That which so deeply afflicted Moses, excited, in a very high degree, III. The displeasure of God It is instructive to observe in what manner God manifested his displeasure [He granted their wishes, and sent them such abundance of quails, that for many miles round their camp they lay above a yard thick upon the ground. The people with great avidity began to gather them up. For two whole days and a night did they occupy themselves in this work: so he who gathered least among them, gathered ten homers, or eighty bushels. Now they began to revel upon the spoil; but whilst the flesh was in their mouths, even before it was chewed, God smote them with a very great plague, whereof many thousands of them died ---How strongly did God mark their sin in their punishment!] But we are peculiarly interested in the end for which he thus displayed his indignation [He expressly tells us, that it was for our sakes, and to make them ensamples unto ush. He designed to teach us "not to lust after evil things, as they lusted." O that we could learn that lesson, and take warning by them! We are ready to think it a light matter to be dissatisfied with what we have, and to be longing for what we have not: but God has shewn us that he does not account it light: he deems it a contempt of him and of the rich mercies he has vouchsafed unto us; and as such, he will sooner or later visit it with fiery indignation. -] Suffer ye then, Brethren, a word of EXHORTATION— 1. Guard against the contagion of bad example [It was "the mixed multitude" who first began to murmuri; and from them the dissatisfaction spread through all the tents of Israel. Thus did Judas infect all the disciples. Thus shall we ever find it in the Church: "a little leaven is sufficient to leaven the whole lump." If there be any one of a carnal, worldly, querulous and contentious spirit, be sure to let him have no influence over your mind. Reject his counsels as poison; and follow none any further than they follow Christ 2. Cultivate a contented spirit— -] ["Be contented with such things as ye have." It is better h 1 Cor. x. 6, 10, 11. ver. 32, 33. with Ps. 1xxviii. 17-31. i ver. 4. They were Egyptians, who accompanied the Israelites. * Compare Matt. xxvi. 7-9. with John xii. 4—6. to have little with a devout spirit, than abundance, and "leanness of soul withal." God shewed that it was not from any want of power that he did not feed them every day with flesh; but because he knew that it would be productive of no good to their souls. Think not that it is from any want of love or power that he suffers you to be tried in a variety of ways. He could easily carry you on without any trials, and give you all that the most carnal heart could desire. But trials are the fruits of his love: he desires to instruct you in every part of your duty; that you may "know both how to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need." "Learn then in every thing to be content," and to say from your hearts in all things, "Not my will, but thine be done."] 3. Expect from God all that is truly good for you [Moses himself staggered at the promise, when God said, that all the people should feed on flesh for a whole month': bit God said to him, "Is the Lord's hand waxed short? Thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not "." His promises to us also are exceeding great and precious," both in relation to our bodies and our souls Let us never presume to "limit the Holy One of Israel,” as though any thing which he has promised, were either too great, or too good, for him to give. The trials which he sends us, are often sent on purpose that we may see the exceeding riches of his grace in our deliverance. For temporal things, let us depend entirely on his good providence; and for spiritual things, on his all-sufficient grace. In Christ Jesus there is a fulness of all that we can want; and "out of his fulness we may all receive" from day to day 1 ver. 21, 22. CLI. m ver. 23. GOD'S WORD sure. Numb. xi. 23. And the Lord said unto Moses, Is the Lord's hand waxed short? Thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee, or not. IN reading the history of the Israelites, we cannot fail of being struck with the wonderful display of God's patience and forbearance towards them. No displays of love and mercy on his part would satisfy them. They were always murmuring, and wishing that they had never come out of Egypt at all. It was a small matter in their eyes that they were supplied with manna from the clouds from day to day: they must have flesh to eat; and so intense was their desire after that gratification, that they actually wept before God, whole families of them, throughout the camp, saying, "Give us flesh, that we may eat"." Nor was Moses himself blameless in this matter: for though he did not in the least participate with them in their inordinate desire for meat, he questioned God's power to give them meat: and it was this unbelief of his which brought forth from Jehovah the reproof which we have just read, and which will be the subject of our present discourse. In this reproof we see, I. The evil of unbelief It is the most common of all evils [It pervades the whole human race. It is found in the godly, no less than in the ungodly. Even Abraham, the father of the faithful, was by no means free from it. Repeatedly did he desire his wife to deny her relation to him as a wife, and to call herself his sister, lest persons, captivated with her beauty, should kill him for the sake of obtaining an undisturbed possession of her; thus betraying his fears, that God was either not able to protect him, or not sufficiently interested in his welfare to watch over him. And Moses, on the occasion before us, was evidently under the power of unbelief. Some, indeed, would understand his reply to God as a mere question, and a desire to be informed whether the flesh which he would give should be