Numbers 10:29-32 And Moses said to Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite, Moses' father in law, We are journeying to the place of which the LORD said… I. THY PLACE SPOKEN OF IN THE TEXT IS CANAAN, a type of heaven, that far-distant but better country which all the Israel of God have ever regarded as the scene of their blessedness and their home. 1. A much-wished-forplace. 2. A promised place. 3. The free gift of God. II. THE CONDUCT OF THE CHRISTIAN WITH REGARD TO THIS PLACE. It is evident that this heavenly country has little or no influence on mankind in general. We profess to believe that there is such a land somewhere in the universe, but we think and act just as though it could nowhere be found. If heaven were to be blotted out from the creation, or if an impassable gulf were to be fixed between it and the earth, our dispositions, our affections, and our conduct, would, in too many instances, remain the same as they are now. But this promised land has a real and abiding influence on the people of God. They seek it; they travel towards it. 1. To be journeying to heaven implies an actual entrance into the path which leads to it. 2. To be journeying to heaven implies also perseverance in seeking it. 3. We are warranted to infer that if we are journeying to heaven, we have not only kept in the road which leads to heaven, but have actually made a progress in it; that, instead of declining we are growing in grace; that we are gradually becoming more and more meet to be partakers of heaven, the nearer we draw to it. 4. There is implied also in journeying to the heavenly Canaan, a fixed determination to arrive there. The expression intimates decision of character; a willingness to sacrifice everything, so that the soul may be saved and heaven won. III. In thus prosecuting his journey to heaven, it is evident that THE CHRISTIAN MUST NECESSARILY SEPARATE HIMSELF FROM MANY OF HIS BRETHREN, with whom he would otherwise have contentedly associated. But although he is constrained by the command of his God and the very nature of the work in which he is engaged, to come out from among the ungodly, he does not consider himself as unconnected with them, nor does he cease to regard them as brethren. 1. If we regard this invitation as the advice of the Christian traveller to his fellow-sinners around him, it implies that be has a sincere and earnest desire to bring them into the path of heaven, which he has himself entered. 2. The invitation of Moses intimates also that the Christian is tenderly concerned for the spiritual welfare of his fellow-travellers, as well as for the repentance and salvation of the wandering sinner. 3. We may infer, lastly, from this invitation, that if we would ever reach the kingdom of God, we must join ourselves now to the people of God. (C. Bradley, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite, Moses' father in law, We are journeying unto the place of which the LORD said, I will give it you: come thou with us, and we will do thee good: for the LORD hath spoken good concerning Israel. |
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