334
Patriarchs and Prophets
causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every
man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him. Ye shall not
respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the
great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is
God’s.”
Deuteronomy 1:16, 17
.
Moses now summoned the seventy to the tabernacle. “And the
Lord came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the
spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders: and it
came to pass, that, when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied,
and did not cease.” Like the disciples on the Day of Pentecost, they
were endued with “power from on high.” It pleased the Lord thus to
prepare them for their work, and to honor them in the presence of the
congregation, that confidence might be established in them as men
divinely chosen to unite with Moses in the government of Israel.
Again evidence was given of the lofty, unselfish spirit of the great
leader. Two of the seventy, humbly counting themselves unworthy of
so responsible a position, had not joined their brethren at the tabernacle;
but the Spirit of God came upon them where they were, and they, too,
exercised the prophetic gift. On being informed of this, Joshua desired
to check such irregularity, fearing that it might tend to division. Jealous
for the honor of his master, “My lord Moses,” he said, “forbid them.”
[382]
The answer was, “Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the
Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put His Spirit
upon them.”
A strong wind blowing from the sea now brought flocks of quails,
“about a day’s journey on this side, and a day’s journey on the other
side, round about the camp, and about two cubits above the face of the
earth.”
Numbers 11:31
, R.V. All that day and night, and the following
day, the people labored in gathering the food miraculously provided.
Immense quantities were secured. “He that gathered least gathered
ten homers.” All that was not needed for present use was preserved
by drying, so that the supply, as promised, was sufficient for a whole
month.
God gave the people that which was not for their highest good,
because they persisted in desiring it; they would not be satisfied with
those things that would prove a benefit to them. Their rebellious
desires were gratified, but they were left to suffer the result. They
feasted without restraint, and their excesses were speedily punished.