that of beasts or fishes: but then the answer would have corresponded with it, and would merely have informed him that it was not the flesh of beasts or of fishes that he would supply in such abundance, but the flesh of birds. But Moses' question was evidently founded on the magnitude of the supply which God had promised. He had declared, that the whole people of Israel, not less than two millions in number, should be supplied with it, "not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, but even a whole month, until it should come out at their nostrils, and be loathsome unto them." To that, Moses in a way of unbelief, asks, How, when the fighting men alone amounted to six hundred thousand men, should they all be so fed as "to suffice them," (twice is that idea suggested,) and that "for the space of a whole month?" And God's answer to him clearly shews, that it was unbelief that was here reproved: "Is the Lord's hand waxed short?" Thou hast seen how easily I brought frogs and locusts upon the land of Egypt; and am I less able to supply flesh of any kind that I may see good? "You shall see now (presently) whether my word shall come to pass, or not." When we see persons so eminent for the grace of faith as Abraham and Moses, yet 'giving way to unbelief, we need scarcely adduce any further proof of the universal prevalence of this evil. It exists, indeed, in very different degrees in men, being in some only occasional, whilst in others it is the entire habit of their minds: but there is not a man under the whole heavens who has not reason to mourn over the workings of this corruption, when he is brought into circumstances to call it forth. From other evils many persons may be accounted nearly free: but this works equally in men of every class, and every age.] It is also the most specious of all evils— [No one will avow a doubt of God's power to effect. whatsoever he shall please: his pretext will be, that he cannot conceive how God should condescend to shew such extraordinary favour to one so insignificant and worthless as himself. But God himself never puts this construction upon it: he always regards it as a denial of his perfections, and resents it in that view. We have a remarkable instance of this in Ahaz. God told him, by the prophet, to "ask a sign of him, either in the depth or in the height above." But Ahaz, wishing to hide his unbelief, pretended that this was too great an honour for him, and that therefore he could not presume to ask any such thing: "Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord.' But was this construction admitted on God's part? No: He viewed the evil as it really was, and not as it was glossed over by this self-deluded monarch; and therefore, with just indignation, he replied, by his prophet, "Hear ye now, Dhouse of David! Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also?" So, whatever we may imagine, a want of entire confidence in God, whatever be the circumstances under which we are placed, will appear in its true colours before God, and be condemned by him as unbelief.] It is, moreover, the most offensive of all evils [There is no grace so highly honoured of God, as faith; nor any evil so reprobated by him, as unbelief. Other evils are acts of rebellion against his authority; but this rises against every one of his perfections. It doubts his wisdom, his power, his goodness, his love, his mercy; yea, it questions even his veracity; and reduces the infinite Jehovah to a level with his own creatures; insomuch that Balaam, when checking e Isai. vii. 10-13. the vain hopes of the king of Moab, could find no language more appropriate than this: "God is not a man, that he should lie; or the son of man, that he should repent. Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?" What an indignity he considers it, is plain from his very answer to Moses: "Is the hand of the Lord waxed short? Thou shalt see whether my word shall come to pass or not." This is no slight rebuke: it is similar to that which he gave to Sarah, when she doubted whether she should ever bear to Abraham the promised child: "Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old? Is any thing too hard for the Lorde?" How Zacharias was reproved for his unbelief in the temple, you well know. And amongst all the provocations which the Israelites committed in the wilderness, this was the one which God laid most to heart: "How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert! Yea, they turned back, and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel: they remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy"."] Finally, it is the most fatal of all evils— [Other evils, if we come to God in the exercise of faith, may be forgiven: but this evil, whilst it is yet dominant in the soul, precludes a possibility of forgiveness; because it keeps us from God, to whom we ought to come; and puts away from us that mercy which he offers to bestow. The whole adult population of Israel perished in the wilderness. What was it that prevented their entrance into Canaan? We are told, "They could not enter in because of unbelief"." And what is it which, under the Gospel also, is the great damning sin? it is this: "Go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature: he that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; and he that believeth not, shall be damned'."] Whilst the answer of God to Moses reproves this evil, it points out to us, II. Its proper antidote To prevent its ever gaining an ascendant over us, we should, 1. Reflect on God's power as already exercised [Had Moses only called to mind the wonders which God had already wrought for his people, he would not have "staggered at the promise" that was now given. Nor shall we doubt the certainty of any promise whatever, if we bear in e Gen. xviii. 12, 13. f Luke i. 20. h Heb. iii. 18. i Mark xvi. 15, 16. d Numb. xxiii. 19. |