Hobab\u2014Num_10:29-32<\/p>\n
Seeing that Israel in the wilderness is to be regarded as a type of the church of God in its pilgrim state, and Canaan of that rest which remaineth for the people of God\u2014the devout mind cannot but reflect with peculiar interest upon the striking words which Moses addressed to his brother-in-law, Hobab, to induce him to cast in his lot with the chosen people: \u201cWe 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.\u201d Every word of this deserves most attentive consideration, and is in the highest degree suggestive of comfortable and encouraging thought. We feel that we are in the place of Hobab\u2014that it is we ourselves to whom this invitation is given\u2014that it is we ourselves to whom these inducements are held out. It is one of a thousand passages in the Pentateuch which open the heart and set the mind to work in such a manner as might convince us\u2014if only by that \u201cintuition\u201d of which we now-a-days hear so much\u2014that the law was indeed, in more ways than one, \u201ca shadow of good things to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moses first states where Israel is going, and whither he invites Hobab to go. How does he assure him that he is able to give him a home in that land? He does not point to the numbers and the strength of Israel, or expatiate upon their resolution to conquer the land flowing with milk and honey. He gives him better ground of confidence\u2014he tells him that the Lord had promised to give it. That is all. And it is highly honorable to Hobab, that Moses felt he would be, as he knew he ought to be, satisfied with that reason. He was satisfied, for he went\u2014and although the thirty-nine years of wandering which followed, were unexpectedly interposed between him and the fulfillment of his expectation, and might seem to cancel the engagement\u2014he persevered to the last, and entered with Israel the promised land; in which we find his descendants settled\u2014Jdg_4:11. The case is, to the letter, parallel with our own. The same considerations are presented to us. Our hope has no other tenure than that of Hobab. It is not by any works or worthiness of theirs that we feel our Canaan opened to those with whom we have cast in our lot. Put God has said he will give it to them. If our expectation had any other foundation than this promise, anxious and terrible would be our wilderness way. If it rested with ourselves only, there is not a day of our pilgrimage which would not leave us in peril of losing that heritage; but now we can rest secure\u2014rest in perfect peace under the shadow of the covenant, knowing that the promised land is secured, by every pledge that the God of love can give, to all upon whom, in token of their citizenship, Christ has written his new name. Let us not, therefore, be more distrustful than Hobab. Let us believe with him that although the way to that land, through this \u201cwaste howling wilderness,\u201d be winding and trying\u2014though it be much longer than we thought\u2014and may tempt us sometimes, in the language of hope deferred, to cry, \u201cHow long, O Lord, how long?\u201d yet it is safe; it is really short: and when we stand on the brink of our Jordan, and are about to pass into our promised land, the way which the Lord our God hath led us these forty years, will be seen to have been not wanting in precious remembrances, or destitute of wilderness privileges. We shall know that the cloudy pillar has been our guide\u2014that we have been fed on manna\u2014that we have drunk of the smitten rock\u2014that with us has been the tabernacle\u2014with us the ark\u2014and that amid all our cares and trials, the glory of the Lord has remained fixed upon the mercy-seat.<\/p>\n
With this assurance before him, Moses cordially invites Hobab to come. He does not appeal to his kindness, to his good feeling, to his friendship. He takes higher ground. He speaks as one who has rich inducements to offer. He tells him to come for his own sake\u2014\u201cCome with us, for we will do thee good.\u201d Moses was not a beggar to receive boons; but a prince\u2014\u201ca prince of God\u201d\u2014to bestow them. He offers the inducement of good, great good, to the man whom he invites to accompany him\u2014one near to him, one whose society he had daily enjoyed while he abode in the tents of Midian, and whose interests were, therefore, no doubt, very dear to him. He would not have deceived him on any account, or have held out to him expectations, the fulfillment of which he doubted. For this good, Hobab had not altogether to wait for forty years. He realized much of it even in the wilderness\u2014more, probably, than he could have enjoyed among his own people, and in his own land. It was good\u2014it did him good\u2014to be among a people under God\u2019s special covenant, to the privileges of which he was no doubt admitted. There were those around him with whom he might daily take sweet counsel in the things of God. That was good. He had opportunities unattainable elsewhere of realizing the presence of God among his people. That was good\u2014that was a precious privilege to him. The air he breathed, the sights he saw every day\u2014the sounds he heard\u2014all had God in them\u2014all were full of God. And that was very good for him; it tended\u2014all tended\u2014to build up his faith\u2014to cheer his heart\u2014to keep him from being \u201cdiscouraged because of the way.\u201d We need not apply this. It is applied, even by the terms in which it is expressed. It is very far better to be a doorkeeper in the house of God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness; and in the conviction of the high privileges which belong to their condition, the people of God may freely and confidently say to those who go with them, that it shall be good for them\u2014good for them in the wilderness\u2014and good for them in the promised land.<\/p>\n
We have the same ground of confidence, and the same authority that Moses had. We have no other: \u201cFor the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel.\u201d What is there of possible good which the Lord has not spoken concerning his people? all of which, by the pledge of his sacred word, is theirs now, and theirs hereafter You may open the Book of God at Genesis, and turn it over to Revelation, finding in every one of its leaves some precious promise of good, some high encouragement, some holy hope. Yet even this fails to convey the sum of all the blessings and privileges which belong of right to those who have been enabled to choose their \u201cbetter part\u201d with the people of God. Now God, to be heard of man, must speak in language that man can understand\u2014and human language fails to express, human thought to grasp, the large amount, the unutterable, inconceivable sum of all the blessedness which is theirs, and shall be theirs for ever. \u201cIt is written, Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.\u201d\u20141Co_2:9. Yet it is added, that God may reveal them to us by his Spirit\u2014that Spirit which bears witness with our spirits that we are the sons of God, and as such are entitled to all the blessings of his house and of his kingdom. No more, then, are we aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenant of promise\u2014no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God. Note: Eph_2:12; Eph_2:19.] From this household will God withhold no good thing; Note: Psa_84:11.] and every member of it shall \u201cdwell on high; his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his water shall be sure; his eyes shall see the king in his beauty, they shall behold the land that is very far off.\u201d Note: Isa_33:15-17.] We shall then have right to that tree of life, Note: Rev_22:14.] which was protected from the grasp of man, by the glittering swords of the cherubim, when he fell. In view of these things well may we cry, \u201cO! how great is the goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee, which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!\u201d Note: Psa_31:19-20.]<\/p>\n
Autor: JOHN KITTO<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hobab\u2014Num_10:29-32 Seeing that Israel in the wilderness is to be regarded as a type of the church of God in its pilgrim state, and Canaan of that rest which remaineth for the people of God\u2014the devout mind cannot but reflect with peculiar interest upon the striking words which Moses addressed to his brother-in-law, Hobab, to … Continue reading ““140. HOBAB\u2014NUMBERS 10:29-32””<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16492\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}