Bible Commentaries

Review and Prospect

Deuteronomy 3:23-25). And the Lord said,—No. This seems to be cruel. It occurs in our own life. We are sometimes so near, and, behold, the scene dissolves like a mirage—vanishes at our approach like a thing that mocks us. The child comes to the twenty-first year, but never completes his majority; the dream is just going to come true, when some rude wind blows it absolutely away; the blossom is beautiful, the fruit is forming, and whilst we are looking on the east wind comes and blights the tree; now and again, in prayer, we are just going to lay both hands upon the answer and bring it back with us like a reaper returning with a sheaf from the harvest field, and before we can touch it we who were mighty in prayer become weak in unbelief; we see so many things come towards maturity which never ripen into the bloom of perfect life. Then what became of Moses? Here is an unanswered prayer. Blessed be God for many prayers that have never been answered! What if at the end we have to thank God more for the prayers he did not hear than for the supplications to which he replied? Let us picture Moses now as an old man: let us, in imagination, see his white hair, his wrinkled face, the fire of his eyes diminishing—nearly extinct; let us for a moment imagine a child's emotion swelling his old breast as he says,—" Let me go over, and see the good land;"—and then imagine him doubling his age and falling into decrepitude as in a moment when the forbidding word falls from the lips of God. That is no romance: it is today's distressing story. But that is not the end. Moses wanted to see the lower Canaan—what if he saw the higher? Moses uttered a little prayer—what if God denied a reply so small as the intercession and took him up without prayer into the region of eternal praise? The prophets were cut off without seeing the culmination or fruition of their predictions; but what heavens blazed upon their opened eyes in the other and better world what sage may hear, what poet imagine? There we stand. God denies only that which is little, earthly and mean, or miscalculated, or undesirable. He surprises us by the vastness of his answers. He "is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think." Into that sanctuary of promise our souls would fly as into a refuge inviolable. You prayed for the child's life, and the child died—what if it were but transplanted from cold climes to the summer air of heaven? You prayed for a certain kind of prosperity, and it was denied—what if your soul was enriched with a nobler largess—a greater proof of favour divine? Do not interrupt God, or mischievously and narrowly interpret his promise. It is written upon the record, it was spoken by the voice of Christ—that God will always do some better thing for us than we have ventured to desire. If the little prayer is denied, it is that God may make room for a larger blessing—yea, for the new Jerusalem itself.

"Handfuls of Purpose"

For All Gleaners

"Thou hast begun to skew thy servant thy greatness."— Deuteronomy 3:24

This is what is always happening.

—The broadest revelation is but a beginning of the disclosure of divine riches.—Even if there be no more seed given, the possibilities of growth and development are infinite.—At the last we shall feel that we have but begun to see the greatness of God.—This is the glory of the Bible: no man can read it through with the feeling that he has exhausted its whole meaning.—The Bible grows by being read.—Without doing any violence to words or to historical forms it is felt that again and again new meanings surprise the soul like unexpected light.—The same rule holds good with regard to providence, or the daily ministry of life.—There comes a day in every man's history when he sees the beginning of the greatness of God in the outlining and direction of his own life.—Looking back to his fancy, his weakness, his poverty, his friendlessness it may be, he is surprised to find how out of the very dust of the earth God has made a man.—It is a singular testimony but universal in the Christian Church that God is never regarded as a dwindling quantity or as a contracting revelation; he is always represented as surprising students, believers, worshippers, with new resources.—He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.—When man has overtaken God he will himself be God.—It is of the very essence of God that he should be unsearchable and his wisdom past finding out.—This should be an encouragement to us in our spiritual education.—Progress should be the law and the motto of every process of spiritual inquiry.—There is always some unattained height, some unmeasured orb, some un-traversed ocean.—"I count not myself to have apprehended."—Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.—All human education is but a series of beginnings.—Finality in religious progress is impossible, and where it is supposed to have been attained the supposition risks the destiny of the soul.

"Handfuls of Purpose"

For All Gleaners

"Behold... not go."— Deuteronomy 3:27

This was what was to occur in the case of Moses. He was to have a sight of the promised land, but he was not to go into it.—This was no exceptional act on the part of God; on the contrary it is what he is always doing as the ages move onwards.—There are men who see what they will never personally enjoy; and however much their impatience may wish to turn sight into still closer uses, they are filled with ecstatic joy even by the vision of the good things which are yet to come.—In this way we should live in one another and for one another.—Moses could return from the mountain and say that he had seen the good land; even that message would be a comfort to those who were weary, and in whom wonder was fast turning into doubt.—There must always be men in a progressive age who see further than others.—As some see the time when men shall learn war no more.—Others see the time when there will be no need for any man to say to his brother, "Know the Lord," for all shall know him from the least unto the greatest.—This method of divine providence is educational, inasmuch as it shows that not to go does not prevent the enjoyment of the soul in the prospect of realised promises. It is something to submit gracefully to a subordination of the individual, and to accept gladly benefits which are intended for the whole commonwealth.—There is no tone of impatience in the statement of Moses when he hears the Lord's proposition.—We must accept our place whether we are seers or literal travellers.—It is no small pleasure to see even in dream or in assured hope the beautiful summer which is yet to spread its glories over the whole land.—The enjoyment Deuteronomy 3:29

Places have moral interest.—Sometimes the valley is in the highland, and is therefore only a valley relatively: as compared with valleys far away down it may actually be a very high mountain.—The lesson we have to learn is to abide in the place assigned by Providence.—There is a subtle tone of submission and patience in the text. There is no complaining as to the lot.—The valley is accepted as a sanctuary. It was a valley of God's making, and therefore was to be regarded as a place on which he had expended special care.—In the valley we may have shelter.—In the valley we may have harvests.—In the valley we may have security.—It is the business of the Christian to discover the advantages of his position rather than to moan over its disadvantages.—There is another valley in which we shall not abide, but shall pass through it under the comfort of the rod and the staff of the divine Shepherd.—Some persons seem never to get out of the valley; they literally abide in it as men abide in a home.—Who are we that we should chide the Providence which has made such appointments? How do we know how much the dwellers in the valley are saved from? Who can tell what compensations fall to their lot?—The text is not supposed to teach the kind of contentment which it is almost impossible to distinguish from indifference. Such contentment is no virtue. The true contentment is that which accepts the hard lot without repining, knowing that God has some good purpose in its appointment, and assured that even the hardest position may be turned to noble uses.—When our superiors attempt to keep us in the valley we may well inquire as to their authority: when God means us to abide in the valley we may be sure that he will not forsake us in our lowest estate.