p. 101 | Untitled article

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Third-day, January 28, 1868

Scripture Notes.

THE GRAPES OF PALESTINE.

Num. xiii, 23. And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs.

Many who have visited Palestine, affirm to have seen clusters of grapes of from 10 to 12 lbs. weight, and of the length of a half or even a whole ell; the grapes themselves are sometimes as large as two joints of the finger;—Rosenm. Paul Lucas saw, at Damascus, bunches weighing 45 lbs. I, myself, once cut down a bunch of grapes nearly 20 lbs. in weight. The Egyptian grape is very small.—Dr. A. Clarke.

TWENTY-SIX GENERATIONS.

Chap. xxi, 33. And they turned and went up by the way of Bashan; and Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he, and all his people, to the battle at Edrei.

Sihon and Og were conquered, A. M. 2553; of the life of Moses, 120, from the Exodus 40. It was now 26 generations from the creation; or from Adam to Moses; and accordingly, Ps. cxxxvi rehearses the durableness of God’s mercy 26 times over, beginning at the creation, and ending in the conquest over Sihon and Og. The numerals of the name Jehovah amount to the sum of 26.—Lightfoot.

THE ERROR OF BALAAM.

Chap. xxii, 18, 19. And Balaam answered and said unto the servants of Balak, If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more. Now therefore, I pray you, tarry ye also here this night, that I may know what the Lord will say unto me more.

The state of Balaam’s mind was this: He wanted to do what he knew to be very wicked, and contrary to the express command of God; he had inward checks and restraints which he could not entirely get over; he therefore cast about for ways to reconcile this wickedness to his duty. How great a paradox soever this may appear, as it is indeed a contradiction in terms, it is the very account which the Scripture gives of him.—Bp. Butler.

“MURDER WILL OUT.”

Chap. xxxii, 23. But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the Lord: and be sure your sin will find you out.

Be sure your sin will find you out.] It would be unpardonable not to apply to other cases this admirably just expression of Moses; let it be done here in the words of a powerful writer. The guilty soul cannot keep its own secret. It is false to itself, or rather it feels an irresistible impulse to be true to itself. It labors under its guilty possession, and knows not what to do with it. The human heart was not made for the residence of such an inhabitant. It finds itself preyed on by a torment, which it does not acknowledge to God or man. A vulture is devouring it, and it can ask no sympathy or assistance, either from heaven or earth. The secret [the murderer] possesses, soon comes to possess him; and like evil spirits of which we read, it overcomes him, and leads him whithersoever it will. He feels it beating at his heart, rising to his throat, and demanding disclosure. He thinks the whole world sees it in his face, reads it in his eyes, and almost hears its workings in the very silence of his thoughts. It has become his master. It betrays his discretion, it breaks down his courage, it conquers his prudence. When suspicions from without begin to embarrass him, and the net of circumstances to entangle him, the fatal secret struggles with still greater violence to burst forth. It must be confessed, it will be confessed, there is no refuge from confession but suicide, and suicide is confession.—D. Webster.