Exodus 40

Exodus 40:38

FROM THE SEA TO MOUNT SINAIExo_15:22 to Exodus 40:38 “So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water” (Exodus 15:22).“For the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys” (Exodus 40:38).WE concluded our last study with the song of victory started by Moses, joined in by the Children of Israel and completed by Miriam.One could easily imagine that after the experience of such a miracle as all Israel had witnessed, further confidence in God would be easy and constant, but alas for changing circumstances and the shift of human emotions! The very opening verse of this study holds a hint of trouble!“They went three days in the wilderness, and found no water”. The verses that follow, Exodus 15:23-26, report the murmurings of the people against Moses, and the necessity of a new miracle from God to silence their complaint. And yet, when one understands all the circumstances incident to this complaint, while he may not justify the Israelites, his condemnation of them will surely be softened. Burton, in his third edition of “Meccal!” (145), speaking of the atmosphere in this vicinity, says, “At dawn it is mild and balmy as an Italian spring, and inconceivably lovely in the colors it sheds on earth and sky; but presently the sun bursts up from the sea, a fierce enemy that will force every one to crouch before him. For two hours his rays are endurable, but after that they become a fiery ordeal.

The morning beams oppress you with a feeling of sickness. Their steady glow blinds your eyes, blisters your skin and parches your mouth, till you have only one thought: When will evening come?

At noon the heat, reverberated by the glowing hills, is like the blast of a lime-kiln. The wind sleeps on the reeking shore; the sky is white; men are not so much sleeping as half senseless. They feel that a few more degrees of heat would be death”. It is easy to see, therefore, how two or three millions of people, encumbered in travel by great herds and many little children, seeing the supply of water ‘fail utterly from the skin-bottles, and nothing ahead but a parched plain and scorching mountains, should wonder how life could long be sustained, and even ask what profit to escape from Egyptian oppression and witness Pharaoh’s overthrow, if we are so soon to perish?This is the beginning of the journey fromTHE SEA TO SINAIAnd this is only the beginning of Israel’s trials. They are thirsting for water now. Shortly they will be in want of bread, and as hunger grows, cry out,“Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger” (Exodus 16:3).And, again at Rephidim, they will be without water, murmuring against Moses and saying,“Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst” (Exodus 17:3)?But it is only in our hours of extremity that we learn the most valuable lessons; and out of these experiences Israel learned that “meat and drink is from the Lord”.

At Marah the Lord directed Moses to cast a certain tree into the waters and they were made sweet (Exodus 15:25), and from Marah they removed to “Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees; and they encamped there by the waters” (Exodus 15:27). When, some six weeks later, they cried for bread, the Lord said unto Moses,“Speak unto them saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall he filled with bread” (Exodus 16:12). * * And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp; and in the morning the dew lay round about the host” (Exodus 16:13).To this day it is not an unusual thing for quails to be found migrating in that country in enormous numbers, and being birds of low and heavy flight, they become easily exhausted in their migrations and can be picked up by those in need of them.

An edible lichen is often blown from the spots where it grows and carried by the winds to the valley below and showered there inches deep, and some have argued that God fed them by natural means, but when it is remembered that this “manna” was continued along the course of their travel from Egypt to Canaan through the entire forty years, it is seen to have been a miraculous gift from God. We have been taught to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread”, and God has answered the prayer for those of us living in this land by means so natural and so abundant, that even His own people almost forget that “every good and every perfect gift comes from Him”.We are in danger from the very abundance of our blessing of bearing the mark of Gentile corruption, of which Paul speaks, when of them he says, “When they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful”. It is when one is brought into the severest straights; it is when one has reached the end of human ingenuity, that God can best reveal Himself to him as the giver of all good.Henry M. Stanley, giving an account of his relief expedition in his search of Emin Pasha, speaks of a time when he and his comrades, after the utmost economy in their diet, were out of food and ready to perish. In their extremity they made their appeal to God, and lo, there was a sound as of a large bird whirring through the air, and just as they looked it dropped in their midst, and the little fox-terrier snapped the prize and held it fast as in a vice of iron; and when they had discovered that it was a fine, fat guinea-fowl, sufficient in flesh to meet all the immediate demands, they agreed that the God who sent quails and manna to Israel, and fed Elijah with the ravens at the Brook Cherith, was still able and willing to care for them who put their trust in Him.But when God causes the dry rock in Horeb to gush forth a refreshing stream, He has not put an end to all of Israel’s troubles. In our times of trial, we are prone to think, “If only God would do for me this greatly needful thing, I would never be in such want again.” But no man knows what a day may bring forth.

