budded completes the chain of evidence respecting those whom the Lord had invested with the priesthood, and is deposited as a token in the holy of holies. OBS.In this symbolical occurrence, an illustration is given of the election and grace of God, first, in the widest sense, when Israel is appointed to be the priestly nation, and, secondly, in a narrower sense, when Aaron's family is appointed. The rod, entirely separated from the tree, and deprived of the regular supply of vital strength flowing from the tree, could not bloom and yield fruit in a natural way; nevertheless, it is qualified to perform those functions by a supply of nourishment and strength furnished supernaturally, in a mode deviating from the ordinary processes of nature. Thus, too, Israel, together with the whole human race, was separated, by the Fall, from the eternal source of life, and torn from the soil in which alone they could flourish: but new and supernatural supplies of life are infused, flowing from the divine counsel of salvation, from the revelations of God. Aaron's family, contradistinguished from the unpriestly character of the priestly nation, appears in the same light; he and his sons are as incapable, by nature, of fulfilling the duties of the true priesthood, as the remainder of the people, but life and strength, which qualify him, flow abundantly from Jehovah's call and election. Even as Israel, in the full enjoyment of divine revelation, is a people flourishing alone among the withered nations of the earth, so, too, Aaron's family flourishes among the other families which are, relatively, withered-but, it blooms and yields fruit, not by its own virtue, but by the grace and calling of Jehovah. § 55. The Journeyings of Thirty-eight Years.-The Water of Strife.-Aaron's Death.-The Brazen Serpent. 1. Israel, rejected by the Lord, wandered in the wilderness during a period of thirty-eight years. Concerning this whole period, the sacred records observe silence; the theocratic covenant was suspended, and, hence, the theocratic history can speak of no occurrences. Circumcision, the sign of the covenant, was omitted; the people polluted the sabbaths of the Lord, despised his judgments, and did not walk in his statutes. (Ezek. ch. 20). They offered no slain beasts or sacrifices to the Lord, but they took up the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of their god, Remphan (the worship of Saturn), figures which they made. (Acts 7: 42, 43, and Amos 5 : 25, 26.) Nevertheless, the Lord had compassion even on those whom he had rejected; he turned his anger away, and did not destroy them. He fed them with manna, and gave them water out of the rock. 2. Num. 20:1-13. — At length we discover the Israelites, in the first month of the fortieth year, encamped a second time in Kadesh, on the southern borders of Canaan. A new generation has succeeded the one which had been rejected, and which gradually disappeared; at this point, Sacred History resumes the recital which had been interrupted. The supply of water had failed, and the people murmur. The Lord commands Moses to take the rod, which had been deposited in the sanctuary, and to speak to the rock. But Moses was provoked by the perverseness of the people, and lost the calmness, ease and firm bearing which belong to the assurance of faith; in place of speaking to the rock, as he had been commanded, he addressed the people harshly ("he spake unadvisedly with his lips," Ps. 106: 33), and smote the rock with the rod twice. The steadfastness of faith which he had hitherto shown, wavered, and as it is reasonable and just that judgment should begin at the house of God (1 Pet. 4 : 17), the Lord pronounces the sentence that he should not bring the congregation into the land, and extends it to Aaron, who had stood at his side on that occasion, and been equally weak in faith. The place was called the Water of Strife, because the people there strove with the Lord. 3. Num. 20:14-21: 9.-The design which had been formed of entering the promised land on the south, is abandoned, in consequence of the difficulties which the features of the country presented; at the same time, the hostility of the Edomites prevent the people from entering on the eastern side. Not only do the Edomites refuse them an unmolested passage through their territory, but also enforce their refusal by appearing in arms. As the two races claim the same remote ancestors, Israel is not permitted to contend with Edom in battle, and is, consequently, compelled to turn again to the south, and march around the mountains of Edom. (§ 41. 3.) Aaron dies on mount Hor, not far from Kadesh, after Moses had, in obedience to the divine command, removed his priestly garments, and put them upon his eldest son, Eleazar; the congregation mourned for him thirty days. In the mean time, the king of Arad (on the southern declivity of the mountains of the Amorites) fought against Israel, and took some of them prisoners; the Lord delivers the enemies into the hand of Israel, and they and their cities are utterly destroyed. The people then abandon Hor, and proceed towards the Red Sea (the Elanitic Gulf). Again do the people manifest discontent on the way, and speak against God and against Moses: "Our soul loatheth this light bread;" the Lord sends among them fiery serpents, whose bite occasions an inflammation which terminates in death. They acknowledge their sin, and beseech Moses to intercede for them; the Lord directs him to make a serpent of brass, and declares that all who are bitten, and who look upon it, shall live. OBS.