Moseroth
“And they departed from Hashmonah; and encamped at Moseroth.”
This twenty-sixth encampment of the children of Israel lies towards the Red Sea, and their route to it led them away from the promised land, along the desert of Paran and Sinai. The previous stations had been only a mile distant from each other; but now they were obliged to travel forty miles without encamping, which must doubtless have caused them great fatigue and a variety of inconveniences, especially when we consider the number of children, sick, and old and infirm people they must have had with them. I know not whether they travelled by day or by night, under the guidance of the fiery and cloudy pillar. But the distance was so great, that they probably continued their journey by night as well as by day; and of those who were obliged to be left behind, every possible care Was taken. They were not in want of food; for the mysterious manna still descended every morning and fell around the camp.
They were equally as little in want of water; for the rock smitten at Rephidim followed them every where through the desert, and gave them water in abundance. They were as little deficient in clothes as in shoes, although they wore still the old ones they had brought with them out of Egypt, for they never wore out; on which circumstance I leave you to your own reflections.
For this long and tedious journey they were probably recompensed on arriving at this new encampment. They had been latterly accustomed to be well situated in that respect, if not a little spoiled. The last encampment, indeed, did not seem to be quite what it ought to be. If they were in such haste they might indeed travel forty miles at a stretch; but it was for them to see to it, whether they went backwards or forwards; although in the ways of the Lord there is no retrograding. But what was the place appointed for their present encampment? The term implies bonds, instruction, correction. These are good things; but whether always agreeable or not is another question. At least concerning the last-mentioned signification, the Apostle says, “No chastisement for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous, yet afterwards it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of the Spirit to them that are exercised thereby,” (Heb. xii. 11,) and represents it as indispensable that the Father should correct every son whom he receiveth, declaring, that ‘’ if we endure not chastisement, of which all are partakers, then are we bastards and not sons.”
Let us now consider more attentively the meaning of the word Moseroth in its threefold signification, bonds, instruction, and correction.
The first interpretation leads us to regard the natural man in his bonds, and the necessity of his being unbound, and how the latter is accomplished.
Man, in his natural condition, lives in a state of licentious freedom; hence the Scripture compares him to horses and mules, which would run wild, if not held in with bit and bridle. Man by nature strives after unlimited liberty, and instead of seeking it in an agreement with the will of God, he places it in the very opposite. This licentiousness shows itself indeed most prominently in the season of youth, particularly when favoured by outward circumstances; nor does it disappear in after years.
But with all this apparent liberty, the natural man is nevertheless a servant of sin. Christ is represented by Isaiah as giving “liberty to the captive, and as opening the prison-doors to them that are bound.” The bondage there implied is that of sin in general, and single sins in particular. Covetousness fetters the one, drunkenness, lust, &c. another. Unbelief binds him fast, and he is in bondage to the law, sin, and even Satan. This bondage, however disgraceful, cannot be thrown off; nor is it always felt by those that are under it; on the contrary, they frequently feel happy and free in it.
The individual therefore requires, first of all, to be loosened; even as Christ ordered concerning the ass’s colt, saying, “Loose him, and bring him hither.” The fetters of sin must be burst, that it may lose its dominion, and that the individual may thank God, that though he was a servant of sin, and formerly unwise, disobedient, and out of the way, yet that now he is delivered from the snare of Satan, and from the kingdom of darkness, that he is no longer under the law, but under grace, on which account sin is no longer able to rule over him, seeing that he has passed from death unto life.
But after being thus freed from sin, he must now become a servant of righteousness, and belong, with body and soul, in life and death, to Christ, and as one alive from the dead, yield up his members as instruments of righteousness unto holiness. Christ binds his people as closely to himself as the members are joined to the head, and as the branches are bound to the vine; so that he declares, that without him we can do nothing. The Son, indeed, makes free, but in such a manner, that those who are made free, abide in him and he in them, and they refuse to acknowledge any other freedom than that which consists in perfect subjection to Christ.
This deliverance from bondage is exclusively the work of Christ, who accomplishes it by his Holy Spirit. He destroys the works of the devil. He says to the prisoners, “Come forth!” He does this in its full extent, although by degrees. He is the commencement, progress, and termination, the author and finisher of our faith.
Moseroth betokens, secondly, instruction; and this is also something that we much require. Paul says, “the grace of God, which bringeth salvation, hath appeared unto all men, teaching us, that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, lighteously, and godlily in this present world.” We require instruction because of our blindness with respect to spiritual things, of which the natural man knows nothing, nor can he comprehend them. Hence every one requires that his eyes should be opened, in order that he may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, to receive the forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance among them that are sanctified, through faith in Christ.
At Moseroth, deep insight is obtained into “the mystery of God and the Father, and of Christ, in whom lie hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” The individual then understands more of the substance of the divine doctrine, which leaves all human doctrines far behind in sublimity, holiness and suitableness; yea, it presents itself as that which had never entered into the human heart, but which God has revealed unto us by his Spirit.
A few words more on the word Moseroth as signifying correction or chastisement. Thus David uses the word in the 38th Psalm, when he prays, saying, “Chasten me not in thy hot displeasure.” And in Psalm xxxix. he says, “When thou with rebukes, dost chasten man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like the moth.” Paul justly considers chastisement as belonging to natural, as well as spiritual education. “We have had fathers of our flesh, who corrected us, and we gave them reverence; shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of Spirits, and live? for they chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. For in this very respect he dealeth with us as with sons.” Here correction presupposes naughtiness, which causes it, and which must be eradicated by it. It arises from affection -and care for the child, and the more ardent and prudent the latter are, and the more important the destiny of the child, the more strict the discipline. If a person is set to learn something thoroughly, the smallest fault is not overlooked, and the dearest child is placed under the strictest management.
Corrections have certainly always something of a painful nature, either more or less. At one time they have reference to outward circumstances; at another they are inward sufferings, the hiding of God’s countenance, want of courage and consolation, withdrawment of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and even the feeling of the divine displeasure. He chooses his people in the furnace of affliction. He is like a refiner’s fire, and sits and purifies the sons of Levi. They are compared to gold, and tribulation is the purifying flame. The purer the gold is destined to become, the greater the heat.
Chastisement presupposes faults; and even children of God still commit these, and have to do with a Father who is strict in this respect. If we do not suflfer dust to lie on our costly furniture, much less God on his people. The question here has not reference merely to words and actions, but also to thoughts, dispositions, motives, and intentions. Nothing impure can pass, except for a time; and the Apostle establishes it as a general rule, that ‘* every work, of whatever kind it is, shall be tried by fire.” (1 Cor. iii. 13.) Moseroth, correction, is therefore certainly one of the encampments of the Israel of God where his people are prepared for the heavenly Canaan. Its intention and effect is the eradication of adhering imperfections; it humbles, it purifies, it corrects, it preserves. In one w’ord.
chastisement, together with the word of God, are the means of making us partakers of his holiness; and this is the highest state to which we can attain. If therefore the pillar of fire and of cloud direct us thither, let us willingly travel the forty miles, and encamp at Moseroth.