Bible Commentaries

Numbers 11:29

Eldad and Medad seem instances of unlicensed preaching and prophesying; and this, at a time of scanty knowledge and rare spiritual illumination, was not without its dangers. So thought Joshua, and, jealous for Moses' supremacy, besought him to rebuke them. But the great prophet, wholly wanting in the thought of self, rebuked Joshua instead. "Enviest thou," he said, "for my sake?" and then added, in words of noble hyperbole, "Would God that all the Lord's people were prophets!"

I. The first thought that occurs to us in reading this scene is the good, felt by the greatest, of zeal and enthusiasm. And the second is, how to discover it, how to encourage it in God's service. But then comes the further question, Have these men the prophet's capacity? Have they that primary want, the prophet's faith? Have they fire, perseverance, and courage? (1) The prophet's faith. Take away from the prophet this faith in the living God, speaking to him, teaching him, encouraging him, in the midst of life's sorrows and temptations, and he is nothing. Give him that belief, and his confidence, his courage, is unshaken (2) There is the prophet's belief in the moral order underlying the established order of things, as the only safe and sure foundation on which peace and prosperity in a nation can be built.

II. The prophetic message, however varied its tone, however startling its communication, is always in substance, as of old, the same: "He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"

III. "Would that the people of the Lord were all prophets!" Would that we had all more of the fire of enthusiasm, leading us to go forth and act, and learn in acting, not waiting till we have solved all doubts or perfected some scheme of action!

IV. Zeal may often make mistakes, but it is better than no zeal. Truth is not merely correctness, accuracy, the absence of error, nor even the knowledge of the laws of nature. It is also the recognition of the moral and spiritual bases of life, and the desire to promote and teach these among men.

A. G. Butler, The Oxford Review, April 29th, 1885.

References: Numbers 11:29.—H. Melvill, Lothbury Lectures, p. 168; Parker, vol. iv., p. 52; J. Van Oosterzee, Year of Salvation, vol. i., p. 463.

Numbers 11:31-34

Notice:—

I. The perpetual resurrections of easily besetting sins. (1) Look at the side from which the temptation came. It was distinctly a question of lust. Lust was strong in the people, the love of the satisfaction of the bodily appetites for the sake of the momentary pleasure they bring. Appetite runs swiftly to lust in every one of us; each act of indulgence opens a mouth which craves to be fed. (2) Look at the special season when the easily besetting sin rose up and again made them its slave. There is a backwater of temptation which is more deadly than its direct assaults. Just when the consciousness of a triumph seems to permit and justify disarmament for a moment, the subtle foe with whom you have to deal will steal in on you, and win a treacherous victory.

II. There comes a point in the history of the indulgence of besetting sins when God ceases to strive with us and for us against them, and lets them have their way. (1) God has great patience with the weaknesses and sins of the flesh. But it is a dreadful mistake to suppose that therefore He thinks lightly of them. He regards them as sins that must be conquered and, no matter by what sharp discipline, extirpated and killed. (2)

Hence all the severer discipline by which the Lord seeks to purge them, the various agencies by which He fights with us and for us against their tyrannous power. (3) Let alone by God. "Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone," is one among the most awful sentences in the word of God.

III. The end of that way is inevitably and speedily a grave. The grave of lust is one of the most awful of the inscriptions on the headstone of the great cemetery, the world. No ghosts are so sure to haunt their graves as the ghosts of immolated faculties and violated vows. Each act of indulgence makes the grave wider and deeper where the whole breadth of Godlike faculty will at length be buried.

J. Baldwin Brown, The Soul's Exodus and Pilgrimage, p. 279.

References: Numbers 11:31.—S. Baring-Gould, One Hundred Sermon Sketches, p. 180. Num 11—W. M. Taylor, Moses the Lawgiver, p. 292. Numbers 12:1.—Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 282. Numbers 12:1-16.—W. M. Taylor, Moses the Lawgiver, p. 307. Numbers 12:3.—H. Wonnacott, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiv., p. 138; J. Van Oosterzee, Year of Salvation, vol. ii., p. 400; I. Williams, Characters of the Old Testament, p. 79. Numbers 12:6-8.—G. Matheson, Moments on the Mount, p. 111. Numbers 12:10.—Expositor, 3rd series, vol. iii., p. 228. Num 12.—Parker, vol. iii., p. 198. Numbers 13:16.—Clergyman's Magazine, vol. x., p. 340. Numbers 13:18-20.—J. M. Neale, Sermons for the Church Year, vol. i., p. 152.