +been asked. It seals to the man and to the leader the assurance that +for himself he shall have the continual presence of God, in his soul +and in his work, and that, in all the weary march, he will have rest, +and will come to a fuller rest at its end. Thus God ever answers the +true hearts that seek to know Him, and to be fitted for their tasks. +Whether the precise form of desire be fulfilled or no, the issue of +such bold and trustful pleading is always the inward certainty of God's +face shining on us, and the experience of repose, deep and untroubled +in the midst of toil, so that we may be at once pilgrims towards, and +dwellers in, 'the house of the Lord,' + +II. We have the intercessor's prayer for the people, with the answer +(vs. 15-17). If the promise of verse 14 is taken as referring to the +people, there is nothing additional asked in this second stage, and the +words of verse l7, 'this thing also,' are inexplicable. Observe that +'with me' in verse 15 is a supplement, and that the 'us' of the next +clause, as well as the whole cast of verse 16, suggests that we should +rather supply 'with us,' The substance, then, of the second petition, +is the extension of the promise, already given to Moses for himself, to +the entire nation. Observe how he identifies himself with them, making +them 'partakers' in his grace, and reiterating 'I and Thy people,' as +if he would have no blessing which was not shared by them. He seeks +that the withdrawal of God's presence, which had been the consequence +of Israel's withdrawal from God, should be reversed, and that not he +alone, but all the rebels, might still possess His presence. + +The plea for this prayer is God's honour, which was concerned in making +it plain even in the remote wilderness, to the wandering tribes there, +that His hand was upon Israel. Moses expands the argument which he had +just touched before. The thought of His own glory as the motive of +God's acts, may easily be so put at to be repulsive; but at bottom it +is the same as to say that His motive is love--for the glory which He +seeks is the communication of true thoughts concerning His character, +that men may be made glad and like Himself thereby. Moses has learned +that God's heart must long to reveal its depth of mercy, and therefore +he pleads that even sinful Israel should not be left by God, in order +that some light from His face may strike into a dark world. There is +wide benevolence, as well as deep insight into the desires of God, in +the plea. + +The divine answer yields unconditionally to the request, and rests the +reason for so doing wholly on the relation between God and Moses. The +plea which he had urged in lowly boldness as the foundation of both his +prayers is endorsed, and, for his sake, the divine presence is again +granted to the people. + +Can we look at this scene without seeing in it the operation on a lower +field of the same great principle of intercession, which reaches its +unique example in Jesus Christ? It is not arbitrary forcing of the +gospel into the history, but simply the recognition of the essence of +the history, when we see in it a foreshadowing of our great +High-priest. He, too, knits Himself so closely with us, both by the +assumption of our manhood and by the identity of loving sympathy, that +He accepts nothing from the Father's hand for Himself alone. He, too, +presents Himself before God, and says 'I and Thy people.' The great +seal of proof for the world that He is the beloved of God, lies in the +divine guardianship and guidance of His servants. His prayer for them +prevails, and the reason for its prevalence is God's delight in Him. +The very sublime of self-sacrificing love was in the lawgiver, but the +height of his love, measured against the immeasurable altitude of +Christ's, is as a mole-hill to the Andes. + +III. We have the last soaring desire which rises above the limits of +the present. These three petitions teach the insatiableness, if we may +use the word, of devout desires. Each request granted brings on a +greater. 'The gift doth stretch itself as 'tis received.' Enjoyment +increases capacity, and increase of capacity is increase of desire. God +being infinite, and man capable of indefinite growth, neither the +widening capacity nor the infinite supply can have limits. This is not +the least of the blessings of a devout life, that the appetite grows +with what it feeds on, and that, while there is always satisfaction, +there is never satiety. + +Moses' prayer sounds presumptuous, but it was heard unblamed, and +granted in so far as possible. It was a venial error--if error it may +be called--that a soul, touched with the flame of divine love, should +aspire beyond the possibilities of mortality. At all events, it was a +fault in which he has had few imitators. _Our_ desires keep but too +well within the limits of the possible. The precise meaning of the +petition must be left undetermined. Only this is clear, that it was +something far beyond even that face-to-face intercourse which he had +had, as well as beyond that vision granted to the elders. If we are to +take 'glory' in its usual sense, it would mean the material symbol of +God's presence, which shone at the heart of the pillar, and dwelt +afterwards between the cherubim, but probably we must attach a loftier +meaning to it here, and rather think of what we should call the +uncreated and infinite divine essence. Only do not let us make Moses +talk like a metaphysician or a theological professor. Rather we should +hear in his cry the voice of a soul thrilled through and through with +the astounding consciousness of God's favour, blessed with love-gifts +in answered prayers, and yearning for more of that light which it feels +to be life. + +And if the petition be dark, the answer is yet more obscure 'with +excess of light.' Mark how it begins with granting, not with refusing. +It tells how much the loving desire has power to bring, before it +speaks of what in it must be denied. There is infinite tenderness in +that order of response. It speaks of a heart that does not love to say +'no,' and grants our wishes up to the very edge of the possible, and +wraps the bitterness of any refusal in the sweet envelope of granted +requests. A broad distinction is drawn between that in God which can be +revealed, and that which cannot. The one is 'glory,' the other +'goodness,' corresponding, we might almost say, to the distinction +between the 'moral' and the 'natural' attributes of God. But, whatever +mysterious revelation under the guise of vision may be concealed in +these words, and in the fulfilment of them in the next chapter, they +belong to the 'things which it is impossible for a man to utter,' even +if he has received them. We are on more intelligible ground in the next +clause of the promise, the proclamation of 'the Name.' That expression +is, in Scripture, always used as meaning the manifested character of +God. It is a revelation addressed to the spirit, not to the sense. It +is the translation, so far as it is capable of translation, of the +vision which it accompanied; it is the treasure which Moses bore away +from Sinai, and has shared among us all. The reason for his prayer was +probably his desire to have his mediatorial office confirmed and +perfected; and it was so, by that proclamation of the Name. The reason +for this marvellous gift is next set forth as being God's own +unconditional grace and mercy. He is His own motive, His own reason. +Just as the independent and absolute fullness of His being is expressed +by the name 'I am that I am,' so the independent and absolute freeness +of His mercy, whether in granting Moses' prayer or in pardoning the +people, is expressed by 'I will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.' +Not till all this exuberance of gracious answer has smoothed the way +does the denial of the impossible request come; and even then it is so +worded as to lay all the emphasis on what is granted, and to show that +the refusal is but another phase of love. The impossibility of +beholding the Face is reiterated, and then the careful provisions which +God will make for the fulfilment of the possible part of the bold wish +are minutely detailed. The distinction between the revealable and +unrevealable, which has been already expressed by the contrast of +'glory' and 'grace,' now appears in the distinction between the 'face' +which cannot be looked on, and the 'back' which may be. + +Human language and thought are out of their depth here. We must be +content to see a dim splendour shining through the cloudy words, to +know that there was granted to one man a realisation of God's presence, +and a revelation of His character, so far transcending ordinary +experiences as that it was fitly called sight, but yet as far beneath +the glory of His being as the comparatively imperfect knowledge of a +man's form, when seen only from behind, is beneath that derived from +looking him in the face. + +But whatever was the singular prerogative of the lawgiver, as he gazed +from the cleft of the rock at the receding glory, we see more than he +ever did; and the Christian child, who looks upon the 'glory of God in +the face of Jesus Christ,' has a vision which outshines the flashing +radiance that shone round Moses. It deepened his convictions, confirmed +his faith, added to his assurance of his divine commission, but only +added to his knowledge of God by the proclamation of the Name, and that +Name is more fully proclaimed in our ears. Sinai, with all its +thunders, is silent before Calvary. And he who has Jesus Christ to +declare God's Name to him need not envy the lawgiver on the mountain, +nor even the saints in heaven. + + + + +GOD PROCLAIMING HIS OWN NAME + + + 'The Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The + Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, + and abundant in goodness and truth.'--EXODUS xxxiv. 6. + +This great event derives additional significance and grandeur from the +place in which it stands. It follows the hideous act of idolatry in +which the levity and sinfulness of Israel reached their climax. The +trumpet of Sinai had hardly ceased to peal, and there in the rocky +solitudes, in full view of the mount 'that burned with fire,' while the +echoes of the thunder and the Voice still lingered, one might say, +among the cliffs, that mob of abject cowards were bold enough to shake +off their allegiance to God, and, forgetful of all the past, plunged +into idolatry, and wallowed in sensuous delights. What a contrast +between Moses on the mount and Aaron and the people in the plain! Then +comes the wonderful story of the plague and of Moses' intercession, +followed by the high request of Moses, so strange and yet so natural at +such a time, for the vision of God's 'glory.' Into all the depths of +that I do not need to plunge. Enough that he is told that his desire is +beyond the possibilities of creatural life. The mediator and lawgiver +cannot rise beyond the bounds of human limitations. But what _can_ be +_shall_ be. God's 'goodness' will pass before him. Then comes this +wonderful advance in the progress of divine revelation. If we remember +the breach of the Covenant, and then turn to these words, considered as +evoked by the people's sin, they become very remarkable. If we consider +them as the answer to Moses' desire, they are no less so. Taking these +two thoughts with us, let us consider them in-- + +I. The answer to the request for a sensuous manifestation. + +The request is 'show me,' as if some visible manifestation were desired +and expected, or, if not a visible, at least a direct perception of +Jehovah's glory.' Moses desires that he, as mediator and lawgiver, may +have some closer knowledge. The answer to his request is a word, the +articulate proclamation of the 'Name' of the Lord. It is higher than +all manifestation to sense, which was what Moses had asked. Here there +is no symbol as of the Lord in the 'cloud.' The divine manifestation is +impossible to sense, and that, too, not by reason of man's limitations, +but by reason of God's nature. The manifestation to spirit in full +immediate perception is impossible also. It has to be maintained that +we know God only 'in part'; but it does not follow that our knowledge +is only representative, or is not of Him 'as He is.' Though not whole +it is real, so far as it goes. + +But this is not the highest form. Words and propositions can never +reveal so fully, nor with such certitude, as a personal revelation. But +we have Christ's life, 'God manifest': not words about God, but the +manifestation of the very divine nature itself in action. +'Merciful':--and we see Jesus going about 'doing good.' 'Gracious,' and +we see Him welcoming to Himself all the weary, and ever bestowing of +the treasures of His love. 'Longsuffering':--'Father! forgive them!' +God is 'plenteous in mercy and in truth,' forgiving transgression and +sin:--'Thy sins be forgiven thee.' + +How different it all is when we have deeds, a human life, on which to +base our belief! How much more certain, as well as coming closer to our +hearts! Merely verbal statements need proof, they need warming. In +Christ's showing us the Father they are changed as from a painting to a +living being; they are brought out of the region of abstractions into +the concrete. + + 'And so the word had breath, and wrought + With human hands the creed of creeds.' + +'Show us the Father and it sufficeth us.' 'He that hath seen Me, hath +seen the Father.' + +Is there any other form of manifestation possible? Yes; in heaven there +will be a closer vision of Christ--not of God. Our knowledge of Christ +will there be expanded, deepened, made more direct. We know not how. +There will be bodily changes: 'Like unto the body of His glory.' etc. +'We shall be like Him.' 'Changed from glory to glory.' + +II. The answer to the desire to see God's glory. + +The 'Glory' was the technical name for the lustrous cloud that hung +over the Mercy-seat, but here it probably means more generally some +visible manifestation of the divine presence. What Moses craved to see +with his eyes was the essential divine light. That vision he did not +receive, but what he did receive was partly a visible manifestation, +though not of the dazzling radiance which no human eye can see and +live, and still more instructive and encouraging, the communication in +words of that shining galaxy of attributes, 'the glories that compose +Thy name.' In the name specially so-called, the name Jehovah, was +revealed absolute eternal Being, and in the accompanying declaration of +so-called 'attributes' were thrown into high relief the two qualities +of merciful forgiveness and retributive justice. The 'attributes' which +separate God from us, and in which vulgar thought finds the marks of +divinity, are conspicuous by their absence. Nothing is said of +omniscience, omnipresence, and the like, but forgiveness and justice, +of both of which men carry analogues in themselves, are proclaimed by +the very voice of God as those by which He desires that He should be +chiefly conceived of by us. + +The true 'glory of God' is His pardoning Love. That is the glowing +heart of the divine brightness. If so, then the very heart of that +heart of brightness, the very glory of the 'Glory of God,' is the +Christ, in whom we behold that which was at once 'the glory as of the +only begotten of the Father' and the 'Glory of the Father.' + +In Jesus these two elements, pardoning love and retributive justice, +wondrously meet, and the mystery of the possibility of their harmonious +co-operation in the divine government is solved, and becomes the +occasion for the rapturous gratitude of man and the wondering adoration +of principalities and powers in heavenly places. Jesus has manifested +the divine mercifulness; Jesus has borne the burden of sin and the +weight of the divine Justice. The lips that said 'Be of good cheer, thy +sins be forgiven thee,' also cried, 'Why hast Thou forsaken Me?' The +tenderest manifestation of the God 'plenteous in mercy ... forgiving +iniquity,' and the most awe-kindling manifestation of the God 'that +will by no means clear the guilty,' are fused into one, when we 'behold +that Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.' + +III. The answer to a great sin. + +This Revelation is the immediate issue of Israel's great apostasy. + +Sin evokes His pardoning mercy. This insignificant speck in Creation +has been the scene of the wonder of the Incarnation, not because its +magnitude was great, but because its need was desperate. Men, because +they are sinners, have been subjects of an experience more precious +than the 'angels which excel in strength' and hearken 'to the voice of +His word' have known or can know. The wilder the storm of human evil +roars and rages, the deeper and louder is the voice that peals across +the storm. So for us all Christ is the full and final revelation of +God's grace. The last, because the perfect embodiment of it; the sole, +because the sufficient manifestation of it. 'See that ye refuse not Him +that speaketh.' + + + + +SIN AND FORGIVENESS + + + '... Forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and + that will by no means clear the guilty....'--EXODUS xxiv. 7. + +The former chapter tells us of the majesty of the divine revelation as +it was made to Moses on 'the mount of God.' Let us notice that, +whatever was the visible pomp of the external Theophany to the senses, +the true revelation lay in the proclamation of the 'Name'; the +revelation to the conscience and the heart; and such a revelation had +never before fallen on mortal ears. It is remarkable that the very +system which was emphatically one of law and retribution should have +been thus heralded by a word which is perfectly 'evangelical' in its +whole tone. That fact should have prevented many errors as to the +relation of Judaism and Christianity. The very centre of the former was +'God is love,' 'merciful and gracious,' and if there follows the +difficult addition 'visiting the iniquities,' etc., the New Testament +adds its 'Amen' to that. True, the harmony of the two and the great +revelation of the _means_ of forgiveness lay far beyond the horizon of +Moses and his people, but none the less was it the message of Judaism +that 'there is forgiveness with Thee that Thou mayest be feared.' The +law spoke of retribution, justice, duty, and sin, but side by side with +the law was another institution, the sacrificial worship, which +proclaimed that God was full of love, and that the sinner was welcomed +to His side. And it is the root of many errors to transfer New +Testament language about the law to the whole Old Testament system. +But, passing away from this, I wish to look at two points in these +words. + +I. The characteristics of human sins. + +II. The divine treatment of them. + +I. The characteristics of human sins. + +Observe the threefold form of expression--iniquity and transgression +and sin. + +It seems natural that in the divine proclamation of His own holy +character, the sinful nature of men should be characterised with all +the fervid energy of such words; for the accumulation even of synonyms +would serve a _moral_ purpose, expressive at once of the divine +displeasure against sin, and of the free full pardon for it in all its +possible forms. But the words are very far from all meaning the same +thing. They all designate the same actions, but from different points +of view, and with reference to different phases and qualities of sin. + +Now these three expressions are inadequately represented by the English +translation. + +'Iniquity' literally means 'twisting,' or 'something twisted,' and is +thus the opposite of 'righteousness,' or rather of what is 'straight.' +It is thus like our own 'right' and 'wrong,' or like the Latin +'in-iquity' (by which it is happily enough rendered in our version). So +looking at this word and the thoughts which connect themselves with it, +we come to this:-- + +(1) All sin of every sort is deviation from a standard to which we +ought to be conformed. + +Note the graphic force of the word as giving the straight line to which +our conduct ought to run parallel, and the contrast between it and the +wavering curves into which our lives meander, like the lines in a +child's copy-book, or a rude attempt at drawing a circle at one sweep +of the pencil. Herbert speaks of + + 'The crooked wandering ways in which we live.' + +There is a path which is 'right' and one which is 'wrong,' whether we +believe so or not. + +There are hedges and limitations for us all. This law extends to the +ordering of all things, whether great or small. If a line be absolutely +straight, and we are running another parallel to it, the smallest +possible wavering is fatal to our copy. And the smallest deflection, if +produced, will run out into an ever-widening distance from the straight +line. + +There is nothing which it is more difficult to get into men's belief +than the sinfulness of little sins; nothing more difficult to cure +ourselves of than the habit of considering quantity rather than quality +in moral questions. What a solemn thought it is, that of a great +absolute law of right rising serene above us, embracing everything! And +this is the first idea that is here in our text--a grave and deep one. + +But the second of these expressions for sin literally means 'apostasy,' +'rebellion,' not 'transgression,' and this word brings in a more solemn +thought yet, viz.:-- + +(2) Every sin is apostasy from or rebellion against God. + +The former word dealt only with abstract thought of a 'law,' this with +a 'Lawgiver.' + +Our obligations are not merely to a law, but to Him who enacted it. So +it becomes plain that the very centre of all sin is the shaking off of +obedience to God. Living to 'self' is the inmost essence of every act +of evil, and may be as virulently active in the smallest trifle as in +the most awful crime. + +How infinitely deeper and darker this makes sin to be! + +When one thinks of our obligations and of our dependence, of God's love +and care, what an 'evil and a bitter thing' every sin becomes! + +Urge this terrible contrast of a loving Father and a disobedient child. + +This idea brings out the ingratitude of all sin. + +But the third word here used literally means 'missing an aim,' and so +we come to + +(3) Every sin misses the goal at which we should aim. There may be a +double idea here--that of failing in the great purpose of our being, +which is already partially included in the first of these three +expressions, or that of missing the aim which we proposed to ourselves +in the act. All sin is a failure. + +By it we fall short of the loftiest purpose. Whatever we gain we lose +more. + +Every life which has sin in it is a 'failure.' You may be prosperous, +brilliant, successful, but you are 'a failure.' + +For consider what human life might be: full of God and full of joy. +Consider what the 'fruits' of sin are. 'Apples of Sodom.' How sin leads +to sorrow. This is an inevitable law. Sin fails to secure what it +sought for. All 'wrong' is a mistake, a blunder. 'Thou fool!' + +So this word suggests the futility of sin considered in its +consequences. 'These be thy gods, O Israel!' 'The end of these things +is death.' + +II. The divine treatment of sins. + +'Forgiving,' and yet not suffering them to go unpunished. + +(1) God _forgives_, and yet He does not leave sin unpunished, for He +will 'by no means _clear_ the guilty.' + +The one word refers to His love, His heart; the other to the +retributions which are inseparable from the very course of nature. + +Forgiveness is the flow of God's love to all, and the welcoming back to +His favour of all who come. Forgiveness likewise includes the escape +from the extreme and uttermost consequences of sin in this life and in +the next, the sense of God's displeasure here, and the final separation +from Him, which is eternal death. Forgiveness is not inconsistent with +retribution. There must needs be retribution, from-- + +_(a)_ The very constitution of our nature. + +Conscience, our spiritual nature, our habits all demand it. + +_(b)_ The constitution of the world. + +In it all things work under God, but only for 'good' to them who love +God. To all others, sooner or later, the Nemesis comes. 'Ye shall eat +of the fruit of your doings.' + +(2) _God_ forgives, and therefore He does not leave sin unpunished. It +is divine mercy that strikes. The end of His chastisement is to +separate us from our sins. + +(3) Divine forgiveness and retributive justice both centre in the +revelation of the Cross. + +To us this message comes. It was the hidden heart of the Mosaic system. +It was the revelation of Sinai. To Israel it was 'proclaimed' in +thunder and darkness, and the way of forgiveness and the harmony of +righteousness and mercy were veiled. To us it is proclaimed from +Calvary. There in full light the Lord passes before us and proclaims, +'I am the Lord, the Lord God merciful and gracious.' 'Ye are come ... +unto Jesus.' 'See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh.' 'This is my +Beloved Son, hear Him!' + + + + +BLESSED AND TRAGIC UNCONSCIOUSNESS + + + '... Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone + while he talked with Him.'--EXODUS xxxiv. 29. + + '... And Samson wist not that the Lord had departed + from him.'--JUDGES xvi. 20. + +The recurrence of the same phrase in two such opposite connections is +very striking. Moses, fresh from the mountain of vision, where he had +gazed on as much of the glory of God as was accessible to man, caught +some gleam of the light which he adoringly beheld; and a strange +radiance sat on his face, unseen by himself, but visible to all others. +So, supreme beauty of character comes from beholding God and talking +with Him; and the bearer of it is unconscious of it. + +Samson, fresh from his coarse debauch, and shorn of the locks which he +had vowed to keep, strides out into the air, and tries his former +feats; but his strength has left him because the Lord has left him; and +the Lord has left him because, in his fleshly animalism, he has left +the Lord. Like, but most unlike, Moses, he knows not his weakness. So +strength, like beauty, is dependent upon contact with God, and may ebb +away when that is broken, and the man may be all unaware of his +weakness till he tries his power, and ignominiously fails. + +These two contrasted pictures, the one so mysteriously grand and the +other so tragic, may well help to illustrate for us truths that should +be burned into our minds and our memories. + +I. Note, then, the first thought which they both teach us, that beauty +and strength come from communion with God. + +In both the cases with which we are dealing these were of a merely +material sort. The light on Moses' face and the strength in Samson's +arm were, at the highest, but types of something far higher and nobler +than themselves. But still, the presence of the one and the departure +of the other alike teach us the conditions on which we may possess both +in nobler form, and the certainty of losing them if we lose hold of God. + +Moses' experience teaches us that the loftiest beauty of character +comes from communion with God. That is the use that the Apostle makes +of this remarkable incident in 2 Cor. iii, where he takes the light +that shone from Moses' face as being the symbol of the better lustre +that gleams from all those who 'behold (or reflect) the glory of the +Lord' with unveiled faces, and, by beholding, are 'changed into the +likeness' of that on which they gaze with adoration and longing. The +great law to which, almost exclusively, Christianity commits the +perfecting of individual character is this: Look at Him till you become +like Him, and in beholding, be changed. 'Tell me the company a man +keeps, and I will tell you his character,' says the old proverb. And +what is true on the lower levels of daily life, that most men become +assimilated to the complexion of those around them, especially if they +admire or love them, is the great principle whereby worship, which is +desire and longing and admiration in the superlative degree, stamps the +image of the worshipped upon the character of the worshipper. 'They +followed after vanity, and have become vain,' says one of the prophets, +gathering up into a sentence the whole philosophy of the degradation of +humanity by reason of idolatry and the worship of false gods. 'They +that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in +them.' The law works upwards as well as downwards, for whom we worship +we declare to be infinitely good; whom we worship we long to be like; +whom we worship we shall certainly imitate. + +Thus, brethren, the practical, plain lesson that comes from this +thought is simply this: If you want to be pure and good, noble and +gentle, sweet and tender; if you desire to be delivered from your own +weaknesses and selfish, sinful idiosyncrasies, the way to secure your +desire is, 'Look unto Me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.' +Contemplation, which is love and longing, is the parent of all effort +that succeeds. Contemplation of God in Christ is the master-key that +opens this door, and makes it possible for the lowliest and the foulest +amongst us to cherish unpresumptuous hopes of being like Him' if we see +Him as He is revealed here, and perfectly like Him when yonder we see +Him 'as He _is_.' + +There have been in the past, and there are today, thousands of simple +souls, shut out by lowliness of position and other circumstances from +all the refining and ennobling influences of which the world makes so +much, who yet in character and bearing, ay, and sometimes in the very +look of their meek faces, are living witnesses how mighty to transform +a nature is the power of loving gazing upon Jesus Christ. All of us who +have had much to do with Christians of the humbler classes know that. +There is no influence to refine and beautify men like that of living +near Jesus Christ, and walking in the light of that Beauty which is +'the effulgence of the divine glory and the express image of His +Person.' + +And in like manner as beauty so strength comes from communion with God +and laying hold on Him. We can only think of Samson as a 'saint' in a +very modified fashion, and present him as an example in a very limited +degree. His dependence upon divine power was rude, and divorced from +elevation of character and morality, but howsoever imperfect, +fragmentary, and I might almost say to our more trained eyes, +grotesque, it looks, yet there was a reality in it; and when the man +was faithless to his vow, and allowed the crafty harlot's scissors to +shear from his head the token of his consecration, it was because the +reality of the consecration, rude and external as that consecration +was, both in itself and in its consequences, had passed away from him. + +And so we may learn the lesson, taught at once by the flashing face of +the lawgiver and the enfeebled force of the hero, that the two poles of +perfectness in humanity, so often divorced from one another--beauty and +strength--have one common source, and depend for their loftiest +position upon the same thing. God possesses both in supremest degree, +being the Almighty and the All-fair; and we possess them in limited, +but yet possibly progressive, measure, through dependence upon Him. The +true force of character, and the true power for work, and every real +strength which is not disguised weakness, 'a lath painted to look like +iron,' come on condition of our keeping close by God. The Fountain is +open for you all; see to it that you resort thither. + +II. And now the second thought of my text is that the bearer of the +radiance is unconscious of it. + +'Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone.' In all regions of +life, the consummate apex and crowning charm of excellence is +unconsciousness of excellence. Whenever a man begins to imagine that he +is good, he begins to be bad; and every virtue and beauty of character +is robbed of some portion of its attractive fairness when the man who +bears it knows, or fancies, that he possesses it. The charm of +childhood is its perfect unconsciousness, and the man has to win back +the child's heritage, and become 'as a little child,' if he would enter +into and dwell in the 'Kingdom of Heaven.' And so in the loftiest +region of all, that of the religious life, you may be sure that the +more a man is like Christ, the less he knows it; and the better he is, +the less he suspects it. The reasons why that is so, point, at the same +time, to the ways by which we may attain to this blessed self-oblivion. +So let me put just in a word or two some simple, practical thoughts. + +Let us, then, try to lose ourselves in Jesus Christ. That way of +self-oblivion is emancipation and blessedness and power. It is safe for +us to leave all thoughts of our miserable selves behind us, if instead +of them we have the thought of that great, sweet, dear Lord, filling +mind and heart. A man walking on a tight-rope will be far more likely +to fall, if he is looking at his toes, than if he is looking at the +point to which he is going. If we fix our eyes on Jesus, then we can +safely look, neither to our feet nor to the gulfs; but straight at Him +gazing, we shall straight to Him advance. 'Looking off' from ourselves +'unto Jesus' is safe; looking off anywhere else is peril. Seek that +self-oblivion which comes from self being swallowed up in the thought +of the Lord. + +And again, I would say, think constantly and longingly of the +unattained. 'Brethren! I count not myself to have apprehended.' Endless +aspiration and a stinging consciousness of present imperfection are the +loftiest states of man here below. The beholders down in the valley, +when they look up, may see our figures against the skyline, and fancy +us at the summit, but our loftier elevation reveals untrodden heights +beyond; and we have only risen so high in order to discern more clearly +how much higher we have to rise. Dissatisfaction with the present is +the condition of excellence in all pursuits of life, and in the +Christian life even more eminently than in all others, because the goal +to be attained is in its very nature infinite; and therefore ensures +the blessed certainty of continual progress, accompanied here, indeed, +with the sting and bite of a sense of imperfection, but one day to be +only sweetness, as we think of how much there is yet to be won in +addition to the perfection of the present. + +So, dear friends, the best way to keep ourselves unconscious of present +attainments is to set our faces forward, and to make 'all experience' +as 'an arch wherethro' gleams that untraveiled world to which we move.' +'Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone.' + +The third practical suggestion that I would make is, cultivate a clear +sense of your own imperfections. We do not need to try to learn our +goodness. That will suggest itself to us only too clearly; but what we +do need is to have a very clear sense of our shortcomings and failures, +our faults of temper, our faults of desire, our faults in our relations +to our fellows, and all the other evils that still buzz and sting and +poison our blood. Has not the best of us enough of these to knock all +the conceit out of us? A true man will never be so much ashamed of +himself as when he is praised, for it will always send him to look into +the deep places of his heart, and there will be a swarm of ugly, +creeping things under the stones there, if he will only turn them up +and look beneath. So let us lose ourselves in Christ, let us set our +faces to the unattained future, let us clearly understand our own +faults and sins. + +III. Thirdly, the strong man made weak is unconscious of his weakness. + +I do not mean here to touch at all upon the general thought that, by +its very nature, all evil tends to make us insensitive to its presence. +Conscience becomes dull by practice of sin and by neglect of +conscience, until that which at first was as sensitive as the palm of a +little child's hand becomes as if it were 'seared with a hot iron.' The +foulness of the atmosphere of a crowded hall is not perceived by the +people in it. It needs a man to come in from the outer air to detect +it. We can accustom ourselves to any mephitic and poisonous atmosphere, +and many of us live in one all our days, and do not know that there is +any need of ventilation or that the air is not perfectly sweet. The +'deceitfulness' of sin is its great weapon. + +But what I desire to point out is an even sadder thing than +that--namely, that Christian people may lose their strength because +they let go their hold upon God, and know nothing about it. Spiritual +declension, all unconscious of its own existence, is the very history +of hundreds of nominal Christians amongst us, and, I dare say, of some +of us. The very fact that you do not suppose the statement to have the +least application to yourself is perhaps the very sign that it does +apply. When the lifeblood is pouring out of a man, he faints before he +dies. The swoon of unconsciousness is the condition of some professing +Christians. Frost-bitten limbs are quite comfortable, and only tingle +when circulation is coming back. I remember a great elm-tree, the pride +of an avenue in the south, that had spread its branches for more years +than the oldest man could count, and stood, leafy and green. Not until +a winter storm came one night and laid it low with a crash did anybody +suspect what everybody saw in the morning--that the heart was eaten out +of it, and nothing left but a shell of bark. Some Christian people are +like that; they manage to grow leaves, and even some fruit, but when +the storm comes they will go down, because the heart has been out of +their religion for years. 'Samson wist not that the Lord was departed +from him.' + +And so, brother, because there are so many things that mask the ebbing +away of a Christian life, and because our own self-love and habits come +in to hide declension, let me earnestly exhort you and myself to watch +ourselves very narrowly. Unconsciousness does not mean ignorant +presumption or presumptuous ignorance. It is difficult to make an +estimate of ourselves by poking into our own sentiments and supposed +feelings and convictions, and the estimate is likely to be wrong. There +is a better way than that. Two things tell what a man is--one, what he +wants, and the other, what he does. As the will is, the man is. Where +do the currents of your desires set? If you watch their flow, you may +be pretty sure whether your religious life is an ebbing or a rising +tide. The other way to ascertain what we are is rigidly to examine and +judge what we do. 'Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to +the Lord.' Actions are the true test of a man. Conduct is the best +revelation of character, especially in regard to ourselves. So let us +'watch and be sober'--sober in our estimate of ourselves, and +determined to find every lurking evil, and to drag it forth into the +light. + +Again, let me say, let us ask God to help us. 'Search me, O God! and +try me.' We shall never rightly understand what we are, unless we +spread ourselves out before Him and crave that Divine Spirit, who is +'the candle of the Lord,' to be carried ever in our hands into the +secret recesses of our sinful hearts. 