51. SUFFERINGS IN THE DESERT.

[NUMB. XI.]

Discontent and impatience arose among the people. Forgetting their promise of trust and obedience, they murmured bitterly against Moses. God in His anger sent fire upon them from heaven, causing terror and destruction. Hence the place was called Taberah, that is, Conflagration.

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The Hebrews had now subsisted upon manna so long that it became distasteful to them; they began to yearn for flesh and other food to which they had before been accustomed: We remember the fish,' they said murmuringly, which we ate in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick but now our soul is languishing; there is nothing at all, besides this manna, before our eyes.' Moses heard this outcry with sorrow and displeasure; he felt that the burden of guiding and controlling so vast and so mutinous a host was more than he could bear; how could he satisfy their wild clamour for flesh? He cried to God and entreated His help. The Lord listened to his prayer. He commanded him to select seventy of the elders, upon whom He would bestow a part of that Divine spirit which distinguished Moses himself; and He promised that the people should have the flesh they were coveting, but it should come to them as a bitter punishment: 'You shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, but even a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils, and it is loathsome to you: because you have despised the Lord who is among you, and have wept before Him, saying, Why did we come forth out of Egypt?'

Here an episode happened which exhibits the character

of Moses in all its purity and greatness. The seventy men selected and endowed with the Divine spirit uttered prophecies: But there remained two of the men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad; and the spirit rested upon them (they were of those who were written down, but they had not gone out into the Tabernacle), and they prophesied in the camp. And there ran a young man and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad prophesy in the camp. And Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of Moses from his youth, answered and said, My Lord Moses, forbid them. And Moses said to him, Dost thou strive for my sake? would God that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put His spirit upon them!' As the Israelites had been declared to be a people of priests, so Moses desired to make them a people of prophets, and to let them share his own spiritual privileges.

Now a strong wind rose and blew flocks of quails into the camp. They came in such multitudes that they covered the ground two cubits high for a space of a day's journey round the camp. The people gathered eagerly, and ate to their full satisfaction. While they were still enjoying that longed-for food, they were smitten by a fearful plague which caused death and desolation in the camp; hence the place received the name Kivroth-hattaavah, that is, Graves of Greediness.

52. DISCONTENT OF AARON AND MIRIAM.

[NUMB. XII.]

After this terrible punishment, the Israelites journeyed on again in a north-easterly direction, and rested shortly afterwards in Hazeroth. Besides Zipporah, the daughter of the wise old Midianite priest Jethro, Moses had mar

ried an Ethiopian woman. This roused discontent in the minds of Aaron and Miriam. They began to think themselves at least equal to Moses, and exclaimed: 'Has the Lord spoken only by Moses? has He not also spoken by us?' When the Lord heard this presumptuous speech, He called Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to appear before Him at the Tabernacle. A pillar of cloud descended upon the Tabernacle, and the voice of the Lord said: Hear My words: if there be a prophet among you, I the Lord make Myself known to him in a vision, and speak to him in a dream: My servant Moses is not so, to whom I have entrusted all My house; with him I speak mouth to mouth, and let him see, and not in dark images, and he beholds the similitude of the Lord: wherefore then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?' As the pillar of the cloud departed from their presence, Miriam was smitten with leprosy. And Aaron said to Moses, Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned.' Then Moses prayed, and beseeched the Lord to heal her and to pardon her sin. God granted his prayer, but commanded Miriam to be kept in confinement without the camp for seven days, after which time she was to be purified and received again into the congregation.

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53. SCOUTS SENT TO CANAAN.
[NUMB. XIII.]

Then the Israelites left Hazeroth, and encamped at Kadesh, in a more northern part of the wilderness of Paran. There the Lord commanded Moses to send twelve men, one from each tribe, to search the land of Canaan, and to report all they saw and heard about the people that dwell therein, whether they be

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strong or weak, few or many; and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what the cities are that they dwell in, whether in tents or in strongholds; and what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein or not.' They were also told to bring back samples of the fruit of the country. So the twelve men, Caleb and Joshua being among the number, set out northwards through the wilderness of Paran; then turning to the west, they proceeded into the southern part of Palestine, and came into the neighbourhood of Hebron, that ancient city where Abraham had sojourned in ages gone by, and where now dwelt the children of Anak, men of gigantic stature and terrible appearance. In the valley of Eshcol they found themselves amidst all the most exquisite fruits of the country --pomegranates, figs, and vines. The grapes grew here to such an extraordinary size, that one bunch had to be carried on poles by two men. After an absence of forty days, the twelve scouts returned to the camp at Kadesh with magnificent specimens of Canaan's produce. We can imagine the excitement which the event caused among the whole congregation. How eagerly they must have questioned the men on the land they were to possess! how great must have been their delight at the beautiful fruit! how impatient their desire to enter and to enjoy so favoured a land! But the account they heard was not altogether cheering. A beautiful country, truly, said the spies, and a land that flows with milk and honey, but a country with strong cities inhabited by formidable men, among whom was the fierce race of giants, the terrible sons of Anak. Not a province but what was occupied by warlike tribes, the Amalekites in the south, the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites in the mountain passes, and the Canaanites in the plains and on the banks of the Jordan.

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54. MURMURING OF THE PEOPLE AND THEIR PUNISHMENT.

[NUMB. XIV.]

The people's hearts sank within them; they felt unable to encounter such powerful foes; but Caleb, wishing to inspire them with hope and fortitude, exclaimed: 'Let us go up and possess it at once, we are well able to overcome them.' Alas! his cowardly companions would not hear of encouragement; they began to exaggerate the danger: The land through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eats up its inhabitants; and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, who come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.' The Israelites, overpowered with anguish and dismay, wept and murmured bitterly, asking, wherefore they had left Egypt to die in the wilderness, or to be killed by the sword of invincible foes? They upbraided Moses and Aaron, and proposed in their blind folly to choose a captain who might lead them back into Egypt.

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It was a severe trial for Moses, despite his meek and gentle spirit. Joshua and Caleb felt the urgency of the occasion. With all outward signs of mourning and grief, with their garments rent, they appeared before the people, and said firmly: The land which we searched is an exceedingly good land; if the Lord delight in us, then He will bring us into this land; for they are bread for us, their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us, fear them not only do not rebel.'

The infuriated multitude rushed upon the men who, in the strength of their faith, had spoken so boldly, and prepared to stone them to death. At that dangerous