Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1881-11-24
NOVEMBER u.
Lesson o.-The Serpent in the Will
derness.
NUMBERS 2i; lie.

nsd up, that who.oev.f bells,eh IN hi,a should
perish, but have eternal lite. john }: H. To-
Central Truth Only believe in God
there is hope tor the helpless.
By what may seem sudden bound
we now pass TO the last halt OF the Is 'ok
OF hunters, so called from the tive
numberIngs of the lsraeiites recorded
in u. IL also contains an account u
their wilderness life from their depart
ure from Sinai until they are ready to
enter Canaan.
Thirty eight years have elapsed sine,
the time OF our last lessons. Leaving
Sinai after the giving Of the law and oi
the regulations concerning sacrifices ami
the sacred seasons, the I>ra.ltes re-
sumed their march and came To X ,desb.
on the yer, frontier Ot the promised
land. From this point spies were sent
forward to see what sort of land 1t
was to which they were journeying.
These, on their return, gave a glowing
account of the fruitfulness OF the coun.
try, but ten of the twelve represented
the people to be numerous. huge and
warlIke. Upon this the lsraelites took
alarm and refused to go forward. God
was greatly displeased with their rebel
lious conduct and declared that. except
ing the faithful spies, not one of them
should ever enter the good land. Ac
cordingly they were turned back, and
for thirty.eight years they fingered in
the wilderness. At the end of these
years q new generation had succeeded
TO that which came out OF Egypt, and
once more they gather at Ksdesh.
1t was at Kadesh that Miriam died.
And here 1t probably was that Arad the
Canaanite made the attack recorded in
the present lesson. Their first move.
ment from this place was to Mount IIor.
where Aaron, too, was gathered unto
his people," and where the difficulties
OF their march seemed to begin.
Ii should be noticed that the way OF
the Red Sea" here spoken of was that
Of its eastern branch. or the gulf Of Aka
bah. Touching this at its northern ex.
tremity they proposed to compass" OF
90 around, the hostile land of Edom.
But, in attempting to do this, "Ihe soul
OF the people WAS much discouraged be.
cause of the way"
!. Here, again. as so often before, they
fell into great sin. II is not surprising
that their courage weakened, Tor they
were human and there was much To tr,
their faith. They seemed to he going
right away from the land they had de
sired; powerful enemies were near. and
moreover. the way was sandy and rough,
"horrible desert" with little food or
water. But God had often shown him.
self to he their God, and out OF many
perils and difficulties he had given then,
great delivernnce. That they should
Ill rt,
plants instead OF praises. especially
that they should speak contemptuously
of the mamma with which he was still
feeding them, vas most ungrateiul and
base.
2. II is not strange that God should
send upon them terrible punishment.
This he did. lie cent fiery srrpeuIs
among them and they bit the people,
and many died. We are not To under.
stand by this that the poisonous reptile.
were created for this purpose aud At
this time. God has always at hand the
instruments OF his displeasure. And IL
Is his ordinary way to make providen
tial use of these. This derert. as tray
elers tell US, is still infested with dan.
gerous snakes, "marked with fiery spots
and spiral lines" and whose bite is
often fatal. God made these the minis
ters OF his justice In the correction of his
SHINING people.
g. Judgments do not always bring
those who experience them to rept mt
ance, but In this instance the people
saw and confessed their sin. Doubtless
they prayed for themselves. They also
sought the intercession Of Moses. Ii i
sign Of the hardness of mems hearts
that IL IL often only 10y experience OF
pain that men can be made to see and
own the evil of their sin. We compel
God 10 deal severely with Us or leave
US utterly to perish. So Israel did.
4. The most wonderful thing in this
narrative appears in Gods readiness TO
listen 10 his people aud in the way he
took 10 save them. StraightwAy Moses
is directed TO make n serpent OF brass.
similar to that BY which The people had
been bitten, and TO put IL upon a pole,
where all could see IL. And whoever
looked upon it vas Immediately healed.
Some excellent Bible dictionaries have
given more space than is profitable TO
attempt to account for the choice OF THE
particular object or symbol. Idle at.
tempts hsve also been made TO explain
the effect OF locking upon II on natural
gFounds.
What the dying Israelite saw was
simply : likeness Of the fiery serpent,
dead, and 80 powerless to harm. There
was IN it no healing virtue. TO the be
holder IL was n sign that God could and
would heal them. IL was for them TO
believe and obey to look and live; the
htaIIng was the act Of God. But 1t
was also intended as type OF Him who,
on the cross, 'swas lifted up. that whose
ever beiseveth IN him should not perish,
but have eternal life" The special
points for us TO note are the simplicity.
the lmmediatenese, and the allsufEi.
iency OF the remed. and that IL was
the only one provided or offered. Il
was simple, for the dying man had on
~ to trust and look. Il vas immediate,
for at once, "when he behtld, he lived. !"