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The historian does not think it worth while to tell whether Moses' attempt to secure the help of a pair of sharp Bedouin eyes succeeded or failed, but passes on to describe at once how "the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them to search out a resting-place for them," and how "the cloud was upon them when they went out of the camp." He would teach us that it mattered little whether Israel had Hobab or not, if they had the ark and the cloud.

I. THERE ARE TIMES AND MOODS IN WHICH OUR FORWARD LOOK BRINGS WITH IT A PAINFUL SENSE OF THE UNKNOWN WILDERNESS BEFORE US. It is a libel on God's goodness to speak of the world as a wilderness. He has not made it so; and if anybody finds that "all is vanity and vexation of spirit," it is his own fault. But still one aspect of life is truly represented by that figure. There are dangers and barren places, and a great solitude in spite of love and companionship, and many marchings and lurking foes, and grim rocks, and fierce suns, and parched wells, and shadeless sand wastes enough in every life to make us quail often and look grave always when we think of what may be before us. Who knows what we shall see when we top the next hill, or round the shoulder of the cliff that bars our way? What shout of an enemy may crash in upon the sleeping camp; or what stifling gorge of barren granite — blazing in the sun and trackless to our feet — shall we have to march through to-day?

II. We have here an illustration of THE WEAKNESS THAT CLINGS TO HUMAN GUIDES. There are a thousand ways in which our poor weak hearts cry out in their sense-bound unbelief for visible stays to lean upon, and guides to direct us. In so far as that is a legitimate longing, God, who never "sends mouths, but He sends meat to feed them," will not leave us to cry unheard. But let us guard against that ever-present weakness which clings tremblingly to creatures and men for help and guidance, and, in proportion as it is rich when it possesses them, trembles at the prospect of losing them, and is crushed and desolate when they go. Do not put them as barriers between you and God, nor yield your own clearness of vision to them, nor say to any, "Be to us instead of eyes," nor be over anxious to secure any Hobab to show you where to camp or how to march.

III. The contrast which is brought into prominence by the juxtaposition of this section and that which follows it, MAKES EMPHATIC THE THOUGHT OF THE TRUE LEADER OF OUR MARCH. God always goes before His people. No doubt in all our lives there come times when we seem to have been brought into a blind alley, and cannot see where we are to get out; but it is very rare indeed that we do not see one step in advance, the duty which lies next us. And be sure of this, that if we are content to see but one step at a time, and take it, we shall find our way made plain. The river winds, and often we seem on a lake without an exit. Then is the time to go half-speed, and, doubtless, when we get a little farther, the overlapping hills on either bank will part, and the gorge will open out. We do not need to see it a mile off; enough if we see it when we are close upon it. It may be as narrow and grim, with slippery black cliffs towering on either side of the narrow ribbon of the stream, as the canons of American rivers, but it will float our boat into broader reaches and onward to the great sea. Do not seek to outrun God's guidance, to see what you are to do a year hence, or to act before you are sure of what is His will; do not let your wishes get in advance of the pillar and the ark, and you will be kept from many a mistake, and led into a region of deep peace.

IV. OUR CRAVING FOR A HUMAN GUIDE HAS BEEN LOVINGLY MET IN THE GIFT OF CHRIST. His life is our pattern. Our marching orders ,re brief and simple: follow your Leader, and plant your feet in His footprints. That is the sum of all ethics, and the vade mecum for practical life.

(A. Maclaren, D. D.)

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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.

WEB: Moses said to Hobab, the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses' father-in-law, "We are journeying to the place of which Yahweh said, 'I will give it to you.' Come with us, and we will treat you well; for Yahweh has spoken good concerning Israel."