་ BEFORE CHRIST 1491. b ver. 25. d 21 Moreover thou shalt thee so, then thou shalt be provide out of all the peo- able to endure, and all ple bable men, such as this people shall also go Deut. 1. 15, fear God, men of truth, to their place in peace. hating covetousness; and 24 So Moses hearkened place such over them, to be to the voice of his father 2 Sam. 23. 3. rulers of thousands, and in law, and did all that he 16. & 16. 18. 2 Chron. 19. 5-10. Acts 6. 3. Gen. 42. 18. e 2 Chron. 19. rulers of hundreds, rulers had said. 9. d Ezek. 18. 8. of fifties, and rulers of Deut. 16. 19. f ver. 26. tens: Acts 6. 5. 25 And Moses chose Deut. 1. 15. able men out of all Israel, 22 And let them judge and made them heads over the people at all seasons: the people, rulers of thous and it shall be, that every sands, rulers of hundreds, great matter they shall rulers of fifties, and rulers 33. & 27. 2. & bring unto thee, but every of tens. & ver. 26. Lev. 24. 11. 36. 1. Deut 1. 17. small matter they shall 26 And they 1judged 'ver. 22. judge so shall it be easier the people at all seasons: 1490. • ch. 9. 17. P Exod. 40. t ch. 2. 3, 9. causes they Job 29. 16. brought unto Moses, but 23 If thou shalt do this every small matter they thing, and God command judged themselves. NUMBERS XXXIII. 16. The twelfth Journey from Sinai to Kibroth-hattaavah. 16 And they removed and pitched "at || Kibrothfrom the desert of Sinai, hattaavah. 11 And it came to out of the wilderness of Exod. 19. 1. pass on the twentieth day Sinai; and the cloud rested of the second month, in in the wilderness of Pathe second year, that the ran. cloud • was taken up from 13 And they first took off the tabernacle of the their journey according to testimony. the commandment of the 12 And the children of LORD by the hand of Israel took their journeys Moses. NUMBERS X. 14-28. ver. 5, 6. ch. 2. 34. 14 In the first place armies: and over his host went the standard of the was " Nahshon the son of ch. 1. 7. camp of the children of Amminadab. Judah according to their 15 And over the host BEFORE CHRIST 1490. ch. 1. 51. of the tribe of the children of Ephraim set forward 16 And over the host of the tribe of the children of Zebulun was Eliab the son of Helon. 17 And the tabernacle was taken down; and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari set forward, ch. 4. 24, 31. y bearing the tabernacle. & 7. 6, 7, 8. ch. 2. 10, 16. 18 And the standard of the camp of Reuben set forward according to their armies and over his host was Elizur the son of Shedeur. 23 And over the host of the tribe of the children of Manasseh was Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur. 24 And over the host of the tribe of the children of Benjamin was Abidan the son of Gideoni. e BEFORE CHRIST 1490. Josh. 6. 9. 25 ¶ And the standard ch. 2.25, 31. of the camp of the children of Dan set forward, which was the rereward of all the camps throughout their hosts and over his host 19 And over the host was Ahiezer the son of of the tribe of the children Ammishaddai. of Simeon was Shelumiel 20 And over the host a 26 And over the host of the tribe of the children of Asher was Pagiel the son of Ocran. 27 And over the host of the tribe of the children of Naphtali was Ahira the d 21 And the Kohathites 28 Thus were the Heb. These. 22 And the standard armies, when they set for- of the 29 camp NUMBERS X. 29-32. Jethro returns to Midian. And Moses said 30 And he said unto unto Hobab, the son of him, I will not e go; but land, and to my kindred. • Exod. 2. 18. * Raguel the Midianite, Mo- I will depart to mine own Gen. 12. 7. 31 And he said, Leave of which the LORD said, us not, I pray thee; foras- 8 Judg. 1. 16. thou with us, and we will we are to encamp in the & 4. 11. do thee good for the wilderness, and thou may h Gen. 32. 12. d ch. 2. 34. Exod. 3. 8. & LORD hath spoken good est be to us instead of Job 29. 15. 6. 7, 8. concerning Israel. eyes. BEFORE CHRIST 32 And it shall be, if ness the LORD shall do 1490. thou go with us, yea, it unto us, the same will we Judg. 1. 16. shall be, that what good- do unto thee. k EXODUS XVIII. 27. 1 BEFORE CHRIST 1490. 29, 30. 27 And Moses let his 'he went his way into his Numb. 10. father in law depart; and own land. PRAYER.—LET US PRAY, that we ever be able to implore the blessing of God our Father upon the affections, the friendships, and the marriages, we form in life. That our conduct be free from error and from dishonour, from neglect of religion and from all imprudence. That while we are governed and directed by the Revelation of God, we may become blameless, harmless, acceptable, and usefully influential among our fellow-men. O FATHER of mercies, Creator of man by Thy power, and Preserver of man by Thy Providence, who hast placed within us, as a portion of our human nature, the desire to please and to be pleased, as the foundation of the friendships and affections which unite us in the bands of society, and peace, and love; so be to us, we beseech Thee, as the Author of every good and perfect gift, that we not only become holy and righteous toward Thee, but that, in our worldly thoughts, and words, and works, we may be enabled to form those friendships only, which may promote the influence of true religion within us. Never