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the wilderness. There, when the dreadful experiences of the Passover and the Red Sea
were things of the past, they remembered "the flesh pots" and "bread to the full" (16: 3).
"We remember (said they) the fish which we did eat in Egypt gratuitously; the
cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and garlick" (Numb. 11: 5).
That is what they "remembered", six items! They soon forgot the wonders of their
deliverance and the bitterness of their bondage. Therefore added to the unleavened bread
was "bitter herbs", "bitterness" as the Hebrew really is. God it is that appoints the
bitterness of the pilgrim's path. Israel met it at the beginning of their wilderness
experience, and the first stage of their journey is named Marah, or Bitter.
Let us accept these indications without murmuring, for they are sent in love to wean
us from the flesh pots of Egypt, and to remind us of the bitterness of our former bondage.
May we all rejoice in the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, and experimentally realize
the place and importance of the feast of the unleavened bread.
#46.
The Great Mixture (Exod. 12: 37, 38).
pp. 116 - 118
We have seen the emphasis which the close association of the unleavened bread with
the Passover lamb gives to the fact that redemption must always be manifested by
separation from evil: that those who are "called saints" should act as "becometh saints";
that those who are "unleavened" should put away the "leaven of malice and wickedness".
This is the ideal, and nothing lower than this can have the sanction of the Word. The
Scripture, however, reveals the fact which everywhere presses upon us to-day, that the
meaning and truth of the unleavened bread is not practically realized.
"And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred
thousand on foot that were men, beside children. And a mixed multitude went up also
with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle" (12: 37, 38).
When Moses stood before Pharaoh he demanded that not only should the men go, but
said he:--
"We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters,
with our flocks and with our herds we will go" (10: 9).
When the exodus actually took place it is found that in between the "men and the
children" and their "flocks and herds", is "a mixed multitude also", or as the margin reads
"a great mixture". The effect of this mixture is seen in Num. 11: 4: "And the mixt
multitude that was among them fell a-lusting": that is what we might expect. There is
however a sad echo of the "also" of Exod. 12: 38, for Numb. 11: 4 continues:--
"And the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to
eat? . . . . . there is nothing at all, beside this manna before our eyes."