 |  |
#85.
Numbers 11: - 14:
"These things are examples, to the intent
we should not lust after evil things" (I Cor. 10: 6).
pp. 202 - 208
It is one thing to perceive glimpses of truth--and for the smallest ray of light how can
we be too thankful--it is quite another matter to so perceive the trend of a passage as to
receive illumination, both upon detail and upon the general scope. While we most
gratefully seize upon the veriest crumbs of doctrine or practical teaching which we may
receive from such a book as the book of Numbers, readers of The Berean Expositor will
feel, somehow, that unless we can get larger views than just a survey of a few verses, we
shall probably miss many essential points.
As we turn the pages of Numb. 11:, 12: and 13: onward, the task seems too great to
be able to discern order and design in such a wealth of detail and such a mass of
description. Yet the words of Numb. 11: 23: "Is the Lord's hand waxed short?" is a
challenge to faith, and consequently, before we proceed with our study of Numb. 12: we
seek for light upon the scope of this section. And first where does the section that
commences at chapter 11: end? We read on until we arrive at the close of chapter 14:
to find that chapter 15: opens with laws that were to be enforced when the people
entered the land. This evidently marks a dividing line for us. It would be good discipline
for us all if we had time and space to take the reader step by step through the intervening
chapters so that the discovery of the underlying unity should be received as a gift from
the Lord, and not, as we fear it will appear, as a matter of course. The structure or the
scope of a passage is of the first importance.
Quoting from the opening chapter of the book: "The Foundations of Dispensational
Truth" by the late E. W. Bullinger, D.D., we read:--
"There is one great foundation principle in the science of LOGIC which will meet all
the difficulties, if we are careful to observe it. It is this: We cannot reason from the
particular to the general. The difficulties experienced by some of our readers are due to
the fact that they arise from a consideration of only parts of the truth. To find the answer
to them, it is vain to continue the discussion of them as separate difficult points: we
mean difficulties connected with the earlier Pauline Epistles written before Acts 28:,
such as ordinances, the one body of I Cor. 12: or the spiritual gifts of I Cor. 13:, 14:,
etc."
These words may help our readers to appreciate any light that can be cast upon the
scope of a passage, so that we may reason from the general to the particular, which is of
course the only true way.
A strictly literary structure is too vast an undertaking, but the following synopsis will
make it clear that a purpose runs through the record of Israel's murmurings, and to see
that will suffice:--