'Anoint thine eyes with eye salve +that thou mayest see,' and get the eye salve by communion with God, who +will supply thee a standard by which to try thy poor, stained, ragged +righteousness. The _collyrium_, the eye salve, may be, will be, painful +when it is rubbed into the lids, but it will clear the sight; and the +first work of Him, whose dearest name is _Comforter_, is to convince of +sin. + +And, last of all, let us keep near to Jesus Christ, near enough to Him +to feel His touch, to hear His voice, to see His face, and to carry +down with us into the valley some radiance on our countenances which +may tell even the world, that we have been up where the Light lives and +reigns. + +'Because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods, and have need +of nothing, and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and +poor, and blind, and naked, I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in +the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest +be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and +anoint thine eyes with eye salve, that thou mayest see,' + + + + +AN OLD SUBSCRIPTION LIST + + + 'And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, + and every one whom his spirit made willing, and they + brought the Lord's offering to the work....' + --EXODUS xxxv. 21. + +This is the beginning of the catalogue of contributions towards the +erection of the Tabernacle in the wilderness. It emphasises the purely +spontaneous and voluntary character of the gifts. There was plenty of +compulsory work, of statutory contribution, in the Old Testament system +of worship. Sacrifices and tithes and other things were imperative, but +the Tabernacle was constructed by means of undemanded offerings, and +there were parts of the standing ritual which were left to the +promptings of the worshipper's own spirit. There was always a door +through which the impulses of devout hearts could come in, to animate +what else would have become dead, mechanical compliance with prescribed +obligations. That spontaneous surrender of precious things, not because +a man must give them, but because he delights in letting his love come +to the surface and find utterance in giving which is still more blessed +than receiving, had but a narrow and subordinate sphere of action +assigned to it in the legal system of the Old Covenant, but it fills +the whole sphere of Christianity, and becomes the only kind of offering +which corresponds to its genius and is acceptable to Christ. We may +look, then, not merely at the words of our text, but at the whole +section of which they form the introduction, and find large lessons for +ourselves, not only in regard to the one form of Christian service +which is pecuniary liberality, but in reference to all which we have to +do for Jesus Christ, in the picture which it gives us of that eager +crowd of willing givers, flocking to the presence of the lawgiver, with +hands laden with gifts so various in kind and value, but all precious +because freely and delightedly brought, and all needed for the +structure of God's house. + +I. We have set forth here the true motive of acceptable service. + +'They came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom +his spirit made willing.' There is a striking metaphor in that last +word. Wherever the spirit is touched with the sweet influences of God's +love, and loves and gives back again, that spirit is buoyant, lifted, +raised above the low, flat levels where selfishness feeds fat and then +rots. The spirit is raised by any great and unselfish emotion. There is +buoyancy and glad consciousness of elevation in all the self-sacrifice +of love, which dilates and lifts the spirit as the light gas smoothes +out the limp folds of silk in a balloon, and sends it heavenwards, a +full sphere. Only service or surrender, which is thus cheerful because +it is the natural expression of love, is true service in God's sight. +Whosoever, then, had his spirit raised and made buoyant by a great glad +resolve to give up some precious thing for God's sanctuary, came with +his gift in his hand, and he and it were accepted. That trusting of +men's giving to spontaneous liberality was exceptional under the law. +It is normal under the Gospel, and has filled the whole field, and +driven out the other principle of statutory and constrained service and +sacrifice altogether. We have its feeble beginnings in this incident. +It is sovereign in Christ's Church. There are no pressed men on board +Christ's ship. None but volunteers make up His army. 'Thy people shall +be willing in the day of Thy might.' He cares nothing for any service +but such as it would be pain to keep back; nothing for any service +which is not given with a smile of glad thankfulness that we are able +to give it. + +And for the true acceptableness of Christian service, that motive of +thankful love must be actually present in each deed. It is not enough +that we should determine on and begin a course of sacrifice or work +under the influence of that great motive, unless we renew it at each +step. We cannot hallow a row of actions in that wholesale fashion by +baptizing the first of them with the cleansing waters of true +consecration, while the rest are done from lower motives. Each deed +must be sanctified by the presence of the true motive, if it is to be +worthy of Christ's acceptance. But there is a constant tendency in all +Christian work to slide off its only right foundation, and having been +begun 'in the spirit,' to be carried on 'in the flesh.' Constant +watchfulness is needed to resist this tendency, which, if yielded to, +destroys the worth and power, and changes the inmost nature, of +apparently devoted and earnest service. + +Not the least subtle and dangerous of these spurious motives which +steal in surreptitiously to mar our work for Christ is habit. Service +done from custom, and representing no present impulse of thankful +devotion, may pass muster with us, but does it do so with God? No doubt +a habit of godly service is, in some aspects, a good, and it is well to +enlist that tremendous power of custom which sways so much of our +lives, on the side of godliness. But it is not good, but, on the +contrary, pure loss, when habit becomes mechanical, and, instead of +making it easier to call up the true motive, excludes that motive, and +makes it easy to do the deed without it. I am afraid that if such +thoughts were applied as a sieve to sift the abundant so-called +Christian work of the present day, there would be an alarming and, to +the workers, astonishing quantity of refuse that would not pass the +meshes. + +Let us, then, try to bring every act of service nominally done for +Christ into conscious relation with the motive which ought to be its +parent; for only the work that is done because our spirits lift us up, +and our hearts are willing, is work that is accepted by Him, and is +blessed to us. + +And how is that to be secured? How is that glad temper of spontaneous +and cheerful consecration to be attained and maintained? I know of but +one way. 'Brethren,' said the Apostle, when he was talking about a very +little matter--some small collection for a handful of poor people--'ye +know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, how that, though He was rich, +yet for our sakes He became poor, that we, through His poverty, might +become rich.' Let us keep our eyes fixed upon that great pattern of and +motive for surrender; and our hearts will become willing, touched with +the fire that flamed in His. There is only one method of securing the +gladness and spontaneousness of devotion and of service, and that is, +living very near to Jesus Christ, and drinking in for ourselves, as the +very wine that turns to blood and life in our veins, the spirit of that +dear Master. Every one whose heart is lifted up will have it lifted up +because it holds on by Him who hath ascended up, and who, being 'lifted +up, draws all men to Him.' The secret of consecration is communion with +Jesus Christ. + +The appeal to lower motives is often tempting, but always a mistake. +Continual contact with Jesus Christ, and realisation of what He has +done for us, are sure to open the deep fountains of the heart, and to +secure abundant streams. If we can tap these perennial reservoirs they +will yield like artesian wells, and need no creaking machinery to pump +a scanty and intermittent supply. We cannot trust this deepest motive +too much, nor appeal to it too exclusively. + +Let me remind you, too, that Christ's appeal to this motive leaves no +loophole for selfishness or laziness. Responsibility is all the greater +because we are left to assess ourselves. The blank form is sent to us, +and He leaves it to our honour to fill it up. Do not tamper with the +paper, for remember there is a Returning Officer that will examine your +schedule, who knows all about your possessions. So, when He says, 'Give +as you like; and I do not want anything that you do not like,' remember +that 'Give as you like' ought to mean, 'Give as you, who have received +everything from Me, are bound to give.' + +II. We get here the measure of acceptable work. + +We have a long catalogue, very interesting in many respects, of the +various gifts that the people brought. Such sentences as these occur +over and over again--'And every man with whom was found' so-and-so +'brought it'; 'And all the women did spin with their hands, and brought +that which they had spun'; 'And the rulers brought' so-and-so. Such +statements embody the very plain truism that what we have settles what +we are bound to give. Or, to put it into grander words, capacity is the +measure of duty. Our work is cut out for us by the faculties and +opportunities that God has given us. + +That is a very easy thing to say, but it is an uncommonly hard thing +honestly to apply. For there are plenty of people that are smitten with +very unusual humility whenever you begin to talk to them about work. +'It is not in my way,' 'I am not capable of that kind of service,' and +so on, and so on. One would believe in the genuineness of the excuse +more readily if there were anything about which such people said, +'Well, I _can_ do that, at all events'; but such an all-round modesty, +which is mostly observable when service is called for, is suspicious. +It might be well for some of these retiring and idle Christians to +remember the homely wisdom of 'You never know what you can do till you +try.' On the other hand, there are many Christians who, for want of +honest looking into their own power, for want of what I call sanctified +originality, are content to run in the ruts that other people's +vehicles have made, without asking themselves whether that is the gauge +that their wheels are fit for. Both these sets of people flagrantly +neglect the plain law that what we have settles what we should give. + +The form as well as the measure of our service is determined thereby. +'She hath done what she could,' said Jesus Christ about Mary. We often +read that, as if it were a kind of apology for a sentimental and +useless gift, because it was the best that she could bestow. I do not +hear that tone in the words at all. I hear, rather, this, that duty is +settled by faculty, and that nobody else has any business to interfere +with that which a Christian soul, all aflame with the love of God, +finds to be the spontaneous and natural expression of its devotion to +the Master. The words are the vindication of the form of loving +service; but let us not forget that they are also a very stringent +requirement as to its measure, if it is to please Christ. 'What she +could'; the engine must be worked up to the last ounce of pressure that +it will stand. All must be got out of it that can be got out of it. Is +that the case about us? We talk about hard work for Christ. Have any of +us ever, worked up to the edge of our capacity? I am afraid that if the +principles that lie in this catalogue were applied to us, whether about +our gold and silver, or about our more precious spiritual and mental +possessions, _we_ could not say, 'Every man with whom was found' this, +that, and the other, 'brought it for the work.' + +III. Notice, again, how in this list of offerings there comes out the +great thought of the infinite variety of forms of service and offering, +which are all equally needful and equally acceptable. + +The list begins with 'bracelets, and earrings, and rings, and tablets, +all jewels of gold.' And then it goes on to 'blue, and purple, and +scarlet, and fine linen, and red skins of rams, and badgers' skins, and +shittim wood.' And then we read that the 'women did spin with their +hands, and brought that which they had spun'--namely, the same things +as have been already catalogued, 'the blue, and purple, and scarlet, +and fine linen.' That looks as if the richer gave the raw material, and +the women gave the labour. Poor women! they could not give, but they +could spin. They had no stores, but they had ten fingers and a distaff, +and if some neighbour found the stuff, the ten fingers joyfully set the +distaff twirling, and spun the yarn for the weavers. Then there were +others who willingly undertook the rougher work of spinning, not dainty +thread for the rich soft stuffs whose colours were to glow in the +sanctuary, but the coarse black goat's hair which was to be made into +the heavy covering of the roof of the tabernacle. No doubt it was less +pleasant labour than the other, but it got done by willing hands. And +then, at the end of the whole enumeration, there comes, 'And the rulers +brought precious stones, and spices, and oil,' and all the expensive +things that were needed. The large subscriptions are at the bottom of +the list, and the smaller ones are in the place of honour. All this +just teaches us this--what a host of things of all degrees of +preciousness in men's eyes go to make God's great building! + +So various were the requirements of the work on hand. Each man's gift +was needed, and each in its place was equally necessary. The jewels on +the high-priest's breastplate were no more nor less essential than the +wood that made some peg for a curtain, or than the cheap goat's-hair +yarn that was woven into the coarse cloth flung over the roof of the +Tabernacle to keep the wet out. All had equal consecration, because all +made one whole. All was equally precious, if all was given with the +same spirit. So there is room for all sorts of work in Christ's great +house, where there are not only 'vessels of gold and of silver, but +also of wood and of earth,' and all 'unto honour ... meet for the +Master's use.' The smallest deed that co-operates to a great end is +great. 'The more feeble are necessary.' Every one may find a corner +where his special possession will work into the general design. If I +have no jewels to give, I can perhaps find some shittim wood, or, if I +cannot manage even that, I can at least spin some other person's yarn, +even though I have only a distaff, and not a loom to weave it in. Many +of us can do work only when associated with others, and can render best +service by helping some more highly endowed. But all are needed, and +welcomed, and honoured, and rewarded. The owner of all the slaves sets +one to be a water-carrier, and another to be his steward. It is of +little consequence whether the servant be Paul or Timothy, the Apostle +or the Apostle's helper. 'He worketh the work of the Lord, as I also +do,' said the former about the latter. All who are associated in the +same service are on one level. + +I remember once being in the treasury of a royal palace. There was a +long gallery in which the Crown valuables were stored. In one +compartment there was a great display of emeralds, and diamonds, and +rubies, and I know not what, that had been looted from some Indian +rajah or other. And in the next case there lay a common quill pen, and +beside it a little bit of discoloured coarse serge. The pen had signed +some important treaty, and the serge was a fragment of a flag that had +been borne triumphant from a field where a nation's destinies had been +sealed. The two together were worth a farthing at the outside, but they +held their own among the jewels, because they spoke of brain-work and +bloodshed in the service of the king. Many strangely conjoined things +lie side by side in God's jewel-cases. Things which people vulgarly +call large and valuable, and what people still more vulgarly call small +and worthless, have a way of getting together there. For in that place +the arrangement is not according to what the thing would fetch if it +were sold, but what was the thought in the mind and the emotion in the +heart which gave it. Jewels and camel's hair yarn and gold and silver +are all massed together. Wood is wanted for the Temple quite as much as +gold and silver and precious stones. + +So, whatever we have, let us bring that; and whatever we are, let us +bring that. If we be poor and our work small, and our natures limited, +and our faculties confined, it does not matter. A man is accepted +'according to that he hath, and not according to that he hath not.' God +does not ask how much we have given or done, if we have given or done +what we could. But He does ask how much we have kept back, and takes +strict account of the unsurrendered possessions, the unimproved +opportunities, the unused powers. He gives much who gives all, though +his all be little; he gives little who gives a part, though the part be +much. The motive sanctifies the act, and the completeness of the +consecration magnifies it. 'Great' and 'small' are not words for God's +Kingdom, in which the standard is not quantity but quality, and quality +is settled by the purity of the love which prompts the deed, and the +consequent thoroughness of self-surrender which it expresses. Whoever +serves God with a whole heart will render to Him a whole strength, and +will thus bring Him the gifts which He most desires. + + + + +THE COPIES OF THINGS IN THE HEAVENS + + + 'And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 2. On the first + day of the first month shalt thou set up the tabernacle + of the tent of the congregation. 3. And thou shalt put + therein the ark of the testimony, and cover the ark with + the vail. 4. And thou shalt bring in the table, and set + in order the things that are to be set in order upon it; + and thou shalt bring in the candlestick, and light the + lamps thereof. 5. And thou shalt set the altar of gold + for the incense before the ark of the testimony, and put + the hanging of the door to the tabernacle. 6. And thou + shalt set the altar of the burnt offering before the + door of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation. + 7. And thou shalt set the laver between the tent of the + congregation and the altar, and shalt put water therein. + 8. And thou shalt set up the court round about, and hang + up the hanging at the court gate. 9. And thou shalt take + the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle, and all + that is therein, and shalt hallow it, and all the vessels + thereof: and it shall be holy. 10. And thou shalt anoint + the altar of the burnt offering, and all his vessels, + and sanctify the altar: and it shall be an altar most + holy. 11. And thou shalt anoint the laver and his foot, + and sanctify it. 12. And thou shalt bring Aaron and his + sons unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, + and wash them with water. 13. And thou shalt put upon + Aaron the holy garments, and anoint him, and sanctify + him; that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. + 14. And thou shalt bring his sons, and clothe them with + coats: 15. And thou shalt anoint them, as thou didst + anoint their father, that they may minister unto me in + the priest's office; for their anointing shall surely + be an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations. + 16. Thus did Moses: according to all that the Lord + commanded him, so did he.'--EXODUS xl. 1-16. + +The Exodus began on the night after the fourteenth day of the first +month. The Tabernacle was set up on the first day of the first month; +that is, one year, less a fortnight, after the Exodus. Exodus xix. 1 +shows that the march to Sinai took nearly three months; and if to this +we add the eighty days of Moses' seclusion on the mountain, we get +about six months as occupied in preparing the materials for the +Tabernacle. 'Setting it up' was a short process, done in a day. The +time specified was ample to get ready a wooden framework of small +dimensions, with some curtains and coverings of woven stuffs. What a +glad stir there would be in the camp on that New Year's day, when the +visible token of God's dwelling in its midst first stood there! Our +present purpose is simply to try to bring out the meaning of the +Tabernacle and its furniture. It was both a symbol and a type; that is, +it expressed in material form certain great religious needs and truths; +and, just because it did so, it pointed onwards to the full expression +and satisfaction of these in Christ Jesus and His gifts. In other +words, it was a parable of the requisites for, and the blessings of, +communion with God. + +Note, then, first, the general lesson of the Tabernacle as a whole. Its +name declares its meaning, 'the tent of meeting' (Rev. Ver.). It was +the meeting-place of God with man, as the name is explained in Exodus +xxix. 42, 'where I will meet with you, to speak there unto thee.' It is +also named simply 'the dwelling'; that is, of God. It was pitched in +the midst of the camp, like the tent of the king with his subjects +clustered round him. Other nations had temples, like the solemn +structures of Egypt; but this slight, movable sanctuary was a new +thing, and spoke of the continual presence of Israel's God, and of His +loving condescension in sharing their wandering lives, and, like them, +dwelling 'within curtains.' It was a visible representation of a +spiritual fact for the then present; it was a parable of the inmost +reality of communion between man and God; and it was, therefore, a +prophecy both of the full realisation of His presence among men, in the +temple of Christ's body, and of the yet future communion of Heaven, +which is set before us by the 'great voice ... saying, Behold, the +tabernacle of God is with men.' + +The threefold division into court of the worshippers, holy place for +the priests, and holiest of all, was not peculiar to the Tabernacle. It +signifies the separation which, after all nearness, must still exist. +God is unrevealed after all revelation; afar off, however near; +shrouded in the utter darkness of the inmost shrine, and only +approached by the priestly intercessor with the blood of the sacrifice. +Like all the other arrangements of the Sanctuary, the division of its +parts declares a permanent truth, which has impressed itself on the +worship of all nations; and it reveals God's way of meeting the need by +outward rites for the then present, and by the mediation of the great +High-Priest in the time to come, whose death rent the veil, and whose +life will, one day, make the holiest place in the heavens patent to our +feet. + +The enumeration of the furniture of the Tabernacle starts from the +innermost shrine, and goes outward. It was fit that it should begin +with God's special abode. The 'holy of holies' was a tiny chamber, +closed in from light, the form, dimensions, materials, and furniture of +which were all significant. It measured ten cubits, or fifteen feet, +every way, thereby expressing, in its cubical form and in the +predominance of the number ten, stability and completeness. It will be +remembered that the same cubical form is given to the heavenly city, in +the Apocalypse, for the same reason. There, in the thick darkness, +unseen by mortals except for the one approach of the high-priest on the +day of atonement, dwelt the 'glory' which made light in the darkness, +and flashed on the gold which covered all things in the small shrine. + +Our lesson does not speak of cherubim or mercy-seat, but specifies only +the ark of the testimony. This was a small chest of acacia wood, +overlaid with gold, and containing the two tables of the law, which +were called the testimony, as bearing witness to Israel of God's will +concerning their duty, and as therein bearing witness, too, of what He +is. Nor must the other part of the witness-bearing of the law be left +out of view,--that it testifies against the transgressors of itself. +The ark was the centre-point of the divine revelation, the very throne +of God; and it is profoundly significant that its sole contents should +be the tables of stone. Egyptian arks contained symbols of their gods, +degrading, bestial, and often impure; but the true revelation was a +revelation, to the moral sense, of a Being who loves righteousness. +Other faiths had their mysteries, whispered in the inmost shrine, which +shunned the light of the outer courts; but here the revelation within +the veil was the same as that spoken on the house-tops. Our lesson does +not refer to the 'mercy seat,' which covered the ark above, and spoke +the need for, and the provision of, a means whereby the witness of the +law against the worshipper's sins should be, as it were, hid from the +face of the enthroned God. The veil which is referred to in verse 3 was +that which hung between the holy of holies and the holy place. It did +not 'cover the ark,' as the Authorised Version unfortunately renders, +but 'screened' it, as the Revised Version correctly gives it. It blazed +with colour and embroidered figures of cherubim. No doubt, the colours +were symbolical; but it is fancy, rather than interpretation, which +seeks meanings beyond splendour in the blue and purple and crimson and +white which were blended in its gorgeous folds. What is it which hangs, +in ever-shifting hues, between man and God? The veil of creation, +embroidered by His own hand with beauty and life, which are symbolised +in the cherubim, the types of the animate creation. The two divisions +of the Tabernacle, thus separated by the veil, correspond to earth and +heaven; and that application of the symbol is certainly intended, +though not exclusively. + +We step, then, from the mystery of the inner shrine out to the +comparatively inferior sacredness of the 'holy place,' daily trodden by +the priests. Three articles stand in it: the table for the so-called +shew-bread, the great lampstand, and the golden altar of incense. Of +these, the altar was in the midst, right in the path to the holiest +place; and on the right, looking to the veil, the table of shew-bread; +while on the left was the lampstand. These three pieces of furniture +were intimately connected with each other, and represented various +aspects of the spiritual character of true worshippers. The holy place +was eminently the people's, just as the most holy place was eminently +God's. True, only the priests entered it; but they did so on behalf of +the nation. We may expect, therefore, to find special reference to the +human side of worship in its equipments; and we do find it. Of the +three articles, the altar of incense was in idea, as in locality, the +centre; and we consider it first, though it stands last in our list, +suggesting that, in coming from the most holy place, the other two +would be first encountered. The full details of its construction and +use are found in Exodus xxx. Twice a day sweet incense was burned on +it, and no other kind of sacrifice was permitted; but once a year it +was sprinkled, by the high priest, with expiatory blood. The meaning is +obvious. The symbolism of incense as representing prayer in frequent in +Scripture, and most natural. What could more beautifully express the +upward aspirations of the soul, or the delight of God in these, than +the incense sending up its wreaths of fragrant smoke? Incense gives no +fragrance nor smoke till it is kindled; and the censer has to be +constantly swung to keep up the glow, without which there will be no +'odour of a sweet smell.' So cold prayers are no prayers, but are +scentless, and unapt to rise. The heart must be as a coal of fire, if +the prayer is to come up before God with acceptance. Twice a day the +incense was kindled; and all day long, no doubt, it smouldered, 'a +perpetual incense before the Lord.' So, in the life of true communion, +there should be daily seasons of special devotion, and a continual +glow. The position of the altar of incense was right in the line +between the altar of burnt offering, in the outer court, and the +entrance to the holiest place; by which we are taught that acceptable +prayer follows on reconciliation by sacrifice, and leads into 'the +secret place of the Most High.' The yearly atonement for the altar +taught that evil imperfection cleaves to all our devotion, which needs +and receives the sprinkling of the blood of the great sacrifice. + +The great seven-branched candlestick, or lampstand, stood on the right +of the altar, as the priest looked to the most holy place. Its meaning +is plain. It is an emblem of the Church as recipient and communicative +of light, in all the applications of that metaphor, to a dark world. As +the sacred lamps streamed out their hospitable rays into the desert all +the night, so God's servants are lights in the world. The lamps burned +with derived light, which had to be fed as well as kindled. So we are +lighted by the touch of the great Aaron, and His gentle hand tends the +smoking wick, and nourishes it to a flame. We need the oil of the +Spirit to sustain the light. The lamp was a clustered light, +representing in its metal oneness the formal and external unity of +Israel. The New Testament unity is of a better kind. The seven +candlesticks are made one because He walks in the midst, not because +they are welded on to one stem. + +Consistency of symbolism requires that the table of shew-bread should, +like the altar and the candlestick, express some phase of true worship. +Its interpretation is less obvious than that of the other two. The name +means literally 'bread of the face'; that is, bread presented to, and +ever lying before, God. There are two explanations of the meaning. One +sees in the offering only a devout recognition of God as the author of +material blessing, and a rendering to Him of His gifts of outward +nourishment. In this case, the shew-bread would be anomalous, a +literality thrust into the midst of symbolism. The other explanation +keeps up the congruity, by taking the material bread, which is the +result of God's blessing on man's toil, as a symbol of the spiritual +results of God's blessing on man's spiritual toil, or, in other words, +of practical righteousness or good works, and conceives that these are +offered to God, by a strong metaphor, as acceptable food. It is a bold +representation, but we may quote 'I will sup with him' as proof that it +is not inadmissible; and it is not more bold than the declaration that +our obedience is 'an odour of a sweet smell.' So the three pieces of +furniture in the holy place spoke of the true Israel, when cleansed by +sacrifice and in communion with God, as instant in prayer, continually +raying out the light derived from Him, and zealous of good works, +well-pleasing to God. + +We pass outwards, through another veil, and stand in the court, which +was always open to the people. There, before the door of the +Tabernacle, was the altar of burnt offering. The order of our chapter +brings us to it last, but the order of worship brought the worshipper +to it first. Its distinctive character was that on it the blood of the +slain sacrifices was offered. It was the place where sinful men could +begin to meet with God, the foundation of all the communion of the +inner sanctuary. We need not discuss mere details of form and the like. +The great lesson taught by the altar and its place, is that +reconciliation is needed, and is only possible by sacrifice. As a +symbol it taught every Israelite what his own conscience, once +awakened, endorsed, that sin must be expiated before the sinner and God +can walk in concord. As prophecy, it assured those whose hearts were +touched with longing, that God would Himself 'provide the lamb for the +burnt offering,' in some way as yet unknown. For us it is an intended +prefiguration of the great work of Jesus Christ. 'We have an altar.' We +need that altar at the beginning of our fellowship with God, as much as +Israel did. A Christianity which does not start from the altar of burnt +offering will never get far into the holy place, nor ever reach that +innermost shrine where the soul lives and adores, silent before the +manifest God between the cherubim. + +The laver, or basin, was intended for the priests' use, in washing +hands and feet before ministering at the altar or entering the +tabernacle. It teaches the necessity for purity, in order to priestly +service. + +Thus these three divisions of the Tabernacle and its court set forth +the stages in the approach of the soul to God, beginning with the +reconciling sacrifice and cleansing water, advancing to closer +communion by prayer, impartation of light received, and offering of +good works to God, and so entering within the veil into secret +sweetnesses of union with God, which attains its completeness only when +we pass from the holy place on earth to the most holy in the heavens. + +The remainder of the text can only be glanced at in a sentence or two. +It consists of two parts: the consecration of the Tabernacle and its +vessels by the anointing oil which, when applied to inanimate objects, +simply devoted them to sacred uses, and the consecration of Aaron and +his sons. A fuller account is given in Leviticus viii., from which we +learn that it was postponed to a later period, and accompanied with a +more elaborate ritual than that prescribed here. That consists of three +parts: washing, as emblematic of communicated purity; robing, and +anointing,--the last act signifying, when applied to men, their +endowment with so much of the divine Spirit as fitted them for their +theocratic functions. These three things made the 'sanctifying,' or +setting apart for God's service, of Aaron and his sons. He is +consecrated alone, in order that his primacy may be clearly indicated. +He is consecrated by Moses as the higher; then the sons are consecrated +with the same ceremonial, to indicate the hereditary priesthood, and +the equality of Aaron's successors with himself. 'They truly were many +priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of +death,' and provision for their brief tenure of office was embodied in +the consecration of the sons by the side of the father. Their +priesthood was only 'everlasting' by continual succession of +short-lived holders of the office. But the prediction which closes the +text has had a fulfilment beyond these fleeting, shadowy priests, in +Him whose priesthood is 'everlasting' and 'throughout all generations.' +because 'He ever liveth to make intercession' (Heb. vii. 25). + + + + +THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS + + +THE BURNT OFFERING A PICTURE AND A PROPHECY + + 'And the Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him out + of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying, 2. Speak + unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any + man of you bring an offering unto the Lord, ye shall + bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and + of the flock. 3. If his offering be a burnt-sacrifice of + the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall + offer it of his own voluntary will, at the door of the + tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord. 4. And he + shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt-offering; + and it shall be accepted for him, to make atonement for + him. 5. And he shall kill the bullock before the Lord: + and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall bring the blood, + and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that + is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. + 6. And he shall flay the burnt offering, and cut it into + his pieces. 7. And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put + fire upon the altar, and lay the wood in order upon the + fire: 8. And the priests, Aaron's sons, shall lay the + parts, the head, and the fat, in order upon the wood that + is on the fire which is upon the altar: 9. But his inwards + and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall + burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an + offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord.' + --LEV. i. 1-9. + +In considering the Jewish sacrificial system, it is important to +distinguish the symbolical from the typical value of the sacrifices. +The former could scarcely be quite unnoticed by the offerers; but the +latter was only gradually made plain, was probably never very generally +seen, and is a great deal clearer to us, in the light of Christ, the +Antitype, than it could ever have been before His coming. As symbols, +the sacrifices expressed great eternal truths as to spiritual worship +and communion, its hindrances, requisites, manner, and blessings. They +were God's picture-book for these children in religious development. As +types, they shadowed the work of Jesus Christ and its results. + +The value of the sacrifices in either aspect is independent of modern +questions as to their Mosaic origin; for at whatever period the +Priest's Code was promulgated, it equally bears witness to the ruling +ideas of the offerings, and, in any case, it was long before Christ +came, and therefore its prophecy of Him is as supernatural, whether +Moses or Ezra were its author. I make this remark, not as implying that +the new theory is not revolutionary, but simply as absolving a student +of the religious significance of the sacrificial system from entering +here on questions of date. + +The 'burnt offering' stands first in Leviticus for several reasons. It +was derived from patriarchal times; it was offered twice daily, besides +frequently on other occasions; and in its significance it expressed the +complete consecration which should be the habitual state of the true +worshipper. Its name literally means 'that which ascends,' and refers, +no doubt, to the ascent of the transformed substance of the sacrifice +in fire and smoke, as to God. The central idea of this sacrifice, then, +as gathered from its name and confirmed by its manner, is that of the +yielding of the whole being in self-surrender, and borne up by the +flame of intense consecration to God. Very beautiful is the variety of +material which was permitted. The poor man's pair of pigeons went up +with as sweet an odour as the rich man's young bull. God delights in +the consecration to Him of ourselves and our powers, no matter whether +they be great or small, if only the consecration be thorough, and the +whole being be wrapped in the transforming blaze. + +It is worth while to try to realise the strange and to our eyes +repulsive spectacle of the burnt offering, which is veiled from us by +its sacred associations. The worshipper leads up his animal by some +rude halter, and possibly resisting, to the front of the Tabernacle, +the courts of which he dared not tread, but which was to him the +dwelling-place of God. There by the altar he stands, and, first +pressing his hand with force on the victim's head, he then, with one +swift cut, kills it, and as the warm blood spouts from the mangled +throat, the attendant priest catches it in a basin, and, standing at +the two diagonally opposite corners of the altar in turn, dashes, with +one dexterous twist, half of the contents against each, so as to wet +two sides of the altar with one throw, and the other two with the +other. The offerer then flays the reeking carcase, tossing the gory +hide to the priest as his perquisite, and cuts up the sacrifice +according to a fixed method. His part of the work is done, and he +stands by with bloody hands while the priests arrange the pieces on the +pile on the altar; and soon the odour of burning flesh and the thick +smoke hanging over the altar tell that the rite is complete. What a +scene it must have been when, as on some great occasions, hundreds of +burnt offerings were offered in succession! The place and the +attendants would look to us liker shambles and butchers than God's +house and worshippers. + +Now, if we inquire into the significance of the offering, it turns on +two points--expiation and burning. The former it has in common with +other bloody sacrifices, though it presents features of its own, even +in regard to expiation. But the latter is peculiar to it, and must +therefore be taken to be its special teaching. The stages in the whole +process are five: the presentation, laying on of hands, slaughter, +sprinkling of blood, and burning of the whole carcase. The first three +are alike in this and other sacrifices, the fourth is modified here, +and the last is found here only. Each has its lesson. The offerer has +himself to bring the animal to the door of the Tabernacle, that he may +show his willing surrender of a valuable thing. As he stands there with +his offering, his thoughts would pass into the inner shrine, where God +dwelt; and he would, if he were a true worshipper, feel that while God, +on His part, already dwelt in the midst of the people, he, on the other +hand, can only enter into the enjoyment of His presence by sacrifice. +The offering was to be 'a male without blemish'; for bodily defect +symbolising moral flaw could not be tolerated in the offerings to a +holy God, who requires purity, and will not be put off with less than a +man's best, be it ox or pigeon. 