161 And they journeyed from Elim, and the whole assembly of the children of Israel came into the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure out of the land of Egypt. 2 And the whole assembly of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron in the wilderness. 3 And the children of Israel said to them, Would that we had died by the hand of Jehovah in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pots, when we ate bread to the full; for ye have brought us out into this wilderness, to kill this whole congregation with hunger! 4 Then said Jehovah to Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather the daily need on its day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or not. 5 And it shall come to pass on the sixth day, that they shall prepare what they have brought in; and it shall be twice as much as they shall gather daily. 6 And Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, In the evening, then shall ye know that Jehovah has brought you out from the land of Egypt; 7 and in the morning, then shall ye see the glory of Jehovah; for he has heard your murmurings against Jehovah;—and what are we, that ye murmur against us? 8 And Moses said, When Jehovah gives you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full; for Jehovah hears your murmurings which ye murmur against him ... and what [are] we? your murmurings are not against us, but against Jehovah. 9 And Moses spoke to Aaron, Say to all the assembly of the children of Israel, Come near into the presence of Jehovah; for he has heard your murmurings. 10 And it came to pass, when Aaron spoke to the whole assembly of the children of Israel, that they turned toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of Jehovah appeared in the cloud. 11 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, 12 I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak to them, saying, Between the two evenings ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah your God.
13 And it came to pass in the evening, that quails came up, and covered the camp; and in the morning the dew lay round the camp. 14 And when the dew that lay [round it] was gone up, behold, on the face of the wilderness there was [something] fine, granular, fine as hoar-frost, on the ground. 15 And the children of Israel saw [it], and said one to another, What is it? for they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, This is the bread which Jehovah has given you to eat. 16 This is the thing which Jehovah has commanded: Gather of it every man according to what he can eat, an omer a poll, [according to] the number of your persons: ye shall take every man for those that are in his tent. 17 And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some much, some little. 18 And they measured with the omer: then he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little wanted nothing: they had gathered every man according to the measure of his eating. 19 And Moses said to them, Let no man leave [any] of it until the morning. 20 But they did not hearken to Moses; and some men left of it until the morning; then worms bred in it and it stank. And Moses was wroth with them. 21 And they gathered it every morning, every man as much as he could eat; and when the sun became hot, it melted.
22 And it came to pass on the sixth day, that they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one; and all the princes of the assembly came and told Moses. 23 And he said to them, This is what Jehovah has said: To-morrow is the rest, the holy sabbath, of Jehovah: bake what ye will bake, and cook what ye will cook; and lay up for yourselves all that remains over, to be kept for the morning. 24 And they laid it up for the morning, as Moses had commanded; and it did not stink, neither was there any worm in it. 25 And Moses said, Eat it to-day; for to-day is sabbath to Jehovah: to-day ye shall not find it in the field. 26 Six days shall ye gather it; but on the seventh day is sabbath: on it there shall be none. 27 And it came to pass on the seventh day that there went out [some] from the people to gather [it], and they found none. 28 And Jehovah said to Moses, How long do ye refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? 29 See, for Jehovah hath given you the sabbath; therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread for two days. Abide every man in his place: let no man go from his place on the seventh day. 30 And the people rested on the seventh day. 31 And the house of Israel called its name Manna; and it was like coriander-seed, white; and the taste of it was like cake with honey.
32 And Moses said, This is the thing which Jehovah has commanded: Fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations; that they may see the bread that I gave you to eat in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt. 33 And Moses said to Aaron, Take a pot, and put in it an omer full of manna, and deposit it before Jehovah, to be kept for your generations. 34 As Jehovah had commanded Moses, so Aaron deposited it before the Testimony, to be kept. 35 And the children of Israel ate the manna forty years, until they came into an inhabited land: they ate the manna until they came to the borders of the land of Canaan. 36 Now an omer is the tenth [part] of an ephah.
