THE period of the encampment of the Israelites at Sinai had now occupied upwards of a year. The Covenant had been concluded, the Law had been given, the Tabernacle had been erected, the priests had been consecrated, and Jehovah dwelt in the midst of His chosen people. It was now time to think of marching onwards towards Canaan. As, however, the occupation of that country must of necessity be preceded by its conquest, an organization of the Israelitish forces was the first duty. Accordingly, a census was taken of all who were fit for war, or about twenty years old, and the result gave a total of 603,550 fighting men (Num. i. 46), to whom if we add the Levites, the women, and the children, we may conclude that the host numbered altogether between two and three millions. The first anniversary of the Passover was then duly celebrated, and on the twentieth day of the second month in the second year, the Pillar of Cloud moved from off the Tabernacle, and this signal for departure having been given, the order of the march was marshalled.
First, borne by the Kohathites, went the Ark of the Covenant, the lid of which was the throne of Jehovah, and was overspread by the Cloudy Pillar (Num. x. 33). Then followed the tribe of Judah, the most numerous and the strongest of all the tribes, supported by Issachar and Zebulun, under the standard of a “Lion,” the ensign of Judah. Then followed the sons of Gershon and Merari, bearing the external portions of the Tabernacle, the coverings and hangings, the boards, the pillars, and the sockets. They were succeeded by the tribe of Reuben, flanked by Gad and Simeon, marching under the common standard of Reuben, a “Man’s Head.” Next came the rest of the Kohathites, bearing the sacred vessels of the Sanctuary. Then the tribe of Ephraim, flanked by Benjamin and Manasseh, under the standard of Ephraim, the figure of an “Ox;” and the long procession closed with the tribe of Dan, between Naphtali and Asher, with the standard of Dan, an “Eagle with a Serpent in its talons.”
These arrangements having been made, the Silver Trumpets sounded, the silence of the desert was broken by the shout, Rise up, Lord, and let Thine enemies be scattered, and let them that hate Thee flee before Thee (Num. x. 35; comp. Ps. lxviii. 1, 2), and the march began. At this time there was present in the camp Hobab, by some supposed to have been the father-in-law, by others the brother-in-law of Moses. The Israelitish leader knew how invaluable would be the experience of one so well acquainted with every track and pass in the terrible wilderness they were now about to traverse, and he earnestly entreated him to continue with them, and share the goodness which the Lord would show to Israel (Num. x. 29). There seems little doubt that Hobab consented to accompany the people, and to be to them instead of eyes amidst the dangers of the inhospitable desert109.
In the course of three days the host entered on the sandy plain which parts the mountain-mass of Sinai from the table-land of the Tîh110. Having for more than a year enjoyed the pleasant encampment before the Mount of God, they no sooner entered on this arid tract, than they gave vent to their feelings of discontent. During the journey from the Red Sea to Sinai God had borne with similar manifestations of their weakness. But now that they had been brought into nearer and more visible relations with Him, having the Sanctuary in their midst, the Ark preceding them, and the Manna dropping upon them from day to day, their murmurings could not be thus passed over, but brought down instant rebuke and punishment. On this occasion the Divine displeasure was marked by the outbreak of a fire on the extreme outskirts of the encampment, which inflicted considerable damage, and was only removed by the intercession of Moses, who called the spot Taberah, or the burning (Num. xi. 1–3).
