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I. GOD LED THEM. "Man's extremity is God's opportunity." When He calls you up the slopes of the mount of sacrifice, it is to bring you within the sound of Divine voices at the summit; when He calls you to the "edge of the wilderness," or to a "desert place apart," it is to "speak comfortably" unto you "out of the cloud."

II. GOD LED THEM NOT THROUGH THE LAND OF THE PHILISTINES, ALTHOUGH THAT WAS NEAR... BUT HE LED THEM ABOUT BY THE WAY OF THE WILDERNESS OF THE RED SEA. He had not taken them into His confidence, they could not understand Him, they had no sympathy with His vast and gracious designs, therefore He did not "give an account of any of His matters." "What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter." Let no one hesitate to "go up and possess the land," for fear he be overpowered with temptations that beset the path of Peter or Paul or Luther, or of some venerable man of God who but too faithfully has given an account of his conflict with the world and the flesh and the devil. God will take you to heaven, but He has not promised to take you by the near way. It may be by a very long way. One thing I know, it will not be through the way of the land of the Philistines, or of any foes who would effect your ruin and drive you back in despair to the country from whence you came out. Only one enemy will encounter you at a time, and you will be prepared for each as he comes, and the "last enemy" will be kept to the last, and you will be made "more than conquerors." "God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able."

III. "AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL WENT UP IN BATTLE ARRAY OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT." The great work given the Church to do is the conquest of the world. These are the marching orders of the Captain of Salvation.

IV. IF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL HAD ENTERED PALESTINE BY THE NEAR WAY, HOW MUCH WOULD THEY HAVE MISSED! The sojourn in the wilderness was not a scene of unrelieved gloom. They bought and sold, they increased in cattle and in riches. "Their garments waxed not old, nor their shoes upon their feet." They were left generally unmolested by any of the tribes, and when attacked, they were as a rule able to hold their own. Had they not come by the roundabout way, the song of Moses had been unsung, Miriam's harp had been untuned, Elim, with its wells and palms had been undiscovered, Sinai, with its words of love and law had been unknown, the cloud had never been seen, the manna had not been tasted, the water from the rock had not followed them. They would have had no opportunity of partaking in a sacramental feast with the princely Jethro, and of exerting such a favourable impression upon his tribe that many who were "without" were induced to come within and to respond to the invitation, "Come with us and we will do you good, for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel." Theirs would not have been the joy which they did experience when, Jordan crossed, they did eat at last the old corn in the land in a city of habitation; they would not have left behind them "footprints on the sands of time," which will cheer the hearts of countless generations of pilgrims until the world shall have an end; they could never have conceived how good and how patient God was, they could never have believed how corrupt their own hearts were, had not Moses at the end of all the wanderings recalled one scene after another, ore act of rebellion after another committed in the light of the unwearied love which "blackened every blot." This last point deserves more than passing notice. "Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness to humble thee, to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, to know whether thou wouldst keep His commandments or no." God knew what was in their hearts. The people did not know their own hearts. Some one will say, "I would that I had died in the days of childhood, I should have been saved many a weary march." But you would have missed many a providence, the memory of which will cast a shadow of seraphic loveliness on the background of your eternal home, and which will enable you to strike a higher note than otherwise you could ever have reached. Had you not passed through that night of bitter anguish, you could not have fathomed the depths of the words as you did, "Thy way is in the sea, Thy path is in the great waters, and Thy footsteps are not known." Had you not been forced to take thought for the morrow, you could never have said as sincerely as you did say, "My heavenly Father knoweth that I have need of all these things." Had it not been for that sore sickness, there would not have been lying upon your life, consecrating it, a "light that never was on land or sea." The scars of your suffering are "marks of the Lord Jesus." Your little bits of experience are so many types which to-day you can set up, and from which you can spell out the might, and majesty, and mercy of the blessed God.

(J. Macmillan, M. A.)

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KJV: And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt:

WEB: It happened, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God didn't lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, "Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and they return to Egypt;"