'The torn and the lame and the sick,' +which Malachi charged his generation with bringing, are neither worthy +of God to receive nor of us to offer. When he pressed his hand on the +head of the sacrifice, what was the worshipper meant to think? In all +other instances where hands are laid on, some transference or +communication of gifts or qualities is implied; and it is natural to +suppose that the same meaning attaches to the act here, with such +modifications as the case requires. We find that it was done in other +bloody sacrifices, accompanied with confession. Nothing is said of +confession here; but we cannot dismiss the idea that the offerer laid +his sins on the victim by that striking act, especially as the very +next clause says 'it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for +him.' The atonement was made, as we shall see, by the application of +the blood to the altar; but the possibility of the victim's blood +atoning for the offerer depended on his having laid his hands on its +head. We may perhaps go farther than 'transference of sins.' Might we +not widen the expression, and say 'identification,' or, to use a word +which has become so worn by religious controversy that it slips through +our fingers unnoticed, 'substitution'? Did not the offerer say in +effect, by that act, 'This is I? This animal life shall die, as I ought +to die. It shall go up as a sweet savour to Jehovah, as my being +should.' + +The animal invested with this representative character is next to be +slain by the offerer, not by the priest, who only performed that part +of the ritual in the case of national or public sacrifices. That was +distinctly a vicarious death; and, as inflicted by the hand of the +person represented by the animal, he thereby acknowledged that its +death was the wages of his sin, and allowed the justice of his +condemnation, while he presented this innocent life--innocent because +not that of a moral being--as his substitute. So far the worshipper's +part goes. But now, when the act of expiation is to be symbolically +represented, and, so far as outward sacrifice could, is to be +accomplished, another actor appears. The priest comes forward as +mediator between God and man, and applies the blood to the altar. The +difference between the sprinkling of the blood, in the burnt offerings +and in the other sacrifices, which had expiation for their principal +object, in some of which it was smeared on the horns of the altar, and, +in the most solemn of all, was carried into the holiest place, and +sprinkled on the mercy-seat, suggests that the essential character of +the burnt offering was not expiatory, though expiation was the +foundation on which alone the essential character could be reared. The +application of the blood was the formal act by which atonement was +made. The word rendered 'to make atonement' means 'to cover'; and the +idea conveyed is that the blood, which is the life of the sacrifice, +covers the sins of the offerer, so as to make them powerless to dam +back the love or to precipitate the wrath of God. + +With this act the expiatory portion of the ritual ends, and we may here +pause to look back for a moment on it as a whole. We have pointed out +the double bearings of the Mosaic ritual as symbolical and as typical +or prophetic. In the former aspect, the emphatic teaching of this rite +is that 'the wages of sin is death,' that 'without shedding of blood +there is no remission,' that God has appointed sacrifice as the means +of entering into fellowship with Him, and that substitution and +vicarious penalty are facts in His government. We may like or dislike +these thoughts; we may call them gross, barbarous, immoral, and the +like, but, at all events, we ought not to deny that they are ingrained +in the Mosaic sacrificial system, which becomes unmeaning elaboration +of empty and often repulsive ceremonies, if they are not recognised as +its very centre. Of course, the meaning of the sacrifices was hidden +from many a worshipper. They became opaque instead of transparent, and +hid the great truth which they were meant to reveal. All forms labour +under that disadvantage; but that they were significant in design, and +largely so to devout hearts in effect, admits of no reasonable doubt. +That which they signified was chiefly the putting away of sin by the +sacrifice of innocent life, which stood in the place of the guilty. Of +course, too, their benefit was symbolical, and the blood of bulls and +goats could never put away sin; but, under the shelter of the outward +forms, a more spiritual insight gradually grew up, such as breathes in +many a psalm, and such as, we cannot doubt, filled the heart of many a +worshipper, as he stood by the bleeding sacrifice on which his own +hands had laid the burden that had weighed so heavy on himself. How far +the prophetic aspect of the sacrifices was discerned, is a more +difficult question. But this at least we know--that the highest level +of evangelical prophecy, in Isaiah's wonderful fifty-third chapter, is +reached from this vantage-ground. It is the flower of which these +ordinances are the root. We need not enlarge upon the prophetic aspect +of the sacrifice. The mere negative sinlessness of the victim points to +the 'Lamb without blemish and without spot,' on whom, as Isaiah says, +in language dyed through and through with sacrificial references, 'the +Lord hath made to meet the iniquity of us all,' and who Himself makes +'His soul an offering for sin.' The modern tendency to bring down the +sacrificial system to a late date surely sins against the sacred and +all-explaining law of evolution, in the name of which it is attempted, +inasmuch as it is an unheard-of thing for the earlier stages of a +religion to be less clogged with ceremonial than the later. Psalmist +and prophet first, and priest afterwards, is not the order of +development. + +The remaining part of the ritual was, as we have pointed out, peculiar +to the burnt offering. In it alone the whole of the sacrifice was +consumed on the altar, with the exceptions of the skin, which was given +to the priest, and of the contents of the intestines. Hence it was +sometimes called 'a whole burnt offering.' The meaning of this +provision may be apprehended if we note that the word rendered 'burn,' +in verse 9, is not that which simply implies destruction by fire, but +is a peculiar word, reserved for sacrificial burnings, and meaning 'to +cause to ascend in smoke or vapour.' The gross flesh was, as it were, +refined into vapour and odour, and went up to God as 'a sweet savour.' +It expressed, therefore, the transformation of the sinful human nature +of the worshipper, by the refining power of the fire of God, into +something more ethereal and kindred with the heaven to which it rose. +Or, to put the thought in plainer words, on the basis of expiation, the +glad surrender of the whole being is possible and will ensue; and when +a man yields himself in joyful self-surrender to the God who has +forgiven his sins, then the fire of the divine Spirit is shed abroad in +his heart, and kindles a flame which lays hold on all the gross, +earthly elements of his being, and changes them into fire, kindred with +itself, which aspires, in ruddy tongues of upward-leaping light, to the +God to whom the heart has been surrendered, and to whom the whole being +tends. + +This is the purpose of expiation; this is the summit of all religion. +One man has realised to the full, in his life, what the burnt offering +taught as the goal for all worshippers. Jesus has lived in the constant +exercise of perfect self-surrender, and in the constant unmeasured +possession of 'the Spirit of burning,' with which He has come to +baptize us all. If we look to Him as our expiation, we should also find +in Him the power to yield ourselves 'living sacrifices,' and draw from +Him the sacred and refining fire, which shall transform our grossness +into His likeness, and make even us 'acceptable to God, through Jesus +Christ.' + + + + +STRANGE FIRE + + + 'And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of + them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense + thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which + He commanded them not. 2. And there went out fire from + the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the + Lord. 3. Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that + the Lord spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them + that come nigh Me, and before all the people I will be + glorified. And Aaron held his peace. 4. And Moses called + Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of + Aaron, and said unto them, Come near, carry your brethren + from before the sanctuary out of the camp. 5. So they went + near, and carried them in their coats out of the camp; as + Moses had said. 6. And Moses said unto Aaron, and unto + Eleazar and unto Ithamar, his sons. Uncover not your + heads, neither rend your clothes; lest ye die, and lest + wrath come upon all the people: but let your brethren, + the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which the + Lord hath kindled. 7. And ye shall not go out from the + door of the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: + for the anointing oil of the Lord is upon you. And they + did according to the word of Moses. 8. And the Lord + spake unto Aaron, saying, 9. Do not drink wine nor strong + drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the + tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be + a statute for ever throughout your generations; 10. And + that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and + between unclean and clean; 11. And that ye may teach the + children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord hath + spoken unto them by the hand of Moses.'--LEV. x. 1-11. + +This solemn story of sin and punishment is connected with the preceding +chapter by a simple 'and.' Probably, therefore, Nadab and Abihu +'offered strange fire,' immediately after the fire from Jehovah had +consumed the appointed sacrifice. Their sin was aggravated by the time +of its being committed. But a week had passed since the consecration of +their father and themselves as priests. The first sacrifices had just +been offered, and here, in the very blossoming time, came a vile +canker. If such licence in setting aside the prescriptions of the newly +established sacrificial order asserted itself then, to what lengths +might it not run when the first impression of sanctity and of God's +commandment had been worn by time and custom? The sin was further +aggravated by the sinners being priests, who were doubly obliged to +punctilious adherence to the instituted ritual. If they set the example +of contempt, would not the people better (or, rather, worsen) their +instruction? + +Unquestionably, their punishment was awfully severe. But we shall +entirely misconceive their sin if we judge it by our standards. We are +not dependent on forms as Israel was, but the spiritual religion of +Christianity was only made possible by the externalism of the older +system. The sweet kernel would not have softened and become juicy +without the shelter of the hard shell. Scaffolding is needed to erect a +building; and he is not a wise man who either despises or would keep +permanently standing the scaffold poles. + +We draw a broad distinction between positive commandments and moral or +religious obligations. But in the Mosaic legislation that distinction +does not exist. There, all precepts are God's uttered will, and all +disobedience is rebellion against Him. Nor could it be otherwise at the +stage of development which Israel had reached. + +What, then, was the crime of these two rash sons of Aaron? That +involves two questions: What did they do? and What was the sin of doing +it? The former question may be answered in various ways. Certainly the +designation of 'strange fire' seems best explained by the usual +supposition that it means fire not taken from the altar. The other +explanations, which make the sin to have been offering at an +unauthorised time, or offering incense not compounded according to the +prescription, give an unnatural meaning to the phrase. It was the +'fire' which was wrong,--that is, it was 'fire which they had kindled,' +caught up from some common culinary hearth, or created by themselves in +some way. + +What was their sin in thus offering it? Plainly, the narrative points +to the essence of the crime in calling it 'fire which He had not +commanded.' So this was their crime, that they were tampering with the +appointed order which but a week before they had been consecrated to +conserve and administer; that they were thus thrusting in self-will and +personal caprice, as of equal authority with the divine commandment; +that they were arrogating the right to cut and carve God's +appointments, as the whim or excitement of the moment dictated; and +that they were doing their best to obliterate the distinction on the +preservation of which religion, morality, and the national existence +depended; namely, the distinction between holy and common, clean and +unclean. To plough that distinction deep into the national +consciousness was no small part of the purpose of the law; and here +were two of its appointed witnesses disregarding it, and flying in its +face. The flash of holy fire consuming the sacrifices had scarcely +faded off their eyeballs when they thus sinned. + +They have had many successors, not only in Israel, while a ritual +demanding punctilious conformity lasted, but in Christendom since. +Alas! our censers are often flaming with 'strange fire.' How much +so-called Christian worship glows with self-will or with partisan zeal! +When we seek to worship God for what we can get, when we rush into His +presence with hot, eager desires which we have not subordinated to His +will, we are burning 'strange fire which He has not commanded.' The +only fire which should kindle the incense in our censers, and send it +up to heaven in fragrant wreaths, is fire caught from the altar of +sacrifice. God must kindle the flame in our hearts if we are to render +these else cold hearts to Him. + + 'The prayers I bring will then be sweet indeed + If Thou the Spirit give, by which I pray.' + +The swift, terrible punishment does indeed bear marks of the severity +of that earlier stage of revelation. But it was not disproportioned to +the offence, and it was not the cruelty of a martinet who avenged +ceremonial lapses with penalties which should have been kept for moral +offences. The surface of the sin was ceremonial impropriety: the heart +of it was flouting Jehovah and His law. It was better that two men +should die, and the whole nation perish not, as it would have done if +their example had been followed. It is mercy to trample out the first +sparks beside a powder-barrel. + +There is a very striking parallel between verse 2 and the last verse of +the preceding chapter. In both the same expression is used, 'There came +forth fire from before the Lord, and consumed' (the word rendered +_devoured_ in verse 2 is the same in Hebrew as _consumed_). So, then, +the same divine fire, which had graciously signified God's acceptance +of the appointed sacrifice, now flashed out with lightning-like power +of destruction, and killed the two rebel priests. There is dormant +potency of destruction in the God who reveals Himself as gracious. The +'wrath of the Lamb' is as real as His gentleness. The Gospel is 'the +savour of life unto life' and 'of death unto death.' + +Moses' word to the stunned father is of a piece with the severity of +the whole incident. No voice of condolence or sympathy comes from him. +The brother is swallowed up in the lawgiver. He puts into words the +meaning of the terrible stroke, and expects Aaron to acquiesce, though +his heart bleeds. What was his interpretation? He saw in it God's +purpose to be 'sanctified in them that come nigh Him.' The priests were +these. Nadab and Abihu had been consecrated for the purpose of +enforcing the truth of God's holiness. They had done the very opposite, +by breaking down the distinction between sacred and common. + +But their nearness to God brought with it not only corresponding +obligations, but corresponding criminality and penalty, if these +obligations were not discharged. If God is not 'sanctified' _by_ His +servants, He will sanctify Himself _on_ them. If His people do not set +forth His infinite separation from all evil and elevation above all +creatures, He will proclaim these truths in lightning that kills and +thunder that roars. It is a universal law which Moses sternly spoke to +Aaron instead of comfort, bidding him recognise the necessity of the +fearful blow to his paternal heart. 'You only have I known of all the +families of the earth, therefore I will punish you for all your +iniquities.' + +The prohibition to Aaron and his sons to show signs of mourning is as +stern as the rest of the story, and serves to insist upon the true +point of view from which to regard it. For the official representatives +of the divine order of worship to mourn the deaths of its assailants +would have seemed to indicate their murmuring at God's judgments, and +might have led them to participate in the sin while they lamented its +punishment. It is hard to mourn and not to repine. Affection blinds to +the ill-desert of its objects. Nadab's and Abihu's stark corpses lying +in the forecourt of the sanctuary, and Aaron's dry eyes and undisturbed +attire, proclaim the same truths,--the gravity of the dead men's sin, +and the righteous judgment of God. But the people might sorrow, for +_their_ mourning would help to imprint on them more deeply the lessons +of the dread event. + +While the victims' cousins carried their bodies to their graves in the +sand, their father and brothers had to remain in the Tabernacle, +because 'the anointing oil of Jehovah is upon you.' That oil, as the +symbol of the Spirit, separates those on whom it is poured from all +contact with death, from participation in sin, from the weight of +sorrow. What have immortality, righteousness, joy in the Holy Ghost, to +do with these dark shadows? Those whom God has called to His immediate +service must hold themselves apart from earthly passions, and must +control natural affection, if indulging it imperils their clear witness +to God's righteous will. + +The prohibition (verses 8-11) of wine and strong drink during the +discharge of the priestly functions seems to suggest that Nadab and +Abihu had committed their sin while in some degree intoxicated. Be that +as it may, the prohibition is rested upon the necessity of preserving, +in all its depth and breadth, the distinction between common and holy +which Nadab and Abihu had broken down. That distinction was to be very +present to the priest in his work, and how could he have the clearness +of mind, the collectedness and composure, the sense of the sanctity of +his office, and ministrations which it requires and gives, if he was +under the influence of strong drink? + +Nothing has more power to blur the sharpness of moral and religious +insight than even a small amount of alcohol. God must be worshipped +with clear brain and naturally beating heart. Not the fumes of wine, in +which there lurks almost necessarily the tendency to 'excess,' but the +being 'filled with the Spirit' supplies the only legitimate stimulus to +devotion. Besides the personal reason for abstinence, there was +another,--namely, that only so could the priests teach the people 'the +statutes' of Jehovah. Lips stained from the wine-cup would not be fit +to speak holy words. Words spoken by such would carry no power. + +God's servants can never impress on the sluggish conscience of society +their solemn messages from God, unless they are conspicuously free from +self-indulgence, and show by their example the gulf, wide as between +heaven and hell, which parts cleanness from uncleanness. Our lives must +witness to the eternal distinction between good and evil, if we are to +draw men to 'abhor that which is evil, and cleave to that which is +good.' + + + + +THE FIRST STAGE IN THE LEPER'S CLEANSING + + + 'And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 2. This shall be + the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: He + shall be brought unto the priest: 3. And the priest + shall go forth out of the camp; and the priest shall + look, and, behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed + in the leper; 4. Then shall the priest command to take + for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, + and cedar-wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: 5. And the + priest shall command that one of the birds be killed + in an earthen vessel over running water: 6. As for the + living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar-wood, and + the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the + living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over + the running water: 7. And he shall sprinkle upon him that + is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall + pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose + into the open field.'--LEV. xiv. 1-7. + +The whole treatment of leprosy is parabolic. Leprosy itself is a +'parable of death.' The horrible loathsomeness, the contagiousness, the +non-curableness, etc. So the man was shut out from camp and from +sanctuary. There was a double process in the cleansing rite, restoring +to each. + +I. Sketch the ceremonial. Two birds, one slain over a vessel of water +so that its blood drained in. Then the living bird was to be dipped +into this water and blood, along with cedar, scarlet, and hyssop, and +the man sprinkled seven times and the living bird set loose. + +II. The significance. This elaborate symbolism was partly intelligible +even then. Two birds, like the two goats on the Atonement Day. Did both +in some sense symbolise the man? The first one was not exactly a +sacrifice. Its death points to the physical death which was the end of +the disease, but also in some sense its death symbolised the death by +which cleansing was secured. + +_(a)_ The purifying water is made by blood added to it, i.e. cleansing +by sacrifice. + +'By water and by blood.' + +_(b)_ The sevenfold sprinkling. The cedar, symbol of incorruptibility; +the scarlet, of full vital energy; the hyssop, of purifying. So the +thought was suggested of the communication of cleansing, full health +and incorruption, undecaying strength; all physical contrasts to +leprosy sevenfold. + +_(c)_ The free, glad activity. The freed bird. The restored leper. + + + + +THE DAY OF ATONEMENT + + + 'And the Lord spake unto Moses after the death of the + two sons of Aaron when they offered before the Lord, + and died; 2. And the Lord said unto Moses, Speak unto + Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into + the holy place within the vail before the mercy-seat, + which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear + in the cloud upon the mercy-seat. 3. Thus shall Aaron + come into the holy place; with a young bullock for a sin + offering, and a ram for a burnt offering. 4. He shall + put on the holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen + breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girded with a linen + girdle, and with the linen mitre shall he be attired: + these are holy garments; therefore shall he wash his + flesh in water, and so put them on. 5. And he shall take + of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids + of the goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt + offering. 6. And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the + sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement + for himself, and for his house. 7. And he shall take the + two goats, and present them before the Lord at the door + of the tabernacle of the congregation. 8. And Aaron + shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the + Lord, and the other lot for the scapegoat. 9. And Aaron + shall bring the goat upon which the Lord's lot fell, and + offer him for a sin offering: 10. But the goat, on which + the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented + alive before the Lord, to make an atonement with Him, + and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness. + 11. And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering + which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for + himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bullock + of the sin offering which is for himself. 12. And he + shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from + off the altar before the Lord, and his hands full of + sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the vail: + 13. And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the + Lord, that the cloud of the incense may cover the + mercy-seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not: + 14. And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and + sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy-seat eastward; + and before the mercy-seat shall he sprinkle of the blood + with his finger seven times. 15. Then shall he kill the + goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and + bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood + as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it + upon the mercy-seat, and before the mercy-seat. 16. And + he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because + of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because + of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall + he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that + remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness. + 17. And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the + congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in + the holy place, until he come out, and have made an + atonement for himself, and for his household, and for + all the congregation of Israel. 18. And he shall go out + unto the altar that is before the Lord, and make an + atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the + bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon + the horns of the altar round about. 19. And he shall + sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven + times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness + of the children of Israel.'--LEV. xvi. 1-19. + +The Talmudical treatise on the ritual of the day of atonement is +entitled 'Yoma,' _the_ day, which sufficiently expresses its importance +in the series of sacrificial observances. It was the confession of the +incompleteness of them all, a ceremonial proclamation that ceremonies +do not avail to take away sin; and it was also a declaration that the +true end of worship is not reached till the worshipper has free access +to the holy place of the Most High. Thus the prophetic element is the +very life-breath of this supreme institution of the old covenant, which +therein acknowledges its own defects, and feeds the hopes of a future +better thing. We do not here consider the singular part of the ritual +of the Day of Atonement which is concerned with the treatment of the +so-called 'scapegoat' but confine ourselves to the consideration of +that part of it which was observed in the Tabernacle and was intended +to expiate the sins of the priesthood and of the people. The chapter +connects the rites of the Day of Atonement with the tragic death of the +sons of Aaron, which witnessed to the sanctity of the inner shrine, as +not to be trodden but with the appointed offerings by the appointed +priest; and so makes the whole a divinely given instruction as to the +means by which, and the objects for which, Aaron may enter within the +veil. + +I. In verses 3-10 we have the preliminaries of the sacrifices and a +summary of the rites. First, Aaron was to bathe, and then to robe +himself in pure white. The dress is in singular contrast to the +splendour of his usual official costume, in which he stood before men +as representing God, and evidently signifies the purity which alone +fits for entrance into the awful presence. Thus vested, he brings the +whole of the animals to be sacrificed to the altar,--namely, for +himself and his order, a bullock and a ram; for the people, two goats +and a ram. The goats are then taken by him to the door of the +tent,--and it is to be observed that they are spoken of as both +constituting one sin offering (v. 5). They therefore both belong to the +Lord, and are, in some important sense, one, as was recognised by the +later Rabbinical prescription that they should be alike in colour, +size, and value. The appeal to the lot was an appeal to God to decide +the parts they were respectively to sustain in a transaction which, in +both parts, was really one. The consideration of the meaning of the +ritual for the one which was led away may be postponed for the present. +The preliminaries end with the casting of the lots, and in later times, +with tying the ominous red fillet on the head of the dumb creature for +which so weird a fate was in store. + +II. The first part of the ritual proper (vs. 11-14) is the expiation +for the sins of Aaron and the priesthood, and his entrance into the +most holy place. The bullock was slain in the usual manner of the sin +offering, but its blood was destined for a more solemn use. The +white-robed priest took a censer of burning embers from the altar +before the tent-door, and two hands full of incense, and, thus laden, +passed into the Tabernacle. How the silent crowd in the outer court +would watch the last flutter of the white robe as it was lost in the +gloom within! He passed through the holy place, which, on every day but +this, was the limit of his approach; but, on this one day, he lifted +the curtain, and entered the dark chamber, where the glory flashed from +the golden walls and rested above the ark. Would not his heart beat +faster as he laid his hand on the heavy veil, and caught the first +gleam of the calm light from the Shechinah? As soon as he entered, he +was to cast the incense into the censer, that the fragrant cloud might +cover the mercy-seat. Incense is the symbol of prayer, and that curling +cloud is a picture of the truth that the purest of men, even the +anointed priest, robed in white, who has offered sacrifices daily all +the year round, and today has anxiously obeyed all the commands of +ceremonial cleanliness, can yet only draw near to God as a suppliant, +not entering there as having a right of access, but beseeching entrance +as undeserved mercy. The incense did not cover 'the glory' that Aaron +might not gaze upon it, but it covered him that Jehovah might not look +on his sin. It would appear that, between verse 13 and verse 14, +Aaron's leaving the most holy place to bring the blood of the sacrifice +must be understood. If so, we can fancy the long-drawn sigh of relief +with which the waiting worshippers saw him return, and carry back into +the shrine the expiating blood. The 'most holy place' would still be +filled and its atmosphere thick with the incense fumes when he returned +to perform the solemn expiation for himself and the whole priestly +order. Once the blood was sprinkled on the mercy-seat, and seven times, +apparently, on the ground in front of it. The former act was intended, +as seems probable, to make atonement for the sins of the priesthood; +the latter, to cleanse the sanctuary from the ideal defilements arising +from their defective and sinful ministrations. + +This completed the part of the ceremonial which belonged immediately to +Aaron and the priests. It carries important lessons. Could there be a +more striking exhibition of their imperfect realisation of the idea of +the priestly office? Observe the anomaly inherent in the very necessity +of the case. Aaron was dressed in the white robes emblematic of purity; +he had partaken in the benefit of, and had himself offered, sacrifices +all the year round. So far as ritual could go, he was pure, and yet so +stained with sin that he dared not enter into the divine presence +without that double safeguard of the incense and the blood. The priest +who cleanses others is himself unclean, and he and his fellows have +tainted the sanctuary by the very services which were meant to atone +and to purify. That solemn ritual is intended to teach priest and +people alike, that every priest 'taken from among men' fails in his +office, and pollutes the temple instead of purifying the worshipper. +But the office was God's appointment, and therefore would not always be +filled by men too small and sinful for its requirements. There must +somewhere and somewhen be a priest who will be one indeed, fulfilling +the divine ideal of the functions, and answering the deep human +longings which have expressed themselves in all lands, for one, pure +with no ceremonial but a real purity, to bring us to God and God to us, +to offer sacrifice which shall need no after atonement to expiate its +defects, and to stand without incense or blood of sprinkling for +himself in the presence of God for us. The imperfections of the human +holders of the Old Testament offices, whether priest, prophet, or king, +were no less prophecies than their positive qualifications were. +Therefore, when we see Aaron passing into the holy place, we see the +dim shadow of Christ, who 'needeth not to make atonement' for His own +sins, and is our priest 'for ever.' + +III. The ritual for the atonement of the sins of the people follows. +The two goats had been, during all this time, standing at the door of +the Tabernacle. We have already pointed out that they are to be +considered as one sacrifice. There are two of them, for the same +reason, as has been often remarked, as there were two birds in the +ritual of cleansing the leper; namely, because one animal could not +represent the two parts of the one whole truth which they are meant to +set forth. The one was sacrificed as a sin offering, and the other led +away into a solitary land. Here we consider the meaning of the former +only, which presents no difficulty. It is a sin offering for the +people, exactly corresponding to that just offered for the priests. The +same use is made of the blood, which is once sprinkled by Aaron on the +mercy-seat and seven times on the ground before it, as in the former +case. It is not, however, all employed there, but part of it is carried +out into the other divisions of the Tabernacle; and first, the holy +place, which the priests daily entered and which is called in verse 16 +'the tent of meeting,' and next, the altar of burnt offering in the +outer court, are in like manner sprinkled seven times with the blood, +to 'hallow' them 'from the uncleanness of the children of Israel' +(verse 19). The teaching of this rite, in its bearing upon the people, +is similar to that of the previous priestly expiation. The +insufficiency of sacrificial cleansing is set forth by this annual +atonement for sins which had all been already atoned for. The defects +of a ritual worship are proclaimed by the ritual which cleanses the +holy places from the uncleanness contracted by them from the +worshippers. If the altar, the seat of expiation, itself needed +expiation, how imperfect its worth must be! If the cleansing fountain +is foul, how shall it be cleansed, or how shall it cleanse the +offerers? The bearing of the blood of expiation into the most holy +place, where no Israelite ever entered, save the high priest, taught +that the true expiation could only be effected by one who should pass +into the presence of God, and leave the door wide open for all to +enter. For surely the distance between the worshippers and the +mercy-seat was a confession of imperfection; and the entrance there of +the representative of the sinful people was the holding out of a dim +hope that in some fashion, yet unknown, the veil would be rent, and +true communion be possible for the humble soul. The Epistle to the +Hebrews tells us where we are to look for the realities of which these +ceremonies were the foreshadowings. The veil was rent at the +crucifixion. Christ has gone into 'the secret place of the Most High,' +and if we love Him, our hearts have gone with Him, and our lives are +'hid with Him, in God.' + + + + +'THE SCAPEGOAT' + + + 'And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities + unto a land not inhabited....'-LEV. xvi. 22. + +The import of the remarkable treatment of this goat does not depend on +the interpretation of the obscure phrase rendered in the Authorised +Version 'for the scapegoat.' Leaving that out of sight for the moment, +we observe that the two animals were one sacrifice, and that the +transaction with the living one was the completion of that with the +slain. The sins of the congregation, which had been already expiated by +the sacrifice, were laid by the high priest on the head of the goat, +which was then sent away into the wilderness that he might 'bear upon +him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited' (v. 22). Nothing +depends on the fate of the goat, though, in after times, it was forced +over a precipice and so killed. The carrying away of expiated sin, and +not the destruction of unexpiated sinners, is the meaning of the +impressive rite, and, had it been possible, the same goat that was +sacrificed would have been sent into the desert. As that could not be +done, an ideal unity was established between the two: the one +sacrificed represented the fact of expiation, the one driven away +represented the consequences of expiation in the complete removal of +sin. The expiation was made 'within the veil'; but a visible token of +its completeness was given to help feeble faith, in the blessed mystery +of the unseen propitiation. What was divided in the symbol between the +twin goats is all done by the one Sacrifice, who has entered into the +holiest of all, at once Priest and Sacrifice, and with His own blood +made expiation for sin, and has likewise carried away the sin of the +world into a land of forgetfulness, whence it never can return. + +The clear meaning of the rite is thus obtained, whatever be the force +of the difficult phrase already referred to. 'Scapegoat' is certainly +wrong. But it may be questioned whether the Revised Version is right in +retaining the Hebrew word untranslated, and, by putting a capital +letter to it, marking it as a proper name ('for Azazel'). The word +occurs only here, so that we have no help from other passages. It seems +to come from a root meaning 'to drive away,' and those who take it to +be a proper name, generally suppose it to refer to some malignant +spirit, or to Satan, and interpret it as meaning 'a fiend whom one +drives away,' or, sometimes, 'who drives away.' The vindication of such +an interpretation is supposed to lie in the necessity of finding a +complete antithesis in the phrase to the 'for Jehovah' of the previous +clause in verse 8. But it is surely sacrificing a good deal to +rhetorical propriety to drag in an idea so foreign to the Pentateuch, +and so opposed to the plain fact, that both goats were one sin offering +(v. 5), in order to get a pedantically correct antithesis. In the +absence of any guidance from usage, certainty as to the meaning of the +word is unattainable. But there seems no reason, other than that of the +said antithesis, against taking it to mean removal or dismissal, rather +than 'a remover.' The Septuagint translates it in both ways: as a +person in verse 8, and as 'sending away' in verse 10. If the latter +meaning be adopted, then the word just defines the same purpose as is +given more at length in verse 22, namely, the carrying away of the sins +of the congregation. The logical imperfection of the opposition in +verse 8 would then be simply enough solved by the fact that while both +goats were 'for the Lord,' one was destined to be actually offered in +sacrifice, and the other to be 'for dismissal.' The incomplete contrast +testifies to the substantial unity of the two, and needs no +introduction, into the most sacred rite of the old covenant, of a +ceremony which looks liker demon-worship than a parable of the great +expiation for a world's sins. + +The question for us is, What spiritual ideas are contained in this +Levitical symbolism? There is signified, surely, the condition of +approach to God. Remember how the Israelites had impressed on their +minds the awful sanctity of 'within the veil.' The inmost shrine was +trodden once a year only by the high priest, and only after anxious +lustrations and when clothed in pure garments, he entered 'with +sacrifice and incense lest he die.' This ritual was for a gross and +untutored age, but the men of that age were essentially like ourselves, +and we have the same sins and spiritual necessities as they had. + +The two goats are regarded as _one_ sacrifice. They are a 'sin +offering.' Hence, to show how unimportant and non-essential is the +distinction between them, the 'lot' is employed; also, while the one is +being slain, the other stands before the 'door of the Tabernacle.' This +shows that both are parts of one whole, and it is only from the +impossibility of presenting both halves of the truth to be symbolised +in one that two are taken. The one which is slain represents the +sacrifice for sin. The other represents the effects of that sacrifice. +It is never heard of more. 'The Lamb of God taketh away the sins of the +world.' 'As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed +our transgressions from us.' + +I. The perfect removal of all sin is thus symbolised. + +Notice (1) the vivid consciousness of sin which marked Judaism. + +Was it exaggerated or right? + +The same consciousness is part of all of us, but how overlaid! how +stifled! + +That consciousness once awakened has in it these elements--a bitter +sense of sin as mine, involving guilt; despair as to whether I can ever +overcome it; and fearful thoughts of my relation to God which +conscience itself brings. + +(2) The futility of all attempts to remove these fears. + +False religions have next to nothing to say about forgiveness. +Sacrifices and lustrations they have, but no assurance of absolution. +Systems of philosophy and morals have nothing to say but that the +universe goes crashing on, and if you have broken its laws you must +suffer. That is all, or only the poor cheer of 'Well! you have fallen, +get up and go on again!' So men often drug themselves into +forgetfulness. They turn away from the unwelcome subject, and forget it +at the price of all moral earnestness and often of all happiness; a +lethargic sleep or a gaiety, as little real as that of the Girondins +singing in their prison the night before being led out to the +guillotine. + +It is only God's authoritative revelation that can ensure the cure, +only He can assure us of pardon, and of the removal of all barriers +between ourselves and His love. Only His word can ensure, and His power +can effect, the removal of the consequences of our sins. Only His word +can ensure, and His power effect, the removal of the power of evil on +our characters. + +(3) Still the question, Can guilt ever be cancelled? often assumes a +fearful significance. Doubtless much seems to say that it cannot be. + +_(a)_ The irrevocableness of the past. + +_(b)_ The rigid law of consequences in this world. + +_(c)_ The indissoluble unity of an individual life and moral nature, +confirmed by the experience of failure in all attempts at reformation +of self. + +_(d)_ The consciousness of disturbed relations with God, and the +prophecy of judgment. All this that ancient symbol suggested. The +picture of the goat going away, and away, and away, a lessening speck +on the horizon, and never heard of more is the divine symbol of the +great fact that there is full, free, everlasting forgiveness, and on +God's part, utter forgetfulness. 