These words expound to us a whole philosophy of life. The way of the wilderness has become a household word in Christendom, and this decision of Jehovah is the proclamation of the law of man's earthly life. God leads none of us by the rapid and easy path to knowledge, fortune, or happiness. The short way might bring us to rest and glory sooner, but the rest would relax and the glory blind us. We travel by a longer, harder path; that muscle may be disciplined by toil, courage assured by conquest and self-government, studied in many a season of shame and pain. Then the crown will fit us, rest will be calm and noble activity, and glory we shall wear like kings.
Among the special reasons why the Israelites were guided by the way of the wilderness, the following may be noted:
I. They had been sated with the magnificence of man's works; God led them forth into the wilderness to show them His works in their native grandeur, and to refresh their exhausted hearts and spirits by the vision of the splendour of His world.
II. God led them forth by the way of the wilderness that He might reveal not nature only, but Himself. He led them into the wilderness, as He leads us, that He might meet with them, speak with them, reveal Himself to them, and teach them to know themselves in knowing Him.
III. God led them into the wilderness that He might there cultivate their manly qualities,, and fit them to hold the possessions they might win.
J. Baldwin Brown, The Soul's Exodus and Pilgrimage,p. 58.
References: Exodus 13:19. Parker, vol. ii., p. 316. Exodus 13:21. J. Jackson Wray, Light from the Old Lamp,p. 309. Exodus 13:21; Exodus 13:22. J. Hamilton, Works,vol. v., p. 154.Exodus 13:22. J. Van Oosterzee, The Year of Salvation,vol. ii., p. 391. 13 Parker, vol. ii., p. 82. 14 Expositor,2nd series, vol. v., pp. 281, 442, vol. vi., pp. 232, 448. Exodus 14:10. Parker, vol. ii., p. 92.