The Incredulity of Moses Reproved
“And Moses said, The people among whom I am, are six hundred thousand footmen; and thou hast said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month.
“Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for them, to suflSce them? or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together to suffice them?
“And the Lord said unto Moses, Is the Lord’s band waxed short? Thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not.”
We have lingered long in Taberah, we will now prepare for our departure, but previously consider the incredulity of Moses, with respect to the divine assurance, and the reproof he received.
We will first direct our attention to the divine promise. A preparation, however, was requisite; for it was said, Sanctify yourselves against the morrow, be prepared for it, keep your minds in an appropriate frame, expect it with certainty, and rejoice in the anticipation of it. This is a suitable preparation with reference to promises in general; but it becomes a duty when they present themselves to us, as in a visible manner in the holy sacraments. The promises also generally require patience, the more so, the greater and more excellent they are. Here the people had not long to wait — only till the next morning. Yet still, even so short a period, may sometimes seem long to us.
The cause and occasion of the promise was not a very pleasing one. “Ye have wept in the ears of the Lord,” it is said, “since ye say, who shall give us flesh to eat? for it was well with us in Egypt, (and why did he need to bring us out of it?) and ye have rejected the Lord.” It was therefore a promise and a bestowment, not in grace, but in wrath; not to benefit, but to destroy. And is not this still frequently the case? Is the noble blessing of health a benefit or an injury to those who abuse it to commit crimes; and would not many a one have escaped a misfortune had he been ill? Have not the great abilities and learning of many become a snare to them? And what is there, that is beneficial to man, except the Lord impart his blessing with it; and when he does so, what would be detrimental to him?
Israel’s weeping entered into the Lord’s ears. What would you think, if your laughter and revelling, your words and actions came to the ears of the Lord? what would be the result? — favour or displeasure — a friendly or a frowning face? If this weeping, which was evidently not without reason, was so displeasing to the Lord, think ye that your ungodly doings will be a matter of indifference to him? Or do you not suppose that God has ears that hear every thing, eyes that see every thing, and a book in which all things are written? He that made the ear, shall he not hear? He that formed the eye, shall he not see? But ye that.
weep in Israel, be assured that he counts your tears. Their number must indeed be complete; but at length the last will be wept, and then eternal joy shall succeed. ‘’ Blessed are ye that weep now, for ye shall laugh.” But woe unto you that laugh now; for ye shall mourn and weep.
The promise itself was to the effect that they should have flesh in abundance, not for a few days only, but for a whole month. Yet this should not afford them pleasure, but loathing. They had said of the manna, “Our soul loatheth this light food,” and now they would be compelled to say so in a still greater degree with respect to the flesh, after which they had longed, and gladly content themselves with the manna again. “Be content with such things as ye have,” says Paul; who had learned in whatever situation he was, therewith to be content. God can replace that which is wanting of creature good; but no creature can replace God, if he be wanting. Therefore thirst after God!
The manna of the gospel is just as disgusting to many, as the manna of the wilderness to the Jews. They long for the Egyptian flesh of human wisdom, which is not according to Christ, but the world. But O how loathsome will this become to you, if it should please God to extend his mercy towards you, and grant you repentance! How would you long for the gospel ye have despised, if the mercy were vouchsafed to you, of feeling the pressure of your sins!
Such was the promise given by the Lord, whose honour was assailed. It was determinate — it was great. It seemed impracticable. This reminds us of the great promises of the gospel, which are, the entire forgiveness of sins, and even of that sinful nature, with which the Christian has to struggle — a complete and perfect sanctification and renovation, in which all that is sinful is as entirely banished from the soul, as the night by the rising of the sun — a preservation so powerful, that no one can pluck them out of Jesus’ hands, when once in them, for they shall never perish — a preservation so minute and circumstantial, that not a hair shall fall unnoticed from their heads; and so certain, that the “mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed,” rather than the Lord’s favour from his people — an omnipotent assistance, so that when they pass through the waters, the Lord is with them, and through the floods, yet they shall not overflow them. — An acceptance to the adoption of children and the heritage of God.
But it is very easy to act in such a manner towards these great things, as Moses did with reference to the divine promise. He entered into a rational scrutiny of it; the result of which was,” how can such a thing be V* and closely connected with this was the idea, it cannot be! and yet, such an idea was to possess greater validity than the divine promise itself! Wretched incredulity! especially in one who was the mediator of the old covenant — in him who stands amongst the first in the list of believing heroes in Heb. xi. He well understood the promise, since it had reference merely to outward things, and could therefore be comprehended by the natural understanding, without the aid of superior light. It had reference to flesh. That they should have this the day following, and that for a whole month together- in the greatest abundance, seemed to him something great, as it really was. And how great and astonishing is that which we have just quoted from the covenant of grace? Is it not more than a weak and contracted human heart is able to comprehend and receive?
Reason now set before Moses the difficulties which lay in the way of the fulfilment of this promise. Of Abraham it is said, that “he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was fully persuaded, that what he had promised he was able also fo perform.” This could not be said of Moses on this occasion, but the contrary. His reason reminded him of the number and the means, and thus deprived him of his faith. The number of the people first presented itself to his view, which, without such as were under twenty years of age, doubtless without the women also, amounted to six hundred thousand footmen, exclusive of the rabble of whom we recently spoke. And this immense number was to eat flesh for a whole month! This was hard to believe. Let us, therefore, not think so slightingly of those, who either cannot believe the Bible, or at least not the whole of it. Nor is it such an easy matter. Moses himself, in this instance, did not believe all. It is true they had brought much cattle with them out of Egypt, yet it would have required fifteen hundred even to be slain daily to afford a moderate portion unto each. Thus their cattle would have been all consumed; and it could not have been correctly said God had given them flesh. Numbers embarrassed Moses, and are they not capable still of crippling, or at least of restraining faith? The number of sins, which seemed to many of the saints to exceed the hair of their heads, and even the sand on the sea-shore; the great number of those who walk towards perdition; and the small number of those who find the way to life, may be a source of disquietude to a troubled soul.
