Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 10:29

And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, We are journeying unto the place of which the LORD said, I will give it you: come thou with us, and we will do thee good: for the LORD hath spoken good concerning Israel.

29. Hobab, the son of Reuel Moses’ father in law ] These words do not make it clear whether Moses’ father-in-law is obab or Reuel. In Exo 2:18 he is Reuel; and accordingly in Jdg 4:11 obab is described (in R.V. ) as ‘the brother-in-law of Moses’ (and cf. Jdg 1:16). But ‘brother-in-law’ and ‘father-in-law’ are renderings of the same Heb. word thn; and it would be strange to find the father and the brother of the same man’s wife described by the same term. Moreover Exo 2:16 appears to imply that Moses’ father-in-law had no sons. It seems probable that ‘Reuel’ is a late insertion in Exo 2:18 by some one who misunderstood the present passage, and that obab was really the name of Moses’ father-in-law in J . In E the name Jethro is used (Exo 3:1; Exo 4:18; Exo 18:1-2; Exo 18:5-6; Exo 18:9-11). The form Raguel (A.V. from the Vulg. ) for Reuel is due to the LXX. , where the represents the guttural ayin in the Heb. word.

The narrative of the incident is only fragmentary, for the account of obab’s arrival at Sinai (to which the parallel in E is found in Exodus 18) is omitted, and also the answer which he made to Moses’ intreaty. It may be gathered, however, from Jdg 1:16; Jdg 4:11 that he yielded and went with them.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Hobab, the son of Raguel – Or Reuel Exo 2:18. Reuel was probably not identical with Jethro: and Hobab was the brother-in-law, not the father-in-law, of Moses; the Hebrew word translated in the King James Version father-in-law, signifying simply any relation by marriage (Exo 3:1 note). Hobab Jdg 1:16; Jdg 4:11 eventually accompanied the Israelites and obtained a settlement with them in the land of Canaan. Hobab and Jethro may have been brethren and sons of Reuel.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Num 10:29-32

Moses said unto Hobab . . . Come thou with us.

A generous proposal

I. First, then, what are the characteristics of a true church as it is pictured by Israel in the wilderness? We might prolong the answer to this question with many minute features, but it will be unnecessary to do more than give you a simple broad outline.

1. The people in the wilderness were a redeemed people. They had been redeemed by blood and redeemed by power. So, all the true members of Gods Church understand what the blood of sprinkling means. They have enjoyed a passover through it. And the Holy Spirit has entered into their hearts, and made them hate their former sins, has delivered them from the dominant power of their inward corruptions, has set them free and brought them out of the bondage of sin. Thus they have also been redeemed by power, and no one has any right to think himself a member of Christs Church unless by faith he has seen himself redeemed by blood, and in his experience has also been redeemed by the power of the Holy Spirit.

2. The Israelites were a people who were passing through a land wherein they found no rest, neither did they desire any, for they were journeying to another country, the promised land, the Canaan. Now, here is another description of the true Church of God. They are not of the world, even as Christ is not of the world. This is not their rest. Here they have no continuing city.

3. Israel in the wilderness was a people walking by faith as to the future, for if you remember, the words are, They were going to the place of which the Lord said, I will give it to you. And such are Gods people now. As for joys to come, they have not tasted them, but they are looking for them, because God has promised them.

4. These people, also, as to their present circumstances were walking by faith. It was not merely faith which sang to them of Canaan, but it was faith that told them of the manna which fell day by day, and the water which flowed from the rock, which stream followed them in their journeyings. So also in this world the Christian man has to live by faith upon God as to present things. As to temporal necessities he must cast all his care on Him who careth for us, but especially as to all spiritual supplies the Christian has no stock of grace.

5. These people found, wherever they went, that they were surrounded by foes. So will you find it if you are a child of God. All places are full of snares. Events, prosperous or adverse, expose you to temptation. All things that happen to you, though God makes them work for good, in themselves would work for evil. While here on this earth the world is no friend to grace to help you on to God.

II. It is the duty of the christian church to invite suitable persons to join with it.

1. As you read–Come thou with us, and we will do thee good–say if these are not the terms in which any Church should invite a suitable pastor to unite with it?

2. Take the words as significant of the manner in which Churches should invite suitable persons to come among them as private members. Are there not those who go in and out merely as visitors worshipping with you, who have never joined hands with you in covenant? They meet with you as mere hearers, under the same ministry, but they have not identified themselves with the brotherhood to sit down and feast with you at the table of the Lord. To such as these the proposal may be made, and the welcome proffered.

3. Let me call your attention to a certain sense in which Christian men may address this invitation to all that they meet with, Come thou with us, and we will do thee good. Not come and join our Church, not come and be members, not come and put on a profession of faith. You cannot say that to any but to those in whom you see the fruits of the Spirit, but you may say, and you ought to say, to all persons of all classes on all sides, Come away from the seed of evil doers, cast in your lot with the people of God; leave the world, come on pilgrimage to the better country; forsake the pursuit of vanities, lay hold on eternal life; waste not all your thoughts upon the bootless cares of time, think about the momentous matters of eternity. Why will you be companions of those who are upon the wrong side, and whose cause is the cause of evil? Why will you remain an enemy to God? We, by Gods grace, have cast in our lot with Christ and with His cause; we desire to live to His glory. Come and cast in your lot with us–that is, believe; that is, trust a Saviour slain; that is, put your soul into the custody of Christ the Intercessor; that is, press forward through a life of holiness on earth to a home of happiness in heaven. Come thou with us, and we will do thee good.

III. The main argument–the most powerful incentive we can ever use is–that association with the church of christ will do those who enter it good. I am sure it will, for I speak from experience; and if I were to call upon many hundreds in this house they would all bear the same testimony, that union with the people of God has done them good.

1. The Church of God may say this, first, because she can offer to those who join with her good company.

2. Come with us, the Church of God may say, and you shall have good instruction, for it is in the true Church of God that the doctrines of grace are preached, the Person of Christ is extolled, the work of the Spirit is magnified, &c.

3. Come thou with us, and we will do thee good, in the best sense, for thou shalt feel in our midst the good presence of God.

4. Come with us again, for you shall participate in all the good offices of the Church. That is to say, if thou wilt cast in thy lot with us, if there be prayer thou shalt have thy share in it. We will pray for thee in thy trouble, and trial, and anguish.

5. But the good that Hobab was to get was not only on the road. The main good he got was this–he went into the promised land with Gods people. So, the main blessing that you get from being united with the invisible Church of Christ, through being part and parcel of the body of Christ, is reserved for the hereafter.

IV. Lest we should be found mere pretenders, let all of us who belong to Christs church take care to make this argument true. I speak to many who have long been joined to the visible Church of God, and I put this interrogatory to them–How have you carried out this silent compact which has been made with the friends of Christ? You have promised to do them good; have you fulfilled your pledges? I am afraid few of us have done good to our fellow Christians up to the measure that we might have done, or that we ought to have done. Some professors, I fear, have forgotten the compact altogether. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

True pilgrim life

1. The life of all is a pilgrimage.

(1) Life as a journey is constant. There is no pausing a moment; whether asleep or awake we are moving on.

(2) It is irretraceable. We cannot go back a step.

(3) It is resistless.

2. But whilst the life of all is a pilgrimage, all are not taking the same course, and moving to the same destination. Morally there is a true and a false pilgrimage. We take the text to illustrate the life of a true pilgrim.

I. It is a life to a glorious destiny. The true Canaan of humanity is moral perfection. The true soul marches on through life not in quest of some outward good, as did the Israelites of old, but in quest of holiness.

1. It is the gift of God.

2. It is a motive for exertion.

II. It is a life of social benevolence.

1. The language of a true life is that of invitation. Come with us.

2. The spirit of a true life is that of kindness. We will do thee good.

III. It is a life under the benediction of heaven. God has spoken good concerning all the holy and the true; all who are the genuine disciples of His Blessed Son. What has He said to them?

1. That they are His friends.

2. That He is always with them.

3. That He has mansions prepared for them in the future. (Homilist.)

The journey to heaven

I. The Christians destination. He is not at home on earth, but is a stranger and a pilgrim. He desires something better, and this desire is not to be disappointed. Heaven is something promised. The prospect is delightful.

II. The Christians journey. Heaven is not only a place we desire, but one to which we are rapidly advancing. Travelling does not mean a quiescent state of ease and rest; it means active exertion. The different stages of Christian life do not represent simply advancing age, but the attainment of higher degrees of Christian character and perfection.

III. The Christians desire–that others should accompany him. More especially is this the case as regards relations and friends. It is his duty to invite them. It is part of his Christian work. Well may he be eloquent when a matter of so grave importance is in the balance. Let us seek company as we journey to heaven. It will be better for us here and hereafter. (Preachers Analyst.)

The believers journey

I. The place of every true believers destination.

II. The means he is adopting to arrive at it.

III. The call which he would fain address to all his unconverted neighbours. (A. Roberts, M. A.)

Moses and Hobab

The historian does not think it worth while to tell whether Moses attempt to secure the help of a pair of sharp Bedouin eyes succeeded or failed, but passes on to describe at once how the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them to search out a resting-place for them, and how the cloud was upon them when they went out of the camp. He would teach us that it mattered little whether Israel had Hobab or not, if they had the ark and the cloud.

I. There are times and moods in which our forward look brings with it a painful sense of the unknown wilderness before us. It is a libel on Gods goodness to speak of the world as a wilderness. He has not made it so; and if anybody finds that all is vanity and vexation of spirit, it is his own fault. But still one aspect of life is truly represented by that figure. There are dangers and barren places, and a great solitude in spite of love and companionship, and many marchings and lurking foes, and grim rocks, and fierce suns, and parched wells, and shadeless sand wastes enough in every life to make us quail often and look grave always when we think of what may be before us. Who knows what we shall see when we top the next hill, or round the shoulder of the cliff that bars our way? What shout of an enemy may crash in upon the sleeping camp; or what stifling gorge of barren granite–blazing in the sun and trackless to our feet–shall we have to march through to-day?

II. We have here an illustration of the weakness that clings to human guides. There are a thousand ways in which our poor weak hearts cry out in their sense-bound unbelief for visible stays to lean upon, and guides to direct us. In so far as that is a legitimate longing, God, who never sends mouths, but He sends meat to feed them, will not leave us to cry unheard. But let us guard against that ever-present weakness which clings tremblingly to creatures and men for help and guidance, and, in proportion as it is rich when it possesses them, trembles at the prospect of losing them, and is crushed and desolate when they go. Do not put them as barriers between you and God, nor yield your own clearness of vision to them, nor say to any, Be to us instead of eyes, nor be over anxious to secure any Hobab to show you where to camp or how to march.

III. The contrast which is brought into prominence by the juxtaposition of this section and that which follows it, makes emphatic the thought of the true leader of our march. God always goes before His people. No doubt in all our lives there come times when we seem to have been brought into a blind alley, and cannot see where we are to get out; but it is very rare indeed that we do not see one step in advance, the duty which lies next us. And be sure of this, that if we are content to see but one step at a time, and take it, we shall find our way made plain. The river winds, and often we seem on a lake without an exit. Then is the time to go half-speed, and, doubtless, when we get a little farther, the overlapping hills on either bank will part, and the gorge will open out. We do not need to see it a mile off; enough if we see it when we are close upon it. It may be as narrow and grim, with slippery black cliffs towering on either side of the narrow ribbon of the stream, as the canons of American rivers, but it will float our boat into broader reaches and onward to the great sea. Do not seek to outrun Gods guidance, to see what you are to do a year hence, or to act before you are sure of what is His will; do not let your wishes get in advance of the pillar and the ark, and you will be kept from many a mistake, and led into a region of deep peace.

IV. Our craving for a human guide has been lovingly met in the gift of Christ. His life is our pattern. Our marching orders ,re brief and simple: follow your Leader, and plant your feet in His footprints. That is the sum of all ethics, and the vade mecum for practical life. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

An earnest entreaty

I. Christianity is an elevating force, filling the soul with purity and love. In this text it is exhibited in all the charms of its simplicity and power. Come with us, and we will do thee good. On a cold day one autumn I happened to be speaking to a farmer where three roads met, and we saw sitting in the hedge side a half-starved melancholy man, to whom we said, You look pale and ill, my friend. He replied, My wife and children are in the workhouse. I have sought work up and down in Manchester and have failed to find it. One has told me to go there, another to go yonder; and I came out here to see if any farmer might perhaps find me work in his fields. The good man at my side clapped his hand on the poor fellows shoulder and said, Come with me; I will give you some breakfast and then I will find you work to do. That kindly invitation and promise is an inspiration of Christianity. It is not Go here, or go there; but come with us, and we will do you good. We need a human sympathy that shall prompt us to do to others as we would have them do to us. We should imagine the feelings of others, and treat them as we should like to be treated ourselves were we in their position.

II. The christian life is an invitation. IS not the Christian like the sun that shines away the darkness? The petals of the flowers are closed up during the night, but when the sun shines upon them they open themselves to receive from his rays beauty and fragrance. So the Christian is a clear shining light in the night of the fog of sin. Even as Christ was the light of the world, so is every Christian a brilliancy.

1. Come first with us to the bar of conviction.

2. Come with us to the door of repentance.

3. Come with us to the seat of mercy.

4. Come with us, and we will lead you to the fountain for uncleanness.

5. Come with us to the Cross.

6. Come with us to the marriage of the Lamb with your soul.

III. The christian life is a trackway of beneficence, We will do thee good. The Christian shall be doing good all the days of his life. Let Christians join themselves in a huge co-operative society for beneficence. And, sinners, come with us, and we will do you good. Come and help us to help each other. (W. Birch.)

The heavenly Canaan

I. The great object which is sought by the church of God. We are seeking heaven, and its perfect felicity we hope ultimately to realise.

II. The invitation presented by the church of God to them that are without. Come with us and we will do thee good.

III. Let me show what will be the issue of the acceptance of this invitation, Most cheering is the assurance that is given unto those who go with Gods people of a positive blessing. We will do thee good, said Moses to Hobab, for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel. Now I am very anxious just to set before you this truth, that no person can be found who loves God, and who has accepted the invitation to associate with His people, without being a gainer thereby. (T. W. Aveling.)

The Christian journeying to the promised land

I. Thy place spoken of in the text is Canaan, a type of heaven, that far-distant but better country which all the Israel of God have ever regarded as the scene of their blessedness and their home.

1. A much-wished-forplace.

2. A promised place.

3. The free gift of God.

II. The conduct of the Christian with regard to this place. It is evident that this heavenly country has little or no influence on mankind in general. We profess to believe that there is such a land somewhere in the universe, but we think and act just as though it could nowhere be found. If heaven were to be blotted out from the creation, or if an impassable gulf were to be fixed between it and the earth, our dispositions, our affections, and our conduct, would, in too many instances, remain the same as they are now. But this promised land has a real and abiding influence on the people of God. They seek it; they travel towards it.

1. To be journeying to heaven implies an actual entrance into the path which leads to it.

2. To be journeying to heaven implies also perseverance in seeking it.

3. We are warranted to infer that if we are journeying to heaven, we have not only kept in the road which leads to heaven, but have actually made a progress in it; that, instead of declining we are growing in grace; that we are gradually becoming more and more meet to be partakers of heaven, the nearer we draw to it.

4. There is implied also in journeying to the heavenly Canaan, a fixed determination to arrive there. The expression intimates decision of character; a willingness to sacrifice everything, so that the soul may be saved and heaven won.

III. In thus prosecuting his journey to heaven, it is evident that the christian must necessarily separate himself from many of his brethren, with whom he would otherwise have contentedly associated. But although he is constrained by the command of his God and the very nature of the work in which he is engaged, to come out from among the ungodly, he does not consider himself as unconnected with them, nor does he cease to regard them as brethren.

1. If we regard this invitation as the advice of the Christian traveller to his fellow-sinners around him, it implies that be has a sincere and earnest desire to bring them into the path of heaven, which he has himself entered.

2. The invitation of Moses intimates also that the Christian is tenderly concerned for the spiritual welfare of his fellow-travellers, as well as for the repentance and salvation of the wandering sinner.

3. We may infer, lastly, from this invitation, that if we would ever reach the kingdom of God, we must join ourselves now to the people of God. (C. Bradley, M. A.)

The Christian invitation

I. Gods people are travelling to the celestial Canaan.

1. The journey–

(1) Commences in the day of conversion.

(2) Is continued by the soul advancing in the knowledge and love of God.

(3) Terminates at death.

2. The place to which they are journeying. This is the celestial Canaan; which is–

(1) A land of rest.

(2) A land of riches and prosperity.

(3) A land prepared for and promised to Gods spiritual Israel.

II. Gods people feel it their duty to invite others to journey with them to the promised land. Hence they say, Come thou with us, &c.

1. That there are many who are not in the way to this goodly land.

2. That there is room and freedom for more in the way to heaven.

3. That Gods people are anxious that others should join them in their way to heaven.

4. Gods people use their influence to prevail with those around them to accompany them to heaven. They practically invite them, by amiableness of disposition, sweetness of temper, righteousness of life; and thus allure them by the excellencies they manifest, and constrain them to glorify our Father who is in heaven.

III. Gods people have good reasons to assign why those around should go with them to the goodly land. The reasons in the text are two: We will do you good; and, The Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel. The first is a human reason, and therefore limited. The second is a Divine reason, and unlimited.

1. There is the promise of benevolent help.

2. There is the good declaration of God concerning Israel. The Lord hath spoken good. What has He not said? Has He not given the most precious promises and the most gracious assurances?

Learn:

1. The present state of Gods people. It is a journeying state. This is the time of their toil and suffering.

2. The happiness of Gods people. Children of God, heirs of eternal life, expectants of the glory that shall be revealed.

3. The true wisdom of those who are without. To accompany Gods people on their heavenly pilgrimage. (J. Burns, D. D.)

The invitation of Moses to Hobab

I. Gods Israel have a direct object in view, thus described, The place of which the Lord said, I will give it you. By Gods Israel I mean literally the posterity of Jacob, and spiritually all genuine Christians, who are Israelites indeed in whom there is no guile. The object which Gods ancient Israel had in view was Canaan; this is described as a place, and on several accounts it was highly desirable. Heaven is the glorious object on which Gods spiritual Israel have fixed their attention. Canaan was highly prized by the Jews–

1. As it was the end of their journey. Heaven is the termination of the Christians journey. The dangers of: that terrible wilderness, through which Israel passed, were but faintly typical of the spiritual dangers to which believers are exposed; and if Israel rejoiced at the possession of Canaan, with what exultation will Christians enter their heavenly inheritance, when their toils will be finished and their conflicts closed!

2. It was a country amply stored with provisions. But with all the enconiums bestowed upon Canaan, how low it sinks in comparison with that better country, to which we are journeying! This is indeed a land without scarceness. Here will be no lack of anything. Here every wish shall be gratified, and every desire be crowned with enjoyment.

3. It was long and repeatedly promised.

4. It was to be gratuitously bestowed. All Gods blessings are gifts.

II. Gods Israel are tending towards that object.

1. Commenced by the command of God.

2. Continued under His immediate guidance.

3. Marked by His miraculous and gracious care.

III. That Gods Israel are solicitous to secure companions for their journey. Come thou with us, &c.

1. Piety prompts them to say this. They long to bring back to God His immortal offspring, and to recover to the great Shepherd of the sheep, the souls for whom He died; and they say, Come thou with us, &c.

2. Benevolence excites them to say this. Religion inspires the most ardent attachment to God, and breathes the purest benevolence to men.

3. Self-interest induces them to say this. Gods Israel are not only capable of doing good to, but of receiving good from their fellow-travellers.

IV. Gods Israel enjoy the divine commendation. The Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel.

1. Concerning the country to which Israel are tending (Psa 87:3; Rev 21:23-26).

2. Concerning the way in which Israel are journeying. It is called a right way (1Sa 12:23); a good way (Jer 6:16); a perfect way (Psa 101:2); a way of holiness (Isa 35:8); a way of peace (Luk 1:79); a new and living way (Heb 10:20); and a way in which there is no death (Pro 12:28).

3. Concerning the succours afforded them in the way. Many things are necessary for travellers. Light to see the way (Pro 4:18); a consciousness of being in the right way (Isa 30:21); a guide to instruct us in the way (Psa 32:8); provision for the way (Psa 132:15); strength to walk in the way (Isa 40:29-31); and a never-failing Friend to lead us forward in the way (Isa 42:16).

4. The Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel–In the titles by which they are designated, such as children of God, sons of God, heirs of God, kings and priests unto God.

In the figures by which they are compared: Gods husbandry, Gods building, Gods heritage, sheep of Gods pasture, a royal priesthood, a spiritual house, a crown of glory, and a royal diadem, &c.–In the promises to which they are entitled; these include all things (1Co 3:21-23).

Infer:

1. The happiness of Gods people.

2. The work of Gods people.

3. The honour of Gods people.

4. The security of Gods people. (Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons.)

Hobabs opportunity:

I. What God said to Israel (see Exo 6:6-8).

II. What Moses said to Hobab.

1. An invitation.

2. A promise. Good.

3. An argument. Lord has spoken, not man.

4. An entreaty. Leave us not.

5. An appeal. Thou knowest, &c.

6. An inducement. Equal share promised.

III. What Hobab said to Moses. I will not go. Six deterring things.

1. His own land.

2. Kindred.

3. Possessions.

4. With strangers. Alien race; other habits.

5. Poor prospects.

6. Uncertainty.

What would become of him should Moses die, or if invasion should fail? All find emphatic expression–I will not go. But Moses pleads long, earnestly, willingly. Hobab yields. House of Raguel. A lot in Canaan–Jael. Rechab. Saved from doom of Midian.

IV. What I have to say to you. Same message from God. Six things–

1. Israel. Politically disbanded; exists spiritually; the seed of Abraham; the children of the promise; the Church of Christ.

2. Good. Freedom from moral Egypt. Divine layout. Life; guidance; aid from God. Inheritance in the Canaan of holiness and heaven.

3. Come. Cast in your lot with us. Turn back on Midian. It is doomed. Follow our Moses, Jesus, Captain of our salvation.

4. Leave us not. I too would entreat, beseech, persuade. We want you; your company; your help. The love of Christ constraineth us.

5. We will do, &c. We can. By prayer, brotherhood, mutual aid, and cheer. Going home.

6. I pray thee. This with my heart upon my lips, and longing for your soul. Come! Come! Come!

V. WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY TO ME. You may say–

1. I will not go. If Midian is your home Midians doom is yours.

2. I will follow by and by. By and by leads to house of Never.

3. I will think about it–which means, I will forget it.

4. Are you Israel? Go tell John the things, &c.

5. I will go with somebody else. Be quick, and God go with you.

6. I will go with you for, &c. Preachers prize; your peace; Jesus glory.

VI. What God will say to us both. I cannot answer. The day will declare it! (J. Jackson Wray.)

Moses and Hobab

The spirit displayed by Moses is displayed by every Christian man. His words also may be adopted. These words suggest–

I. Settled convictions. We are journeying, &c. How pleasant this assurance. Do you possess it?

1. Remember the time when you had not this assurance. It was a time of uncertainty–fearfulness.

2. Remember the way in which you obtained this assurance. It was after strong convictions, earnest cries, transporting joys, then came this sweet assurance.

3. Notice the great advantages of this assurance. In a rough road, dark night, &c.

II. Probable inconveniences. Persons on a journey do not expect the comforts of home. They may have–

1. Unpleasant weather. The hail and sleet of persecution. The cold snow of poverty. The fog of doubt.

2. Unpleasant conveyance. The means of grace are like vehicles to help us on. Some have to trudge on nearly all the way, others get a lift now and then. Some in comfortable carriages-good doctrine; others in tumble-down–broken springs, So.

3. Unpleasant companions. The world an inn. In the house. Shop. Church.

4. Unpleasant accommodation. The body is the tabernacle or house in which the soul dwells. Many have sickly, weak bodies, and dwell in much poverty. Never mind. We are journeying.

III. Constant progress. We cannot settle down either–

1. In the joys of home and kindred.

2. In the joys of Christian society.

3. In the joys of gospel ordinances. This should teach us–

(1) To look upon everything with the eye of travellers.

(2) To make everything subservient to our journey. The place of our abode. Our business. Our friendships.

(3) To rejoice over those who have finished their journey. They have simply got home before us.

IV. Pleasant prospects. We have in view–

1. A land of freedom.

2. A land of friendship.

3. A land of holiness.

4. A land of happiness. (The Study.)

The profitable journey

I. God hath spoken great and good things concerning the future state of his people.

II. Believers are now on their journey to take possession of this heavenly country; We are journeying, said Moses to Hobab, to the promised place.

III. Travellers to Zion should invite and encourage others to accompany them; as Moses said to Hobab, Come thou with us, and we will do thee good. Moses was related to Hobab; and certainly our relations have the first claim to our pious regards (Rom 9:1-3; Rom 10:1). And there are several methods in which we may try to do this.

1. By inviting them to hear the gospel faithfully preached.

2. We may promote the salvation of others by serious and affectionate conversation. We readily converse with our neighbours on the news of the day, whether it be good or evil. Why should we be backward to tell them the best news that ever reached our ears–the good tidings of the gospel, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners?

3. The heads of families must endeavour to do good to their households by maintaining family-worship.

4. We may promote the salvation of the rising generation by giving encouragement to Sunday-schools, and other plans for the religious education of children. Some may assist them by subscribing towards their support; and others by their personal help.

5. The distribution of religious tracts is another method in which we may easily invite many around us to come and unite with us, that we may do them good.

6. But all these means must be accompanied with prayer.

7. Above all, and together with all, let our holy, blameless, and useful lives recommend the ways of religion to men. Improvement: What influence have all the good things which God has promised in His gospel had upon us? He has set before us His well-beloved Son; and in Him, pardon and peace, holiness and heaven: all we can want to make us happy in time, happy in death, happy to all eternity. Are we drawn by these cords of love? Are we induced to forsake the sins and vanities of the world? Have we set out on our journey towards heaven, determined to be fellow-travellers with the people of God? or do we hesitate? (G. Burder.)

The Christian journey

I. Direct your meditations to the representation given in the text of all the true Israel of God; they are journeying to the place of which God has spoken.

1. Consider their setting out in the journey, and how this is begun.

2. Journeying to the goodly land of promise implies perseverance and progress in the Divine life.

3. That our journeying to Zion implies difficulties encountered, resisted and overcome. These may be expected, and will be experienced.

