The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1935-01-10
A PICTURE OF Discomfort

Today we turn to a. dreary chapter
of the wilderness journey, and one
that should give US pause, for in many
respects it is a true picture of our
own life, when we meet the inevitable
in the spirit of the spoiled child rather
than that of the Christian philosopher.
1t is always possible to find fault.
Nothing is ever one hundred percent
perfect. When an art critic could think
of no specific fault, he remarked that
"the picture would have been better if
the artist had taken more pains" That
is playing safe.
The Israelites were ] indeed arch
complainers. They began it at the Red
Sea; they have never completely made
an end of it. The list of complaints is
very long, and has to do principally
with deprivations inseparable from
wilderness life. The immediate cause
of the cutlery with which we are now
dealing was surfeit of mama, and
a longing for the flesh pots Of Egypt,
with the leeks, cucumbers and melons
of Goshen. If the Almighty were to
loose his Hateful lightenings against
modern fault finders, what a wide
spread wiping out of populations we
would see. Or would we be there to
see? Yet the fire of the Lord which
burnt among the people of Taberah
was forgotten almost as soon as it
was quenched at the prayer of Moses.
Soon they fell ADJUSTING, and with
tear-stained cheeks appealed once
more to Moses that he might give
them flesh to eat. Jehovah forgave
their discomfort and promised that
the people should eat flesh for whole
month, and this without the sacrifice
of their focks or herds. Moses knew
the difficulties of his task as quarter
master general for an army of 100000
and questioned the source of supply.
Then the Lord said unto Moses: ''Is
the Lords arm waxed short? Thou
shalt see now whether my word shall
come to pass unto thee or not"
At this juncture seventy of the ell
ders of Israel were elected to receive
of the Spirit of Prophecy which had
resided in Moses. Sixty-eight of them
gathered at the Tabernacle where Je-
hovah from the cloud communed with
them, and impaired to them the prec-
ious gift. Eldad and Medad, two of the
elected elders, did not go to the Taber
nacle, yet they received the gift of the
Spirit and prophesied in the Camp.
Even in this early day there were
heresy hunters who would exclude
from the company of the prophets
any who failed to pronounce Shibbo-
leth Alright. "And Joshua, the son of
Nun, the servant of Moses, one of
his young men, answered and said,
"My Lord Moses, forbid them" But
Moses answered.: "Enviest thou, for
my sake? Would God that all the
Lords people were prophets!"
Returning now to the question of
food supply, the Lord brought on the
wings of the wind thousands of quail
until the ground was covered with
them to the depth of a yard. So greedy
were they that they died like flies
from overeating, their stomachs be-
ing unaccustomed to the fat quail.
Moses named the place where this oc-
cured Kib-roth- hat-taavh-the grave
of lust, because there they buried the
people that lusted: who died from
over-eating.
The Israelites moved on to Hazer-
9th, near Paran, where, having no
more tribal grounds for discomfort
and quarrelings, chickering's began in
Moses own family. Miriam and Aaron
spoke against him because he had
married an Ethiopian woman. Race
prejudice again. For season Miriam
was smitten with leprosy, and so COM
PEELED to stay without the camp. How
ever, healing followed the prayers of
Moses in her behalf, and she was re-
stored after few weeks of suffering
and humiliation. ..~.., ...
Instead of complaining, fault-fnd-
ing and grumbling, let US lelarn to
Build a little fence of trust around
today + 'F
Fill the space with honest work, and
therein stay; ....
Look not through the sheltering bars
upon tomorrow,
God will help thee bear what comes
of joy or sorrow"
n II