Chapter 36—Forty Years of Wandering in the Wilderness
For nearly forty years the children of Israel were lost to view in the obscurity of the desert. In the rebellion at Kadesh they had rejected God, and God had for the time rejected them. Since they had proved unfaithful to His covenant, they were not to receive the sign of the covenant, the rite of circumcision. Their desire to return to the land of slavery had shown them to be unworthy of freedom; and the Passover, instituted to commemorate deliverance from bondage, was not to be observed. {EP 285.1}
Yet the continuance of the tabernacle service testified that God had not utterly forsaken His people. And His providence still supplied their wants. “The Lord thy God ... knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.” Deuteronomy 2:7. God cared for Israel even during these years of banishment: “Thou gavest also Thy good Spirit to instruct them... . In the wilderness ... their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not.” Nehemiah 9:20, 21. {EP 285.2}
The wilderness was to serve as a discipline for the rising generation, preparatory to their entrance into the Promised Land. Moses declared, “As a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee,” “to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep His commandments, or no. And He ... suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.” Deuteronomy 8:5, 2, 3. {EP 285.3}
“In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His presence saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bare them, and carried them all the days of old.” Isaiah 63:9. {EP 286.1}
The revolt of Korah had resulted in the destruction of fourteen thousand of Israel. And isolated cases showed the same spirit of contempt for divine authority. {EP 286.2}
On one occasion one of the mixed multitude that had come up with Israel from Egypt left his own part of the camp, and entering that of the Israelites, claimed the right to pitch his tent there. A dispute arose between him and an Israelite, and the matter being referred to the judges was decided against the offender. {EP 286.3}
Enraged at this decision, he cursed the judge and blasphemed the name of God. He was immediately brought before Moses. The man was placed in ward until the will of God could be ascertained. God Himself pronounced sentence. By divine direction the blasphemer was conducted outside the camp and stoned to death. Those who had been witnesses to the sin placed their hands upon his head, thus solemnly testifying to the truth of the charge against him. Then they threw the first stones, and the people who stood by afterward joined in executing the sentence. [See Leviticus 24:14; Deuteronomy 17:7.] {EP 286.4}
Should Sabbath Breakers Be Stoned?
Had this man’s sin been permitted to pass unpunished, others would have been demoralized; and as the result many lives must eventually have been sacrificed. {EP 286.5} The mixed multitude that came up with the Israelites from Egypt professed to have renounced idolatry and to worship the true God; but they were more or less corrupted with idolatry and irreverence. They leavened the camp with idolatrous practices and murmurings against God. {EP 286.6}
Soon an instance of Sabbath violation occured. The Lord’s announcement that He would disinherit Israel had roused a spirit of rebellion. One of the people, angry at being excluded from Canaan and determined to show his defiance of God’s law, ventured upon the open transgression of the fourth commandment by going out to gather sticks upon the Sabbath. During the sojourn in the wilderness, the kindling of fires upon the seventh day had been prohibited. The prohibition was not to extend to the land of Canaan, but in the wilderness, fire was not needed for warmth. This was a willful and deliberate violation of the fourth commandment—a sin of presumption. {EP 287.1}
The case was brought by Moses before the Lord, and the direction was given, “The man shall be surely put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp.” Numbers 15:35. The sins of blasphemy and willful Sabbathbreaking received the same punishment, being equally an expression of contempt for the authority of God. {EP 287.2}
Many who reject the Sabbath as Jewish urge that, if it is to be kept, the penalty of death must be inflicted for its violation. But blasphemy received the same punishment as did Sabbathbreaking. Though God may not now punish the transgression of His law with temporal penalties, yet in the final judgment death is the portion of those who violate His sacred precepts. {EP 287.3}
During the entire forty years in the wilderness, the people were every week reminded of the Sabbath by the miracle of the manna. Yet God declares through His prophet, “My Sabbaths they greatly polluted.” Ezekiel 20:13-24. And this is enumerated among the reasons for the exclusion of the first generation from the Promised Land. {EP 287.4}
The period of their desert sojourn being ended, “the people abode in Kadesh.” Numbers 20:1. Here Miriam died and was buried. From that scene of rejoicing on the shores of the Red Sea to the wilderness grave which ended a lifelong wandering—such had been the fate of millions who with high hopes had come forth from Egypt. Sin had dashed from their lips the cup of blessing. Would the next generation learn the lesson? {EP 287.5}