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Spring in Action
Sixth Edition
Version 4
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welcome
Thank you for purchasing the MEAP for Spring in Action, Sixth Edition. We've come a
long way over the course of the last five editions and I’m thrilled to have a chance to bring
the latest and greatest Spring has to offer in this new edition. This book should be a
valuable resource regardless of whether you’re completely new to Spring or are reading
this book to brush up on the newest features.
I’ve attempted to make this edition follow a hands-on, narrative style; leading you
through a journey of building an application, starting with initializing the project and going
all the way through to how to ready the application for deployment.
We’re releasing the first five chapters to start. These chapters aren't all that different from
the previous edition, although there are additional updates coming soon that haven't been
worked into these chapters yet. In chapter 1, you’ll learn how to kick start your Spring
project leveraging the Spring Initializr and Spring Boot, and in chapter 2, we’ll build on that
foundation by using Spring MVC to develop additional browser-based functionality.
Chapter 3 looks at persisting data with JDBC and Spring Data JPA. In chapter 4, we'll look
at securing applications with Spring Security. Finally, chapter 5 gets into configuring Spring
using configuration properties.
Looking further ahead, we'll expand on this first group of chapters additional persistence
options, including Spring Data JDBC and non-relational databases such as MongoDB and
Cassandra. In part 2 of the book will see us integrating our application with other
applications. In part 3, we’ll dig into Spring 6’s support for reactive programming and
revisit some previously developed components to make them more reactive. Finally, in part
4 we’ll talk more about deployment.
We hope to have frequent updates to the book, every few weeks, whether that is new
chapters or updates to existing chapters. As you are reading, I invite you to visit the
liveBook's Discussion Forum to ask questions and leave comments. Your feedback is truly
appreciated and I find it valuable in guiding me as I write it.
—Craig Walls

brief contents
PART 1 : FOUNDATIONAL SPRING
1 Getting started with Spring
2 Developing web applications
3 Working with data
4 Working with non-relational data
5 Securing Spring
6 Working with configuration properties
PART 2 : INTEGRATED SPRING
7 Creating REST services
8 Consuming REST services
9 Securing REST
10 Sending messages asynchronously
11 Integrating Spring
PART 3 : REACTIVE SPRING
12 Introducing Reactor
13 Developing reactive APIs
14 Working with RSocket
15 Persisting data reactively
PART 4 : DEPLOYED SPRING
16 Working with Spring Boot Actuator
17 Administering Spring
18 Monitoring Spring with JMX
19 Deploying Spring

1
This chapter covers
Although the Greek philosopher Heraclitus wasn’t well known as a software developer, he
seemed to have a good handle on the subject. He has been quoted as saying, “The only constant
is change.” That statement captures a foundational truth of software development.
The way we develop applications today is different than it was a year ago, 5 years ago, 10 years
ago, and certainly 20 years ago, before an initial form of the Spring Framework was introduced
in Rod Johnson’s book, (Wrox, 2002,
Expert One-on-One J2EE Design and Development
).
http://mng.bz/oVjy
Back then, the most common types of applications developed were browser-based web
applications, backed by relational databases. While that type of development is still relevant, and
Spring is well equipped for those kinds of applications, we’re now also interested in developing
applications composed of microservices destined for the cloud that persist data in a variety of
databases. And a new interest in reactive programming aims to provide greater scalability and
improved performance with non-blocking operations.
As software development evolved, the Spring Framework also changed to address modern
development concerns, including microservices and reactive programming. Spring also set out to
simplify its own development model by introducing Spring Boot.
Whether you’re developing a simple database-backed web application or constructing a modern
Getting started with Spring
Spring and Spring Boot essentials
Initializing a Spring project
An overview of the Spring landscape
1

application built around microservices, Spring is the framework that will help you achieve your
goals. This chapter is your first step in a journey through modern application development with
Spring.
I know you’re probably itching to start writing a Spring application, and I assure you that before
this chapter ends, you’ll have developed a simple one. But first, let me set the stage with a few
basic Spring concepts that will help you understand what makes Spring tick.
Any non-trivial application is composed of many components, each responsible for its own piece
of the overall application functionality, coordinating with the other application elements to get
the job done. When the application is run, those components somehow need to be created and
introduced to each other.
At its core, Spring offers a , often referred to as the , that
container Spring application context
creates and manages application components. These components, or , are wired together
beans
inside the Spring application context to make a complete application, much like bricks, mortar,
timber, nails, plumbing, and wiring are bound together to make a house.
The act of wiring beans together is based on a pattern known as (DI).
dependency injection
Rather than have components create and maintain the lifecycle of other beans that they depend
on, a dependency-injected application relies on a separate entity (the container) to create and
maintain all components and inject those into the beans that need them. This is done typically
through constructor arguments or property accessor methods.
For example, suppose that among an application’s many components, there are two that you’ll
address: an inventory service (for fetching inventory levels) and a product service (for providing
basic product information). The product service depends on the inventory service to be able to
provide a complete set of information about products. Figure 1.1 illustrates the relationships
between these beans and the Spring application context.
1.1 What is Spring?
2

Figure 1.1 Application components are managed and injected into each other by the Spring
application context
On top of its core container, Spring and a full portfolio of related libraries offer a web
framework, a variety of data persistence options, a security framework, integration with other
systems, runtime monitoring, microservice support, a reactive programming model, and many
other features necessary for modern application development.
Historically, the way you would guide Spring’s application context to wire beans together was
with one or more XML files that described the components and their relationship to other
components.
For example, the following XML declares two beans, an bean and a
InventoryService
bean, and wires the bean into via a
ProductService InventoryService ProductService
constructor argument:
In recent versions of Spring, however, a Java-based configuration is more common. The
following Java-based configuration class is equivalent to the XML configuration:
<bean id="inventoryService"
class="com.example.InventoryService" />
<bean id="productService"
class="com.example.ProductService" />
<constructor-arg ref="inventoryService" />
</bean>
@Configuration
public class ServiceConfiguration {
@Bean
public InventoryService inventoryService() {
3

The annotation indicates to Spring that this is a configuration class that will
@Configuration
provide beans to the Spring application context. The configuration’s class methods are annotated
with , indicating that the objects they return should be added as beans in the application
@Bean
context (where, by default, their respective bean IDs will be the same as the names of the
methods that define them).
Java-based configuration offers several benefits over XML-based configuration, including
greater type safety and improved refactorability. Even so, explicit configuration with either Java
or XML is only necessary if Spring is unable to automatically configure the components.
Automatic configuration has its roots in the Spring techniques known as and
autowiring
. With component scanning, Spring can automatically discover components
component scanning
from an application’s classpath and create them as beans in the Spring application context. With
autowiring, Spring automatically injects the components with the other beans that they depend
on.
More recently, with the introduction of Spring Boot, automatic configuration has gone well
beyond component scanning and autowiring. Spring Boot is an extension of the Spring
Framework that offers several productivity enhancements. The most well-known of these
enhancements is , where Spring Boot can make reasonable guesses of what
autoconfiguration
components need to be configured and wired together, based on entries in the classpath,
environment variables, and other factors.
I’d like to show you some example code that demonstrates autoconfiguration. But I can’t. You
see, autoconfiguration is much like the wind. You can see the effects of it, but there’s no code
that I can show you and say “Look! Here’s an example of autoconfiguration!” Stuff happens,
components are enabled, and functionality is provided without writing code. It’s this lack of code
that’s essential to autoconfiguration and what makes it so wonderful.
Spring Boot autoconfiguration has dramatically reduced the amount of explicit configuration
(whether with XML or Java) required to build an application. In fact, by the time you finish the
example in this chapter, you’ll have a working Spring application that has only a single line of
Spring configuration code!
Spring Boot enhances Spring development so much that it’s hard to imagine developing Spring
applications without it. For that reason, this book treats Spring and Spring Boot as if they were
one and the same. We’ll use Spring Boot as much as possible, and explicit configuration only
return new InventoryService();
}
@Bean
public ProductService productService() {
return new ProductService(inventoryService());
}
}
4

when necessary. And, because Spring XML configuration is the old-school way of working with
Spring, we’ll focus primarily on Spring’s Java-based configuration.
But enough of this chitchat, yakety-yak, and flimflam. This book’s title includes the phrase in
, so let’s get moving, and you can start writing your first application with Spring.
action
Through the course of this book, you’ll create Taco Cloud, an online application for ordering the
most wonderful food created by man—tacos. Of course, you’ll use Spring, Spring Boot, and a
variety of related libraries and frameworks to achieve this goal.
You’ll find several options for initializing a Spring application. Although I could walk you
through the steps of manually creating a project directory structure and defining a build
specification, that’s wasted time—time better spent writing application code. Therefore, you’re
going to lean on the Spring Initializr to bootstrap your application.
The Spring Initializr is both a browser-based web application and a REST API, which can
produce a skeleton Spring project structure that you can flesh out with whatever functionality
you want. Several ways to use Spring Initializr follow:
From the web application at http://start.spring.io
From the command line using the command
curl
From the command line using the Spring Boot command-line interface
When creating a new project with Spring Tool Suite
When creating a new project with IntelliJ IDEA
When creating a new project with NetBeans
Rather than spend several pages of this chapter talking about each one of these options, I’ve
collected those details in the appendix. In this chapter, and throughout this book, I’ll show you
how to create a new project using my favorite option: Spring Initializr support in the Spring Tool
Suite.
As its name suggests, Spring Tool Suite is a fantastic Spring development environment. But it
also offers a handy Spring Boot Dashboard feature that makes it easy to start, restart, and stop
Spring Boot applications from the IDE.
If you’re not a Spring Tool Suite user, that’s fine; we can still be friends. Hop over to the
appendix and substitute the Initializr option that suits you best for the instructions in the
following sections. But know that throughout this book, I may occasionally reference features
specific to Spring Tool Suite, such as the Spring Boot Dashboard. If you’re not using Spring
Tool Suite, you’ll need to adapt those instructions to fit your IDE.
1.2 Initializing a Spring application
5

