Numbers 11:29

THE MAGNANIMOUS LEADER

‘And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets!’

Numbers 11:29

Eldad and Medad seem instances of unlicensed preaching and prophesying; and this, at a time of scanty knowledge and rare spiritual illumination, was not without its dangers. So thought Joshua, and, jealous for Moses’ supremacy, besought him to rebuke them. But the great prophet, wholly wanting in the thought of self, rebuked Joshua instead. ‘Enviest thou,’ he said, ‘for my sake?’ and then added, in words of noble hyperbole, ‘Would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets!’

I. The first thought that occurs to us in reading this scene is the good, felt by the greatest, of zeal and enthusiasm.—And the second is, how to discover it, how to encourage it in God’s service. But then comes the further question, Have these men the prophet’s capacity? Have they that primary want, the prophet’s faith? Have they fire, perseverance, and courage? (1) The prophet’s faith. Take away from the prophet this faith in the living God, speaking to him, teaching him, encouraging him, in the midst of life’s sorrows and temptations, and he is nothing. Give him that belief, and his confidence, his courage, is unshaken. (2) There is the prophet’s belief in the moral order underlying the established order of things, as the only safe and sure foundation on which peace and prosperity in a nation can be built.

II. The prophetic message, however varied its tone, however startling its communication, is always in substance, as of old, the same: ‘He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?’

III. ‘Would that the people of the Lord were all prophets!’—Would that we had all more of the fire of enthusiasm, leading us to go forth and act, and learn in acting, not waiting till we have solved all doubts or perfected some scheme of action!

IV. Zeal may often make mistakes, but it is better than no zeal.—Truth is not merely correctness, accuracy, the absence of error, nor even the knowledge of the laws of nature. It is also the recognition of the moral and spiritual bases of life, and the desire to promote and teach these among men.

Rev. A. G. Butler.

Illustration

(1) ‘Though man breaks down under the weight of responsibility, God does not. He bore Moses and the people in his strong loving arms, and carried them all in the days of old. He supplied them with the food they craved, and touched with a Divine fire the men whom He had chosen to aid his servant. Oh, that that sacred fire might again descend, not only on those who gather for special service, but on those who remain in the camp of the home or the daily business, that so all the Lord’s servants might be prophets! No man of God, who was truly such, could be other than glad if that were so.’

(2) ‘God knew how broken Moses was in body and spirit—what had been the strain of the last two years. He had no word of rebuke for His complaining, fainting servant. He saw he needed human support and sympathy, as well as Divine, and so appointed and equipped the seventy Elders as his assistants. Faithful but lonely and downcast heart, tell Him all—all thy complaint. He is most gracious and tender, and will not fail to understand and help.’