'Though your sins be as scarlet, they +shall be white as snow.' 'I will remember them no more at all for ever.' + +II. The bearing away of sin is indissolubly connected with sacrifice. +Two goats were provided, of which one was offered for a sin offering, +indicating that sacrifice came first; then the removal of sin was +symbolised by the sending away of the second goat. There is an evident +reference to this sequence in the words 'without shedding of blood +there is no remission.' The two goats represent Christ's work; the one +in its essence, the other in its effect. + +The one teaches that sacrifice is a necessary condition of pardon. +Forgiveness was not given because the offerer confessed his guilt or +because 'God was merciful,' but because the goat had been slain as a +sin offering. There is deep spiritual truth for us in this symbolism. +We do not need to enter on the philosophy of atonement, but simply to +rest on the fact--that the only authority on which we can be sure of +forgiveness at all indissolubly associates the two things, sacrifice +and pardon. We have no reason to believe in forgiveness except from the +Bible record and assurance. + +Was the Mosaic ritual a divinely appointed thing? If so, its testimony +is conclusive. But even if it were only the embodiment of human +aspirations and wants, it would be a strong evidence of the necessity +of some such thing as forgiveness. + +The shallow dream that God's forgiveness can be extended without a +sacrifice having been offered does not exalt but detracts from the +divine character. It invariably leads to an emasculated abhorrence of +evil, and detracts from the holiness of God, as well as introduces low +thoughts of the greatness of forgiveness and of the infinite love of +God. + +III. The bearing away of sin is associated with man's laying of his +sins on the sacrifice appointed by God. + +We have seen that the two goats must be regarded as together making one +whole. The one which was slain made 'atonement ... because of the +uncleannesses of the children of Israel, and because of their +transgressions, even all their sins,' but that expiation was not +actually effective till Aaron had 'laid his hands on the head of the +live goat, and confessed over him all the iniquities of the children of +Israel, ... and put them on the head of the live goat, and sent him +away into the wilderness.' The sacrifice of the slain goat did not +accomplish the pardon or removal of the people's sins, but made it +possible that their sins should be pardoned and removed. + +Then the method by which that possibility is realised is the laying +hands on the scapegoat and confessing the sins upon it. The sins which +are actually forgiven, by virtue of the atonement made for all sins, +are those which it bears away to the wilderness. + +This answers, point for point, to repentance and faith. By these the +possibility is turned into an actuality for as many as believe on +Christ. + +Christ has died for sin. Christ has made atonement by which all sin may +be forgiven; whether any shall actually be forgiven depends on +something else. It is conceivable that though Christ died, no sin might +be pardoned, if no man believed. His blood would not, even then, have +been shed in vain, for the purpose of it would have been fully effected +in providing a way by which any and all sin could be forgiven. So that +the whole question whether any man's sin is pardoned turns on this, Has +he laid his hand on Christ? Faith is only a condition of forgiveness, +not a cause, or in itself a power. There was no healing in the mere +laying of the hand on the head of the goat. + +It was not faith which was the reason for forgiveness, but God's love +which had provided the sacrifice. + +God's will is not a bare will to pardon, nor a bare will to pardon for +Christ's sake, but for Christ's sake to pardon them who believe. +'Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world.' 'Dost +thou believe on the Son of God?' 'Through this Man is preached the +remission of sins.' + + + + +THE CONSECRATION OF JOY + + + 'And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 34. Speak unto + the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of + this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for + seven days unto the Lord. 35. On the first day shall be + an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. + 36. Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire + unto the Lord; on the eighth day shall be an holy + convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made + by fire unto the Lord: it is a solemn assembly; and ye + shall do no servile work therein. 37. These are the + feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy + convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the + Lord, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, + and drink offerings, every thing upon his day: 38. Beside + the sabbaths of the Lord, and beside your gifts, and + beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill + offerings, which ye give unto the Lord. 39. Also in the + fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered + in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto + the Lord seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, + and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath. 40. And ye + shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly + trees, branches of palm-trees, and the boughs of thick + trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice + before the Lord your God seven days. 41. And ye shall + keep it a feast unto the Lord seven days in the year. + It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye + shall celebrate it in the seventh month. 42. Ye shall + dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born + shall dwell in booths: 43. That your generations may + know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in + booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: + I am the Lord your God. 44. And Moses declared unto + the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord.' + --LEV. xxiii. 33-44. + +These directions for the observance of the great festival at the close +of harvest are singularly arranged. Verses 33-36 give part of the +instructions for the Feast, verses 37 and 38 interrupt these with a +summary of the contents of the chapter, and verses 39 to the end pick +up the broken thread, and finish the regulations for the feast. +Naturally, this apparent afterthought has been pointed out as clear +evidence of diversity of authorship. But a reasonable explanation may +be given on the hypothesis of the unity of the section, by observing +that verses 33-36 deal only with the sacrificial side of the feast, as +worship proper, and thus come into line with the previous part of the +chapter, which is occupied with an enumeration of the annual 'feasts of +the Lord' (v. 4). It was natural, therefore, that, when the list had +been completed by the sacrificial prescriptions for the last of the +series, the close of the catalogue should be marked, in verses 37, 38, +and that then the other parts of the observances connected with this +feast, which are not sacrificial, nor, properly speaking, worship, +should be added. There is no need to invoke the supposition of two +authors, and a subsequent stitching together, in order to explain the +arrangement. The unity is all the more probable because, otherwise, the +first half would give the name of the feast as that of 'tabernacles,' +and would not contain a word to account for the name. + +We need not, then, include the separating wedge, in verses 37, 38, in +our present consideration. The ritual of the feast is broadly divided +by it, and we may consider the two portions separately. The first half +prescribes the duration of the feast as seven days (the perfect +number), with an eighth, which is named, like the first, 'an holy +convocation,' on which no work was to be done, but is also called 'a +solemn assembly,' or rather, as the Revised Version reads, in margin, +'a closing festival,' inasmuch as it closed, not only that particular +feast, but the whole series for the year. The observances enjoined, +then, are the public assembly on the first and eighth days, with +cessation from labour, and a daily offering. We learn more about the +offering from Numbers xxix. 12 _et seq._, which appoints a very +peculiar arrangement. On each day there was to be, as on other feast +days, one goat for a sin offering; but the number of rams and lambs for +the burnt offering was doubled, and, during the seven days of the +feast, seventy bullocks were offered, arranged in a singular +diminishing scale,--thirteen on the first day, and falling off by one a +day till the seventh day, when seven were sacrificed. The eighth day +was marked as no part of the feast proper, by the number of sacrifices +offered on it, dropping to one bullock, one ram, and seven lambs. No +satisfactory account of this regulation has been suggested. It may +possibly have meant no more than to mark the first day as the chief, +and to let the worshippers down gradually from the extraordinary to the +ordinary. + +The other half of the regulations deals with the more domestic aspect +of the festival. Observe, as significant of the different point of view +taken in it, that the first and eighth days are there described, not as +'holy convocations,' but as 'sabbaths,' or, as the Revised Version +gives it better, 'a solemn rest.' Observe, also, that these verses +connect the feast with the ingathering of the harvest, as does Exodus +xxiii. 16. It is quite possible that Moses grafted the more +commemorative aspect of the feast on an older 'harvest home'; but that +is purely conjectural, however confidently affirmed as certain. To +tumble down cartloads of quotations about all sorts of nations that ran +up booths and feasted in them at vintage-time does not help us much. +The 'joy of harvest' was unquestionably blended with the joy of +remembered national deliverance, but that the latter idea was +superadded to the former at a later time is, to say the least, not +proven. Would it matter very much if it were? Three kinds of trees are +specified from which 'the fruit,' that is branches with fruit on them, +if the tree bore fruit, were to be taken: palms, 'thick trees,' that is +thick foliaged, which could give leafy shade, and willows of the brook, +which the Rabbis say were used for binding the others together. Verse +40 does not tell what is to be done with these branches, but the later +usage was to carry some of them in the hand as well as to use them for +booths. The keynote of the whole feast is struck in verse 40: 'Ye shall +rejoice before the Lord your God.' The leafy spoils come into view here +as tokens of jubilation, which certainly suggests their being borne in +the hand; but they were also meant to be used in building the booths in +which the whole nation was to live during the seven days, in +commemoration of God's having made them 'dwell in booths, when I +brought them out of the land of Egypt.' This is all that is enjoined by +Moses. Later additions to the ceremonial do not concern us here, +however interesting some of these are. The true intention of the feast +is best learned from the original simple form. What, then, was its +intention? It was the commemoration of the wilderness life as the +ground of rejoicing 'before the Lord.' But we must not forget that, +according to Leviticus, it was appointed while the wilderness life was +still present, and so was not to be observed then. Was it, then, a dead +letter, or had the appointment a message of joy even to the weary +wanderers who lived in the veritable booths, which after generations +were to make a feast of mimicking? How firm the confidence of entering +the land must have been, which promulgated such a law! It would tend to +hearten the fainting courage of the pilgrims. A divinely guaranteed +future is as certain as the past, and the wanderers whom He guides may +be sure of coming to the settled home. All words which He speaks +beforehand concerning that rest and the joyful worship there are +pledges that it shall one day be theirs. The present use of the +prospective law was to feed faith and hearten hope; and, when Canaan +was reached, its use was to feed memory and brighten godly gladness. + +The feast of tabernacles was the consecration of joy. Other religions +have had their festivals, in which wild tumult and foul orgies have +debased the worshippers to the level of their gods. How different the +pure gladness of this feast 'before the Lord'! No coarse and sensuous +delights of passion could live before the 'pure eyes and perfect +witness' of God. In His 'presence' must be purity as well as 'fullness +of joy.' If this festival teaches us, on the one hand, that they +wofully misapprehend the spirit of godliness who do not find it full of +gladsomeness, it teaches us no less, on the other, that they wofully +misapprehend the spirit of joy, who look for it anywhere but 'before +the Lord.' The ritual of the feast commanded gladness. Joy is a duty to +God's children. There were mourners in Israel each year, as the feast +came round, who would rather have shrunk into a corner, and let the +bright stream of merriment flow past them; but they, too, had to open +their heavy hearts, and to feel that, in spite of their private +sorrows, they had a share in the national blessings. No grief should +unfit us for feeling thankful joy for the great common gift of 'a +common salvation.' The sources of religious joy, open to all +Christians, are deeper than the fountains of individual sorrow, deep as +life though these sometimes seem. + +The wilderness life came into view in the feast as a wandering life of +privation and change. The booths reminded of frail and shifting +dwellings, and so made the contrast with present settled homes the +sweeter. They were built, not of such miserable scrub as grew in the +desert, and could scarcely throw shade enough to screen a lizard, but +of the well-foliaged branches of trees grown by the rivers of water, +and so indicated present abundance. The remembrance of privations and +trials past, of which the meaning is understood, and the happy results +in some degree possessed, is joy. Prosperous men like to talk of their +early struggles and poverty. This feast teaches that such remembrance +ought always to trace the better present to God, and that memory of +conquered sorrows and trials is wholesome only when it is devout, and +that the joy of present ease is bracing, not when it is +self-sufficient, but when it is thankful. The past, rightly looked at, +will yield for us all materials for a feast of tabernacles; and it is +rightly looked at only when it is all seen as God's work, and as +tending to settled peace and abundance. Therefore the regulations end +with that emphatic seal of all His commands, to impress which on our +hearts is the purpose of all His dealings with us as with Israel, 'I am +the Lord your God.' + +III. We may note our Lord's allusions to the feast. There are probably +two, both referring to later additions to the ceremonies. One is in +John vii. 37. We learn from the Talmud that on each of the seven days +(and according to one Rabbi on the eighth also) a priest went down to +Siloam and drew water in a golden pitcher, which he brought back amid +the blare of trumpets to the altar, and poured into a silver basin +while the joyous worshippers chanted the 'Great Hallel' (Psa. +cxiii.-cxviii.), and thrice waved their palm branches as they sang. We +may venture to suppose that this had been done for the last time; that +the shout of song had scarcely died away when a stir in the crowd was +seen, and a Galilean peasant stood forth, and there, before the priests +with their empty vessels, and the hushed multitude, lifted up His +voice, so as to be heard by all, and cried, saying: 'If any man thirst, +let him come unto Me, and drink.' What increased force is given to the +extraordinary self-assertion of such words, if we picture this as the +occasion of their utterance! Leviticus gives no preeminence to any one +day, but John's expression, 'that great day of the feast,' may well +have been warranted by later developments. + +The other allusion is less certain, though it is probable. It is found +in the saying at John viii. 12: 'I am the Light of the world,' etc. The +Talmud gives a detailed account of the illuminations accompanying the +feast. Four great golden lamps were set up in the court, each tended by +four young priests. 'There was not a court in Jerusalem that was not +lit up by the lights of the water-drawing.' Bands of grave men with +flashing torches danced before the people, while Levites 'accompanied +them with harps, psalteries, cymbals, and numberless musical +instruments,' and another band of Levites standing on the fifteen steps +which led to the women's court, chanted the fifteen so-called 'songs of +degrees,' and yet others marched through the courts blowing their +trumpets as they went. It must have been a wild scene, dangerously +approximating to the excitement of heathen nocturnal festivals, and our +Lord may well have sought to divert the spectators to higher thoughts. +But the existence of the allusion is doubtful. + +We have one more allusion to the feast, considered as a prophecy of the +true rest and joy in the true Canaan. The same John, who has preserved +Christ's references, gives one of his own in Revelation vii. 9, when he +shows us the great multitude out of every nation 'with palms in their +hands.' These are not the Gentile emblems of victory, as they are often +taken to be. There are no heathen emblems in the Apocalypse, but all +moved within the circle of Jewish types and figures. So we are to think +of that crowd of 'happy palmers' as joyously celebrating the true feast +of tabernacles in the settled home above, and remembering, with eyes +made clear by heaven, the struggles and fleeting sorrows of the +wilderness. The emblem sets forth heaven as a festal assembly, as the +ingathering of the results of the toils of earth, as settled life after +weary pilgrimage, as glad retrospect of the meaning and triumphant +possession of the issues of God's patient guidance and wise discipline. +Here we dwell in 'the earthly house of this tabernacle'; there, in a +'building of God ... eternal.' Here we are agitated by change, and +wearied by the long road; there, changeless but increasing joy will be +ours, and the backward look of thankful wonder will enhance the +sweetness of the blessed present, and confirm the calm and sure hope of +an ever-growing glory stretching shoreless and bright before us. + + + + +SOJOURNERS WITH GOD + + + 'The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is + Mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with Me.' + --LEV. xxv. 23. + +The singular institution of the Jubilee year had more than one purpose. +As a social and economical arrangement it tended to prevent the +extremes of wealth and poverty. Every fiftieth year the land was to +revert to its original owners, the lineal descendants of those who had +'come in with the conqueror,' Joshua. Debts were to be remitted, slaves +emancipated, and so the mountains of wealth and the valleys of poverty +were to be somewhat levelled, and the nation carried back to its +original framework of a simple agricultural community of small owners, +each 'sitting under his own vine and fig-tree' and, like Naboth, +sturdily holding the paternal acres. + +As a ceremonial institution it was the completion of the law of the +Sabbath. The seventh day proclaimed the need for weekly rest from +labour, and as was the sabbath in the week, so was the seventh year +among the years--a time of quiet, when the land lay fallow and much of +the ordinary labour was suspended. Nor were these all; when seven weeks +of years had passed, came the great Jubilee year, charged with the same +blessed message of Rest, and doubtless showing dimly to many wearied +and tearful eyes some gleams of a better repose beyond. + +Besides these purposes, it was appointed to enforce, and to make the +whole fabric of the national wealth consciously rest upon, this thought +contained in our text. The reason why the land was not to pass out of +the hauls of the representatives of those to whom God had originally +given it, was that He had not really given it to them at all. It was +not theirs to sell--they had only a beneficiary occupation. While they +held it, it was still His, and neither they, nor any one to whom they +might sell the use of it for a time, were anything more than tenants at +will. The land was His, and they were only like a band of wanderers, +squatting for a while by permission of the owner, on his estate. Their +camp-fires were here today, but to-morrow they would be gone. They were +'strangers and sojourners.' That may sound sad, but all the sadness +goes when we read on--'with Me.' They are God's guests, so though they +do not own a foot of soil, they need not fear want. + +All this is as true for us. We can have no better New Year's thoughts +than those which were taught by the blast of the silver trumpets that +proclaimed liberty to the slaves, and restored to the landless pauper +his alienated heritage. + +I. Here is the lesson of God's proprietorship and our stewardship. + +'The land is Mine' was of course true in a special sense of the +territory which God gave by promise and miracle, which was kept by +obedience, and lost by rebellion. But it is as really true about our +possessions, and that not only because of our transient stay here. It +would be as true if we were to live in this world for ever. It will be +as true in heaven. Length of time makes no difference in this tenure. +Undisturbed possession for ever so long does not constitute ownership +here. God is possessor of all, by virtue of His very nature, by His +creation and preservation of us and of all things. So that when we talk +about 'mine' and 'thine,' we are only speaking a half truth. There is a +great sovereign 'His' behind both. So then let us take that thought +with us for use, as we pass into another year. What lessons does it +give? + +It should nurture constant thankfulness. To-day looking back over +whatever dark, dreary, sunless days, we all have bright ones too. Does +any thought of God as the Fountain of all our joys and goods rise in +our souls? Have we learned to associate a divine hand and a Father's +will with them? Do we congratulate ourselves on our own cleverness, +tact, and skill, saying, 'mine hand hath done it,' or do we hug +ourselves on our own good fortune, and burn incense to chance and +'circumstances'?--or, sadder still, are we generously grateful to every +human friend that helps us, and unthankful only to God--or does the +glad thought come, to gild the finest gold of our possessions with new +brilliance and worth, and to paint and perfume the whitest lily of our +joys with new delightsomeness, 'All things come of Thee'; 'Thou makest +us drink of the river of Thy pleasures'? Blessed are they who, by the +magic glass of a thankful heart, see all things in God, and God in all +things. To them life is tenfold brighter, as a light plunged in oxygen +flames more intensely than in common air. The darkest night is filled +with light, and the loneliest place blazes with angel faces, and the +stoniest pillar is soft, to him who sees everywhere the ladder that +knits earth with heaven, and to whom all His blessings are as the +messengers that descend by it on errands of mercy, whose long shining +ranks lead up the eye and the heart to the loving God from whom they +come. + +Here too is the ground for constant thankful submission. 'The Lord +gave, and the Lord hath taken away.' We have no right to murmur, +however we may regret, if the Landowner takes back a bit of the land +which He has let us occupy. It was the condition of our occupation that +He should be at liberty to do so whenever He saw that it would be best +for us. He does not give us our little patches for His advantage, but +for ours, nor does He take them away at His own whim, but 'for our +profit.' We get more than full value for all the work and capital we +have expended, and His only reason for ever disturbing us is that we +may be driven to claim a better inheritance in Himself than we can find +even in the best of His gifts. So He sometimes gives, that we may be +led by our possessions to think lovingly of Him; and He sometimes +takes, that we may be led, in the hour of emptiness and loss, to +recognise whose hand it was that pulled up the props round which our +poor tendrils clung. But the opposite actions have the same purpose, +and like the up-and-down stroke of a piston, or the contrary motion of +two cogged wheels that play into each other, are meant to impel us in +one direction, even to the heart of God who is our home. A landowner +stops up a private road one day in a year, in order to assert his +right, and to remind the neighbourhood that he could stop it altogether +if he liked. So God reminds us by our losses and sorrows, of what we +are so apt to forget, and what it is such a joy to us to remember--His +possession of them all. Blessed be God! He teaches us in that fashion +far seldomer than in the other. Let joy teach us the lesson, and we +shall the less need 'the sternest' teacher 'and the best,' even sorrow. +Better to learn it by gladness than by tears; better to see it written +in 'laughing flowers' than in desolate gardens and killing frost. + +So, too, there should be a constant sense of responsibility in the use +of all which we have. All is His, and He has given all to us, for a +purpose. So, plainly, we are but stewards, or trustees, and are bound +to employ everything, not according to our own inclination or notion of +what is right, but according to what, in the exercise of our best and +most impartial judgment, we believe to be the owner's will. Trusteeship +means that we take directions as to the employment of the property from +its owner. It means too that we employ it not for our own satisfaction +and well-being alone, though that is included, and is a part of His +purpose who 'delights in the prosperity of His servants.' Thoughts of +others, thoughts of the owner's claims, and of bringing back to Him all +that He has given to us, increased by our diligence, must be uppermost +in our minds, if we are to live nobly or happily here. 'It is required +in stewards that a man be found faithful.' And this applies to all we +have in mind, body, and estate. A thoughtful expenditure and use of all +His gifts, on principles drawn from our knowledge of His will, and for +objects not terminating with self, is the duty that corresponds to the +great fact of God's ownership of all. If we use His gifts to minister +to our own vanity or frivolity, or love of ease, or display; if an +'intolerable deal' of all we have is used for ourselves, and a poor +ha'porth' for others; if our gifts are grudging; if we possess without +sense of responsibility, and enjoy without thankfulness, and lose with +murmuring; if our hearts are more set on material prosperity than on +love and peace, knowledge and purity, noble lives and a Father God; if +higher desires and hopes are dying out as we 'get on' in the world, and +religious occupations which used to be pleasant are stale; then for all +our outward Christianity the stern old woe applies, 'Your riches are +corrupted, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you,' and we +need the shrill note of the trumpet of Jubilee to be blown in our ears, +'The land is Mine.' + +II. We have the teaching of the transiency of our stay here. + +'Ye are strangers and sojourners'--pilgrims who make a brief halt in a +foreign country. The image has in it an allusion to the nomad life of +Abraham and his son and grandson, as well as to the desert-wanderings +of the people, and suggests the thought, 'You are homeless wanderers, +not having where to lay your heads, as truly when you have been settled +for generations on your ancestral lands, as when you plodded wearily in +the wilderness.' It is a universal truth, ever acknowledged and +forgotten, wholesome though sometimes sad to feel, and preached to even +frivolous natures by the change in our calendar which a New Year brings. + +How vividly this word of our text brings out the contrast between the +permanence of the external world and our brief stay in it! + +In Israel there would be few vineyards or olive-grounds held by the +same man at two, and none at three, successive jubilees. The hoary +twisted olives yielded their black berries, say, to Simeon, the son of +Joseph, to-day, as they did fifty years ago to Joseph, the son of +Reuben, and as they will do fifty years hence to Judas, the son of +Simeon. So is it with us all. There is nothing more pathetic than the +thought of how generations come and go, and empires rise and fall, +while the scene on which they play their brief parts remains the same. + + 'The mountains look on Marathon, + And Marathon looks on the sea.' + +to-day as they did more than two millenniums ago, only the grass was +for a while a little ranker on the plain. Olivet lifts the same outline +against the pale morning twilight as when David went up its slope a +weeping exile. The pebble that we kick out of our path had thousands of +years of existence ere we were born, and may lie there unaltered to all +appearance for centuries after we are dead. 'One generation cometh and +another goeth, but the earth abideth for ever.' + +And how much more lasting our possessions are than their possessors! +Where are the strong hands that clutched the rude weapons that lie now +quietly ticketed in our museums? How dim and dark the bright brave eyes +that once flashed through the bars of these helmets, hanging just a +little rusted, over the tombs in Westminster Abbey! Other men will live +in our houses, read our books, own our mills, use our furniture, preach +in our pulpits, sit in our pews: we are but lodgers in this abiding +nature, 'like a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night,' +and to-morrow morning vacates his rooms for a new arrival, and goes +away unregretted and is forgotten in an hour. + +The constant change and progression of life are enforced, too, in this +metaphor. + +The old threadbare emblem of a journey which is implied in the text +suggests how, moment by moment, we hurry on and how everything is +slipping past us, as fields and towns do to a traveller in a train. +Only our journey is smooth and noiseless, like the old-fashioned canal +boat travelling, where, if you shut your eyes, you could not tell that +you were moving. We glide on and never know it, and so gradually and +silently is the scene 'changed by still degrees,' that it is only now +and then that men have any vivid consciousness that the 'fashion of +this world is' ever 'in the act of passing,' like the canvas of a +panorama ever winding and unwinding on its twin rollers with slow, +equable motion. It needs an effort of attention and will to discern the +movement, and it is worth while to make the effort, for that clear and +poignant sense of the constant flux and mutation of all things around +us, and of the ebbing away of our own lives, is fundamental to all +elevation of thought, to all nobleness of deed, to all worthy +conception of duty and of joy. Everything that is, stands poised, like +Fortune, on a rolling ball. The solid earth is a movable sphere, for +ever spinning on its axis and rushing on its path among the stars. Ever +some star is sinking in mist, or dipping below the horizon; ever new +constellations are climbing to the zenith. A long, patient discipline +is needed to keep fresh in our hearts the sense of this transiency. Let +us set ourselves consciously to deepen our convictions of it, and +amidst all the illusions of these solid-seeming shows of things, keep +firm hold of the assurance that they are but fleeting shadows that +sweep across the solemn mountain's side, and that only God and the +doing of His will lasts. So shall our life pierce down with its seeking +roots to the abiding ground of all Being, and, looking to the 'things +that are eternal,' we shall be able to make what is but for a moment +contribute to the everlasting ennobling of our character and enrichment +of our life yonder. + +Surely these words, too, tell of the true home. + +'Ye are strangers'--because your native land is elsewhere. It is not +merely the physical facts of death and change that make us strangers +here, but the direction of our desires, and the true affinities of our +nature. If by these we belong to heaven and God, then here we shall +feel that we have not where to lay our heads, and shall 'dwell in +tabernacles' because 'we look for the city.' + +What a contrast between the perishable tents of the wilderness and the +rock-built mansions of that city. And how short this phase of being +must look when seen from above! You remember how long a year, a week, +seemed to you when a child--what do the first ten years of your life +look to you now? What must the earthly life of Abel, the first who +died, look to him even now, when he contrasts its short twenty or +thirty years with the thousands since? and, after thousands and +thousands more, how it will dwindle! So to us, if we reach that safe +shore, and look back upon the sea that brought us thither, as it +stretches to the horizon, miles of billows once so terrible will seem +shrunken to a line of white foam. + +Cherish, then, constant consciousness of that solemn eternity, and let +your eyes be ever directed to it, like a man who sees some great flush +of light on the horizon, and is ever turning from his work to look. Use +the transient as preparation for the eternal, the fleeting days as +those which determine the undying 'Day' and its character. Keep your +cares and interests in the present rigidly limited to necessary things. +Why should travellers burden themselves? The less luggage, the easier +marching. The accommodation and equipment in the desert do not matter +much. The wise man will say, 'Oh, it will do. I shall soon be home.' +'Ye are strangers and sojourners.' + +III. We have here also the teaching of trust. + +Some of us think that such thoughts as the preceding are sad. Why +should they be so? They need not be. Our text adds a little word which +takes all the sadness out of them. 'With Me'; that gives the true +notion of our earthly life. We are strangers indeed, passing through a +country which is not ours, but whilst we are sojourners, we are +'sojourners' with the king of the land. In the antique hospitable +times, the chief of the tribe would take the travellers to his own +tent, and charge himself with their safety and comfort. So we are God's +guests on our travels. He will take care of us. The visitor has no need +to trouble himself about the housekeeping, he may safely leave that +with the master of the house. If the king has taken us in charge, we +may be quite sure that no harm will come to us in his country. So for +ourselves and for those we love, and for all the wide interests of +church and world, there are peace and strength in the thought that we +are the guests of God here, 'strangers and sojourners with _Him_.' Will +He invite us to His table and let us hunger? Will He call us to be His +guests, and then, like some traitorous Arab sheikh, break the laws of +hospitality and harm His too-confiding guests? Impossible for evermore. +So we are safe, and our bread shall be given us, for we are sojourners +with God. + +True, we are strangers, and in our constant movement we lose many of +the companions of our march, and the track of the caravan may be traced +by the graves on either side. But, since we are 'with Him,' we have +companionship even when most solitary, and even in a strange land shall +not be lonely. Seek then to cultivate as a joy and strength that +consciousness that the Lord of all the land is ever with you, Whoever +goes, He abides. Whatever rushes past us like a phantasmagoria, He +passes not. Whatever and whoever change, He changes never. Where thou +goest, He will go. He will be 'thy shield at thy right hand,' and thy +'keeper from all evil.' So, looking forward to the unknown days of +another New Year, we may be of good cheer. + +So will it be while we live; and if this year we should die--well, the +King of this land, where we are strangers, is the King of the other +land beyond the sea, where we are at home. So we shall only be the +nearer to Him for the change. Death the separator shall but unite us to +the King, whose presence indeed fills this subject-province of His +empire with all its good, but who dwells in more resplendent 'beauty,' +and is felt in greater nearness in the other 'land that is very far +off.' Whether here or there, we may have God with us, if we will. With +Him for our Host and companion, let us peacefully go on our road, while +the life of strangers and sojourners shall last. It will bring us to +the fatherland where we shall be at home with the King, and find in Him +our 'sure dwelling, and quiet resting-place, and peaceful habitation +for ever.' + + + + +GOD'S SLAVES + + + 'For they are My servants, which I brought forth out + of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as bondmen.' + --LEV. xxv. 42. + +This is the basis of the Mosaic legislation as to slavery. It did not +suppress but regulated that accursed system. Certainly Hebrew slavery +was a very different thing from that of other nations. In the first +place, no Jew was to be a slave. To that broad principle there were +exceptions, such as the case of the man who voluntarily gave himself up +to his creditor. But even he was not to be treated as a slave, but as a +'hired servant,' and at the jubilee was to be set free. There were also +other regulations of various kinds in other circumstances on which we +do not need to dwell. The slaves of alien blood were owned and used, +but under great mitigations and restrictions. + +Of course we have here an instance of the incompleteness of the Mosaic +law,--or rather we may more truly say of its completeness, regard being +had to the state of the world at the time. All social change hangs +together. Institutions cannot be altered at a blow, without altering +the stage of civilisation, of which they are the expression. 'Raw +haste' is 'half-sister to delay.' What is good and necessary for one +era is out of place in another. So God works slowly, and lets bad +things die out, by changing the atmosphere in which they flourish. + +All servitude to men was an infraction of God's rights over Israel. God +was the Israelites' 'Master'; they were His 'slaves.' He was so, +because He had 'broken the bands of their yoke, and set them free.' +There is, then, here-- + +I. The ground of God's rights. 'I brought you forth.' + +II. Our servitude because of our redemption. 'Ye are My servants.' + +III. Our consequent freedom from all other masters. 'Ye shall not be +sold as bondmen.' + + + + +THE KINSMAN REDEEMER + + + 'After that he is sold he may be redeemed again; one of + his brethren may redeem him.'--LEV. xxv. 48. + +There are several of the institutions and precepts of the Mosaic +legislation which, though not prophetic, nor typical, have yet +remarkable correspondences with lofty Christian truth. They may be used +as symbols, if only we remember that we are diverting them from their +original purpose. + +How singularly these words lend themselves to the statement of the very +central truths of Christianity--a slavery which is not necessarily +perpetual and a redemption effected by a kinsman! + +That institution of the 'Goel' is of a very remarkable kind, and throws +great light on Christian verities. I wish, in dealing with it, to guard +against any idea that it was meant to be prophetic or typical. + +I. The kinsman redeemer under the old law. + +The strength of the family tie in the Israelitish polity was great. The +family was the unit--hence there were certain duties devolving on the +nearest male relative. These, so far as we are at present concerned, +were three. + +_(a)_ The redemption of a slave. The Mosaic legislation about slavery +was very remarkable. It did not nominally prohibit it, but it fenced it +round and modified it, so as to make it another thing. + +Israelites were allowed to hold Gentile slaves, but under careful +restrictions. Israelites were allowed to sell themselves as slaves. If +the sale was to Israelites, the slavery was ended in six years or at +the jubilee, whichever period came first--unless the slave had his ear +bored to the doorpost to intimate his contentment in service (Exod. +xxi. 5,6). This is not slavery in our sense of the word, but only a six +years' engagement. If sold to a heathen in Israel, then the Goel had to +redeem him; and the reason for this was that all Israelites belonged to +God. + +_(b)_ The redemption of an inheritance. + +This was the task of the kinsman-goel. The land belonged to the tribe. +Pauperism was thus kept off. There could be no 'submerged tenth.' The +theocratic reason was, 'the land shall not be sold at all for ever for +it is Mine!' + +_(c)_ The avenging of murder. Blood feuds were thus checked, though not +abolished. The remarkable institution of 'cities of refuge' gave +opportunity for deliberate investigation into each case. If wilful +murder was proved, the murderer was given up to the Goel for +retribution; if death had been by misadventure, the slayer was kept in +the city of refuge till the high-priest's decease. + +This is the germ of the figure of the Redeemer-Kinsman in later +Scripture. Notice how higher ideas began to gather round the office. +The prophets felt that in some way God was their 'Goel.' In Isaiah the +application of the name to Him is frequent and, we might almost say, +habitual. So in Psalm xlix. 7, 'None can be Goel to his brother'; verse +15, 'God will be Goel to my soul from the power of the grave.' + +Job xix. 25, 'I know that my Goel liveth....' + +II. Our Kinsman-Redeemer. + +The New Testament metaphor of 'Redemption' or buying back with a ransom +is distinctly drawn from the Hebrew Goel's office. + +Christ is the Kinsman. The brotherhood of Christ with us was +voluntarily assumed, and was for the purpose of redeeming His brethren. + +He is the Kinsman-Redeemer from slavery,--a slavery which is voluntary. +The soul is self-delivered to evil and sin; but blessed be God! this +slavery is terminable. The kinship of Christ was needful for our +redemption. 