A Discourse Concerning Meekness and Quietness of Spirit by Matthew Henry

Author:Matthew Henry
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Classic Literature
ISBN: 9781140701491
Publisher: BiblioBazaar
Published: 2010-05-14T22:00:00+00:00

the wilderness;" but as if all the mutinies of murmuring Israel were too little to try the meekness of Moses, his own brother and sister, and those of no less a figure than Miriam the prophetess, and Aaron the saint of the Lord, quarrel with him, speak against him, envy his honor, reproach his marriage, and are ready to head a rebellion against him. God heard this, and was angry; Num. 12 : 2, 9; but Moses, though he had reason enough to resent it wrathfully, was not at all moved by it, took no notice of it, made no complaint to God, no answer to them, and we do not find one word that he said, till we find him praying heartily for his provoking sister, who was then under the tokens of God's displeasure for the afl[ront she gave him. The less a man strives for himself, the more is God engaged in honor and faithfulness to appear for him. When Christ said, " I seek not mine own glory," he presently added, *' but there is one that seeketh and judgeth." And it Avas upon this occasion that Moses obtained this good report, ** He was the meekest of all the men on the earth/' *' No man," says bishop Hall, " could have given greater proofs of courage than Moses. He slew the Egyptian, beat the Midianite shepherds, confronted Pharaoh in his own court, not fearing the wrath of the king; he durst look God in the face amidst all the terrors of mount Sinai, and draw near to the thick darkness where God was; and yet that Spirit which made and knew his heart, saith he was the

meekest, mildest man upon the earth. Mildness and fortitude maj?- well lodge together in the same breast, which corrects the mistake of those that will allow none valiant but the fierce."

The meekness of Moses qualified him to be a magistrate, especially to be king in Jeshurun, among a people so very provoking that they gave him occasion to use all the meekness he had, and all little enough to bear their manners in the wilderness. When they murmured against him, quarreled with him, arraigned his authorit}'-, and were sometimes ready to stone him, he resented these provocations with very little of personal application or concern ; but instead of using his interest in heaven to summon plagues upon them, he made it his business to stand in the gap, and, by his intercession for them, to turn away the wrath of God from them; and this not once or twice only, but many times.

And yet we must observe that, though Moses was the meekest man in the world, yet, when God's honor and glory were concerned, no one was more warm and zealous: witness his resentment of the golden calf, when, in a holy indignation at that abominable iniquity, he deliberately broke the tables. And when Korah and his cmv invaded the priest's office, Moses, in a pious wrath, said unto the Lord, *' Respect not thou their offering.

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