Page:PracticalCommentaryOnHolyScripture.djvu/224

 their appetites  and  submitting  themselves  to  God’s  will,  they  were  discontented, and  were  always  complaining  and  murmuring. They did  not possess the  virtue  of  temperance.

Doubts about  faith.  Moses  and  Aaron  did  not  doubt  Almighty God’s power,  but,  for  one  moment,  they  doubted  His  mercy. They were righteously  angry  when  they  perceived  that  the  new  generation of Israelites,  who  from  their  youth  up  had  witnessed  the  miracles  of God,  and  who  had  been  daily  fed  with  manna,  should  be  as  wavering and refractory  as  their  fathers  had  been  before  them. They felt  that these thankless  people  were  not  worthy  that  God  should  again  perform a miracle for  their  benefit. But God’s  thoughts  are  not  our  thoughts, and His  mercy  is  infinitely  great. God, who  is  the  very  truth,  had said: “Speak  to  the  rock  and  it  shall  yield  waters”;  so  they  ought  to have  believed  unconditionally  and  not  doubted  for  a single  moment. Anyhow, their  doubt  was  a sin.

Venial sins. Wilful  unbelief  is  a grievous  sin. But as  the  doubt of Moses  and  Aaron  was  only  a passing  one,  and  as  they  did  not  give their full  consent  to  it,  but,  in  spite  of  it,  obeyed  God’s  command  by going  to  the  rock  &amp;c.,  their  sin  was  not  mortal,  but  only  venial: nevertheless they  were  severely  punished  for  it. If a person  has laboured for  a long  time  to  attain  a certain  object  and  has  nearly reached it,  it  would  be  a very  severe  trial  to  him  to  be  told  that  he must  renounce  it. Moses and  Aaron  had  during  forty  years  trained the Israelites  and  prepared  them  for  their  entrance  into  the  Promised Land; they  longed  to  complete  their  work  and  return  to  the  land of their  forefathers. But now,  at  the  end  of  their  labour,  care  and toil, they  were  told  that  they  must  die  without  setting  foot  in  the long wished  for  country! It was  indeed  a severe  punishment! But they humbly  submitted  to  God’s  will,  and  preferred  to  expiate  their  sin in this  world  rather  than  in  the  next. This severe  punishment  of  one venial sin  teaches  us  to  know  and  fear  God’s  justice,  and  shows  us  that even venial  sin  is  a great  evil,  and  must  be  expiated  either  here  or  in the  world  to  come.

The intercession  of  the  saints.  The  sinful  people  knew  well  that they did  not  deserve  that  their  petition  should  be  heard  by  God; therefore they  begged  His  faithful  servant,  Moses,  to  intercede  for them, and  to  him  God  hearkened. For this  same  reason  we  call  on the  Saints  in  heaven,  the  friends  of  God,  to  intercede  for  us.

The brazen  serpent, a type  of  our  crucified  Lord.  The  brazen serpent set  up  on  a pole  is  a type  of  our  Divine  Saviour. He Himself, in His  discourse  with  Nicodemus,  told  him  that  it  was  so  (New  Test.  XV): “As Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the  desert,  so  must  the  Son  of  Man be lifted  up,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  Him  may  not  perish,  but  may have life  everlasting.”  As  the  brazen  serpent  was  raised  up  on  high, so Jesus  Christ  (who,  by  the  mouth  of  David,  said  of  Himself: “I  am