There are enemies more dangerous than hunger and thirst.The rise of Amalek represents a greater need.“Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim” (Exodus 17:8).It is easy to imagine how unfit for war Israel was at this time. The march had been a weary one; the intense heat and the want of water had exhausted them, and it would seem an easy thing for this Bedouin chief and his followers to strike them a blow that would mean little less than a slaughter of the whole company.

That Joshua was able to discomfit him and his people with the edge of the sword prevailing, while Moses’ hands were held up in prayer, gave good occasion for the adoption of the new battle cry, “Jehovah-nissi” (Jeremiah 17:15)—Jehovah is my banner. And, when one remembers that Amalek was likely a grandson of Esau, and so a fit representative of the flesh, he is encouraged to hope for victory against all the lusts that would defeat the progress of the Christian on his way to the promised land. And when the Church remembers that the flesh is also her greatest enemy, this bit of ancient history ought to come as an encouragement to victory through the intervention of the same mighty God.Arthur Pierson, in “The Miracles of Missions”, calls attention to the fact that when, in 1851, the king on the throne, ruling over Siam, was a foe to missions, and the thirty-three years of work which Christians had done in that country seemed threatened with defeat by him, suddenly on April 3rd the king died. And do you remember also that in 1850 the outlook for missions in Turkey was dark indeed, because the Sultan had issued a decree that all missionaries were to leave the land and the missions were to be closed? It is related that when one of our American missionaries, having failed to get the decree revoked, called on a brother laborer and told him the final decision, the brother replied, “The Sultan of the universe can reverse it,” and the next morning the tyrannical Mahmud was dead, and his successor in office favored the continuance of the work.But where in the annals of history has there occurred a more marked intervention of this same Jehovah than that reported in connection with the siege of Pekin in the Boxer movement. You will remember that as the weary days wore on, and the native Christians and allies were cooped up in the English Compound, they longed ‘for a loaded cannon, knowing full well that to fire once upon the cowardly enemy would be to fill them with fear lest arms had been secretly smuggled to the allies.

It fell out just then that an old rusty gun was discovered in the French Quarters. It had not been loaded for thirty years and it was hardly known whether it would stand the strain of a single fire.

They were also embarrassed by the want of ammunition. But suddenly some of the Russian soldiers remembered to have brought with them a little powder and some balls, and when they were brought, the ball fitted perfectly to the cannon. Then a young man from America volunteered to touch it off, expecting that the gun would explode and that he might lose his life in the act. But, knowing the importance that might possibly attach to it, he stood ready to make the sacrifice. Imagine the surprise and joy, therefore, of the besieged when they saw the gun act perfectly. The ball went crashing through the Chinese quarters, killing one or two and striking terror to the multitude of the besiegers.

In the confusion the Chinese exploded a sunken mine, blew up their own building, killed many of their soldiers, and created the universal impression that the allies had been reinforced and supplied with fire-arms—“Jehovah is my banner”. If Israel had a right to that as a watchword in her war with Amalek, the Christian, conquering through Jesus Christ and the Church, seeing enemy after enemy overthrown, has repeated occasion to employ the same term.Passing over the 18th chapter, which contains the return of Moses’ wife and children to him, and Jethro’s counsel resulting in the appointment of the seventy judges, we are brought to Sinai, and are ready forTHE GIVING OF THE LAWSIt ought to be remembered that Sinai is the southernmost point in this journey to Canaan, and it is of interest to get in mind the physical features of the land.George Dana Boardman speaks of the plain lying at the foot of this mountain as a sandy plateau some 4000 feet above the Mediterranean, two miles long and half a mile wide, while Cunningham Geikie makes claim for a still larger open space.