II. We proceed now to some illustration of the animating motive which encourages heavenly travellers to hold on their way, which motive is contained in the last part of the text, For the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel. The Father of mercies has made with us an everlasting covenant, well-ordered in all things, and sure. The Saviour of mankind has purchased for us a kingdom which fadeth not away. The Holy Spirit is our Sanctifier and our Comforter, and graciously undertakes to prepare us for the business and the bliss of heaven. Neither the legions, nor all the powers of hell, can prevent us from inheriting with the saints in light. The time, manner, and all the circumstances of our death, are arranged by unerring wisdom, and by infinite love. Again, all the promises recorded in the sacred volume, pertaining to the life which now is, and to immortal happiness beyond the grave, are yea and amen in Christ, and are ours through Him. All the threatenings recorded in the same Scriptures are transferred to our glorious Surety, and cancelled as to us. The God of glory is our perpetual defence; the Lamb in the midst of the throne our perpetual Friend; angels our kindred, and heaven our home.

III. The affectionate and salutary counsel which travellers to Zion address to others: Come with us, and we will do thee good.

1. This implies a sincere concern for the salvation of our kindred and companions.

2. This affectionate address implies also a full conviction, that it never can be well with those who have not their portion with Gods children, who worship Him not in spirit, and who rejoice not in Christ Jesus.

3. Again, this language intimates the full persuasion that there is room for the most ignorant, estranged, and hopeless of their kindred, companions, and relatives. (A. Bonar.)

The invitation

1. His invitation shows faiths happy state. It is a mirror reflecting the features of calm trust. Full faith has eagle-eye. It penetrates all earthly mists. It gazes steadily on Zions highest light. Its true affections centre round a purer scene. So daily it moves forward. And nightly realises that an upward step is made. We are journeying unto the promised place. What is this place? Faith gazes–it ever gazes with increasing rapture: but it fails fully to describe. It is rest; perfect purity; joy; sure; the gift of God.

2. This invitation shows that faith is aggressive. Come thou with us. Each heaven-set plant strives for expanse. True grace has one sure sign: it longs and labours to communicate its wealth. A saving view of Christ slays self–relaxes every icy band–widely extends embracing arms, and yearns to multiply delights. When the heart burns the life must labour. (Dean Law.)

The invitation of Moses to Hobab:

I. The people of God are travelling to the heavenly Canaan.

1. The place itself.

(1) The place of rest.

(2) The place of purity.

(3) The place of unbounded wealth.

(4) The place of unceasing enjoyment.

2. The journey.

II. It is the duty of christians to invite others to journey with them. So Moses acted.

III. The reasons assigned for a compliance with this request.

1. The promise of mutual good.

2. The Divine regard for the Church.

IV. The manner in which this invitation may be received.

1. Some give a direct negative, as Hobab did at first; I will not go. The wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God. Some, like Ephraim, are joined to idols, and cannot give them up. Is this your answer? I will not go. Then you must perish in the wilderness.

2. Some are deterred by pride and shame. They think the people of God beneath them; or what will the world, their present companions, say, if they profess Christ?

3. Some are deterred by the trials of the way. God will be your guide, and He will support you in the severest trials.

4. Some are convinced of the necessity and importance of this journey to heaven, but they procrastinate, like Felix; Go thy way, &c.

5. Some are willing to go, but have not counted the cost. This was the case with many of Christs followers, who set out, but turned back, and walked no more with Him (Joh 6:66).

6. A few have resolved to go. Like Ruth, nothing shall hinder them. The good work has commenced in their souls. The people are willing in the day of Christs power. They will go, and like Paul, they count all things but loss, &e. (Rth 1:16; Heb 11:25-26). (Helps for the Pulpit.)

Promise of good

I. Some of those good things God has spoken. He says to every Christian as to Jacob, I will surely do thee good.

1. He has called them to sustain gracious relations towards Him.

2. He secures to them special privileges.

3. He unfolds before them glorious prospects.

4. He enables them in the faith of all this to achieve noble exploits.

II. Some of the good things which god has actually done for them. Not words but deeds, might without presumption be said to be the Divine motto.

1. He has emancipated them from a most bitter dominion of sin and death.

2. He has enlightened them with saving wisdom.

3. He has watched over them. The pillar of cloud, only an emblem. The hairs of thy head. Fear not, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

4. He accounted their enemies His own. Egyptians, Philistines, Syrians, Babylonians.

Lessons:

1. Let this subject endear the Saviour.

2. Let it stamp vanity upon all the world deems great.

3. Let it encourage prayer and high expectation.

4. Let it prompt to holiness of heart and life. (Homiletic Magazine.)

Christian invitation:

I. A position is assumed. It was assumed by Moses, that the people of whom he had the care occupied a position, in regard to God and in regard to their own welfare, which was essentially favourable, and in which it was eminently desirable to participate. The same truth must be assumed by and in regard to Christians-those who live under the economy of new covenant mercy. And this will be vindicated by observing that Christians live in the actual enjoyment of Divine favour, and that they possess the prospect of invaluable blessing in the future.

II. An invitation is presented. Moses offered the invitation to his relative that he would go with them, and thus be the companion of their course; as in the preceding verse he says, Come thou with us, and we will do thee good; Leave us not, I pray thee. The invitation, we repeat, is presented, in a sense answering to the spirit of their vocation, by Christians to men who hitherto have been living apart, as votaries of sin and of the world.

1. In the name of Christians we say, we invite you to believe their principles. Those principles relate not merely to the elementary truths concerning the being, the government and the attributes of God–they relate to the Divine character and mission of Him whose name we bear, Christ Jesus, the Son of God; they relate to the expiatory sacrifice He has offered for human sin, by expiring upon the Cross; they relate to the imputation of the merit and righteousness embodied in that sacrifice, through faith, as the only efficacious cause of justification and acceptance before the Father; they relate to the agency of the Holy Spirit, in His renewing grace, as requisite to apply the work of mediation to the human soul; and they relate to the duty of obedience and holiness, as the only satisfactory proof of an interest in the work of redemption and of the hope which that redemption is intended to inspire and to secure. Now these various principles are to be sincerely and cordially believed; their presence or absence decides the character and the prospects of men for ever.

2. While we invite you, on behalf of Christians, that you will embrace their principles, we invite you also that you will associate with their communities.

3. We also invite you in the name of Christians, that you will engage in their employments.

III. An assurance is pledged. The emphasis of the expressions before us will be found singularly powerful and interesting. It shall be, if thou go with us, yea, it shall be, that what goodness the Lord shall do unto us, the same will we do unto thee. And this assurance may be taken in two departments. There is an assurance from Christians, and there is an assurance by Christians, for their God.

1. Christians pledge the assurance for themselves, that to those who go with them they will render all the assistance in their power. What goodness the Lord shall do unto us, the same will we do unto thee. We will endeavour to render you participators of all our supports and enjoyments; so that you shall be found entirely as we are, both in the possessions of the present and in the prospects of the future.

2. Christians pledge the assurance for God. We believe that the moment when your decision occurs will be the moment of your ample and unreserved introduction to all the immunities of the Christian life. There is no process of discipline or preparatory trial, there is no hesitation and there is no delay; the moment when your faith is placed on the great Messiah, and when the resolution of your heart under Divine grace is taken, to devote yourselves to His honour, at that moment all that Christianity can vouchsafe to you is, from the Source of Christianity, your own. (J. Parsons.)

Come with us

Whither? Israel was going quite through the wilderness into Canaan, the land of promise. Israel of the spirit is going through earth and time to heaven. When the Church says Come thou with us to any who are hesitating and undecided, her face is heavenwards, her movement is in that way; she holds in her hand the roll of promise, the map of the better country, even the heavenly, and sees her own title to possession written there as with the finger of God. To that country her steps are all directed; into that country she is moving her ranks, as regularly as the morning dawns, as quietly as the night darkens. With the rolling of the years, with the numbering of the weeks, and even with the striking of the hours, she throws her wearied travellers into eternal rest and safety. We see the part of the company that is bright, and strong, and active, but there is always a more illustrious part of it, which we do not see, away somewhat in the distance before us, and passing in silence, through sickness, and by the dim ways of death, into the good land of immortal life and glory. And there is no time for divided purposes, for lingering delays, Come with us, quickly come, lest you should be down to the dark river long before you think; lest your eternal home, the place you are going to, should flash out upon you, and lest it should be, to your surprise and grief, a very different home from that which you are idly hoping to reach. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)

Good to be with the good

Come with us and we will do you good. It is good to be with the good. A thousand nameless gifts and precious influences are reciprocated, given and regiven, and enhanced, as they circulate among the faithful. We will do thee good is no vain boast; it is the everyday experience of the saints of God in fellowship, of the soldiers of God in conflict, of the sons of God on the way through the wilderness to their home. To be with a person in spirit-friendship is to get, in a measure, what he has in him to give away, be it good or evil, glory or disgrace. You must be changed in a degree into the same image, whatever that image may be. The effluence of his life will flow into yours, and of yours into his. The sublimest action of this principle is when the disciple is with the Master, giving nothing, but receiving all, and then men take knowledge of him that he has been with Jesus. But it is really the action substantially, of the same principle when the company of His followers, standing well together in their fellowship, and going step by step in their march, are able thus to promise to all whom they invite, We will do you good. It is good to be with the good. It is good to be aiming after goodness. The Christian recompense begins as soon as the Christian endeavour begins. (A. Raileigh, D. D.)

Keeping good company

I think it is fair to notice that there was a little in the circumstances of the time to help Hobab to say No For Moses had to say, We are journeying. They did not look at their best; all was in confusion; Gods people here below never do look at their best. You know how vexed you are if some particular friend comes and calls when you are in all the uproar and confusion of a removal. You would say, Oh, dear me! I hope this wont have a damaging effect; I hope there wont be any inferences drawn from this higgledy-piggledy condition of things. And I think Moses felt it. I feel it as the spokesman for Israel to-day, pleading with any who have not yet come to join themselves to Israel, who have not come into the camp, into the household of faith. I anticipate your objection. You may well say as Hobab perhaps further thought. Well, he might think, I do know a little about these Israelites, and I know more than what is good about them. So far as I have been able to see during the past year, they are a mixed lot. And so they were. And I have to make much the same admission as regards Christians. I do not want to spoil my case with any halter-between-two-opinions, by doing what recruiting-sergeants in the old days were given to, viz., telling lies–for that is the plain English of it. I shall not speak the language of exaggeration. You find fault with us from the outside, and I admit it. You say, Why should I come? There are, it may be, points of character on which worldlings, so far as you have met them, are superior to Christians whom you have met. Mores the pity; but I admit it. We are ofttimes a sorry lot, a miserable crowd with our bickerings, and fightings, and jealousies. We please not God, and are contrary to all men; but–but–but take us at our worst, there is a side of us that never can be exaggerated. There is a side of us, and a thing in us, for the sake of which I would advise our keenest critic to rub his eyes and look again ere he gives us up. And remember, besides, that if I choose, I can turn your argument. It is easy for you to turn round to us; it is easy for Hobab to turn to me and say, What Christians we are, and that he has found us a stupid lot, and so on. But may I not say, Are you a great deal better? Come along, and show us an example. It is not really fair to stand outside and criticise–take a turn along the road with us for a mile or two. Many a man has had great objections to being a Christian, and has discovered many faults in the Israelites so long as he was a Midianite. But when he crossed over from Midian into Israel, and tried to keep his own eyes on the pillar of cloud, and tried to rule his own conduct according to the law and the sacrifices, his head hung a bit lower, and he had less to say about his neighbours. He had glimpses within that he would never have had otherwise; of great ravines, and chasms of imperfection; tremendous face-blanching possibilities of evil revealed in himself that have made him sing to a more gracious tune, if they have not made him sing dumb altogether. So I come back: Come thou with us. I feel as though I were like a dear mother I saw down, I think, at Kings Cross, not long ago. She was standing with one foot on the carriage-board, and the other foot on the platform, and she was arguing evidently with her wayward boy. Come back, come; you will be better at home; every one is waiting for you. But he hummed and hawed, turned this way and that way, looked every way but into his mothers face, and was most uncomfortable and uneasy. And sorry am I to add that the last I saw was the conductor coming hurrying along; there was a kiss and an embrace between mother and son, and then they parted, she to step into the train, and he to go away back, as he answered, I will not go. Very like just where Moses was with Hobab, and where I am with some of you. I want you to come, I long for you to come. I know you can raise many difficulties and objections. Like that lad, you like the freedom; like Hobab, you like a desert life. But even although you should say, No, still I shall look to see you changing your mind, like Hobab. For, later on in Scripture, we have evidences that he afterwards repented and went. Let me go on with my text. We will do thee good: for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel. Will that do? We are only journeying, we have not arrived; but we have the promises of God. Yes; and we have something to show, we have our own tale to tell. We are redeemed, at any rate; we are a ransomed lot; and when you are piling together all the disparaging adjectives you can gather to describe us, dont forget the others. There is a ransomed look about us, unless we utterly belle the deepest and truest things in us. We are no longer slaves. True, we are not what we ought to be, but we are saved sinners. We have got that to begin with, and we are journeying for all the rest. We are taking God at His word, and hitherto the dullest of us, if you push him hard, is compelled to say the Lord has been, at least, as good as His word. Now, will you come? And he said, I will not go; but I will depart to my own land, and to my own kindred. Poor Hobab I Many have been kept back in that way: mine own land, mine own kindred. Now, how would you like it if to-night I brought the argument to a point by saying I dispute the word mine you have no land, you have no kindred? Hobab, you are using words that you have no right to use in any absolute sense of possession–Mine own land, mine own kindred. That is a word that this world wont allow, not to speak of Gods Word. But, Hobab, if you want true possessions, if you want true wealth, a real portion, that even death will not destroy (death will only usher you into a more abundant sense of the possession of it), then come with us. Dont look back to Midian; dont look back to Sodom; dont cast longing, lingering looks behind. Look forward. See what Christ offers you, and come. You lose nothing that would be for your good: No good thing will God withhold from them that walk uprightly. And if you have to lose; if, from a worldly point of view, from the point of view of selfishness, and self-will, and your own unhallowed ambitions–if you have to lay things on the altar, then you are a blessed man–that is the path of life, and not of death. He that loveth his life shall lose it; he that hateth his life (he that seems to fling it away) shall find it unto life eternal. And Moses pleaded with him further, and said, Leave us not, I pray thee, &c. Pardon me if I am urgent with you; let me plead with you. You can be of use to us. Will that draw some of you? We want you, frankly and freely. Are you imaginative, musical, poetical, literary? Are you a good financier? Have you certain qualities that mark you off specially as a father, or as a mother, or as a wife, or as a friend? Come with us; we need you, you will be of use to us. It is one of the sweet things about Israel that God wants every kind of person. Then come. We are journeying, we are a going concern, we are moving on, onward and upward; no stop, no stay. Nothing can resist our progress; from night to morning, from morning till night, the one thing in Gods universe that moves is His Israel; and every step is a step upward, and every fall is a fall forward. We are on the winning side, all that is enduring is with us. Come, oh, come! (John McNeill.)

The state of mind in Moses which prompted this invitation

These words afford us more than one glimpse into Mosess state of mind. More than forty years had now elapsed since he had refused to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. What enabled him to make this difficult choice? The apostle tells us, faith. But faith is a grace that does not stand alone. It soon becomes the parent of other graces. God has told us what He is; and it is the characteristic of faith to rest in Him as a present God–to enjoy Him as an all-sufficient and present portion. But God has spoken about His people s future–told them not only what He is, but what He will be to them. He hath spoken good concerning Israel. These promises kindle and sustain hope. The heart is enlarged with the joyful anticipation of things to come. Mosess invitation to Hobab shows that hope was one, it may be the prevailing, characteristic of his state of mind at this time. There was something, too, in his outward circumstances which might give an impulse to this expansive feeling. Hitherto they had been marching almost away from the land of promise; now their steps were turned, and they were about to move in a direct line for it. This had no effect whatever on the minds of the carnal and discontented Israel; present inconveniences and trials completely thrust all the promises out of their minds. But Moses pondered the promise; he anticipated the good which God had spoken concerning Israel. Hope rose high in his expecting heart, rendering more bearable the heavy burden which he had to carry–a disobedient and gainsaying people. Why is it that our hearts do not abound more in hope? Is it not that they are not occupied enough with Gods promises? That they do not realise, as Moses did, the good which God hath spoken concerning Israel? We live too much in the present or the past, and not enough in the future. Hope, then, was a feature of Mosess spirit. But another is very apparent in this invitation to Hobab–his holy benevolence. He was anxious that one related to him, though not of Israel, should share in the good promised to Israel. And this is the more beautiful, when we bear in mind that Israel of old was not called to impart to others the truths which they had been taught. The Church of the Old Testament was not in any sense, to use a common expression, a missionary Church. Its duty was to keep the oracles of God, and to live in complete separation from all the other nations of the earth: so that Moses went beyond the spirit and requirements of the law when he gave utterance to the benevolent desire of his heart, Come thou with us, and we will do thee good: for God bath spoken good concerning Israel. But we who live in the latter times, when the fulness of Divine love has burst through the barriers which for a time confined it, when the gracious command has been given, Preach the gospel to every creature, we ought to say, by the holiness of our lives, by the sympathy of our hearts, by the words of our lips, to those around us, Come with us, and we will do thee good. We see this compassionate love in Paul (Rom 10:1; 1Th 2:8). We see it in the beloved John (3Jn 1:4). But, most of all, we see it in Jesus, the fountain of all grace–For when He was come near, He beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. And how full of love are His repeated invitations- Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden. Him that cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out. Oh, we ought to be more like-minded with Jesus; and if we realised more the good which God has spoken concerning Israel, we should surely desire that relations and friends might come with us; that what goodness the Lord shall do unto us, the same He might do to them. (G. Wagner.)

The religion of the promise

If we are honest and genuine in our Christian believing, these words are as true for you and me as they were for Moses and his Israel. We, too, are on a journey. For us to-day, just as really as for them in days of old, the stimulus continues to be simply this–a promise. Heaven cannot be demonstrated. We simply take Gods word for it. The Christian religion is emphatically the religion of the promise. In heathen religion, the threat predominates over the promise. But in the glad faith that boasts the name of gospel, the promise predominates over the threat. Christians are men with a hope, men who have been called to inherit a blessing. The complaint that the progress of human knowledge has made it difficult to think and speak of heaven as believing men used to think and speak of it, is a complaint to which we must briefly refer. Let me observe, then, that while there is a certain grain of reasonableness in this argument for silence with respect to heaven and the things of heaven, there is by no means so much weight to be attached to it as many people seem to suppose. For after all, when we come to think of it, this changed conception of what heaven may be like is not traceable so much to any marvellous revolution that has come over the whole character of human thought since you and I were children, as it is to the changes which have taken place in our own several minds, and which necessarily take place in every mind in its progress from infancy to maturity. But let me try to strike closer home, and meet the difficulty in a more direct and helpful way. I do it by asking whether we ought not to feel ashamed of ourselves, thus to talk shout having been robbed of the promise simply because the Father of heaven has been showing us, just as fast as our poor minds could bear the strain, to how immeasurable an area the Fatherhood extends. The reality and trustworthiness of the promise are not one whir affected by this revelation of the vastness of the resources which lie at His command who makes the promise. Instead of repining because we cannot dwarf Gods universe so as to make it fit perfectly the smallness of our notions, let us turn all our energies to seeking to enlarge the capacity of our faith, so that it shall be able to hold more. It may turn out, who can tell? that heaven lies nearer to us than even in our childhood we ever ventured to suppose; that it is not only nearer than the sky, but nearer than the clouds. Be this as it may, the reasonableness of our believing in Christs promise, that in the world whither He went He would prepare a place for us, is in nowise impugned by anything that the busy wit of man has yet found out or is likely to find out. That belief rests on grounds of its own, and, far from forbidding, it encourages us to let our ideas of the fulness, the extent of the blessing promised, expand more and more. We need have no fear that, so long as we are in the flesh and on tile earth, our acquaintance with the realities of heaven will ever outrun the capacity of the Bible language about heaven to express what we may have discovered. On the contrary, let us make more and more of these great and precious promises of God. Let us resolve to think oftener of the place of which the Lord has said that He would give it us. There is no period of life from which we can afford to spare the presence of this heavenly hope. We need it in youth, to give point and purpose and direction to the newly-launched life. It would be a strange answer to give from a ship just out of the harbours mouth, in reply to the question, Whither bound?–Nowhere. But not in youth only is belief in this ancient promise of God a blessing to us. We need it in middle life. We need it to help us cover patiently that long stretch which parts youth from old age–the time of the fading out of illusions in the dry light of experience; the time when we discover the extent of our personal range, and the narrow limit of our possible achievement. We need it then, that we may be enabled to replace failing hopes with fresher ones, and neither falter nor sink under the burden and heat of the day. Above all, shall we find such a hope the staff of old age, should the pilgrimage last so long. (W. R. Huntington, D. D.)

The Christian life a journey

I. We are to view the Christian leaving the world behind him. We do not mean by this that he is to go out of the world. He may remain in it, and perform with diligence all the duties of his station, but he must give up the spirit, the tastes, the habits of the world; he must use the world without abusing it, and count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord.

II. We are to view the Christian with the cross on his back. It may appear unwise to lay a cross upon a man that is journeying, because it is apparently burthensome; but there is this difference between a temporal journey and the spiritual one: the cross does not enfeeble, it only makes us sensible of the weakness that exists. Indeed, in this journey it is generally found that he whose cross is the heaviest makes the greatest progress. With the cross on his back the Christian is less liable to wander. It keeps him steady in the right way. It is true that no chastening for the present is joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterwards it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them which are exercised thereby. The cross which the Christian carries is not selected by himself, but it is appointed by God. Sometimes it is outward affliction; sometimes inward temptations, as is best suited to the character and circumstances of the individual.

III. The Christian journeys with the bible in his hand. When a man sets out on a journey, he procures a book or map of the road, and directs his course accordingly. It is not enough that he intends or desires to go right, he must be regulated by his guide. If you were travelling through a strange country, and you knew not the various turnings and windings of the road, how anxiously would you look to your map, to see if you were right; particularly if there were certain marks by which you might know whether you were in the appointed track. The maxims of the world may deceive you; the reasonings of your own mind may perplex you; even the experience of professed Christians, being unscriptural or unsuitable, may mislead you; but the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

IV. In the spiritual journey the Christian has Christ at his side. Throughout the way, all the strength that is received is from His fulness. For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell. Christ continually sustains the believers soul. There are times with the most eminent Christian when the brightness is dimmed and dangers are multiplied; when the soul is much discouraged because of the way. In such seasons nothing but a view of Christ can cheer the soul. None ever travelled this road without feeling a humbling sense of his own weakness in the spiritual conflict. He has at times fallen, but a look at Christ, even if fallen, while it humbles, encourages.

V. The christian pilgrim keeps heaven in his view. Both the pains and the pleasures of the way stir up his heart to think of it, He hastens on, regardless of the accommodations by the way, so that he may but reach his home at last. With him the idea is not that of mere release from suffering, but of being brought to the permanent enjoyment of that Saviour with whom he has walked by faith. On this his mind is bent, nor will he be fully satisfied till that blessed time arrive. Application:

1. To you who are going quite another road. What do you expect at the end of it? You hope to be saved at last. On what are your expectations founded?

2. I would invite the young to commence this journey. It is true that the world has its pleasures, and they are placed before you in an alluring point of view; but they are deceitful. Religion has its pleasures, and they are solid and durable.

3. A word of encouragement to those who are on the road. Be grateful that while so many are travelling on in the broad road, you have, through grace, been brought to walk in this heavenly path. Gird up the loins of your mind–take up your cross cheerfully and follow Christ. (J. G. Breay, B. A.)

Persuasives and promises to pilgrims

I. A picture of the Christians pilgrimage. That wilderness wandering, so deeply indented with marks of Divine intervention, so resplendent with proofs of a present God, who went before them, cleaving the sea and the flood for them, subduing their enemies round about, is a varied type of the Church in the world.

1. The first lesson lying on the surface is that which relates to bearing testimony for Christ. There should be no hesitation about a Christian, as if he were afraid to say he was on the way to heaven. His speech or silence; his activity or quiet submission to the Divine will; his work and his worship, should boldly declare whose he is, and whom he serves.

2. A second lesson taught us here is one of mutual forbearance. Though all Christians are journeying to the one place, there is a wide diversity of experience, of capacity, of attainment. No two human faces are alike; and it may be safely affirmed that no two conversions are in all respects the same, and no two Christians, however close their affections and sympathies, grow in grace at the same rate, or in dependence on the same supplies.

II. A powerful pleading with others to join the pilgrim in his progress. There is a true ring in these words. Moses knew whom he had believed, and trusted his heavenly Father implicitly.

1. His invitation is founded on the Divine precept: The Lord hath said I will give it you. It was a poor nomadic life after all–the tribes were living in the desert–if there had been no goal to which their aspirations and their movements tended. But the word of the Lord was a sure word on which to hope. With Divine leadership, pioneering and providing, defending and protecting, and a glorious inheritance at the end of the pilgrimage, there was everything to quicken, stimulate, and strengthen. Our condition is very like theirs, for we have not yet come to the rest and the inheritance which God is to give to us, but we are on the way.

2. It is founded on a rich promise: The Lord said I will give it you, and the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel. As God promised Canaan to the tribes, so has He opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers by Jesus Christ. What though a wearisome pilgrimage lie between us and the heavenly rest, though dangers, enemies, fears manifold, are in the way, in nothing shall we be ashamed. All good is promised and not evil, what is good for body and soul, solid, enduring good, the good part that shall not be taken away, even when life departs. Canaan was the ultimate embodiment of that good to ancient Israel, as heaven and eternal felicity with Christ are to us. But those of them that were true saints and pilgrims would have a foretaste of Canaan beforehand, as we too have of heaven upon earth. What was good for Hobab in the wilderness cannot be bad for us here, with heaven in reversion.

3. The invitation contains an earnest persuasive–Come with us. True religion seeks to propagate itself by communicating its goodness to others. Persuasion and compulsion are the natural opposites of each other. The one entices, allures, woes, with sweet attention and magnetic influence: the other drives with mechanical force. Persuasion is that spirit of the gospel such as came from the living lips of Jesus when He said, Come unto Me and I will give you rest–that love which many waters could not quench, nor many floods drown. Who has not heard the fable of the sun and wind striving which of the two would compel a traveller to put off his cloak, the sun being the victor? Men will be led when they refuse to be driven. It is the love that plies persuasions, strengthened by incentives, and beautified by promises of the summum bonum, the supreme good to be got by coming over the line and coming out from the world, that conquers. (J. Blair.)

The start from Sinai

I. Moses proposal During their stay at Sinai, it is probable that deputations from neighbouring tribes visited the people, and amongst them was this chieftain of a tribe closely related to Moses by marriage. Hobab, we are told, was the son of Reuel, the Midianite, Moses father-in-law. Of course, he knew the country well, every foot of it, where the springs lay, and the pastures, and the safest, shortest routes, and so Moses approached him with the request that he would go with them, to give them the benefit of his practical knowledge. Leave us not, I pray thee, forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou shalt be to us instead of eyes. This request was, of course, most natural. Moses was a very lonely man, and it was pleasant to have one, bound to him by a blood affinity, to unburden himself to, in any special crisis. At the same time, it was at variance with the general custom, which even then must have commenced strongly to assert itself, of Israelite exclusiveness. There must have been a strong reason that prompted this invitation. And shall we not find it in that instinctive shrinking of the human heart from the strange and unknown way? How well to have a Hobab who knows the ground! We seek our Hobabs in the advice of sage, grey-haired counselors; in the formation of strong, intelligent, and wealthy committees; in a careful observance of precedent. Anything seems better than a simple reliance on a unseen guide. Now, in one sense, there is no harm in this. We have neither right nor need to cut ourselves adrift from others, who have had special experience in some new ground on which we are venturing. God often speaks to us through our fellows; they are His ministers to us for good. But there is also a great danger that we should put man before God; and that we should so cling to Hobab, as to become unmindful of the true Guide and Leader of souls. How often God is compelled to isolate us from human voices.

II. The failure of Hobab and the divine substitute. The desert chieftain was by no means enamoured of the proposal of his great relative. Several considerations may have weighed with him. It was only a month before that Aaron and his sons had been set apart for their sacred work, and the fire of God had fallen on their dedicatory sacrifices. For some violation of the sacred ritual, for personal misconduct whilst engaged in their ministry, the two young priests had been stricken dead, and Aaron forbiddin to weep. This must have struck an awful fear through the camp. Shortly after this another incident occurred. The son of an Israelitish woman, whose father was an Egyptian, had blasphemed the holy name of God, and cursed in the midst of conflict with a man of Israel. The blasphemer had been stoned. The result of it all was that in reply to Moses request, he said bluntly, I will not go, but I will depart unto mine own land and to my kindred. Moses still further entreated him, but whether he succeeded or not is doubtful, though there are some reasons for thinking that the second request prevailed, because the descendants of the Kenite are numbered amidst the chosen people. But it would seem as if his aid was rendered needless by the provision of guidance immediately promised. Up to this moment the position of the Ark had been in the midst of the host in front of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, but hence-forth it went three days journey in front of the people, to seek out a resting-place for them. The Lord Himself had become Director and Guide, and all that Israel had to do was to keep at a distance sufficiently wide to enable them to reap the fullest benefit of its advance guard. Thus God Himself superseded the proposal of Moses by an expedient which more than met their needs. What consolation there is to each of us, in realising the spiritual truth underlying this historical fact! We have to pass into the untried and unknow, and know not the way we should take. Some have to go alone. Some with the memory of companions that once went at their side, but whom they will see no more in this life. But amid all Jesus is with them, and goes before them, whether for war or rest. He never will forsake nor leave them. The Lord Jesus is the true Ark of the Covenant, who has gone before us through the world and death, through the grave and the last rally of the hosts of darkness to the glory. We have but to follow Him. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)

Where are you going? –

When friends and neighbours meet in the streets or roads, the commonest question is, Where are you going? All kinds of answers are returned; one is going on an errand of business, another of pleasure; one is going to wealth and success, another, with broken fortunes and blighted hopes, is going to the grave, which holds all that was most dear to him on earth. Where are you going? What wonderful answers we should get if we asked that question of the first fifty people only whom we met! But however different those replies would be, Gods people ought to be able to give one and the same answer – We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you. We know not through what dangers, difficulties, and trials; we know not for how long our journey shall be; we know not what will befall us on the way, but we have set our faces steadfastly to go to the promised land, to Jerusalem, which is above, to the Paradise of God, the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you. (H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, M. A.)

Gospel invitations

A beautiful picture this! full of modern questioning–a very pattern of inquiry and invitation in a gospel sense. Can we honestly invite men to join us on our life-march? Consider the question well. Do not involve others in grievous and mournful responsibilities. Do not entreat men to leave what is to them at least a partial blessing, unless you are sure you can replace that enjoyment by purer and larger gladness. Can we honestly, with the full consent of judgment, conscientiousness, and experience, invite men to join us in the way which we have determined to take? If not, do not let us add the murder of souls to our other crimes. Do not let us, merely for the sake of companionship, involve in ruin innocent men. What is our life-march? To what place are we journeying? Who laid its foundation? Who lighted its lamps? Who spread its feast? What is its name? Be careful how you ask people to go along with you. First lay down a basis of sound wisdom. We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you. If that be the first sentence, or part of it, the sentence may end in the boldest invitation ever issued by love to the banquet of grace and wisdom. But let us have no adventuring, no foolish or frivolous speculation in life; let us speak from the citadel of conviction and from the sanctuary of assured religious confidence. Have we such a view of the end as may make us independent of immediate trials? When we invite men to join us on the Christian pilgrimage, it must be on the distinct understanding that we are ruling the present by the future. This is precisely the logic of Moses: We are journeying unto the place. The end was indicated–the goal, the destiny of the march; and that was so bright, so alluring, so glowing with all hospitable colour, that Moses did not see that to-morrow there was to be a battle, or seeing it, already passed the warfield like a victor. We must draw ourselves forward by taking firm hold of the end–in other words, we must have such a conception of lifes destiny as will invigorate every noble motive, stir every sacred passion, and make us more than conquerors in all war and conflict. This was the reasoning of Moses, this was the reasoning of Paul, this was the practice of Christ; and we are not yet advanced enough in true wisdom to modify the terms or readjust and redistribute the conditions. Moses did not invite Hobab to join merely for the sake of being in the company; he expected service from Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite. He said, Thou knowest the ground so well that thy presence will be of service to us; experience will assist devotion; we are willing to march; we know nothing of the processes of the way; thou understandest the whole country; come with us and be as eyes unto us. Moses showed leadership even there; it was the invitation of a soldier and a legislator and a wise man. Eyes are of inexpressible value in the whole conduct of life; to be able to see, to take note of, to recognise–the man who can do this is rendering service to the whole Church. So we invite men to come with us that they may render service according to their opportunity and capacity. (J. Parker, D. D.)

An invitation to Christian fellowship

I. As A certain scriptural duty. Every reasonable person, conscious of accountability to God, will seriously inquire, What is the duty enjoined upon me by my Creator, my Redeemer, and my Judge? To the Bible we therefore appeal, while considering the subject of fellowship with Christs followers.

1. That it is our duty fully to unite with Christians is evident from the Scriptural representations of the followers of Christ. Among the instructive representations which clearly imply their union is that of a house or building (1Co 3:9; 1Co 3:11). In a building, the foundation and the other various necessary parts are united, in order to form a useful edifice: and Christians are built upon Christ, and united to each other, as lively stones, built up a spiritual house (1Pe 2:5). Christs followers are next set forth as a household, a united family. They are designated the household of faith (Gal 6:10), the household of God (Eph 2:19), and the house of God, in which Paul taught Timothy how to behave (1Ti 3:15). Christians are also represented as one body in Christ, and every one members one of another (Rom 12:5). They are the body of Christ, and members in particular (1Co 12:27).

2. The certain duty of full union with Christians is clearly taught by the Scriptural history of Christs followers. It is evident from this record that when persons received Christ as their Saviour they embraced His people as their people. They gave themselves first to Him, and then to His followers according to His will (2Co 8:5). When Saul of Tarsus was converted, he appears to have thought joining the united Christians as certainly his duty, as trusting in Christ their Saviour. He not only preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus, but on coming to Jerusalem, where there was a Christian Society, he at once essayed to join himself to the disciples, who were afraid to receive him, until Barnabas testified that he had become a Christian. This narrated conduct of inspired men clearly teaches that Christian fellowship ought to be sought and manifested by all professing Christians.

3. The Scriptural obligations of Christs followers certainly imply the public union of those who bear His name.

(1) Our solemn obligation to confess Christ before men cannot be fully discharged unless we are publicly identified with His disciples, and thus share His reproach and His honour, His pain and His pleasure.

(2) The obligations which we owe to ourselves cannot be fulfilled without union with Christs followers. The blessings of salvation are freely offered in the gospel; but experience and observation assure us that they can neither be fully obtained, nor long retained, without fellowship with those who would assist us to secure their enjoyment. And even where a most promising state of grace has been manifested, if persons have forsaken the assembling of themselves together in Christian communion, the blooming work has been blasted, the heavenly offspring has been destroyed, and the hopes of the Church have been painfully disappointed. Numerous facts, doubtless, caused Mr. Whitefield to remark:– My brother Wesley acted wisely. The souls that were awakened under his ministry he joined in class, and thus preserved the fruits of his labour. This I neglected, and my people are a rope of sand.

(3) The obligations which Christians owe to each other cannot be observed without the fellowship of which we speak. Christs disciples are required to have the same care one for another (1Co 12:25); to rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep (Rom 12:15-16); to bear each others burdens (Gal 6:2); to walk in love as Christ has loved them (Eph 5:2); to be like-minded (Php 2:2); to teach and admonish one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs (Col 3:16). How is it possible, without public, intimate, and frequent fellowship, to discharge these enjoined, mutual duties?

(4) The obligations which Christians owe to the world cannot be performed without our public union. How can true Christian ministers be raised, and called, and sent forth by means of Christian Churches, unless such Churches are formed? If Christians really stand forth as Christs chosen witnesses, and go forth as His servants to claim and save the world, they must unite for the accomplishment of these objects.

II. Highly advantageous.

1. This union raises us to fellowship with the best of society.

2. Public union with Christs followers would prove a powerful preservative from sin.

3. The union of which we speak would furnish you with a most desirable sphere of usefulness. This powerful motive was presented to Hobab when Moses showed the individual assistance which he might afford for the general good (Num 10:31). Every rightly-disposed person will not live to please or serve himself merely; but, seeking Gods honour, and using his influence for the benefit of his generation, will hail with gladness the facilities for increased usefulness which may be presented in connection with Christs active followers.

4. Christian union would entitle you to an interest in the special prayers of Christ and His followers.

5. Communion with Christians will be attended with a share in Christs most gracious regard. We do not say that this Christian union will ensure heaven; but we do affirm that if you truly trust in Christ, and are united in His name, you will have such an interest in His regard as no individual who neglects thus to profess Him can Scripturally claim. Christ is not only round about His united Churches, but the glory in the midst of them (Zec 2:6; Psa 46:5; Isa 12:6). They are, and ever will be, favoured with His most gracious presence.

III. Earnestly invite you to full fellowship with Christs followers. Come thou with us, and we will do thee good.

1. Abandon forbidden fellowship with sinners. These will soon perish in their sins. Separate yourself, therefore, from them, that you perish not in their company (Num 16:26).

2. Let all sin, as well as the company of sinners, be forsaken. Be not an Achan in the camp, nor a Simon in a Christian society; but let your hands be clean, and your heart right in the sight of God. Thus guard against substituting a religious profession for inward and outward holiness.

3. As Gods unworthy servants, and relying upon His promised grace, we engage to do you good. How many in that glorious multitude have received good in our connection?

4. This invitation is given, and this promise is made, personally. Come thou with us, and we will do thee good. We invite yea who are more learned than most persons, having enjoyed superior advantages. Be to others what Hobab was to Israel, instead of eyes. You who are not so learned as others, but whose attainments are painfully limited, we do not despise, Be not proudly ashamed because you are not so well informed, and so able to speak, as many with whom you are invited to unite. To you who are rich, and increased in earthly goods, we say, Come with us, and we will do you good. Perhaps you are tempted to look upon the poor in our societies, and then around you in the circle of respectable worldly persons who are your equals, and your natural heart may suggest, I cannot associate and be one with those poor persons, and thus sink in public estimation, and sacrifice opportunities of still rising in society. Before you yield to such suggestions, remember Him who was surrounded by heavens highest inhabitants, and receiving their loudest praises; yet He stooped, and for your sake became poor, that you through His poverty might be rich (2Co 8:9). From the poor in this world we turn not away, but offer you the right hand of fellowship. You have no place among the children of rich men, but you may have a place among Gods children. To the aged, pained by the past, and dreading the future, we respectfully say, Come thou with us, and we will do thee good. Oh, that you had come sooner, that you might have done good as well as received good! But come now. End your days in the Christian fold. Finish life with Christians and as a Christian. With one accord our language is, We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord hath said, I will give it you. The inheritance is sufficient for all. It is offered to all. Part of our company have entered that better country, and are now before the throne. With this fixed purpose to travel to the mount of God ourselves, and with the prospect of there joining the general assembly and Church of the first-born, whom shall we pass and leave behind to perish? (Wright Shovelton.)

Gods goodness to His people

A German, converted at one of the military stations in America, seemed overwhelmed with surprise and gladness as he contemplated Gods gracious goodness to him. He was overheard one day praying, O Lord Jesus, I didnt know you were so good.

The solicitude of the godly

I have seen birds sitting on the boughs and watching while other birds were feeding below. They would hop from twig to twig, and look wistfully down upon them; then, gathering courage, they would spring from their perch and back again, and finding that it did not hurt them, they would at last join the outmost circle, and feed with the others. How many faces I have seen in these galleries, wearing a wistful look as they gazed down upon us while we were celebrating this ordinance of communion. May God give all such wings, that they may fly down and be among His people, and partake with them of heavenly food! (H. W. Beecher.)

The beginning of the heavenly journey

Some who see men hurrying along at noon towards the various prayer-meetings, say, Its a fever which must have its way, and then it will subside. They see a young man going to the meeting, and think it nothing to excite interest. They do not know that that young man had come up to a point where, if nothing had occurred to save him, he would have been bound over to destruction at the very next step. They do not see, in some far-distant village, the mother or the sister praying and weeping for him–no sound of a fathers groan is heard–none of these things; the petitions that for years have assailed the heavens, both day and night, do not cling about the youth as he walks the street; but that prayer-meeting God made to answer the desire of the parents, and to bring salvation to the son. And eternity will show that the young mans walking towards that place of prayer was the beginning of his march to heaven. (H. W. Beecher.)

Preparing for the journey

A poor blacksmith, bending with age and weakness, was passing through a country village: he stopped at a good womans cottage, and rested himself on the railing before the door. The pious dame came out, and the weary traveller remarked that his time here would be short; he was always ailing: he added, Ah, Nanny! I shant be long for this world, I reckon! She thought of his words, and replied, Well, John, then I hope youll prepare for your journey! The blacksmith passed on, and his call was soon forgotten by Nanny; but that simple sentence was impressed on his memory by the Spirit of God, never to be erased. He pondered it while walking home, and soon consumption laid him on a bed of pain. Again and again did he think about the journey, and about being prepared for it. He began to pray, and all around him were continually hearing the old womans advice. No pious friends were near to converse with him, but it is confidently believed that the aged sinner was led to look to the Saviour through the simple incident related above. Almost his last breath was spent in thanking God that the good old woman ever warned him. (Christian Miscellany.)

Rejoicing in the promises

I went to see a dear aged Christian woman who is a member of the Church of which I am the pastor. She was lying physically helpless, but no one had called to light the fire that day; the black grate with the whitish-grey ash of yesterdays fire still in it made the room look desolate and cold. Turning towards the bed, I saw that the dear child of God was weeping, and thought it was from hunger and loneliness; but I was mistaken, for she had spent the morning reading the precious promises of God, thus forgetting all earthly considerations in looking forward to the bright hereafter. Oil, she said in her Scotch way, I can soop (sweep) them (the promises) up like diamonds. (J. Munro.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 29. Moses said unto Hobab] For a circumstantial account of this person see the notes on Ex 2:15-16; Ex 2:18; Ex 3:1; Ex 4:20; Ex 4:24; and for the transaction recorded here, and which is probably out of its place, see Ex 18:5, where the subject is discussed at large.

We are journeying] God has brought us out of thraldom, and we are thus far on our way through the wilderness, travelling towards the place of rest which he has appointed us, trusting in his promise, guided by his presence, and supported by his power. Come thou with us, and we will do thee good. Those who wish to enjoy the heavenly inheritance must walk in the way towards it, and associate with the people who are going in that way. True religion is ever benevolent. They who know most of the goodness of God are the most forward to invite others to partake of that goodness. That religion which excludes all others from salvation, unless they believe a particular creed, and worship in a particular way, is not of God. Even Hobab, the Arab, according to the opinion of Moses, might receive the same blessings which God had promised to Israel, provided he accompanied them in the same way.

The Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel.] The name Israel is taken in a general sense to signify the followers of God, and to them all the promises in the Bible are made. God has spoken good of them, and he has spoken good to them; and not one word that he hath spoken shall fail. Reader, hast thou left thy unhallowed connections in life? Hast thou got into the camp of the Most High? Then continue to follow God with Israel, and thou shalt be incorporated in the heavenly family, and share in Israel’s benedictions.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Raguel, called also Reuel, Exo 2:18, who seems to be the same who is called Jethro, Exo 3:1, it being usual in Scripture for one person to have two or three names. And therefore this Hobab is not Jethro, but his son, which may seem more probable, because Jethro was old and unfit for travel, and desirous, as may well be thought, to die in his own country, whither he returned, Exo 18:27; but Hobab was young and fitter for these journeys, and therefore entreated by Moses to stay and bear them company.

Mosess father-in-law; which words are ambiguous, but seem to belong to Raguel, or Reuel, not to Hobab, though others are of another mind.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

29. Hobab, the son of Raguel theMidianitecalled also Reuel (the same as Jethro [Ex2:18, Margin]). Hobab, the son of this Midianite chief andbrother-in-law to Moses, seems to have sojourned among the Israelitesduring the whole period of their encampment at Sinai and now on theirremoval proposed returning to his own abode. Moses urged him toremain, both for his own benefit from a religious point of view, andfor the useful services his nomad habits could enable him to render.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite,

Moses’s father in law,…. Some think this Hobab was the same with Jethro, whose father’s name was Raguel or Reuel; so Jarchi and Ben Gersom; but rather Raguel or Reuel, and Jethro, seem to be the same, and was Moses’s father-in-law, and this Hobab was the son of him, and brother of Zipporah, Moses’s wife; and the same relation is designed whether the word is rendered his “father-in-law” or his “wife’s brother”, so Aben Ezra; as it may be either; if the former, then it may be joined to Raguel, if the latter, then to Hobab: Jethro or Raguel, Moses’s father-in-law, came to see him as soon as he came to Horeb, and after some short stay with him returned to Midian, and left this his son Hobab, who remained with Moses unto this time; but now, as Israel was about to remove from the wilderness of Sinai, he showed a disposition to return to his own country, when Moses addressed him in order to persuade him to continue with them:

we are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you; that is, the land of Canaan, which God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to their posterity: Moses puts himself among the children of Israel as journeying towards Canaan, with an expectation to possess it; for as yet the decree, as Jarchi observes, was not made, or made manifest, that he should not enter it; or he said this, as others think, because he would not discourage the Israelites nor Hobab, who might argue from thence, that if he, by whom God had brought Israel out of Egypt, and had done such wonders by him, should not enter into the good! and, how should they? but as yet Moses himself knew not that he should not enter into it; however, he speaks of it as a certain thing, that God had promised to give it to Israel, and it might be depended upon; and now they were just going to set forward in their journey, in order to take possession of it, he entreats that Hobab would go with them:

come thou with us, and we will do thee good; by giving him a part of the spoils of their enemies, and a settlement in the land:

for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel; and he is faithful, who has promised and will perform.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

The conversation in which Moses persuaded Hobab the Midianite, the son of Reguel (see at Exo 2:16), and his brother-in-law, to go with the Israelites, and being well acquainted with the desert to act as their leader, preceded the departure in order of time; but it is placed between the setting out and the march itself, as being subordinate to the main events. When and why Hobab came into the camp of the Israelites-whether he came with his father Reguel (or Jethro) when Israel first arrived at Horeb, and so remained behind when Jethro left (Exo 18:27), or whether he did not come till afterwards-was left uncertain, because it was a matter of no consequence in relation to what is narrated here.

(Note: The grounds upon which Knobel affirms that the “Elohist” is not the author of the account in Num 10:29-36, and pronounces it a Jehovistic interpolation, are perfectly futile. The assertion that the Elohist had already given a full description of the departure in vv. 11-28, rests upon an oversight of the peculiarities of the Semitic historians. The expression “they set forward” in Num 10:28 is an anticipatory remark, as Knobel himself admits in other places (e.g., Gen 7:12; Gen 8:3; Exo 7:6; Exo 12:50; Exo 16:34). The other argument, that Moses’ brother-in-law is not mentioned anywhere else, involves a petitio principii , and is just as powerless a proof, as such peculiarities of style as “mount of the Lord,” “ark of the covenant of the Lord,” to do good (Num 10:29), and others of a similar kind, of which the critics have not even attempted to prove that they are at variance with the style of the Elohist, to say nothing of their having actually done so.)

The request addressed to Hobab, that he would go with them to the place which Jehovah had promised to give them, i.e., to Canaan, was supported by the promise that he would do good to them (Hobab and his company), as Jehovah had spoken good concerning Israel, i.e., had promised it prosperity in Canaan. And when Hobab declined the request, and said that he should return into his own land, i.e., to Midian at the south-east of Sinai (see at Exo 2:15 and Exo 3:1), and to his kindred, Moses repeated the request, “ Leave us not, forasmuch as thou knowest our encamping in the desert, ” i.e., knowest where we can pitch our tents; “therefore be to us as eyes,” i.e., be our leader and guide, – and promised at the same time to do him the good that Jehovah would do to them. Although Jehovah led the march of the Israelites in the pillar of cloud, not only giving the sign for them to break up and to encamp, but showing generally the direction they were to take; yet Hobab, who was well acquainted with the desert, would be able to render very important service to the Israelites, if he only pointed out, in those places where the sign to encamp was given by the cloud, the springs, oases, and plots of pasture which are often buried quite out of sight in the mountains and valleys that overspread the desert. What Hobab ultimately decided to do, we are not told; but “as no further refusal is mentioned, and the departure of Israel is related immediately afterwards, he probably consented” ( Knobel). This is raised to a certainty by the fact that, at the commencement of the period of the Judges, the sons of the brother-in-law of Moses went into the desert of Judah to the south of Arad along with the sons of Judah (Jdg 1:16), and therefore had entered Canaan with the Israelites, and that they were still living in that neighbourhood in the time of Saul (1Sa 15:6; 1Sa 27:10; 1Sa 30:29).

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

Moses’s Request to Hobab.

B. C. 1490.

      29 And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite, Moses’ father in law, We are journeying unto the place of which the LORD said, I will give it you: come thou with us, and we will do thee good: for the LORD hath spoken good concerning Israel.   30 And he said unto him, I will not go; but I will depart to mine own land, and to my kindred.   31 And he said, Leave us not, I pray thee; forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes.   32 And it shall be, if thou go with us, yea, it shall be, that what goodness the LORD shall do unto us, the same will we do unto thee.   33 And they departed from the mount of the LORD three days’ journey: and the ark of the covenant of the LORD went before them in the three days’ journey, to search out a resting place for them.   34 And the cloud of the LORD was upon them by day, when they went out of the camp.   35 And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, LORD, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee.   36 And when it rested, he said, Return, O LORD, unto the many thousands of Israel.

      Here is, I. An account of what passed between Moses and Hobab, now upon this advance which the camp of Israel made towards Canaan. Some think that Hobab was the same with Jethro, Moses’s father-in-law, and that the story, Exod. xviii., should come in here; it seems more probable that Hobab was the son of Jethro, alias Reuel, or Raguel (Exod. ii. 18), and that when the father, being aged, went to his own land (Exod. xviii. 27), he left his son Hobab with Moses, as Barzillai left Chimham with David; and the same word signifies both a father-in-law and a brother-in-law. Now this Hobab staid contentedly with Israel while they encamped at mount Sinai, near his own country; but, now that they were removing, he was for going back to his own country and kindred, and his father’s house. Here is, 1. The kind invitation Moses gives him to go forward with them to Canaan, v. 29. He tempts him with a promise that they would certainly be kind to him, and puts God’s word in for security: The Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel. As if he had said, “Come, cast in thy lot among us, and thou shalt fare as we fare; and we have the promise of God that we shall fare well.” Note, Those that are bound for the heavenly Canaan should invite and encourage all their friends to go along with them, for we shall have never the less of the treasures of the covenant, and the joys of heaven, for others coming in to share with us. And what argument can be more powerful with us to take God’s people for our people than this, that God hath spoken good concerning them? It is good having fellowship with those that have fellowship with God (1 John i. 3), and going with those with whom God is, Zech. viii. 23. 2. Hobab’s inclination, and present resolution, to go back to his own country, v. 30. One would have thought that he who had seen so much of the special presence of God with Israel, and such surprising tokens of his favour to them, would not have needed much invitation to embark with them. But his refusal must be imputed to the affection he had for his native air and soil, which was not overpowered, as it ought to have been, by a believing regard to the promise of God and a value for covenant blessings. He was indeed a son of Abraham’s loins (for the Midianites descended from Abraham by Keturah), but not an heir of Abraham’s faith (Heb. xi. 8), else he would not have given Moses this answer. Note, The things of this world, which are seen, draw strongly from the pursuit of the things of the other world, which are not seen. The magnetic virtue of this earth prevails with most people above the attractives of heaven itself. 3. The great importunity Moses used with him to alter his resolution, Num 10:31; Num 10:32. He urges, (1.) That he might be serviceable to them: “We are to encamp in the wilderness” (a country well known to Hobab), “and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes, not to show us where we must encamp, nor what way we must march” (which the cloud was to direct), “but to show us the conveniences and inconveniences of the place we march through and encamp in, that we may make the best use we can of the conveniences, and the best fence we can against the inconveniences.” Note, It will very well consist with our trust in God’s providence to make use of the help of our friends in those things wherein they are capable of being serviceable to us. Even those that were led by miracle must not slight the ordinary means of direction. Some think that Moses suggests this to Hobab, not because he expected much benefit from his information, but to please him with the thought of being some way useful to so great a body, and so to draw him on with them, by inspiring him with an ambition to obtain that honour. Calvin gives quite another sense of this place, very agreeably with the original, which yet I do not find taken notice of by any since. “Leave us not, I pray thee, but come along, to share with us in the promised land, for therefore hast thou known our encampment in the wilderness, and hast been to us instead of eyes; and we cannot make thee amends for sharing with us in our hardships, and doing us so many good offices, unless thou go with us to Canaan. Surely for this reason thou didst set out with us that thou mightest go on with us.” Note, Those that have begun well should use that as a reason for their persevering, because otherwise they lose the benefit and recompence of all they have done and suffered. (2.) That they would be kind to him: What goodness the Lord shall do to us, the same we will do to thee, v. 32. Note, [1.] We can give only what we receive. We can do no more service and kindness to our friends than God is pleased to put it into the power of our hand to do. This is all we dare promise, to do good as God shall enable us. [2.] Those that share with God’s Israel in their labours and hardships shall share with them in their comforts and honours. Those that are willing to take their lot with them in the wilderness shall have their lot with them in Canaan; if we suffer with them we shall reign with them,2Ti 2:12; Luk 22:28; Luk 22:29.

      We do not find any reply that Hobab here made to Moses, and therefore we hope that his silence gave consent, and he did not leave them, but that, when he perceived he might be useful, he preferred that before the gratifying of his own inclination; in this case he left us a good example. And we find (Jdg 1:16; 1Sa 15:6) that his family was no loser by it.

      II. An account of the communion between God and Israel in this removal. They left the mount of the Lord (v. 33), that Mount Sinai where they had seen his glory and heard his voice, and had been taken into covenant with him (they must not expect that such appearances of God to them as they had there been blessed with should be constant); they departed from that celebrated mountain, which we never read of in scripture any more, unless with reference to these past stories; now farewell, Sinai; Zion is the mountain of which God has said. This is my rest for ever (Ps. cxxxii. 14), and of which we must say so. But when they left the mount of the Lord they took with them the ark of the covenant of the Lord, by which their stated communion with God was to be kept up. For,

      1. By it God did direct their paths. The ark of the covenant went before them, some think in place, at least in this removal; others think only in influence; though it was carried in the midst of the camp, yet the cloud that hovered over it directed all their motions. The ark (that is, the God of the ark) is said to search out a resting place for them; not that God’s infinite wisdom and knowledge need to make searches, but every place they were directed to was as convenient for them as if the wisest man they had among them had been employed to go before them, and mark out their camp to the best advantage. thus Canaan is said to be a land which God spied out, Ezek. xx. 6.

      2. By it they did in all their ways acknowledge God, looking upon it as a token of God’s presence; when that moved, or rested, they had their eye up unto God. Moses, as the mouth of the congregation, lifted up a prayer, both at the removing and at the resting of the ark; thus their going out and coming in were sanctified by prayer, and it is an example to us to begin and end every day’s journey, and every day’s work, with prayer.

      (1.) Here is his prayer when the ark set forward: Rise up, Lord, and let thy enemies be scattered, v. 35. They were now in a desolate country, but they were marching towards an enemy’s country, and their dependence was upon God for success and victory in their wars, as well as for direction and supply in the wilderness. David used this prayer long after (Ps. lxviii. 1), for he also fought the Lords’ battles. Note, [1.] There are those in the world that are enemies to God, and haters of him: secret and open enemies; enemies to his truths, his laws, his ordinances, his people. [2.] The scattering and defeating of God’s enemies is a thing to be earnestly desired, and believingly expected, by all the Lord’s people. This prayer is a prophecy. Those that persist in rebellion against God are hasting towards their own ruin. [3.] For the scattering and defeating of God’s enemies, there needs no more but God’s arising. When God arose to judgment, the work was soon done, Psa 76:8; Psa 76:9. “Rise, Lord, as the sun riseth to scatter the shadows of the night.” Christ’s rising from the dead scattered his enemies, Ps. lxviii. 18.

      (2.) His prayer when the ark rested, v. 36. [1.] That God would cause his people to rest. So some read it, “Return, O Lord, the many thousands of Israel, return them to their rest again after this fatigue.” Thus it is said (Isa. lxiii. 14), The Spirit of the Lord caused him to rest. Thus he prays that God would give Israel success and victory abroad, and peace and tranquillity at home. [2.] That God himself would take up his rest among them. So we read it: Return to the thousands of Israel, the ten thousand thousand, so the word is. Note, First, The church of God is a great body; there are many thousands belonging to God’s Israel. Secondly, We ought in our prayers to concern ourselves for this body. Thirdly, The welfare and happiness of the Israel of God consist in the continual presence of God among them. Their safety consists not in their numbers, though they are thousands, many thousands, but in the favour of God, and his gracious return to them and residence with them. These thousands are cyphers; he is the figure: and upon this account, Happy art thou, O Israel! who is like unto thee, O people!

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

Verses 29-32:

“Raguel” is the Septuagint and Vulgate variation of “Reuel.” He is here identified as Moses’ father-in-law, as in Ex 2:18-21. However, Ex 3:1 names Moses’ father-in-law as Jethro. There is no conflict.

(1) Reuel (Raguel) is likely a title, meaning “God is friend.”

(2) Jethro is likely a proper name, meaning “pre-eminence.”

It was not uncommon in Bible times for one man to be known by two different names, or by a name and a title.

Hobab was a son of Reuel, and a brother to Moses’ wife Zipporah. He likely accompanied his father on the visit to Moses at Sinai, Ex 18, and remained with Moses and Israel after Jethro returned home.

Moses urged Hobab to accompany Israel to the Land of Promise. One reason for this was that Hobab was likely familiar with the country through which they would travel, and he could serve as a scout and guide for Israel, verse 31. This implies a lack of faith on Moses’ part; Jehovah had promised to lead Israel, and with this assurance there was no need for human direction.

Moses promised God’s blessings upon Hobab, if he would accompany Israel to their Land. This was in keeping with God’s covenant with Abraham, Ge 12:3; 27:29.

The text does not tell or record Hobab’s answer to Moses’ invitation. Jg 1:16 states that the descendants of Hobab lived in the southern border of the Land, in the territory of Judah.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

29. And Moses said unto Hobab the son of Raguel. Very grossly are those mistaken who have supposed Hobab (7) to be Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, whom we have already seen to have returned a few days after he had come to see him. Now, old age almost in a state of decrepitude would have been but little suited for, or equal to, such difficult labors. Moses was now eighty years old, and still far short of the age of his father-in-law. But all doubt is removed by the fourth chapter of Judges, where we read that the descendants of Hobab were still surviving in the land of Canaan. When, therefore, the good old man went home, he left Hobab his son — still in the vigor of life, and to whom on account of his neighborhood, the desert-country was well known — as a companion for his son-in-law, that might be useful to him in the performance of many services. Here, however, whether wearied by delay and difficulties, or offended by the malignant and perverse spirit of the people, or preferring his home and a stationary life to those protracted wanderings, he desired to follow his father. In order, however, that we might know that he had not sought his dismissal as a mere feint, (as is often the case,) (8) Moses expressly states that he could not immediately prevail upon him to stay by his prayers; nay, that he was not attracted by the promises whereby Moses endeavored to tempt him, until he had been perseveringly entreated. Although the expectation of the promised land is set before him, yet, since mention is only made of temporal and transient prosperity, it may thence be probably conjectured that he had not profited by his advantages as he should. He had seen and heard the tokens of God’s awful power when the Law was given; yet Moses urges him to come on by no other argument than that he would enjoy the riches of the land. Unless perhaps Moses desired to give him some taste of the graciousness and fatherly love of God as manifested in the temporal blessing, in order to lift up his mind to higher things. Still he merely refers to the promise of God, and then engages that he shall share in all their good things. Nevertheless, this alone is no trifle, that he should be attracted by no uncertain hope, but by the sure enjoyment of those good things which God, who cannot lie, had promised: for deceptive allurements often invite men to undergo labors, and to encounter perils; but Moses brings forward God, as it were, as his surety, inasmuch as tie had promised that He would give the people a fertile land, full of an abundance of all good things. At any rate, Hobab represents to us, as in a mirror, the innate disposition of the whole human race, to long for that which it apprehends by the carnal sense. It is natural to prefer our country, however barren and wretched, to other lands the most fertile and delightful: thus the Ithaca of Ulysses has passed into a proverb. (9) But let me now reprove another fault, viz., that, generally speaking, all set their affections on this present life: thus Hobab despises the promise of God, and holds fast to the love of his native land.

(7) So De Lyra, S.M., Fagius, Tostatus, the 70, etc. See note on Exo 2:18, ante, vol. 1, p. 54.

(8) “(Comme il adviendra souventes fois que les hommes font des rencheris);” as it will often happen that people want to be pressed to stay. — Fr.

(9) “Comme l’isle en laquelle Ulysses estoit ne, n’estant qu’une poure isle, voire quasi semblable a un rocher, est venue en un proverbe;” thus the island in which Ulysses was born, being but a poor island, indeed almost like a rock, has passed into a proverb. — Fr. See Cicero De Orat., 1:44, and De Legg., 2:1.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

B. AN INVITATION TO HOBAB vv. 2932
TEXT

Num. 10:29. And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite, Moses father-in-law, We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you: come thou with us, and we will do thee good: for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel. 30. And he said unto him, I will not go; but I will depart to mine own land, and to my kindred. 31. And he said, Leave us not, I pray thee; forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes. 32. And it shall be, that what goodness the Lord shall do unto us, the same will we do unto thee.

PARAPHRASE

Num. 10:29. And Moses said to Hobab, the son of Reuel, the Midianite, Moses father-in-law, We are traveling to the place the Lord spoke about. I will give it to you; come with us, and we will do you good, for the Lord has spoken good things concerning Israel. 30. And he said to him, I will not go; instead, I will return to my own land and to my relatives. 31. And Moses said, I pray you, do not leave us since you know we are to camp in the wilderness, and you may be more helpful to us than eyes. 32. And it shall be if you go with us that whatever good the Lord shall do to us, we will do the same to you.

COMMENTARY

Hobab is the son of Raguel (another spelling of Reuel, based upon the LXX: he is also known as Jethro, Exo. 2:18), and hence Moses brother-in-law. He is invited to accompany the Israelites for two very good reasons, either of which alone would seem sufficient: first, by joining himself to Israel he and his family may share in the rich blessings anticipated by the nation; and, having lived all his life in this area and others Similar, Hobab could be invaluable both as a guide and an instructor in adjustments to living in the desert. This is the gist of Num. 10:31. The initial refusal of Hobab was not accepted by Moses, who repeated the invitation in greater detail.

It is generally assumed that Hobab did join with the Israelites, since it is more probable that a negative answer would have been recorded than an affirmative one, which seems properly inferred from the abrupt ending. Nevertheless, we do not find Hobabs name, nor that of his family and descendants, among the later lists of the children of Israel. He is said to dwell among the children of Judah in Jdg. 1:16. Since Judah led the march, it is logical that Hobab would have become fixed among this tribe, even if he were not actually made a part of the tribe itself.

QUESTIONS AND RESEARCH ITEMS

186.

Look up the background of the Midianites: the type of life they lived, the areas in which they traveled, and their chief occupation. How would they be especially fitted to aid the Israelites in adjusting to life in Paran?

187.

Why did Hobab refuse Moses invitation the first time it was extended to him?

188.

What do we know of Hobabs descendants in later history? Why did they settle where they did?

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(29) Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite, Moses father in law.Raguel is the same as Reuel (Exo. 2:18), and the orthography should be the same in all places. Reuel is commonly supposed to be identical with Jether (Exo. 4:18), or Jethro (Exo. 3:1), who is frequently described as the hothen (in the Authorised Version, father-in-law) of Moses (Num. 18:2; Num. 18:5-6, &c.). But, according to the ordinary rules of Hebrew syntax, Hobab, not Jethro, is here spoken of as the hothen of Moses; and in Jdg. 4:11 he is expressly so called. Inasmuch, however, as the cognate noun hathan is used to designate any near relation by marriageas, e.g., the sons-in-law of Lot (Gen. 19:14)the word hothen may here and in Jdg. 4:11 be rendered brother-in-law. Some, however, think that Hobab, whether identical with Jethro or not, was the son of Reuel, and that Zipporah was the daughter of Hobab. But when it is remembered that more than forty years had elapsed since Moses left the land of Egypt and came into that of Midian, and that he was now upwards of eighty years of age, it is much more probable that he should seek the aid of a guide through the wilderness amongst those of the same generation with Zipporah than amongst those of a generation above her. Whether Hobab accompanied Jethro on the occasion of the visit to Moses which is recorded in Exodus 18, whilst the Israelites were encamped at Sinai, and remained with them after Jethros departure (Num. 10:27), or whether the Israelites had already commenced their journey (compare the words of Moses, We are journeying, or, setting forward, with the concluding words of Num. 10:28, and they set forward, and were at this time passing through the territory in which Hobab, as the chief of a nomad tribe, was living, cannot positively be determined.

We are journeying unto the place . . . These words imply a strong faith in Gods promise on the part of Moses, and a desire, not indeed altogether devoid of reference to mutual advantages, that those with whom he was connected by ties of earthly relationship should be partakers with himself and his people in the peculiar blessings which were promised to the chosen people of God. In any case, the invitation of Moses, when viewed as the mouthpiece of the Jewish Church, may be regarded in the light of an instructive lesson to the Church of Christ in all ages. It is alike the duty and the privilege of all who have heard and obeyed the Gospel invitation themselves to become the instruments of its communication to others. The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come (Rev. 22:17).

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

HOBAB INVITED BY MOSES, Num 10:29-32.

Though this interview is placed between the setting out and the march itself, as subordinate to the main events, it preceded the departure in the order of time.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

29. Hobab See concluding note to Exodus chap. 2.

Raguel This is an unfortunate translation of Reuel. Both forms have only one corresponding word in the Hebrew.

Father-in-law Any relation by marriage, like the Greek . “The identity of Jethro and Hobab may be regarded as possible, but by no means certain. Jethro returned to his own land before the promulgation of the law on Sinai, nor does his name occur afterward. Hobab appears to have accompanied Moses on his journey, casting in his lot with Israel. Jdg 4:11. He very probably was a younger brother of Jethro, not bound like him to his own tribe by the duties of an hereditary priesthood. This theory seems to meet all the conditions of the narrative, which would otherwise present serious if not insuperable difficulties.” Canon F.C. Cook. It is highly improbable that Reuel, Hobab, and Jethro are three names of one person, as the Mohammedan legends intimate rather than expressly declare.

The Midianite See Exo 2:15, note.

We will do thee good Moses urges two motives in the order in which similar motives should be presented to the sinner to become a member of the household of faith: (1) his own well being, and (2) his usefulness. Num 10:31.

Spoken good concerning Israel In addition to temporal blessings, such as guidance in the way, rapid increase, and the inheritance of Canaan. spiritual good was promised in the pledge of Jehovah’s presence and benediction.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Moses Asks Hobab To Accompany Them ( Num 10:29-32 ).

Hobab, Moses’ Midianite brother-in-law, was with them, giving assistance to Moses with his knowledge of wilderness lore, but determined to return to his own people. Moses pleaded with his brother-in-law to continue to accompany them and give them the benefit of his knowledge of wilderness survival. Among other things he was clearly very knowledgeable about the whereabouts of water. Note that even in this small section the ‘doing of good’ to Hobab both begins and ends the incident, maintaining the chiastic pattern.

a Moses promises Hobab that if he accompanies them they will ‘do him good’ in the land Yahweh has described as good (Num 10:29).

b Hobab plans to depart to his own land (Num 10:30).

b Moses pleads with him not to depart but to go with them as their eyes (Num 10:31)

a He promises that whatever good Yahweh does to them they will do to him (Num 10:32).

Num 10:29

‘And Moses said to Hobab, the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ brother-in-law, “We are journeying to the place of which Yahweh said, I will give it you. You come with us, and we will do you good, for Yahweh has spoken good concerning Israel.” ’

Hobab was of the Midianites, and was a relation of Moses. The word used probably means ‘in-law’ and can thus mean either father-in-law or brother-in-law. Reuel is the Reuel whose ‘daughter’ Moses married (Exo 2:18), and thus Hobab may well have been his brother-in-law. But the relationship may have been a little more complicated. The point is that he was related to Moses through Moses’ marriage to a Midianite. Moses requested Hobab to come with them with his knowledge of wilderness lore. Moses himself knew much of wilderness survival but he was probably aware that Hobab was especially skilled in the art, with a reputation as a man of the wilderness.

He emphasised that they were going towards the place which Yahweh had promised to give them, and that Yahweh had spoken good about it. Once in the land they would see that he did not lose by his act. They would ‘do him good’.

We should note here that the fact that Yahweh was leading them did not mean that Moses did not make use of all skilled help available. We must trust God fully, and at the same time make use of all the means available.

Num 10:30

‘And he said to him, “I will not go, but I will depart to my own land, and to my kindred.’

But Hobab was minded to return to his own people and refused. He wanted to return to his own land and to his own wider family.

Num 10:31

‘And he said, “Leave us not, I pray you, forasmuch as you know how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and you shall be to us instead of eyes.’

But Moses knew his value both as an expert on wilderness lore, and as a valuable scout. He knew that Hobab was aware of how best to encamp, and where, and he could be as eyes to them as he acted as a scout, covering the areas around the camp in order to detect any possible danger, and seeking out water. Most of the travellers were wilderness novices. Here was one on whom he could rely for sound practical advice and guidance on the journey, and to pass on to others his skills..

Num 10:32

‘And it shall be, if you go with us, yea, it shall be, that whatever good Yahweh shall do to us, the same will we do to you.’

And Moses confirmed that if he would go with them, whatever good Yahweh did to them they would do to him. He would be treated on equal terms. He would not lose his reward. The assumption must be that he agreed to go with them (Jdg 1:16 with Jdg 4:11). In Judges he is called a Kenite, which was a wilderness tribe who were possibly a Midianite sub-tribe. Or Hobab may have become a Kenite by adoption through marriage.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Hobab Persuaded to Join the Host

v. 29. And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Raguel, the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, (Hobab thus being the brother-in-law of Moses, but the manner of his coming into the camp is not related,) We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you; come thou with us, and we will do thee good; in being associated with the people of the Lord, Hobab and his tribe would become a partaker of the spiritual blessings which the Lord had promised to His people; for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel, Gen 32:12; Exo 19:5-6.

v. 30. And he said unto him, I will not go; but I will depart to mine own land and to my kindred. There were strong ties which bound Hobab to the place where his people lived, but the prospect of partaking in the glorious destiny that Jehovah had promised to His people was a mighty persuasive factor.

v. 31. And he (Moses) said, Leave us not, I pray thee, forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes. The cloud which went ahead of the army showed only the general direction of the way, whereas Hobab could act as the guide of the people in showing them the best roads and in planning their camps, since he had lived under wilderness conditions all his life and was familiar with the entire country.

v. 32. And it shall be, if thou go with us, yea, it shall be, that what goodness the Lord shall do unto us, the same will we do unto thee. By joining the people of the Lord, Hobab and his people would share in all the temporal and spiritual benefits which the Lord had promised to His chosen nation. The words of Moses apparently did not lack in persuasive power at this time, for it seems that Hobab joined the host with his tribe, Jdg 1:16. The passage contains a fine hint in regard to missionary methods which might be applied to this day.

v. 33. And they departed from the mount of the Lord three days’ journey, during which time nothing of interest happened, the people seemingly being satisfied with everything that the Lord did; and the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord went before them in the three days’ journey, to search out a resting-place for them, a suitable camping-ground for the entire army. It seems that the ark alone was taken from the rest of the Sanctuary appointments and carried at the head of the host, as near as possible beneath the cloud.

v. 34. And the cloud of the Lord was upon them by day, like a sheltering presence, covering the whole army, when they went out of the camp, concentrating itself into a pillar as the journey was resumed.

v. 35. And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, at the beginning of the day’s march, that Moses said, Rise up, Lord, and let Thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate Thee flee before Thee. This was said with reference to the ark and the cloud as guaranteeing the merciful presence of Jehovah, before whom all enemies must be confounded and flee in disgrace.

v. 36. And when it rested, when the cloud sank to the earth upon reaching a new station, and the ark was deposited on the spot where the Tabernacle was to be erected in the midst of the camp, he said, Return, O Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel! Cf Psa 68:1-3. This is an expression of the bold confidence of faith, a prayer which is sure of being heard in advance, a watchword with which the Church of Christ at all times has overcome and vanquished the forces of darkness. And every individual Christian knows that God guards and keeps him in all his ways and defends him from all harm and danger even in the night season.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

THE INVITATION TO HOBAB (Num 10:29-32).

Num 10:29

Hobab, the son of Raguel, Moses’ father-in-law. It is not quite certain who this “Hobab” was. The name occurs only here and in Jdg 4:11. The older opinion, followed by the A.V; identified Hobab with Jethro, and Jethro with Reuel the “priest of Midian,” and father of Zipporah, Moses’ wife. It is, of course, no real objection to this opinion that Hobab is here called the “son of Reuel;” for the name may quite well have been an hereditary one, like Abimelech and so many others. Nor need the multiplicity of names given to one individual astonish us, for it is of frequent occurrence in the Old Testament, and not infrequent in the New. The father-in-law of Moses was a priest, holding (probably by right of birth) the patriarchal dignity of tribal priest, as Job did on a smaller, and Melchizedec on a larger, scale. He may very well, therefore, have had one or more “official” names in addition to his personal name. If this is accepted, then it may serve as one instance amongst many to remind us how extremely careless the inspired writers are about names”careless” not in the sense of not caring whether they are right or wrong, but in the sense of not betraying and not feeling the least anxiety to avoid the appearance and suspicion of inaccuracy. Even in the lists of the twelve apostles we arc forced to believe that “Judas the brother of James” is the same person as “Lebbaeus” and “Thaddaeus;” and it is a matter of endless discussion whether or no “Bartholomew” was the same as “Nathanael.” On the face of it Scripture proclaims that it uses no arts, that it takes no pains to preserve an appearance of accuracythat appearance which is so easily simulated for the purposes of falsehood. Holy Scripture may therefore fairly claim to be read without that captiousness, without that demand for minute carefulness and obvious consistency, which we rightly apply to one of our own histories. The modem historian avowedly tells his story as a witness does in the presence of a hostile counsel; the sacred historian tells his as a man does to the children round his knee. Surely such an obvious fact should disarm a good deal of the petty criticism which carps at the sacred narrative.

Many, however, will think that the balance of probability is against the older opinion. It is certain that the word translated “father-in-law” has no such definiteness either in the Hebrew or in the Septuagint. It means simply a “marriage relation,” and is even used by Zipporah of Moses himself. It ,is just as likely to mean “brother-in-law” when applied to Hobab. As Moses was already eighty years old when Jethro is first mentioned (Exo 3:1), it may seem probable that his father-in-law was by that time dead, and succeeded in his priestly office by his eldest son. In that case Hobab would be a younger son of Reuel, and as such free to leave the home of his ancestors and to join himself to his sister’s people.

Num 10:31

Forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes. It is an obvious conclusion, from the reasons here urged by Moses, that the many and wonderful promises of Divine guidance and Divine direction did not supersede in his eyes the use of all available human aids. It is not indeed easy to say where any room was left for the good offices and experience of Hobab; the cloud of the Divine Presence seemed to control absolutely the journeying and encamping of the people; yet if we really knew in detail the actual ordering of that wondrous march, we should doubtless find that the heavenly guidance did but give unity and certainty to all the wisdom, caution, and endeavour of its earthly leaders. Indeed if we recall to mind that the host is calculated at more than two millions of people, it is quite evident that even during the march to Kadesh (and much more in the long wanderings which followed) it must have been extremely difficult to keep the various divisions together. In the broken and difficult country which they were to traverse, which had been familiar to Hobab from his youth, there would be scope enough for all his ability as a guide. And it would seem that it was just this prospect of being really useful to the people of Israel that prevailed with Hobab. He must indeed have felt assured that a wonderful future awaited a nation whose past and present were, even within his own knowledge, so wonderful. But that alone could not move him to leave his own land and his own kindred, a firing so unspeakably repugnant to the feelings and traditions of his age and country. Doubtless to the child of the desert, whose life was a never-ending struggle with the dangers and vicissitudes of the wilderness, the land of promise, flowing with milk and honey, watered with the rain of heaven, seemed like the garden of Eden. Yet the offer of an heritage within that land moved him not so much, it would appear, as the claim upon his own good offices in helping the chosen people to reach their own abode. The Septuagint translation, or rather paraphrase, of this verse is, “Leave us not, forasmuch as thou wast with us in the wilderness, and thou shalt be an elder among us.” This seems, on the one hand, to identify Hobab with Jethro; on the other, to imply that he was shortly afterwards one of the seventy elders upon whom the spirit came. This, however, is not likely. Hobab does indeed seem to have gone with the people, but his descendants were not incorporated into Israel; they were with them, but not of them.

Num 10:32

If thou go with us. From Jdg 1:16 we learn that the sons of Hobab joined themselves to the sons of Judah, and dwelt amongst them on the southern border of the land. Here is an “undesigned coincidence,” albeit a slight one. Judah led the way on the march from Sinai to Canaan, and Hobab’s duties as guide and scout would bring him more into contact with that tribe than with any other.

HOMILETICS

Num 10:29-32

THE FRIENDLY INVITATION

Spiritually, we have here the voice of the saints calling to the wavering and undecided to cast in their lot with them, and to be partakers with them in those good things which God hath prepared for them that love him. Thereupon we have the voice of the wavering and undecided urging the ties and affections of this world as supreme. Then again the voice of the saints holding up the prospect at once of greater usefulness and of higher reward in the service of God. Finally (in the subsequent history), we have the assurance that these persuasions prevailed, and that these promises were made good. Consider

I. THAT THE INVITATION WAS ADDRESSED TO HOBAB. This Hobab was

1. A child of the desert, a “Kenite,” whose home was in the wild country outside the promised land: a country which had a certain wild freedom and a precarious abundance, but withal full of dangers, of drought, and of the shadow of death.