To get started with a new Spring project in Spring Tool Suite, go to the File menu and select
New, and then Spring Starter Project. Figure 1.2 shows the menu structure to look for.
Figure 1.2 Starting a new project with the Initializr in Spring Tool Suite
Once you select Spring Starter Project, a new project wizard dialog (figure 1.3) appears. The first
page in the wizard asks you for some general project information, such as the project name,
description, and other essential information. If you’re familiar with the contents of a Maven
pom.xml file, you’ll recognize most of the fields as items that end up in a Maven build
specification. For the Taco Cloud application, fill in the dialog as shown in figure 1.3, and then
click Next.
1.2.1 Initializing a Spring project with Spring Tool Suite
6

Figure 1.3 Specifying general project information for the Taco Cloud application
The next page in the wizard lets you select dependencies to add to your project (see figure 1.4).
Notice that near the top of the dialog, you can select which version of Spring Boot you want to
base your project on. This defaults to the most current version available. It’s generally a good
idea to leave it as is unless you need to target a different version.
As for the dependencies themselves, you can either expand the various sections and seek out the
desired dependencies manually, or search for them in the search box at the top of the Available
7

list. For the Taco Cloud application, you’ll start with the dependencies shown in figure 1.4.
Figure 1.4 Choosing starter dependencies
At this point, you can click Finish to generate the project and add it to your workspace. But if
you’re feeling slightly adventurous, click Next one more time to see the final page of the new
starter project wizard, as shown in figure 1.5.
8

Figure 1.5 Optionally specifying an alternate Initializr address
By default, the new project wizard makes a call to the Spring Initializr at to
http://start.spring.io
generate the project. Generally, there’s no need to override this default, which is why you could
have clicked Finish on the second page of the wizard. But if for some reason you’re hosting your
own clone of Initializr (perhaps a local copy on your own machine or a customized clone running
inside your company firewall), then you’ll want to change the Base Url field to point to your
Initializr instance before clicking Finish.
9

After you click Finish, the project is downloaded from the Initializr and loaded into your
workspace. Wait a few moments for it to load and build, and then you’ll be ready to start
developing application functionality. But first, let’s take a look at what the Initializr gave you.
After the project loads in the IDE, expand it to see what it contains. Figure 1.6 shows the
expanded Taco Cloud project in Spring Tool Suite.
Figure 1.6 The initial Spring project structure as shown in Spring Tool Suite
You may recognize this as a typical Maven or Gradle project structure, where application source
code is placed under src/main/java, test code is placed under src/test/java, and non-Java resources
are placed under src/main/resources. Within that project structure, you’ll want to take note of
these items:
mvnw and — These are Maven wrapper scripts. You can use these scripts to
mvnw.cmd
build your project even if you don’t have Maven installed on your machine.
pom.xml — This is the Maven build specification. We’ll look deeper into this in a
moment.
TacoCloudApplication.java —This is the Spring Boot main class that bootstraps the
project. We’ll take a closer look at this class in a moment.
application.properties — This file is initially empty, but offers a place where you can
1.2.2 Examining the Spring project structure
10

specify configuration properties. We’ll tinker with this file a little in this chapter, but I’ll
postpone a detailed explanation of configuration properties to chapter 5.
static — This folder is where you can place any static content (images, stylesheets,
JavaScript, and so forth) that you want to serve to the browser. It’s initially empty.
templates — This folder is where you’ll place template files that will be used to render
content to the browser. It’s initially empty, but you’ll add a Thymeleaf template soon.
TacoCloudApplicationTests.java — This is a simple test class that ensures that the
Spring application context loads successfully. You’ll add more tests to the mix as you
develop the application.
As the Taco Cloud application grows, you’ll fill in this barebones project structure with Java
code, images, stylesheets, tests, and other collateral that will make your project more complete.
But in the meantime, let’s dig a little deeper into a few of the items that Spring Initializr
provided.
When you filled out the Initializr form, you specified that your project should be built with
Maven. Therefore, the Spring Initializr gave you a pom.xml file already populated with the
choices you made. The following listing shows the entire pom.xml file provided by the Initializr.
EXPLORING THE BUILD SPECIFICATION
11

Listing 1.1 The initial Maven build specification
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0
https://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
<parent>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
<version>2.4.0</version>
<relativePath />
</parent>
<groupId>sia</groupId>
<artifactId>taco-cloud</artifactId>
<version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
<name>taco-cloud</name>
<description>Taco Cloud Example</description>
<properties>
<java.version>11</java.version>
</properties>
<dependencies>
<dependency>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-thymeleaf</artifactId>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<artifactId>spring-boot-devtools</artifactId>
<scope>runtime</scope>
<optional>true</optional>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-test</artifactId>
<scope>test</scope>
<exclusions>
<exclusion>
<groupId>org.junit.vintage</groupId>
<artifactId>junit-vintage-engine</artifactId>
</exclusion>
</exclusions>
</dependency>
</dependencies>
<build>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</build>
<repositories>
<repository>
12

Spring Boot version
Starter dependencies
Spring Boot plugin
The first thing to take note of is the element and, more specifically, its
<parent> <version>
child. This specifies that your project has as its parent POM.
spring-boot-starter-parent
Among other things, this parent POM provides dependency management for several libraries
commonly used in Spring projects. For those libraries covered by the parent POM, you won’t
have to specify a version, as it’s inherited from the parent. The version, , indicates that
2.4.0
you’re using Spring Boot 2.4.0 and, thus, will inherit dependency management as defined by that
version of Spring Boot. Among other things, Spring Boot’s dependency management for version
2.4.0 specifies that the underlying version of the core Spring Framework will be 5.3.0.
While we’re on the subject of dependencies, note that there are four dependencies declared under
the element. The first three should look somewhat familiar to you. They
<dependencies>
correspond directly to the , , and dependencies
Spring Web Thymeleaf Spring Boot DevTools
that you selected before clicking the Finish button in the Spring Tool Suite new project wizard.
The other dependency is one that provides a lot of helpful testing capabilities. You didn’t have to
check a box for it to be included because the Spring Initializr assumes (hopefully, correctly) that
you’ll be writing tests.
You may also notice that all dependencies except for the DevTools dependency have the word
in their artifact ID. Spring Boot starter dependencies are special in that they typically
starter
don’t have any library code themselves, but instead transitively pull in other libraries. These
starter dependencies offer three primary benefits:
Your build file will be significantly smaller and easier to manage because you won’t need
to declare a dependency on every library you might need.
You’re able to think of your dependencies in terms of what capabilities they provide,
rather than in terms of library names. If you’re developing a web application, you’ll add
the web starter dependency rather than a laundry list of individual libraries that enable
you to write a web application.
You’re freed from the burden of worrying about library versions. You can trust that for a
<id>spring-milestones</id>
<name>Spring Milestones</name>
<url>https://repo.spring.io/milestone</url>
</repository>
</repositories>
<pluginRepositories>
<pluginRepository>
<id>spring-milestones</id>
<name>Spring Milestones</name>
<url>https://repo.spring.io/milestone</url>
</pluginRepository>
</pluginRepositories>
</project>
13

given version of Spring Boot, the versions of the libraries brought in transitively will be
compatible. You only need to worry about which version of Spring Boot you’re using.
Finally, the build specification ends with the Spring Boot plugin. This plugin performs a few
important functions:
It provides a Maven goal that enables you to run the application using Maven. You’ll try
out this goal in section 1.3.4.
It ensures that all dependency libraries are included within the executable JAR file and
available on the runtime classpath.
It produces a manifest file in the JAR file that denotes the bootstrap class (
, in your case) as the main class for the executable JAR.
TacoCloudApplication
Speaking of the bootstrap class, let’s open it up and take a closer look.
Because you’ll be running the application from an executable JAR, it’s important to have a main
class that will be executed when that JAR file is run. You’ll also need at least a minimal amount
of Spring configuration to bootstrap the application. That’s what you’ll find in the
class, shown in the following listing.
Listing 1.2 The Taco Cloud bootstrap class
Spring Boot application
Runs the application
Although there’s little code in , what’s there packs quite a punch. One
of the most powerful lines of code is also one of the shortest. The @SpringBootApplication
annotation clearly signifies that this is a Spring Boot application. But there’s more to
than meets the eye.
@SpringBootApplication
@SpringBootApplication is a composite annotation that combines three other annotations:
@SpringBootConfiguration — Designates this class as a configuration class. Although
there’s not much configuration in the class yet, you can add Java-based Spring
BOOTSTRAPPING THE APPLICATION
package tacos;
import org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication;
import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.SpringBootApplication;
@SpringBootApplication
public class TacoCloudApplication {
public static void main(String[] args) {
SpringApplication.run(TacoCloudApplication.class, args);
}
}
14

Framework configuration to this class if you need to. This annotation is, in fact, a
specialized form of the annotation.
@Configuration
@EnableAutoConfiguration — Enables Spring Boot automatic configuration. We’ll
talk more about autoconfiguration later. For now, know that this annotation tells Spring
Boot to automatically configure any components that it thinks you’ll need.
@ComponentScan — Enables component scanning. This lets you declare other classes
with annotations like , , , and others, to have Spring
@Component @Controller @Service
automatically discover them and register them as components in the Spring application
context.
The other important piece of is the method. This is the method
TacoCloudApplication main()
that will be run when the JAR file is executed. For the most part, this method is boilerplate code;
every Spring Boot application you write will have a method similar or identical to this one (class
name differences notwithstanding).
The method calls a static method on the SpringApplication class, which performs
main() run()
the actual bootstrapping of the application, creating the Spring application context. The two
parameters passed to the method are a configuration class and the command-line
run()
arguments. Although it’s not necessary that the configuration class passed to be the same
run()
as the bootstrap class, this is the most convenient and typical choice.
Chances are you won’t need to change anything in the bootstrap class. For simple applications,
you might find it convenient to configure one or two other components in the bootstrap class, but
for most applications, you’re better off creating a separate configuration class for anything that
isn’t autoconfigured. You’ll define several configuration classes throughout the course of this
book, so stay tuned for details.
Testing is an important part of software development. Recognizing this, the Spring Initializr
gives you a test class to get started. The following listing shows the baseline test class.
Listing 1.3 A baseline application test
A Spring Boot test
TESTING THE APPLICATION
package tacos;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
import org.springframework.boot.test.context.SpringBootTest;
@SpringBootTest
public class TacoCloudApplicationTests {
@Test
public void contextLoads() {
}
}
15

