(Num. 21:17.)

Substance of an address delivered in Boston, Dec. 25th 1912, by J. B. J.

'The book of Numbers has been well called "The J. Pilgrim's Guide Book," since it gives an account of the passage of the children of Israel through the wilderness; and what gives the account such immense practical importance to ourselves, is the fact that " all these things happened unto them for types" (i Cor. 10:11). Not only are they recorded for our admonition, but they "'happened" for us.

Wells in Scripture commonly have names, and the name has, of course, its own significance, it being always given in connection with some event which happened at the time:as, for example, Beer-sheba ("well of the oath"), named in connection with the oath between Abraham and Abimelech. But here is a well without a name, the word "Beer " being simply the Hebrew word for well. The well was not there when the people came to the place, for "the princes digged the well . . . with their staves" (ver. 18).

We may note with profit how they reached this well. In verses 7 to 9 we have a distinct turning point in their history:They had been murmuring against God, and against their divinely appointed leader:now they come in confession and prayer, and the remedy is provided; which remedy is in John 3:14 interpreted for us as the cross:for "as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up." When this point is reached there is marked progress; and it is safe to
say if we were more in the presence of that cross, more consciously under the power of it as measuring our utter bankruptcy before God, and as at the same time measuring the grace of God which has more than met our need, we Foo should make marked progress. It is indeed the heart and center of all Christian progress.

The first stage reached before this is "Oboth," and Oboth means "water-skins, "or bottles, in which water was carried when on a journey. They have not reached the well yet, but they have at least vessels in which water may be carried when they reach it. 2 Cor. 5:17 tells us that these "water-skins" are the new man in Christ Jesus-that new man who can now drink the waters of resurrection. The skin can be obtained only by the death of the animal, so that death and resurrection are forcibly brought before us here in these water-skins. The next stage of the journey is " Ije-abarim," which means "the heaps of the crossed over." "Abarim" is the masculine plural of "abar," which means "to cross over." The word "Hebrew"comes from that same root. In Joshua 24:2,3 we read:'' Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor; and they served other gods. And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood."

Abraham '' crossed over." No doubt others crossed the river besides Abraham, perhaps before Abraham, but Abraham crossed it over in the obedience of faith -at the command of the Lord who had said, "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee" (Gen. 12). His having "crossed over" meant a clean-cut separation from all with which he had been identified before:so that the people of the land, as well as his own kindred, might have said," He is no longer one of us; he does not live as we do; he does not worship what we do, nor is he seeking a place here among us; he seems to have interests in some foreign city which we know not, for he takes none in any of ours." They do not know the secret, but they know he has "crossed over," and in this way he gains from them the title of "Abram the Hebrew" (Gen. 14:13), which remains stamped upon the nation of which he was the father.

In the same way Christians got their title from the unbelieving people at Antioch (Acts 11:26). It means "of Christ," "derived from" or "associated with Christ." It was as much as to say, "These people are no longer of us; they do not live as we do; we find them no more at our revelries or our games; they speak of Christ as of one in whom they have found such profound satisfaction that they call all our enjoyments vanity and sin; they seem to have crossed over into another world altogether; indeed they speak of a glorious kingdom as belonging to them; they are indeed no more of us." But alas, the term " Hebrew " does not mean now what it meant in the mouth of those heathen when applied to Abram; nor does the term " Christian " mean now what it meant in the mouth of the people of Antioch when applied to those people who had "crossed over " from them. Let each of us, however, return to its true meaning as originally used, and ask ourselves how far those surrounding us-our relatives, our social and business associates-are constrained to apply this term to us as seen in our ways. Do they have to say,'' Surely he is not of us, he belongs to Christ ? "

Ije-abarim, or "the heaps of the crossed-over," has great significance in this connection, carrying , us on to Joshua 4 where a "heap" was set up in the midst of Jordan, and another "heap" set up on the Gilgal side; one a memorial of death, the other a memorial of resurrection.

But I will not dwell upon all the stages of the journey by which Beer is reached, significant and instructive though they are, but proceed at once to Beer. How beautiful to see that before the well springs up the people must be "gathered together." "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity" (Ps. 133). When the Spirit of God descended at Pentecost, believers were "all with one accord in one place" (Acts 2). The tendency to ignore this is sadly common. " Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is" (Heb. 10:25) is little heeded. Yet the people of God cannot expect blessing collectively unless they are together, together in purpose, in love, '' Then Israel sang this song, Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it."

What a wonderful thing to see a number of people gathered about a tract of barren, thirsty ground, and singing to it-not to the desert exactly, but to the well which is in it. But where is the well ? Hidden in the sand, but visible to faith. The Lord has said, "Gather the people together, and I will give them water." The people believe Him, so to faith the well is there, and as they sing to it, it is brought into full view (see 2 Cor. 4:18). We have something like this in Psalm 84:6:"Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well." Note carefully the language:"Make it a well." Baca means "weeping;" they make the valley of weeping a well. It is not said that they find a well in this vale of sorrow, but they "make it a well;" the circumstance which causes the sorrow and makes them realize that the scene they are passing through is indeed a vale of tears, is accepted as a burden imposed by the hand of infinite wisdom and love, confident that if He be in it, if He be in the circumstance, blessing must be in it:thus the soul is refreshed, and can sing. We have a practical application of this in Acts 16:25, where the apostles accept their unjust and harsh imprisonment as from the Lord, and sing; and at once the "well" is apparent in the broken bonds and the salvation of the jailer.
In Jacob we see the opposite of this. When Joseph is torn from him, Simeon kept a prisoner in Egypt, and Benjamin must needs be taken from him, he moans, "All these things are against me" (Gen. 42:36). But this was unbelief:these very things were distinctly for him, as we can now see; and faith on his part would have brought in the living God and sung, confident that the well would appear in due time.

But "the princes digged the well, the nobles of the people digged it, by the direction of the lawgiver, with their staves " (ver. 18).

What a wondrous sight:the people singing, the princes digging! The leaders are bringing their badge of office, or the symbol of their pilgrimage, down into direct contact with the desert sand, confident that water is there, because Jehovah had said, " I will give them water." They attest their faith by digging down into the very wilderness circumstance according to the word of the Lord, prefigured by the expression, "By the direction of the lawgiver. "

The well is not named, leaving room for us, for whom all these things "happened," to name each sorrow, each trial, as faith enables us to see and to bring forth the "well " which our ever faithful God is sure to have designed for us in it. "And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah."

The wilderness does not cease to be that, although we make wells and name them as we pass through. But how beautiful and instructive is the next stage, Mattanah, which means "givingness." The sense of the givingness of our blessed God produces the spirit of .givingness in the soul, and enables us to give even in the wilderness where nothing grows. "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell that ye have, and give alms" (Luke 12:32, 33).

Soon Pisgah is reached, by instructive stages. Pisgah means "survey," whence the whole inheritance may be viewed, as well as the unerring ways of our faithful Guide who has brought us there.

May we seek grace, dear fellow-pilgrims, to see our giving God in every wilderness trial, and seeing Him, be enabled to sing and dig, thus bringing forth the well which faith sees in it.

We may be sure of reaching Pisgah, if we but travel the road which leads to it.