The mountain that rises out of it about 2200 feet high, is made up of granite deeply fissured, and presents an august mien. It was upon this imposing mount that the Lord descended, and the Psalmist, centuries afterwards, pictures with an inspired pen the wonderful phenomena associated with God’s visit to the earth.“The earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken. * * He bowed the heavens also, and came down; and darkness was under His feet. And He rode upon a cherub, and did fly; yea,He did fly upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness His secret place; His pavilion round about Him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies” (Psalms 18:7-11). “The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God; even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel” (Psalms 68:8).He first voices the Ten Commandments. Those commandments have remained to this hour the divinest of all moral laws. They oppose polytheism; they put an injunction on idolatry; they render sacred the Name of Jehovah; they set aside one-seventh of time for rest; they honor age and parenthood; they insist upon the sacredness of human life; they demand chastity; they protect property; they call for the truth and they inveigh against covetousness.

Truly, as Joseph Parker has said, “The old world has no need of new commandments, for we know that there are none better than those delivered millenniums gone to Moses.” If it were not for the fact that we are to give a series of nine sermons to the Ten Commandments, this chapter would not suffice to attempt even a brief exposition of each; but I am not content to pass the subject of the Decalogue without calling attention to the wonderful way in which it was given.First of all, “God spake all these words” (20:1). No wonder that after having heard His voice, the people were filled with fear and said unto Moses, “Speak thou with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die” (Exodus 20:19).

A little later God writes with His own finger these Ten Commandments on two tables of stone, but Moses breaks these, and in the 34th chapter, verse 1 (Exodus 34:1), we find God renewing them.It has ever been the custom of God to give His laws clearly, to choose the very words in which they should be expressed, and then to preserve them in a supernatural way. George E. Merrill, in “The Parchments of the Faith”, speaking of the wonderful way in which the scribes copied the sacred Scripture, declares that any manuscripts which contained mistakes were destroyed, saying, “Very slight mistakes were enough to vitiate a synagogue roll. Three errors of a scribe upon a single sheet, the blurring of letters * * any mutilation of the text by ordinary wear, and many other causes, condemned a document.” There are people who are troubling themselves these days to know whether what we have is the Word of God. If all such spent their time instead in familiarizing themselves with the sacred pages of the Bible, God would be speaking His commandments afresh, yea, even writing them upon the tablets of their hearts, and they might be the medium to the world of the best expression of God’s Word to man.Following the giving of the Law is God’s legislation for social order. No man can read the 21st, 22nd and 23rd chapters of Exodus without being impressed with the fact that God is here providing for a nation, and it would be difficult, also, to enact statutes that represented more of wisdom and of justice—laws for servants, laws for murder, ill-treatment of parents, injury to one’s fellows, theft, trespasses, borrowing, uncleanness, idolatry, the poor, slander, charity, Sabbath, feasts, in fact, everything that would likely arise in the life of this young nation.

And, as we have studied this bit of legislation together with that which comes at a later time in the Pentateuch, we have been constrained to feel that a state built upon it would be beautiful and strong and free from the very evils that now threaten the overthrow of the most advanced governments of the world. If the social order here suggested had prevailed, slavery would have been impossible; the saloon would never have risen; trusts and corporations could never have occurred; or, if they had, would have been dissolved utterly every fifty years, and the wealth thus combined so scattered that an absolutely new start by new people would have been the result.

Under this legislation, war would have had no occasion, and if it had occurred with the people who would not regard God, it could never have been waged for greed of gain.There are able interpreters of the Bible who believe that in the Millennium every legislation will be regnant, and that for the first time the world will behold a Christian state. If one would take the pains to trace the sayings of Jesus that relate to social order, he would see that they did not oppose this legislation, but simply interpreted it, and plead its need. And we are among those who believe that many of the revolutions of the past, some of the uprisings of the present, and certain of those that will characterize the future, are all ordained of God, and are the Divine effort to bring back men from legislation that has been unjust, oppressive, immoral, to the statutes of Him who never spake other than a sacred law.Exodus 24:1 to Exodus 33:23 take us from the subject of social legislation to that of the Tabernacle, and the apostasy of Israel, which might be stated as the Pattern in the Mount, and Apis on the plain!You remember God called Moses into the mount to give him the pattern of the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle expressed God’s purpose to dwell in the midst of His people. And yet, while He was talking with Moses, out-lining in minutia every single particle of that wonderful tent in which Jehovah Himself was to dwell, the people on the plain were pleading with Aaron, “Up, make us gods” (Exodus 32:1)! According to tradition, Hur opposed this appeal, and perished at the hands of the would-be idolators.