2. A child of a patriarchal family; his father, “the priest of Midian,” and a worshipper of the true God according to tradition.

3. A child of Reuel, “Moses’ father-in-law,” and therefore connected by family ties with Israel, and moreover an eye-witness to some extent of the power and mercy of the God of Israel. Hobab is the child of this world, whose home is amidst the precarious beauties and fading hopes of time; who has a knowledge of God by tradition, and a knowledge of religion by observation, yet of both rather as belonging to others than to himself.

II. THAT THE INVITATION CAME FROM THE ISRAEL OF GOD. “Come with us.” From a people redeemed and separated, and sanctified, a “holy nation, a royal priesthood,” whom God had chosen to be the peculiar instruments of his glory, the peculiar recipients of his bounty. The Israel of God are we who are indeed in this world, but not of it, having our true and certain home beyond the reach of chance and change. Note, that countless individuals amongst the tribes of Israel never reached that land, and never tried tobut the people, as a people, reached it; even so, countless numbers of professing Christians will never get to heaven, and do not try to, but the Church of God, as a Church, will attain to eternal life. Therefore, “come with us.”

III. THAT THE INVITATION WAS TO GO WITH THEM, i.e.,

1. To be partner and partaker in their pilgrimage, their toils, and trials;

2. To be partner and partaker in their promised home to which they were journeying-, in the blessings unto which they were called. As God “would have all men to be saved,” so is it the chiefest desire of our hearts that all around us (and especially those connected with us) should share our blessings and our hopes, should be partakers with us (if need be) of that “light affliction” which worketh an “eternal weight of glory” (cf. Rom 9:3 and Rom 10:2).

IV. THAT THE INDUCEMENT WAS, “WE WILL DO THEE GOOD.” Not of their own ability, or of their own abundance, but by communicating unto him the good things which God should bestow on them. We may fearlessly say to the child of this world, “we will do thee good.” Christianity is not individualism, but we are called “in one body,” and spiritual blessings flow chiefly in one way or another through human channels. As a fact men find peace, support, sympathy, consolation hereheaven hereafterin the society of the faithful, not out of it.

V. THAT THE HINDRANCE TO HIS GOING WAS THE PRIOR CLAIM OF AN EARTHLY HOME AND KINDRED. “To mine own land, and to my kindred.” His own land, although not half so good as the promised land, was familiar and accustomed. So were his relations, although they could not do half so much for him as Moses and the elders of Israel. Even so the great hindrance to a really religious walk are to be found in the habits of life which are so familiar, and in the associates who have so much influence. Many find an insuperable difficulty in breaking with the evil or vain traditions of their home, their education, their “set” or class: they would gobut the bondage of custom is too strong for them (cf. Luk 9:59-62; Luk 14:25, Luk 14:26).

VI. THAT THE FURTHER AND (AS IT SEEMS) THE PREVAILING INDUCEMENT WITH HIM TO GO WAS THE HELP HE MIGHT AFFORD, THE GOOD HE MIGHT DO. Perhaps it was after all as much for Hobab’s sake as for the people’s, that Moses suggested to him of how much use he might be; but no doubt his training and qualifications did fit him for this service, and he felt that it was so. Even so there is a nobler, and often more potent, incentive to a religious life than even the glory which is to come. The prospect of being really useful to others, of making the utmost of all their gifts and acquirementsand that in the service of the Most Highis the great ambition which we ought to set before the eyes of men. A worldly life is a wasted life; a religious life is a life of unselfish activity; and this, of all prospects and attractions, has the strongest charm for each nobler soul (cf. Mat 4:19; Luk 19:31, Luk 19:34; Act 9:16; Act 26:16-18). Consider, also

VII. THAT HOBAB‘S WORK AND SERVICE ON THE MARCH WERE NOT SUPERFLUOUS IF RENDERED, NOR YET ESSENTIAL IF DENIED. The supernatural guidance vouchsafed to Israel left plenty of room for his human skill and experience; but if Israel had been deprived of them, no doubt the supernatural guidance would somehow have sufficed. Even so there is room in the work of salvation of souls for all human effort and wisdom, however Divine a matter it appears; and yet if any man withhold his co-operation the work shall not therefore be really injured (cf. 1Co 1:27, 1Co 1:28; 1Co 2:7, 1Co 2:9).

HOMILIES BY W. BINNIE

Num 10:29-32

HOBAB INVITED; OR, THE CHURCH’S CALL TO THEM THAT ARE WITHOUT

This incident carries one back in thought to the day, one and forty years ago, when Moses, a fugitive from Egypt, arrived at the well in Midian, and there met with the daughter of Jethro. At the expiry of forty years the call of the Lord constrained Moses to forsake Midian, that he might be the leader of Israel; but it did not finally sever him from all connection with the house of his Midianite father-in-law. When Israel, on the march from Egypt, arrived at the border of the wilderness of Sinai, Jethro came out to meet him, and to welcome him. This done, he returned to his own house and sheep-walks. But his son Hobab stayed behind, and witnessed the giving of the law. When the march was about to be resumed, Hobab proposed to bid farewell to his sister and Moses. But Moses would not hear of it. Reminding Hobab of the inheritance awaiting Israel in the land of the Canaanites, be, in his own name, and in the name of the whole people, invited him to join himself to their company, and share in all the goodness which the Lord was about to do to them in fulfillment of his promise. This invitation, addressed by Moses and the congregation to one who did not belong to the seed of Jacob, is of no small interest historically. And its practical interest is still greater; for it exhibits a bright example of a desire which ought always to find place in the hearts of the faithfulthe desire to allure into their fellowship “them that are without,” whether these are the heathen abroad, or the careless and vicious at home. Viewing the text in this light, it presents three topics which claim consideration.

I. THE CHURCH‘S PROFESSION OF FAITH AND HOPE. “We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you The Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel.” On the lips of Moses and the congregation this was really a profession and utterance of faith. From the day that God called Abraham, he and his seed were taught to expect Canaan as their inheritance; and it was faith’s business to embrace the promise and look for its accomplishment. In the faith of this promise Abraham and Isaac and Jacob lived and died. In the faith of it Joseph, when he died, gave commandment concerning his bones. In the faith of it Moses forsook Pharaoh’s house. In the faith of it he refused to cast in his lot with Jethro’s Midianites, and called the son born to him in Midian Gershom, “a stranger there.” In the faith of the same promise Israel was now resuming the march towards Canaan. It is no idle fancy which sees in all this a parable of the Christian faith and the Christian profession. We also look for an inheritance and rest. “We believe that we shall be saved.” We have been begotten to a living hope by the resurrection of Christ. As truly as the tribes in the wilderness, we (unless we have believed in vain) have turned our backs upon Egypt, and have set our faces towards the better country. We are journeying. We are strangers and pilgrims. I admit that among professing Christians there are many who have no real hope of the kind described; many, also, whose hope is anything but bright and strong’. Nevertheless, the world is certainly mistaken when it persuades itself that the Christian hope is an empty boast. There are tens of thousands whose lives are sustained and controlled by it continually.

II. THE CHURCH‘S INVITATION TO THEM THAT ARE WITHOUT. “Come thou with us.” The words remind us of a truth too often forgotten, namely, that even under the Old Testament the Church was by no means the exclusive body which some take it to have been. It had an open door and a welcome for all who desired to enter. In point of fact, a considerable proportion of those who constituted the Hebrew commonwealth at any given time were of Gentile descent. Moses did not act without warrant when he invited Hobab to come inhe and all his. At the same time it is to be remembered that the gospel Church is not to be contented with simply maintaining the attitude of the Old Testament Church towards them that are without. We are not only to keep an open door and make applicants welcome, we are to go forth and compel them to come in. Christ’s Church is a missionary Church. A religious society which neglects this functionwhich refuses to obey the command to go and preach the gospel to every creaturelacks one of the notes of the Christian Church. We are to charge ourselves with the duty of sending the gospel to the far-off heathen. As for the careless and ungodly who are our neighbours, we are not only to send to them the word, but ought personally to invite them to come with us.

III. THE ARGUMENTS WITH WHICH THE INVITATION IS FORTIFIED. I refer especially to those urged by Moses and the congregation here.

1. It will be well for Hobab and his house if he will come (Num 10:32). No doubt the man who follows Christ must be prepared to take up the crossmust be ready to suffer reproach, to encounter tribulation, to take in hand self-denying work. These things are not pleasant to flesh and blood. Yet after all, Wisdom’s ways are the ways of pleasantness. Compared with the devil’s yoke, the yoke of Christ is easy. Godliness has the promise of both worlds. Those who have given Christ’s service a fair trial would not for the world change masters.

2. Hobab is to come, for the Lord hath need of him (Num 10:30, Num 10:31). It seems that Moses’ brother-in-law feared he might be an intruder and a burden. No such thing. A son of the desert would be of manifold service to the congregation in the desert. There is great wisdom in this argument. It is a great mistake to suppose that people seriously inquiring after salvation will attach themselves most readily to the Church which will give them nothing to do. The nobler sort will be attracted rather by the prospect of being serviceable. To sum upthe argument which will carry the greatest weight with unbelievers and despisers of God is that which utters itself in the Church’s profession of its own faith and hope. A Church whose faith is weak and whose hope is dim will be found to have little power to rouse the careless and draw them into its fellowship. Men are most likely to be gained to Christ and the way of salvation by the Church whose members manifest by their words and lives the presence in theist hearts of a bright and living hope of eternal life.B.

HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG

Num 10:29-32

MOSES AND HOBAB

I. THE WONDERFUL CHANGES GOD MAKES IN HUMAN LIFE. What men do themselves, the history of self-made men, is often very astonishing, yet nothing to the history of God-made men. For forty years Moses had been a shepherd in this wilderness; as we may conjecture, an oft companion with Hobab in these very scenes, Suddenly he goes away to Egypt to visit his brethren, and in the course of a few months returns to the wilderness with over 600,000 fighting men, beside women and children. So in the Scriptures we find many other wonderful God-made changes in human life. Joseph leaving his brethren a slavehis brethren finding him again prime minister to Pharaoh. The lad David brought from the recluse pastoral scene to stand before armies and slay the dreaded foe of Israel. Jesus visiting Nazareth to be a wonderment and stumbling-block to those who had known him from infancy. Saul among the persecutors when he left Jerusalemamong the persecuted when he returns.

II. THESE WONDERFUL CHANGES MAY BE EXHIBITED SO AS TO MAKE OTHERS THE SUBJECTS OF THEM. Hobab had probably been much with Moses, for old acquaintance’ sake, while the people of God were round about Sinai. The recollections of the past were comparatively fresh, and Moses had a natural interest in a kinsman. But now the time has come to move, and what must Hobab do? The necessities of God’s kingdom bring a separation sooner or later in all friendship, unless both parties are in the kingdom. It is the critical moment of Hobab’s life, and he must decide at once. Not but what he might change his mind, and follow afterwards, only the chances were that it was now or never. Thus Hobab is the illustration of all who are asked and pressed to join the people of God. To such persons every narration of God’s experienced grace to others brings a cordial invitation in the very telling of it. It is our own fault if we be mere spectators of the cloud, hearers of the trumpet. God had made most gracious provision for the stranger to come into Israel. No word could be more cordial and pressing than that of Moses here. It was not hatred of outsiders as outsiders, but as abominably wicked, that brought God’s vengeance on them.

III. THESE WONDERFUL CHANGES MAY BE EXHIBITED WITHOUT PRODUCING SYMPATHY AND APPRECIATION. The reply of Hobab illustrates the natural man in his want of sympathy with spiritual struggles. “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.” How many there have been of such spectators in every age, those who have seen some old companion suddenly borne away, come under the influence of new powers, and turn what is called fanatic and enthusiast! The old ties are all broken, or, if any remain, there is no substance in them. Believer and unbeliever may continue to meet in the commerce of the world, but in closer relations they can meet no longer. When Pitt was told of the great religious change that had passed over Wilberforce, he suggested to his friend that he was out of spirits, and that company and conversation would be the best way of dissipating his impressions. Hobab was quite contented with his sheep in the desert. He did not want to be circumcised, and held in with such rigorous restrictions. Doubtless he had a warm place in his heart for Moses, but he could not say as Buxton once signed himself in a letter to J.J. Gurney, “Yours, in the threefold cord of taste, affection, and religion.”Y.

Num 10:29

A RIGHT FEELING AND A CHRISTIAN INVITATION

I. THE FEELING WHICH SHOULD BE IN ALL CHRISTIAN HEARTS. “We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you.” Thus our view of the future should be regulated as a future not of our achieving, but of God’s giving. The end is definite and assured, however devious and tedious the way may be. The end is one not to be reached immediately; the place which God will give us must be at a secure distance from spiritual Egypt, with its bondage and tyranny. The feeling which we entertain with respect to this place must be a confident one, and expressed in a manner corresponding. The feeling thus entertained and expressed must have all our actions in harmony with it. Our closest connections with earth should be as nothing more than the pegs of the Israelite tents, here to-day and gone to-morrow (Joh 14:1-3; Joh 17:24; 2Co 5:1-9; Heb 4:11; Heb 11:13-16; Heb 12:27; 1Pe 1:3, 1Pe 1:4).

II. THE INVITATION WHICH SHOULD COME FROM ALL CHRISTIAN LIPS. “Come thou with us, and we will do thee good.” Addressed to those who may think they have a true home among things seen and temporal, but who are as really without a home as is the Christian. If Christians are sure they are going onward to the true home chosen, secured, and enriched by God, what is more Christ-like than that they should ask their Hobab-neighbours to join their well-protected, well-provisioned caravan? If even now sweet influences from the rest that remaineth for the people of God possess our souls, these should be used to win others from the illusions of this passing scene. What a blessed occupation to be drawing human spirits into that sphere of the unseen and eternal which alone gives them a fitting service here, and a true rest and reward hereafter! The invitation must be a loving and constraining one. To promise good to others, we must feel and show that we have got good ourselves. The invitation can only come when we ourselves feel that we are m the right Way to the desired end.

III. THE REASON BY WHICH THE INVITATION IS ENFORCED. “The Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel.” Concerning Israel. Concerning other nations he had spoken ill for their idolatries and abominations. Sodom was a witness to his consuming wrath, and his hand had been laid heavily on Egypt. But concerning Israel he had spoken good in a large and loving way (Exo 3:6-8; Exo 6:6-8; Exo 23:20-33). The stranger then must cease to be a stranger, and enter by circumcision of the heart into the spiritual Israel. The force of the invitations does not depend on our sanguine anticipations. Others are as well able to consider what the Lord has spoken as we are. His word is the guarantee. If even the Jewish nation, the typical Israel, has still to have prophecies fulfilled, how much more its antitype, the spiritual Israel, those who are Jews inwardly! Consider for yourselves then all the good that God has spoken concerning Israel.Y.

Num 10:31

A FRESH APPEAL

Moses has failed in appealing to Hobab by a regard for his own best interests, but he has a second arrow in his quiver. He will touch Hobab’s sense of friendship, his manliness, anything that was chivalrous in him; he will put him on his honour to render just the one service he was able to render. Note

I. THE SERVICES WHICH THE WORLD CAN RENDER TO THE CHURCH. We may fairly assume, considering Jdg 1:16, that Hobab went with Moses after all (Mat 21:29). He will help Moses the man, when he cares nothing for Moses the prophet of God. There may be a certain sense of duty even when there is none of sin and spiritual need, a certain power to help, even though the highest power be utterly lacking. The peculiar strength of the Church is in God; when it does spiritual work with spiritual instruments; but the world may also be tributary in its own way. The wealth of the world is not a spiritual thing, but it has been helpful to the Church. Men of the world have neither the Christ-like love nor the self-denial to initiate enterprises, which, nevertheless, they will generously support. In person they will do nothing; in purse they will do much. The printer who cares nothing for Christ, who to-day prints the scoffs and quibbles of an atheist, or some frivolous fiction, may to-morrow print a Bible, or a precious biography of some departed saint. Places of worship have been built by men who had no religion in them. Fishers’ boats ferried Jesus across the lake of Galilee; trading ships took Paul on his missionary journey; and soldiers of Caesar conveyed him to Rome, where for so long a time he had panted to preach the gospel.

II. THE HOLD WHICH THE CHURCH KEEPS ON THIS WORLD. Hobab said very bluntly he would not go with Moses; but he had not thought of all the considerations that might be brought to bear upon him. The grasp of Moses was firmer than he thought. Let no worldly man despise what he deems the dreams and delusions of the Christian. They may have a greater power on him in the end than at present he has any conception of. Human friendships and old associations are part of the bait with which Christ furnishes his fishers of men. Those who will not read the Scriptures for salvation, and who laugh at the schemes of doctrine draw,, from them yet find in the same Scriptures too much of poetry and interest to be slightingly passed by. What a strange thing, too, to hear men, even in all their vehement denials of the supernatural, extolling Jesus of Nazareth, admiring his spirit, and recommending his ethics. However they try, they cannot get away from him. “I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.” We must not despair of unbelievers, even after many refusals (Luk 13:6-9). In connection with Moses and Hobab, a reference-to Tennyson’s In Memoriam,’ 63, “Dost thou look back on what hath been?” etc; may be found homiletically helpful.Y.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Num 10:29. Moses said unto Hobab See Exo 2:18. It has been thought by many, that Hobab was only another name for Jethro; see Exo 18:27. But, upon a more exact survey, I should be rather inclined to believe, that Hobab was Jethro’s son; who, after Jethro had left the Israelites, continued with his brother-in-law Moses. Moses presses him very closely still to continue with him, and to partake of the good which the Lord designed for Israel; come thou with us, and we will do thee good: and, in the 31st verse, he urges the great utility whereof he would be to them in their march through this wilderness: To which some have said, What need could there be of such a guide as Hobab, when Moses knew that the cloud of glory was to be their perpetual guide? On this account some of the ancient versions give a different turn to the words of this 31st verse. Thus, the Chaldee paraphrase explains it, thou knowest how we have encamped in the wilderness, and thine eyes have seen the miracles which have been wrought for us. The Samaritan, thou knowest our encampments, and hast been to us instead of eyes: which cannot be the true rendering, as Hobab had not yet followed their camp. The Syriac has it, thou shalt be dear to us as our eyes; the LXX, thou shalt be as a senator amongst us, the counsellors of princes being sometimes called their eyes: but I apprehend that ours is the true translation; and the following remark from the author of the observations will be sufficient to obviate the difficulty respecting the divine guidance.

“When Moses,” says that writer, “begged of Hobab not to leave Israel, because they were to encamp in the wilderness, and he might be to them instead of eyes, ch. Num 10:31 he doubtless meant, that he might be a guide to them in the difficult journeys they had to take in the wilderness; see Job 29:15. Accordingly, every body at all acquainted with the nature of such desarts as Israel had to pass through, must be sensible of the great importance of having some of the natives of that country for guides, who know where water is to be found, and can lead to places proper on that account for encampments. Without their help, travelling would be much more difficult in these desarts, and indeed often fatal. The importance of having these Arabian guides, appears from such a number of passages in books of travels, that every one, whose reading has turned this way, must have observed it. The application then of Moses to Hobab, the Midianite, that is, to a principal Arab of the tribe of Midian, would have appeared perfectly just, had it not been for this thought, that the cloud of the Divine Presence went before Israel, and directed their marches. Of what consequence, then, it maybe asked, could the journeying of Hobab with them be? A man would take more upon him than he ought, who should affirm, that the attendance of such an one as Hobab was of no use to Israel, in their removing from station to station: Very possibly the guidance of the cloud might not be so minute, as absolutely to render his offices of no value. But I will mention another thing which will put the propriety of this request of Moses quite out of dispute. The sacred history expressly mentions several journies undertaken by parties of the Israelites, while the main body lay still; see chapters Num 13:20 : xxxi, xxxii, &c. Now Moses, foreseeing something of this, might well beg the company of Hobab, not as a single Arab, but as a prince of one of their clans, that he might be able to apply to him, from time to time, for some of his people, to be conductors of those whom he should have occasion to send out to different places; while the body of the people, and the cloud of the Lord, continued unmoved. Nor was their assistance wanted only with respect to water, when any party of them was sent out upon an expedition; but the whole congregation must have had frequent need of them for directions where to find fewel. Manna continually, and sometimes water, was given them miraculously; their clothes also were exempted from decay while in the wilderness; but fewel was wanted to warm them some part of the year, and at all times to bake and seethe the manna, (according to Exo 16:23.) and was never obtained but in a natural way, that we know of. For this, then, they wanted the assistance of such Arabs as were perfectly well acquainted with the desart. So Thevenot, describing his travelling in this very desart, says, that on the night of the 25th of January, they rested in a place where was some broom; for that their guides never brought them to rest any where, if they could help it, but in places where they could find fewel, not only to warm them, but to prepare their coffee, &c. and he complains of the want of fewel upon other occasions. Moses hoped that Hobab would be instead of eyes to the Israelites, both with respect to the guiding their parties to wells and springs in the desart; and the giving the people in general notice where they might find fewel: for though they frequently in this desart make use of camel’s dung for fewel, [see Dr. Shaw’s preface, p. 12.] yet this could not, we may imagine, wholly supply the wants of the Israelites: and, in fact, we find that they sought about for other firing. See chap. Num 15:32-33.”

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

DISCOURSE: 148
MOSES INVITATION TO HOBAB

Num 10:29. And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite, Moses father-in-law, We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you. Come thou with us; and we will do thee good; for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel. [Note: If this were the subject of an Address previous to confirmation, it might be treated thus:

I.

The invitation

[Whither was Moses going? To the land of Canaan There was not a child in all the camp of Israel, who did not know whence he had been brought, and whither he was bending his course
This is really the state of Gods Israel now. They are all sensible that they have been brought out of bondage to sin and Satan: and there is not one amongst them who does not consider himself as a pilgrim here, and is not daily pressing forward to the heavenly Canaan as his rest, his portion, his inheritance.
And is not this the course which you are now about to enter upon? Look at the vows which were made for you in your baptism, and which you are now about to take upon yourselves. Are you not solemnly pledging yourselves to renounce the devil and all his works, the pomps and vanities of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh, &c. &c. &c.? This then is the very thing which the journeying of the Israelites in the wilderness shadowed forth, and which all Gods Israel at this very time are doing.
We say then to you, yea, to every one of you in particular, Come thou with us. Though thou be young, like Hobab, come with us: yea, though thy father Jethro be gone back, come thou with us ]
II.

The arguments, &c.

These may be nearly as stated in the Sermon, except that, in the benefits accruing to them, the benefits of early piety may be stated: and, in the benefits which they may confer, it may be shewn what blessings they may be to their young companions, and possibly to their own parents also.

For an Address after confirmation, corresponding with this, see that on Num 14:3-4.] HOBAB, it should seem, was the son of Jethro, who is here called Raguel, and in another place Reuel [Note: Exo 2:18.]. He was the brother of Zipporah, whom Moses had married in the land of Midian. Both Jethro, and his son Hobab, had accompanied Moses for a season: but Jethro had left him some time since [Note: Exo 18:27.]: and Hobab also now proposed to leave him, and to go back to his own country and kindred. But Moses besought him not to go, but to proceed with Israel to the promised land; assuring him, that, though a Midianite, e should participate in all the blessings which God designed for Israel. On finding that this consideration was not sufficient to influence his mind, Moses urged the services which Hobab might render to Israel in their journey through the wilderness; for though God had undertaken to guide Israel through the wilderness, and to provide for and protect them in the way, yet there were many local circumstances which Hobab was acquainted with, by the communication of which, from time to time, he might render very essential services to Moses and to all Israel.

Whether Moses prevailed with Hobab to alter his determination, does not certainly appear. But it seems rather that he did succeed, because we find the descendants of Hobab actually settled in Canaan, and dwelling in the midst of the tribe of Judah, not indeed as blended with them, but as a distinct people [Note: Jdg 1:16; Jdg 4:11; Jdg 4:17.]. This however is of no importance to us. It is the invitation only that we are concerned about: and we hope that, when the arguments with which it is enforced are duly considered, the success with us shall not be doubtful, whatever it might be with him. There is a land of promise towards which the true Israel are yet journeying, under the conduct of our great Lawgiver, the Lord Jesus Christ; and in their name is the invitation addressed to all of us ; Come thou with us; and we will do thee good.

But, that we may have clearer views of this matter, let us distinctly consider,

I.

The invitation

That the journey of Israel in the wilderness was altogether typical of our journey heaven-ward, is well known. When therefore, in the name of all Israel, we say to every individual amongst us, Come thou with us, we must be understood to say,

1.

Set your faces in good earnest towards the promised land

[There is a land of which God has said, I will give it you. And it is a good land; a land flowing with milk and honey; a land where you shall eat bread without scarceness; and enjoy a rest from all enemies, and from all labours, for evermore [Note: Heb 4:9; 1Pe 1:4.]. Towards that land all the Israel of God are journeying: they consider this world as a wilderness, in which they are pilgrims and sojourners; and the object of every step which they take in it is, to advance nearer to their desired home. Let every one of us join himself to them. Let us estimate aright the inheritance prepared for us Let us lose no further time in commencing our journey towards it Let us engage in the pursuit of it with all the ardour that the object requires And let us fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into it, any of us should even seem to come short of it [Note: Heb 4:1.].]

2.

Let nothing be suffered to retard you in your progress thitherward

[Hobab was solicited to postpone all regard for his family and country to the attainment of the promised land. And such is our duty also. Our blessed Lord has said, He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me: If any man come to me, and hate not his father and mother, yea, and his own life also (in comparison of me), he cannot be my disciple: He that will save his life, shall lose it; and he that loseth his life for my sake, shall find it [Note: Mat 10:37-39; Luk 14:26.]. There will be difficulties and obstructions which we must meet with; but we must meet them manfully: and, whatever be the cross that lies in our way, we must take it up, yea, and glory in it, and rejoice that we are counted worthy to bear it for His sake. For, what is the favour of man in comparison of the favour of God, or the preservation of earthly interests in comparison of a heavenly inheritance? What would it profit us if we gained the whole world, if at the same time we lost our own souls? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Nor let this sacrifice appear great: it is no other than was made by Abraham [Note: Gen 12:1-4.], and Moses [Note: Heb 11:24-26.], and the Apostles of our Lord [Note: Mar 10:28.], and all the primitive Christians [Note: Act 4:32.]: nay, it is made daily even for the sake of a connexion with an earthly object [Note: Eph 5:31.]: much more therefore may it be made for an union with Christ; who offers himself to us only on these express terms; Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear: forget also thine own people and thy fathers house: so shall the King have pleasure in thy beauty: for he is thy Lord, and worship thou him [Note: Psa 45:10-11.].]

