THE wanderings of the children of Israel in the wilderness for forty years formed no part of God’s purpose concerning them. Those eventful years came within the range of His foreknowledge, as all things do, but they were not appointed by His immutable decree. When God made His purpose known to Moses there was no mention of the wilderness, but only the divine intention to bring the people out of Egypt and into “a good land and a large, a land flowing with milk and honey” (Ex. 3:88And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. (Exodus 3:8)). Nor did they doubt that God would fulfill His promise when they sang their triumphant song on the banks of the Red Sea. They supposed, so we may believe, that He would lead them by a straight line to take possession of the land. “The people shall hear, and be afraid: sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina. Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away. Fear and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of Thine arm they shall be as still as a stone; till Thy people pass over, O Lord, till the people pass over which Thou hast purchased. Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of Thine inheritance in the place, O Lord, which Thou hast made for Thee to dwell in, in the Sanctuary, O Lord, which Thy hands have established” (Ex. 15). Such was their song and such their expectation. Why then were they led about for the space of forty years? Why did they wander from place to place till all the men that came out of Egypt with Moses—every one over twenty—had fallen in the wilderness and found a grave there? The reason is given in Numbers 14—an evil heart of unbelief, that was the cause.
The spies had gone up to search out the land. Forty days had been spent in that fateful task. And when the people heard of the giants and cities walled up to heaven, their hearts melted within them and they cried, “Would God we had died in this wilderness!” And their murmurings against God were heard, and by the mouth of Moses He sent this solemn word to them: “As truly as I live, saith the Lord, as ye have spoken in Mine ears, so will I do unto you: your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against Me, doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised” (Num. 14:28-3128Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the Lord, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: 29Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me, 30Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. 31But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised. (Numbers 14:28‑31)). These words plainly show the reason of their wanderings in the pathless desert all those forty years.
In this we have an illustration of the holy government of God among His people—chosen, redeemed and called to Canaan. And we do well to remember that we, too, are under the same government. True, He is “the God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus” (1 Peter 5:1010But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. (1 Peter 5:10)). True, we are His children, heirs of God, and co-heirs with Christ but those who are the subjects of such amazing favor are, none the less, under His rule, which, though tempered with mercy, is not feeble and infirm. For those forty years the Israelites had to bear their iniquities (Num. 14:3434After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise. (Numbers 14:34))— that is, the consequences of them. God was gracious unto them: “In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them: in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bare them, and carried them all the days of old” (Isa. 63:99In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old. (Isaiah 63:9)). All true, but still they were led about till every one of that “evil congregation” had been swept away by the relentless hand of death. “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” ―an undeviating principle, wrought out in our individual history and in that of the Church at large.
But it was not to dwell upon this sorrowful though salutary side of the story that we took up our pen to write. There is another phase of it which is full of strength and encouragement. If the journey which they began that day was to go on for forty years God would go with them and not forsake them—the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night should never be taken away till their pilgrim days were done. This was grace indeed! Moreover, He would be their guide, He would choose their resting-places and determine for them the length of their stay. They had but to follow the pillar, to tarry when it tarried, and to move when it moved, whether it were by day or by night. “Thou in Thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to skew them light, and the way wherein they should go” (Neh. 9:1919Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way wherein they should go. (Nehemiah 9:19)). Such was Nehemiah’s confession, such his witness to the gracious faithfulness of God towards His erring people. Nor was that all. He would not fail to give them, day by day, bread from heaven and they should eat “angel’s food,” and He would give them water for their thirst. They should lack nothing. All through those forty years their clothes should not wax old, neither should their feet swell with their weary marches across the heated desert sands (Neh. 9:20-2120Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst. 21Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not. (Nehemiah 9:20‑21)). Moreover He would make their varying experiences—the ups and downs of their daily life—to be the means of teaching them many a lesson of untold value—
“In the desert God will teach thee
What the God that thou hast found,
Patient, gracious, powerful, holy,
All His grace shall there abound.
“On to Canaan’s rest still wending,
E’en thy wants and woes shall bring
Suited grace from high descending,
Thou shalt taste of mercy’s spring.”
They should learn that man doth not live by bread alone, and that God, in humbling them and proving them, had it always in His heart to do them good (Deut. 8).
And finally, when their journeyings were coming to a close, and Balak, King of Moab, hired Balaam to come and curse the people, God caused Balaam to utter the most beautiful things concerning Israel (Num. 23-24). Instead of cursing, he had to bless them altogether. They should not be reckoned among the nations, said he, for they were Jehovah’s peculiar treasure. “He had not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither had He seen perverseness in Israel.” In His sight they were clothed with all the beauty of the spreading valleys and gardens by the river-side, and as cedar trees beside the waters. And out of Jacob should rise a Star and a Scepter—One that should have dominion. Such were the glowing words God put into Balaam’s mouth. He Himself might chasten them as a father does his son, but He would not suffer the enemy to curse or to hinder the accomplishment of His designs.
These are the ways of God in government and grace. How admirable they are! If on the one hand they impart seriousness to the soul as we behold the inflexible principles of His rule, on the other they encourage, and inspire with undying hope the heart that trusts in Him. However low the Church has fallen and become an unfaithful witness to her Lord, however much she may have brought upon herself the chastening hand of God, let it be confessed in sorrow and abasement, and let us look up to Him with unwavering trust. If at times His hand is against us, because of our folly and sin, His heart never is, nor will He allow His counsels to be frustrated by the failures of His poor people. All that He has predestined for them shall surely be theirs, for what He has purposed He is able to perform.
“Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come” (1 Cor. 9:1111If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things? (1 Corinthians 9:11)).
W.B.