But this judgment had scarcely been removed when the same spirit of discontent broke out afresh. The mixed multitude, which had accompanied them from Egypt, and soon afterwards the Israelites themselves, began to complain of the Manna, this light food, as they called it, and lamented the loss of the fish, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, and other vegetables, they had enjoyed in the fertile valley of the Nile. So loud and general were their complainings, that Moses despaired of accomplishing the purport of his mission, and poured out his soul in prayer to God, begging for some relief from the burden of daily anxiety which weighed him down. In mercy towards His despairing servant, the Lord bade him select seventy elders, and bring them to the door of the Tabernacle, and promised to take of the spirit that was upon him and bestow a portion on them, that they might share with him the weight of responsibility. He also promised that on the morrow flesh, such as the people had pined after, should be given them, and that not for one day only but for a whole month, until it became even more loathsome to them than the celestial food they had so lately despised. In obedience to this command, the seventy elders were brought before the Tabernacle, and the Lord bestowed upon them a portion of the spirit that was upon the Israelitish leader, and they prophesied, and did not cease. Two of their number, Eldad and Medad, though selected for this high office, either from accident or some other cause, did not accompany the rest to the appointed place, and though they remained in the camp, and at a distance from the Cloudy Pillar, became inspired with the same spirit. This striking incident was announced to Moses by Joshua, who, jealous for his master’s honour, thought that such prophesying ought to be prohibited. But Moses thought otherwise. Enviest thou for my sake? he replied; would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them (Num. xi. 24–30. Comp. Mk. ix. 38; Lk. ix. 49).
Shortly afterwards the second promise of the Lord was also fulfilled. A strong wind brought up a prodigious number of quails from the sea in the proximity of the Gulf of Akaba, which covered the ground to the extent of a day’s journey on either side of the camp. For two days and a night the people were busily occupied in collecting, and spreading the birds abroad, probably for the purpose of drying them. So they did eat and were filled; for God gave them of their own desire, they were not estranged from their lust (Ps. lxxviii. 29, 30). But while the meat was still between their teeth, His wrath fell upon them, and He smote them with a severe plague, and slew the mightiest of them, even the chosen ones of Israel (Ps. lxxviii. 31), and the spot where they were buried was named Kibroth Hattaavah, the graves of lust.
From this ill-omened encampment the host proceeded in a north-easterly direction to Hazeroth, which is thought to have been the modern Ain-el-Huderah, and to have consisted of the unenclosed semi-permanent villages, in which the Bedouins are found to congregate111. Here a still severer trial awaited Moses. There arrived in the camp a Cushite or Ethiopian woman (Num. xii. 1) whom he had married, and who is identified by some with Zipporah, while others believe her to have been an Egyptian whom he had espoused previous to his flight from that country. Hitherto the position of Miriam had been one of great influence in the camp, and second only to that of Moses and Aaron (Comp. Micah vi. 4). To her the arrival of the stranger was most unwelcome, and she feared she would now be deposed from her high position as a “mother in Israel.” Having, therefore, induced Aaron to share her views, she openly turned against Moses and maintained that he was not the sole expositor of Jehovah’s will, that she and Aaron were of equal authority with him (Num. xii. 1–4).
With his wonted self-control Moses was content to endure these reproaches in silence. But the Lord interposed to defend the honour of His servant. The Pillar of Cloud suddenly appeared before the Tabernacle, and thither Aaron and Miriam were summoned together with Moses himself. There in words of stern rebuke the Lord denounced their hard speeches against His chosen servant. Very different was his position from that of an ordinary prophet, to whom the Divine will might be made known by vision or dream. My servant Moses, said Jehovah, is faithful in all my house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently and not in dark speeches, and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold; wherefore, then, were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? With this vindication of the true position of the Hebrew leader the Cloud removed, and Aaron looked on Miriam, and behold! she had become leprous, as white as snow. Thereupon Moses interceded for her, and the Lord promised that the judgment should not be permanent, but as unclean she must remain without the camp for seven days, during which period the host remained at Hazeroth (Num. xii. 4–16).
The days of her purification being ended, the Israelites resumed their march, and striking northwards across the plateau of the Tîh, probably after several intermediate encampments, reached Kadesh or Kadesh-Barnea (Num. xxxiii. 36). This spot, whether identified with the spring of Ain-Kŭdes, or with Ain-esh-Shehabeh south of Jebel-el-Mŭkhrah, or with Ain-el-Weibeh in the Arabah112, was at the very gates of the Promised Land. It required but a strenuous and persevering effort to reach the final goal of their long journey. This effort Moses exhorted them to make (Deut. i. 20, 21), bidding them not be afraid, but go up boldly and possess the land, which the Lord God of their fathers had given them. On this the people proposed (Deut. i. 22) that spies should first be sent to ascertain the best route, and what cities ought first to be attacked. Moses consented to this proposal, and with the Divine concurrence selected twelve princes, one from each tribe, whom he exhorted to make a thorough search throughout the length and breadth of the land, and ascertain its character, its products, and its inhabitants (Deut. i. 23; Num. xiii. 1–20).