3.

Proceed steadily till you are in possession of it

[Hobab had abode with Moses some considerable time: but at last he grew weary of the way, and determined to return. It must not be thus with us. We must not run well for a season only, but unto the end, if we would obtain the prize. We must never be weary of well-doing, or look back after having put our hand to the plough; but by patient continuance in well-doing must seek for glory and honour and immortality. If any one of us turn back, says God, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. It were even better for us never to have known the way of righteousness, than, after having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to us. It is he only who endureth unto the end, that shall ever finally be saved.]

4.

Object not, that they who give this invitation are a mere party

[Whose fault is it, if they be a party? Is it theirs who are going heaven-ward; or those who will not advance a step towards it? Are those who enter in at the strait gate, and walk in the narrow way that leadeth unto life, to be blamed, because the great mass of mankind prefer the broad road that leadeth to destruction? But if they must be called a party, let me tell you what party it is: it consists of such as Moses summoned to his aid, Who is on the Lords side? let him come unto me [Note: Exo 32:26.]. Yes, they are those who are on the Lords side: and if that be a fault, let them bear it. But who is at the head of that party? When we know that it is the Lord Jesus Christ himself [Note: Joh 8:23; Joh 17:16.], and that the whole world besides lieth under the dominion of the wicked one [Note: Joh 17:14; Joh 15:18-20; 1Jn 5:19.], we need not be ashamed. If this objection have any force, it had the same force against the Israelites who had come out of Egypt; (for they were but a party, in comparison of those whom they had left behind:) yea, against the Apostles and the primitive Christians it lay with still greater force; for they were, especially at first, as nothing in comparison of their opponents. If those who invite us to join them be but a little flock, still they are the flock to whom exclusively the kingdom of heaven shall be given [Note: Luk 12:32.]: and therefore we would urge you all to join them without delay.]

To give yet further weight to the invitation, I will call your attention to,

II.

The arguments with which it is enforced

Two considerations Moses proposed to Hobab: first, the benefit that would accrue to himself; and next, the benefit which he would confer on Israel. Similar considerations also may fitly be proposed to us. Consider then, if ye accept the invitation,

1.

What benefit will accrue to yourselves

[Truly, God has spoken good respecting Israel. He calls them his children, his first-born, his peculiar treasure above all the people upon the face of the earth. And whatever can conduce to their present and eternal happiness, he promises them in the richest abundance. Both in their way, and in their end, they shall be truly blessed. What a catalogue of blessings is assigned to them in the space of a few verses [Note: Exo 6:6-8.]! yet they relate to this world only, and are but faint shadows of the blessings which God will pour out upon their souls. As for the glory prepared for them in a better world, what tongue can utter it? what heart can conceive it? The very throne of God is not too exalted for them to sit on; nor the kingdom of God too rich for them to possess.

Now then to all who comply with the invitation given them, we do not hesitate to say, as Moses did, It shall be, if thou go with us, yea, it shall be, that what goodness the Lord shall do unto us, the same will we do unto thee [Note: ver. 32.]. You shall partake of every blessing which Gods most favoured people enjoy. Does he go before them in the pillar and the cloud? Does he feed them with manna, and cause the waters from the rock to follow them in all their way? Does he protect them from every enemy? Does he carry them as on eagles wings? Does he forgive their sins, and heal their backslidings, and love them freely? Is he as the dew to them, causing them to grow as the lily, and to spread forth their roots as Lebanon? Does he love them to the end, and never leave them till he has fulfilled to them all that he has promised? All this shall be yours, if you will come with us. You shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. You may exhaust all the powers of language in asking, and it shall all be done: you may even stretch your imagination to the utmost bounds that human intellect can reach, and all that also shall be done, and more than all, yea, exceeding abundantly above all that ye can either ask or think. And shall not this induce you to accept the invitation? Go to all others that solicit your company, and see what they can do for you: can they ensure to you even the least of all the blessings of grace or glory? No: they are all broken cisterns, that can hold no water, and can present to you nothing but the dregs of sensual enjoyment; whereas with us is the fountain of living water, of which whosoever drinks shall live for ever.]

2.

What benefit you will confer on others

[Every one that gives himself up wholly to the Lord, strengthens the hands and encourages the hearts of Gods chosen people. Death is from time to time thinning the ranks of the Lords armies: and if they were not recruited by voluntary enlistment, they would speedily disappear. But all who accept the invitation become soldiers of Christ, and engage to fight manfully the Lords battles. All such persons also are witnesses for God amongst an atheistical and rebellious people, whom they practically condemn, as Noah condemned the world by constructing the ark in the midst of them [Note: Heb 11:7.]. As lights too in a dark world, they are of great service; for they hold forth the word of life to those who would not otherwise behold it; and are epistles of Christ, known and read of thousands, who, but for such instructors, would remain for ever ignorant of his will.

If any one be disposed to ask, What good can so weak an individual as I do? I answer, If under any circumstances whatever any individual could be justified in offering such an objection, it would have been Hobab: first, because Israel were altogether under the divine guidance, protection, and support; and therefore could not be supposed to need any thing; and next, because he was a Midianite, and therefore incapable, as might be thought, of adding any thing to Moses and the Israelites. But to him Moses said, Thou mayest be to us in the stead of eyes [Note: ver. 31.]. The truth is, that no one can foresee of what use he may be to the Church of God. Had Peter, when employed in fishing, been told what services he should render to the Jewish nation, or Paul what wonders he should effect in behalf of the Gentile world, how little would they have conceived, that such weak instruments should ever accomplish so great a work! The same may be said of others in later times: and so far is the weakness of the instrument from affording any just ground for discouragement, that God has expressly committed the Gospel treasure to earthen vessels, on purpose that the excellence of the power may the more clearly appear to be of God: and it still is, as it has ever been, his delight to ordain strength in the mouth of babes and sucklings.

Think then, ye who have tasted any thing of redeeming love, is it possible that ye may be useful in promoting the designs, and in advancing the glory of your Lord and Saviour, and will ye not do it? Shall any earthly interests or attachments prevail with you to put your light under a bushel, when, by suffering it to shine forth, you might aid others in their way to heaven? O! requite not thus your heavenly Benefactor, but join yourselves to his people without delay, and live henceforth altogether for Him who lived and died for you.]

Address
1.

Those who have never yet contemplated the invitation given them

[Our blessed Lord, both in the Old and New Testament, says, Look unto me, come unto me, follow me. But yet, strange as it may appear, we for the most part consider these invitations no more than a mere empty sound; or, if we regard them at all, we satisfy ourselves with vain excuses for refusing them. But, if we wonder at Hobab for proposing to go back, after all that he had seen and heard, what shall be said of us, if we resist all the gracious invitations of the Gospel, after all that we have seen and heard in the New Testament? He was a Midianite by birth and by profession too, whereas we name the name of Christ, and profess ourselves his followers. Let us remember, that the invitation, rejected once, may be lost for ever; and that the Master of the feast, when he hears your vain excuses, may send his invitations to others, and decree that you shall never taste of his supper.]

2.

Those who having once accepted it are disposed to turn back

[Many such we read of in the Scriptures; and many such we behold amongst ourselves. But, if any who are here present be halting, we would ask them, To whom will ye go? Where, but in Christ Jesus, will ye find the words of eternal life [Note: Joh 6:67-68.]? You have not forgotten Lots wife, or the judgments that overtook her for only looking back to the city whence she had escaped: nor can you reasonably doubt but that they who turn back, turn back unto perdition [Note: Heb 10:39.]. I charge you then, Be steadfast; and harbour not so much as a thought of returning with the dog to his vomit, and with the sow that was washed to the wallowing in the mire. If, after you have once escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, you are again entangled therein and overcome, your last end will be worse with you than your beginning [Note: 2Pe 2:20.]. Do not, like Orpah, kiss, and part; but, like Ruth, be steadfast in cleaving to the Lord [Note: Rth 1:14; Rth 1:17.]. Be faithful unto death, and God will give you a crown of life.]

3.

Those who, having given themselves up to Christ, are cleaving to him with full purpose of heart

[You have doubtless met with some trials in your way, and been called to make some sacrifices: for where was there ever a true follower of Christ who had not his cross to bear? Then I will ask you, Have you ever had cause to regret any sacrifice you made for him? He has said, that if any man leave father and mother, and house and lands, for His sake and the Gospels, he shall receive an hundred-fold more in this life; and in the world to come, eternal life [Note: Mar 10:29-30.]. Is not this true? Have you not found it to be so by actual experience? Go on, strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Only, with Caleb, follow the Lord fully, and you shall with him assuredly obtain a blessed portion in the promised land. Faithful is He that hath called you; who also will do it.]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

It is more than probable, that this Hobab was either the same as Jethro, or the son of Jethro. Certain it is, that the same word signifies both father in law, and brother in law. See Exo 18 . But leaving this point, as not very important, I would rather the Reader should attend to the very interesting subject, contained in Moses’ pressing invitation to Hobab, to accompany Israel to Canaan. Reader! is not the same language made use of by gracious souls now to call others to the like fellowship in JESUS? Are not we journeying to the place of rest, which remaineth for the people of GOD? My brother, sister, father, friend, relation, in all the ties of nature, I would say to everyone I know, come thou with us, there’s enough in JESUS for all. Depend upon it GOD hath spoken good concerning Israel. That is a sweet scripture, Psa 45:10-11 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Gospel Invitations

Num 10:29-36

The standards were all in motion. In the first place there went the standard of the camp of the children of Judah; immediately following came the standard of the camp of Reuben; then followed the standard of the camp of the children of Ephraim; and last of all came the standard of the camp of the children of Dan. When the camps began to move, Moses said unto Hobab, his father-in-law, We are going now; everything is set in order for the march; “We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you: come thou with us, and we will do thee good: for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel.” It was a speech of nature. There is a gospel in human feeling. If we could abolish all written gospels, all doctrinal methods of welcoming and persuading men, there would still remain the gospel of love, sympathy, tenderness, all that is involved in the noblest meaning of the term nature. The gospel of heaven is in harmony with this gospel of the heart; it lifts it up to highest meanings, interprets it into broadest, brightest hopes, sanctifies and purges it of all selfishness and narrowness. This is the hold which the Gospel will always have upon human attention. It appeals to the heart; it addresses the pain of necessity; it answers the often-unspoken interrogatories of the soul. Thus it can never fail. Our conceptions of it will be changed; our methods of arguing it will be done away, being superseded by nobler methods; but the innermost quantity itself the central spirit of redemption, love, hospitality this will remain evermore, because, though we pass away, Christ is the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever. Our years fail, and with them go all methods and plans and schemes of work; but Christ is the same, and his time is eternity.

A beautiful picture this! full of modern questioning a very pattern of inquiry and invitation in a gospel sense. Can we honestly invite men to join us on our life-march? Consider the question well. Do not involve others in grievous and mournful responsibilities. Do not entreat men to leave what is to them at least a partial blessing, unless you are sure you can replace that enjoyment by purer and larger gladness. Can we honestly, with the full consent of judgment, conscientiousness, and experience, invite men to join us in the way which we have determined to take? If not, do not let us add the murder of souls to our other crimes. Do not let us, merely for the sake of companionship, involve in ruin innocent men. What is our life-march? To what place are we journeying? Who laid its foundation? Who lighted its lamps? Who spread its feast? What is its name? Are not many men wandering without a destiny? Is it not too usual to have no map of life, no definite end in view, no location that can be named to pursue day and night until we reach its golden streets? There is too much of haphazard in our life not knowing where the night will land us, going forth day by day at a venture, not sure whether it is a mountain or a valley, a garden or a wilderness, with which the day shall close. This is not living; this is adventure, empiricism, the very quackery of wisdom, the very irony and sarcasm of knowledge. Moses knew whither the camps were going; they were all set in one direction. The divine flame was seen through the immediate cloud, and with eyes fixed upon the glowing point, away went the standards, the confidence of the leaders being in God, and the hope of the people being in the wisdom of the Most High. What is our destiny? Towards what place are we journeying? Are we surprised when we see an angel? or do we say, This is the satisfaction of expectation? Sad, to tears and veriest woe, is the life that has no map, no plan, no purpose, that is here and there, retracing its steps, prying, wondering, experimenting, frittering away its energy in doing and undoing, in marching and remarching. All wisdom says, Determine your course; have one object in view; be ruled by one supreme purpose; and make all circumstances, incidents, and unexpected events, fall into the march and harmony of the grand design. Be careful how you ask people to go along with you. First lay down a basis of sound wisdom. “We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you.” If that be the first sentence, or part of it, the sentence may end in the boldest invitation ever issued by love to the banquet of grace and wisdom. But let us have no adventuring, no foolish or frivolous speculation in life; let us speak from the citadel of conviction and from the sanctuary of assured religious confidence.

Have we such a view of the end as may make us independent of immediate trials? Was it all, then, such plain sailing, or easy marching, or garden-tramping, that Moses could invite any stranger to join the march? Was he not exchanging one wilderness for another? To what was he inviting his father-in-law? to great palaces immediately in front of him? to a smoking feast? to rivers of heaven’s own pure wine? He was inviting the man to march, to the incidents of battle, to the discipline of the day, to circumstances often fraught with trial and pain, disappointment and mockery; for there were birds in the wilderness that were hooting at Israel, voices in the air taunting the leaders and mocking the priests. When we invite men to join us on the Christian pilgrimage, it must be on the distinct understanding that we are ruling the present by the future. This is precisely the logic of Moses: “We are journeying unto the place.” The end was indicated the goal, the destiny of the march; and that was so bright, so alluring, so glowing with all hospitable colour, that Moses did not see that to-morrow there was to be a battle, or seeing it, already passed the war-field like a victor. This, too, is the Christian logic as laid down by Paul; the great apostle said, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” He brought “the power of an endless life” to bear upon the immediate day: he quieted to-day’s tumult by a sure anticipation of heaven’s peace. This is right reasoning; this is practical philosophy. There is nothing pleasant in the process: “No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.” Truly we have no special invitation that commends itself by the immediate rest and quiet and release and Sabbatic tranquillity which may be enjoyed. The Christian does not call the world to what the world understands by peace and luxury, rest and enjoyment; these terms are indeed true in the Christian acceptation, but the world has not been educated to receive that acceptation, and to speak in those terms to a world not understanding them, may be to tell lies under the very banner of the Gospel. He who accepts the invitation to march with the Christian camp, accepts a call to service, duty, discipline, pain, disappointment, varied and continual chastisement, self consideration put down, passion destroyed, self-will rooted out, pride and vanity crushed down under a heavy weight. To join the Christian camp is to begin a process of self-mortification, to undergo all the discipline of self-contempt, and to accept much strain and distress of life. Is this Gospel-preaching? It is so. Will not this repel men? It will at first, it must at first. It is Christ’s method: “If any man will follow me, let him take up his cross.” How, then, did Jesus Christ encounter the opening difficulties of the road and pass the trial of the cross? In the same way for the wisdom of God is unchanging: he “had respect unto the recompense of the reward.” “For the joy that was set before him he endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Moses had respect unto the recompense of the reward. Christ saw the end from the beginning; in the very conduct of the battle, he was wearing the conqueror’s diadem. We must draw ourselves forward by taking firm hold of the end, in other words, we must have such a conception of life’s destiny as will invigorate every noble motive, stir every sacred passion, and make us more than conquerors in all war and conflict. This was the reasoning of Moses, this was the reasoning of Paul, this was the practice of Christ; and we are not yet advanced enough in true wisdom to modify the terms or readjust and redistribute the conditions.

Moses did not invite Hobab to join merely for the sake of being in the company; he expected service from Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite. He said, “Leave us not, I pray thee; forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes” in other words, Thou knowest the ground so well that thy presence will be of service to us; experience will assist devotion; we are willing to march: we know nothing of the processes of the way: thou understandest the whole country: come with us and be as eyes unto us. Moses showed leadership even there; it was the invitation of a soldier and a legislator and a wise man. Eyes are of inexpressible value in the whole conduct of life; to be able to see, to take note of, to recognise the man who can do this is rendering service to the whole Church. So we invite men to come with us that they may render service according to their opportunity and capacity. To some men we say, If you will come, you will supply the music. To others, you will furnish the inspiration. And to others, If you come with us, we shall feel the stronger in the security of your presence; there is such massiveness in your character, such solidity in your judgment, such ripeness of experience in your life, that if you will join this march, we shall be your debtors; you will give as well as take; you will bless as well as be blessed.

Did Moses make a mistake here? I fancy so. Could Moses make mistakes? He often did. What then becomes of his inspiration? It is untouched; but Moses often acted in his own name and strength He is weak here. When he gave the invitation he was noble: he intended to do the man good; but when he put in the reason, he showed the incompleteness of his faith. What did he want with Hobab’s eyes? Had he forgotten the Eye that struck off the iron wheels of Egypt’s chariots? For a moment, perhaps, he had. Who can be always his best self? Who can every day stand on the rock of the Amen of his own great prayers? Who is there amongst us prince or priest or strongest man that does not want some little local assistance? We are broken down by the wants of the place, by the necessities of the occasion, by the small difficulties of the road. Moses had no difficulty whatever as to the end of the way; and it is possible for us to have very definite conceptions of heaven, and yet to be asking help on the road from men to whom we should never come in suppliant attitude; offer to give them something, to do them good, to take them to the place of rest and security; but who can patronise the camps of Israel? Who can come in saying, I am necessary to the march of the Church, to the triumph of those who war in the name of the Lord of hosts? Abram showed a better mettle; he said to the king, who offered him hospitality and bounty, No; “lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich.” Moses wanted the eyes of a local man to help him, forgetting that God had been to him all eye a fire by night, a cloud by day, a veiled eye with the fire trembling under the filament. We all forget these things, and we want a crutch, forgetting the sword is enough; we want the help of magistrate, or important man, or local celebrity, or wise resident, forgetting that we are in charge of God, that his Spirit is the one fountain of inspiration, and that when we ask for human help, we distrust the Providence of God. But this is like us: we do wish the magistrate to help us just a little. We are not altogether independent of the spirit of local respectability: we will go to the little when we might go to the great, to the human when we might go to the divine, to Hobab when we might go to Jehovah. Take care when you go to men that you ask no favour of them for God’s camp; do not beg for patrons. Die of divinely-appointed starvation if such discipline there be rather than accept help which interferes with the completeness of faith in God. The Church should always offer great invitations. The Church is not a Church if it be inhospitable. Christ’s Church should always have its table spread, its flagons of wine full, and its bounty ready; and it should always be saying, Still there is room: bring in the hungry guests; inquire not into littlenesses, peculiarities, infirmities, dressings and decorations; but go out into the highways, and the hedges, and compel them to come in. Has the Church lost its power of invitation sweet welcome, boundless hospitality? Is it not now putting up little toll-gates of its own, and asking questions of approaching guests which Heaven never suggested? Is it using the eyes of Hobab when it might avail itself of the omniscience of God? If you are not giving Christian invitations, other people will give invitations of another kind. Men will not go without invitation; it is for us to say what shall be the quality and range of that invitation. “My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause: let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit: we shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil: cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse: my son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: for their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.” Who is to issue invitations to the young? Who is to be boldest and first in the offer of hospitality to the hungry life? The Church ought to be first; the Christian Gospel ought to have the first claim upon human attention. The Spirit and the bride say, Come; let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will. The Gospel is not a mere argument, a petty contest in dubious words; it is a great speech to the sore heart, a glorious appeal unto the broken spirit; an utterance of love to a world in despair. Let us, then, go back to the old methods of welcoming men. With all newness of scheme and method and plan in the conduct of Christian service, never drop out of your speech the tone of invitation, the music of welcome, the broad and generous call to ample to infinite hospitality.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

Num 10:29 And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite, Moses’ father in law, We are journeying unto the place of which the LORD said, I will give it you: come thou with us, and we will do thee good: for the LORD hath spoken good concerning Israel.

Ver. 29. And Moses said. ] Or, Moses had said, viz., in Exo 18:1-2 .

Unto Hobab the son of Raguel. ] Rabbi Solomon telleth us, that Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, had seven names, viz., Ruguel, Jether, Jethro, Hobab, Heber, Cinaeus, and Phutiel.

For the Lord hath spoken good. ] And God’s promises he knew to be good surehold.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Numbers

HOBAB

Num 10:29 .

There is some doubt with regard to the identity of this Hobab. Probably he was a man of about the same age as Moses, his brother-in-law, and a son of Jethro, a wily Kenite, a Bedouin Arab. Moses begs him to join himself to his motley company, and to be to him in the wilderness ‘instead of eyes.’ What did Moses want a man for, when he had the cloud? What do we want common-sense for, when we have God’s Spirit? What do we want experience and counsel for, when we have divine guidance promised to us? The two things work in together. The cloud led the march, but it was very well to have a man that knew all about the oases and the wells, the situation of which was known only to the desert-born tribes, and who could teach the helpless slaves from Goshen the secrets of camp life. So Moses pressed Hobab to change his position, to break with his past, and to launch himself into an altogether new and untried sort of life.

And what does he plead with him as the reason? ‘We will do thee good, for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel.’ Probably Hobab looked rather shy at the security, for I suppose he was no worshipper of Jehovah, and he said, ‘No; I had rather go home to my own people and my own kindred and my father’s house where I fit in, and keep to my own ways, and have something a little more definite to lay hold of than your promise, or the promise of your Jehovah that lies behind it. These are not solid, and I am going back to my tribe.’ But Moses pressed and he at last consented, and the following verses suggest that the arrangement was made satisfactorily, and that the journeyings began prosperously. In the Book of Judges we find traces of the presence of Hobab’s descendants as incorporated among the people of Israel. One of them came to be somebody, the Jael who struck the tent-peg through the temples of the sleeping Sisera, for she is called ‘the wife of Heber the Kenite .’ Probably, then, in some sense Hobab must have become a worshipper of Jehovah, and have cast in his lot with his brother-in-law and his people. I do not set Hobab up as a shining example. We do not know much about his religion. But it seems to me that this little glimpse into a long-forgotten and unimportant life may teach us two or three things about the venture of faith, the life of faith, and the reward of faith.

I. The venture of faith.

I have already said that Hobab had nothing in the world to trust to except Moses’ word, and Moses’ report of God’s Word. ‘We will do you good; God has said that He will do good to us, and you shall have your share in it.’ It was a grave thing, and, in many circumstances, would have been a supremely foolish thing, credulous to the verge of insanity, to risk all upon the mere promise of one in Moses’ position, who had so little in his own power with which to fulfil the promise; and who referred him to an unseen divinity, somewhere or other; and so drew bills upon heaven and futurity, and did not feel himself at all bound to pay them when they fell due, unless God should give him the cash to do it with. But Hobab took the plunge, he ventured all upon these two promises-Moses’ word, and God’s word that underlay it.

Now that is just what we have to do. For, after all talking about reasons for belief, and evidences of religion, and all the rest of it, it all comes to this at last-will you risk everything on Jesus Christ’s bare word? There are plenty of reasons for doing so, but what I wish to bring out is this, that the living heart and root of true Christianity is neither more nor less than the absolute and utter reliance upon nothing else but Christ, and therefore on His word. He did not even condescend to give reasons for that reliance, for His most solemn assurance was just this, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto you.’ That is as much as to say, ‘If you do not see in Me, without any more argument, reason enough for believing Me, you do not see Me at all.’

Christ did not argue-He asserted, and in default of all other proof, if I might venture to say so, He put His own personality into the scales and said, ‘There, that will outweigh everything.’ So no wonder that ‘they were astonished at His doctrine,’-not so much at the substance of it as at the tone of it, ‘for He taught them with authority .’

But what right had He to teach them with authority? What right has He to present Himself there in front of us and proclaim, ‘I say unto you, and there is an end of it’? The heart and essence of Christian faith is doing, in a far sublimer fashion, precisely what this wild Arab did, when he uprooted himself from the conditions in which his life had grown up, and flung himself into an unknown future, on bare trust in a bare word. Jesus Christ asks us to do the same by Him. Whether His word comes to us revealing, or commanding, or promising, it is absolute, and, for His true followers, ends all controversy, all hesitation, all reluctance. When He commands it is ours to obey and live. And when He promises it is for us to twine all the tendrils of our expectations round that faithful word, and by faith to make ‘the anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast.’ The venture of faith takes a word for the most solid thing in the universe, and the Incarnate Word of God for the basis of all our hope, the authority for all our conduct, ‘the Master-light of all our seeing.’

II. Hobab suggests to us, secondly-

The sort of life that follows the venture of faith. The hindrances to his joining Moses were plainly put by himself. He said in effect, ‘I will not come; I will depart to mine own land and to my kindred. Why should I attach myself to a horde of strangers, and go wandering about the desert for the rest of my life, looking out for encampments for them, when I can return to where I have been all my days; and be surrounded by the familiar atmosphere of friends and relatives?’ But he bethought himself that there was a nobler life to live than that, and because he was stirred by the impulse of reliance on Moses and his promise, and perhaps by some germ of reliance on Moses’ God, he finally said, ‘The die is cast. I choose my side. I will break with the past. I turn my back on kindred and home. Here I draw a broad line across the page, and begin over again in an altogether new kind of life. I identify myself with these wanderers; sharing their fortunes, hoping to share their prosperity, and taking their God for my God.’ He had perhaps not been a nomad before, for there still are permanent settlements as well as nomad encampments in Arabia, as there were in those days, and he and his relatives, from the few facts that we know of them, seem to have had a fixed home, with a very narrow zone of wandering round it. So Hobab, an old man probably, if he was anything like the age of his connection by marriage, Moses, who was eighty at this time, makes up his mind to begin a new career.

Now that is what we have to do. If we have faith in Christ and His promise, we shall not say, ‘I am going back to my kindred and to my home.’ We shall be prepared to accept the conditions of a wanderer’s life. We shall recognise and feel, far more than we ever have done, that we are indeed ‘pilgrims and sojourners’ here. Dear Christian friends, we have no business to call ourselves Christ’s men, unless the very characteristic of our lives is that we are drawn ever forward by the prospect of future good, and unless that future is a great deal more solid and more operative upon us, and tells more on our lives, than this intrusive, solid-seeming present that thrusts itself between us and our true home. That is a sure saying. The Christian obligation to live a life of detachment, even while diligent in duty, is not to be brushed aside as pulpit rhetoric and exaggeration, but it is the plainest teaching of the New Testament. I wish it was a little more exemplified in the daily life of the people who call themselves Christians.