The test method
There’s not much to be seen in : the one test method in the class
TacoCloudApplicationTests
is empty. Even so, this test class does perform an essential check to ensure that the Spring
application context can be loaded successfully. If you make any changes that prevent the Spring
application context from being created, this test fails, and you can react by fixing the problem.
The annotation tells JUnit to bootstrap the test with Spring Boot capabilities.
@SpringBootTest
Just like , is a composite annotation, which is
@SpringBootApplication @SpringBootTest
itself annotated with , to add Spring testing
@ExtendWith(SpringExtension.class)
capabilities to JUnit 5. For now, though, it’s enough to think of this as the test class equivalent of
calling in a method. Over the course of this book, you’ll
SpringApplication.run() main()
see several times, and we’ll uncover some of its power.
@SpringBootTest
Finally, there’s the test method itself. Although is tasked with loading the
@SpringBootTest
Spring application context for the test, it won’t have anything to do if there aren’t any test
methods. Even without any assertions or code of any kind, this empty test method will prompt
the two annotations to do their job and load the Spring application context. If there are any
problems in doing so, the test fails.
At this point, we’ve concluded our review of the code provided by the Spring Initializr. You’ve
seen some of the boilerplate foundation that you can use to develop a Spring application, but you
still haven’t written a single line of code. Now it’s time to fire up your IDE, dust off your
keyboard, and add some custom code to the Taco Cloud application.
Because you’re just getting started, we’ll start off with a relatively small change to the Taco
Cloud application, but one that will demonstrate a lot of Spring’s goodness. It seems appropriate
that as you’re just starting, the first feature you’ll add to the Taco Cloud application is a
homepage. As you add the homepage, you’ll create two code artifacts:
A controller class that handles requests for the homepage
A view template that defines what the homepage looks like
And because testing is important, you’ll also write a simple test class to test the homepage. But
first things first … let’s write that controller.
1.3 Writing a Spring application
16

Spring comes with a powerful web framework known as Spring MVC. At the center of Spring
MVC is the concept of a , a class that handles requests and responds with information
controller
of some sort. In the case of a browser-facing application, a controller responds by optionally
populating model data and passing the request on to a view to produce HTML that’s returned to
the browser.
You’re going to learn a lot about Spring MVC in chapter 2. But for now, you’ll write a simple
controller class that handles requests for the root path (for example, ) and forwards those
/
requests to the homepage view without populating any model data. The following listing shows
the simple controller class.
Listing 1.4 The homepage controller
The controller
Handles requests for the root path /
Returns the view name
As you can see, this class is annotated with . On its own, doesn’t do
@Controller @Controller
much. Its primary purpose is to identify this class as a component for component scanning.
Because is annotated with , Spring’s component scanning
HomeController @Controller
automatically discovers it and creates an instance of as a bean in the Spring
HomeController
application context.
In fact, a handful of other annotations (including , , and )
@Component @Service @Repository
serve a purpose similar to . You could have just as effectively annotated
@Controller
with any of those other annotations, and it would have still worked the same.
HomeController
The choice of is, however, more descriptive of this component’s role in the
@Controller
application.
The method is as simple as controller methods come. It’s annotated with
home() @GetMapping
to indicate that if an HTTP GET request is received for the root path /, then this method should
1.3.1 Handling web requests
package tacos;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Controller;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.GetMapping;
@Controller
public class HomeController {
@GetMapping("/")
public String home() {
return "home";
}
}
17

handle that request. It does so by doing nothing more than returning a value of .
String home
This value is interpreted as the logical name of a view. How that view is implemented depends
on a few factors, but because Thymeleaf is in your classpath, you can define that template with
Thymeleaf.
NOTE Why Thymeleaf?
You may be wondering why to chose Thymeleaf for a template engine. Why
not JSP? Why not FreeMarker? Why not one of several other options?
Put simply, I had to choose something, and I like Thymeleaf and generally
prefer it over those other options. And even though JSP may seem like an
obvious choice, there are some challenges to overcome when using JSP with
Spring Boot. I didn’t want to go down that rabbit hole in chapter 1. Hang tight.
We’ll look at other template options, including JSP, in chapter 2.
The template name is derived from the logical view name by prefixing it with /templates/ and
postfixing it with .html. The resulting path for the template is /templates/home.html. Therefore,
you’ll need to place the template in your project at /src/main/resources/templates/home.html.
Let’s create that template now.
In the interest of keeping your homepage simple, it should do nothing more than welcome users
to the site. The next listing shows the basic Thymeleaf template that defines the Taco Cloud
homepage.
Listing 1.5 The Taco Cloud homepage template
There’s not much to discuss with regard to this template. The only notable line of code is the one
with the tag to display the Taco Cloud logo. It uses a Thymeleaf attribute and an
<img> th:src
expression to reference the image with a context-relative path. Aside from that, it’s not
@{…}
much more than a Hello World page.
Let’s talk about that image a bit more. I’ll leave it up to you to define a Taco Cloud logo that you
1.3.2 Defining the view
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
xmlns:th="http://www.thymeleaf.org">
<head>
<title>Taco Cloud</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Welcome to...</h1>
<img th:src="@{/images/TacoCloud.png}"/>
</body>
</html>
18

like. But you’ll need to make sure you place it at the right place within the project.
The image is referenced with the context-relative path /images/TacoCloud.png. As you’ll recall
from our review of the project structure, static content such as images is kept in the
/src/main/resources/static folder. That means that the Taco Cloud logo image must also reside
within the project at /src/main/resources/static/images/ TacoCloud.png.
Now that you’ve got a controller to handle requests for the homepage and a view template to
render the homepage, you’re almost ready to fire up the application and see it in action. But first,
let’s see how you can write a test against the controller.
Testing web applications can be tricky when making assertions against the content of an HTML
page. Fortunately, Spring comes with some powerful test support that makes testing a web
application easy.
For the purposes of the homepage, you’ll write a test that’s comparable in complexity to the
homepage itself. Your test will perform an HTTP GET request for the root path / and expect a
successful result where the view name is home and the resulting content contains the phrase
“Welcome to…”. The following should do the trick.
Listing 1.6 A test for the homepage controller
Web test for HomeController
1.3.3 Testing the controller
package tacos;
import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.containsString;
import static org.springframework.test.web.servlet.request.MockMvcRequestBuilders.get;
import static org.springframework.test.web.servlet.result.MockMvcResultMatchers.content;
import static org.springframework.test.web.servlet.result.MockMvcResultMatchers.status;
import static org.springframework.test.web.servlet.result.MockMvcResultMatchers.view;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.boot.test.autoconfigure.web.servlet.WebMvcTest;
import org.springframework.test.web.servlet.MockMvc;
@WebMvcTest(HomeController.class)
public class HomeControllerTest {
@Autowired
private MockMvc mockMvc;
@Test
public void testHomePage() throws Exception {
mockMvc.perform(get("/"))
.andExpect(status().isOk())
.andExpect(view().name("home"))
.andExpect(content().string(
containsString("Welcome to...")));
}
}
19

Injects MockMvc
Performs GET /
Expects HTTP 200
Expects home view
Expects Welcome to…
The first thing you might notice about this test is that it differs slightly from the
class with regard to the annotations applied to it. Instead of
TacoCloudApplicationTests
markup, HomeControllerTest is annotated with . This is a
@SpringBootTest @WebMvcTest
special test annotation provided by Spring Boot that arranges for the test to run in the context of
a Spring MVC application. More specifically, in this case, it arranges for HomeController to be
registered in Spring MVC so that you can throw requests against it.
@WebMvcTest also sets up Spring support for testing Spring MVC. Although it could be made to
start a server, mocking the mechanics of Spring MVC is sufficient for your purposes. The test
class is injected with a object for the test to drive the mockup.
MockMvc
The method defines the test you want to perform against the homepage. It
testHomePage()
starts with the object to perform an HTTP GET request for / (the root path). From that
MockMvc
request, it sets the following expectations:
The response should have an HTTP 200 (OK) status.
The view should have a logical name of home.
The rendered view should contain the text “Welcome to….”
If, after the object performs the request, any of those expectations aren’t met, then the
MockMvc
test fails. But your controller and view template are written to satisfy those expectations, so the
test should pass with flying colors—or at least with some shade of green indicating a passing
test.
The controller has been written, the view template created, and you have a passing test. It seems
that you’ve implemented the homepage successfully. But even though the test passes, there’s
something slightly more satisfying with seeing the results in a browser. After all, that’s how
Taco Cloud customers are going to see it. Let’s build the application and run it.
Just as there are several ways to initialize a Spring application, there are several ways to run one.
If you like, you can flip over to the appendix to read about some of the more common ways to
run a Spring Boot application.
Because you chose to use Spring Tool Suite to initialize and work on the project, you have a
1.3.4 Building and running the application
20

handy feature called the Spring Boot Dashboard available to help you run your application inside
the IDE. The Spring Boot Dashboard appears as a tab, typically near the bottom left of the IDE
window. Figure 1.7 shows an annotated screenshot of the Spring Boot Dashboard.
Figure 1.7 Highlights of the Spring Boot Dashboard
I don’t want to spend much time going over everything the Spring Boot Dashboard does,
although figure 1.7 covers some of the most useful details. The important thing to know right
now is how to use it to run the Taco Cloud application. Make sure taco-cloud application is
highlighted in the list of projects (it’s the only application shown in figure 1.7), and then click
the start button (the left-most button with both a green triangle and a red square). The application
should start right up.
As the application starts, you’ll see some Spring ASCII art fly by in the console, followed by
some log entries describing the steps as the application starts. Before the logging stops, you’ll
see a log entry saying Tomcat started on port(s): 8080 (http), which means that you’re ready to
point your web browser at the homepage to see the fruits of your labor.
Wait a minute. Tomcat started? When did you deploy the application to Tomcat?
Spring Boot applications tend to bring everything they need with them and don’t need to be
21

deployed to some application server. You never deployed your application to Tomcat … Tomcat
is a part of your application! (I’ll describe the details of how Tomcat became part of your
application in section 1.3.6.)
Now that the application has started, point your web browser to (or click
http://localhost:8080
the globe button in the Spring Boot Dashboard) and you should see something like figure 1.8.
Your results may be different if you designed your own logo image. But it shouldn’t vary much
from what you see in figure 1.8.
Figure 1.8 The Taco Cloud homepage
It may not be much to look at. But this isn’t exactly a book on graphic design. The humble
appearance of the homepage is more than sufficient for now. And it provides you a solid start on
getting to know Spring.
One thing I’ve glossed over up until now is DevTools. You selected it as a dependency when
initializing your project. It appears as a dependency in the produced pom.xml file. And the
Spring Boot Dashboard even shows that the project has DevTools enabled. But what is
DevTools, and what does it do for you? Let’s take a quick survey of a couple of DevTools’ most
useful features.
As its name suggests, DevTools provides Spring developers with some handy development-time
tools. Among those are
1.3.5 Getting to know Spring Boot DevTools
22

