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The Israelites went on their
journey again, and pitched their tents now in one place, and now in
another. Sometimes they came very near to Canaan; then God commanded
them to turn round, and go back again. They wandered year after year
in the wilderness, and were no nearer to the Promised Land than when they
began. Why? Because they had sinned, and rebelled against God;
they were to wander in the wilderness forty years, and never go to Canaan. When
they came to Kadesh-Barnea, Miriam, Moses' sister, became ill and
died. We remember reading about her when, many years before, she sat
watching her brother who lay in the river in his little ark. And
afterwards, we read of her singing praise to God, when the Egyptians were
drowned in the Red Sea. Miriam was a prophetess; God gave her wisdom
to know future things; and she was a true servant of the Lord. But
Miriam must not go to Canaan. Why not? Because she had
rebelled against Moses, and made God angry. Sin
must be punished; God punishes His own people, as kind parents punish
their dear children, when they deserve it; not because they hate them, but
because they love them so much, and wish them to be good and
obedient. God punishes His people to make them sorry for sin, that
they may ask from Him pardon for the past, and grace for the future.
Miriam could not see Canaan, but her soul went to Heaven, the happy
country of which Canaan was a type. Miriam's sins had been forgiven,
and her heart made new, or she could not have gone there. She is
happy now, and will never sin nor sorrow any more. "Blessed are
the dead which die in the Lord." Revelation 14:13.
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