may we be hindered, in our way to heaven, by the companionships and the intimacies of common life. Never may the affections of the heart be devoted to those who walk not with us on the same road to our God,-with whom we cannot pray to Thee; with whom we cannot praise Thee; with whom we cannot go up to Thy Table and Altar, to commemorate the dying love of Christ, and to partake of the feast in Holy Communion together. O enable us, as Thy servants in the olden time, to cement, and strengthen, and implore Thy sacred blessing upon, all the friendships, and the ties which the neighbourhoods, the kindreds, or the sameness of our occupations and pursuits, require or compel us to form. And more especially do we pray Thee, when we remember the honourable estate which was instituted by Thee in the time of man's innocency; when we desire and seek the mutual society, help, and comfort, which the one ought to have of the other in prosperity and adversity, in the holy bonds of marriage; so direct our choice, so guard the hearts, so sanctify the affections, which desire the favour and blessing of God the Father and Creator of all, that we never give the hand and the heart to those objects of our earthly love, who forget that the friendships of earth are then only perfect when the hope of living with God in heaven is united with the holy prayer of living as in the presence of God on earth. So may we live together in this life, that in the world to come we may have the life everlasting. We thank Thee for the Holy Word which guides our feet to Thee, to that better and more abiding inheritance: but, because Thy Providence hath ordained us to live for the few years of our pilgrimage among our fellow-men, we pray Thee that we not only become fit for heaven, by the love of God shed abroad in our hearts, but that we live before men, and among men, as strangers and pilgrims, the citizens of a better state. Enable us, as strangers and pilgrims, to avoid, and abstain from, the errors which distinguish the men who live for this world alone from the men who live for the future world, and who regard this life as the way through the wilderness to the promised inheritance. Save us from the error which makes a wrong choice of happiness, from the folly of forming too high an opinion of ourselves; from the presumption of imagining that our own limited knowledge is the criterion by which we are to decide all controversies, and from the pride which refuses to learn, from the obstinacy which rejects improvement, and from the restlessness which is satisfied only with novelty. Save us from dishonour and deserved reproach. Let no temptation make us swerve in thought, word, or deed, from the integrity which renders the justness of suspicion an impossibility, and which courts the examination of the jealous, the froward, and the hostile. And, that we may always thus go on through this world to heaven, render us ever careful to walk in all the commandments and ordinances of Thy house. May we love the Word of God as the fountain of life. May we love the Church of God as the streams which flow from that fountain. Save us, in all the lesser concerns and minor duties, from the carelessness of imprudence, from the consciousness of the silent sorrow of the good, who pity us, and from the open scorn of the worldly, who deride the separation of prudence from wisdom. So may we be blameless before God and man: so may no deserved censure reach us: so may no fault be imputed to us to wound our own good name, nor to bring disgrace upon the servants of God. And, as we pray for Thy grace thus to make us blameless in ourselves, so, also, do we pray Thee to make us harmless to others. Never may we give just and needless offence to those with whom we live. As Christ our Lord increased in wisdom as He increased in stature, as Christ our Lord increased in favour with God and man as He increased in the number of His years on earth, so, in our way to heaven, as our frames decay, and our lives proceed, may we, Thy servants, daily become more and more blessed by God, and acceptable to man. May all who see and observe us, bear witness that we live as in Thy presence. May our example lead us to influence, and our influence lead us to usefulness, that we may be a blessing to others, while the peace of God reigns and rules within us. So give us the promise of this life as well as of the life which is to come. So guide us here with Thy counsel, and after that receive us to Thy glory. Whom have we in heaven but Thee? And there is none upon earth that we desire in comparison of Thee. In all our ways may we acknowledge Thee and do Thou direct our paths. May the words of our mouth, and the meditation of our heart, and the actions of our lives, be always acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer. In the Name and words of Christ our Lord we pray to Thee as Our Father, &c. NOTES. This verse is capable of other meanings than that which I have assigned to it in the Introduction of the present Section. It may signify that Zipporah felt incensed against her husband because he had insisted upon Eleazer's circumcision; or it may mean, that she felt satisfaction at having saved his life, threatened by the angel, by hastily performing upon her son