DISEASES THREATENED

While it is true that sin is the cause of all afflictions, and that all afflictions are the natural results of sin, it is also true that God is greater than all such results, and is able either to inflict or prevent them as He pleases. He did both in His special dealings with Israel. The sovereignty of God is indisputable.

And it was also by miracle that He threatened to lay diseases upon them, if they disobeyed His commandments and violated His laws:

'If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name THE LORD THY GOD; then the Lord will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed; even great plagues, and of long continuance ; and sore sicknesses of long continuance' (Deut. xxviii. 58, 59).

SEVERE PUNISHMENTS

In spite of this terrible warning, many persons fell into grievous sins, and were punished severely— such severity being necessary to check evils which would have spread very rapidly among such an ignorant and undisciplined multitude. It was for the good of Israel itself, and also for the wellbeing of the whole human race, that the Divine judgments were severe. Take the case of Miriam as an

example :

Aaron looked upon Miriam, and behold she was leprous, And Aaron said unto Moses, Alas! my lord, I beseech thee.

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lay not this sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned. Let her not be as one dead. And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee. And the Lord said unto Moses Let her be shut out from the camp seven days, and after that let her be received in again. And Miriam was shut out of the camp seven days, and the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again' (Num. xii. 10-15).

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Again, The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the congregation, saying, Get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. . . . So they gat up on every side. And the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah'-250 men (Num. xvi. 24-32,)

And not individuals only, but also the whole congregation, at times, grievously sinned against the Lord, and were punished accordingly. For instance, when they made and worshipped a Golden Calf, and acted shamelessly in the sight of their enemies, what do we read? (Ex. xxxii. 26-29). On another occasion, 'The people spake against God and against Moses: Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt, to die in the wilderness? And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died ' (Num. xxi. 5, 6).

When the twelve chosen men returned from viewing a part of the goodly Land,' and ten of their number gave an evil report concerning what they had seen-and when the whole congregation definitely refused to go up to conquer and possess their Divinely-promised Inheritance-what happened?

'The Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, saying, How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? . . . Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I lifted up my hand that I would make you dwell therein. . But your little ones will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have rejected' (Num. xiv. 26–31).

This was a tremendous punishment which the whole nation, with only a few exceptions, had to endure. The ten faithless and cowardly spies 'died by a plague before the Lord.' And concerning all the people who were over twenty years of age, the awful decree went forth: As for you, your carcases shall fall in this wilderness.' Was this judgment too severe ? Consider the nature of the sin of which they had been guilty. They had been utterly disloyal to the Lord God of their fathers-He who had delivered them from the bondage of Egypt ; entered into covenant with them at Sinai; miraculously protected, preserved and guided them through all their journeyings in the great and terrible desert; brought them at length to the border of the promised land; pledged Himself to give them victory over all their enemies, and a restful and enduring inheritance in the land flowing with milk and honey.' It was a great national iniquity for which the entire congregation was rightly punished. And yet, mercy was hidden in the heart of that terrible judgment, for during the forty years in the wilderness in which the elder generation died, the younger

generation were Divinely instructed, disciplined, and prepared for entrance into the Promised Land. And, under the immediate tuition and direction of the Lord Himself, Moses, in all likelihood, wrote the Pentateuch for the instruction and guidance of all future generations of Israel and mankind. If the Law, spoken by the Lord on Sinai, was put into writing by Moses, at the Lord's command, and laid up in the Ark of the testimony, what more natural and likely, than that the book of Genesis and the remainder of the Pentateuch, should thus have come into existence during these forty years? Moses did not know the facts recorded in Genesis, but the Lord knew them; and did not Jesus say when He was here; If ye believed Moses, ye would believe. me; for he wrote of me' (John v. 46). This was not an opinion which He uttered, but a fact whch He knew.

Even Moses himself was Divinely punished, because of his special sin. The Lord said unto him, at the close of the wilderness journey :

'Get ye up unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession: and die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; . . . because ye trespassed against me in the midst of the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah of Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not, in the midst of the children of Israel (Deut. xxxii. 49–51).

Finally, it was by miracle that the Lord led

His people through the great river of Jordan into the Promised Land (Josh. iii. 17). And after the conquest of the Canaanitish tribes, when the time came that Joshua should die, this was the testimony which that faithful servant gave to them :

'Behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth; and ye know in all your hearts that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, not one thing hath failed thereof' (Josh. xxiii. 14).

And even in Canaan, the Lord still continued to bestow upon them the discipline of chastening for their sins as He had done in the wilderness. Both individual and national wrongdoings were punished by miracle.

After such a long-continued course of miraculous experience, it is not much to be wondered at that the people entertained the conviction that all afflictions of every kind came from God. This, indeed, was their settled belief as a nation; and it found frequent expression in their sacred writings :—

Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil' (Ps. XC. 15). 'Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up' (Hosea vi. 1). 'Shall there be evil in the city, and the Lord hath not done it?' (Amos iii. 6).

We have thus dealt fully and in detail with Government by Miracle, that thereby we may be able to apprehend God's dealings with Israel and the human race under the Reign of Law, and unveil