and were well filled: for he gave them their own desire; 30. They were not estranged from their lust. But while their meat was yet in their mouths, 31. The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel.

The people, discontented with manna, asked, in a tumultuous and rebellious way, for flesh, at the same time distrusting the power of God to give it them in the wilderness. Flesh, however, was procured. A wind, proper for the occasion, went forth from Jehovah, and brought a cloud of quails, which furnished the whole camp with a most delicious kind of flesh food, for the space of an entire month. But from the event we learn, that inordinate desires, though sometimes complied with, and satisfied by Heaven, do not therefore go unpunished; on the contrary, they are often punished by being complied with. The blessings, chosen for us by God, are blessings indeed, and, like the manna, bring no sorrow with them: but when we choose for ourselves, and are so unhappy as to be gratified in that choice, our portion too often proves a curse; and, while the much-loved morsel is yet between our teeth, "the wrath of God comes upon us," for making a wrong choice. This will always be the case in the end, whenever earth is preferred to heaven, and sense to faith.

32. For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works. 33. Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble.

Mercies are followed by provocations; provocations are punished with judgments; to judgments succeed repeated provocations, which call down fresh judgments. Immediately after the history of the quails, we read of a sedition stirred up by

Aaron and Miriam, and of new murmurs at the report, brought by the spies, concerning the promised land; in consequence of which last, the nation had been destroyed, but for the intercession of Moses; and the whole generation of those who came out of Egypt, except Joshua and Caleb, actually fell in the wilderness, wasted and consumed by various plagues and calamities, during a forty years' peregrination: see Numb. xii. xiii. xiv. St. Jude makes mention of such a generation in the early days of the Christian Church, speakers of "hard speeches against Christ, murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts;" and he therefore puts converts in remembrance, "how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not:" Jude, verses 5 and 15. Because, notwithstanding all that Jesus has done, and continues to do for the Church, men "sin yet more, and believe not for his wondrous works," but either despise the heavenly country, or despair of obtaining it, therefore is the hand of God heavy upon the world; "vanity and trouble" wear out the life of man; and they who have passed the waters of baptism, fall short of the promised rest.

34. When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and enquired early after God. 35. And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer. 36. Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues. 37. For their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant.

Several instances of this behaviour occur in the history of Korah's rebellion and punishment, of the fiery serpents, and of Israel and Moab: see

The Israelites, in this

Numb. xvi. xx. xxi. xxv. particular, resembled their great persecutor Pharaoh; their repentance, which came with the Divine Judgments, went also away with them, and appeared no more. By night the dew falleth from heaven, and refresheth the weary ground, and causeth the green herb and the flower of the field to revive and spring; but in the morning the sun ariseth with a burning heat, and presently the dew is evaporated, the grass withereth, the flower fadeth, and the ground again becometh parched and dry, as before. Thus it is with man. Adversity is the night, and grace is the dew, by which his heart is made tender and religious, and good resolutions are formed, and begin to shoot; but returning prosperity has the force and effect of a summer sun: at its presence piety vanisheth, resolutions come to nothing, and the heart is once more hardened. "O Ephraim," exclaims Jehovah by his prophet, "what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it passes away:" Hos. vi. 4. Who, that hath been conversant in the house of mourning, and about the bed of sickness, but must have seen frequent instances of a temporary and deceitful repentance? Whose heart doth not reproach him with some of these backslidings of Israel? In the day, therefore, of health, and strength, and prosperity, before the indignation of Heaven break forth, and the right-aiming thunderbolts fly abroad, from a motive of love, not of fear, let us "seek early after God, and return from our sins, remembering the rock of our salvation, and the high God, our Redeemer." Thus may we entertain some hope, that our conversion is sincere; that we do not "flatter and lie" unto our Maker; that our "heart is right

with him," and we shall continue "stedfast in his covenant." And then, a plant that is set and lives in the heat of the day, how will it thrive and flourish under the cool and moist influences of night.

38. But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath. 39. For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind, or, breath, that passeth away, and cometh not again.

Had God "stirred up all his wrath," the Israelites must have been exterminated in the wilderness. But then the promises made to Abraham, of mercy and "compassion" to them, and by them to all mankind, had failed. Therefore they were "forgiven," and not "destroyed:" judgment was executed, from time to time, upon the person of offenders; but still a remnant was left; the nation subsisted, until the seed came to whom the promise was made. Nay, although, in consequence of their last and greatest crime, their polity was subverted with their city and temple, the race is yet marvellously preserved; and we trust, preserved for mercy to be shown them in the last days. Be not angry, O Lord Jesu, for ever with them, or with us; but remember of what materials we are made, and into what a state we are fallen; how weak and how frail we are; how liable to be seduced into sin, and blinded by error: remember this, O Lord, and forgive us; and teach us to remember it, that we may forgive one another.

40. How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert! 41. Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. 42. They remembered not his hand,

nor the day when he delivered them from the hand of the enemy: 43. How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan.

The question which the Psalmist here asks, concerning Israel in the wilderness, is elsewhere asked by him concerning mankind in general: "Who can tell how oft he offendeth?" Ps. xix. 12. God informs Moses, who had interceded for the people, and, in the name of the great Mediator, obtained their pardon, that "those men which had seen his glory, and his miracles which he did in Egypt and in the wilderness, had tempted him ten times, and had not hearkened to his voice:" Numb. xiv. 22. Forgetfulness of the mercies of redemption is the beginning of sin; and though every one knows how to resent and detest the crime of ingratitude in another, he yet thinks that his best benefactor will overlook the most flagrant instances of it in himself.

44. And had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they could not drink. 45. He sent divers sorts of flies, Heb. a mixture, whether of beasts, or insects, noisome and destructive, among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them. 46. He gave also their increase unto the caterpillar, and their labour unto the locust. 47. He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with frost. 48. He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts, or, flashes of lightning.

The Psalm goes back to the subject of Israelitish ingratitude, mentioned at the beginning, verses 11, 12, in order to introduce an account of the miracles wrought in Egypt previous to the Exodus. These miracles were intended to evince the superiority of Jehovah over the elements and powers of nature, which at that time were objects of wor