Automatic application restart when code changes
Automatic browser refresh when browser-destined resources (such as templates,
JavaScript, stylesheets, and so on) change
Automatic disable of template caches
Built in H2 Console if the H2 database is in use
It’s important to understand that DevTools isn’t an IDE plugin, nor does it require that you use a
specific IDE. It works equally well in Spring Tool Suite, IntelliJ IDEA, and NetBeans.
Furthermore, because it’s only intended for development purposes, it’s smart enough to disable
itself when deploying in a production setting. (We’ll discuss how it does this when you get
around to deploying your application in chapter 19.) For now, let’s focus on the most useful
features of Spring Boot DevTools, starting with automatic application restart.
With DevTools as part of your project, you’ll be able to make changes to Java code and
properties files in the project and see those changes applied after a brief moment. DevTools
monitors for changes, and when it sees something has changed, it automatically restarts the
application.
More precisely, when DevTools is in play, the application is loaded into two separate class
loaders in the Java virtual machine (JVM). One class loader is loaded with your Java code,
property files, and pretty much anything that’s in the src/main/ path of the project. These are
items that are likely to change frequently. The other class loader is loaded with dependency
libraries, which aren’t likely to change as often.
When a change is detected, DevTools reloads only the class loader containing your project code
and restarts the Spring application context, but leaves the other class loader and the JVM intact.
Although subtle, this strategy affords a small reduction in the time it takes to start the
application.
The downside of this strategy is that changes to dependencies won’t be available in automatic
restarts. That’s because the class loader containing dependency libraries isn’t automatically
reloaded. This means that any time you add, change, or remove a dependency in your build
specification, you’ll need to do a hard restart of the application for those changes to take effect.
By default, template options such as Thymeleaf and FreeMarker are configured to cache the
results of template parsing so that templates don’t need to be reparsed with every request they
serve. This is great in production, as it buys a bit of performance benefit.
Cached templates, however, are not so great at development time. Cached templates make it
impossible to make changes to the templates while the application is running and see the results
AUTOMATIC APPLICATION RESTART
AUTOMATIC BROWSER REFRESH AND TEMPLATE CACHE DISABLE
23

after refreshing the browser. Even if you’ve made changes, the cached template will still be in
use until you restart the application.
DevTools addresses this issue by automatically disabling all template caching. Make as many
changes as you want to your templates and know that you’re only a browser refresh away from
seeing the results.
But if you’re like me, you don’t even want to be burdened with the effort of clicking the
browser’s refresh button. It’d be much nicer if you could make the changes and witness the
results in the browser immediately. Fortunately, DevTools has something special for those of us
who are too lazy to click a refresh button.
When DevTools is in play, it automatically enables a LiveReload ( ) server
http://livereload.com/
along with your application. By itself, the LiveReload server isn’t very useful. But when coupled
with a corresponding LiveReload browser plugin, it causes your browser to automatically refresh
when changes are made to templates, images, stylesheets, JavaScript, and so on—in fact, almost
anything that ends up being served to your browser.
LiveReload has browser plugins for Google Chrome, Safari, and Firefox browsers. (Sorry,
Internet Explorer and Edge fans.) Visit to find information on
http://livereload.com/extensions/
how to install LiveReload for your browser.
Although your project doesn’t yet use a database, that will change in chapter 3. If you choose to
use the H2 database for development, DevTools will also automatically enable an H2 Console
that you can access from your web browser. You only need to point your web browser to
to gain insight into the data your application is working with.
http://localhost:8080/h2-console
At this point, you’ve written a complete, albeit simple, Spring application. You’ll expand on it
throughout the course of the book. But now is a good time to step back and review what you’ve
accomplished and how Spring played a part.
Think back on how you got to this point. In short, these are the steps you’ve taken to build your
Spring-based Taco Cloud application:
You created an initial project structure using Spring Initializr.
You wrote a controller class to handle the homepage request.
You defined a view template to render the homepage.
You wrote a simple test class to prove out your work.
Seems pretty straightforward, doesn’t it? With the exception of the first step to bootstrap the
BUILT IN H2 CONSOLE
1.3.6 Let’s review
24

project, each action you’ve taken has been keenly focused on achieving the goal of producing a
homepage.
In fact, almost every line of code you’ve written is aimed toward that goal. Not counting Java
statements, I count only two lines of code in your controller class and no lines in the
import
view template that are Spring-specific. And although the bulk of the test class utilizes Spring
testing support, it seems a little less invasive in the context of a test.
That’s an important benefit of developing with Spring. You can focus on the code that meets the
requirements of an application rather than on satisfying the demands of a framework. Although
you’ll no doubt need to write some framework-specific code from time to time, it’ll usually be
only a small fraction of your codebase. As I said before, Spring (with Spring Boot) can be
considered the .
frameworkless framework
How does this even work? What is Spring doing behind the scenes to make sure your application
needs are met? To understand what Spring is doing, let’s start by looking at the build
specification.
In the pom.xml file, you declared a dependency on the and starters. These two
Web Thymeleaf
dependencies transitively brought in a handful of other dependencies, including
Spring’s MVC framework
Embedded Tomcat
Thymeleaf and the Thymeleaf layout dialect
It also brought Spring Boot’s autoconfiguration library along for the ride. When the application
starts, Spring Boot autoconfiguration detects those libraries and automatically
Configures the beans in the Spring application context to enable Spring MVC
Configures the embedded Tomcat server in the Spring application context
Configures a Thymeleaf view resolver for rendering Spring MVC views with Thymeleaf
templates
In short, autoconfiguration does all the grunt work, leaving you to focus on writing code that
implements your application functionality. That’s a pretty sweet arrangement, if you ask me!
Your Spring journey has just begun. The Taco Cloud application only touched on a small portion
of what Spring has to offer. Before you take your next step, let’s survey the Spring landscape and
see what landmarks you’ll encounter on your journey.
25

Another Random Document on
Scribd Without Any Related Topics

alone is liked—that which sounds an alarm to the unconverted, and
bids them prepare for the coming of the Judge.
But there are for all Christians frequent calls to a service in which
they need the courage of faith and every hope the covenant can
give. At the present time no greater mistake is possible than to sit in
comfort under the shadow of ancient forms and creeds. We cannot
realise the value of the promise given to genuine faith unless we
abandon the crumbling walls and meet our assailants in the open
ground, where we can see them face to face, and know the spirit
with which they fight, the ensigns of their war. There is no brave
thinking now in those old shelters, no room to use the armour of
light. Christianity is one of the free forces of human life. Its true
inspiration is found only when those who stand by it are bent on
securing and extending the liberties of men. The trumpets that lift to
heaven the prayers of the faithful and fill the soldiers of the Cross
with the hope of victory can never be in the hands of those who
claim exclusive spiritual authority, nor will they ever again sound the
old Hebrew note. They inspire those who are generous, who feel
that the more they give the more they are blessed, who would
impart to others their own life that God's love to the world may be
known. They call us not to defend our own privileges, but to keep
the way of salvation open to all, to prevent the Pharisee and the
unbeliever from closing against men the door of heavenly grace.
Once more; in the days of gladness and solemn feasting the
trumpets were to be blown over the burnt offerings and peace
offerings. The joy of the Passover, the hope of the new-moon
festival, especially in the beginning of the seventh month, were to be
sent up to heaven with the sound of these instruments, not as if
Jehovah had forgotten His people and His covenant, but for the
assurance and comfort of the worshippers. He was a Friend before
whom they could rejoice, a King whose forgiveness was abundant,
who showed mercy unto the thousands who loved Him and kept His
commandments. The music, loud, and clear, and bold, was to carry
to all who heard it the conviction that God had been sought in the

way of His holy law, and would cause blessing to descend upon
Israel.
We claim with gentler sounds, those of lowly prayer and pleading,
the help of the Most High. Even in the secret chamber when the
door is shut we can address our Father, knowing that our claim will
be answered for the sake of Christ. Yet there are times when the
loud and clear hallelujahs, borne heavenward by human voices and
pealing organ, seem alone to express our exultation. Then the
instruments and methods of modern art may be said to bind the old
Hebrew times, the ancient faith of the wilderness and of Zion, to our
own. We carry out ideas that lie at the heart of the race; we realise
that human skill, human discovery, find their highest use and delight
when they make beautiful and inspiring the service of God.
3. The Order of March
Numbers x. 11-28
The difficulties connected with the order of march prescribed in this
passage have been often and fully rehearsed. According to the
enumeration given in chap. ii., the van of the host formed by the
division of Judah, men, women, and children, must have reached
some six hundred thousand at least. The second division, headed by
Reuben, would number five hundred thousand. The Levites, with
their wives and children, according to the same computation would
be altogether about seventy thousand. Then came the two
remaining camps, about nine hundred thousand souls. At the first
signal six hundred thousand would have to get into marching order
and move off across the desert. There could be no absolute
separation of the fighting men from their families and flocks, and
even if there were no narrow passes to confine the vast multitude, it
would occupy miles of road. We must not put a day's journey at
more than ten miles. The foremost groups would therefore have
reached the camping ground, let us say, when the last ranks of the

second division were only beginning to move; and the rear would
still be on its way when night had long fallen upon the desert.
Whatever obstacles were removed for the Israelites, the actual
distance to be traversed could not be made less; and the journey is
always represented as a stern and serious discipline. When we take
into account the innumerable hindrances which so vast a company
would certainly have to contend with, it seems impossible that the
order of march as detailed in this passage could have been followed
for two days together.
Suppose we receive the explanation that the numbers have been
accidentally increased in the transcription of records. This would
relieve the narrative, not only here but at many points, of a burden it
can hardly carry. And we remember that according to the Book of
Nehemiah less than fifty thousand Jews, returning from Babylon at
the close of the captivity, reconstructed the nation, so that it soon
showed considerable spirit and energy. If the numbers as they stand
in the Pentateuch were reduced, divided by ten, as some propose,
the desert journey would appear less of a mere marvel. It would
remain one of the most striking and important migrations known to
history; it would lose none of its religious significance. No religious
idea is affected by the numbers who receive it; nor do the great
purposes of God depend on multitudes for their fulfilment. We can
view with composure the criticism which touches the record on its
numerical side, because we know the prophetic work of Moses and
the providential education of Israel to be incontrovertible facts.
It has been suggested that the order of march as described did not
continue to be kept throughout the whole of the wilderness journey;
that in point of fact it may have been followed only so far as Kadesh.
Whether this was so or not it must be taken into account that for the
greater part of the forty years there was absolutely no travelling; the
tribes were settled in the wilderness of Paran. The proofs are
incidental but conclusive. From a central point, where the cloud
rested (Numb. x. 12), the people spread themselves, we may
suppose, in various directions, seeking grass for their cattle, and

living for the most part like the other inhabitants of the district. Even
if there were but three years of travelling in all, before and after the
sojourn in the neighbourhood of Kadesh, there would be ample time
for the movement from one place to another mentioned in the
records.

VIII
HOBAB THE KENITE
Numbers x. 29-36
The Kenites, an Arab tribe belonging to the region of Midian, and
sometimes called Midianites, sometimes Amalekites, were already in
close and friendly relation with Israel. Moses, when he went first to
Midian, had married a daughter of their chief Jethro, and, as we
learn from Exod. xviii., this patriarch, with his daughter Zipporah and
the two sons she had borne to Moses, came to the camp of Israel at
the mount of God. The meeting was an occasion of great rejoicing;
and Jethro, as priest of his tribe, having congratulated the Hebrews
on the deliverance Jehovah had wrought for them, "took a burnt
offering and sacrifices for God," and was joined by Moses, Aaron,
and all the elders of Israel in the sacrificial feast. A union was thus
established between Kenites and Israelites of the most solemn and
binding kind. The peoples were sworn to continual friendship.
While Jethro remained in the camp his counsel was given in regard
to the manner of administering justice. In accordance with it rulers
of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens were chosen, "able men,
such as feared God, men of truth, hating covetousness"; and to
them matters of minor importance were referred for judgment, the
hard causes only being brought before Moses. The sagacity of one
long experienced in the details of government came in to
supplement the intellectual power and the inspiration of the Hebrew
leader.

It does not appear that any attempt was made to attach Jethro and
the whole of his tribe to the fortunes of Israel. The small company of
the Kenites could travel far more swiftly than a great host, and, if
they desired, could easily overtake the march. Moses, we are told,
let his father-in-law depart, and he went to his own place. But now
that the long stay of the Israelites at Sinai is over and they are about
to advance to Canaan, the visit of a portion of the Kenite tribe is
made the occasion of an appeal to their leader to cast in his lot with
the people of God. There is some confusion in regard to the
relationship of Hobab with Jethro or Raguel. Whether Hobab was a
son or grandson of the chief cannot be made out. The word
translated father-in-law (Numb. x. 29), means a relation by
marriage. Whatever was the tie between Hobab and Moses, it was at
all events so close, and the Kenite had so much sympathy with
Israel, that it was natural to make the appeal to him: "Come thou
with us, and we will do thee good." Himself assured of the result of
the enterprise, anticipating with enthusiasm the high destiny of the
tribes of Israel, Moses endeavours to persuade these children of the
desert to take the way to Canaan.
There was a fascination in the movement of that people who,
rescued from bondage by their Heavenly Friend, were on their
journey to the land of His promise. This fascination Hobab and his
followers appear to have felt; and Moses counted upon it. The
Kenites, used to the wandering life, accustomed to strike their tents
any day as occasion required, no doubt recoiled from the thought of
settling even in a fertile country, still more from dwelling in any
walled town. But the south of Canaan was practically a wilderness,
and there, keeping to a great extent their ancestral habits, they
might have had the liberty they loved, yet kept in touch with their
friends of Israel. Some aversion from the Hebrews, who still bore
certain marks of slavery, would have to be overcome. Yet, with the
bond already established, there needed only some understanding of
the law of Jehovah, and some hope in His promise to bring the
company of Hobab to decision.

And Moses had right in saying, "Come with us, and we will do thee
good; for Jehovah hath spoken good concerning Israel." The outlook
to a future was something which the Kenites as a people had not,
never could have in their desultory life. Unprogressive, out of the
way of the great movements of humanity, gaining nothing as
generations went by, but simply reproducing the habits and
treasuring the beliefs of their fathers, the Arab tribe might maintain
itself, might occasionally strike for righteousness in some conflict,
but otherwise had no prospect, could have no enthusiasm. They
would live their hard life, they would enjoy freedom, they would die
—such would be their history. Compared with that poor outlook, how
good it would be to share the noble task of establishing on the soil
of Canaan a nation devoted to truth and righteousness, in league
with the living God, destined to extend His kingdom and make His
faith the means of blessing to all. It was the great opportunity of
these nomads. As yet, indeed, there was no courage of religion, no
brightness of enthusiasm among the Israelites. But there was the
ark of the covenant, there were the sacrifices, the law; and Jehovah
Himself, always present with His people, was revealing His will and
His glory by oracle, by discipline and deliverance.
Now these Kenites may be taken as representing a class, in the
present day to a certain extent attracted, even fascinated, by the
Church, who standing irresolute are appealed to in terms like those
addressed by Moses to Hobab. They feel a certain charm, for in the
wide organisation and vast activity of the Christian Church, quite
apart from the creed on which it is based, there are signs of vigour
and purpose which contrast favourably with endeavours directed to
mere material gain. In idea and in much of its effort the Church is
splendidly humane, and it provides interests, enjoyments, both of an
intellectual and artistic kind, in which all can share. Not so much its
universality nor its mission of converting the world, nor its spiritual
worship, but rather the social advantages and the culture it offers
draw towards it those minds and lives. And to them it extends, too
often without avail, the invitation to join its march.

Is it asked why many, partly fascinated, remain proof against its
appeals? why an increasing number prefer, like Hobab, the liberty of
the desert, their own unattached, desultory, hopeless way of life?
The answer must partly be that, as it is, the Church does not fully
commend itself by its temper, its enthusiasm, its sincerity and
Christianity. It attracts but is unable to command, because with all
its culture of art it does not appear beautiful, with all its claims of
spirituality it is not unworldly; because, professing to exist for the
redemption of society, its methods and standards are too often
human rather than Divine. It is not that the outsider shrinks from the
religiousness of the Church as overdone; rather does he detect a
lack of that very quality. He could believe in the Divine calling and
join the enterprise of the Church if he saw it journeying steadily
towards a better country, that is a heavenly. Its earnestness would
then command him; faith would compel faith. But social status and
temporal aims are not subordinated by the members of the Church,
nor even by its leaders. And whatever is done in the way of
providing attractions for the pleasure-loving, and schemes of a social
kind, these, so far from gaining the undecided, rather make them
less disposed to believe. More exciting enjoyments can be found
elsewhere. The Church offering pleasures and social reconstruction
is attempting to catch those outside by what, from their point of
view, must appear to be chaff.
It is a question which every body of Christians has need to ask itself
—Can we honestly say to those without, Come with us, and we will
do you good? In order that there may be certainty on this point,
should not every member of the Church be able to testify that the
faith he has gives joy and peace, that his fellowship with God is
making life pure and strong and free? Should there not be a clear
movement of the whole body, year by year, towards finer spirituality,
broader and more generous love? The gates of membership are in
some cases opened to such only as make very clear and ample
profession. It does not, however, appear that those already within
have always the Christian spirit corresponding to that high
profession. And yet as Moses could invite Hobab and his company

without misgiving because Jehovah was the Friend and Guide of
Israel and had spoken good concerning her, so because Christ is the
Head of the Church, and Captain of her salvation, those outside may
well be urged to join her fellowship. If all depended on the
earnestness of our faith and the steadfastness of our virtue we
should not dare to invite others to join the march. But it is with
Christ we ask them to unite. Imperfect in many ways, the Church is
His, exists to show His death, to proclaim His Gospel and extend His
power. In the whole range of human knowledge and experience
there is but one life that is free, pure, hopeful, energetic in every
noble sense, and at the same time calm. In the whole range of
human existence there is but one region in which the mind and the
soul find satisfaction and enlargement, in which men of all sorts and
conditions find true harmony. That life and that region of existence
are revealed by Christ; into them He only is the Way. The Church,
maintaining this, demonstrating this, is to invite all who stand aloof.
They who join Christ and follow Him will come to a good land, a
heavenly heritage.
The first invitation given to Hobab was set aside. "Nay," he said, "I
will not go; but I will depart to my own land and to my kindred." The
old ties of country and people were strong for him. The true Arab
loves his country passionately. The desert is his home, the
mountains are his friends. His hard life is a life of liberty. He is
strongly attached to his tribe, which has its own traditions, its own
glories. There have been feuds, the memory of which must be
cherished. There are heirlooms that give dignity to those who
possess them. The people of the clan are brothers and sisters. Very
little of the commercial mingles with the life of the desert; so
perhaps family feeling has the more power. These influences Hobab
felt, and this besides deterred him, that if he joined the Israelites he
would be under the command of Moses. Hobab was prospective
head of his tribe, already in partial authority at least. To obey the
word of command instead of giving it was a thing he could not
brook. No doubt the leader of Israel had proved himself brave,
resolute, wise. He was a man of ardent soul and fitted for royal