'It behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren.' He thus +gave His life a 'ransom' for many. Note the objective value of His +atonement, and its subjective power as setting us free. + +He is the Kinsman-Redeemer of our inheritance. God is the inheritance +here. The manhood of Jesus brings God back to us for our--(1) +Knowledge; (2) Love; (3) Possession. Heaven is our inheritance +hereafter. His manhood secures it for us. 'I go to prepare a place for +you.' 'An inheritance incorruptible.' 'The redemption of the purchased +possession.' + +The Kinsman-Avenger of blood. It is only in a modified sense that we +can transfer this part of the Goel's office to Jesus. The old +Kinsman-Avenger of blood avenged it by shedding the shedder's blood in +retribution. But that was not the kind of vindication (for Goel means +also Vindicator) for which Job looked when he used the expression. +Resurrection to the vision of God was to come to him 'at the last,' by +the standing of his Goel on the earth, and that was to be the true +avenging of his death, and his vindication. The great murderer Death is +to die, and his victims are to be wrested from him, and their death be +proved to be the means of their fuller life. 'Precious shall their +blood be in His sight,' and when their slayer is slain they will live +for ever, partakers of their Kinsman-Redeemer's glory, because they had +been partakers of His death, and His blood had been precious in their +sight. Let us cling to our Kinsman-Redeemer in all our life that He may +give us freedom and an inheritance among His brethren, and, closing our +eyes in death, we may commend our spirits to the 'Angel that redeemed +us from all evil,' and be sure that He will 'redeem' our 'souls from +the power of the grave.' + + + + +THE OLD STORE AN THE NEW + + + 'Ye shall eat old store, and bring forth the old because + of the new.' + LEV. xxvi. 10. + +This is one of the blessings promised to obedience. No doubt it, like +the other elements of that 'prosperity' which 'is the blessing of the +Old Testament,' presupposes a supernatural order of things, in which +material well-being was connected with moral good far more closely and +certainly than we see to be the case. But the spirit and heart of the +promise remain, however the form of it may have passed away. It is a +picturesque way of saying that the harvest shall be more than enough +for the people's wants. All through the winter, and the spring, and the +ripening summer, their granaries shall yield supplies. There will be no +season of scarcity such as often occurs in countries whose +communications are imperfect, just before harvest, when the last year's +crop is exhausted, and it is hard to get anything to live on till this +year's is ready. But when the new wheat comes in they will have still +much of the old, and will have to 'bring it forth' to empty their +barns, to make room for the fresh supplies which the blessing of God +has sent before they were needed. The same idea of superabundant yield +from the fields is given under another form in a previous verse of this +chapter (ver. 5): 'Your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the +vintage shall reach unto the sowing time, and ye shall eat your bread +to the full': which reminds one of the striking prophecy of Amos: +'Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake +the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed.' So rapid +the growth, and so large the fruitfulness, that the gatherer shall +follow close on the heels of the sower, and will not have accomplished +his task before it is again time to sow. The prophet clearly has in his +mind the old promise of the law, and applies it to higher matters, even +to the fields white to harvest, where 'he that soweth and he that +reapeth shall rejoice together.' In the same way we may take these +words, and gather from them better promises and larger thoughts than +they originally carried. + +There is in them a promise as to the fullness of the divine gifts, +which has a far wider reach and nobler application than to the harvests +and granaries of old Palestine. + +We may take the words in that aspect, first, as containing God's pledge +that these outward gifts shall come in unbroken continuity. And have +they not so come to us all, for all these long years? Has there ever +been a gap left yawning? has there ever been a break in the chain of +mercies and supplies? has it not rather been that 'one post ran to meet +another,' that before one of the messengers had unladed all his budget, +another's arrival has antiquated and put aside his store? True, we are +often brought very low; there may not be much in the barn but +sweepings, and a few stray grains scattered over the floor. We may have +but a handful of meal in the barrel, and be ready to dress it 'that we +may eat it, and die.' But it never really comes to that. The new ever +comes before the old is all eaten up; or if it be delayed even beyond +that time, it comes before the hunger reaches inanition. It may be good +that we should have to trust Him, even when the storehouse is empty; it +may be good for us to know something of want, but that discipline comes +seldom, and is never carried very far. For the most part He anticipates +wants by gifts, and His good gifts overlap each other in our outward +lives as slates on a roof, or scales on a fish. + +We wonder at the smooth working of the machinery for feeding a great +city; and how, day by day, the provisions come at the right time, and +are parted out among hundreds of thousands of homes. But we seldom +think of the punctual love, the perfect knowledge, the profound wisdom +which cares for us all, and is always in time with its gifts. It was +that quality of punctuality extended over a whole universe which seemed +so wonderful to the Psalmist: 'The eyes of all wait upon Thee, and Thou +givest them their meat in due season.' God's machinery for distribution +is perfect, and its very perfection, with the constancy of the +resulting blessings, robs Him of His praise, and hinders our gratitude. +By assiduity He loses admiration. + +'Things grown common lose their dear delight.' 'If in His gifts and +benefits He were more sparing and close-handed,' said Luther, 'we +should learn to be thankful.' But let us learn it by the continuity of +our joys, that we may not need to be taught it by their interruption; +and let us still all tremulous anticipation of possible failure or +certain loss by the happy confidence which we have a right to cherish, +that His mercies will meet our needs, continuous as they are, and be +strung so close together on the poor thread of our lives that no gap +will be discernible in the jewelled circle. + +May we not apply that same thought of the unbroken continuity of God's +gifts to the higher region of our spiritual experience? His supplies of +wisdom, love, joy, peace, power, to our souls are always enough and +more than enough for our wants. If ever men complain of languishing +vitality in their religious emotions, or of a stinted supply of food +for their truest self, it is their own fault, not His. He means that +there should be no parentheses of famine in our Christian life. It is +not His doing if times of torpor alternate with seasons of quick energy +and joyful fullness of life. So far as He is concerned the flow is +uninterrupted, and if it come to us in jets and spurts as from an +intermittent well, it is because our own fault has put some obstacle to +choke the channel and dam out His Spirit from our spirits. We cannot +too firmly hold, or too profoundly feel, that an unbroken continuity of +supplies of His grace--unbroken and bright as a sunbeam reaching in one +golden shaft all the way from the sun to the earth--is His purpose +concerning us. Here, in this highest region, the thought of our text is +most absolutely true; for He who gives is ever pouring forth His own +self for us to take, and there is no limit to our reception but our +capacity and our desire; nor any reason for a moment's break in our +possession of love, righteousness, peace, but our withdrawal of our +souls from beneath the Niagara of His grace. As long as we keep our +poor vessels below that constant downpour they will be full. It is all +our own blame if they are empty. Why should Christian people have these +dismal times of deadness, these parentheses of paralysis? as if their +growth must be like that of a tree with its alternations of winter +sleep and summer waking? In regard to outward blessings we are, as it +were, put upon rations, and 'that He gives' us we 'gather.' There He +sometimes does, in love and wisdom, put us on very short allowance, and +even now and then causes 'the fields to yield no meat.' But never is it +so in the higher region. There He puts the key of the storehouse into +our own hands, and we may take as much as we will, and have as much as +we take. There the bread of God is given for evermore, and He wills +that in uninterrupted abundance 'the meek shall eat and be satisfied.' + +The source is full to overflowing, and there are no limits to the +supply. The only limit is our capacity, which again is largely +determined by our desire. So after all His gifts there is more yet +unreceived to possess. After all His Self-revelation there is more yet +unspoken to declare. Great as is the goodness which He has 'wrought +before the sons of men for them that trust in Him,' there are far +greater treasures of goodness 'laid up' in the deep mines of God 'for +them that fear Him.' Bars of uncoined treasure and ingots of massy gold +lie in His storehouses, to be put into circulation as soon as we need, +and can use, them. Hence we have the right to look for an endless +increase in our possession of God; and from the consideration of an +Infinite Spirit that imparts Himself, and of finite but indefinitely +expansible spirits that receive, the certainty arises of an endless +life for us of growing glory; a heaven of ceaseless advance, where in +constant alternation desire shall widen capacity, and capacity increase +fruition, and fruition lead in, not satiety, but quickened appetite and +deeper longing. + +But we may also see in this text the prescription of a duty as well as +the announcement of a promise. There is direction here as to our manner +of receiving God's gifts, as well as large assurance as to His manner +of bestowing them. It is His to substitute the new for the old. It is +ours gladly to accept the exchange, a task not always easy or pleasant. + +No doubt there is a natural love of change deep in us all, but that is +held in check by its opposite, and all poetry and human life itself are +full of the sadness born of mutation. Our Lord laid bare a deep +tendency, when He said, 'No man having tasted old wine, straightway +desireth new; because he saith the old is better.' We cling to what is +familiar, in the very furniture of our houses; and yet we are ever +being forced to accept what is strange and new, and, like some fresh +article in a room, is out of harmony with the well-worn things that we +have seen standing in their corners for years. It takes some time for +the raw look to wear off, and for us to 'get used to it,' as we say. So +is it, though often for deeper reasons, in far more important things. A +man, for instance, has been engaged in some kind of business for years, +and at last God shows him, by clear indications, that he must turn to +something else. How slow he is to see it, how reluctant to do it! How +he cleaves to the 'old store'! How he shrinks from clearing out the +barn, to bring in the new! Or a household has been going on for many +days unbroken, and at last a time comes when some of its members have +to pass out into new circumstances; a son to push his way in the world, +a daughter to brighten another fireside. It is hard for the parents to +enter fully into the high hopes of their children, and to accept the +new condition, without many vain longings for the old days that can +never come back any more. So, all through our lives, wisdom and faith +say, 'Bring forth the old because of the new.' Accept cheerfully the +law of constant change under which God's love has set us. Do not let +the pleasant bonds of habit tie down your hearts so tightly to the +familiar possessions that you shrink from the introduction of fresh +elements. Be sure that the new comes from the same loving hand which +sent the old in its season, and that change is meant to be progress. Do +not confine yourselves within any mill-horse round of associations and +occupations. Front the vicissitudes of life, not merely with brave +patience, but with happy confidence, for they all come from Him whose +love is older than your oldest blessings, and whose mercies, new every +morning, express themselves afresh through every change. Welcome the +new, treasure the old, and in both see the purpose of that loving +Father who, Himself unchanged, changeth all things, and + + '... fulfils Himself in many ways, + Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.' + +In higher matters than these our text may give us counsel as to our +duty. 'God hath more light yet to break forth from His holy word.' We +are bound to welcome new truth, so soon as to our apprehensions it has +made good its title, and not to refuse it lodgment in our minds because +it needs the displacement of their old contents. In the regions of our +knowledge and of our Christian life, most chiefly, are we under solemn +obligations to 'bring forth the old store because of the new'; if we +would not be unfaithful to God's great educational process that goes on +through all our lives. It is often difficult to adjust the relations of +our last lesson with our previous possessions. There is always a +temptation to make too much of a new truth, and to fancy that it will +produce more change in our whole mental furniture than it really will +do. No man is less likely to come to the knowledge of the truth than he +who is always deep in love with some new thought, 'the Cynthia of the +minute,' and ever ready to barter 'old lamps for new ones.' But all +these things admitted, still it remains true that we are here to learn, +that our education is to go on all our days, and that here on earth it +can only be carried out by our parting with the old store, which may +have become musty by long lying in the granaries, to make room for the +new, just gathered in the ripened field. The great central truths of +God in Christ are to be kept for ever; but we shall come to grasp them +in their fullness only by joyfully welcoming every fresh access of +clearer light which falls upon them; and gladly laying aside our +inadequate thoughts of God's permanent revelation of Himself in Jesus +Christ, to house and garner in heart and spirit the fuller knowledge +which it may please Him to impart. + +So the law for life is thankful enjoyment of the old store, and +openness of mind and freedom of heart which permit its unreluctant +surrender when newer harvests ripen. And the highest form of the +promise of our text will be when we pass into another world, and its +rich abundance is poured out into our laps. Blessed are they who can +willingly put away the familiar blessings of earth, and stretch out, +willingly emptied, expectant hands to meet the 'new store' of Heaven! + + + + +EMANCIPATED SLAVES + + + 'I am the Lord your God, which brought you forth out of + the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; + and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you + go upright.'--LEV. xxvi. 13. + +The history of Israel is a parable and a prophecy as well as a history. + +The great central word of the New Testament has been drawn from it, +viz. 'redemption,' _i.e._ a buying out of bondage. + +The Hebrew slaves in Egypt were 'delivered.' The deliverance made them +a nation. God acquired them for Himself, and they became His servants. + +The great truths of the gospel are all there. + +Henceforth the fact of their deliverance became the basis of all His +appeals to them; the ground of His law; the reason for their obedience. +In the previous context it has shaped the institution of slavery. Here +it is the foundation of a general exhortation to obedience. The +emphatic picture of the men stooping beneath the yoke, and then +straightening themselves up, erect, illustrates the joyful freedom +which Christ gives. That freedom is our subject. + +I. Jesus gives freedom from the slavery of sin. + +Freedom consists in power to follow unhindered the law of our being. So +sin is slavery because it is contrary to that law. + +When Jesus promised freedom through the truth, the Jews indignantly +spurned the offer with the proud boast, which the presence of a Roman +garrison in Jerusalem should have made to stick in their throats: 'We +were never in bondage to any man.' A like hardy shutting of eyes to +plain facts characterises the attitude of multitudes to the Christian +view of man's condition. Jesus answered the Jews by the deep saying: +'He that committeth sin is the servant of sin.' A man fancies himself +showing off his freedom by throwing off the restraints of morality or +law, and by 'doing as he likes,' but he is really showing his +servitude. Self-will looks like liberty, but it is serfdom. The +libertine is a slave. That slavery under sin takes two forms. The man +who sins is a slave to the power of sin. Will and conscience are meant +to guide and impel us, and we never sin without first coercing or +silencing them and subjecting them to the upstart tyranny of desires +and senses which should obey and not command. The 'beggars' are on +horseback, and the 'princes' walking. There is a servile revolt, and we +know what horrors accompany that. + +But that slavery under sin is shown also by the terrible force with +which any sin, if once committed, appeals to the doer to repeat it. It +is not only in regard to sensual sins that the awful insistence of +habit grips the doer, and makes it the rarest thing that evil once done +is done only once. + +But he who sins is also a slave to the guilt of sin. True, that sense +of guilt is for the most part and in most men dormant, but the snake is +but hibernating, and often wakes and stings at most unexpected moments. +'The deceitfulness of sin' lies to the sinner, so that for the most +part he 'wipes his mouth, saying I have done no harm,' but some chance +incident may at any time, and certainly something will at some time, +dissipate the illusion, as a stray sunbeam might scatter a wisp of mist +and show startled eyes the grim fact that had always been there. And +even while not consciously felt, guilt hampers the soul's insight into +divine realities, clips its wings so that it cannot soar, paralyses its +efforts after noble aims, and inclines it to ignoble grovelling as far +away from thoughts of God and goodness as may be. + +Christ makes the man bound and tied by the cords of his sins lift +himself up and stand erect. By His death He brings forgiveness which +removes guilt and the consciousness of it. By His inbreathed life He +gives a new nature akin to His own, and brings into force a new motive, +even transforming love, which is stronger than the death with which sin +has cursed its doers. 'The law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus +has made me free from the law of sin and death.' + +II. Jesus gives freedom from a slavish relation to God. + +Apart from Him, God, if recognised at all, is for the most part thought +of as 'austere, reaping where He did not sow,' and His commandments as +grievous. Men may sullenly recognise that they cannot resist, but they +do not submit. They may obey in act, but there is no obedience in their +wills, nor any cheerfulness in their hearts. The elder brother in the +parable could say, 'Neither transgressed I at any time thy +commandment,' but his service had been joyless, and he never remembered +having received gifts that made him 'merry with his friends.' + +But from all such slavish, and therefore worthless, obedience, and all +such reluctant, and therefore unreal, submission, Jesus liberates those +who believe on Him and abide in His word. He declares God as our loving +Father, and through Him we have authority to become sons of God. He +'sends forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts,' and that makes us +to be no more slaves but sons. Sullen obedience becomes glad choice, +and it is the inmost desire, and the deepest delight, of the loving +child to do always the things that please the loving Father. 'I ought' +and 'I will' coalesce, and so there is no slavery, but perfect freedom, +in recognising and bowing to the great 'I must' which sweetly rules the +life. + +III. Christ gives deliverance from servility to men. + +We need not touch on the historical connection, plain as that is, +between modern conceptions of individual freedom and the influence of +Christ's teaching. Modern democracy is rooted in Christ, though it is +often unaware of its genesis, and blindly attacks the force to which it +owes its existence. + +Because all men are redeemed by Christ, because by that redemption all +stand in the same relation to Him, because all have equal access to +Him, and are taught and guided by His Spirit, because 'we must all +appear before the judgment-seat of Christ,' therefore class +prerogatives and subject classes fade away, and there is 'neither bond +nor free,' but 'all are one in Christ Jesus.' + +But there are other ways in which men tyrannise over men and in which +Christ's redemption sets us free. + +There is the undue authority of favourite teachers and examples. + +There is the tyranny of public opinion. + +There is undue regard to human approbation. + +There is the sway of priestcraft. + +How does Christianity deliver from these? It makes Christ's law our +unconditional duty. It makes His approbation our highest joy. It gives +legitimate scope to the instinct of loyalty, submission, and imitation, +and of subjection to authority. It reduces to insignificance men's +judgment, and all their loud voices to a babble of nothings. 'With me +it is a very small matter to be judged of man's judgment.' It brings +the soul into direct communion with God, and sweeps away all +intermediaries. + +'Not for that we have dominion over your faith but are helpers of your +joy; for by faith ye stand.' + +So personal independence and individuality of character are the result +of Christianity. 'I have made you go upright. + +IV. Christ gives us freedom from the power of circumstances. + +Most men are made by these. We need not here enter on questions of the +influence of their environment on all men's development. + +But Christ gives us-- + +_(a)_ A great aim for our lives high above these. + +_(b)_ A foothold in Him outside of them. We are not the slaves of our +circumstances, but their masters. + +_(c)_ The power to utilise them. + +So Christians are 'free' in all senses of the word. + +The great Act of Emancipation has been passed for us all. Only Christ +has rule over us, and we have our perfect freedom in His service. We +have been sitting in the prison-house, and He has come and declared +'The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me to proclaim liberty to the captives.' + + + + +THE BOOK OF NUMBERS + + + + +THE WARFARE OF CHRISTIAN SERVICE + + + 'All that enter in to perform the service, to do the + work in the tabernacle.' + NUM. iv. 23. + +These words occur in the series of regulations as to the functions of +the Levites in the Tabernacle worship. The words 'to perform the +service' are, as the margin tells us, literally, to 'war the warfare.' +Although it may be difficult to say why such very prosaic and homely +work as carrying the materials of the Tabernacle and the sacrificial +vessels was designated by such a term, the underlying suggestion is +what I desire to fix upon now--viz., that work for God, of whatever +kind it be, which Christian people are bound to do, and which is mainly +service for men for God's sake, will never be rightly done until we +understand that it is a _warfare_, as well as a work. + +The phrase on which I am commenting occurs again and again in the +regulations as to the Levitical service, and is applied, not only as in +my text to those who were told off to bear the burdens on the march, +but also to the whole body of Levites, who did the inferior services in +connection with the ritual worship. They were not, as it would appear, +sacrificing priests, but they belonged to the same tribe as these, and +they had sacred functions to discharge. So we come to this principle, +that Christian service is to be looked at as warfare. + +Now, that is a principle which ought to be applied to all Christians. +For there is no such thing as designating a portion of Christ's Church +to service which others have not to perform. The distinction of +'priest' and 'layman' existed in the Old Testament; it does not exist +under the New Covenant, and there is no obligation upon any one +Christian man to devote himself for Christ's sake to Christ's service +and man's help (which is Christ's service), that does not lie equally +upon all Christian people. The function is the same for all; the +methods of discharging it may be widely different. Within the limits of +the priestly tribe there may still be those whose office it is to carry +the vessels, and those whose office it is to act more especially as +ministering priests; but they are all 'of the tribe of Levi.' We, if we +are Christian people at all, are all bound to do this work of 'the +tabernacle,' and war this warfare. + +It is important that we Christian people should elevate our thoughts of +our duties in the world to the height of this great metaphor. The +metaphor of the Christian life as being a 'warfare' is familiar enough, +but that is not exactly the point which I wish to dwell upon now. When +we speak about 'fighting the good fight of faith,' we generally mean +our wrestle and struggle with our own evils and with the things that +hinder us from developing a Christlike character, and 'growing in the +grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.' But it is +another sort of warfare about which I am now speaking, the warfare +which every Christian man has to wage who flings himself into the work +of diminishing the world's miseries and sins, and tries to make people +better, and happier because they are better. That is a fight, and will +always be so, if it is rightly done. + +I. Think of the foes. + +Speaking generally, society is constituted upon a non-Christian basis. +We talk about 'Christian' nations. There is not one on the face of the +earth. There is not a nation whose institutions and maxims and politics +and the practices of its individual members are ruled and moulded +predominantly by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So every man that has come +into personal touch with that Lord, and has felt that His commandments +are the supreme authority in his own individual life, when he goes out +into society, comes full tilt against a whole host of things that are +in pronounced antagonism, or in real though unacknowledged +contradiction, to the principles by which a Christian has to live for +himself, and to commend to his brethren. So we have to fight. There are +two things to be done--the imparting of good which will increase the +sum of the world's happiness, and the destruction of evil, which will +subtract some of the world's sorrows. The latter is always a conflict, +for there are arrayed in defence of the evil vested interests, and the +influence of habit, and the lowered vitality and sensitiveness of +conscience which has come from breathing the polluted atmosphere which +evil has vitiated. So that if we set ourselves, in humble, quiet, +out-and-out dependence on Jesus Christ and submission to His will, to +lead other people to submit to His will, there is nothing in the world +more certain than that we shall find against us, starting up, as it +were, out of the mist and taking form suddenly, a whole host of +enemies. So we Christian men, as individuals, as members of a community +and able to bring some influence to bear upon the conscience of +society, have to fight against popular social evils, and to war for +righteousness' sake. + +There is another foe. There is nothing that men dislike more than being +lifted up into a clearer atmosphere and made to see truths which they +do not see or care for. When we first become Christians we are all hot +to go and teach and preach; and we fancy that we have only to stand up, +with a Bible in our hand, and read two or three texts, and our fellows +will grasp them as gladly as we have done. But soon we find out that it +is not so easy to draw men to Christ as we thought it would be. We have +to fight against gravitation and unwillingness, when we would lift a +poor brother into the liberty and the light that we are in. We have to +struggle with the men that we are trying to help. We have to war, in +order to bring 'the peace of God which passes understanding' into their +hearts. + +But the worst of all our foes, in doing Christian service, is our own +miserable selves, with our laziness, and our vanity, and our wondering +what A, B, and C will think about us, and the mingling of impure +motives with nobler ones, and our being angry with people because they +are so insensible, not so much to Christ's love as to our words and +pleadings. Unless we can purge all that devil's leaven out of +ourselves, we have little chance of working 'the work of the +tabernacle,' or warring the warfare of God. Ah! brethren, to do +anything for this world of unbelief and sin, of which we ourselves are +part, is a struggle. And I know of no work that needs more continual +putting a firm heel upon self, in all its subtle manifestations, than +the various forms of Christian service. Not only we preachers, but +Sunday-school teachers, mothers in their nurseries, teaching their +children, and all of us, if we are trying to do anything for men, for +Christ's sake, must feel, if we are honest with ourselves and about our +work, that the first condition of success in it is to fight down self, +and that only then, being emptied of ourselves, are we ready to be +filled with the Spirit, by which we are made mighty to pull down the +strongholds of sin. + +II. The weapons of this warfare. + +There are two great passages in the New Testament, both of which deal +with the Christian life under this metaphor of warfare. One of these is +the detailed description of the Christian armour in the Epistle to the +Ephesians. There we have described the equipment for that phase of the +fight of the Christian life which has to do mainly with the perfecting +of the individual character. But somewhat different is the armour which +is to be worn, when the Christian man goes out into the world to labour +and to wage war there for Jesus Christ. We may turn, then, rather to +the other of the two passages in question for the descriptions of the +equipment, armour, and weapons of the Christian in his warfare for the +spread of truth and goodness in the world. The passage to which I refer +is in 2 Cor. vi. What are the weapons that Paul specifies in that +place? I venture to alter their order, because he seems to have put +them down just as they came into his mind, and we can put some kind of +logical sequence into them. 'By the Word of God'--that is the first +one. 'By the Holy Ghost,' which is otherwise given as 'by the power of +God,' is the next. Get your minds and hearts filled with the truth of +the Gospel, and dwell in fellowship with God, baptized with His Holy +Spirit; and then you will be clothed 'as with a vesture down to your +heels' with the power of God. These are the divine side, the weapons +given us from above--'the Word of God' which is 'the sword of the +Spirit,' and the indwelling Holy Ghost manifesting Himself in power. +Then follow a series of human qualities which, though they are 'the +fruit of the Spirit,' are yet not produced in us without our own +co-operation. We have to forge and sharpen these weapons, though the +fire in which they are forged is from above, and the metal of which +they are made is given from heaven, like meteoric iron. These are +'kindness, long-suffering, love unfeigned.' We have to dismiss from our +minds the ordinary characteristics of warfare in thinking of that which +Christians are to wage. Like the old Knights Templars, we must carry a +sword which has a cross for its hilt, and must be clad in gentleness, +and long-suffering, and unfeigned love. 'The wrath of men worketh not +the righteousness of God.' You cannot bully people into Christianity, +you cannot scold them into goodness. There must be sweetness in order +to attract, and he imperfectly echoes the music of the voice that came +from 'the lips into which grace was poured,' whose words are harsh and +rough, and who preaches the Gospel as if he were thundering damnation +into people's ears. + +Brethren, whatever be our warfare against sin, we must never lose our +tempers. Harsh words break no bones indeed, but neither do they break +hearts. A character like Jesus Christ--that is the victorious weapon. +Let a man go and live in the world with these weapons that I have been +naming, the truth of God in his heart, the Holy Spirit in his spirit, +the power that comes therefrom animating his deadness and strengthening +his weakness, and himself an emblem and an embodiment of the redeeming +love of Christ--and though he spoke no word he would be sure to preach +Christ; and though he struck no blow he would be a formidable +antagonist to the hosts of evil, and the icebergs of sin and +godlessness would run down into water before his silent and omnipotent +shining. These are the weapons. + +III. Note the temper, or disposition, of the Christian warrior-servant. + +Courage goes without saying. If a man expects to be beaten, and to do +nothing by his Christian witness but clear his conscience, he deserves +nothing else than what he will get--viz. that his expectation will be +fulfilled and he _will_ do nothing else _but_ clear his conscience, and +that imperfectly. That is why so many preachers and Sunday-school +teachers never see any conversions in their congregation or +classes--because they do not expect any; because they go to their work +without the enthusiastic boldness which would give power to their +utterances. + +I suppose concentration, too, goes without saying. When a man is on the +battlefield with the swords whirling about his head, and the bayonets +an inch from his breast, he does not go dreaming of scenes a hundred +miles off, or think anything else than the one thing, how to keep a +whole skin and wound an enemy. If Christian men will do their work in +the dawdling, half-interested, and half-indifferent way in which so +many of us promenade through our Christian service as if it was a +review and not a fight, they are not likely to bring back many trophies +of victory. You must put your whole selves into the battle. I said we +must subdue ourselves ere we begin to fight. That is no contradiction +to what I am saying now, for, as we all know, there is a distinction +between the two selves in us--the self-centred self, which is to be +crucified, and the God-centred self, which is to be nourished. You must +put your whole selves into the battle. + +There must, too, be discipline. One difference between a mob and an +army is that the mob has as many wills as there are heads in it, and +the army has only one will, that of the commander. He says to one man +'Go!' and he goes, and gets shot; and to another one 'Come!' and he +comes; and to a third one 'Do this!' and, no matter what it is, +straightway he goes and does it. So if we are soldiers we have to take +orders from headquarters, and to be sure that we pay no attention to +any other commands. Suppose a man is set at a certain post by his +captain, and a corporal comes and says, 'You go and do this other +thing; never mind your post, I will look after that,' to obey that is +mutiny. If Jesus Christ tells you to do anything, and any others say +'Do not do it just yet!' neglect them, and obey Him. If your own heart +says, 'Stop a little while and try something other and easier before +you tackle that task,' be sure of the Captain's voice, and then, +whatever happens, obey, and obey at once. Warfare is a diabolical +thing, but there is a divine beauty in one aspect of it-- + + Their's not to make reply, + Their's not to reason why, + Their's but to do-- + +even if it mean 'to die.' Thus let us wage warfare. + +IV. The Relieving Guard. + +This metaphor of warfare is used in the Book of Job, in a passage where +our English Version does not show it. So I venture to substitute the +right translation for the one in the Authorised Version, 'All the days +of my warfare will I wait till my change comes.' The guard will be +relieved some day, and the private that has been tramping up and down +in the dark or the snow, perhaps within rifle's length of the enemy, +will shoulder his gun and go into the comfortable guardhouse, and hang +up his knapsack, and fling off his dirty boots, and sit down by the +fire, and make himself comfortable. There is a 'heavenly manner of +relieving guard.' Soon it will be the end of the sentry's time, and +then, as one of those that had done a good day's work, and a long one, +said with a sigh of relief, 'I have fought a good fight.' Henceforth +the helmet is put off, which is 'the hope of salvation,' and the crown +is put on, which is salvation in its fullness. 'All the days of my +warfare will I wait'--till my Captain relieves the guard. + + + + +THE GUIDING PILLAR + + + 'So it was alway: the cloud covered [the tabernacle] by + day, and the appearance of fire by night.'