The means for the accomplishment of the divine promise, likewise excited perplexity in the mind of Moses, and both together caused unbelief to take up arms. Moses does not show himself as a child, but as a prudent man; who, when he sees no way or means for the accomplishment of the promise, imagines that there are none in existence. Was this humility? Was this childlike? or the consideration of what God is, and what man? The prudent calculator thought of oxen and fish, but of birds, which are also flesh, he thinks not. At the same time he exaggerates in asking, “Shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together to suffice them?” In short, it seems impossibility itself. What, is not God’s will sufficient to realize every thing? Is his arm shortened, so that it can no longer extend itself? Are his words to be of no more value to us than our own thoughts?
Well, you are at liberty boldly to triumph over Moses, if you can mend the matter. When you are in distress, do you confidently believe he can and will deliver you, or else overrule every thing for the best? When you see no longer any way of escape, do you rejoice at the conviction, that he can call into existence that which is not? You answer in every case, and even in the most difficult, ‘* We are able to do it through Christ;^’ and then every difficulty is solved. If your sins set themselves in array against you, you can point to his blood, and their clamours are mute; if the law, with its rigid and urgent demands, marches against you, you oppose to it the shield of the righteousness of Christ; and if your spiritual enemies are on the point of binding you, and exclaim, “the Philistines be upon thee, Samson,” the Spirit of God immediately comes upon you, and every fetter is burst, as a flaxen thread in the flame of a candle, and you exclaim, strong in the Lord and in the power of his might, “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that hath loved us!” and you are perfectly in the right. Go forwards in this your strength, and let nothing confuse nor confound you. But the case was otherwise with Moses this time, and who is not astonished at witnessing such incredulity, such blind prudence, and such temerity in this distinguished servant of God! What amazing displays of divine power had he already witnessed, how great his knowledge of God, what confidential intercourse he enjoyed with him, and how every thing had been transacted without a medium, so that God had said himself to him, “Thou hast found favour in my sight.” And yet all this could not prevent him from speaking so unadvisedly.
But here we see the grace of God, in faithfully restoring his servant, who here appears as a lost and wandering sheep. He puts a question to him in return, by which he reminds him of his power, and thus leads the mind of Moses back to the right point. “Is the Lord’s hand waxed short?” inquires he. How beneficial re such divine remindings to a desponding soul; how do they raise the individual out of the mire, and set his feet on the dry land! He may sometimes sink down in despair at the multitude of his sins; and how consoling is it then to be inwardly and powerfully reminded of the blood of Christ, which was shed to make reconciliation for us, of his strength in the “feeling of our weakness, and of his powerful aid in the consciousness of our misery.” Then the soul regains its wings, and its youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
The Lord also informs Moses, that he himself shall experience it. Thou shalt see now, whether my words come to pass unto thee, or not.” A man like Moses ought to have reasonably believed without seeing, and to have hoped where nothing was to be hoped for. But Moses, as Moses, could as little do this, as any other person. Faith and unbelief end at length in sight and experience. The unbeliever will at length perceive with terror, that every thing is as the Word of God told him, when it predicted hell, eternal damnation, and a future judgment So the believer shall at length be blissfully conscious of the truth of what he believed, and his hopes be turned into sight.
And thus was Moses restored. All his objections fell entirely away. He went to the people, and told them that they should have flesh to eat for a whole month. He no longer speculated upon the way or means by which the promise was to be fulfilled. He believed that what God had promised he would also perform. O pleasing change, when the mind is extricated from the multitudes of its own thoughts, and the comfortless confusion of its own reflections, and when it can place its confidence in the living God’!
But lastly, it might be asked, why Moses mentions this of himself, since it is nothing to his praise, but might degrade him in the opinion of others? This was the very object he wished primarily to obtain. He did not wish to be exalted above his rea) standing, nor desired praise, at least not at the expense of him to whom all praise belongs. He wishes it to be seen, that without the aid of divine grace he is no better than another man. Hence Paul also refers so frequently to his former errors, and when he commends himself, he rarely forgets to add, “Yet not I, but the grace that is in me.” Humility, and an insight into our nothingness, augments with our growth in grace.
In thus informing us of his errors, he testifies at the same time how greatly we need the constant operation of divine influence, and how dependent we are upon it. Of what avail is all knowledge and even all experience of divine assistance, and every former assurance of his grace; what avails it, if we have believed a hundred times, and it is not given us at the moment when it is needed? We are then just as poor and wretched, as dark and dead as if we had previously known nothing, experienced nothing, nor ever believed; of which Moses is a proof in this instance. We are unable to do the smallest thing of ourselves, whether at the commencement or in the continuation, and therefore a very dependant life and conduct is much to be recommended.
The failings which the Scriptures relate to us, even of the holiest and most distinguished individuals, serve also as a proof that they too are saved only by grace, and that there is no other way to salvation, than the new and living way through Christ; that there is no other righteousness in which we can stand in the judgment, but that which Christ has purchased for us by his perfect obedience, and which the penitent sinner apprehends in faith.
Let us, therefore, be lowly in heart, and wholly despair of ourselves, and hope to the end for the grace which shall be revealed to us at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen,