you. 46 So ye abode in Kadesh many days, according unto the days that ye abode there. Deuteronomy ii.-14 And the space in which we came from Kadesh-barnea, until we were come over the brook Zered, was thirty and eight years; until all the generation of the men of war were wasted out from among the host, as the Lord sware unto them. 15 For indeed the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from among the host, until they were consumed. Note. - Wayward and self-willed prayer, however earnest, will not be regarded by God; or if in any measure granted, it will be for the punishment of those who so wilfully importune God. Moses for leave to enter Canaan. Refused. Deuteronomy iii.-23 And I besought the Lord at that time, saying, 24 O Lord God, thou hast begun to shew thy servant thy greatness, and thy mighty hand for what God is there in heaven or in earth that can do according to thy works, and according to thy might? 25 I pray thee, let me go over and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon. 26 But the Lord was wroth with me for your sakes, and would not hear me: and the Lord said unto me, Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto me of this matter. 27 Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold it with thine eyes: for thou shalt not go over this Jordan. Note.-There be some blessings that God's people by their sins forfeit beyond recal, and the loss of which causes them much sorrow. But a gracious loving God makes up the loss by giving them better things. Moses when the Israelites made the golden calf. Answered immediately. Deuteronomy ix.-17 And I took the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and brake them before your eyes. 18 And I fell down before the Lord, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I did neither eat bread nor drink water, because of all your sins, which ye sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger. 19 (For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure wherewith the Lord was wroth against you to destroy you). But the Lord hearkened unto me at that time also. Note.-Moses combined tender compassion for the offending Israelites, with a keen sense of what was due to the honour and glory of God. Let the same mind be in us. Moses for Aaron. Answered immediately. Deuteronomy ix.-20 And the Lord was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed him and I prayed for Aaron also the same time. Note. We are permitted to pray for those even with. whom the Lord is very angry! Moses for the Israelites. Answered. Deuteronomy ix.-24 Ye have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you. 25 Thus I fell down before the Lord forty days and forty nights, as I fell down at the first; because the Lord had said he would destroy you. 26 I prayed therefore unto the Lord and said, O Lord God, destroy not thy people, and thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 27 Remember thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; look not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin; 28 Lest the land whence thou broughtest us out say, Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land which he promised them, and because he hated them, he hath brought them out to slay them in the wilderness. 29 Yet they are thy people, and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest out by thy mighty power, and by thy stretched-out arm. Note.-Little do the ungodly think how much they are indebted to the prayers of God's children,—the ungodly nation, community, family, individual! What would have become of the Israelites, but for the prayers of Moses! Moses for the Israelites. Answered. Deuteronomy x-10 And I stayed in the mount, according to the first time, forty days and forty nights; and the Lord hearkened unto me at that time also, and the Lord would not destroy thee. The Elders to put away the guilt of blood. Answered. Deuteronomy xxi.—6 And all the elders of that city, that are next unto the slain man, shall wash their D hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley : 7 And they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it. 8 Be merciful, O Lord, unto thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto thy people of Israel's charge. And the blood shall be forgiven them. 9 So shalt thou put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the Lord. Note. Happy they who can appeal to God who knoweth all things, that they are guiltless of the crime laid to their charge! Here we have a prayer prescribed by God, to be used in certain circumstances, -proof, surely, of God's approval of prayer. Israel at tithing time. Answered. Deuteronomy xxvi.-12 When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thine increase the third year, which is the year of tithing, and hast given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled; 13 Then thou shalt say before the Lord thy God, I have brought away the hallowed things out of mine house, and also have given them unto the Levite, and unto the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all thy commandments which thou hast commanded me: I have not transgressed thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them. 14 I have not eaten thereof in my mourning, neither have I taken away ought thereof for any unclean use, nor given ought thereof for the dead: but I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord my God, and have done according to all that thou hast commanded me. 15 Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the land which thou hast given us, as thou swarest unto our fathers, a land that floweth with milk and honey. Note. Let us study so to perform all commanded duty as to be able to appeal to God that we desired and endeavoured to do every thing in accordance with his will. : Jacob for his son Judah. Answered. Deuteronomy xxxiii.—7 And this is the blessing of Judah and he said, Hear, Lord, the voice of Judah, and bring him unto his people: let his hands be sufficient for him ; and be thou an help to him from his enemies. : Jacob for his son Levi. Deuteronomy xxxiii.-8 And of Levi he said, Let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy holy one, whom thou didst prove at Massah, and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah; 9 who said unto his father, and to his mother, I have not seen him neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor knew his own children: for they have observed thy word, and kept thy covenant. 10 They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law: they shall put incense before thee, and whole burnt-sacrifice upon thine altar. 11 Bless, Lord, his substance, and accept the work of his hands: smite through the loin of them that rise against him, and of them that hate him, that they rise not again. |