power. But Hobab preferred the chieftainship of his own small clan to
service under Moses; and, brought to the point of deciding, he
would not agree.
Freedom, habit, the hopes that have become part of life—these in
like manner interpose between many and a call which is known to be
from God. There is restraint within the circle of faith; old ideas,
traditional conceptions of life, and many personal ambitions have to
be relinquished by those who enter it. Accustomed to that Midian
where every man does according to the bent of his own will, where
life is hard but uncontrolled, where all they have learned to care for
and desire may be found, many are unwilling to choose the way of
religion, subjection to the law of Christ, the life of spiritual conflict
and trial, however much may be gained at once and in the eternal
future. Yet the liberty of their Midian is illusory. It is simply freedom
to spend strength in vain, to roam from place to place where all alike
are barren, to climb mountains lightning-riven, swept by
interminable storms. And the true liberty is with Christ, who opens
the prospect of the soul, and redeems the life from evil, vanity, and
fear. The heavenward march appears to involve privation and
conflict, which men do not care to face. But is the worldly life free
from enemies, hardships, disappointments? The choice is, for many,
between a bare life over which death triumphs, and a life moving on
over obstacles, through tribulations, to victory and glory. The
attractions of land and people, set against those of Christian hope,
have no claim. "Every one," says the Lord, "that hath left houses, or
brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children, or lands, for My
sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit eternal life."
Passing on, the narrative informs us that Moses used another plea:
"Leave us not, I pray thee; forasmuch as thou knowest how we are
to encamp in the wilderness, and thou shalt be to us instead of
eyes." Hobab did not respond to the promise of advantage to
himself; he might be moved by the hope of being useful. Knowing
that he had to deal with a man who was proud, and in his way
magnanimous, Moses wisely used this appeal. And he used it frankly,

without pretence. Hobab might do real and valuable service to the
tribes on their march to Canaan. Accustomed to the desert, over
which he had often travelled, acquainted with the best methods of
disposing a camp in any given position, with the quick eye and habit
of observation which the Arab life gives, Hobab would be the very
adjutant to whom Moses might commit many details. If he joins the
tribes on this footing it will be without pretence. He professes no
greater faith either in Israel's destiny or in Jehovah's sole Godhead
than he really feels. Wishing Israel well, interested in the great
experiment, yet not bound up in it, he may give his counsel and
service heartily so far as they avail.
We are here introduced to another phase of the relation between the
Church and those who do not altogether accept its creed, or
acknowledge its mission to be supernatural, Divine. Confessing
unwillingness to receive the Christian system as a whole, perhaps
openly expressing doubts of the miraculous, for example, many in
our day have still so much sympathy with the ethics and culture of
Christianity that they would willingly associate themselves with the
Church, and render it all the service in their power. Their tastes have
led them to subjects of study and modes of self-development not in
the proper sense religious. Some are scientific, some have literary
talent, some artistic, some financial. The question may be, whether
the Church should invite these to join her ranks in any capacity,
whether room may be made for them, tasks assigned to them. On
the one hand, would it be dangerous to Christian faith? on the other
hand, would it involve them in self-deception? Let it be assumed that
they are men of honour and integrity, men who aim at a high moral
standard and have some belief in the spiritual dignity man may
attain. On this footing may their help be sought and cordially
accepted by the Church?
We cannot say that the example of Moses should be taken as a rule
for Christians. It was one thing to invite the co-operation with Israel
for a certain specified purpose of an Arab chief who differed
somewhat in respect of faith; it would be quite another thing to

invite one whose faith, if he has any, is only a vague theism, to give
his support to Christianity. Yet the cases are so far parallel that the
one illustrates the other. And one point appears to be this, that the
Church may show itself at least as sympathetic as Israel. Is there but
a single note of unison between a soul and Christianity? Let that be
recognised, struck again and again till it is clearly heard. Our Lord
rewarded the faith of a Syrophœnician woman, of a Roman
centurion. His religion cannot be injured by generosity. Attachment
to Himself personally, disposition to hear His words and accept His
morality, should be hailed as the possible dawn of faith, not frowned
upon as a splendid sin. Every one who helps sound knowledge helps
the Church. The enthusiast for true liberty has a point of contact
with Him whose truth gives freedom. The Church is a spiritual city
with gates that stand wide open day and night towards every region
and condition of human life, towards the north and south, the east
and west. If the wealthy are disposed to help, let them bring their
treasures; if the learned devote themselves reverently and patiently
to her literature, let their toil be acknowledged. Science has a tribute
that should be highly valued, for it is gathered from the works of
God; and art of every kind—of the poet, the musician, the sculptor,
the painter—may assist the cause of Divine religion. The powers
men have are given by Him who claims all as His own. The vision of
Isaiah in which he saw Tarshish and the isles, Sheba and Seba
offering gifts to the temple of God, did not assume that the tribute
was in all cases that of covenant love. And the Church of Christ has
broader human sympathy and better right to the service of the world
than Isaiah knew. For the Church's good, and for the good of those
who may be willing in any way to aid her work and development, all
gifts should be gladly received, and those who stand hesitating
should be invited to serve.
But the analogy of the invitation to Hobab involves another point
which must always be kept in view. It is this, that the Church is not
to slacken her march not divert her march in any degree because
men not fully in sympathy with her join the company and contribute
their service. The Kenite may cast in his lot with the Israelites and

aid them with his experience. But Moses will not cease to lead the
tribes towards Canaan, will not delay their progress a single day for
Hobab's sake. Nor will he less earnestly claim sole Godhead for
Jehovah, and insist that every sacrifice shall be made to Him and
every life kept holy in His way, for His service. Perhaps the Kenite
faith differed little in its elements from that which the Israelites
inherited. It may have been monotheistic; and we know that part of
the worship was by way of sacrifice not unlike that appointed by the
Mosaic law. But it had neither the wide ethical basis nor the spiritual
aim and intensity which Moses had been the means of imparting to
Israel's religion. And from the ideas revealed to him and embodied in
the moral and ceremonial law he could not for the sake of Hobab
resile in the least. There should be no adjustment of creed or ritual
to meet the views of the new ally. Onward to Canaan, onward also
along the lines of religious duty and development, the tribes would
hold their way as before.
In modern alliances with the Church a danger is involved, sufficiently
apparent to all who regard the state of religion. History is full of
instances in which, to one company of helpers and another, too
much has been conceded; and the march of spiritual Christianity is
still greatly impeded by the same thing. Money contributed, by
whomsoever, is held to give the donors a right to take their place in
councils of the Church, or at least to sway decision now in one
direction, now in another. Prestige is offered with the tacit
understanding that it shall be repaid with deference. The artist uses
his skill, but not in subordination to the ideas of spiritual religion. He
assumes the right to give them his own colour, and may even, while
professing to serve Christianity, sensualise its teaching. Scholarship
offers help, but is not content to submit to Christ. Having been
allowed to join itself with the Church, it proceeds, not infrequently,
to play the traitor's part, assailing the faith it was invoked to serve.
Those who care more for pleasure than for religion may within a
certain range find gratification in Christian worship; they are apt to
claim more and still more of the element that meets their taste. And
those who are bent on social reconstruction would often, without

any thought of doing wrong, divert the Church entirely from its
spiritual mission. When all these influences are taken into account, it
will be seen that Christianity has to go its way amid perils. It must
not be unsympathetic. But those to whom its camp is opened,
instead of helping the advance, may neutralise the whole enterprise.
Every Church has great need at present to consider whether that
clear spiritual aim which ought to be the constant guide is not
forgotten, at least occasionally, for the sake of this or that alliance
supposed to be advantageous. It is difficult to find the mean,
difficult to say who serve the Church, who hinder its success. More
difficult still is it to distinguish those who are heartily with
Christianity from those who are only so in appearance, having some
nostrum of their own to promote. Hobab may decide to go with
Israel; but the invitation he accepts, perhaps with an air of
superiority, of one conferring a favour, is really extended to him for
his good, for the saving of his life. Let there be no blowing of the
silver trumpets to announce that a prince of the Kenites henceforth
journeys with Israel; they were not made for that! Let there be no
flaunting of a gay ensign over his tent. We shall find that a day
comes when the men who stand by true religion have—perhaps
through Kenite influence—the whole congregation to face. So it is in
Churches. On the other hand, Pharisaism is a great danger, equally
tending to destroy the value of religion; and Providence ever mingles
the elements that enter into the counsels of Christianity, challenging
the highest wisdom, courage, and charity of the faithful.
The closing verses of chap. x. (33-6), belonging, like the passage
just considered, to the prophetic narrative, affirm that the ark was
borne from Sinai three days' journey before the host to find a
halting-place. The reconciliation between this statement and the
order which places the ark in the centre of the march, may be that

the ideal plan was at the outset not observed, for some sufficient
reason. The absolute sincerity of the compilers of the Book of
Numbers is shown in their placing almost side by side the two
statements without any attempt to harmonise. Both were found in
the ancient documents, and both were set down in good faith. The
scribes into whose hands the old records came did not assume the
rôle of critics.
At the beginning of every march Moses is reported to have used the
chant: "Rise up, O Jehovah, and let Thine enemies be scattered; and
let them that hate Thee flee before Thee." When the ark rested he
said: "Return, O Jehovah, unto the ten thousands of the thousands
of Israel." The former is the opening strain of Psalm lxviii., and its
magnificent strophes move towards the idea of that rest which Israel
finds in the protection of her God. Part of the ode returns upon the
desert journey, adding some features and incidents omitted in the
narrations of the Pentateuch—such as the plentiful rain which
refreshed the weary tribes, the publishing by women of some Divine
oracle. But on the whole the psalm agrees with the history, making
Sinai the scene of the great revelation of God, and indicating the
guidance He gave through the wilderness by means of the cloudy
pillar. The chants of Moses would be echoed by the people, and
would help to maintain the sense of constant relation between the
tribes and their unseen Defender.
Through the wilderness Israel went, not knowing from what quarter
the sudden raid of a desert people might be made. Swiftly, silently,
as if springing out of the very sand, the Arab raiders might bear
down upon the travellers. They were assured of the guardianship of
Him whose eye never slumbered, when they kept His way and held
themselves at His command. Here the resemblance to our case in
the journey of life is clear; and we are reminded of our need of
defence and the only terms on which we may expect it. We may look
for protection against those who are the enemies of God. But we
have no warrant for assuming that on whatever errand we are
bound we have but to invoke the Divine arm in order to be secure.