the operation of circumcision. If it be said, Zipporah circumcised her child in a paroxysm of anger, this may account for her leaving her husband and returning to Midian. But I believe that the reason I have stated in the Introduction is fully as probable, and I do not hesitate to adopt it. NOTE 2. On the right placing of the story of Jethro (Exod. xviii.), with reference to the order of time. Lightfoot observes, in his notes on Exod. xviii., that the account which it gives of Jethro plainly shows that it ought to come in at a later period, inasmuch as it speaks of "sacrifices and offerings" (ver. 12) at a time when there was no altar; and of a recitation of "the statutes of God and his laws " (ver. 13), at a time when those statutes and laws had not yet been given. Moreover, in Deut. i. 7-19, Moses reminds the people that it was not till the camp was going to be broken up at Sinai, that he chose the judges and elders, according to Jethro's advice. Wherefore he concludes that the story of Jethro ought to come in between the 10th and 11th verses of the tenth chapter of Numbers. From what has been observed above, it is plain that Jethro's advice was given, at the very earliest, after the last of the laws at Sinai was announced. Now, the last law was that of the trumpets (Numb. x. 10); and as Moses reminds the people that he had proceeded to act upon Jethro's advice before they removed from Sinai, it is equally plain that the account of Jethro's visit must precede the 11th verse, inasmuch as that verse relates the removal of the camp from Sinai. NOTE 3. On Numb. x. 13: "And they first took their journey according to the commandment of the Lord by the hand of Moses." Expositors seem to have needlessly perplexed themselves about the meaning of this passage. The sacred historian merely tells us that this was the first time that the hosts marched in the order he is going to mention ; and the reason is-the order had not till then been given. Perhaps, too, the meaning of ver. 25, on which I have given a note below, will become apparent on comparing it with ver. 14. "Foremost," says Moses," marched the tribe of Judah” (14). “Last of all” (having mentioned the intermediate tribes, 15-24)" came the tribe of Dan." I would omit the words "which was ;" they are not in the Hebrew, and they cloud the meaning of the passage. NOTE 4. On Numb. x. 25: “ The rereward of all the camps." LXX., ἔσχατοι πασῶν τῶν παρεμβολῶν. Vulg., "novissimi omnium castrorum." nine, "colligens, vel cogens omnia castra, vel agmina." "Colligere castra" is a Hebraism for " to bring up the rear." Some think that this expression, applied to Dan, signifies that that tribe, marching last, collected together all the sick, weak, stragglers, and loiterers, who were unable or had neglected to proceed in their proper places. See Josh. vi. 9. NOTE 5. On Numb. x. 29. The LXX say that Hobab here mentioned was Jethro himself. If so, he had four names: 1. Jethro; 2. Raguel; 3. Hobab; 4. "the Kenite" (Judges i. 16). He is here called Raguel's son; then he was Raguel the Younger. Others say that this Hobab was the son of Jethro, or of Raguel, who is mentioned Exod. ii. 18. It appears, then, that when Jethro returned from Sinai to his own land (of Midian), his son Hobab, with his daughter Zipporah, remained with Moses, and accompanied him on the way to Canaan, and there received for his lot the fruitful land of Jericho, whence (Judges i. 16) some of his posterity removed into the land of Judah, while others went into the lot of Naphtali (Judges iv. 10, 11), near Kadesh (Josh. xix. 36); and there Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite (descended from Jethro), slew Sisera. Thence the Kenites were afterwards carried into captivity to Assyria, by Shalmaneser, as Balaam had foretold (Numb. xxiv. 22). From the Kenites (who are spoken of in terms of commendation by Saul, 1 Sam. xv. 6) was descended Rechab, whose pious son, Jehonadab, assisted Jehu in cutting off the worshippers of Baal (2 Kings x). NOTE 6. Numb. x. 31: "Thou mayest be to us instead of eyes." The LXX, og iv juiv TpEoBurns. Vulg., "eris ductor noster." The whole difficulty that has been felt with respect to this observation of Moses to Hobab resolves itself into this, that he desires to have a human guide at the very time when he possessed the divinely ordained and unerring guidance of the pillar of cloud. But whatever be the difficulty attending this interpretation of the passage, we must not attempt to get over it by adopting, as some do, the forced meaning of "Thou shalt be exceedingly dear to us." The LXX and the Vulgate appear to take the words in a moral, not in a physical sense, as referring to wisdom and experience in matters of government or policy. But the real meaning seems to be the natural and obvious one: Moses wanted Hobab to give them the advantage of his acquaintance with the wilderness through which they were to pass to Canaan. The cloud pointed out the direction they were to take, and the places at which they were to halt; but they needed some one to point out to them the pastures and the springs, and to instruct them how they might best treat with the various wandering or settled tribes with which they might come in contact on their route. |