--Num. ix. 16. + +The children of Israel in the wilderness, surrounded by miracle, had +nothing which we do not possess. They had some things in an inferior +form; their sustenance came by manna, ours comes by God's blessing on +our daily work, which is better. Their guidance came by this +supernatural pillar; ours comes by the reality of which that pillar was +nothing but a picture. And so, instead of fancying that men thus led +were in advance of us, we should learn that these, the supernatural +manifestations, visible and palpable, of God's presence and guidance +were the beggarly elements: 'God having provided some better thing for +us that they without us should not be made perfect.' + +With this explanation of the relation between the miracle and symbol of +the Old, and the reality and standing miracle of the New, Covenants, +let us look at the eternal truths, which are set before us in a +transitory form, in this cloud by day and fiery pillar by night. + +I. Note, first, the double form of the guiding pillar. + +The fire was the centre, the cloud was wrapped around it. The former +was the symbol, making visible to a generation who had to be taught +through their senses, the inaccessible holiness and flashing brightness +and purity of the divine nature; the latter tempered and veiled the too +great brightness for feeble eyes. + +The same double element is found in all God's manifestations of Himself +to men. In every form of revelation are present both the heart and core +of light, which no eye can look upon, and the merciful veil which, +because it veils, unveils; because it hides, reveals; makes visible +because it conceals; and shows God because it is 'the hiding of His +power.' So, through all the history of His dealings with men, there has +ever been what is called in Scripture language the 'face,' or the 'name +of God'; the aspect of the divine nature on which the eye can look; and +manifested through it, there has always been the depth and inaccessible +abyss of that Infinite Being. We have to be thankful that in the cloud +is the fire, and that round the fire is the cloud. For only so can our +eyes behold and our hands grasp the else invisible and remote central +Sun of the universe. God hides to make better known the glories of His +character. His revelation is the flashing of the uncreated and +intolerable light of His infinite Being through the encircling clouds +of human conceptions and words, or of deeds which each show forth, in +forms fitted to our apprehension, some fragment of His lustre. After +all revelation, He remains unrevealed. After ages of showing forth His +glory, He is still 'the King invisible, whom no man hath seen at any +time nor can see.' The revelation which He makes of Himself is 'truth +and is no lie.' The recognition of the presence in it of both the fire +and the cloud does not cast any doubt on the reality of our imperfect +knowledge, or of the authentic participation in the nature of the +central light, of the sparkles of it which reach us. We know with a +real knowledge what we know of Him. What He shows us is Himself, though +not His whole self. + +This double aspect of all possible revelation of God, which was +symbolised in comparatively gross external form in the pillar that led +Israel on its march, and lay stretched out and quiescent, a guarding +covering above the Tabernacle when the weary march was still, recurs +all through the history of Old Testament revelation by type and +prophecy and ceremony, in which the encompassing cloud was +comparatively dense, and the light which pierced it relatively faint. +It reappears in both elements in Christ, but combined in new +proportions, so as that 'the veil, that is to say, His flesh,' is +thinned to transparency and all aglow with the indwelling lustre of +manifest Deity. So a light, set in some fair alabaster vase, shines +through its translucent walls, bringing out every delicate tint and +meandering vein of colour, while itself diffused and softened by the +enwrapping medium which it beautifies by passing through its purity. +Both are made visible and attractive to dull eyes by the conjunction. +'He that hath seen Christ hath seen the Father,' and he that hath seen +the Father in Christ hath seen the man Christ, as none see Him who are +blind to the incarnate deity which illuminates the manhood in which it +dwells. + +But we have to note also the varying appearance of the pillar according +to need. There was a double change in the pillar according to the hour, +and according as the congregation was on the march or encamped. By day +it was a cloud, by night it glowed in the darkness. On the march it +moved before them, an upright pillar, as gathered together for +energetic movement; when the camp rested it 'returned to the many +thousands of Israel' and lay quietly stretched above the Tabernacle +like one of the long-drawn, motionless clouds above the setting summer +sun, glowing through all its substance with unflashing radiance +reflected from unseen light, and 'on all the glory' (shrined in the +Holy Place beneath) was 'a defence.' + +Both these changes of aspect symbolise for us the reality of the +Protean capacity of change according to our ever-varying needs, which +for our blessing we may find in that ever-changing, unchanging, divine +Presence which will be our companion, if we will. + +It was not only by a natural process that, as daylight declined, what +had seemed but a column of smoke in the fervid desert sunlight, +brightened into a column of fire, blazing amid the clear stars. But we +may well believe in an actual admeasurement of the degree of light, +correspondent to the darkness and to the need for certitude and +cheering sense of God's protection, which the defenceless camp would +feel as they lay down to rest. + +When the deceitful brightness of earth glistens and dazzles around us, +our vision of Him may be 'a cloudy screen to temper the deceitful ray'; +and when 'there stoops on our path, in storm and shade, the frequent +night,' as earth grows darker, and life becomes greyer and more sombre, +and verges to its eventide, the pillar blazes brighter before the +weeping eye, and draws nearer to the lonely heart. We have a God who +manifests Himself in the pillar of cloud by day, and in flaming fire by +night. + +II. Note the guidance of the pillar. + +When it lifts the camp marches; when it glides down and lies motionless +the march is stopped, and the tents are pitched. The main point which +is dwelt upon in this description of the God-guided pilgrimage of the +wandering people is the absolute uncertainty in which they were kept as +to the duration of their encampment, and as to the time and +circumstances of their march. Sometimes the cloud tarried upon the +Tabernacle many days; sometimes for a night only; sometimes it lifted +in the night. 'Whether it was by day or by night that the cloud was +taken up, they journeyed. Or whether it were two days, or a month, or a +year that the cloud tarried upon the Tabernacle, remaining thereon, the +children of Israel abode in their tents, and journeyed not: but when it +was taken up they journeyed.' So never, from moment to moment, did they +know when the moving cloud might settle, or the resting cloud might +soar. Therefore, absolute uncertainty as to the next stage was visibly +represented before them by that hovering guide which determined +everything, and concerning whose next movement they knew absolutely +nothing. + +Is not that all true about us? We have no guiding cloud like this. So +much the better. Have we not a more real guide? God guides us by +circumstances, God guides us by His word, God guides us by His Spirit, +speaking through our common-sense and in our understandings, and, most +of all, God guides us by that dear Son of His, in whom is the fire and +round whom is the cloud. And perhaps we may even suppose that our Lord +implies some allusion to this very symbol in His own great words, 'I am +the Light of the world. He that followeth Me shall not walk in +darkness, but shall have the light of life.' For the conception of +'following' the light seems to make it plain that our Lord's image is +not that of the sun in the heavens, or any such supernal light, but +that of some light which comes near enough to a man to move before him, +and behind which he can march. So, I think, that Christ Himself laid +His hand upon this ancient symbol, and in these great words said in +effect, 'I am that which it only shadowed and foretold.' At all events, +whether in them He was pointing to our text or no, we must feel that He +is the reality which was expressed by this outward symbol. And no man +who can say, 'Jesus Christ is the Captain of my salvation, and after +His pattern I march; at the pointing of His guiding finger I move; and +in His footsteps, He being my helper, I try to tread,' need feel or +fancy that any possible pillar, floating before the dullest eye, was a +better, surer, or diviner guide than he possesses. They whom Christ +guides want none other for leader, pattern, counsellor, companion, +reward. This Christ is our Christ 'for ever and ever, He will be our +guide even unto death' and beyond it. The pillar that we follow, which +will glow with the ruddy flame of love in the darkest hours of +life--blessed be His name!--will glide in front of us through the +'valley of the shadow of death,' brightest then when the murky midnight +is blackest. Nor will the pillar which guides us cease to blaze, as did +the guide of the desert march, when Jordan has been crossed. It will +still move before us on paths of continuous and ever-increasing +approach to infinite perfection. They who here follow Christ afar off +and with faltering steps shall there 'follow the Lamb whithersoever He +goeth.' + +In like manner, the same absolute uncertainty which was intended to +keep the Israelites (though it failed often to do so) in the attitude +of constant dependence, is the condition in which we all have to live, +though we mask it from ourselves. That we do not know what lies before +us is a commonplace. The same long tracts of monotonous continuance in +the same place and doing the same duties befall us that befell these +men. Years pass, and the pillar spreads itself out, a defence above the +unmoving sanctuary. And then, all in a flash, when we are least +thinking of change, it gathers itself together, is a pillar again, +shoots upwards, and moves forwards; and it is for us to go after it. +And so our lives are shuttlecocked between uniform sameness which may +become mechanical monotony, and agitation by change which may make us +lose our hold of fixed principles and calm faith, unless we recognise +that the continuance and the change are alike the will of the guiding +God, whose will is signified by the stationary or moving pillar. + +III. That leads me to the last thing that I would note--viz. the docile +following of the Guide. + +In the context, the writer does not seem to be able to get away from +the thought that whatever the pillar indicated, immediate prompt +obedience followed. He says so over and over and over again. 'As long +as the cloud abode they rested, and when the cloud tarried long they +journeyed not'; and 'when the cloud was a few days on the Tabernacle +they abode'; and 'according to the commandment they journeyed'; and +'when the cloud abode until the morning they journeyed'; and 'whether +it were two days, or a month, or a year that the cloud tarried they +journeyed not, but abode in their tents.' So, after he has reiterated +the thing half a dozen times or more, he finishes by putting it all +again in one verse, as the last impression which he would leave from +the whole narrative--'at the commandment of the Lord they rested in +their tents, and at the commandment of the Lord they journeyed.' +Obedience was prompt; whensoever and for whatsoever the signal was +given, the men were ready. In the night, after they had had their tents +pitched for a long period, when only the watchers' eyes were open, the +pillar lifts, and in an instant the alarm is given, and all the camp is +in a bustle. That is what we have to set before us as the type of our +lives. We are to be as ready for every indication of God's will as they +were. The peace and blessedness of our lives largely depend on our +being eager to obey, and therefore quick to perceive, the slightest +sign of motion in the resting, or of rest in the moving, pillar which +regulates our march and our encamping. + +What do we need in order to cultivate and keep such a disposition? We +need perpetual watchfulness lest the pillar should lift unnoticed. When +Nelson was second in command at Copenhagen, the admiral in command of +the fleet hoisted the signal for recall, and Nelson put his telescope +to his blind eye and said, 'I do not see it.' That is very like what we +are tempted to do. When the signal for unpleasant duties that we would +gladly get out of is hoisted, we are very apt to put the telescope to +the blind eye, and pretend to ourselves that we do not see the +fluttering flags. We need still more to keep our wills in absolute +suspense, if His will has not declared itself. Do not let us be in a +hurry to run before God. When the Israelites were crossing the Jordan, +they were told to leave a great space between themselves and the +guiding ark, that they might know how to go, because they had 'not +passed that way heretofore.' Impatient hurrying at God's heels is apt +to lead us astray. Let Him get well in front, that you may be quite +sure which way He desires you to go, before you go. And if you are not +sure which way He desires you to go, be sure that He does not at that +moment desire you to go anywhere. + +We need to hold the present with a slack hand, so as to be ready to +fold our tents and take to the road, if God will. We must not reckon on +continuance, nor strike our roots so deep that it needs a hurricane to +remove us. To those who set their gaze on Christ, no present, from +which He wishes them to remove, can be so good for them as the new +conditions into which He would have them pass. It is hard to leave the +spot, though it be in the desert, where we have so long encamped that +it has come to feel like home. We may look with regret on the circle of +black ashes on the sand where our little fire glinted cheerily, and our +feet may ache, and our hearts ache more, as we begin our tramp once +again, but we must set ourselves to meet the God-appointed change +cheerfully, in the confidence that nothing will be left behind which it +is not good to lose, nor anything met which does not bring a blessing, +however its first aspect may be harsh or sad. + +We need, too, to cultivate the habit of prompt obedience. It is usually +reluctance which puts the drag on. Slow obedience is often the germ of +incipient disobedience. In matters of prudence and of intellect, second +thoughts are better than first, and third thoughts, which often come +back to first ones, better than second; but in matters of duty, first +thoughts are generally best. They are the instinctive response of +conscience to the voice of God, while second thoughts are too often the +objections of disinclination, or sloth, or cowardice. It is easiest to +do our duty when we are at first sure of it. It then comes with an +impelling power which carries us over obstacles as on the crest of a +wave, while hesitation and delay leave us stranded in shoal water. If +we would follow the pillar, we must follow it at once. + +A heart that waits and watches for God's direction, that uses +common-sense as well as faith to unravel small and great perplexities, +and is willing to sit loose to the present, however pleasant, in order +that it may not miss the indications which say, 'Arise, this is not +your rest,' fulfils the conditions on which, if we keep them, we may be +sure that He will guide us by the right way, and bring us at last to +'the city of habitation.' + + + + +HOBAB + + + 'And Moses said unto Hobab ... Come thou with us, and + we will do thee good: for the Lord hath spoken good + concerning Israel.'--NUM. x. 29. + +There is some doubt with regard to the identity of this Hobab. Probably +he was a man of about the same age as Moses, his brother-in-law, and a +son of Jethro, a wily Kenite, a Bedouin Arab. Moses begs him to join +himself to his motley company, and to be to him in the wilderness +'instead of eyes.' What did Moses want a man for, when he had the +cloud? What do we want common-sense for, when we have God's Spirit? +What do we want experience and counsel for, when we have divine +guidance promised to us? The two things work in together. The cloud led +the march, but it was very well to have a man that knew all about the +oases and the wells, the situation of which was known only to the +desert-born tribes, and who could teach the helpless slaves from Goshen +the secrets of camp life. So Moses pressed Hobab to change his +position, to break with his past, and to launch himself into an +altogether new and untried sort of life. + +And what does he plead with him as the reason? 'We will do thee good, +for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel.' Probably Hobab looked +rather shy at the security, for I suppose he was no worshipper of +Jehovah, and he said, 'No; I had rather go home to my own people and my +own kindred and my father's house where I fit in, and keep to my own +ways, and have something a little more definite to lay hold of than +your promise, or the promise of your Jehovah that lies behind it. These +are not solid, and I am going back to my tribe.' But Moses pressed and +he at last consented, and the following verses suggest that the +arrangement was made satisfactorily, and that the journeyings began +prosperously. In the Book of Judges we find traces of the presence of +Hobab's descendants as incorporated among the people of Israel. One of +them came to be somebody, the Jael who struck the tent-peg through the +temples of the sleeping Sisera, for she is called 'the wife of Heber +the _Kenite_.' Probably, then, in some sense Hobab must have become a +worshipper of Jehovah, and have cast in his lot with his brother-in-law +and his people. I do not set Hobab up as a shining example. We do not +know much about his religion. But it seems to me that this little +glimpse into a long-forgotten and unimportant life may teach us two or +three things about the venture of faith, the life of faith, and the +reward of faith. + +I. The venture of faith. + +I have already said that Hobab had nothing in the world to trust to +except Moses' word, and Moses' report of God's Word. 'We will do you +good; God has said that He will do good to us, and you shall have your +share in it.' It was a grave thing, and, in many circumstances, would +have been a supremely foolish thing, credulous to the verge of +insanity, to risk all upon the mere promise of one in Moses' position, +who had so little in his own power with which to fulfil the promise; +and who referred him to an unseen divinity, somewhere or other; and so +drew bills upon heaven and futurity, and did not feel himself at all +bound to pay them when they fell due, unless God should give him the +cash to do it with. But Hobab took the plunge, he ventured all upon +these two promises--Moses' word, and God's word that underlay it. + +Now that is just what we have to do. For, after all talking about +reasons for belief, and evidences of religion, and all the rest of it, +it all comes to this at last--will you risk everything on Jesus +Christ's bare word? There are plenty of reasons for doing so, but what +I wish to bring out is this, that the living heart and root of true +Christianity is neither more nor less than the absolute and utter +reliance upon nothing else but Christ, and therefore on His word. He +did not even condescend to give reasons for that reliance, for His most +solemn assurance was just this, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you.' That +is as much as to say, 'If you do not see in Me, without any more +argument, reason enough for believing Me, you do not see Me at all.' + +Christ did not argue--He asserted, and in default of all other proof, +if I might venture to say so, He put His own personality into the +scales and said, 'There, that will outweigh everything.' So no wonder +that 'they were astonished at His doctrine,'--not so much at the +substance of it as at the tone of it, 'for He taught them _with +authority_.' + +But what right had He to teach them with authority? What right has He +to present Himself there in front of us and proclaim, 'I say unto you, +and there is an end of it'? The heart and essence of Christian faith is +doing, in a far sublimer fashion, precisely what this wild Arab did, +when he uprooted himself from the conditions in which his life had +grown up, and flung himself into an unknown future, on bare trust in a +bare word. Jesus Christ asks us to do the same by Him. Whether His word +comes to us revealing, or commanding, or promising, it is absolute, +and, for His true followers, ends all controversy, all hesitation, all +reluctance. When He commands it is ours to obey and live. And when He +promises it is for us to twine all the tendrils of our expectations +round that faithful word, and by faith to make 'the anchor of the soul, +sure and steadfast.' The venture of faith takes a _word_ for the most +solid thing in the universe, and the Incarnate Word of God for the +basis of all our hope, the authority for all our conduct, 'the +Master-light of all our seeing.' + +II. Hobab suggests to us, secondly-- + +The sort of life that follows the venture of faith. The hindrances to +his joining Moses were plainly put by himself. He said in effect, 'I +will not come; I will depart to mine own land and to my kindred. Why +should I attach myself to a horde of strangers, and go wandering about +the desert for the rest of my life, looking out for encampments for +them, when I can return to where I have been all my days; and be +surrounded by the familiar atmosphere of friends and relatives?' But he +bethought himself that there was a nobler life to live than that, and +because he was stirred by the impulse of reliance on Moses and his +promise, and perhaps by some germ of reliance on Moses' God, he finally +said, 'The die is cast. I choose my side. I will break with the past. I +turn my back on kindred and home. Here I draw a broad line across the +page, and begin over again in an altogether new kind of life. I +identify myself with these wanderers; sharing their fortunes, hoping to +share their prosperity, and taking their God for my God.' He had +perhaps not been a nomad before, for there still are permanent +settlements as well as nomad encampments in Arabia, as there were in +those days, and he and his relatives, from the few facts that we know +of them, seem to have had a fixed home, with a very narrow zone of +wandering round it. So Hobab, an old man probably, if he was anything +like the age of his connection by marriage, Moses, who was eighty at +this time, makes up his mind to begin a new career. + +Now that is what we have to do. If we have faith in Christ and His +promise, we shall not say, 'I am going back to my kindred and to my +home.' We shall be prepared to accept the conditions of a wanderer's +life. We shall recognise and feel, far more than we ever have done, +that we are indeed 'pilgrims and sojourners' here. Dear Christian +friends, we have no business to call ourselves Christ's men, unless the +very characteristic of our lives is that we are drawn ever forward by +the prospect of future good, and unless that future is a great deal +more solid and more operative upon us, and tells more on our lives, +than this intrusive, solid-seeming present that thrusts itself between +us and our true home. That is a sure saying. The Christian obligation +to live a life of detachment, even while diligent in duty, is not to be +brushed aside as pulpit rhetoric and exaggeration, but it is the +plainest teaching of the New Testament. I wish it was a little more +exemplified in the daily life of the people who call themselves +Christians. + +If I am not living for the unseen and the future, what right have I to +say that I am Christ's at all? If the shadows are more than the +substance to me; if this condensed vapour and fog that we call reality +has not been to our apprehension thinned away into the unsubstantial +mist that it is, what have the principles of Christianity done for us, +and what worth is Christ's word to us? If I believe Him, the world +is--I do not say, as the sentimental poet put it, 'but a fleeting show, +for man's illusion given';--but as Paul puts it, a glass which may +either reveal or obscure the realities beyond; and according as we look +at, or look through, 'the things seen and temporal,' do we see, or +miss, 'the things unseen and eternal.' So, then, the life of faith has +for its essential characteristic--because it is a life of reliance on +Christ's bare word--that future good is consciously its supreme aim. +That will detach us, as it did Hobab, from home and kindred, and make +us feel that we are 'pilgrims and sojourners.' + +III. Lastly, our story suggests to us-- + +The rewards of faith. + +'Come with us,' says Moses; 'we are journeying unto the place of which +the Lord said, I will give it you. Come thou with us, and we will do +thee what goodness the Lord shall do unto us.' He went, and neither he +nor Moses ever saw the land, or at least never set their feet on it. +Moses saw it from Pisgah, but probably Hobab did not even get so much +as that. + +So he had all his tramping through the wilderness, and all his work, +for nothing, had he? Had he not better have gone back to Midian, and +made use of the present reality, than followed a will-of-the-wisp that +led him into a bog, if he got none of the good that he set out +expecting to get? Then, did he make a mistake? Would he have been a +wiser man if he had stuck to his first refusal? Surely not. It seems to +me that the very fact of this great promise being given to this +old--dare I call Hobab a 'saint'?--to this old saint, and never being +fulfilled at all in this world, compels us to believe that there was +some gleam of hope, and of certainty, of a future life, even in these +earliest days of dim and partial revelation. + +To me it is very illuminative, and very beautiful, that the dying Jacob +bursts in his song into a sudden exclamation, 'I have waited for Thy +salvation, O Lord!' It is as if he had felt that all his life long he +had been looking for what had never come, and that it could not be that +God was going to let him go down to the grave and never grasp the good +that he had been waiting for all his days. We may apply substantially +the same thoughts to Hobab, and to all his like, and may turn them to +our own use, and argue that the imperfections of the consequences of +our faith here on earth are themselves evidences of a future, where all +that Christ has said shall be more than fulfilled, and no man will be +able to say, 'Thou didst send me out, deluding me with promises which +have all gone to water and have failed.' + +Hobab dying there in the desert had made the right choice, and if we +will trust ourselves to Christ and His faithful word, and, trusting to +Him, will feel that we are detached from the present and that it is but +as the shadow of a cloud, whatever there may be wanting in the results +of our faith here on earth, there will be nothing wanting in its +results at the last. Hobab did not regret his venture, and no man ever +ventures his faith on Christ and is disappointed. 'He that believeth +shall not be confounded.' + + + + +THE HALLOWING OF WORK AND OF REST + + + 'And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that + Moses said, Rise up, Lord, and let Thine enemies be + scattered; and let them that hate Thee flee before Thee. + 36. And when it rested, he said, Return, O Lord, unto + the many thousands of Israel.'--Num. x. 35, 36. + +The picture suggested by this text is a very striking and vivid one. We +see the bustle of the morning's breaking up of the encampment of +Israel. The pillar of cloud, which had lain diffused and motionless +over the Tabernacle, gathers itself together into an upright shaft, and +moves, a dark blot against the glittering blue sky, the sunshine +masking its central fire, to the front of the encampment. Then the +priests take up the ark, the symbol of the divine Presence, and fall +into place behind the guiding pillar. Then come the stir of the +ordering of the ranks, and a moment's pause, during which the leader +lifts his voice--'Rise, Lord, and let Thine enemies be scattered, and +let them that hate Thee flee before Thee.' Then, with braced resolve +and confident hearts, the tribes set forward on the day's march. + +Long after those desert days a psalmist laid hold of the old prayer and +offered it, as not antiquated yet by the thousand years that had +intervened. 'Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered,' prayed +one of the later psalmists; 'let them that hate Him flee before Him.' +We, too, in circumstances so different, may take up the immortal though +ancient words, on which no dimming rust of antiquity has encrusted +itself, and may, at the beginnings and the endings of all our efforts +and of each of our days, and at the beginning and ending of life +itself, offer this old prayer--the prayer which asked for a divine +presence in the incipiency of our efforts, and the prayer which asked +for a divine presence in the completion of our work and in the rest +that remaineth. + +I. So, then, if we put these two petitions together, I think we shall +see in them first, a pattern of that realisation of, and aspiration +after, the divine Presence, which ought to fill all our lives. + +'Rise, Lord, let Thine enemies be scattered.' + +But was not that moving pillar the token that God had risen? And was +not the psalmist who reiterated Moses' prayer asking for what had been +done before he asked it? Was not the ark the symbol of the divine +Presence, and was not its movement after the pillar a pledge to the +whole host of Israel that the petition which they were offering, +through their leader's lips, was granted ere it was offered? Yes. And +yet the present God would not manifest His Presence except in response +to the desire of His servants; and just because the ark was the symbol, +and that moving column was the guarantee of God's being with the host +as their defence, therefore there rose up with confidence this prayer, +'Rise, Lord, and let Thine enemies be scattered.' + +That twofold attitude, the realisation of, and therefore the aspiration +after, the divine gifts, which are given before they are desired, but +are not appropriated and brought into operation in our lives unless +they are desired, is precisely the paradox of the Christian life. +Having, we long for, and longing, we have, and because we possess God +we pray, 'Oh! that we might possess Thee.' The more we long, the more +we receive. But unless He gave Himself in anticipation of our longing, +there would be neither longing nor reception. Only on condition of our +desiring to have Him does He flow into our lives, victorious and +strength-giving, and the more we experience that omnipotent might and +calming, guiding nearness, the more assuredly we shall long for it. + +Let us then, dear brethren, blend these two things together, for indeed +they are inseparable one from the other, and there can be no real +experience in any depth of the one of them without the other. Blessed +be God! there need be no long interval of waiting between sowing the +seed of supplication and reaping the harvest of fruition. That process +of growth and reaping goes on with instantaneous rapidity. 'Before they +call I will answer,' for pillar and ark were there ere Moses opened his +lips; and 'while they are yet speaking I will hear,' for, in response +to the cry, the host moved triumphantly, guarded through the +wilderness. So it may be, and ought to be, with each of us. + +In like manner, coupling these two petitions together, and taking them +as unitedly covering the whole field of life in their great antitheses +of work and rest, effort and accomplishment, beginning and ending, +morning and evening, we may say that here is an example, to be +appropriated in our own lives, of that continuous longing and +realisation which will encircle all life as with a golden ring, and +make every part of it uniform and blessed. To begin, continue, and end +with God is the secret of joyful beginning, of patient continuance, and +of triumphant ending. There is no reason in heaven, though there are +hosts of excuses on earth, why there should not be, in the case of each +of us, an absolutely continuous and uninterrupted sense of being with +God. O brethren! that is a stage of Christian experience high above the +one on which most of us stand. But that is our fault, and not the +necessity of our condition. Let us lay this to heart, that it is +possible to have the pillar always guiding our march, and possible to +have it stretching, calm and motionless, over all our hours of rest. + +II. Now, if, turning from the lessons to be drawn from these two +petitions, taken in conjunction, we look at them separately, we may say +that we have here an example of the spirit in which we should set +ourselves, day by day, and at each new epoch and beginning, be it +greater or smaller, to every task. + +There are truths that underlie that first prayer, 'Rise up, Lord, and +let Thine enemies be scattered,' which are of perennial validity, and +apply to us as truly as to these warriors of God in the wilderness long +centuries ago. The first of them is that the divine Presence is the +source of all energy, and of successful endeavour after, and +accomplishment of, any duty. The second of them is that that presence +is, as I have been saying, granted, in its operative power, only on +condition of its being sought. And the third of them is that I have a +right to identify my enemies with God's only on condition that I have +made His cause mine. When Moses prayed, 'Let Thine enemies be +scattered,' he meant by these the hostile nomad tribes that might ring +Israel round, and come down like a sandstorm upon them at any moment. +What right had he to suppose that the people whose lances and swords +threatened the motley host that he was leading through the wilderness +were God's enemies? Only this right, that his host had consented to be +God's soldiers, and that they having thus made His enemies theirs, He, +on His part, was sure to make their enemies His. We are often tempted +to identify our foes with God's, without having taken the preliminary +step of having so yielded ourselves to be His servants and instruments +for carrying forward His will, as that our own wills have become a +vanishing quantity, or rather have been ennobled and greatened in +proportion as they have been moulded in submission to His. We must take +God's cause for ours, in all the various aspects of that phrase. And +that means, first of all, that we make our own perfecting into the +likeness of Jesus Christ the main aim of our own lives and efforts. It +means, further, the putting ourselves bravely and manfully on the side +of right and truth and justice, in all their forms. Above all, it means +that we give ourselves to be God's instruments in carrying on His great +purposes for the salvation of the world through Jesus Christ. If we do +these things, whatever obstacles may arise in our paths, we may be sure +that these are God's antagonists, because they are antagonists to God's +work in and by us. + +Only in so far as they are such, can you pray, 'Let them flee before +Thee!' Many of the things that we call our enemies come to us +disguised, and are mistaken by our superficial sight, and we do not +know that they are friends. 'All things work together for good to them +that love God.' And, when we desire His Presence, the hindrances to +doing His will--which are the only real enemies that we have to +fight--will melt away before His power, 'as wax melteth' before the +ardours of the fire; and, for the rest, the distresses, the +difficulties, the sorrows, and all the other things that we so often +think are our foes, we shall find out to have been our friends. Make +God's cause yours, and He will make your cause His. + +That applies to the great things of life, and to the little things. I +begin my day's work some morning, perhaps wearied, perhaps annoyed with +a multiplicity of trifles which seem too small to bring great +principles to bear upon them. But do you not think there would be a +strange change wrought in the petty annoyances of every day, and in the +small trifles of which all our lives, of whatever texture they are, +must largely be composed, if we began each day and each task with that +old prayer, 'Rise, Lord, and let Thine enemies be scattered'? Do you +not think there would come a quiet into our hearts, and a victorious +peace to which we are too much strangers? If we carried the assurance +that there is One that fights for us, into the trifles as well as into +the sore struggles of our lives, we should have peace and victory. Most +of us will not have many large occasions of trial and conflict in our +career; and, if God's fighting for us is not available in regard to the +small annoyances of home and daily life, I know not for what it is +available. 'Many littles make a mickle,' and there are more deaths in +skirmishes than in the field of a pitched battle. More Christian people +lose their hold of God, their sense of His presence, and are beaten +accordingly, by reason of the little enemies that come down on them, +like a cloud of gnats in a summer evening, than are defeated by the +shock of a great assault or a great temptation, which calls out their +strength, and sends them to their knees to ask for help from God. + +So we may learn from this prayer the spirit of expectance of victory +which is not presumption, and of consecration, which alone will enable +us to pass through life victorious. 'Be of good cheer,' said the +Master, as if in answer to this prayer in its Christian form--'I have +overcome the world.' We turn to the helmed and sworded Figure that +stands mysteriously beside us whilst we are all unaware of His coming, +and the swift question that Joshua put rises to our lips, 'Art Thou for +us or for our adversaries?' The reply comes, 'Nay! but as Captain of +the Lord's host am I come up.' That is Christ's answer to the prayer, +'Rise, Lord, let Thine enemies be scattered.' + +III. Lastly, we have here a pattern of the temper for hours of repose. + +'When the ark rested, he said, "Return, O Lord, unto the many thousands +of Israel."' As I said at the beginning of these remarks, the pillar of +cloud seems to have taken two forms, braced together upright when it +moved, diffused and stretched as a shelter and a covering over the host +of Israel when it and they were at rest. In like manner, that divine +Presence is Protean in its forms, and takes all shapes, according to +the moment's necessities of the Christian trusting heart. When we are +to brace ourselves for the march it condenses itself into an upright +and moving guide. When we lay ourselves down with relaxed muscles for +repose, it softly expands itself and 'covers our head' in the hours of +rest, 'as in the day of battle.' + +Ah! brother, we have more need of God in times of repose than in times +of effort. It is harder to realise His Presence in the brief hours of +relaxation than even in the many hours of strenuous toil. Every one who +goes for a holiday knows that. You have only to look at the sort of +amusements that most people fly to when they have not anything to do, +to see that there is quite as much, if not more, peril to communion of +soul with God in times when the whole nature is somewhat relaxed, and +the strings are loosened, like those of a violin screwed down a turn or +two of the peg, than there is in times of work. + +So let us take special care of our hours of repose, and be quite sure +that they are so spent as that we can ask when the day's work is done, +and we have come to slippered ease, in preparation for nightly rest, +'Return, O Lord, unto Thy waiting servant.' Work without God unfits for +rest with Him. Rest without God unfits for work for Him. + +We may take these two petitions as tests of the allowableness of any +occupation, or of any relaxation. Dare I ask Him to come with me into +that field of work? If I dare not, it is no place for me. Dare I ask +Him to come with me into this other chamber of rest? If I dare not, I +had better never cross its threshold. Take these two prayers, and where +you cannot pray them, do not risk yourself. + +But the highest form of the contrast between the two waits still to be +realised. For life as a whole is a fight, and beyond it there is the +'rest that remaineth,' where there will be not merely God's 'return +unto the thousands of Israel,' but the realisation of His fuller +presence, and of deeper rest, which shall be wondrously associated with +more intense work, though in that work there will be no conflict. The +two petitions will flow together then, for whilst we labour we shall +rest; and whilst we rest we shall labour, according to the great +sayings, 'they rest from their labours,' and yet 'they rest not day nor +night.' + + + + +MOSES DESPONDENT + + + 'I am not able to bear all this people alone, because + it is too heavy for me.' + NUM. xi. 14. + +Detail the circumstances. + +The leader speaks the truth in his despondency. He is pressed with the +feeling of his incapacity for his work. We may take his words here as +teaching us what men need in him who is to be their guide, and how +impossible it is to find what they need in mere men. + +I. What men need in their guide. + +These Israelites were wandering in the wilderness; they were without +natural supplies for their daily necessities; they had a long hard +journey before them, an unknown road, at the terminus of which was a +land where they should rest. We have precisely the same necessities as +those which Moses despairingly said that they had. + +Like them, we wander hungry, and need a Leader who can satisfy our +desires and evermore give us bread for our souls even more than for our +bodies. We need One to whom we can 'weep,' as the Israelites did to +Moses, and not weep in vain. We need One who can do for us what Moses +felt that the Israelites needed, and that he could not give them, when +he almost indignantly put to God the despairing question, 'Can I carry +them in my bosom as a nursing father beareth the sucking child?' Our +weakness, our ignorance, our heart-hunger, cry out for One who can +'bear all this people alone.' who in his single Self has resources of +strength, wisdom, and sufficiency to meet not only the wants of one +soul but those of the world. For He who can satisfy the poorest single +soul must be able to satisfy all men. + +II. The impossibility of finding this in men. + +Moses' experience here is that of all leaders and great men. He is +overwhelmed with the work; feels his own utter impotence; has himself +to be strengthened; loathes his work; longs for release from it. See +how he confesses + + His human dependence. + His incapacity to do and be what is needed. + His impatience with the people. + His longing to be rid of it all. + +That is a true picture of the experience of the best of men--a true +picture of the limitations of the noblest leaders. + +But it is not only the leaders who confess their inadequacy, but the +followers feel it, for even the most enthusiastic of them come sooner +or later to find that their Oracle had not learned all wisdom, nor was +fit to be taken as sole guide, much less as sole defence or +satisfaction. He who looks to find all that he needs in men must take +many men to find it, and no multiplicity of men will bring him what he +seeks. The Milky Way is no substitute for the sun. Our hearts cry out +for One great light, for One spacious home. Endless strings of pearls +do not reach the preciousness of One pearl of price. + +III. The failures of human leaders prophesy the true Leader. + +Moses was prophetic of Christ by his failures as by his successes. He +could not do what the people clamoured to have done, and what he in the +mood of despair in which the text shows him, sadly owned that he could +not. In that very confession he becomes an unconscious prophet. For +that he should have so vividly set forth the qualifications of a leader +of men, as defined by the people's cries, and should have so bitterly +felt his incapacity to supply them, is a witness, if there is a God at +all, that somewhere the needed Ideal will be realised in 'a Leader and +Commander of the people,' God-sent and 'worthy of more glory than +Moses.' + +The best service that all human leaders, helpers or lovers, can do us, +is to confess their own insufficiency, and to point us to Jesus. + +All that men need is found in Him and in Him alone. All that men have +failed, and must always fail, to be, He is. Those eyes are blessed that +'see no man any more save Jesus only.' We need One who can satisfy our +desires and fill our hungry souls, and Jesus speaks a promise, +confirmed by the experience of all who have tested it when He declares: +'He that cometh unto Me shall never hunger.' We need One who will dry +our tears, and Jesus, when He says 'Weep not,' wipes them away and +stanches their sources, giving 'the oil of joy for mourning.' We need +One who can hold us up in our journey, and minister strength to +fainting hearts and vigour to weary feet, and Jesus 'strengthens us +with might in the inner man.' We need One who will bring us to the +promised land of rest, and Jesus brings many sons to glory, and wills +that they be 'with Him where He is.' So let us turn away from the +multiplicity of human insufficiencies to Him who is our one only help +and hope, because He is all-sufficient and eternal. + + + + +AFRAID OF GIANTS + + + 'And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and + said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go + up into the mountain; 18. And see the land, what it is; + and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be + strong or weak, few or many; 19. And what the land is + that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what + cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or + in strong holds; 20. And what the land is, whether it + be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. + And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the + land. Now the time was the time of the firstripe grapes. + 21. So they went up, and searched the land from the + wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath. + 22. And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron; + where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, + were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in + Egypt.) 