The dreams of those who think their personal claim on God may
always be urged have no countenance in the prayer, "Rise up, O
Jehovah, and let Thine enemies be scattered." And as Israel settling
to rest after some weary march could enjoy the sense of Jehovah's
presence only if the duties of the day had been patiently done, and
the thought of God's will had made peace in every tribe, and His
promise had given courage and hope—so for us, each day will close
with the Divine benediction when we have "fought a good fight and
kept the faith." Fidelity there must be; or, if it has failed, the deep
repentance that subdues wandering desire and rebellious will,
bringing the whole of life anew into the way of lowly service.

IX
THE STRAIN OF THE DESERT
JOURNEY
Numbers xi
The narrative has accompanied the march of Israel but a short way
from the mount of God to some spot marked for an encampment by
the ark of the covenant, and already complaining has to be told of,
and the swift judgment of those who complained. The Israelites
have made a reservation in their covenant with God, that though
obedience and trust are solemnly promised, yet leave shall be taken
to murmur against His providence. They will have God for their
Protector, they will worship Him; but let Him make their life smooth.
Much has had to be borne which they did not anticipate; and they
grumble and speak evil.
Generally men do not realise that their murmuring is against God.
They have no intention to accuse His providence. It is of other men
they complain, who come in their way; of accidents, so called, for
which no one seems to be responsible; of regulations, well enough
meant, which at some point prove vexatious; the obtuseness and
carelessness of those who undertake but do not perform. And there
does seem to be a great difference between displeasure with human
agents whose follies and failures provoke us, and discontent with our
own lot and its trials. At the same time, this has to be kept in view,
that while we carefully refrain from criticising Providence, there may
be, underlying our complaints, a tacit opinion that the world is not
well made nor well ordered. To a certain extent the persons who

irritate us are responsible for their mistakes; but just among those
who are prone to err our discipline has been appointed. To gird at
them is as much a revolt against the Creator as to complain of the
heat of summer or the winter cold. With our knowledge of what the
world is, of what our fellow-creatures are, should go the perception
that God rules everywhere and stands against us when we resent
what, in His world, we have to do or to suffer. He is against those
who fail in duty also. Yet it is not for us to be angry. Our due will not
be withheld. Even when we suffer most it is still offered, still given.
While we endeavour to remedy the evils we feel, it must be without
a thought that the order appointed by the Great King fails us at any
point.
The punishment of those who complained is spoken of as swift and
terrible. "The fire of the Lord burnt among them, and devoured in
the uttermost part of the camp." This judgment falls under a
principle assumed throughout the whole book, that disaster must
overtake transgressors, and conversely that death by pestilence,
earthquake, or lightning is invariably a result of sin. For the Israelites
this was one of the convictions that maintained a sense of moral
duty and of the danger of offending God. Again and again in the
wilderness, where thunderstorms were common and plagues spread
rapidly, the impression was strongly confirmed that the Most High
observed everything that was done against His will. The journey to
Canaan brought in this way a new experience of God to those who
had been accustomed to the equable conditions of climate and the
comparative health enjoyed in Egypt. The moral education of the
people advanced by the quickening of conscience in regard to all
that befell Israel.
From the disaster at Taberah the narrative passes to another phase
of complaint in which the whole camp was involved. The
dissatisfaction began amongst the "mixed multitude"—that
somewhat lawless crowd of low-caste Egyptians and people of the
Delta and the wilderness who attached themselves to the host.
Among them first, because they had absolutely no interest in Israel's

hope, a disposition to quarrel with their circumstances would
naturally arise. But the spirit of dissatisfaction grew apace, and the
burden of the new complaint was: "We have nought but this manna
to look to." The part of the desert into which the travellers had now
penetrated was even more sterile than Midian. Hitherto the food had
been varied somewhat by occasional fruits and the abundant milk of
kine and goats. But pasturage for the cattle was scanty in the
wilderness of Paran, and there were no trees of any kind. Appetite
found nothing that was refreshing. Their soul was dried away.
It was a common belief in our Lord's time that the manna, falling
from heaven, very food of the angels, had been so satisfying, so
delicious, that no people could have been more favoured than those
who ate of it. When Christ spoke of the meat which endureth unto
eternal life, the thought of His hearers immediately turned to the
manna as the special gift of God to their fathers, and they conceived
an expectation that Jesus would give them that bread of heaven,
and so prove Himself worthy of their faith. But He replied, "Moses
gave you not that bread out of heaven, but My Father giveth you the
true bread out of heaven. I am the Bread of Life."
In the course of time the manna had been, so to speak, glorified. It
appeared to the later generations one of the most wonderful and
impressive things recorded in the whole history of their nation, this
provision made for the wandering host. There was the water from
the rock, and there was the manna. What a benignant Providence
had watched over the tribes! How bountiful God had been to the
people in the old days! They longed for a sign of the same kind. To
enjoy it would restore their faith and put them again in the high
position which had been denied for ages.
But these notions are not borne out by the history as we have it in
the passage under notice. Nothing is said about angels' food—that is
a poetical expression which a psalmist used in his fervour. Here we
read, as to the coming of the manna, that when the dew fell upon
the camp at night the manna fell upon it, or with it. And so far from
the people being satisfied, they complained that instead of the fish

and onions, cucumbers and melons of Egypt, they had nothing but
manna to eat. The taste of it is described as like that of fresh oil. In
Exodus it is said to have resembled wafers mixed with honey. It was
not the privilege of the Israelites in the wilderness but their
necessity to live on this somewhat cloying food. In no sense can it
be called ideal. Nevertheless, complaining about it, they were in
serious fault, betraying the foolish expectation that on the way to
liberty they should have no privations. And their discontent with the
manna soon became alarming to Moses. A sort of hysteria spread
through the camp. Not the women only, but the men at the doors of
their tents bewailed their hard lot. There was a tempest of tears and
cries.
God, through His providence, determining for men, carrying out His
own designs for their good, does not allow them to keep in the
region of the usual and of mere comfort. Something is brought into
their life which stirs the soul. In new hope they begin an enterprise
the course and end of which they cannot foresee. The conventional,
the pleasant, the peace and abundance of Egypt, can be no longer
enjoyed if the soul is to have its own. By Moses Jehovah summoned
the Israelites from the land of plenty to fulfil a high mission; and
when they responded, it was so far a proof that there was in them
spirit enough for an uncommon destiny. But for the accomplishment
of it they had to be nerved and braced by trial. Their ordeal was that
mortifying of the flesh and of sensuous desire which must be
undergone if the hopes through which the mind becomes conscious
of the will of God are to be fulfilled.
In our personal history God, reaching us by His word, enlightening
us with regard to the true ends of our being, calls us to begin a
journey which has no earthly terminus and promises no earthly
reward. We may be quite sure that we have not yet responded to
His call if there is nothing of the wilderness in our life, no hardship,
no adventure, no giving up of what is good in a temporal sense for
what is good in a spiritual sense. The very essence of the design of
God concerning a man is that he leave the lower and seek the

higher, that he deny himself that which according to the popular
view is his life, in order to seek a remote and lofty goal. There will
be duty that calls for faith, that needs hope and courage. In doing it
he will have recurring trials of his spirit, necessities of self-discipline,
stern difficulties of choice and action. Every one of these he must
face.
What is wrong with many lives is that they have no strain in them as
of a desert journey towards a heavenly Canaan, the realisation of
spiritual life. Adventure, when it is undertaken, is often for the sake
of getting fish and melons and cucumbers by-and-by in greater
abundance and of better kinds. Many live hardly just now, not
because they are on the way to spiritual freedom and the high
destiny of life in God, but because they believe themselves to be on
the way to better social position, to wealth or honour. But take the
life that has begun its high enterprise at the urgency of a Divine
vocation, and that life will find hardness, deprivations, perils, of its
own. It is not given to us to be absolutely certain in decision and
endeavour. Out in the wilderness, even when manna is provided,
and the pillar of cloud seems to show the way, the people of God are
in danger of doubting whether they have done wisely, whether they
have not taken too much upon themselves or laid too much upon
the Lord. The Israelites might have said, We have obeyed God: why,
then, should the sun smite us with burning heat, and the dust-
storms sweep down upon our march, and the night fall with so bitter
a chill? Interminable toil, in travelling, in attending to cattle and
domestic duties, in pitching tents and striking them, gathering fuel,
searching far and wide through the camp for food, helping the
children, carrying the sick and aged, toil that did not cease till far
into the night and had to be resumed with early morning—such, no
doubt, were the things that made life in the wilderness irksome. And
although many now have a lighter burden, yet our social life, adding
new difficulties with every improvement, our domestic affairs, the
continual struggle necessary in labour and business, furnish not a
few causes of irritation and of bitterness. God does not remove
annoyances out of the way even of His devoted servants. We

remember how Paul was vexed and burdened while carrying the
world's thought on into a new day. We remember what a weight the
infirmities and treacheries of men laid upon the heart of Christ.
Let us thank God if we feel sometimes across the wilderness a
breeze from the hills of the heavenly Canaan, and now and then
catch glimpses of them far away. But the manna may seem flat and
tasteless, nevertheless; the road may seem long; the sun may
scorch. Tempted to despond, we need afresh to assure ourselves
that God is faithful who has given us His promise. And although we
seem to be led not towards the heavenly frontier, but often aside
through close defiles into some region more barren and dismal than
we have yet crossed, doubt is not for us. He knoweth the way that
we take; when He has tried us, we shall come forth where He
appoints.
From the people we turn to Moses and the strain he had to bear as
leader. Partly it was due to his sense of the wrath of God against
Israel. To a certain extent he was responsible for those he led, for
nothing he had done was apart from his own will. The enterprise
was laid on him as a duty certainly; yet he undertook it freely. Such
as the Israelites were, with that mixed multitude among them, a
dangerous element enough, Moses had personally accepted the
leadership of them. And now the murmuring, the lusting, the childish
weeping, fall upon him. He feels that he must stand between the
people and Jehovah. The behaviour of the multitude vexes him to
the soul; yet he must take their part, and avert, if possible, their
condemnation.
The position is one in which a leader of men often finds himself.
Things are done which affront him personally, yet he cannot turn
against the wayward and unbelieving, for, if he did, the cause would
be lost. The Divine judgment of the transgressors falls on him all the
more because they themselves are unaware of it. The burden such
an one has to sustain points directly to the sin-bearing of Christ.
Wounded to the soul by the wrong-doing of men, He had to
interpose between them and the stroke of the law, the judgment of

God. And may not Moses be said to be a type of Christ? The parallel
may well be drawn; yet the imperfect mediation of Moses fell far
short of the perfect mediation of our Lord. The narrative here
reflects that partial knowledge of the Divine character which made
the mediation of Moses human and erring for all its greatness.
For one thing Moses exaggerated his own responsibility. He asked of
God: "Why hast Thou evil entreated Thy servant? Why dost Thou lay
the burden of all this people upon me? Am I their father? Am I to
carry the whole multitude as a father carries his young child in his
bosom?" These are ignorant words, foolish words. Moses is
responsible, but not to that extent. It is fit that he should be grieved
when the Israelites do wrong, but not proper that he should charge
God with laying on him the duty of keeping and carrying them like
children. He speaks unadvisedly with his lips.
Responsibility of those who endeavour to lead others has its limits;
and the range of duty is bounded in two ways—on the one hand by
the responsibility of men for themselves, on the other hand by God's
responsibility for them, God's care of them. Moses should see that
no law or ordinance makes him chargeable with the childish
lamentations of those who know they should not complain, who
ought to be manly and endure with stout hearts. If persons who can
go on their own feet want to be carried, no one is responsible for
carrying them. It is their own fault when they are left behind. If
those who can think and discover duty for themselves, desire
constantly to have it pointed out to them, crave daily
encouragement in doing their duty, and complain because they are
not sufficiently considered, the leader, like Moses, is not responsible.
Every man must bear his own burden—that is, must bear the burden
of duty, of thought, of effort, so far as his ability goes.
Then, on the other side, the power of God is beneath all, His care
extends over all. Moses ought not for a moment to doubt Jehovah's
mindfulness of His people. Men who hold office in society or the
Church are never to think that their effort is commensurate with
God's. Proud indeed he would be who said: "The care of all these

souls lies on me: if they are to be saved, I must save them; if they
perish, I shall be chargeable with their blood." Speaking ignorantly
and in haste, Moses went almost that length; but his error is not to
be repeated. The charge of the Church and of the world is God's;
and He never fails to do for all and for each what is right. The
teacher of men, the leader of affairs, with full sympathy and
indefatigable love, is to do all he can, yet never trench on the
responsibility of men for their own life, or assume to himself the part
of Providence.
Moses made one mistake and went on to another. He was on the
whole a man of rare patience and meekness; yet on this occasion he
spoke to Jehovah in terms of daring resentment. His cry was to get
rid of the whole enterprise: "If Thou deal thus with me, kill me, I
pray Thee, out of hand, and let me not see my wretchedness." He
seemed to himself to have this work to do and no other, apparently
imagining that if he was not competent for this, he could be of no
use in the world. But even if he had failed as a leader, highest in
office, he might have been fit enough for a secondary place, under
Joshua or some other whom God might inspire: this he failed to see.
And although he was bound up in Israel's well-being, so that if the
expedition did not prosper he had no wish to live, and was so far
sincerely patriotic, yet what good end could his death serve? The
desire to die shows wounded pride. Better live on and turn shepherd
again. No man is to despise his life, whatever it is, however it may
seem to come short of the high ambition he has cherished as a
servant of God and men. Discovering that in one line of endeavour
he cannot do all he would, let him make trial of others, not pray for
death.
The narrative represents God as dealing graciously with his erring
servant. Help was provided for him by the appointment of seventy
elders, who were to share the task of guiding and controlling the
tribes. These seventy were to have a portion of the leader's spirit—
zeal and enthusiasm like his own. Their influence in the camp would
prevent the faithlessness and dejection which threatened to wreck

the Hebrew enterprise. Further, the murmuring of the people was to
be effectually silenced. Flesh was to be given them till they loathed
it. They should learn that the satisfaction of ignorant desire meant
punishment rather than pleasure.
The promise of flesh was speedily fulfilled by an extraordinary flight
of quails, brought up, according to the seventy-eighth Psalm, by a
wind which blew from the south and east—that is, from the Elanitic
Gulf. These quails cannot sustain themselves long on the wing, and
after crossing the desert some thirty or forty miles they would
scarcely be able to fly. The enormous numbers of them which
fluttered around the camp are not beyond ordinary possibility. Fowls
of this kind migrate at certain seasons in such enormous multitudes
that in the small island of Capri, near Naples, one hundred and sixty
thousand have been netted in one season. When exhausted, they
would easily be taken as they flew at a height of about two cubits
above the ground. The whole camp was engaged in capturing quails
from one morning to the evening of the following day; and the
quantity was so great that he who gathered least had ten homers,
probably a heap estimated to be of that measure. To keep them for
further use the birds were prepared and spread on the ground to dry
in the sun.
When the epidemic of weeping broke out through the camp, the
doubt occurred to Moses whether there was any spiritual quality in
the people, any fitness for duty or destiny of a religious kind. They
seemed to be all unbelievers on whom the goodness of God and the
sacred instruction had been wasted. They were earthly and sensual.
How could they ever trust God enough to reach Canaan?—or if they
reached it, how would their occupation of it be justified? They would
but form another heathen nation, all the worse that they had once
known the true God and had abandoned Him. But a different view of
things was presented to Moses when the chosen elders, men of
worth, were gathered at the tent of meeting, and on a sudden
impulse of the Spirit began to prophesy. As these men in loud and
ecstatic language proclaimed their faith, Moses found his confidence

in Jehovah's power and in the destiny of Israel re-established. His
mind was relieved at once of the burden of responsibility and the
dread of an extinction of the heavenly light he had been the means
of kindling among the tribes. If there were seventy men capable of
receiving the Spirit of God, there might be hundreds, even
thousands. A spring of new enthusiasm is opened, and Israel's
future is again possible.
Now there were two men, Eldad and Medad, who were of the
seventy, but had not come to the tent of meeting, where the
prophetic spirit fell upon the rest. They had not heard the summons,
we may suppose. Unaware of what was taking place at the
tabernacle, yet realising the honour conferred upon them, they were
perhaps engaged in ordinary duties, or, having found some need for
their interference, they may have been rebuking murmurers and
endeavouring to restore order among the unruly. And suddenly they
also, under the same influence as the other sixty-eight, began to
prophesy. The spirit of earnestness caught them. With the same
ecstasy they declared their faith and praised the God of Israel.
There was in one sense a limitation of the spirit of prophecy,
whatever it was. Of all the host only the seventy received it. Other
good men and true in Israel that day might have seemed as capable
of the heavenly endowment as those who prophesied. It was,
however, in harmony with a known principle that the men
designated to special office alone received the gift. The sense of a
choice felt to be that of God does unquestionably exalt the mind and
spirit of those chosen. They realise that they stand higher and must
do more for God and men than others, that they are inspired to say
what otherwise they could not dare to say. The limitation of the
Spirit in this sense is not invariable, is not strict. At no time in the
world's history has the call to office been indispensable to prophetic
fervour and courage. Yet the sequence is sufficiently common to be
called a law.
But while in a sense there is restriction of the spiritual influence, in
another sense there is no restraint. The Divine afflatus is not

confined to those who have gathered at the tabernacle. It is not
place or occasion that makes the prophets; it is the Spirit, the power
from on high entering into life; and out in the camp the two have
their portion of the new energy and zeal. Spiritual influence, then, is
not confined to any particular place. Neither was the neighbourhood
of the tabernacle so holy that there alone the elders could receive
their gift; nor is any place of meeting, any church, capable of such
consecration and singular identification with the service of God that
there alone the power of the Divine Spirit can be manifested or
received. Let there be a man chosen of God, ready for the duties of
a holy calling, and on that man the Spirit will come, wherever he is,
in whatever he is engaged. He may be employed in common work,
but in doing it he will be moved to earnest service and testimony. He
may be labouring, under great difficulties, to restore the justice that
has been impaired by social errors and political chicanery—and his
words will be prophetic; he will be a witness for God to those who
are without faith, without holy fear.
While Eldad and Medad prophesied in the camp, a young man who
heard them ran officiously to inform Moses. To this young man as to
others—for no doubt there were many who loved and revered the
Usual—the two elders were presumptuous fools. The camp was, as
we say, secular: was it not? People in the camp looked after ordinary
affairs, tended their cattle, chaffered and bargained, quarrelled
about trifles, murmured against Moses and against God. Was it right
to prophesy there, carrying religious words and ideas into the midst
of common life? If Eldad and Medad could prophesy, let them go to
the tabernacle. And besides, what right had they to speak for
Jehovah, in Jehovah's name? Was not Moses the prophet, the only
prophet? Israel was accustomed to think him so, would keep to that
opinion. It would be confusing if at any one's tent door a prophet
might begin to speak without warning. So the young man thought it
his duty to run and tell Moses what was taking place. And Joshua,
when he heard, was alarmed, and desired Moses to put an end to
the irregular ministry. "My lord Moses, forbid them," he said. He was
jealous not for himself and the other elders, but for Moses' sake. So

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