If I am not living for the unseen and the future, what right have I to say that I am Christ’s at all? If the shadows are more than the substance to me; if this condensed vapour and fog that we call reality has not been to our apprehension thinned away into the unsubstantial mist that it is, what have the principles of Christianity done for us, and what worth is Christ’s word to us? If I believe Him, the world is-I do not say, as the sentimental poet put it, ‘but a fleeting show, for man’s illusion given’;-but as Paul puts it, a glass which may either reveal or obscure the realities beyond; and according as we look at, or look through, ‘the things seen and temporal,’ do we see, or miss, ‘the things unseen and eternal.’ So, then, the life of faith has for its essential characteristic-because it is a life of reliance on Christ’s bare word-that future good is consciously its supreme aim. That will detach us, as it did Hobab, from home and kindred, and make us feel that we are ‘pilgrims and sojourners.’

III. Lastly, our story suggests to us-

The rewards of faith.

‘Come with us,’ says Moses; ‘we are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you. Come thou with us, and we will do thee what goodness the Lord shall do unto us.’ He went, and neither he nor Moses ever saw the land, or at least never set their feet on it. Moses saw it from Pisgah, but probably Hobab did not even get so much as that.

So he had all his tramping through the wilderness, and all his work, for nothing, had he? Had he not better have gone back to Midian, and made use of the present reality, than followed a will-of-the-wisp that led him into a bog, if he got none of the good that he set out expecting to get? Then, did he make a mistake? Would he have been a wiser man if he had stuck to his first refusal? Surely not. It seems to me that the very fact of this great promise being given to this old-dare I call Hobab a ‘saint’? -to this old saint, and never being fulfilled at all in this world, compels us to believe that there was some gleam of hope, and of certainty, of a future life, even in these earliest days of dim and partial revelation.

To me it is very illuminative, and very beautiful, that the dying Jacob bursts in his song into a sudden exclamation, ‘I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord!’ It is as if he had felt that all his life long he had been looking for what had never come, and that it could not be that God was going to let him go down to the grave and never grasp the good that he had been waiting for all his days. We may apply substantially the same thoughts to Hobab, and to all his like, and may turn them to our own use, and argue that the imperfections of the consequences of our faith here on earth are themselves evidences of a future, where all that Christ has said shall be more than fulfilled, and no man will be able to say, ‘Thou didst send me out, deluding me with promises which have all gone to water and have failed.’

Hobab dying there in the desert had made the right choice, and if we will trust ourselves to Christ and His faithful word, and, trusting to Him, will feel that we are detached from the present and that it is but as the shadow of a cloud, whatever there may be wanting in the results of our faith here on earth, there will be nothing wanting in its results at the last. Hobab did not regret his venture, and no man ever ventures his faith on Christ and is disappointed. ‘He that believeth shall not be confounded.’

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

Baguel, called also Eeuel (Exo 2:18).

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Raguel

Called Reuwl, Exo 2:18.

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

Come with Us

And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses father in law, We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you: come thou with us, and we will do thee good: for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel. And he said unto him, I will not go; but I will depart to mine own land, and to my kindred. And he said, Leave us not, I pray thee; forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou shalt be to us instead of eyes. Num 10:29-31.

The Israelites reached Sinai in three months after leaving Egypt. They remained there for at least nine months, and amidst the solitude of those wild rocks they kept the first Passoverthe anniversary of their deliverance. On the twentieth day of the second month they began again their march through the grim, unknown desert. One can fancy their thoughts and fears as they looked forward to the enemies and trials which might be awaiting them. In these circumstances this story comes in most naturally. Some time before the encampment broke up from Sinai, a relative of Moses by marriage, Hobab by name, had come into the camp on a visit. He was a Midianite by race; one of the wandering tribes from the south-east of the Arabian peninsula. He knew every foot of the ground, as such men do. He knew where the springs were and the herbage, the camping-places, the short-cuts, and the safest routes. So Moses, who had no doubt forgotten much of the little desert skill he had learned in keeping Jethros flock, prayed Hobab to remain with them and give them the benefit of his practical knowledgeto be to us instead of eyes.

The passage has been treated in two very different ways. Some expositors consider that Moses was to blame for seeking a human guide when God had given the pillar of cloud to conduct the Israelites through the wilderness. Maclaren takes this view. The historian, he says, after recording the appeal to Hobab, passes on to describe at once how the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them to search out a resting-place for them, and how the cloud was upon them when they went out of the camp. The historian puts the two things side by side, not calling on us to notice the juxtaposition, but surely expecting that we shall not miss what is so plain. He would teach us that it mattered little whether Israel had Hobab or not, if they had the ark and the cloud.1 [Note: A. Maclaren, The Secret of Power, 252.]

Others concentrate their attention on the invitation. They see that, rightly or wrongly, Hobab was invited to accompany Israel to Canaan, and that two arguments were used to induce, him to do so: he would find good for himself, and he would be a benefit to them.

We may use both forms of exposition, though it will be well to use them separately. Then we have

I.The Pilgrim and his Guides.

1.Life is a journey through the Unknown.

2.Who is to be the Guide?

II.The Pilgrim and his Friends.

1.The Invitation.

2.The Arguments.

(1)For the Good you will get.

(2)For the Good you can do.

I

The Pilgrim and his Guides

i. Life is a journey through the Unknown

The itinerant life of Gods ancient people in the wilderness foreshadows and teaches much concerning the life of His true Israel in all ages. It teaches us that the historic Israel, the people who journeyed from Egypt through the wilderness to Canaan, and the spiritual Israel, those who journey from this world to the heavenly country, are alike called out and separated by God from the world-life that is around them. Neither of them has yet reached or entered the promised rest, but they are journeying toward it. Both are beset by dangers along the way, because of malicious adversaries surrounding it, and because of the deceitfulness of their own hearts within. To both, the Lord, under whose orders they march, extends the protection of His power and the guidance of His light. He also furnishes both with bread from heaven to satisfy their hunger, and gives them waters of life from wells of salvation to quench their thirst. Besides, He ever holds before them the blessed hope of an abundant entrance into the rest He has promised, when each shall have reached the end of the journey.

Among my own very earliest recollections, said Dr. Rainy, are those of an aged lady, very dear to me, whose life was one continued strain of overflowing piety, a long pilgrimage of faith, rising into an unbroken Beulah of praise and prayer.1 [Note: P. C. Simpson, The Life of Principal Rainy, i. 25.]

If It is a libel on Gods goodness to speak of the world as a wilderness. He has not made it so; and if anybody finds that all is vanity and vexation of spirit, it is his own fault. But still one aspect of life is truly represented by that figure. There are dangers and barren places, and a great solitude in spite of love and companionship, and many marchings, and lurking foes, and grim rocks, and fierce suns, and parched wells, and shapeless sand wastes enough in every life to make us quail often and look grave always when we think of what may be before us. Who knows what we shall see when we top the next hill, or round the shoulder of the cliff that bars our way? What shout of an enemy may crash in upon the sleeping camp; or what stifling gorge of barren graniteblazing in the sun and trackless to our feetshall we have to march through to-day?2 [Note: A. Maclaren.]

The world is very much what you and I choose to make it. God intends it to be a place of discipline for the heirs of glory; a place of preparation for heaven; a place in which we may be trained and fitted for the high destiny to which He has called usjust what the wilderness was to Israel. Now, if we use the world in this way, we shall find it to be a very good world for its purpose. And the discipline will not be all painful. We shall have, as Israel had, our Marahs, where the waters are bitter. Disappointments, bereavements, sicknesses, temptations, painful and prolonged conflicts with evilthese we shall have, and they will be hard to bear. But, like Israel, we shall have our Elims also, with their seventy palm trees, and twelve wells of refreshing waters. God will give to us joy, comforts, peace, rest, to cheer us on our way. Yet, just as no schoolboy counts school his home, but longs for the holidays, and the happy meeting with relatives and friends; so we, placed in the world as a school for a while, should not regard it as our home; but should look forward to the day, when, our training complete, we shall enter heaven, and dwell there with Jesus for ever.1 [Note: A. C. Price.]

Elim, Elim! Through the sand and heat

I toil with heart uplifted, I toil with bleeding feet;

For Elim, Elim! at the last, I know

That I shall see the palm-trees, and hear the waters flow.

Elim, Elim! Grows not here a tree,

And all the springs are Marah, and bitter thirst to me;

But Elim, Elim! in thy shady glen

Are twelve sweet wells of water, and palms three-score and ten.

Elim, Elim! Though the way be long,

Unmurmuring I shall journey, and lift my heart in song;

And Elim, Elim! all my song shall tell

Of rest beneath the palm-tree, and joy beside the well.

ii. Who is to be the Guide?

1. God.The true leader of the children of Israel in their wilderness journey was not Moses, but the Divine Presence in the cloud with a heart of fire, that hovered over their camp for a defence and sailed before them for a guide. The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them the way. When it lay on the tent, whether it was for two days, or a month, or a year, the march was stayed, and the moment that the cloud lifted by day or by night, the encampment was broken up and the long procession was got into marching order without an instants pause, to follow its gliding motion wherever it led and however long it lasted. First to follow was the ark on the shoulders of the Levites, and behind it, separated by some space, came the standard of the camp of the children of Judah, and then the other tribes in their order.

It would seem as if Hobabs aid were rendered needless by the provision of guidance immediately promised. Up to this moment the position of the Ark had been in the midst of the host, in front of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh; but henceforth it went three days journey in front of the people, to seek out a resting-place for them. We are left to conceive of its lonely journey as it went forward, borne by its attendant band of priests and Levites, and perhaps accompanied by a little group of princes and warriors, and especially by the great lawgiver himself. Far behind, at a distance of miles, followed the camp with its tumult, its murmur of many voices, the cries of little children, the measured tramp of armed bands. But none of these intruded on the silence and solemnity which, like majestic angels, passed forward with that courier group accompanying the Ark, over which cherubic forms were bending. That Moses was there is indubitable; for the august sentences are recorded with which he announced its starting forth and its setting down. In the one case, looking into the thin air, which seemed to him thronged with opposing forces of men and demons, he cried, Rise up, O Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee; and in the other he cried, Return, O Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel (Num 10:35-36). Thus God Himself superseded the proposal of Moses by an expedient which more than met their needs.

We have the same Divine guidance, if we will; in sober reality we have Gods presence; and waiting hearts which have ceased from self-will may receive leading as real as ever the pillar gave to Israel. Gods providence does still shape our paths; Gods Spirit will direct us within, and Gods word will counsel us. If we will wait and watch we shall not be left undirected. It is wonderful how much practical wisdom about the smallest perplexities of daily life comes to men who keep both their feet and their wishes still until Providenceor, as the world prefers to call it, circumstancesclears a path for them.

Better to take Moses for our example when he prayed, as the ark set forward and the march began, Rise up, O Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered, than to follow him in eagerly seeking some Hobab or other to show us where we should go. Better to commit our resting times to God with Moses prayer when the ark halted, Return, O Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel, and so to repose under the shadow of the Almighty, than to seek safety in having some man with us who knows how we are to encamp in this wilderness.

Whither, midst falling dew,

While glow the heavens with the last steps of day,

Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue

Thy solitary way?

Vainly the fowlers eye

Might mark thy distant night to do thee wrong,

As, darkly seen against the crimson sky,

Thy figure floats along.

Seekst thou the plashy brink

Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide,

Or where the rocking billows rise and sink

On the chafed ocean-side?

There is a Power whose care

Teaches thy way along that pathless coast

The desert and illimitable air

Lone wandering, but not lost.

All day thy wings have fanned,

At that far height, the cold, thin atmosphere,

Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land,

Though the dark night is near.

And soon that toil shall end;

Soon shalt thou find a summer home, and rest,

And scream among thy fellows; reeds shall bend,

Soon, oer thy sheltered nest.

Thourt gone, the abyss of heaven

Hath swallowed up thy form; yet, on my heart

Deeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given,

And shall not soon depart.

He who, from zone to zone,

Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight

In the long way that I must tread alone,

Will lead my steps aright.1 [Note: W. C. Bryant, To a Waterfowl.]

2. Man.Most commentators excuse, or even approve of, the effort of Moses to secure Hobabs help, and they draw from the story the lesson that supernatural guidance does not make human guidance unnecessary. That, of course, is true in a fashion; but it appears to us that the true lesson of the incident, considered in connection with the following section, is much rather that, for men who have God to guide them, it argues weakness of faith and courage to be much solicitous of any Hobab to show them where to go and where to camp.1 [Note: A. Maclaren.]

Our weakness of faith in the unseen is ever tending to pervert the relation between teacher and taught into practical forgetfulness that the promise of the new covenant is, They shall all be taught of God. So we are all apt to pin our faith on some trusted guide, and many of us in these days will follow some teacher of negations with an implicit submission which we refuse to give to Jesus Christ. We put the teacher between ourselves and God, and give to the glowing colours of the painted window the admiration that is due to the light which shines through it.

We seek our Hobabs in the advice of sage grey-haired counsellors; in the formation of strong, intelligent, and wealthy committees; in a careful observance of precedent. Anything seems better than a simple reliance on an unseen guide. Now, in one sense, there is no harm in this. We have neither right nor need to cut ourselves adrift from others who have had special experience in some new ground on which we are venturing. It is a mistake to live a hermit life, thinking out all our own problems, and meeting all our own questions as best we may. Those who do so are apt to become self-opinionated and full of crotchets. God often speaks to us through our fellows; they are His ministers to us for good, and we do well to listen to our Samuels, our Isaiahs, our Johns. But there is also a great danger that we should put man before God; that we should think more of the glasses than of that which they are intended to reveal; and that we should so cling to Hobab as to become unmindful of the true Guide and Leader of souls. When we have given Him His right place, He will probably restore our judges as at the first and our counsellors as at the beginning; but the first necessity is that the eye should be single towards Himself, so that the whole body may be full of light.2 [Note: F. B. Meyer.]

3. Christ.Moses sought to secure this Midianite guide because he was a native of the desert, and had travelled all over it. His experience was his qualification. We have a Brother who has Himself travelled every foot of the road by which we have to go, and His footsteps have marked out with blood a track for us to follow, and have trodden a footpath through the else pathless waste. He knows how to encamp in this wilderness, for He Himself has tabernacled among us, and by experience has learned the weariness of the journey and the perils of the wilderness.

Our poor weak hearts long for a brothers hand to hold us up, for a brothers voice to whisper a word of cheer, for a brothers example to animate as well as to instruct. An abstract law of right is but a cold guide, like the stars that shine keen in the polar winter. It is hard even to find in the bare thought of an unseen God guiding us by His unseen Spirit within and His unseen Providence without, the solidity and warmth which we need. Therefore we have mercifully received God manifest in the flesh, a Brother to be our guide and the Captain of our salvation.

II

The Pilgrim and his Friends

i. The Invitation

It is one of those kindly gracious invitations which abound throughout the Word of God. It is the invitation of one relative to another. By faith, Moses saw before him the Promised Land; he realized it. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Heb 11:1). And he longed intensely to have his friend and relative with him, in the inheritance of that land. Hence his earnest appeal. And as with Moses, so with all who are Christians indeed.

When Paul had tasted the joy and peace of believing, he said, My hearts desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved (Rom 10:1). When Andrew had found Christ himself, he first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ; and he brought him to Jesus (Joh 1:41-42). So also Philip: he findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And when Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see (Joh 1:45-46). Further, when our Lord had cured the man possessed with a legion of devils, He bade him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee (Mar 5:19). And, nearer to our own time than these instances, when the poor slave in Antigua had been converted to God, he used, day by day, to pray that there might be a full heaven, and an empty hell. Yes, and a little girl of eleven years, who had found Jesus as her all, ran to her mother, her heart overflowing with love, and cried, O mother, if all the world knew this! I wish I could tell everybodymay I not run in and tell some of our neighbours, that they may love my Saviour too? Such is everywhere and always the spirit of true Christianity.1 [Note: A. Maclaren.]

1. The Invitation is a promise, a promise of good in the future. For the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel. The religion of the Bible is emphatically the religion of the promise. In heathen religion, the threat predominates over the promise. But in the glad faith that boasts the name of Gospel, the promise predominates over the threat. Christians are men with a hope, men who have been called to inherit a blessing. This element of promise runs through the whole Bible. What book anywhere can you point to with such a forward look as that book? As we watch the worthies of many generations pass in long procession onwards, from the day when the promise was first given of the One who should come and bruise the serpents head, down to the day when the aged Simeon in the Temple took the Child Jesus into his arms and blessed Him, we seem to see upon every forehead a glow of light. These men, we say, front the sunrising. They have a hope. Their journey is into the morning. A purpose is in their eyes. They are looking for something, and they look as those look who expect in due time to find. If this be true of the general tone of the Old Testament Scriptures, doubly, trebly is it true of the New Testament. The coming of Christ has only quickened and made more intense in us that instinct of hope which the old prophecies of His coming first inspired. For when He came, He brought in larger hopes and opened to us far-reaching vistas of promise, such as had never been dreamed of before. Only think how full of eager, joyous anticipation the New Testament is, from first to last.

2. The promise is of a Place, The place of which the Lord said, I will give it you. The progress of human knowledge has made it difficult to think and speak of heaven as believing men used to think and speak of it. But, while there is a certain grain of reasonableness in the argument for silence with respect to heaven and the things of heaven, there is by no means so much weight to be attached to it as many people seem to suppose. For after all, when we come to think of it, this changed conception of what heaven may be like is not traceable so much to any marvellous revolution that has come over the whole character of human thought, as it is to the changes which have taken place in our own several minds, and which necessarily take place in every mind in its progress from infancy to maturity. The reality and trustworthiness of the promise are not one whit affected by the revelation of the vastness of the resources which lie at His command who makes the promise. Instead of repining because we cannot dwarf Gods universe so as to make it fit perfectly the smallness of our notions, let us turn all our energies to seeking to enlarge the capacity of our faith, so that it shall be able to hold more.

When the Church says Come thou with us to any who are hesitating and undecided, her face is heavenwards, her movement is in that way, she holds in her hand the roll of promise, the map of the better country, even the heavenly, and sees her own title to possession written there as with the finger of God. She is not lured onwards by the dreams of natural enthusiasm, or by the flickering lights of philosophy, or by the dim hopes which arise in the human breast of something better and nobler to come, by Gods goodness, out of all this wrack and storm of disappointment, sorrow, and change. These things are good in their own place and measure, but the Church has a word of promise from God, a promise clear and firm about another life, a perfect state, a better country, an heavenly.1 [Note: A. Raleigh.]

We had needs invent heaven if it had not been revealed to us; there are some things that fall so bitterly ill on this side time!2 [Note: R. L. Stevenson, St. Ives.]

Give me my scallop-shell of quiet,

My staff of faith to walk upon;

My scrip of joy, immortal diet;

My bottle of salvation.

My gown of glory, hopes true gage,

And thus Ill take my pilgrimage.

Blood must be my bodys only balmer,

Whilst my soul like a quiet palmer,

Travelleth towards the land of heaven,

No other balm will there be given.

Over the silver mountains,

Where spring the nectar fountains,

There will I kiss the bowl of bliss,

And drink mine everlasting fill

Upon every milken hill.

My soul will be a-dry before,

But after, it will thirst no more.1 [Note: Sir Walter Raleigh.]

3. Much depends always upon the way in which the invitation is made.

(1) As it is a very kind and tender word, Come thou with us, let it be spoken persuasively. Use such reasoning as you can to prove that it is at once a duty and a privilege. Observe, Moses does not command, but he persuades; nor does he merely make a suggestion or give a formal invitation, but he uses an argument, he puts it attractively, And we will do thee good. So, look the matter up; study it; get your arguments ready, seek out inducements from your own experience. Draw a reason, and then and thus try to persuade your Christian friends.

(2) Make it heartily. Observe how Moses puts it as from a very warm heart. Come thou with us; give me thy hand, my brother; come thou with us, and we will do thee good. There are no ifs and ands and buts, or, Well, you may perhaps be welcome, but Come thou with us. Give a hearty, loving, warm invitation to those whom you believe to be your brethren and sisters in Christ.

(3) Make it repeatedly if once will not suffice. Observe in this case, Hobab said he thought he would depart to his own land and his kindred, but Moses returns to the charge, and says Leave us not, I pray thee. How earnestly he puts it! He will have no put off. If at first it was a request, now it is a beseeching almost to entreatyLeave us not, I pray thee. And how he repeats the old argument, but puts it in a better light!If thou go with us, yea, it shall be, that what goodness the Lord shall do unto us, the same will we do unto thee.

ii. The Arguments Used

1. The first argument is, Come with us for the good you will get.

1. Moses has Hobabs interests at heart when he asks him to accompany them. This is so even if Hobab, like Moses himself, should never enter the promised land; for he will be in the channel of the promise, under the blessing of God. For his own sake he ought to come, Come thou with us, and we will do thee good: for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel.

As a lady, well known as an earnest and devoted servant of God, was going home from a meeting, she was asked to take the arm of a young gentleman who was moving in the highest circles of fashion, a man who had led a very gay life. He did not like taking this lady home; he suspected she would begin to preach to him before he got home; however, being a gentleman, he gave her his arm. She did not talk about the meeting, but as they were drawing near home she led the conversation round to subjects bearing on the well-being of her companion. He replied: It seems to me that you religious people are always trying to strip us of all our little enjoyments. A young man has only once in his life an opportunity to enjoy himself; he will never have another chance. I am one of those who enjoy life thoroughly. I do not see why you should try to take away all I have got. The lady pressed him on the arm, and said to him very emphatically: My dear sir, I dont want you to give up; I want you to receive. He said, What do you mean? She replied, I wont say any more, I must leave that word for you to think over. Well, he said, I will try to turn it over in my mind, and see if I can understand you. And so it fell out that the word went home to his heart, and he never rested until he had got the reality.1 [Note: Canon W. Hay M. H. Aitken.]

2. This argument is used by the Church. The Church says with assurance, Come with us and we will do thee good; for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel. It says this with emphasis; it says it pleadingly. It has blessings, promises, and powers, of which it is sure. It knows that men are in need of what it possesses. It sees men living to little purpose and for little ends. It sees the sin and the sorrow. It has deep pity for the deep pathos of human life. Its whole work is to do men good, as it declares the gospel of the Kingdom, calling them to pardon and peace, offering them salvation, presenting to them the manifold riches of Christ, pointing to the way of life and of joy. The heart of the true Church yearns over men with a great longing, seeing them to be, though they may know it not, wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. It has a message for you, which it is irreparable loss for you to neglect. It offers you a great and eternal good.1 [Note: Hugh Black.]

It seems in these days that this is the only invitation to church now possible. All that is now possible is to induce people to go to church. They must be drawn, not driven. Come with us, the congregation in Gods house seems to say to outsiders: Come with us, and we will do you good. It is well, it is a great thing, if the services of the church are felt to be pleasant: but it is vital and essential that they be felt to be helpful. They must do you good, or there is something wrong either in them or in you.2 [Note: A. K. H. Boyd.]

3. In what ways may we hope to get good by coming to church?

(1) By Recognition of the Unseen and Eternal.When we gather in church, here is something, coming regularly, coming frequently, that keeps us in remembrance that there is more than what is seen and felt; that there are realities and interests beyond what our senses reveal to us, which are the most substantial and enduring of all. It is a great matterin this world of things we see and touch, and pressed as we are continually by the power which these things have to make us vaguely feel and practically live as if there were nothing beyond themthat this testimony is borne, at least every Sunday, to the existence and solemn importance of the Invisible and Spiritual.

Tell me the old, old story

Of unseen things above,

Of Jesus and His glory,

Of Jesus and His love.

(2) By Repetition of the Story of the Cross.We go to church to think of things; we go, intending that our minds be specially occupied with certain matters which, in the bustle of our life, we are ready to forget. There is a whole order of ideas present to our mind in Gods house, which (to say the least) are not habitually associated with any other place we go to. There is an old story to be pressed upon us: an old story which is of such a nature, that though we know it quite well, we like and we need to hear it over again. For it may be told perpetually without anything like wearisome repetition: and all outward surroundings in this life go so much to make us unmindful of it, that we need sorely to have our minds specially and earnestly urged in just this particular direction.

Tell me the story often,

For I forget so soon;

The early dew of morning

Has passed away at noon.

(3) By Realization of the Presence and Power of Christ.For there is more in Gods house than instruction, or than stirring up the fading and feeble remembrance: more than that and deeper. God Almighty has appointed and decreed that there shall be a real power and grace and help in the ordinances of His house; and Christ has said, in sober earnest, that Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

Tell me the story always,

If you would really be,

In any time of trouble

A comforter to me.

2. The second argument is, Come with us for the good you can do.

1. Moses had another plea, even after refusala plea, under the circumstances, far more powerful to such a man than the offer of personal good. It was the plea, not of Hobabs need of Israel, but of Israels need of Hobab. He knew the country, knew all the dangers and resources: he was a man of great influence and wisdom; and cared for Moses, and presumably also for the great religious interests at stake in Israels future. To have him with them would be a source of strength to all. And so Moses invitation took another form. He appealed to Hobabs heart and not to his interests: he appealed to their need of him, and no longer to anything of good that might come to himself. Leave us not, I pray thee; forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou shalt be to us instead of eyes.

I believe you will seldom get much good unless you are willing also to confer good; those who are the nearest to the heart of the preacher, in all Christian service, will in all probability be most spiritually enriched under his ministry.1 [Note: C. H. Spurgeon.]

2. This argument also is used by the Church. It is a powerful argument to a high heart; and the Churchs very existenceencamped in the wilderness, fighting the great battle against principalities and powers of evil, seeking, striving, suffering for that Promised Land, for mans higher life on earth, waiting for the consolation of Israel, giving itself to the great task of establishing the Kingdom of Heaven on earththe Churchs very existence is an appeal to us. God had spoken good concerning Israel whether Hobab came or stayed; but it was much to have Hobabs help in the great enterprise, much to have one who could be to them instead of eyes. And the Kingdom of Heaven will come with us or without us; but just because it is a task high and hard, we should be in the thick of it, taking our part of the glorious burden. Though we might not think of coming for our own sake, can we resist this other appeal to come for the sake of the Church?

