2825.—The Character of Moses.
By Editor
I was recently asked what kind of a man Moses was, and I answered he was a very godly man and faithful in all his house. I was referred to Num. 31:13-17 and to 2 Kings 10. 2 Kings 10 has really nothing to do with Moses; that simply records the utterly rash acts of Jehu. Some of his work was certainly in harmony with the Lord's plan concerning Israel; namely, the wiping out of the worship of Baal, that which was corrupting and destroying the whole nation, but there was certainly altogether too much of Jehu in it, as was shown in his after life. The Lord permits us to learn some of these things of ourselves. The order given by Moses in Numbers 31, considered in the light of conditions at that time, puts a different face upon the matter. Midian deliberately planned through lewd women to destroy the nation of Israel and bring God's wrath upon them. They so deliberately plotted to do this that the leaders among them were willing to commit the worst of sins right in the open. See Numbers 25. When a nation had come to that condition it was the greatest kind of divine mercy to destroy it. It would only bring thousands of others into the world to follow in the same course. Certainly it would be mercy to save future generations from such a training as that. If we will look upon it in this light that the order of Moses was not of his seeking, but one which was directed by the Lord Himself, not only to save unborn generations from punishment, but to save His whole nation of Israel from destruction, the matter will look altogether different. There are those who make no pretensions to religion at all that can see the grandeur and greatness of Moses. This is illustrated in the list of names which have been given at different times by secular papers noting the great characters of the ages. Almost invariably you will find Moses placed as one of the greatest. All the thinkers of the world know this to be the case. Israel was not perfect by any means; God has impartially revealed the sins of the great and the small; but Israel and its laws were a thousand times better than the nations and the laws of the nations around them. God was doing the best He could with poor, fallen humanity. It is not for us to question His means when we know so little of the circumstances.