23. And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and + cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, + and they bare it between two upon staff; and they brought + of the pomegranates, and of the figs. 24. The place was + called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes + which the children of Israel cut down from thence. 25. And + they returned from searching of the land after forty days. + 26. And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to + all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the + wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word + unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them + the fruit of the land. 27. And they told him, and said, + We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely + it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit + of it. 28. Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell + in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: + and, moreover, we saw the children of Anak there. 29. + The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south; and the + Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell + in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, + and by the coast of Jordan. 30. And Caleb stilled the + people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, + and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. + 31. But the men that went up with him said, We be not + able to go up against the people; for they are stronger + than we. 32. And they brought up an evil report of the + land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, + saying, The land, through which we have gone to search + it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; + and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great + stature. 33. And there we saw the giants, the sons of + Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own + sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.' + --NUM. xiii. 17-33. + +We stand here on the edge of the Promised Land. The discussion of the +true site of Kadesh need not concern us now. Wherever it was, the +wanderers had the end of their desert journey within sight; one bold +push forward, and their feet would tread on their inheritance. But, as +is so often the case, courage oozed out at the decisive moment, and +cowardice, disguised as prudence, called for 'further +information,'--that cuckoo-cry of the faint-hearted. There are three +steps in this narrative: the despatch of the explorers, their +expedition, and the two reports brought back. + +I. We have the despatch and instructions of the explorers. A comparison +with Deuteronomy i. shows that the project of sending the spies +originated in the people's terror at the near prospect of the fighting +which they had known to be impending ever since they left Egypt. Faith +finds that nearness diminishes dangers, but sense sees them grow as +they approach. The people answered Moses' brave words summoning them to +the struggle with this feeble petition for an investigation. They did +not honestly say that they were alarmed, but defined the scope of the +exploring party's mission as simply to 'bring us word again of the way +by which we must go up, and the cities into which we shall come.' Had +they not the pillar blazing there above them to tell them that? The +request was not fathomed in its true faithlessness by Moses, who +thought it reasonable and yielded. So far Deuteronomy goes; but this +narrative puts another colour on the mission, representing it as the +consequence of God's command. The most eager discoverer of +discrepancies in the component parts of the Pentateuch need not press +this one into his service, for both sides may be true: the one +representing the human feebleness which originated the wish; the other, +the divine compliance with the desire, in order to disclose the +unbelief which unfitted the people for the impending struggle, and to +educate them by letting them have their foolish way, and taste its +bitter results. Putting the two accounts together, we get, not a +contradiction, but a complete view, which teaches a large truth as to +God's dealings; namely, that He often lovingly lets us have our own way +to show us by the issues that His is better, and that daring, which is +obedience, is the true prudence. + +The instructions given to the explorers turn on two points: the +eligibility of the country for settlement, and the military strength of +its inhabitants. They alternate in a very graphic way from the one of +these to the other, beginning, in verse 18, with the land, and +immediately going on to the numbers and power of the inhabitants; then +harking back again, in verse 19, to the fertility of the land, and +passing again to the capacity of the cities to resist attack; and +finishing up, in verse 20, with the land once more, both arable and +forest. The same double thought colours the parting exhortation to 'be +bold,' and to 'bring of the produce of the land.' Now the people knew +already both points which the spies were despatched to find out. Over +and over again, in Egypt, in the march, and at Sinai, they had been +told that the land was 'flowing with milk and honey,' and had been +assured of its conquest. What more did they want? Nothing, if they had +believed God. Nothing, if they had been all saints,--which they were +not. Their fears were very natural. A great deal might be said in +favour of their wish to have accurate information. But it is a bad sign +when faith, or rather unbelief, sends out sense to be its scout, and +when we think to verify God's words by men's confirmation. Not to +believe Him unless a jury of twelve of ourselves says the same thing, +is surely much the same as not believing Him at all; for it is not He, +but they, whom we believe after all. + +There is no need to be too hard on the people. They were a mob of +slaves, whose manhood had been eaten out by four centuries of sluggish +comfort, and latterly crushed by oppression. So far as we know, +Abraham's midnight surprise of the Eastern kings was the solitary bit +of fighting in the national history thus far; and it is not wonderful +that, with such a past, they should have shrunk from the prospect of +bloodshed, and caught at any excuse for delay at least, even if not for +escape. 'We have all of us one human heart,' and these cowards were no +monsters, but average men, who did very much what average men, +professing to be Christians, do every day, and for doing get praised +for prudence by other average professing Christians. How many of us, +when brought right up to some task involving difficulty or danger, but +unmistakably laid on us by God, shelter our distrustful fears under the +fair pretext of 'knowing a little more about it first,' and shake wise +heads over rashness which takes God at His word, and thinks that it +knows enough when it knows what He wills? + +II. We have the exploration (verses 21-25). The account of it is +arranged on a plan common in the Old Testament narratives, the +observation of which would, in many places, remove difficulties which +have led to extraordinary hypotheses. Verse 21 gives a general summary +of what is then taken up, and told in more detail. It indicates the +completeness of the exploration by giving its extreme southern and +northern points, the desert of Zin being probably the present +depression called the Arabah, and 'Rehob as men come to Hamath' being +probably near the northern Dan, on the way to Hamath, which lay in the +valley between the Lebanon and the Anti-Lebanon. The account then +begins over again, and tells how the spies went up into 'the South.' +The Revised Version has done wisely in printing this word with a +capital, and thereby showing that it is not merely the name of a +cardinal point, but of a district. It literally means 'the dry,' and is +applied to the arid stretch of land between the more cultivated +southern parts of Canaan and the northern portion of the desert which +runs down to Sinai. It is a great chalky plateau, and might almost be +called a steppe or prairie. Passing through this, the explorers next +would come to Hebron, the first town of importance, beside which +Abraham had lived, and where the graves of their ancestors were. But +they were in no mood for remembering such old stories. Living Anaks +were much more real to them than dead patriarchs. So the only thing +mentioned, besides the antiquity of the city, is the presence in it of +these giants. They were probably the relics of the aboriginal +inhabitants, and some strain of their blood survived till late days. +They seem to have expelled the Hittites, who held Mamre, or Hebron, in +Abraham's time. Their name is said to mean 'long-necked,' and the three +names in our lesson are probably tribal, and not personal, names. The +whole march northward and back again comes in between verses 22 and 23; +for Eshcol was close to Hebron, and the spies would not encumber +themselves with the bunch of grapes on their northward march. The +details of the exploration are given more fully in the spies' report, +which shows that they had gone up north from Hebron, through the hills, +and possibly came back by the valley of the Jordan. At any rate, they +made good speed, and must have done some bold and hard marching, to +cover the ground out and back in six weeks. So they returned with their +pomegranates and figs, and a great bunch of the grapes for which the +valley identified with Eshcol is still famous, swinging on a pole,--the +easiest way of carrying it without injury. + +III. We have next the two reports. The explorers are received in a full +assembly of the people, and begin their story with an object-lesson, +producing the great grape cluster and the other spoils. But while +honesty compelled the acknowledgment of the fertility of the land, +cowardice slurred that over as lightly as might be, and went on to +dilate on the terrors of the giants and the strength of the cities, and +the crowded population that held every corner of the country. Truly, +the eye sees what it brings with it. They really had gone to look for +dangers, and of course they found them. Whatever Moses might lay down +in his instructions, they had been sent by the people to bring back +reasons for not attempting the conquest, and so they curtly and coldly +admit the fertility of the soil, and fling down the fruit for +inspection as undeniably grown there, but they tell their real mind +with a great 'nevertheless.' Their report is, no doubt, quite accurate. +The cities were, no doubt, some of them walled, and to eyes accustomed +to the desert, very great; and there were, no doubt, Anaks at Hebron, +at any rate, and the 'spies' had got the names of the various races and +their territories correctly. As to these, we need only notice that the +Hittites were an outlying branch of the great nation, which recent +research has discovered, as we might say, the importance and extent of +which we scarcely yet know; that the Jebusites held Jerusalem till +David's time; that the 'Amorites,' or 'Highlanders,' occupied the +central block of mountainous country in conjunction with the two +preceding tribes; and that the 'Canaanites,' or 'Lowlanders,' held the +lowlands east and west of that hilly nucleus, namely, the deep gorge of +the Jordan, and the strip of maritime plain. A very accurate report may +be very one-sided. The spies were not the last people who, being sent +out to bring home facts, managed to convey very decided opinions +without expressing any. A grudging and short admission to begin with, +the force of which is immediately broken by sombre and minute painting +of difficulty and danger, is more powerful as a deterrent than any +dissuasive. It sounds such an unbiassed appeal to common-sense, as if +the reporter said, 'There are the facts; we leave you to draw the +conclusions.' An 'unvarnished account of the real state of the case,' +in which there is not a single misstatement nor exaggeration, may be +utterly false by reason of wrong perspective and omission, and, however +true, is sure to act as a shower-bath to courage, if it is +unaccompanied with a word of cheer. To begin a perilous enterprise +without fairly facing its risks and difficulties is folly. To look at +_them_ only is no less folly, and is the sure precursor of defeat. But +when on the one side is God's command, and on the other such doleful +discouragements, they are more than folly, they are sin. + +It is bracing to turn from the creeping prudence which leaves God out +of the account, to the cheery ring of Caleb's sturdy confidence. His +was 'a minority report,' signed by only two of the 'Commission.' These +two had seen all that the others had, but everything depends on the +eyes which look. The others had measured themselves against the trained +soldiers and giants, and were in despair. These two measured Amalekites +and Anaks against God, and were jubilant. They do not dispute the +facts, but they reverse the implied conclusion, because they add the +governing fact of God's help. How differently the same facts strike a +man who lives by faith, and one who lives by calculation! Israel might +be a row of ciphers, but with God at the head they meant something. +Caleb's confidence that 'we are well able to overcome' was religious +trust, as is plain from God's eulogium on him in the next chapter (Num. +xiv. 24). The lessons from it are that faith is the parent of wise +courage; that where duty, which is God's voice, points, difficulties +must not deter; that when we have God's assurance of support, they are +nothing. Caleb was wise to counsel going up to the assault 'at once,' +for there is no better cure for fear than action. Old soldiers tell us +that the trying time is when waiting to begin the fight. 'The native +hue of resolution' gets 'sicklied o'er' with the paleness that comes +from hesitation. Am I sure that anything is God's will? Then the sooner +I go to work at doing it, the better for myself and for the vigour of +my work. + +This headstrong rashness, as they thought it, brings up the other +'spies' once more. Notice how the gloomy views are the only ones in +their second statement. There is nothing about the fertility of the +land, but, instead, we have that enigmatical expression about its +'eating up its inhabitants.' No very satisfactory explanation of this +is forthcoming. It evidently means that in some way the land was +destructive of its inhabitants, which seems to contradict their former +reluctant admission of its fertility. Perhaps in their eagerness to +paint it black enough, they did contradict themselves, and try to make +out that it was a barren soil, not worth conquering. Fear is not very +careful of consistency. Note, too, the exaggerations of terror. 'All +the people' are sons of Anak now. The size as well as the number of the +giants has grown; 'we were in our own sight as grasshoppers.' No doubt +they were gigantic, but fear performed the miracle of adding a cubit to +their stature. When the coward hears that 'there is a lion +without,'--that is, in the open country,--he immediately concludes, 'I +shall be slain in the streets,' where it is not usual for lions to +disport themselves. + +Thus exaggerated and one-sided is distrust of God's promises. Such a +temper is fatal to all noble life or work, and brings about the +disasters which it foresees. If these cravens had gone up to fight with +men before whom they felt like grasshoppers, of course they would have +been beaten; and it was much better that their fears should come out at +Kadesh than when committed to the struggle. Therefore God lovingly +permitted the mission of the spies, and so brought lurking unbelief to +the surface, where it could be dealt with. Let us beware of the +one-eyed 'prudence' which sees only the perils in the path of duty and +enterprise for God, and is blind to the all-sufficient presence which +makes us more than conquerors, when we lean all our weight on it. It is +well to see the Anakim in their full formidableness, and to feel that +we are 'as grasshoppers in our own sight' and in theirs, if the sight +drives us to lift our eyes to Him who 'sitteth upon the circle of the +earth, and the inhabitants thereof,' however huge and strong, 'are as +grasshoppers.' + + + + +WEIGHED, AND FOUND WANTING + + + 'And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and + cried; and the people wept that night. 2. And all the + children of Israel murmured against Moses and against + Aaron; and the whole congregation said unto them, Would + God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God + we had died in this wilderness! 3. And wherefore hath + the Lord brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, + that our wives and our children should be a prey? were + it not better for us to return into Egypt? 4. And they + said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us + return into Egypt 5. Then Moses and Aaron fell on their + faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the + children of Israel. 6. And Joshua the son of Nun, and + Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that + searched the land, rent their clothes. 7. And they spake + unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, + The land, which we passed through to search it, is an + exceeding good land. 8. If the Lord delight in us, then + He will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land + which floweth with milk and honey. 9. Only rebel not ye + against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; + for they are bread for us: their defence is departed + from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not. + 10. But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. + And the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of + the congregation before all the children of Israel.' + --NUM. xiv. 1-10. + +Terror is more contagious than courage, for a mob is always more prone +to base than to noble instincts. The gloomy report of the spies jumped +with the humour of the people, and was at once accepted. Its effect was +to throw the whole assembly into a paroxysm of panic, which was +expressed in the passionate Eastern manner by wild, ungoverned +shrieking and tears. What a picture of a frenzied crowd the first verse +of this chapter gives! That is not the stuff of which heroes can be +made. Weeping endured for a night, but to such weeping there came no +morning of joy. When day dawned, the tempest of emotion settled down +into sullen determination to give up the prize which hung within reach +of a bold hand, ripe and ready to drop. It was one of the moments which +come once at least in the lives of nations as of individuals, when a +supreme resolve is called for, and when to fall beneath the stern +requirement, and refuse a great attempt because of danger, is to +pronounce sentence of unworthiness and exclusion on themselves. Not +courage only, but belief in God, was tested in this crucial moment, +which made a turning-point in the nation's history. Our text brings +before us with dramatic vividness and sharpness of contrast, three +parties in this decisive hour--the faithless cowards, the faithful +four, and the All-seeing presence. + +I. Note the faithless cowards. The gravity of the revolt here is partly +in its universality, which is emphasised in the narrative at every +turn: '_all_ the congregation' (v. 1), '_all_ the children of Israel,' +the _whole_ congregation' (v. 2), '_all_ the assembly of the +congregation' (which implies a solemn formal convocation), '_all_ the +company' (v, 7), '_all_ the congregation,' '_all_ the children of +Israel' (v. 10). It was no sectional discontent, but full-blown and +universal rebellion. The narrative draws a distinction between the +language addressed to Moses, and the whisperings to one another. +Publicly, the unanimous voice suggested the return to Egypt as an +alternative for discussion, and put it before Moses; to one another +they muttered the proposal, which no man had yet courage to speak out, +of choosing a new leader, and going back, whatever became of Moses. +That could only mean murder as well as mutiny. The whispers would soon +be loud enough. + +In the murmurs to Moses, observe the distinct and conscious apostacy +from Jehovah. They recognise that God 'has brought' them there, and +they slander Him by the assertion that His malignant, deliberate +purpose was to kill them all, and make slaves of their wives and +children. That was how they read the past, and thought of Him! He had +enticed them into His trap, as a hunter might some foolish animal, by +dainties strewed along the path, and now they were in the toils, and +their only chance of life was to break through. Often, already, had +they raised that mad cry--'back to Egypt!' but there had never been +such a ring of resolve in it, nor had it come from so many throats, nor +had any serious purpose to depose Moses been entertained. If we add the +fact that they were now on the very frontier of Canaan, and that the +decision now taken was necessarily final, we get the full significance +of the incident from the mere secular historian's point of view. But +its bearing on the people's relation to Jehovah gives a darker +colouring to it. It is not merely faint-hearted shrinking from a great +opportunity, but it is wilful and deliberate rejection of His rule, +based upon utter distrust of His word. So Scripture treats this event +as the typical example of unbelief (Psa. xcv.; Heb. iii. and iv.). So +regarded, it presents, as in a mirror, some of the salient +characteristics of that master sin. Bad as it is, it is not out of the +range of possibility that it should be repeated, and we need the +warning to 'take heed lest any of us should fall after the same example +of unbelief.' + +We may learn from it the essentials of faith and its opposite. The +trust which these cowards failed to exercise was reliance on Jehovah, a +personal relation to a Person. In externals and contents, their trust +was very unlike the New Testament faith, but in object and essence it +was identical. They had to trust in Jehovah; we, in 'God manifest in +the flesh.' Their creed was much less clear and blessed than ours, but +their faith, if they had had it, would have been the same. Faith is not +the belief of a creed, whether man-made or God-revealed, but the +cleaving to the Person whom the creed makes known. He may be made known +more or less perfectly; but the act of the soul, by which we grasp Him, +does not vary with the completeness of the revelation. That act was one +for 'the world's grey fathers' and for us. In like manner, unbelief is +the same black and fatal sin, whatever be the degree of light against +which it turns. To depart from the living God is its essence, and that +is always rebellion and death. + +Note the short memory and churlish unthankfulness of unbelief. It has +been often objected to the story of the Exodus, that such extremity of +folly as is ascribed to the Israelites is inconceivable in such +circumstances. How could men, with all these miracles in mind, and +manna falling daily, and the pillar blazing every night, and the roll +of Sinai's thunders scarcely out of their ears, behave thus? But any +one who has honestly studied his own heart, and known its capacity for +neglecting the plainest indications of God's presence, and forgetting +the gifts of His love, will believe the story, and see brethren in +these Israelites. Miracles were less wonderful to them, because they +knew less about nature and its laws. Any miracles constantly renewed +become commonplace. Habit takes the wonder out of everything. The heart +that does not 'like to retain God in its knowledge' will find easy ways +of forgetting Him, and revolting from Him, though the path be strewed +with blessings, and tokens of His presence flame on every side. True, +it is strange that all the wonders and mercies of the past two years +had made no deeper impression on these people's hearts; but if they had +not done so, it is not unnatural that they had made so slight an +impression on their wills. Their ingratitude and forgetfulness are +inexplicable, as all sin is, for its very essence is that it has no +sufficient reason. But neither is inconceivable, and both are repeated +by us every day. + +Note the credulity of unbelief. The word of Jehovah had told them that +the land 'flowed with milk and honey,' and that they were sure to +conquer it. They would not believe Him unless they had verification of +His promises. And when they got their own fears reflected in the +multiplying mirror of the spies' report, they took men's words for +gospel, and gave to them a credence without examination or +qualification, which they had never given to God. I think that I have +heard of people who inveigh against Christians for their slavish +acceptance of the absolute authority of Jesus Christ, and who pin their +faith to some man's teaching with a credulity quite as great as and +much less warrantable than ours. + +Note the bad bargain which unbelief is ready to make. They contemplated +a risky alternative to the brave dash against Canaan. There would be +quite as much peril in going back as forward. The march from Egypt had +not been so easy; but what would it be when there were no Moses, no +Jethro, no manna, no pillar? And what sort of reception would wait them +in Egypt, and what fate befall them there? In front, there were perils; +but God would be with them. They would have to fight their way, but +with the joyous feeling that victory was sure, and that every blow +struck, and every step marched, brought them nearer triumphant peace. +If they turned, every step would carry them farther from their hopes, +and nearer the dreary putting on of the old yoke, which 'neither they +nor their fathers were able to bear.' They would buy slavery at as dear +a price as they would have to pay for freedom and wealth. Yet they +elected the baser course, and thought themselves prudent and careful of +themselves in doing so. Is the breed of such miscalculators extinct? +Far greater hardships and pains are met on the road of departure from +God, than any which befall His servants. To follow Him involves a +conflict, but to shirk the battle does not bring immunity from strife. +The alternatives are not warfare or peace, God's service or liberty. +The most prudent self-love would coincide with the most +self-sacrificing heroic consecration, and no man can worse consult his +own well-being than in seeking escape from the dangers and toil of +enlisting in God's army, by running back through the desert to put his +neck in chains in Egypt. As Moses said: 'Because then servedst not the +Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart for the +abundance of all things, therefore thou shalt serve thine enemies, in +hunger, and in thirst, and in want of all things.' + +II. The faithful four. Moses and Aaron, Caleb and Joshua, are the only +Abdiels in that crowd of unbelieving dastards. Their own peril does not +move them; their only thought is to dissuade from the fatal refusal to +advance. The leader had no armed force with which to put down revolt, +and stood wholly undefended and powerless. It was a cruel position for +him to see the work of his life crumbling to pieces, and every hope for +his people dashed by their craven fears. Is there anywhere a nobler +piece of self-abnegation than his prostrating himself before them in +the eagerness of his pleading with them for their own good? If anything +could have kindled a spark of generous enthusiasm, that passionate +gesture of entreaty would have done it. It is like: 'We beseech you, in +His stead, be ye reconciled to God.' Men need to be importuned not to +destroy themselves, and he will have most success in such God-like work +who, as Moses, is so sure of the fatal issues, and so oblivious of all +but saving men from self-inflicted ruin, that he sues as for a boon +with tears in his voice, and dignity thrown to the winds. + +Caleb and Joshua had a different task,--to make one more attempt to +hearten the people by repeating their testimony and their confidence. +Tearing their dresses, in sign of mourning, they bravely ring out once +more the cheery note of assured faith. They first emphatically +reiterate that the land is fertile,--or, as the words literally run, +'good exceedingly, exceedingly.' It is right to stimulate for God's +warfare by setting forth the blessedness of the inheritance. 'The +recompense of the reward' is not the motive for doing His will, but it +is legitimately used as encouragement, in spite of the overstrained +objection that virtue for the sake of heaven is spurious virtue. If +'for the sake of heaven,' it is spurious; but it is not spurious +because it is heartened by the hope of heaven. In Caleb's former report +there was no reason given for his confidence that 'we are well able to +overcome.' Thus far all the discussion had been about comparative +strength, as any heathen soldier would have reckoned it. But the two +heroes speak out the great Name at last, which ought to scatter all +fears like morning mist. The rebels had said that Jehovah had 'brought +us into this land to fall by the sword.' The two give them back their +words with a new turn: 'He will bring us into this land, and give it +us.' That is the only antidote to fear. Calculations of comparative +force are worse than useless, and their results depend on the temper of +the calculator; but, if once God is brought into the account, the sum +is ended. When His sword is flung into the scale, whatever is in the +other goes up. So Caleb and Joshua brush aside the terrors of the Anaks +and all the other bugbears. 'They are bread for us,' we can swallow +them at a mouthful; and this was no swaggering boast, but calm, +reasonable confidence, because it rested on this, 'the Lord is with +us.' True, there was an 'if,' but not an 'if' of doubt, but a condition +which they could comply with, and so make it a certainty, 'only rebel +not against the Lord, and fear not the people of the land.' Loyalty to +Him would give courage, and courage with His presence would be sure of +victory. Obedience turns God's 'ifs' into 'verilys.' There, then, we +have an outline picture of the work of faith pleading with the +rebellious, heartening them and itself by thoughts of the fair +inheritance, grasping the assurance of God's omnipotent help, and in +the strength thereof wisely despising the strongest foes, and settling +itself immovable in the posture of obedience. + +III. The sudden appearance of the all-seeing Lord. The bold +remonstrance worked the people into a fury, and fidelity was about to +reap the reward which the crowd ever gives to those who try to save it +from its own base passions. Nothing is more hateful to resolute sinners +than good counsel which is undeniably true. But just as the stones were +beginning to fly, the 'glory of the Lord,' that wondrous light which +dwelt above the ark in the inmost shrine, came forth before all the +awestruck crowd. The stones would be dropped fast enough, and a hush of +dread would follow the howling rage of the angry crowd. Our text does +not go on to the awful judgment which was proclaimed; but we may +venture beyond its bounds to point out that the sentence of exclusion +from the land was but the necessary consequence of the temper and +character which the refusal to advance had betrayed. Such people were +not fit for the fight. A new generation, braced by the keen air and +scant fare of the desert, with firmer muscles and hearts than these +enervated slaves had, was needed for the conquest. The sentence was +mercy as well as judgment; it was better that they should live in the +wilderness, and die there by natural process, after having had more +education in God's loving care, than that they should be driven +unwillingly to a conflict which, in their state of mind, would have +been but their butchery. None the less, it is an awful condemnation for +a man to be brought by God's providence face to face with a great +possibility of service and of blessing, and then to show himself such +that God has to put him aside, and look for other instruments. The +Israelites were excluded from Canaan by no arbitrary decree, but by +their own faithless fears, which made their victory impossible. 'They +could not enter in because of unbelief.' In like manner our unbelief +shuts us out from salvation, because we can only enter in by faith; and +the 'rest that remains' is of such a nature that it is impossible for +even His love to give it to the unbelieving. 'Let us labour, therefore, +to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of +unbelief.' + + + + +MOSES THE INTERCESSOR + + + 'Pardon, I beseech Thee, the iniquity of this people + according unto the greatness of Thy mercy, and as Thou + hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.' + --NUM. xiv. 19. + +See how in this story a divine threat is averted and a divine promise +is broken, thus revealing a standing law that these in Scripture are +conditional. + +This striking incident of Moses' intercession suggests to us some +thoughts as to + +I. The ground of the divine forgiveness. + +The appeal is not based on anything in the people. God is not asked to +forgive because of their repentance or their faith. True, these are the +conditions on which His pardon is received by us, but they are not the +reasons why it is given by Him. Nor does Moses appeal to any sacrifices +that had been offered and were conceived to placate God. But he goes +deeper than all such pleas, and lays hold, with sublime confidence, on +God's own nature as his all-powerful plea. 'The greatness of Thy mercy' +is the ground of the divine forgiveness, and the mightiest plea that +human lips can urge. It suggests that His very nature is pardoning +love; that 'mercy' is proper to Him, that it is the motive and impulse +of His acts. He forgives because He is mercy. That is the foundation +truth. It is the deep spring from which by inherent impulse all the +streams of forgiveness well up. + +What was true when Moses prayed for the rebels is true to-day. Christ's +work is the consequence, not the cause, of God's pardoning love. It is +the channel through which the waters reach us, but the waters made the +channel for themselves. + +II. The persistency of the divine pardon. + +'As thou hast forgiven ... even until now.' + +His past is the guarantee of His future. This is true of every one of +His attributes. There is no limitation to the divine forgiveness; you +cannot exhaust it. + +Sometimes there may be long tracts of almost utter godlessness, or +times of apathy. Sometimes there may be bursts of great and +unsanctified evil after many professions of fidelity, as in David's +case. Sometimes there may be but a daily experience in which there is +little apparent progress, little consciousness of growing mastery over +sin, little of deepening holiness and spiritual power. Be it so! To all +such, and to every other form of Christian unfaithfulness, this blessed +thought applies. + +We are apt to think as if our many pardons in the past made future +pardons less likely, whereas the truth is that we have received +forgiveness so often in the past that we may be quite sure that it will +never fail us in the future. God has established a precedent in His +dealings with us. He binds Himself by His past. + +As in His creative energy, the forces that flung the whole universe +forth were not exhausted by the act, but subsist continually to sustain +it, as 'He fainteth not, neither is weary,' so in the works of His +providence, and more especially of His grace, there is nothing in the +exercise of any of His attributes to exhaust _that_ attribute, nothing +in the constant appeal which we make to His forgiving grace to weary +out that grace. And thus we may learn, even from the unfading glories +of the heavens and the undimmed splendours of His creative works, the +lesson that, in the holier region of His love, and His pardoning mercy, +there is no exhaustion, and that all the past instances of His +pardoning grace only make the broader, firmer ground of certainty as to +His continuous present and future forgiveness for all our iniquity. He +who has proposed to us the 'seventy times seven' as the number of our +forgivenesses will not let His own fall short of that tale. Our +iniquities may be 'more than the hairs of our heads,' but as the +psalmist who found his to be so comforted himself with thinking, God's +'thoughts which are to usward' were 'more than can be numbered.' There +would be a pardoning thought for every sin, and after all sins had been +forgiven, there would be 'multitudes of redemptions' still available +for penitent souls. + +There is but one thing that limits the divine pardon, and that is +continuous rejection of it. + +Whoever seeks to be pardoned _is_ pardoned. + +III. The manner of the divine forgiveness. + +He pardoned, but He also inflicted punishment, and in both He loves +equally. The worst, that is the spiritual, consequences (which are the +punishments) of sin, namely separation and alienation from God, He +removes in the very act of forgiveness, but His pardon does not affect +the natural consequences. 'Thou wast a God that forgavest them and +tookest vengeance of their inventions,' says a psalmist in reference to +this very incident. Thank God that He loves us too wisely and well not +to let us by experience 'know that it is a bitter thing to forsake the +Lord.' + +It is a blessing that He does so, and a sign that we are pardoned, if +we rightly use it. + +IV. The vehicle of the divine forgiveness. + +The Mediator. Moses here may be taken as a dim shadow of Christ. + +'Moses was faithful in all his house' but Jesus is the true Mediator, +whose intercession consists in presenting the constant efficacy of His +sacrifice, and to whom God ever says, 'I have pardoned according to Thy +word.' + +Trust utterly to Him. You cannot weary out the forgiving love of God. +'Christ ever liveth to make intercession'; with God is 'plenteous +redemption.' 'He shall redeem Israel out of _all_ his iniquities.' + + + + +SERVICE A GIFT + + + '... I have given your priest's office unto you as a + service of gift.'--NUM. xviii. 7. + +All Christians are priests--to offer sacrifices, alms, especially +prayers; to make God known to men. + +I. Our priesthood is a gift of God's love. + +We are apt to think of our duties as burdensome. They are an honour and +a mark of God's grace. + +1. They are His gift-- + +_(a)_ The power to do. All capacities and possessions from Him. + +_(b)_ The wish to do. 'Worketh in you to will.' + +_(c)_ The right to do, through Christ. + +2. They are a blessing. + +_(a)_ Note the good effects on ourselves--the increase of fellowship +with Him, the strengthening of all holy desires. + +_(b)_ The future benefits. Apply this to prayer and to effort on behalf +of our fellow-men. + +II. Our priesthood is to be done as a service--under a sense of +obligation to a master, with diligence (an [Greek: ergon], not a +[Greek: parergon]). + +III. Our priesthood is to be done as a gift to God--to be done +joyfully, giving ourselves back to Him: 'Yield yourselves unto + God'--'your reasonable service.' + +Then only do we really possess ourselves, and 'all things are ours, for +we are Christ's, and Christ is God's.' + + + + +THE WATERS OF MERIBAH + + + 'Then came the children of Israel, even the whole + congregation, into the desert of Zin in the first + month: and the people abode in Kadesh; and Miriam died + there, and was buried there. 2. And there was no water + for the congregation: and they gathered themselves + together against Moses and against Aaron. 3. And the + people chode with Moses, and spake, saying, Would God + that we had died when our brethren died before the Lord! + 4. And why have ye brought up the congregation of the + Lord into this wilderness, that we and our cattle should + die there? 5. And wherefore have ye made us to come up out + of Egypt, to bring us in unto this evil place? It is no + place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; + neither is there any water to drink. 6. And Moses and + Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the + door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they fell + upon their faces: and the glory of the Lord appeared unto + them. 7. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 8. Take + the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, + and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before + their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou + shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou + shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink. + 9. And Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as He + commanded him. 10. And Moses and Aaron gathered the + congregation together before the rock, and he said unto + them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out + of this rock? 11. And Moses lifted up his hand, and with + his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out + abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts + also. 12. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, + Because ye believed Me not, to sanctify Me in the eyes + of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring + this congregation into the land which I have given them. + 13. This is the water of Meribah; because the children + of Israel strove with the Lord, and He was sanctified + in them.'--NUM. xx. 1-13. + +Kadesh had witnessed the final trial and failure of the generation that +came out of Egypt; now we see the first trial and failure of the new +generation, thirty-seven years after, on the same spot. Deep silence +shrouds the history of these dreary years; but, probably, the +congregation was broken up, and small parties roamed over the country, +without purpose or hope, while Moses and a few of the leaders kept by +the tabernacle. There is a certain emphasis in the phrase of the first +verse of this chapter, 'the children of Israel, even the _whole_ +congregation,' which suggests that this was the first reassembling of +the scattered units since the last act of the 'whole congregation.' +'The first month' was, then, the first of the fortieth year, and the +gathering was either in obedience to the summons of Moses, who knew +that the fixed time had now come, or was the result of common knowledge +of the fact. In any case, we have here the first act of a new epoch, +and the question to be tried is whether the new men are any better than +the old. It is this which gives importance to the event, and explains +the bitterness of Moses at finding the old spirit living in the +children. It was his trial as well as theirs. He resumed the functions +which had substantially been in abeyance for a generation, and by his +conduct showed that he had become unfit for the new form which the +leadership must take with the invasion of Canaan. + +I. We note the old murmurings on the lips of the new generation. The +lament of a later prophet fits these hereditary grumblers,--'In vain +have I smitten your children; they received no correction.' The place +where they reassembled might have taught them the sin of unbelief; +their parents' graves should have enforced the lesson. But the long +years of wandering, and two millions of deaths, had been useless. The +weather-beaten but sturdy strength of the four old men, the only +survivors, might have preached the wisdom of trust in the God in whose +'favour is life.' But the people 'had learned nothing and forgotten +nothing.' The old cuckoo-cry, which had become so monotonous from their +fathers, is repeated, with differences, not in their favour. They do +not, indeed, murmur directly against God, because they regard Moses and +Aaron as responsible. 'Why,' say they, 'have _ye_ brought up the +congregation of the Lord?' They seem to use that name with a touch of +pride in their relation to God, while destitute of any real obedience, +and so they show the first traces of the later spirit of the nation. +They have acquired cattle while living in the oases of the wilderness, +and they are anxious about them. They acknowledge the continuity of +national life in their question, 'Wherefore have ye made us to come up +out of Egypt?' though most of them had been born in the wilderness. The +fear that moved their fathers to unbelief was more reasonable and less +contemptible than this murmuring, which ignores God all but utterly, +and is ready to throw up everything at the first taste of privation. + +It is a signal instance of the solemn law by which the fathers' sins +are inherited by the children who prove themselves heirs to their +ancestors by repeating their deeds. It is fashionable now to deny +original sin, and equally fashionable to affirm 'heredity,' which is +the same thing, put into scientific language. There is such a thing as +national character persistent through generations, each unit of which +adds something to the force of the tendencies which he receives and +transmits, but which never are so omnipotent as to destroy individual +guilt, however they may lighten it. + +Note, too, the awful power of resistance to God's educating possessed +by our wills. The whole purpose of these men's lives, thus far, had +been to fit them for being God's instruments, and for the reception of +His blessing. The desert was His school for body and mind, where +muscles and wills were to be braced, and solitude and expectation might +be nurses of lofty thoughts, and in the silence God's voice might +sound. What better preparation of a hardy race of God-trusting heroes +could there have been, and what came of it all? Failure all but +complete! The instrument tempered with so much care has its edge turned +at the first stroke. The old sore breaks out at the old spot. Man's +will has an awful power to thwart God's training; and of all the sad +mysteries of this sad mysterious world, this is the saddest and most +mysterious, and is the root of all other sadness and mystery,--that a +man can set his pin-point of a will against that great Will which gives +him all his power, and when God beckons can say, 'I will not,' and can +render His most sedulous discipline ineffectual. + +Note, too, that trivial things are large enough to hide plain duties +and bright possibilities. These men knew that they had come to Kadesh +for the final assault, which was to recompense all their hardships. +Their desert training should have made them less resourceless and +desperate when water failed; but the hopes of conquest and the duty of +trust cannot hold their own against present material inconvenience. +They even seem to make bitter mockery of the promises, when they +complain that Kadesh is 'no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or +of pomegranates,' which were the fruits brought by the spies,--as if +they had said, 'So this stretch of waterless sand is the fertile land +you talked of, is it? This is all that we have got by reassembling +here.' Do we not often feel that the drought of Kadesh is more real +than the grapes of Eshcol? Are we not sometimes tempted to bitter +comparisons of the fair promises with the gloomy realities? Does our +courage never flag, nor our faith falter, nor swirling clouds of doubt +hide the inheritance from our weary and tear-filled eyes? He that is +without sin may cast the first stone at these men; but whoever knows +his own weak heart will confess that, if he had been among that thirsty +crowd, he would, most likely, have made one of the murmurers. + +II. Note God's repetition of His old gift to the new generation. Moses +makes no attempt to argue with the people, but casts himself in +entreaty before the door of the Tabernacle, as if crushed and helpless +in face of this heart-breaking proof of the persistent obstinacy of the +old faults. God's answer recalls the former miracle at Rephidim (Exodus +xvii. 1-7) in the early days of the march, when the same cries had come +from lips now silent, and the rock, smitten at God's command by the rod +which had parted the sea, yielded water. The only differences are that +here Moses is bid to speak, not to smite; and that the miracle is to be +done before all the congregation, instead of before the elders only. +Both variations seem to have the common purpose of enhancing the +wonder, and confirming the authority of Moses, to a generation to whom +the old deliverances were only hearsay, and many of whom were in +contact with the leader for the first time. The fact that we have here +the beginning of a new epoch, and a new set of people, goes far to +explain the resemblance of the two incidents, without the need of +supposing, with many critics, that they are but different versions of +one 'legend.' The repetition of scarcity of water is not wonderful; the +recurrence of the murmurings is the sad proof of the unchanged temper +of the people, and the repetition of the miracle is the merciful +witness of the patience of God. His charity 'is not easily provoked, is +not soon angry,' but stoops to renew gifts which had been so little +appreciated that the remembrance of them failed to cure distrust. +Unbelief is obstinate, but His loving purpose is more persistent still. +Rephidim should have made the murmuring at Kadesh impossible; but, if +it does not, then He will renew the mercy, though it had been once +wasted, and will so shape the second gift that it shall recall the +first, if haply both may effect what one had failed to do. When need is +repeated, the supply is forthcoming, even when it is demanded by sullen +and forgetful distrust. We can wear out men's patience, but God's is +inexhaustible. The same long-suffering Hand that poured water from the +rock for two generations of distrustful murmurers still lavishes its +misused gifts on us, to win us to late repentance, 'and upbraideth not' +for our slowness to learn the lessons of His mercies. + +III. Note the breaking down at last of the long-tried leader's +patience. It is in striking contrast with the patience of God. Psalm +cvi. 32, 33, describes the sin of Moses as twofold; namely, anger and +speaking 'unadvisedly.' His harsh words, so unlike his pleadings on the +former occasion of rebellion at Kadesh, have a worse thing than an +outburst of temper in them. 'Must _we_ fetch you water out of the +rock?' arrogates to himself the power of working miracles. He forgets +that he was as much an instrument, and as little a force, as his own +rod. His angry scolding betrays wounded personal importance, and +annoyance at rebellion against his own authority, rather than grief at +the people's distrust of God, and also a distinct clouding over of his +own consciousness of dependence for all his power on God, and an impure +mingling of thoughts of self. The same turbid blending of anger and +self-regard impelled his arm to the passionately repeated strokes, +which, in his heat, he substituted for the quiet words that he was +bidden to speak. The Palestinian Tar gum says very significantly, that +at the first stroke the rock dropped blood, thereby indicating the +tragic sinfulness of the angry blow. How unworthy a representative of +the long-suffering God was this angry man! 'The servant of the Lord +must not strive,' nor give the water with which he is entrusted, with +contempt or anger in his heart. That gift requires meek compassion in +its stewards. + +But the failure of Moses' patience was only too natural. The whole +incident has to be studied as the first of a new era, in which both +leader and led were on their trial. During the thirty-seven years of +waiting, Moses had had but little exercise of that part of his +functions, and little experience of the people's temper. He must have +looked forward anxiously to the result of the desert hardening; he must +have felt more remote from and above the children than he did to their +parents, his contemporaries who had come with him from Egypt, and so +his disappointment must have been proportionately keen, when the first +difficulty that rose revealed the old spirit in undiminished force. For +forty years he had been patient, and ready to swallow mortifications +and ignore rebellion against himself, and to offer himself for his +people; but now, when men whom he had seen in their swaddling-clothes +showed the same stiff-necked distrust as had killed their fathers, the +breaking-point of his patience was reached. That burst of anger is a +grave symptom of lessened love for the sinful murmurers; and lessened +love always means lessened power to guide and help. The people are not +changed, but Moses is. He has no longer the invincible patience, the +utter self-oblivion, the readiness for self-sacrifice, which had borne +him up of old, and so he fails. We may learn from his failure that the +prime requisite for doing God's work is love, which cannot be moved to +anger nor stirred to self-assertion, but meets and conquers murmuring +and rebellion by patient holding forth of God's gift, and is, in some +faint degree, an echo of His endless long-suffering. He who would serve +men must, sleeping or waking, carry them in his heart, and pity their +sin. They who would represent God to men, and win men for God, must be +'imitators of God ... and walk in love.' If the bearer of the water of +life offers it with 'Hear, ye rebels,' it will flow untasted. + +IV. Note the sentence on the leader, and the sad memorial name. Moses +is blamed for not believing nor sanctifying God. His self-assertion in +his unadvised speech came from unbelief, or forgetfulness of his +dependence. He who claims power to himself, denies it to God. Moses put +himself between God and the people, not to show but to hide God; and, +instead of exalting God's holiness before them by declaring Him to be +the giver, he intercepted the thanks and diverted them to himself. But +was his momentary failure not far too severely punished? To answer that +question, we must recur to the thought of the importance of this event +as beginning a new chapter, and as a test for both Moses and Israel. +His failure was a comparatively small matter in itself; and if the +sentence is regarded merely as the punishment of a sin, it appears +sternly disproportionate to the offence. Were eighty years of faithful +service not sufficient to procure the condonation of one moment's +impatience? Is not that harsh treatment? But a tiny blade above-ground +may indicate the presence of a poisonous root, needing drastic measures +for its extirpation; and the sentence was not only punishment for sin, +but kind, though punitive, relief from an office for which Moses had no +longer, in full measure, his old qualifications. The subsequent history +does not show any withdrawal of God's favour from him, and certainly it +would be no very sore sorrow to be freed from the heavy load, carried +so long. There is disapprobation, no doubt, in the sentence; but it +treats the conduct of Moses rather as a symptom of lessened fitness for +his heavy responsibility than as sin; and there is as much kindness as +condemnation in saying to the wearied veteran, who has stood at his +post so long and has taken up arms once more, 'You have done enough. +You are not what you were. Other hands must hold the leader's staff. +Enter into rest.' + +Note that Moses was condemned for doing what Jesus always did, +asserting his power to work miracles. What was unbelief and a sinful +obtrusion of himself in God's place when the great lawgiver did it, was +right and endorsed by God when the Carpenter of Nazareth did it. Why +the difference? A greater than Moses is here, when He says to us, 'What +will ye that I should do unto you?' + +The name of Meribah-Kadesh is given to suggest the parallel and +difference with the other miraculous flow of water. The two incidents +are thus brought into connection, and yet individualised. 'Meribah,' +which means 'strife,' brands the murmuring as sinful antagonism to God: +'Kadesh,' which means 'holy,' brings both the miracle and the sentence +under the common category of acts by which God manifested His holiness +to the new generation; and so the double name is a reminder of sin that +they may be humble, and of mingled mercy and judgment that they may +'trust and obey.' + + + + +THE POISON AND THE ANTIDOTE + + + 'And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the + Red Sea, to compare the land of Edom: and the soul of + the people was much discouraged because of the way. + 5. And the people spake against God, and against Moses, + Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in + the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there + any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. 6. And + the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they + bit the people; and much people of Israel died. 7. Therefore + the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for + we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray + unto the Lord, that He take away the serpents from us. + And Moses prayed for the people. 8. And the Lord said + unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon + a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that + is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. 9. And + Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, + and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any + man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.' + --NUM. xxi. 4-9. + +The mutinous discontent of the Israelites had some excuse when they had +to wheel round once more and go southwards in consequence of the +refusal of passage through Edom. The valley which stretches from the +Dead Sea to the head of the eastern arm of the Red Sea, down which they +had to plod in order to turn the southern end of the mountains on its +east side, and then resume their northern march outside the territory +of Edom, is described as a 'horrible desert.' Certainly it yielded +neither bread nor water. So the faithless pilgrims broke into their +only too familiar murmurings, utterly ignoring their thirty-eight years +of preservation. 'There is no bread.' No; but the manna had fallen day +by day. 'Our soul loatheth this light bread.' Yes; but it was bread all +the same. Thus coarse tastes prefer garlic and onions to Heaven's food, +and complain of being starved while it is provided. 'There is no +water.' No; but the 'rock that followed them' gushed out abundance, and +there was no thirst. + +Murmuring brought punishment, which was meant for amendment. 'The Lord +sent fiery serpents.' That statement does not necessarily imply a +miracle. Scripture traces natural phenomena directly to God's will, and +often overleaps intervening material links between the cause which is +God and the effect which is a physical fact. The neighbourhood of Elath +at the head of the gulf is still infested with venomous serpents, +'marked with fiery red spots,' from which, or possibly from the +inflammation caused by their poison, they are here called 'fiery.' God +made the serpents, though they were hatched by eggs laid by mothers; He +brought Israel to the place; He willed the poisonous stings. If we +would bring ordinary events into immediate connection with the Divine +hand, and would see in all calamities fatherly chastisement 'for our +profit,' we should understand life better than we often do. + +The swift stroke had fallen without warning or voice to interpret it, +but the people knew in their hearts whence and why it had come. Their +quick recognition of its source and purpose, and their swift +repentance, are to be put to their credit. It is well for us when we +interpret for ourselves God's judgments, and need no Moses to urge us +to humble ourselves before Him. Conscious guilt is conscious of +unworthiness to approach God, though it dares to speak to offended men. +The request for Moses' intercession witnesses to the instinct of +conscience, requiring a mediator,--an instinct which has led to much +superstition and been terribly misguided, but which is deeply true, and +is met once for all in Jesus Christ, our Advocate before the throne. +The request shows that the petitioners were sure of Moses' forgiveness +for their distrust of him, and thus it witnesses to his 'meekness.' His +pardon was a kind of pledge of God's. Was the servant likely to be more +gracious than the Master? A good man's readiness to forgive helps bad +men to believe in a pardoning God. It reflects some beam of Heaven's +mercy. + +Moses had often prayed for the people when they had sinned, and before +they had repented. It was not likely that he would be slow to do so +when they asked him, for the asking was accompanied with ample +confession. The serpents had done their work, and the prayer that the +chastisement should cease would be based on the fact that the sin had +been forsaken. But the narrative seems to anticipate that, after the +prayer had been offered and answered, Israelites would still be bitten. +If they were, that confirms the presumption that the sending of the +serpents was not miraculous. It also brings the whole facts into line +with the standing methods of Providence, for the outward consequences +of sin remain to be reaped after the sin has been forsaken; but they +change their character and are no longer destructive, but only +disciplinary. 'Serpents' still 'bite' if we have 'broken down hedges,' +but there is an antidote. + +The command to make a brazen or copper serpent, and set it on some +conspicuous place, that to look on it might stay the effect of the +poison, is remarkable, not only as sanctioning the forming of an image, +but as associating healing power with a material object. Two questions +must be considered separately,--What did the method of cure say to the +men who turned their bloodshot, languid eyes to it? and What does it +mean for us, who see it by the light of our Lord's great words about +it? As to the former question, we have not to take into account the Old +Testament symbolism which makes the serpent the emblem of Satan or of +sin. Serpents had bitten the wounded. Here was one like them, but +without poison, hanging harmless on the pole. Surely that would declare +that God had rendered innocuous the else fatal creatures. The elevation +of the serpent was simply intended to make it visible from afar; but it +could not have been set so high as to be seen from all parts of the +camp, and we must suppose that the wounded were in many cases carried +from the distant parts of the wide-spreading encampment to places +whence they could catch a glimpse of it glittering in the sunshine. We +are not told that trust in God was an essential part of the look, but +that is taken for granted. Why else should a half-dead man lift his +heavy eyelids to look? Such a one knew that God had commanded the image +to be made, and had promised healing for a look. His gaze was fixed on +it, in obedience to the command involved in the promise, and was, in +some measure, a manifestation of faith. No doubt the faith was very +imperfect, and the desire was only for physical healing; but none the +less it had in it the essence of faith. It would have been too hard a +requirement for men through whose veins the swift poison was burning +its way, and who, at the best, were so little capable of rising above +sense, to have asked from them, as the condition of their cure, a trust +which had no external symbol to help it. The singularity of the method +adopted witnesses to the graciousness of God, who gave their feebleness +a thing that they could look at, to aid them in grasping the unseen +power which really effected the cure. 'He that turned himself to it,' +says the Book of Wisdom, 'was not saved by the thing which he saw, but +by Thee, that art the Saviour of all.' + +Our Lord has given us the deepest meaning of the brazen serpent. Taught +by Him, we are to see in it a type of Himself, the significance of +which could not be apprehended till Calvary had given the key. Three +distinct points of parallel are suggested by His use of the incident in +His conversation with Nicodemus. First, He takes the serpent as an +emblem of Himself. Now it is clear that it is so, not in regard to the +saving power that dwells in Him, but in regard to His sinless manhood, +which was made 'in the likeness of sinful flesh,' yet 'without sin.' +The symbolism which takes the serpent as the material type of sin comes +into view now, and is essential to the full comprehension of the +typical significance of the incident. + +Secondly, Jesus laid stress on the 'lifting up' of the serpent. That +'lifting up' has two meanings. It primarily refers to the Crucifixion, +wherein, just as the death-dealing power was manifestly triumphed over +in the elevation of the brazen serpent, the power of sin is exhibited +as defeated, as Paul says, 'triumphing over them in it' (Col. ii. +14,15). But that lifting up on the Cross draws after it the elevation +to the throne, and to that, or, rather, to both considered as +inseparably united, our Lord refers when He says,' I, if I be lifted up +from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.' + +Thirdly, the condition of healing is paralleled. 'When he looked unto +the serpent of brass, he lived.' 'That whosoever believeth may in Him +have eternal life.' From the serpent no healing power flowed; but our +eternal life is '_in_ Him,' and _from_ Him it flows into our poisoned, +dying nature. The sole condition of receiving into ourselves that new +life which is free from all taint of sin, and is mighty enough to +arrest the venom that is diffused through every drop of blood, is faith +in Jesus lifted on the Cross to slay the sin that is slaying mankind, +and raised to the throne to bestow His own immortal and perfect life on +all who look to Him. The bitten Israelite might be all but dead. The +poison wrought swiftly; but if he from afar lifted his glazing eyeballs +to the serpent on the pole, a swifter healing overtook the death that +was all but conqueror, and cast it out, and he who was borne half +unconscious to the foot of the standard went away a sound man, +'walking, and leaping, and praising God.' So it may be with any man, +however deeply tainted with sin, if he will trust himself to Jesus, and +from 'the ends of the earth' 'look unto' Him 'and be saved,' His power +knows no hopeless cases. He _can_ cure all. He _will_ cure our most +ingrained sin, and calm the hottest fever of our poisoned blood, if we +will let Him. The only thing that we have to do is to gaze, with our +hearts in our eyes and faith in our hearts, on Him, as He is lifted on +the Cross and the throne. But we must so gaze, or we die, for none but +He can cast out the coursing venom. None but He can arrest the +swift-footed death that is intertwined with our very natures. + + + + +BALAAM + + 'He sent messengers therefore unto Balaam the son of + Beor to Pethor, which is by the river of the land of + the children of his people, to call him, saying, Behold + there is a people come out from Egypt: behold, they + cover the face of the earth, and they abide over against + me.'--NUM. xxii. 6. + +Give a general outline of the history. See Bishop Butler's great sermon. + +I. How much knowledge and love of good there may be in a bad man. + +Balaam was a prophet: + +_(a)_ He knew something of the divine character, + +_(b)_ He knew what righteousness was (Micah v. 8). + +_(c)_ He knew of a future state, and longed for 'the last end of the +righteous.' + +He would not break the law of God, and curse by word of mouth: + +But yet for all that he wanted to curse. He wanted to do the wrong +thing, and that made him bad. And when he durst not do it in one way, +he did it in another. + +So he is a picture of the universal blending and mixture that there is +even in bad men. + +It is not knowledge that makes a man good. + +It is not aspirations after righteousness. These dwell more or less in +all souls. + +It is not desire 'to go to heaven'--everybody has that desire. + +Perfectly vicious men are devils. There is always the blending. + +Many of us are trusting to these vagrant wishes, but my friends, it is +not what a man would sometimes like, but what the whole set and tenor +of his life tends towards, that makes him. There may be plenty of +backwater eddies and cross-currents in the sea, but the tide goes on +all the same. + + 'All these fancies and their whole array + One cunning bosom sin blows quite away,' + +'Let no man deceive you; he that doeth righteousness is righteous.' + +Do not trust your convictions; they are powerless in the fight. + +II. How men may deceive themselves about their condition, or the +self-illusions and compromises of sin. + +These convictions will never, by themselves, keep a man from evil, but +they may lead men to try to compromise, just as Balaam did. He would +go, but he would not, for the life of him, curse; and he evidently +thought that he was a hero in firmness and a martyr to duty. + +He would not curse in words, but he did it in another way--by means of +Baal-peor. + +So we find men making compromises between duty and inclination; keeping +the letter and breaking the spirit; obeying in some respects and +indemnifying themselves for their obedience by their disobedience in +others; very devout, attentive to all religious observances, and yet +sinning on. And we find such men playing tricks upon themselves, and +really deluding themselves into the idea that they are very good men! + +This is the great characteristic of sin, its deceitfulness. It always +comes as an 'angel of light,' like some of those weird stories in which +we read about a strange guest at a banquet who discloses a skeleton +below the wedding garment! + +'Father of lies.' '_Nihil imbecillius denudato diabolo._' The more one +sins, the less capable he becomes of discerning evil. Conscience +becomes sophisticated, and it is always possible to refine away its +judgments. + +'By reason of use have their senses exercised to discern.' 'Take heed +lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.' + +III. The absurdity and unreasonableness of unrighteousness. + +We look at Balaam, and think, how could a man purpose anything so +foolish as to go on seeking for an opportunity to break a law which he +knew to be irrevocable! + +Yet what did he do but what every sinner does? + +All sin is the breach of law which at the very moment of breaking is +known to be imperative. + +All sin is thus the overbearing of conscience, or the sophistication of +conscience, and all sin is the incurring voluntarily of consequences +which at the moment are or might be known to be certain, and far +overbalancing any fancied 'wages of unrighteousness.' + +Thus all sin is the overbearing of reason or the sophisticating of +reason by passion. Men know the absurdity of sin, and yet men will go +on sinning. 'A rogue is a roundabout fool.' All wrongdoing is a mighty +blunder. It is only righteousness which is congruous with a man's +reason, with a man's conscience, with a man's highest happiness. 'The +fear of the Lord,' that is wisdom. + +IV. The wages of unrighteousness. + +How Balaam's experiment ended--his death. He tried to make the 'best of +both worlds,' so he ran with the hare and hunted with the hounds, and +this was how it ended, as it always does, as it always will. How death +ends all the illusions, sternly breaks down all the compromises, +reveals all the absurdities! + +Men are one thing or the other. Learn, then, the lesson that no gifts, +no talents, no convictions, no aspirations will avail. + +Let this sad figure which looks out upon us with grey streaming hair +and uplifted hands from beside the altar on Pisgah speak to us. + +How near the haven it is possible to be cast away! Like Bunyan's way to +hell from near the gate of the celestial city. + +Balaam said, 'Let me die the death of the righteous!' and his death was +thus:--'Balaam they slew with the sword,' and his epitaph is 'Balaam +the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness,' got them, and +perished! + + + + +AN UNFULFILLED DESIRE + + + '... Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my + last end be like his!'--NUM. xxiii. 10. + + '... Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the + sword.'--NUM. xiii. 8. + +Ponder these two pictures. Take the first scene. A prophet, who knows +God and His will, is standing on the mountain top, and as he looks down +over the valley beneath him, with its acacia-trees and swift river, +there spread the tents of Israel. He sees them, and knows that they are +'a people whom the Lord hath blessed.' Brought there to curse, 'he +blesses them altogether'; and as he gazes upon their ordered ranks and +sees somewhat of the wondrous future that lay before them, his mind is +filled with the thought of all the blessedness of that righteous +nation, and the sigh of longing comes to his lips, 'May I be with them +in life and death; may I have no higher honour, no calmer end, than to +lie down and die as one of the chosen people, with memories of a divine +hand that has protected me all through the past, and quiet hopes of the +same hand holding me up in the great darkness!' A devout aspiration, a +worthy desire! + +Look at the other picture. Midian has seduced Israel to idolatry and +its constant companion, sensual sin. The old lawgiver has for his last +achievement to punish the idolater. 'Avenge the children of Israel of +the Midianites, afterwards thou shalt be gathered to thy people.' So +each tribe gives its contingent to the fight, and under the fierce and +prompt Phinehas, whose javelin had already smitten one of the chief +offenders, they go forth. Fire and sword, devastation and victory, mark +their track. The princes of Midian fall before the swift rush of the +desert-born invaders. And--sad, strange company!--among them is the +'man who saw the vision of the Almighty, and knew the knowledge of the +Most High'! he who had taught Moab the purest lessons of morality, and +Midian, alas! the practice of the vilest profligacy; he who saw from +afar 'the sceptre arise out of Israel and the Star from Jacob'; he who +longed to 'die the death of the righteous'! The onset of the avenging +host, with the 'shout of a king' in their midst; the terror of the +flight, the riot of havoc and bloodshed, and, finally, the quick thrust +of the sharp Israelite sword in some strong hand, and the grey hairs +all dabbled with his blood--these were what the man came to who had +once breathed the honest desire, 'Let me die the death of the +righteous, and let my last end be like his'! + +I. There is surely a solemn lesson for us all here--as touching the +danger of mere vague religious desires and convictions which we do not +allow to determine our conduct. + +Balaam had evidently much knowledge. Look at these points-- + +_(a)_ His knowledge of the covenant-name of God. + +_(b)_ His knowledge of a pure morality and a spiritual worship far +beyond sacrificial notions, and in some respects higher than the then +Old Testament standpoint. + +_(c)_ The knowledge (which is implied in the text) of a future state, +which had gone far into the background, even if it had not been +altogether lost, among the Israelites. Is it not remarkable that the +religious ideas of this man were in advance of Israel's at this time; +that there seems to have lingered among these 'outsiders' more of a +pure faith than in Israel itself? + +What a lesson here as to the souls led by God and enlightened by Him +beyond the pale of Judaism! + +But all this knowledge, of what use was it to Balaam? He knows about +God: does he seek to serve Him? He preaches morality to Moab, and he +teaches Midian to 'teach the children of Israel to commit fornication.' +He knows something of the blessedness of a 'righteous man's' death, and +perhaps sees faintly the shining gates beyond--but how does it all end? +What a gulf between _knowledge_ and _life_! + +What is the use of correct ideas about God? They may be the foundations +of holy thoughts, and they are meant to be so. I am not setting up +emotion above principle, or fancying that there can be religion without +theology; but for what are all our thoughts about God given us? + +_(a)_ That they may influence our hearts. + +_(b)_ That they may subdue our wills. + +_(c)_ That they may mould our practical life. + +If they do not do that--then _what_ do they do? + +They constitute a positive hindrance--like the dead lava-blocks that +choke the mouth of a crater, or the two deposits on the bottom of a +boiler, soot outside and crust inside, which keep the fire from getting +at the water. They have lost their power because they are so familiar. +They are weakened by not being practised. The very organs of +intelligence are, as it were, ossified. Self-complacency lays hold on +the possession of these ideas and shields itself against all appeals +with the fact of possessing them. Many a man mistakes, in his own case, +the knowledge of the truth for obedience to the truth. All this is seen +in everyday life, and with reference to all manner of convictions, but +it is most apparent and most fatal about Christian truth. I appeal to +the many who hear and know all about 'the word,' What more is needed? +That you should do what you know ('Be not hearers only'); that you +should yield your whole being to Christ, the living Word. + +II. Balaam is an example of convictions which remain inefficacious. + +It was not without some sense of his own character, and some +forebodings of what was possibly brooding over him, that he uttered +these words of the text. But they were transitory emotions, and they +passed away. + +I suppose that every man who hears the gospel proclaimed is, at some +time or other, conscious of dawning thoughts which, if followed, would +lead him to decision for Christ. I suppose that every man among us is +conscious of thoughts visiting him many a time when he least expects +them, which, if honestly obeyed, would work an entire revolution in his +life. + +I do not wish to speak as if unbelieving men were the only people who +were unfaithful to their consciences, but rather to deal with what is a +besetting sin of us all, though it reaches its highest aggravation in +reference to the gospel. + +Such stings of conviction come to us all, but how are they deadened? + +_(a)_ By simple neglect. Pay no attention to them; do not do anything +in consequence, and they will gradually disappear. The voice unheard +will cease to speak. Non-obedience to conscience will in the end almost +throttle conscience. + +_(b)_ By angry rejection. + +_(c)_ By busy occupation with the outer world. + +_(d)_ By sinful occupation with it. + +Then consider that such dealing with our convictions leaves us far +worse men than before, and if continued will end in utter insensibility. + +What should we do with such convictions? Reverently follow them. And in +so doing they will grow and increase, and lead us at last to God and +peace. + +Special application of all this to our attitude towards Christian truth. + +III. Balaam is an instance of wishes that are never fulfilled. + +He wished to die 'as the righteous.' How did he die? miserably; and why? + +(1) Because his wish was deficient in character. + +It was _one_ among a great many, feeble and not predominant, occasioned +by circumstances, and so fading when these disappeared. Like many men's +relation to the gospel who would _like_ to be Christians, and are not. +These vagrant wishes are nothing; mere 'catspaws' of wind, not a +breeze. They are not real, even while they last, and so they come to +nothing. + +(2) Because it was partially wrong in its object. + +He was willing to die the death, but not to live the life, of the +righteous; like many men who would be very glad to 'go to heaven when +they die,' but who will not be Christians while they live. + +Now, God forbid that I should say that his wish was wrong! But only it +was not enough. Such a wish led to no action. + +Now, God hears the faintest wish; He does not require that we should +will strongly, but He does require that we should desire, and that we +should act according to our desires. + +Let the close be a brief picture of a righteous death. And oh! if you +feel that it is blessed, then let that desire lead you to Christ, and +all will be well. Remember that Bunyan saw a byway to hell at the door +of the celestial city. Remember how Balaam ended, and stands gibbeted +in the New Testament as an evil man, and the type of false teachers. +Finally, beware of knowledge which is not operative in conduct, of +convictions which are neglected and pass away, of vague desires which +come to nought. + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Expositions of Holy Scripture, by +Alexander Maclaren + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE *** + +***** This file should be named 7069.txt or 7069.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/7/0/6/7069/ + +Produced by Anne Folland, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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