One of the select twelve was Hoshea, the valiant attendant of Moses, whose name was now changed to Jehoshua or Joshua (God the Saviour), a title which well became the future leader of the Israelitish hosts. It was now the time of the first ripe grapes (Num. xiii. 20), or the month of September113. Setting out from the wilderness of Paran, the spies traversed the land as far north as Rehob on the way to Hamath, in the valley of the Orontes, which divides the ranges of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon. Then they ascended by the south114, and came to Hebron, where dwelt Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the gigantic sons of Anak. In a valley opening on this city, celebrated even now for its vineyards, they plucked pomegranates, and figs, and a bunch with one cluster of grapes of such enormous size that it required to be carried on a staff between two men, whence the valley was named Eshcol, or the Valley of the Cluster. With these proofs of the fertility of the land, after an absence of forty days, the spies returned and presented themselves in the camp at Kadesh before the host assembled to hear their report.
The productiveness of the promised land, they said, was sufficiently attested by the fruits they had brought back. It was, indeed, a good land, and flowed with milk and honey. But the people, it could not be denied, were strong, and of great stature, and among them were the sons of Anak, before whom they themselves appeared as grasshoppers (Num. xiii. 33). They were proceeding to enumerate the chief tribes whom they had encountered, when Caleb, the Kenezite, of the tribe of Judah, one of their number, anxious to dispel the feelings of despondency with which their report was received, broke in with the advice that the people should make an immediate attack, and promised them speedy and certain success. But, save the valiant Joshua, he found no other to support his brave counsels; the rest of the spies dwelt only on the dangers of the expedition, and their despondency found but too faithful an echo in the hearts of the people, who burst forth into lamentation, openly murmured against Moses and Aaron for having brought them thither, and even proposed to appoint a captain to lead them back into Egypt. In vain Joshua and Caleb tried to calm the tumult, and to check the mutiny. The host would listen to nothing, and even threatened to stone them to death. But at this moment the Glory of Jehovah appeared before the Tabernacle in the sight of the whole people. Terrible though most just was His wrath at this signal proof of faithlessness, in spite of all the signs and wonders He had wrought in their midst. He threatened to destroy them utterly with pestilence, and make of Moses a nation greater and mightier than they. But, as before on Sinai, so now that unselfish leader stood heroically in the gap. He pleaded earnestly with the justly offended Jehovah; he represented the joy the rejection of the people would cause to the Egyptians and the nations of Canaan, who had all heard of the mighty Hand and the stretched out Arm, which had guided them through the wilderness. Finally, he appealed to the Name which the Lord Himself had proclaimed on the top of Sinai115, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, and implored the forgiveness of the people (Num. xiv. 11–19).
His prayer was heard. The Almighty assured him that the nation, as a nation, should be preserved, their name should not be utterly blotted out. But, save Joshua and Caleb, not one of that generation, which in spite of the wonders they had seen in Egypt and in the wilderness had refused to trust in God, should enter into the promised Land. For them, all hope of entry was cut off; every one, from twenty years old and upwards, should die; their carcases should lie bleaching in the wilderness (1 Cor. x. 5), while their children, whom they had deemed a certain prey to the Canaanites, should atone for their faithlessness by wandering forty years, a year for each day the spies had been engaged in searching out the land (Num. xiv. 33, 34). As an earnest of this judgment, the ten spies, who by their faithless despondency had been the primary cause of the mutiny, were struck with instant death, and the command was given to the rest of the host to return into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea. This announcement was received by the people with universal lamentation, and on the morrow they rose up, and in spite of the earnest exhortations of Moses (Deut. i. 42, 43), and the ominous circumstance that the Cloud had not removed from the Tabernacle, made a wild rush up the steep and difficult pass, probably es-Sufah, leading into the uplands of Southern Palestine, where they encountered the Amorites (Deut. i. 44), the highlanders of the mountains, and their old enemies the Amalekites (Num. xiv. 45), by whom they were driven back, routed and discomfited as far as Hormah (Num. xiv. 20–45).
