ssociations of
their accustomed life. From the waters and the palms of Elim they
marched deeper into the savage recesses of the desert, haunted by fierce
and hostile tribes, such as presently hung upon their rear-guard and cut
off their stragglers (Deut. xxv. 18). Nor had they quite emerged from
the shadow of their old oppressions, since Egyptian garrisons were
scattered, though sparsely, through this district, in which gems and
copper were obtained. Here, cut off from all natural modes of
sustenance, the hearts of the people failed them. Such is the frequent
experience of renewed souls, when privilege and joy are followed by
trouble from without or from within, and the peace of God is broken by
the strife of tongues, by mental perplexities, by temptations, by
physical pain. It is quite as wonderful that paltry disturbances should
mar for us the life divine, when once that life has become a realised
experience, as that men who moved under the shadow of the marvellous
cloud could be agitated by fear for their supplies. And of this our
experience, what befel Israel is not a mere type or symbol, it is a case
in point, a parallel example. For it also meant the breaking-in of the
flesh upon the spirit, the refusal of fallen nature to rise above
earthly wants and cravings even in the light of trust and acceptance,
the self-assertion of the baser instincts, and the sacrifice to them of
the higher life. We recognise the herd of slaves, from whence it must
perplex the unbeliever to remember that the seed of immortal heroism and
prophetic insight and apostolic service was yet to ripen, in their poor
desire, if they must perish, to perish well fed rather than emancipated
(ver. 3). Most people, we may fear, would choose to live enslaved rather
than to die free men. But there is a special meanness in their regret,
since die they must, that they had not died satiated, like the firstborn
whom God had slain: "Would that we had died by the hand of Jehovah in
the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pots and when we ate bread
to the full, for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness to kill
this whole assembly with hunger." And to-day, among those who scorn
them, how many are far less ambitious of dying holy and pure than rich,
famous or powerful, having glutted their vanity if not their appetite.
In the sight of angels this is not a much loftier aim; and the apostle
reckoned among the works of the flesh, emulation as well as drunk