3. What good could Hobab have done?

(1) He could have been a companion on the journey.We are meant to depend on one another. No man can safely isolate himself, either intellectually or in practical matters. The self-trained scholar is usually incomplete. Crotchets take possession of the solitary thinker, and peculiarities of character that would have been kept in check, and might have become aids in the symmetrical development of the whole man, if they had been reduced and modified in society, get swollen into deformities in solitude. The highest and the lowest blessings for life both of heart and mindblessedness and love, and wisdom and goodnessare ministered to men through men, and to live without dependence on human help and guidance is to be either a savage or an angel. Gods guidance does not make mans needless, for a very large part of Gods guidance is ministered to us through men. And wherever a mans thoughts and words teach us to understand Gods thoughts and words more clearly, to love them more earnestly, or to obey them more gladly, there human guidance is discharging its noblest function. And wherever the human guide turns us away from himself to God, and says, I am but a voice, I am not the light that guides, there it is blessed and safe to cherish and to prize it.

Some of us have sad memories of times when we journeyed in company with those who will never share our tent or counsel our steps any more, and, as we sit lonely by our watchfire in the wilderness, have aching hearts and silent nights. Some of us may be, as yet, rich in companions and helpers, whose words are wisdom, whose wishes are love to us, and may tremble as we think that one day either they or we shall have to tramp on by ourselves. But for us all, cast down and lonely, or still blessed with dear ones and afraid to live without them, there is a Presence which departs never, which will move before us as we journey, and hover over us as a shield when we rest; which will be a cloud to veil the sun that it smite us not by day, and will redden into fire as the night falls, being ever brightest when we need it most, and burning clearest of all in the valley at the end, where its guidance will cease only because then the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne will lead them. This God is our God for ever and ever; He will be our guide even unto death.1 [Note: A. Maclaren.]

They talk about the solid earth,

But all has changed before mine eyes;

Theres nothing left I used to know,

Except Gods everchanging skies.

Ive kept old ways and loved old friends,

Yet one by one theyve slipped away;

Stand where we will, cling as we like,

Theres none but God can be our stay.

It is only by our hold on Him,

We keep our hold on those who pass

Out of our sight across the seas,

Or underneath the churchyard grass.2 [Note: W. R. Nicoll, Sunday Evening, 83.]

(2) He could have been of service to the good cause.Come, said Moses; if not for your own sake, come for our sake: if you do not need us, we need you: we are to encamp in the wilderness girt round with danger and weighted with heavy tasks, and you can be to us instead of eyes. If you will not come because the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel, come to help us to achieve that good. Leave us not, and thou mayest be to us as eyes.

The Christian salvation is not just salvage, rescuing the flotsam and jetsam, the human wreckage that strews the sea of life; though it is the glory of the faith and its divinest attribute that it does save even the broken and battered lives of men. But salvation includes and implies service also. It is a summons to participate in a great work, to share in a glorious venture.

Think of the Churchs task in its widest aspectto claim the world for God, to let them that sit in darkness see the great light, anointed like the Churchs Lord to preach the gospel to the poor, to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. Think of the terrible warfare to which it is committedto subdue the beast in man, to oppose evil in high places and in lowa warfare that knows no truce, relentless, lifelong; and, as here in this corner of the field we are hard bestead and appeal to you for reinforcement, will you sit at ease and refuse the call?1 [Note: Hugh Black.]

Come with us, if not for the good you will get, then for the good you will do. You shall be to us for eyes, if it shall turn out that you can see more clearly and farther than we. You shall come in with your organic faculty unimpaired and use it to the utmost; with your natural tastes and tendencies that are sinless, undepreciated; with your points of natural superiority to be acknowledged and used. You shall be eyes to us to see what you only can see; and tongue, if you will, to tell the seeing for the good of all: and I think this, that if there be one spark of nobleness untarnished left in you, you cannot resist such an appeal. It is not to your selfishness; it is not for your own salvation; it is for the guidance and the good of Gods struggling people; it is for the salvation of your fellowmen who may become Gods struggling people through your means. There lives no man who has not something characteristic and peculiar to himself by the full development and expression of which he can benefit his fellow-creatures as no other but himself exactly can do. That idea can become fully real only in the Church of God.2 [Note: A. Raleigh.]

Though you know nothing about the passion of the saints, what about the service of the saints? You are not sure about the supreme claims over your life which Christ makes; but have you no opinion about the great purposes He seeks to accomplish in the world, the high ends He seeks to serve? And as you see Him go to the worlds redemption, have you never thrilled to the tacit appeal to come to the help of the Lord against the mighty? You who may be instead of eyes, can you hold back ingloriously?3 [Note: Hugh Black.]

The Son of God goes forth to war,

A kingly crown to gain;

His blood-red banner streams afar:

Who follows in His train?

Literature

Aitken (W. H. M. H.), Mission Sermons, i. 154.

Banks (L. A.), On the Trail of Moses, 192.

Black (H.), University Sermons, 259.

Black (J.), The Pilgrim Ship, 73.

Boyd (A. K. H.), Sermons and Stray Papers, 184.

Brooks (G.), Five Hundred Outlines of Sermons, 123.

Burrell (D. J.), A Quiver of Arrows, 42.

Burrell (D. J.), The Religion of the Future, 66.

Little (J.), The Day-Spring, 23.

MCheyne (R. M.), Additional Remains, 95.

Maclaren (A.), Expositions: Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, 314.

Maclaren (A.), The Secret of Power, 251.

Meyer (F. B.), Moses the Servant of God, 148.

Perren (C.), Revival Sermons, 145.

Price (A. C.), Fifty Sermons, i. 353.

Raleigh (A.), From Dawn to the Perfect Day, 123.

Rankin (J.), Character Studies in the Old Testament, 85.

Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, xvi. No. 916.

Talmage (T. de W.), Sermons, vi. 68.

Wood (H.), Gods Image in Man, 226.

Biblical World, xxx. (1907) 70 (Fullerton).

Christian World Pulpit, lxvii. 65 (Black).

Homiletic Review, xx. 33 (Huntington).

Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible

Exo 2:18, Reuel, Exo 3:1, Exo 18:1, Exo 18:27

the Lord: Gen 12:7, Gen 13:15, Gen 15:18, Act 7:5

come: Jdg 1:16, Jdg 4:11, 1Sa 15:6, Psa 34:8, Isa 2:3, Jer 50:5, Zec 8:21-23, Rev 22:17

for the Lord: Num 23:19, Gen 32:12, Exo 3:8, Exo 6:7, Exo 6:8, Tit 1:2, Heb 6:18

Reciprocal: Gen 36:4 – Reuel Jos 2:14 – when the Lord Zec 8:23 – We will

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Num 10:29. Raguel Called also Reul, Exo 2:18, who seems to be the same with Jethro; it being usual in Scripture for one person to have two or three names. And therefore this Hobab is not Jethro, but his son, which may seem more probable, because Jethro was old and unfit to travel, and desirous, as may well be thought, to die in his own country, whither he returned, Exo 18:27; but Hobab was young, and fitter for these journeys, and therefore entreated by Moses to stay and bear them company.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Num 10:29-32. Moses Request to his Father-in-law.This section and the next (derived from JE) are parallel to, and not the sequel of, Num 10:11-28; for whereas in Num 10:12 the Israelites have reached Paran, in Num 10:33 they are only starting from Sinai. Moses father-in-law, called here (J) and in Jdg 4:11 (mg.) Hobab, is named in Exo 3:1; Exo 4:18 (E) Jethro, and in Exo 2:18* Reuel (where, however, the name should probably be omitted). It is implied that Hobab, by accompanying Israel going north, Would be separated from the rest of the Midianites who roamed over the desert E. of Canaan (Jdg 6:3, cf. Gen 25:1-6); and this favours the view that Sinai was not in the S. of the peninsula; otherwise his route and Israels would have coincided for some distance. From Jdg 1:16 it may be inferred that Moses father-in-law (see mg.) accompanied the Israelites into Canaan, though this is denied in Exo 18:27.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

10:29 And Moses said unto {m} Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite, Moses’ father in law, We are journeying unto the place of which the LORD said, I will give it you: come thou with us, and we will do thee good: for the LORD hath spoken good concerning Israel.

(m) Some think that Reuel, Jethro, Hobab, and Keni were all one: Kimhi says that Reuel was Jethro’s father: so Hobab was Moses father-in-law, see Exo 2:18; Exo 3:1; Exo 4:18; Exo 18:1 Jud 4:11

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

HOBAB THE KENITE

Num 10:29-36

THE Kenites, an Arab tribe belonging to the region of Midian, and sometimes called Midianites, sometimes Amalekites, were already in close and friendly relation with Israel. Moses, when he went first to Midian, had married a daughter of their chief Jethro, and, as we learn from Exo 18:1-27, this patriarch, with his daughter Zipporah and the two sons she had borne to Moses, came to the camp of Israel at the mount of God. The meeting was an occasion of great rejoicing; and Jethro, as priest of his tribe, having congratulated the Hebrews on the deliverance Jehovah had wrought for them, “took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God,” and was joined by Moses, Aaron, and all the elders of Israel in the sacrificial feast. A union was thus established between Kenites and Israelites of the most solemn and binding kind. The peoples were sworn to continual friendship.

While Jethro remained in the camp his counsel was given in regard to the manner of administering justice. In accordance with it rulers of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens were chosen, “able men, such as feared God, men of truth, hating covetousness”; and to them matters of minor importance were referred for judgment, the hard causes only being brought before Moses. The sagacity of one long experienced in the details of government came in to supplement the intellectual power and the inspiration of the Hebrew leader.

It does not appear that any attempt was made to attach Jethro and the whole of his tribe to the fortunes of Israel. The small company of the Kenites could travel far more swiftly than a great host, and, if they desired, could easily overtake the march. Moses, we are told, let his father-in-law depart, and he went to his own place. But now that the long stay of the Israelites at Sinai is over and they are about to advance to Canaan, the visit of a portion of the Kenite tribe is made the occasion of an appeal to their leader to cast in his lot with the people of God. There is some confusion in regard to the relationship of Hobab with Jethro or Raguel. Whether Hobab was a son or grandson of the chief cannot be made out. The word translated father-in-law (Num 10:29), means a relation by marriage. Whatever was the tie between Hobab and Moses, it was at all events so close, and the Kenite had so much sympathy with Israel, that it was natural to make the appeal to him: “Come thou with us, and we will do thee good.” Himself assured of the result of the enterprise, anticipating with enthusiasm the high destiny of the tribes of Israel, Moses endeavours to persuade these children of the desert to take the way to Canaan.

There was a fascination in the movement of that people who, rescued from bondage by their Heavenly Friend, were on their journey to the land of His promise. This fascination Hobab and his followers appear to have felt; and Moses counted upon it. The Kenites, used to the wandering life, accustomed to strike their tents any day as occasion required, no doubt recoiled from the thought of settling even in a fertile country, still more from dwelling in any walled town. But the south of Canaan was practically a wilderness, and there, keeping to a great extent their ancestral habits, they might have had the liberty they loved, yet kept in touch with their friends of Israel. Some aversion from the Hebrews, who still bore certain marks of slavery, would have to be overcome. Yet, with the bond already established, there needed only some understanding of the law of Jehovah, and some hope in His promise to bring the company of Hobab to decision.

And Moses had right in saying, “Come with us, and we will do thee good; for Jehovah hath spoken good concerning Israel.” The outlook to a future was something which the Kenites as a people had not, never could have in their desultory life. Unprogressive, out of the way of the great movements of humanity, gaining nothing as generations went by, but simply reproducing the habits and treasuring the beliefs of their fathers, the Arab tribe might maintain itself, might occasionally strike for righteousness in some conflict, but otherwise had no prospect, could have no enthusiasm. They would live their hard life, they would enjoy freedom, they would die – such would be their history. Compared with that poor outlook, howgood it would be to share the noble task of establishing on the soil of Canaan a nation devoted to truth and righteousness, in league with the living God, destined to extend His kingdom and make His faith the means of blessing to all. It was the great opportunity of these nomads. As yet, indeed, there was no courage of religion, no brightness of enthusiasm among the Israelites. But there was the ark of the covenant, there were the sacrifices, the law; and Jehovah Himself, always present with His people, was revealing His will and His glory by oracle, by discipline and deliverance.

Now these Kenites may be taken as representing a class, in the present day to a certain extent attracted, even fascinated, by the Church, who standing irresolute are appealed to in terms like those addressed by Moses to Hobab. They feel a certain charm, for in the wide organisation and vast activity of the Christian Church, quite apart from the creed on which it is based, there are signs of vigour and purpose which contrast favourably with endeavours directed to mere material gain. In idea and in much of its effort the Church is splendidly humane, and it provides interests, enjoyments, both of an intellectual and artistic kind, in which all can share. Not so much its universality nor its mission of converting the world, nor its spiritual worship, but rather the social advantages and the culture it offers draw towards it those minds and lives. And to them it extends, too often without avail, the invitation to join its march.

Is it asked why many, partly fascinated, remain proof against its appeals? why an increasing number prefer, like Hobab, the liberty of the desert, their own unattached, desultory, hopeless way of life? The answer must partly be that, as it is, the Church does not fully commend itself by its temper, its enthusiasm, its sincerity and Christianity. It attracts but is unable to command, because with all its culture of art it does not appear beautiful, with all its claims of spirituality it is not unworldly; because, professing to exist for the redemption of society, its methods and standards are too often human rather than Divine. It is not that the outsider shrinks from the religiousness of the Church as overdone; rather does he detect a lack of that very quality. He could believe in the Divine calling and join the enterprise of the Church if he saw it journeying steadily towards a better country, that is a heavenly. Its earnestness would then command him; faith would compel faith. But social status and temporal aims are not subordinated by the members of the Church, nor even by its leaders. And whatever is done in the way of providing attractions for the pleasure-loving, and schemes of a social kind, these, so far from gaining the undecided, rather make them less disposed to believe. More exciting enjoyments can be found elsewhere. The Church offering pleasures and social reconstruction is attempting to catch those outside by what, from their point of view, must appear to be chaff.

It is a question which every body of Christians has need to ask itself-Can we honestly say to those without, Come with us, and we will do you good? In order that there may be certainty on this point, should not every member of the Church be able to testify that the faith he has gives joy and peace, that his fellowship with God is making life pure and strong and free? Should there not be a clear movement of the whole body, year by year, towards finer spirituality, broader and more generous love? The gates of membership are in some cases opened to such only as make very clear and ample profession. It does not, however, appear that those already within have always the Christian spirit corresponding to that high profession. And yet as Moses could invite Hobab and his company without misgiving because Jehovah was the Friend and Guide of Israel and had spoken good concerning her, so because Christ is the Head of the Church, and Captain of her salvation, those outside may well be urged to join her fellowship. If all depended on the earnestness of our faith and the steadfastness of our virtue we should not dare to invite others to join the march. But it is with Christ we ask them to unite. Imperfect in many ways, the Church is His, exists to show His death, to proclaim His Gospel and extend His power. In the whole range of human knowledge and experience there is but one life that is free, pure, hopeful, energetic in every noble sense, and at the same time calm. In the whole range of human existence there is but one region in which the mind and the soul find satisfaction and enlargement, in which men of all sorts and conditions find true harmony. That life and that region of existence are revealed by Christ; into them He only is the Way. The Church, maintaining this, demonstrating this, is to invite all who stand aloof. They who join Christ and follow Him will come to a good land, a heavenly heritage.

The first invitation given to Hobab was set aside. “Nay,” he said, “I will not go; but I will depart to my own land and to my kindred.” The old ties of country and people were strong for him. The true Arab loves his country passionately. The desert is his home, the mountains are his friends. His hard life is a life of liberty. He is strongly attached to his tribe, which has its own traditions, its own glories. There have been feuds, the memory of which must be cherished. There are heirlooms that give dignity to those who possess them. The people of the clan are brothers and sisters. Very little of the commercial mingles with the life of the desert; so perhaps family feeling has the more power. These influences Hobab felt, and this besides deterred him, that if he joined the Israelites he would be under the command of Moses. Hobab was prospective head of his tribe, already in partial authority at least. To obey the word of command instead of giving it was a thing he could not brook. No doubt the leader of Israel had proved himself brave, resolute, wise. He was a man of ardent soul and fitted for royal power. But Hobab preferred the chieftainship of his own small clan to service under Moses; and, brought to the point of deciding, he would not agree.

Freedom, habit, the hopes that have become part of life-these in like manner interpose between many and a call which is known to be from God. There is restraint within the circle of faith; old ideas, traditional conceptions of life, and many personal ambitions have to be relinquished by those who enter it. Accustomed to that Midian where every man does according to the bent of his own will, where life is hard but uncontrolled, where all they have learned to care for and desire may be found, many are unwilling to choose the way of religion, subjection to the law of Christ, the life of spiritual conflict and trial, however much may be gained at once and in the eternal future. Yet the liberty of their Midian is illusory. It is simply freedom to spend strength in vain, to roam from place to place where all alike are barren, to climb mountains lightning-riven, swept by interminable storms. And the true liberty is with Christ, who opens the prospect of the soul, and redeems the life from evil, vanity, and fear. The heavenward march appears to involve privation and conflict, which men do not care to face. But is the worldly life free from enemies, hardships, disappointments? The choice is, for many, between a bare life over which death triumphs, and a life moving on over obstacles, through tribulations, to victory and glory. The attractions of land and people, set against those of Christian hope, have no claim. “Every one,” says the Lord, “that hath left houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children, or lands, for My sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit eternal life.”

Passing on, the narrative informs us that Moses used another plea: “Leave us not, I pray thee; forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou shalt be to us instead of eyes.” Hobab did not respond to the promise of advantage to himself; he might be moved by the hope of being useful. Knowing that he had to deal with a man who was proud, and in his way magnanimous, Moses wisely used this appeal. And he used it frankly, without pretence. Hobab might do real and valuable service to the tribes on their march to Canaan. Accustomed to the desert, over which he had often travelled, acquainted with the best methods of disposing a camp in any given position, with the quick eye and habit of observation which the Arab life gives, Hobab would be the very adjutant to whom Moses might commit many details. If he joins the tribes on this footing it will be without pretence. He professes no greater faith either in Israels destiny or in Jehovahs sole Godhead than he really feels. Wishing Israel well, interested in the great experiment, yet not bound up in it, he may give his counsel and service heartily so far as they avail.

We are here introduced to another phase of the relation between the Church and those who do not altogether accept its creed, or acknowledge its mission to be supernatural, Divine. Confessing unwillingness to receive the Christian system as a whole, perhaps openly expressing doubts of the miraculous, for example, many in our day have still so much sympathy with the ethics and culture of Christianity that they would willingly associate themselves with the Church, and render it all the service in their power. Their tastes have led them to subjects of study and modes of self-development not in the proper sense religious. Some are scientific, some have literary talent, some artistic, some financial. The question may be, whether the Church should invite these to join her ranks in any capacity, whether room may be made for them, tasks assigned to them. On the one hand, would it be dangerous to Christian faith? on the other hand, would it involve them in self-deception? Let it be assumed that they are men of honour and integrity, men who aim at a high moral standard and have some belief in the spiritual dignity man may attain. On this footing may their help be sought and cordially accepted by the Church?

We cannot say that the example of Moses should be taken as a rule for Christians. It was one thing to invite the co-operation with Israel for a certain specified purpose of an Arab chief who differed somewhat in respect of faith; it would be quite another thing to invite one whose faith, if he has any, is only a vague theism, to give his support to Christianity. Yet the cases are so far parallel that the one illustrates the other. And one point appears to be this, that the Church may show itself at least as sympathetic as Israel. Is there but a single note of unison between a soul and Christianity? Let that be recognised, struck again and again till it is clearly heard. Our Lord rewarded the faith of a Syrophoenician woman, of a Roman centurion. His religion cannot be injured by generosity. Attachment to Himself personally, disposition to hear His words and accept His morality, should be hailed as the possible dawn of faith, not frowned upon as a splendid sin. Every one who helps sound knowledge helps the Church. The enthusiast for true liberty has a point of contact with Him whose truth gives freedom. The Church is a spiritual city with gates that stand wide open day and night towards every region and condition of human life, towards the north and south, the east and west. If the wealthy are disposed to help, let them bring their treasures; if the learned devote themselves reverently and patiently to her literature, let their toil be acknowledged. Science has a tribute that should be highly valued, for it is gathered from the works of God; and art of every kind-of the poet, the musician, the sculptor, the painter-may assist the cause of Divine religion. The powers men have are given by Him who claims all as His own. The vision of Isaiah in which he saw Tarshish and the isles, Sheba and Seba offering gifts to the temple of God did not assume that the tribute was in all cases that of covenant love. And the Church of Christ has broader human sympathy and better right to the service of the world than Isaiah knew. For the Churchs good, and for the good of those who may be willing in any way to aid her work and development, all gifts should be gladly received, and those who stand hesitating should be invited to serve.

But the analogy of the invitation to Hobab involves another point which must always be kept in view. It is this, that the Church is not to slacken her march, not divert her march in any degree because men not fully in sympathy with her join the company and contribute their service. The Kenite may cast in his lot with the Israelites and aid them with his experience. But Moses will not cease to lead the tribes towards Canaan, will not delay their progress a single day for Hobabs sake. Nor will he less earnestly claim sole Godhead for Jehovah, and insist that every sacrifice shall be made to Him and every life kept holy in His way, for His service. Perhaps the Kenite faith differed little in its elements from that which the Israelites inherited. It may have been monotheistic; and we know that part of the worship was by way of sacrifice not unlike that appointed by the Mosaic law. But it had neither the wide ethical basis nor the spiritual aim and intensity which Moses had been the means of imparting to Israels religion. And from the ideas revealed to him and embodied in the moral and ceremonial law he could not for the sake of Hobab resile in the least. There should be no adjustment of creed or ritual to meet the views of the new ally. Onward to Canaan, onward also along the lines of religious duty and development, the tribes would hold their way as before.

In modern alliances with the Church a danger is involved, sufficiently apparent to all who regard the state of religion. History is full of instances in which, to one company of helpers and another, too much has been conceded; and the march of spiritual Christianity is still greatly impeded by the same thing. Money contributed, by whomsoever, is held to give the donors a right to take their place in councils of the Church, or at least to sway decision now in one direction, now in another. Prestige is offered with the tacit understanding that it shall be repaid with deference. The artist uses his skill, but not in subordination to the ideas of spiritual religion. He assumes the right to give them his own colour, and may even, while professing to serve Christianity, sensualise its teaching. Scholarship offers help, but is not content to submit to Christ. Having been allowed to join itself with the Church, it proceeds, not infrequently, to play the traitors part, assailing the faith it was invoked to serve. Those who care more for pleasure than for religion may within a certain range find gratification in Christian worship; they are apt to claim more and still more of the element that meets their taste. And those who are bent on social reconstruction would often, without any thought of doing wrong, divert the Church entirely from its spiritual mission. When all these influences are taken into account, it will be seen that Christianity has to go its way amid perils. It must not be unsympathetic. But those to whom its camp is opened, instead of helping the advance, may neutralise the whole enterprise.

Every Church has great need at present to consider whether that clear spiritual aim which ought to be the constant guide is not forgotten, at least occasionally, for the sake of this or that alliance supposed to be advantageous. It is difficult to find the mean, difficult to say who serve the Church, who hinder its success. More difficult still is it to distinguish those who are heartily with Christianity from those who are only so in appearance, having some nostrum of their own to promote. Hobab may decide to go with Israel; but the invitation he accepts, perhaps with an air of superiority, of one conferring a favour, is really extended to him for his good, for the saving of his life. Let there be no blowing of the silver trumpets to announce that a prince of the Kenites henceforth journeys with Israel; they were not made for that! Let there be no flaunting of a gay ensign over his tent. We shall find that a day comes when the men who stand by true religion have-perhaps through Kenite influence-the whole congregation to face. So it is in Churches. On the other hand, Pharisaism is a great danger, equally tending to destroy the value of religion; and Providence ever mingles the elements that enter into the counsels of Christianity, challenging the highest wisdom, courage, and charity of the faithful.

The closing verses of Num 10:33-36, belonging, like the passage just considered, to the prophetic narrative, affirm that the ark was borne from Sinai three days journey before the host to find a halting-place. The reconciliation between this statement and the order which places the ark in the centre of the march, may be that the ideal plan was at the outset not observed, for some sufficient reason. The absolute sincerity of the compilers of the Book of Numbers is shown in their placing almost side by side the two statements without any attempt to harmonise. Both were found in the ancient documents, and both were set down in good faith. The scribes into whose hands the old records came did not assume the role of critics.

At the beginning of every march Moses is reported to have used the chant: “Rise up, O Jehovah, and let Thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate Thee flee before Thee.” When the ark rested he said: “Return, O Jehovah, unto the ten thousands of the thousands of Israel.” The former is the opening strain of Psa 68:1-35, and its magnificent strophes move towards the idea of that rest which Israel finds in the protection of her God. Part of the ode returns upon the desert journey, adding some features and incidents, omitted in the narrations of the Pentateuch-such as the plentiful rain which refreshed the weary tribes, the publishing by women of some Divine oracle. But on the whole the psalm agrees with the history, making Sinai the scene of the great revelation of God, and indicating the guidance He gave through the wilderness by means of the cloudy pillar. The chants of Moses would be echoed by the people, and would help to maintain the sense of constant relation between the tribes and their unseen Defender.

Through the wilderness Israel went, not knowing from what quarter the sudden raid of a desert people might be made. Swiftly, silently, as if springing out of the very sand, the Arab raiders might bear down upon the travellers. They were assured of the guardianship of Him whose eye never slumbered, when they kept His way and held themselves at His command. Here the resemblance to our case in the journey of life is clear; and we are reminded of our need of defence and the only terms on which we may expect it. We may look for protection against those who are the enemies of God. But we have no warrant for assuming that on whatever errand we are bound we have but to invoke the Divine arm in order to be secure. The dreams of those who think their personal claim on God may always be urged have no countenance in the prayer, “Rise up, O Jehovah, and let Thine enemies be scattered.” And as Israel settling to rest after some weary march could enjoy the sense of Jehovahs presence only if the duties of the day had been patiently done, and the thought of Gods will had made peace in every tribe, and His promise had given courage and hope-so for us, each day will close with the Divine benediction when we have “fought a good fight and kept the faith.” Fidelity there must be; or, if it has failed, the deep repentance that subdues wandering desire and rebellious will, bringing the whole of life anew into the way of lowly service.

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary