hapter 5—The Education of Israel
“The Lord alone did lead him; ” “He instructed Him, He kept Him
as the apple of His eye.”
The system of education established in Eden centered in the
family. Adam was “the son of God” (Luke 3:38), and it was from
their Father that the children of the Highest received instruction.
Theirs, in the truest sense, was a family school.
In the divine plan of education as adapted to man’s condition
after the Fall, Christ stands as the representative of the Father, the
connecting link between God and man; He is the great teacher of
mankind. And He ordained that men and women should be His
representatives. The family was the school, and the parents were the
teachers.
The education centering in the family was that which prevailed
in the days of the patriarchs. For the schools thus established, God
provided the conditions most favorable for the development of character.
The people who were under His direction still pursued the
plan of life that He had appointed in the beginning. Those who
departed from God built for themselves cities, and, congregating
in them, gloried in the splendor, the luxury, and the vice that make
the cities of today the world’s pride and its curse. But the men who
held fast God’s principles of life dwelt among the fields and hills.
[34] They were tillers of the soil and keepers of flocks and herds, and in
this free, independent life, with its opportunities for labor and study
and meditation, they learned of God and taught their children of His
works and ways.
This was the method of education that God desired to establish
in Israel. But when brought out of Egypt there were among the
Israelites few prepared to be workers together with Him in the training
of their children. The parents themselves needed instruction
and discipline. Victims of lifelong slavery, they were ignorant, untrained,
degraded. They had little knowledge of God and little faith
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Chapter 5—The Education of Israel 25
in Him. They were confused by false teaching and corrupted by their
long contact with heathenism. God desired to lift them to a higher
moral level, and to this end He sought to give them a knowledge of
Himself.
In His dealings with the wanderers in the desert, in all their
marchings to and fro, in their exposure to hunger, thirst, and weariness,
in their peril from heathen foes, and in the manifestation of His
providence for their relief, God was seeking to strengthen their faith
by revealing to them the power that was continually working for
their good. And having taught them to trust in His love and power,
it was His purpose to set before them, in the precepts of His law, the
standard of character to which, through His grace, He desired them
to attain.
Precious were the lessons taught to Israel during their sojourn
at Sinai. This was a period of special training for the inheritance of
Canaan. And their surroundings here were favorable for the accomplishing
of God’s purpose. On the summit of Sinai, overshadowing
the plain where the people spread their tents, rested the pillar of
cloud which had been the guide of their journey. A pillar of fire [35]
by night, it assured them of the divine protection; and while they
were locked in slumber, the bread of heaven fell gently upon the
encampment. On every hand, vast, rugged heights, in their solemn
grandeur, spoke of eternal endurance and majesty. Man was made
to feel his ignorance and weakness in the presence of Him who
hath “weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance.”
Isaiah 40:12. Here, by the manifestation of His glory, God sought to
impress Israel with the holiness of His character and requirements,
and the exceeding guilt of transgression.
But the people were slow to learn the lesson. Accustomed as
they had been in Egypt to material representations of the Deity,
and these of the most degrading nature, it was difficult for them to
conceive of the existence or the character of the Unseen One. In
pity for their weakness, God gave them a symbol of His presence.
“Let them make Me a sanctuary,” He said; “that I may dwell among
them.” Exodus 25:8.
In the building of the sanctuary as a dwelling place for God,
Moses was directed to make all things according to the pattern of
things in the heavens. God called him into the mount, and revealed
26 Education
to him the heavenly things, and in their similitude the tabernacle,
with all that pertained to it, was fashioned.
So to Israel, whom He desired to make His dwelling place, He
revealed His glorious ideal of character. The pattern was shown them
in the mount when the law was given from Sinai and when God
passed by before Moses and proclaimed, “The Lord, The Lord God,
merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and
[36] truth.” Exodus 34:6.
But this ideal they were, in themselves, powerless to attain. The
revelation at Sinai could only impress them with their need and
helplessness. Another lesson the tabernacle, through its service
of sacrifice, was to teach—the lesson of pardon of sin, and power
through the Saviour for obedience unto life.
Through Christ was to be fulfilled the purpose of which the tabernacle
was a symbol—that glorious building, its walls of glistening
gold reflecting in rainbow hues the curtains inwrought with cherubim,
the fragrance of ever-burning incense pervading all, the priests
robed in spotless white, and in the deep mystery of the inner place,
above the mercy seat, between the figures of the bowed, worshiping
angels, the glory of the Holiest. In all, God desired His people to
read His purpose for the human soul. It was the same purpose long
afterward set forth by the apostle Paul, speaking by the Holy Spirit:
“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit
of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him
shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye
are.” 1 Corinthians 3:16, 17.
Great was the privilege and honor granted Israel in the preparation
of the sanctuary; and great was also the responsibility. A
structure of surpassing splendor, demanding for its construction the
most costly material and the highest artistic skill, was to be erected
in the wilderness, by a people just escaped from slavery. It seemed
a stupendous task. But He who had given the plan of the building
stood pledged to co-operate with the builders.
“The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, See, I have called by name
[37] Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: and I
have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding,
and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship.... And
I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of
Chapter 5—The Education of Israel 27
the tribe of Dan: and in the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have
put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded thee.”
Exodus 31:1-6.
What an industrial school was that in the wilderness, having for
its instructors Christ and His angels!
In the preparation of the sanctuary and in its furnishing, all the
people were to co-operate. There was labor for brain and hand.
A great variety of material was required, and all were invited to
contribute as their own hearts prompted.
Thus in labor and in giving they were taught to co-operate with
God and with one another. And they were to co-operate also in the
preparation of the spiritual building—God’s temple in the soul.
From the outset of the journey from Egypt, lessons had been
given for their training and discipline. Even before they left Egypt
a temporary organization had been effected, and the people were
arranged in companies, under appointed leaders. At Sinai the arrangements
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for organization were completed. The order so strikingly
displayed in all the works of God was manifest in the Hebrew economy.
God was the center of authority and government. Moses, as
His representative, was to administer the laws in His name. Then
came the council of seventy, then the priests and the princes, under
these “captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and
captains over fifties, and captains over tens” (Numbers 11:16, 17;
Deuteronomy 1:15), and, lastly, officers appointed for special duties.
The camp was arranged in exact order, the tabernacle, the abiding [38]
place of God, in the midst, and around it the tents of t