Deut. 1:2.

It is truly blessed to find that we can never overreach the limits of the divine Word by attributing the fullest meaning to its every statement. We find this especially evident when we turn to the Old Testament, and find how everything has been so written that we may learn more deeply the plain truths of the New. We can say with assurance that all recorded therein is for our learning, on whom the ends of the ages have come. Let us look then at the verse before us and see what the lesson is that may be in it for us. "There are eleven days journey from Horeb by way of Mount Seir unto Kadesh-barnea." A very simple and apparently insignificant statement.

It is noticeable, at the outset, that the whole of Israel's wilderness journey is comprised of their wanderings from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea. They visited the latter place within the first year of their journeying, returning to it again in the thirty-eighth year. Thus Horeb is the commencement of the journey, and Kadesh-barnea the end. Now this is full of meaning when we consider that the wilderness-way of Israel is a picture of our own pathway through this world.

First, Horeb, the starting point, means "waste," approaching the thought of barrenness. Kadesh-barnea is the "sanctuary of the wanderer." And by way of Mount Seir which means "rugged." We will look at the length of time as we go on. If, as we have said, the journey is a type of our own, how significant that the start is made at Horeb. Was it not with the deep realization of our own absolute barrenness toward God that we first came to Him, acknowledging the "waste" condition that we were in, and bowing to the word of God in its condemning sentence that "there is none righteous, no, not one . . . none that doeth good, no, not one "-all a barren waste to Him who was our God and Judge? Surely this was the starting point of every one of us. But how blessedly full the provision He made for us in this very need. Not the law, with its claims founded on the immutable righteousness of God, which we could never meet. We could only fall under its condemnation, thus shutting us up to what God had in His mind, even "the righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ," which simply means that now our faith is counted for righteousness, and we know the blessedness of the truth of being justified, and having peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Thus not merely are we seen as one with Christ in His death, our judgment borne, and we free from wrath, but we are seen as in Him also in His resurrection. We are out of the old life and its barrenness, and are introduced into the life of new creation, where, as being linked with Him who was raised from the dead, we should bring forth fruit unto God (Rom. 7:4). We are already, as being implanted in this new creation, a kind of first-fruits unto God; but the point is that being this as to our standing, there should be the fruits of this produced in our lives. And this is what we are to go on to.

Horeb, then, thank God, is our starting place, where we have found nothing in ourselves and found our everything in Him.

As we have said, fruitfulness in our lives is what we are to go on to. God has a path for us to tread, in which it is His object to deal with us in such a way as to produce this desired fruit. That path is the way He would lead us through this world, and as surely as Horeb is the starting point, so is Kadesh-barnea the end-"the sanctuary of the wanderer,"- the place of rest and worship for the one who once was nothing more than a wanderer and an outcast from the presence of God. It is the blessed result to be enjoyed now by every one who in heart and soul unreservedly submits himself to the gracious work of the Spirit.

Kadesh-barnea,-do we occasionally visit it, or is it our continual abode? How much it speaks of; it reminds one of the psalmist in the seventy-third psalm. He had been in slippery paths, surveying the prosperity of the wicked. He speaks of how they prosper and are compassed about with pride, speaking loftily, while he is plagued all the day long and chastened every morning. He confesses having been envious of the foolish, when he saw the prosperity of the wicked "until," he says, "I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end." Ah, that is the place for such wanderers as we have been and sometimes still are-the presence of God Himself. And the desire of His heart is that it should be our continual abiding place. Indeed, the whole of His work with us is just to accomplish this very desire of His, a desire which controls every act of His toward us. He gave His only begotten Son to do that great work on the ground of which He can thus act toward us.

I have said that fruit-bearing is what we are to go on to after the start from Horeb, but Kadesh-barnea is the place where we only really begin to be fruitful; the journey that lies between speaks of the disciplinary work which is so absolutely necessary before there is fruitfulness. I do not say, that discipline ends with fruitfulness. We all know how much pruning is required to make a vine bear fruit, but the pruning continues that it may bear more fruit. So with the child of God; how tenderly he is cared for after his first implanting in the True Vine. He is nourished and trained till he bear fruit, and then he is purged that he may bring forth more fruit. It is this first tender nourishment and discipline that it would seem takes place in the journey we have been looking at. And now let us notice the way it is traversed.

It is by way of Mount Seir. Seir means "rugged." Shall we not say we have found it a "rugged " path from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea? "No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous:nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them who are exercised there-by " (Heb. 12:ii). Have we reached this "after-ward," at Kadesh-barnea, beloved? How His grace has come in all along the way in our many falls and stumbles, our wounds bound up, and the peace of Christ ministered afresh to our need. This gives us the character of the way, but let us take note that it is an eleven days journey. This will give us what characterizes the way. Eleven would seem to be six plus five, speaking plainly of discipline, while five speaks of exercise under responsibility which would give to eleven the meaning of God in discipline and man in exercise and responsibility under it. Truly this is what characterizes the Christian's path if he in heart desires to walk with his God.

Have we then properly occupied Kadesh-barnea? Has the path by way of Mount Seir, in the fulness of its eleven days journey, been compassed by us so that we are truly fruitful and in the position to press forward to take possession of our spiritual Canaan? God grant, indeed, that We may learn this lesson in its full worth, and allow the Lord to have His blessed way with us, so that we may be brought to the "sanctuary," the place whence true fruit-bearing flows. J. B. Jr.