Numbers 33

August Holidays

And they journeyed from Marah, and came unto Elim: and in Elim were twelve springs of water, and threescore and ten palm trees; and they pitched there. Numbers 33:9.

The children of Israel were probably very thankful when they reached Elim. They had had a long weary journey mostly wilderness. They were tired; at times they had been discontented. Their leaders must indeed have had a trying time. Did you ever think what the long marches in the wilderness must have meant for the boys and girls? Did you ever picture their joy when they arrived at this place of fountains and palm trees?

You know how you enjoy a beautiful day of sunshine after a time of bad weather. Those children, we may be sure, forgot about the long dry road. I believe they danced for sheer joy and chased each other around as the tents were being pitched at Elim. On the march their fathers and mothers were querulous. “Don't do this!” “Don't do that!” they kept saying.

It was not good to be going to the Land of Canaan, the children thought. Now, a delightful break a holiday had come. Their mothers spoke to them once more as they had done in the old days, when they first set out from Egypt. They told them again of the Land of Promise, and the God of Israel.

I am going to read to you two verses from a children's book. One can almost imagine them to be the words of an old Hebrew, who had been a little boy at Elim.

My mother taught me underneath a tree,

And sitting down before the heat of day,

She took me on her lap, and kissed me

And pointing to the East, began to say:

Look on the rising sun: there God does live,

And gives His light, and gives His heat away,

And flowers and trees and beasts and men receive

Comfort in morning, joy in the noonday.

Think of Elim with its palm trees. The palm is one of the most beautiful trees of the East. It was the badge of Judaea, just as that of England is the rose, that of Ireland the shamrock, that of Scotland the thistle, that of France the lily. The palm, as I have said, was the emblem of Judaea; and when the Romans conquered the Jews, they struck a medal in memory of their victory; and that medal had the figure of a woman weeping beneath a palm tree.

You must have seen a palm tree in a hot-house. You will have noticed that it grows straight, and tall, and its feathery leaves spring out of the top of the trunk. They form a shape like a huge umbrella. Where there were so many palm trees and fountains we may be sure there was luxurious green undergrowth. In this holiday month, does not Elim suggest a place for a picnic?

Robert Louis Stevenson has a delightful holiday paper which I hope you will one day read. We know that he himself must at some time have had dreamy holidays in a place where there were trees and green grass. Listen to this little poem from his Child ' s Garden of Verses.

When children are playing alone on the green,

In comes the playmate that never was seen.

When children are happy and lonely and good,

The Friend of the Children comes out of the wood.

Nobody heard him and nobody saw,

His is a picture you never could draw,

But he's sure to be present, abroad or at home,

When children are happy and playing alone.

I spoke of picnics. Don't we all love them? A girl was at a picnic one wonderful day in August. It was held at a lovely spot, where there was a lake, soft green grass, trees, and an old castle. There was a happy and hungry party so hungry that they could hardly wait for dinner. When at length a gentleman stood up to say grace, the girl hoped he would not say a long one. Well, he did say a pretty long one, but somehow she could not help listening to it. His words made her feel that “the friend of the children” had indeed come out from the woods, and was at the table.

But holidays pass. The Hebrew boys and girls had to take the road again. Then, day after day, it was tramp, tramp, tramp, until, after a while their little feet were as tired as ever. Your holidays will soon be at an end But you will go back to school with stronger muscles; you will be clearer headed; you will have better memories. We get holidays just that we may be the better able to “peg on,” over the road of life. Sometimes it is rough and the skies are grey. But the children of Israel were bound for the Land of Canaan.

Long ago children in the Sunday school used to sing about the Land of Canaan. They thought of Heaven when they sang: they were meant to. But God has sent us into this world to live. Often enough that means tramping over hard, rough roads, and under grey skies, but there are rests by the way. You are meanwhile having one. Are you getting ready for the march again? The “Land of Canaan” is in front, and through God's help you will reach it.