Aaron yielded to it, and while he saved himself, he brought about the slaughter of 3000 of his brethren (Exodus 32:28), disannulled the covenant of God’s grace, and for a time, at least, threw the whole camp of Israel outside God’s saving and keeping power. How often we may miss the very blessing that God has planned for us, and is in the act of providing in our behalf, by turning to worship before some idol, who can tell?

And how easy it is to let our affections turn back to some object that fascinated us when we were in Egyptian bondage—unregeneracy, and thereby lose the favor of the King Himself, forfeit the wisdom of His counsels, and render inoperative His most beneficent purposes. It is not easy for a modern believer to hear Moses’ cry, as he beseeches the Lord to forgive this sin, and take Israel to His heart again, without remembering that many a time he has had occasion to say with William Cowper, “O for a closer walk with God,A calm and heavenly frame,A light to shine upon the road That leads me to the Lamb!“Where is the blessedness I knewWhen first I saw the Lord?Where is the soul-refreshing view Of Jesus and His Word?“What peaceful hours I then enjoyed!How sweet their memory still!But they have left an aching void The world can never fill.“Return, O Holy Dove, return,Sweet messenger of rest;I hate the sins that made thee mourn,And drove thee from my breast.“The dearest idol I have known,Whate’er that idol be,Help me to tear it from Thy throne,And worship only Thee.”A few words then on theT AND THE Dby way of a hasty glance through the remaining chapters. We shall not attempt a description of the tabernacle. That would require many discourses. But no student of Scripture ought to be satisfied until he has made a close study of its every part and appointment, aided by some such exposition as Geikie’s “Hours with the Bible”. It was about 15 feet high, 15 feet in width and 45 feet in length. The Holy of Holies was a 15-foot cube, while the Holy Place was 15 by 30, and the whole was located in an open court 75 by 150 feet, enclosed by curtains seven and a half feet high.It was to be provided by a free-will offering from the people.

If one imagines it an inexpensive building, he need only read of the talents that were invested (Exodus 38:24-30). The building in which we now worship did not cost so much, and yet this people, without a foot of land, with herds and flocks insufficient to satisfy the hunger incident to their journeys, and yet leave seed and sacrifices, rose in response to God’s appeal, and made an offering that ought to be at once an inspiration and an example to present-day followers of Jesus Christ.

Here is the record of it,“And, they came, both men and women, as many as were willing hearted, and brought bracelets, and earrings, and rings, and tablets, all jewels of gold: and every man that offered an offering of gold unto the Lord. And every man, with whom was found blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats’ hair, and red skins of rams, and badgers’ skins, brought them. Every one that did offer an offering of silver and brass brought the Lord’s offering; and every man with whom was found shittim wood for any work of the service, brought it. And all the women that were wise-hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen. And all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun goats’ hair. And the rulers brought onyx stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod, and for the breastplate; And spice, and oil for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense.

The Children of Israel brought a willing offering unto the Lord, every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all manner of work, which the Lord had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses” (Exodus 35:22-29).“And all the wise men, that wrought all the work of the sanctuary, came every man from his work which they made; And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the Lord commanded to make. And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary.

So the people were restrained from bringing. For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much” (Exodus 36:4-7).It was to be planned after the pattern shown in the mount. Three times in this Book, God reminds Moses of that fact: Exodus 25:40; Exodus 26:30; Exodus 27:8.Paul, in his Epistle to the Hebrews, refers to this fact, and quotes, “See, saith He, that thou make all things according to the pattern shown to thee in the mount”.There are two suggestions in this worthy our consideration. First, let men be slow to change from the Divine order, or dissent from the Divine Word. It is written, “Ye are My friends if ye do whatsoever I command you”. The temptation in this time is to do to suit ourselves, and to frame philosophies of life that correspond to conduct rather than follow the letter of God’s Word. Men have even gone so far as to brave the Divine challenge.“If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are in this Book; and if any man shall take away from the words of the Book of this Prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the Book of Life, and out of the Holy City, and from the things which are written in this Book”.