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Education of Israel
27
Thus they were taught to cooperate with God and with one another.
And they were to cooperate also in the preparation of the spiritual
building—God’s temple in the soul.
Even before they left Egypt a temporary organization had been
effected, with the people being arranged in companies, under ap-
pointed leaders. At Sinai the arrangements for organization were
completed. The order so strikingly displayed in all the works of God
was manifest in the Hebrew economy. God was the center of author-
ity and government. Moses, as His representative, was to administer
the laws in His name. Then came the council of seventy, next the
priests and the princes. Under these came “leaders of thousands,
leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties, leaders of tens” (
Numbers
11:16, 17
;
Deuteronomy 1:15
), and, finally, officers appointed for
special duties. The camp was arranged in exact order, the tabernacle
as the abiding place of God in the middle, and around it the tents of
the priests and Levites. Outside of these each tribe encamped beside
its own standard.
Thoroughgoing sanitary regulations were enforced. These were
not only necessary to health but were necessary to retain the pres-
ence of the Holy One among them. Moses declared to them, “The
Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you; ...
therefore your camp shall be holy.”
Deuteronomy 23:14
.
The education of the Israelites included all their habits of life.
Everything that concerned their well-being was the subject of divine
solicitude. Even in providing food, God sought their highest good.
The manna with which He fed them was of a nature to promote
physical, mental, and moral strength. Though many of them rebelled
against the restriction of their diet, the wisdom of God’s choice was
vindicated in a manner they could not deny. Notwithstanding the
hardships of their wilderness life, there was not a feeble one in all
their tribes.
In their journeyings the ark containing the law of God was to
lead the way. The place of their encampment was indicated by the
descent of the pillar of cloud. As long as the cloud rested over the
tabernacle, they remained in camp. When it lifted, they continued
their journey. Both the halt and the departure were marked by a
solemn invocation. “So it was, whenever the ark set out, that Moses
[27]
said, ‘Rise up, O Lord! Let Your enemies be scattered.’ ... And when