171 And all the assembly of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, according to their journeys, at the command of Jehovah; and they encamped in Rephidim; and there was no water for the people to drink. 2 And the people contended with Moses, and said, Give us water, that we may drink! And Moses said to them, Why do ye dispute with me? Why do ye tempt Jehovah? 3 And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Why is it that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? 4 And Moses cried to Jehovah, saying, What shall I do with this people? Yet a little, and they will stone me! 5 And Jehovah said to Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel, and thy staff with which thou didst smite the river, take in thy hand, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock on Horeb; and thou shalt strike the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so before the eyes of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they had tempted Jehovah, saying, Is Jehovah among us, or not?
8 And Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. 9 And Moses said to Joshua, Choose us men, and go out, fight with Amalek; to-morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand. 10 And Joshua did as Moses had said to him, to fight with Amalek; and Moses, Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 And it came to pass when Moses raised his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 And Moses' hands were heavy; then they took a stone, and put [it] under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on this side, and one on that side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13 And Joshua broke the power of Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. 14 And Jehovah said to Moses, Write this [for] a memorial in the book, and rehearse [it] in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under the heavens. 15 And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi. 16 And he said, For the hand is on the throne of Jah; Jehovah will have war with Amalek from generation to generation!
181 And Jethro the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done to Moses, and to Israel his people; that Jehovah had brought Israel out of Egypt. 2 And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her back, 3 and her two sons, of whom the name of the one was Gershom—for he said, I have been a sojourner in a foreign land, 4 —and the name of the other, Eliezer—For the God of my father has been my help, and has delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh. 5 And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came to Moses with his sons and his wife into the wilderness, where he encamped at the mountain of God. 6 And he sent word to Moses: I, thy father-in-law Jethro, am come to thee, and thy wife, and her two sons with her.
7 And Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and did obeisance, and kissed him; and they asked each other [after] their welfare, and went into the tent. 8 And Moses told his father-in-law all that Jehovah had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake; all the trouble that had befallen them on the way, and [how] Jehovah had delivered them. 9 And Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness that Jehovah had done to Israel; that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians. 10 And Jethro said, Blessed be Jehovah, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh; who has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. 11 Now I know that Jehovah is greater than all gods; for in the thing in which they acted haughtily [he was] above them. 12 And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took a burnt-offering and sacrifices for God; and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law in the presence of God.
13 And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses sat to judge the people; and the people stood by Moses from the morning to the evening. 14 And Moses' father-in-law saw all that he did with the people, and said, What is this thing which thou art doing with the people? why dost thou sit alone, and all the people are standing by thee from morning to evening? 15 And Moses said to his father-in-law, Because the people come to me to enquire of God. 16 When they have a matter, they come to me, and I judge between one and another; and I make known [to them] the statutes of God, and his laws. 17 And Moses' father-in-law said to him, The thing that thou art doing is not good. 18 Thou wilt be quite exhausted, both thou and this people that is with thee; for the thing is too heavy for thee: thou canst not perform it alone. 19 Hearken now to my voice: I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee. Be thou for the people with God, and bring the matters before God; 20 and teach them the statutes and the laws, and make known to them the way in which they must walk, and the work that they must do. 21 But do thou provide among all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place [them] over them, chiefs of thousands, chiefs of hundreds, chiefs of fifties, and chiefs of tens, 22 that they may judge the people at all times; and it shall be [that] they shall bring to thee every great matter, and that they shall judge every small matter, and they shall lighten [the task] on thee, and they shall bear [it] with thee. 23 If thou do this thing, and God command thee [so], thou wilt be able to endure, and all this people shall also go to their place in peace. 24 And Moses hearkened to the voice of his father-in-law, and did all that he had said. 25 And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, chiefs of hundreds, chiefs of fifties, and chiefs of tens. 26 And they judged the people at all times: the hard matters they brought to Moses, but every small matter they judged. 27 And Moses sent away his father-in-law, and he departed into his land.