- According to the explanation of Christ, the lifting up of the serpent in the wilderness is a type of the lifting up of himself on the cross, the result of which is redemption from sin and death (the bite of the old serpent): As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life." (John 3: 14, 15.) This type is further explained by passages like the following: "God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh." (Rom. 8:3.) "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." (Gal. 3:13.) "He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin." (2 Cor. 5: 21.) "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree." (1 Pet. 2: 24.) It is less easy to arrive at the interpretation of the serpent that was lifted up, in its purely symbolical character, that is, to ascertain the aspect which it presents, when regarded from an Old Testament point of view. The Serpent appears to have been almost universally received by antiquity as a symbol of healing, or the healing art; this symbolization probably originated when it was uscertained that some of the most efficacious remedies of nature are precisely the most dangerous poisons. When we, accordingly, regard the serpent, in the present instance, as a symbol of healing, we obtain from such a view a bond of union between the symbol and the type; we are, also, enabled by this view to explain the fact that idolatrous worship was rendered to the brazen serpent till the reign of Hezekiah, who destroyed it. (2 Kings, 18:4; 103. 1.) The apocryphal Book of the Wisdom of Solomon (16:6) calls it σύμβολον σωτηρίας, a sign of salvation.” § 56. The Conquest of the east-Jordanic territory. Balaam. As 1. Numb. 21: 10–35. Israel had now compassed the mountains of Edom; great fear fell upon the Edomites, whose eastern borders presented the weakest defences (§ 41. 3); they now offer no obstructions to the march of the Israelites. The latter reach the ridge of Abarim on the borders of the Moabites, whom, as in the case of the Edomites, they are not permitted to assail. They encamp on the brook Arnon, which was, at that time, the northern boundary of the Moabites, for, a short time previous to their arrival, the Amorites from the west had invaded the eastJordanic territory, and taken the whole region lying between the Arnon and the Jabbok from the Moabites and Ammonites. the Israelites are not yet aware that they are to possess this eastJordanic territory also, they send messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, and ask for permission to pass peaceably through his country; he meets them, however, in a hostile manner. As he is not entitled to the indulgence with which Edom and Moab were treated, he is smitten with the sword, the territory between Arnon and Jabbok is seized, the inhabitants are devoted to destruction, and the spoils are divided. Thence Israel proceeded in a northerly direction. Og, the king of Bashan, a man of gigantic stature, meets them in battle, but is defeated at Edrei, and, with all his people, is destroyed. The spoils are divided, and the conquered land is occupied. 2. Numb. ch. 22.- The people encamp in the plains of Moab, opposite to Jericho; at this point they propose to cross the Jordan. Balak, a Moabite king, enters into an alliance with the neighboring Midianites against Israel; he despairs of obtaining aid from his own gods, and applies to the celebrated magian Balaam in Mesopotamia, who is considered to be a prophet of Jehovah. He hopes, through the instrumentality of this man, to withdraw from the Israelites the help of that God who had hitherto strengthened them, and secure it for himself. The messengers who are sent to him with rich rewards, return without having succeeded, for Jehovah had said to Balaam: "Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the people: for they are blessed." A second message, brought by more honorable princes, and accompanied with richer gifts, awakens in the unstable magian a wish to comply with the royal request. And God permits him to go with the men, but says: "Yet the word which I shall say unto thee, that shalt thou do." An irresistible desire is gradually unfolded in Balaam's impure soul to obtain the offered gifts and honors, and, therefore, God's anger was kindled, because he went. The angel of the Lord stood in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand, as an adversary. The seer himself sees nothing, but his ass sees the angel, and turns aside in fear. Balaam smites the ass in vain; it can proceed no further, and falls down under him. When his anger grows fierce, the Lord opens the mouth of the ass. The prophet who would not receive the instructions of God's voice, is now taught by the voice of a beast the irrational beast of burden sees that which the deluded prophet does not see. Balaam hears the dumb ass, speaking with man's voice (2 Pet. 2: 15, 16), and complaining; then the Lord opens his eyes, and he both sees the angel of the Lord, and hears his words of rebuke. He confesses, indeed, that he has sinned, but with a divided heart, not promptly yielding to the divine will, he adds: "If it displease thee, I will get me back again." But now the Lord commands him to go with the men. OBS. 1.— Balaam, originally a heathen magian of an ordinary class, was, very probably (like Jethro, Exodus, ch. 18, and Rahab, Joshua, ch. 2), conducted to the acknowledgment of Jehovah, by the overpowering influence of the wonderful deeds of God in Egypt and in the wilderness, which made a deep impression on all the surrounding nations. (Exodus, 15: 14; Joshua, 5: 1.) He resolved to serve Jehovah, and to perform his enchantments henceforth in the name of Jehovah. (Analogous instances in the New Testament occur in Matt. 12:27; Acts, 19: 13; and, particularly, in Acts, ch. 8, which relates the case of Simon the sorcerer, the Balaam of the New Testament.) Such a combination of heathenish magic with the service of Jehovah, could not be permanent, and the experience of Balaam would necessarily soon compel him to abandon the one or the other. When the message of Balak reached him, the period of decision arrived the test was applied, and Balaam was found wanting. - |