AFTER this signal defeat it was clear that the sentence pronounced upon the existing generation was irrevocable, and the host remained for a considerable time at Kadesh (Deut. i. 46). During this period a formidable conspiracy broke out against the authority of Moses and Aaron. In their natural state of mortification at recent events, the people were now more than ever likely to lend a ready ear to those who whispered that under the auspices of any other than their present leaders, they might escape from their humiliating doom, and reach the goal of their hopes. Such fatal advisers soon appeared in the persons of Korah, a Kohathite, of the tribe of Levi, and Dathan, Abiram, and On, of the tribe of Reuben. The former, jealous probably of the sacerdotal pre-eminence of the line of Amram, and the latter loth to see their tribe deprived of their ancestor’s right of primogeniture, conspired, it is thought, “to place Korah at the head of a priesthood chosen by popular election, and possibly to restore the tribe of Reuben to the rights of the firstborn, of which it had been deprived116.”
Successful in gaining over to their views 250 princes of the people, they rose up against Moses and Aaron, and publicly charged them with taking too much upon themselves, and usurping functions which ought to have been shared by the congregation at large, who were all, every one of them, holy unto the Lord. On hearing these charges Moses resolved to refer the matter to the Divine decision, and bade Korah and his company assemble on the morrow with lighted censers before the Tabernacle. A similar summons was addressed to the Reubenite leaders, but they flatly refused to attend at the place of meeting, and charged Moses with having disappointed the hopes of the people, and being anxious only to make himself a prince over them. Curiosity, however, induced them to stand at the doors of their tents in full view of the Tabernacle, where Korah and his associates stood with lighted censers awaiting the Divine decision (Num. xvi. 1–16).
Before long the Glory of the Lord appeared, and Moses was instructed to command that a clear space should be kept round the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and that the people should be careful to touch nothing belonging to them, lest they should be consumed in their sin. Then the servant of Jehovah offered to submit his claims to an awful and infallible test. If the ringleaders in this rebellion died the common death of all men, or were visited after the visitation of all men, then the Lord had not sent him; but if a new and terrible fate befell them, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, then it would be known that they had provoked the Lord. His words had hardly been uttered, when this awful catastrophe took place. The earth clave asunder, and swallowed up Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, with everything belonging to them, and at the same time a fire burst forth and consumed the 250 men, who had presumed to offer incense at the Sanctuary. Thus this great conspiracy was signally punished, and as a memorial of the occurrence, Eleazar the son of Aaron was directed to take the brazen censers of the offenders, and therewith to make plates for the altar of burnt-sacrifice.
In spite, however, of this terrible proof of the Divine displeasure, the very next day saw the people again murmuring against Moses and Aaron, complaining that they had slain the people of Jehovah, and threatening to break out into a fresh and general mutiny. Thereupon the Glory of Jehovah once more overshadowed the Tabernacle, and a plague broke out amongst the host. But at the exhortation of Moses, Aaron took a lighted censer from off the altar, and standing between the living and the dead, made an atonement for the people, but not before 14,700 men had by their deaths paid the penalty for their murmuring and insubordination. Thus the divinely-ordained priesthood of Aaron averted, while that assumed by Korah only brought destruction upon the host. But in order that the Aaronic priesthood might be still further attested, and that for all future generations, another sign was vouchsafed. Moses was directed to receive from the Prince of each tribe an almond rod with the name of the tribe inscribed thereon, and to lay these rods before the Ark in the Holy of Holies, that on the morrow it might be proved incontestably which tribe had been selected to perform the priestly functions. Moses obeyed, and on the morrow, when the rods were removed, behold! that of Levi, on which the name of Aaron had been inscribed, instead of being dry like the rest, had brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds. Thus to the confusion of all other pretenders, the claims of this branch of the tribe of Levi were confirmed in a way that could not be gainsaid, and the Mystic Rod was directed to be laid up before the Ark, as a testimony against all future pretenders, and a pledge of the Divine choice (Num. xvii. 1–11; Heb. ix. 4).