181 In that hour the disciples came to Jesus saying, Who then is greatest in the kingdom of the heavens? 2 And Jesus having called a little child to [him], set it in their midst, 3 and said, Verily I say to you, Unless ye are converted and become as little children, ye will not at all enter into the kingdom of the heavens. 4 Whoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of the heavens; 5 and whosoever shall receive one such little child in my name, receives me.
6 But whosoever shall offend one of these little ones who believe in me, it were profitable for him that a great millstone had been hanged upon his neck and he be sunk in the depths of the sea.
7 Woe to the world because of offences! For it must needs be that offences come; yet woe to that man by whom the offence comes! 8 And if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut it off and cast [it] from thee; it is good for thee to enter into life lame or maimed, [rather] than having two hands or two feet to be cast into eternal fire. 9 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast [it] from thee; it is good for thee to enter into life one-eyed, [rather] than having two eyes to be cast into the hell of fire.
10 See that ye do not despise one of these little ones; for I say unto you that their angels in [the] heavens continually behold the face of my Father who is in [the] heavens. 11 For the Son of man has come to save that which was lost. 12 What think ye? If a certain man should have a hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, does he not, leaving the ninety and nine on the mountains, go and seek the one that has gone astray? 13 And if it should come to pass that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoices more because of it than because of the ninety and nine not gone astray. 14 So it is not the will of your Father who is in [the] heavens that one of these little ones should perish.
15 But if thy brother sin against thee, go, reprove him between thee and him alone. If he hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. 16 But if he do not hear [thee], take with thee one or two besides, that every matter may stand upon the word of two witnesses or of three. 17 But if he will not listen to them, tell it to the assembly; and if also he will not listen to the assembly, let him be to thee as one of the nations and a tax-gatherer. 18 Verily I say to you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on the earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on the earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say to you, that if two of you shall agree on the earth concerning any matter, whatsoever it may be that they shall ask, it shall come to them from my Father who is in [the] heavens. 20 For where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them.
(Read Matthew 18:1-6)
Christ spoke many words of his sufferings, but only one of his glory; yet the disciples fasten upon that, and overlook the others. Many love to hear and speak of privileges and glory, who are willing to pass by the thoughts of work and trouble. Our Lord set a little child before them, solemnly assuring them, that unless they were converted and made like little children, they could not enter his kingdom. Children, when very young, do not desire authority, do not regard outward distinctions, are free from malice, are teachable, and willingly dependent on their parents. It is true that they soon begin to show other dispositions, and other ideas are taught them at an early age; but these are marks of childhood, and render them proper emblems of the lowly minds of true Christians. Surely we need to be daily renewed in the spirit of our minds, that we may become simple and humble, as little children, and willing to be the least of all. Let us daily study this subject, and examine our own spirits.
(Read Matthew 18:7-14)
Considering the cunning and malice of Satan, and the weakness and depravity of men's hearts, it is not possible but that there should be offences. God permits them for wise and holy ends, that those who are sincere, and those who are not, may be made known. Being told before, that there will be seducers, tempters, persecutors, and bad examples, let us stand on our guard. We must, as far as lawfully we may, part with what we cannot keep without being entangled by it in sin. The outward occasions of sin must be avoided. If we live after the flesh, we must die. If we, through the Spirit, mortify the deeds of the body, we shall live. Christ came into the world to save souls, and he will reckon severely with those who hinder the progress of others who are setting their faces heavenward. And shall any of us refuse attention to those whom the Son of God came to seek and to save? A father takes care of all his children, but is particularly tender of the little ones.
(Read Matthew 18:15-20)
If a professed Christian is wronged by another, he ought not to complain of it to others, as is often done merely upon report, but to go to the offender privately, state the matter kindly, and show him his conduct. This would generally have all the desired effect with a true Christian, and the parties would be reconciled. The principles of these rules may be practised every where, and under all circumstances, though they are too much neglected by all. But how few try the method which Christ has expressly enjoined to all his disciples! In all our proceedings we should seek direction in prayer; we cannot too highly prize the promises of God. Wherever and whenever we meet in the name of Christ, we should consider him as present in the midst of us.
