- 135 - of the camp. When Moses himself went out to the tent, all the people got up and stood at the entrances of their tents, and watched Moses, until he had gone into the Tabernacle. When Moses had entered into the Tabernacle, the pillar of cloud descended, and took up its position at the door of the Tabernacle, as long as the Lord spoke with Moses.. When the people all saw the pillar of cloud at the entrance to the Tabernacle, they all rose and threw themselves down in front of their tents. But the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a person speaks to his friend. Moses then returned to the camp; but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, did not leave the Tabernacle.’ The essential parts of this account are already familiar to you from my former teachings. You will notice also that there is a difference between the manner in which Moses asked of God, and that in the way it was done by the people. Moses, as the representative of all the people, received answers from the Lord to the solemn inquiries of God described here through the pillar of cloud, whereas when individual people asked of God, their answer came, not through the pillar of cloud, but through another channel, which, though not clearly defined in this passage, is sufficiently suggested so as to leave no doubt on that score in the mind of anyone familiar with the subject. It says that Joshua, Moses’ servant, was not allowed to leave the Tabernacle; there must have been a reason for his constant presence there. This reason was directly connected with the practice of asking of God: Joshua served as the medium for those of the people who desired to ask of God concerning their private affairs. It is expressly stated that ‘everyone who wanted to ask of God went out to the Tabernacle’. No fixed hours for ‘asking of God’ having been set, Joshua was obliged to be present in the Tabernacle at all times, so that he might be available to all as a medium for transmitting God’s answers. • God’s spirits used him as an instrument the same way they use the mediums of today. It became a fixed custom among the Israelites not to undertake anything important without first asking God. After all, God had said to Moses: Exodus 25: 22: ‘I will tell you all the commands I wish you to give the Israelites.’ Exodus 29:43: ‘And there at the Tabernacle I will communicate with the Israelites.’ When they asked of God, then, the people were acting completely in accordance with God’s will. After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked of God: Judges 1: 1-2: ‘Which of us shall go up first against the Canaanites, to fight against them?’ And the Lord said, ‘Judah shall go up: I hereby give him power over this land.’ When the Danites sought a place in which to dwell, they sent five men to explore the land. They met a Levite who lived in the house of Micah as a medium and they said to him, Judges 18: 5-6: ‘Please ask God whether the mission we are on shall prosper.’ And the priest said to them, ‘Go confidently: Your mission is pleasing to the Lord.’ In this chapter there is also a detailed account of the manner in which the Levite inquired of God. It is related that Micah had had a goldsmith make him ‘a carved and molten image of God’, as your translators express it, not knowing what these terms mean and even believing that these images were
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