From Kadesh the host now took their journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea (Deut. ii. 1), and for thirty-eight years continued to wander in the deserts of Paran. This long period of punishment and humiliation is shrouded by the sacred historian in profound obscurity. It is probable that Kadesh was for some time a sort of head-quarters, whence the great mass of the people were scattered far and wide in smaller or larger groups over the peninsula, while afterwards encampments were made at different spots, wherever Moses and the Tabernacle were settled (Num. xxxiii. 19–36). From a comparison of the four passages117 of Holy Scripture which alone throw any light upon this dark period of Israel’s history, Deut. viii. 2–6; Josh. v. 4–9; Ezek. xx. 10–26; Amos v. 25, 26, we infer that it was a period of “training and temptation, of humiliation and blessing, of natural wants and supernatural existence;” that the rite of circumcision was neglected, and the annual celebration of the Passover not kept up, while the Sabbath also was not strictly observed118 (Josh. v. 5; Ezek. xx. 13). Meanwhile, according to the sentence pronounced upon them, all the men of that generation from twenty years old and upwards died, save Moses and his brother, and the two faithful spies Joshua and Caleb.
At the close, however, of this period, the host once more assembled at Kadesh. Moses was now far advanced in years, and his second approach to the very threshold of the Promised Land was saddened by two events of a peculiarly mournful character. First, Miriam his sister, and companion of his childhood, died, and was buried at Kadesh (Num. xx. 1). But, however afflicted he may have been at her loss, the conduct of the people, whom he led, must have grieved him still more. For, again, on a failure of water, the new generation proved faithless, and brake forth into murmurings and complainings as violent as their forefathers at Rephidim. For the second time the ill-omened words of disaffection sounded in his ears, and roused in him and his brother feelings of greater irritation than they had ever displayed before. On appealing to the Lord, they were commanded to assemble the people before the Rock facing the encampment, and it was promised that it should bring forth water in obedience to their word. Thereupon the Brothers gathered the people together before the Rock, but instead of appealing to it, Moses began to speak unadvisedly (Ps. cvi. 32, 33) to them, saying, Hear now, ye rebels! must we fetch you water out of this rock? Then, instead of doing as he had been instructed, he lifted up his hand, and with the rod struck the Rock, not once, but twice, on which the refreshing streams indeed flowed forth abundantly, and supplied the wants of the people and their cattle, but the fidelity and self-control of the Brothers, of the Prophet and the Priest, had alike failed, neither had they sanctified Jehovah in the eyes of the host. (Comp. Num. xxvii. 14; Deut. xxxiii. 51.) For this sin, whatever may have been its precise heinousness, the Almighty pronounced on both the Brothers the sentence of exclusion from the Promised Land. Into it they were never to enter, or realise with the people they had led the hopes and anticipations of so many long and weary years.
But though thus excluded from the goal of his long pilgrimage, there was on the part of Moses no diminution of the zeal he had ever displayed in behalf of the people. Always preferring their welfare to his own, he was ready to lead them towards, if he was not to lead them into the Promised Land, and as a preliminary he sent ambassadors to the Edomites and Moabites, requesting a free passage through their territory. But though his messengers recounted the various proofs of Divine protection which had accompanied the journeyings of the people, and promised to keep to the highway, and injure neither the fields, the vineyards, nor the wells, but pay for any water they might use, they met with a direct refusal. Edom not only forbad them a passage through his territory, but posted a strong force to guard all the approaches into it. Thereupon, in obedience to the Divine command, the Israelites abstained from any retaliation against the descendants of Esau, and the latter did not openly venture to attack them. But an Amorite tribe inhabiting the southern highlands of Palestine, under the command of their chief Arad, fell upon them, and took some of them prisoners. This roused the spirit of the people; they attacked their foes, and utterly destroyed them and their cities, naming the spot in memory of the incident Hormah, or utter Destruction (Num. xxi. 1–4).
Thus debarred from what would have been the natural route towards the country east of the Jordan, nothing remained but to march southward down the Arabah towards the eastern arm of the Red Sea, and then take a long and wearisome circuit round the territory of the Edomites. Accordingly they set out, and reached Mount Hor119, at the edge of the land of Edom (Num. xxxiii. 37), and the highest and most conspicuous of the whole range of its sandstone mountains, overshadowing the mysterious city of Sela, or Petra, the Rock. Here it was intimated to Moses that another of the few remaining links which connected him with the generation that had come forth from Egypt must be taken from him. He had already laid Miriam in her desert-grave at Kadesh; now he was told that on the craggy top of Hor he must leave his brother, the high-priest Aaron, who in accordance with his recent sentence must die for his sin at the Waters of Strife. For the last time, therefore, the Brothers repaired to the Tabernacle, where Aaron was arrayed in his priestly robes, and then, accompanied by Eleazar his son, the three ascended the toilsome height in the sight of the mournful and watching host. Arrived at the summit Moses stripped his brother of his priestly garments, and put them on Eleazar, and there, in full view of the desert, the scene of his long pilgrimage, and just in sight of the utmost borders of the Land of Promise, on the first day of the fifth month, in the 123rd year of his age, the great High-priest was gathered to his fathers. Then Moses and Eleazar reverently interred him in his rocky tomb, and descended from the mount, and Eleazar ministered “that evening in the familiar garments of him, whom the people would see no more” (Num. xx. 22–29)120.
Thirty days were spent in mourning for Aaron, and then the host continued their march down the Arabah, and after encamping at Ezion-geber at the eastern head of the Red Sea, entered on the sandy, shadeless waste, which stretched eastward from the mountains of Edom far on to the Persian Gulf, and was even more terrible than the desert they had left. This and the thought of the long circuit that awaited them so wrought upon the spirit of the people, that they again broke out into bitterest complaints against their leader, their tedious march, and their food. The region they were now traversing abounded in fiery or deadly serpents121, of which the Lord sent many among the people, and much people of Israel died. But on the manifestation of a spirit of repentance, Moses, by the Divine command, made a Brazen Serpent, and fixed it upon a pole in the sight of the congregation, and all who looked thereon were healed. The symbol of this wonderful deliverance was long preserved, and was regarded with veneration as late as the days of Hezekiah (2 Kings xviii. 4), by whom it was destroyed. The occurrence is also memorable as having suggested one of the most sacred similitudes of the New Testament, for in His well-known conversation with Nicodemus, the Saviour likened to the uplifting of this serpent by Moses His own uplifting upon the Cross, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have eternal life (John iii. 14, 15).
After this incident the Israelites resumed their march, and pressing forward in a northerly direction, skirted the eastern frontier of Edom, and eventually encamped near the willow-shaded brook or valley of Zered122, which ran into the Dead Sea near its south-east corner, and formed the southern boundary of Moab. Hence they advanced towards the rushing stream of the Arnon (swift, noisy), “dashing through a deep defile of sandstone rocks,” the first river they had seen since they left the Nile. Crossing one of its fords, an incident commemorated in an ancient song (Num. xxi. 14, 15; Deut. ii. 24), they reached a spot which they called by a name sufficient of itself to indicate that their weary wanderings were at an end, and that they were approaching a cultivated land. Needing water, the princes and nobles, at the command of Moses, dug in the ground with their staves till they reached a cool refreshing spring. In memory of this grateful discovery they called the spot Beer-Elim123, the well of the Heroes, and celebrated their thanksgiving in a burst of sacred poetry (Num. xxi. 17, 18). They were now encamped on “the vast range of forest and pasture on the east of the Jordan.”