The Last Counsels of Moses by Clarence Santee

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 4, 1913

The Last Counsels of Moses

By Clarence Santee

From Egypt to Canaan

The Last Counsels of Moses

In the last words of a man who has had long communion with God there is something akin to prophetic vision. By long acquaintance a man becomes able to represent his friend though that friend may be absent. So it is with the man of God. Jacob, when he came to die, as he recounted to his sons, now men of mature years, their failures of the past, caused by unrestrained wills, looked forward and with prophetic foresight told them what the results would mean to their future generations. Genesis 49.

Balaam, after receiving two injunctions from the Lord to only bless Israel, returned not the third time to ask of God, but set his face toward Israel, and, as the Spirit of God rested upon him for the last time, his face lighted, the lines which cruel avarice had traced there, softened or departed, and his lips, which so soon would counsel a means for the destruction of Israel (Num. 31: 16), were also for the last time opened with the most sublime utterances of the loving care of God, and the ultimate greatness of Israel under the sway of the one who, as the "Star out of Jacob," was to "have dominion." Num. 24: 17-19.

Moses had long and faithfully carried the burdens the Lord had placed upon him. He was soon to be taken from Israel, and his great heart of love yearned over this wayward people. He had been deeply tried when Korah, a prominent Levite, Moses' own cousin, one of the men who went with him into the mount and beheld the glory of God ("Patriarchs and Prophets," page 395; Ex. 24: 9, 10), had led in a conspiracy to take the reins of government, and thus thwart the plans of God. Moses saw this loved relative, eternally lost, with all that he had, drop into the opening earth. Num. 16: 31-33.

When refused passageway through Edom, all the host had wearily journeyed by the way of Mt. Hor. Here another trial awaited Moses. Aaron, though never a strong aid because of his vacillating character, was to die. He was a true man at heart, and God called him "the saint of the Lord." Ps. 106: 16. His counsel and presence had been prized by Moses, but from Hor he must lead Israel alone. This had been God's plan at the first, but when Moses was unwilling to take the responsibility, God had given him Aaron. Ex. 4: 14-16.

From Mt. Hor they journeyed through that terrible wilderness where their trials came to a climax. They were "much discouraged because of the way." Num. 21: 4. In the place of our greatest trials the Lord always sets up a monument of his love, to which we can look back with assurance and renewed courage. It was so here. When, added to all their distresses, deadly serpents appeared in great numbers, bringing death to all that were bitten, their cup was full. God instructed Moses to make a brazen serpent and place it upon a pole, sending word from tent to tent, to all that were bitten, to look and live. Num. 21: 8, 9. Our Saviour referred to this as a type of his own offering on the cross. John 3: 14, 15. The message was, in both cases, Look and live. No human knowledge could invent a remedy. But the power of faith, even though but enough to turn the eye, wrought peace and health.

How precious the antitype! Poisoned with sin, helpless, defiled, with no escape, no remedy known to man that can deliver from death,—in this condition we hear the glad news carried from home to home, Look and live. And to every one who will turn the eye of faith, there come hope and healing, "beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." Isa. 61: 3. In the most discouraging part of the way to Canaan, they found the most encouraging promise of life through the cross.

Moses also taught them one of his last lessons of faith in Christ, through the appointing of "cities of refuge." He well knew the bitter, unrelenting spirit that dwelt in the bosoms of the unconverted in Israel, and if left to themselves, how little mercy an unfortunate person would receive at their hands. Under the counsel of God he made provision for these by appointing cities to which they could flee from the avenger. This is recorded in Num. 35: 10-15, 24-28.

In the land of their possession they were to set apart "cities of refuge," that any one who had slain a person by accident, might flee to them from the avenger. The avenger had no liberty to slay the person, man or woman, who at once set out for the city. There must be time given for the person to reach the place, "that the manslayer die not, until he stand before the congregation in judgment." Num. 35: 12. If there was delay, it might be fatal. These cities were not for the tribes of literal Israel alone, but also "for the stranger, and for the sojourner among them." Verse 15. This provision for life was for "every one."

The people of Israel were to tell the stranger, upon his entering their borders, of these cities, the way to them, and the danger in delay after having, even by accident, been the cause of death. Lev. 19: 34. The sojourner even for a night, was to be told of the precious provision. Not one of any nation was to be slain by the avenger until he had the privilege, or choice, of standing for safety in that city, and there the judges were to declare him free from guilt. Num. 35: 12, 15.

"These things were our examples." They happened for "ensamples," and were "written for our admonition." 1 Cor. 10: 6, 11. We must, then, learn the lesson. To the two on the way to Emmaus, Christ, "beginning at Moses and all the prophets, . . . expounded unto them in all the Scriptures [the Old Testament] the things concerning himself." Luke 24: 27. He told them of the brazen serpent, of the city of refuge, the two sparrows, the blood of the day of atonement. All centered in himself. He is the city of refuge. 2 Sam. 22: 3. The manslayer can come to him and find rest from the avenger, who, like "a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." 1 Peter 5: 8. But to these strangers in the way, it rests upon every true Israelite to tell of the city of refuge, the way to it, and the danger in delay. All have sinned, and "the wages of sin is death." Rom. 6: 23. Then we are all guilty of death, and must avail ourselves of the merciful provision or perish. Back there, as they stood in the city of refuge, before the judges in judgment, they were pronounced free from the avenger. So also is the sinner who has fled to Christ, as he stands in the judgment, before the judges, pronounced free from the one who, as the avenger, claims the life.

As Moses closed his instructions to Israel, near the borders of Canaan, his weary, eventful journey ended, all the bitterness shown him, the false accusations, the clamor for his life at times,—all these were forgotten, and his love burst forth in the most eloquent strains of rapturous adoration and benediction, the grandest conceptions of God and his loving care, ever framed in language by mortals. The thirty-third chapter of Deuteronomy will not only thrill the heart of every true Israelite, but will call forth a responding chord.

"Yea, he loved the people; all his saints are in thy hand." "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms." "Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord!" Deut. 33: 3, 27, 29.

Loma Linda, Cal.