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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadGreater Men and Women of the Bible by James Hastings: 180. From Sinai to Kadesh
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XI
From Sinai to Kadesh
Literature
Binnie, W., Sermons (1887), 58.
Blaikie, W. G., Heroes of Israel (1894), 426.
Foakes-Jackson, F. J., The Biblical History of the Hebrews (1903), 81.
Gollancz, H., Sermons and Addresses (1909), 517.
Harris, J. Rendel, Aaron's Breastplate (1908), 183.
Kennedy, A. R. S., Leviticus and Numbers (Century Bible), 243.
Maclaren, A., Expositions: Exodus, etc. (1906), 305.
McNeile, A. H., The Book of Numbers (Cambridge Bible) (1911).
Milligan, G., in Great Texts of the Old Testament (1907), 71.
Montefiore, C. G., The Bible for Home Reading, i. (1896) 101.
Montefiore, C. G., Truth in Religion (1906), 147.
Peck, G. C., Old Sins in New Clothes (1904), 121, 275.
Rowland, A., in Men of the Bible, iii. (1904) 17.
Selby, T. G., The Holy Spirit and Christian Privilege (1894), 215.
Selby, T. G., The God of the Patriarchs (1904), 163.
Talbot, E., Sermons Preached in the Leeds Parish Church (1896), 136.
Trumbull, H. C., Kadesh-Barnea (1884), 15.
Watson, R. A., The Book of Numbers (Expositor's Bible) (1894), 89.
Biblical World, xxx. (1907) 123 (K. Fullerton).
Dictionary of the Bible (Single-volume, 1909), 109 (A. R. S. Kennedy); 511 (W. Ewing).
The picture suggested by this text is a very striking and vivid one. We see the bustle of the morning's breaking up of the encampment of Israel. The pillar of cloud, which had lain diffused and motionless over the tabernacle, gathers itself together into an upright shaft, and moves, a dark blot against the glittering blue sky, the sunshine masking its central fire, to the front of the encampment. Then the priests take up the ark, the symbol of the Divine Presence, and fall into place behind the guiding pillar. Then come the stir of the ordering of the ranks, and a moment's pause, during which the leader lifts his voice-“Rise up, O Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee.” Then, with braced resolve and confident hearts, the tribes set forward on the day's march.
Long after those desert days a psalmist laid hold of the old prayer and offered it, as not antiquated yet by the thousand years that had intervened. “Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered,” prayed one of the later psalmists; “let them that hate him flee before him.” We, too, in circumstances so different, may take up the immortal though ancient words, on which no dimming rust of antiquity has encrusted itself, and may, at the beginnings and the endings of all our efforts and of each of our days, and at the beginning and ending of life itself, offer this old prayer-the prayer which asked for a Divine Presence in the incipiency of our efforts, and the prayer which asked for a Divine Presence in the completion of our work and in the rest that remaineth.1 [Note: A. Maclaren.]
The chief incidents of the journey from Mount Sinai to Kadesh are the visit of Hobab to the camp, the prophesying of Eldad and Medad, the jealousy of Aaron and Miriam, and the sending out of the spies. We shall touch those in order. But first of all let us hear the blessing.