Nu. 1 1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they were come out of the land 2 of Egypt, saying, Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, every male, by their 3 polls; from twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel, thou 4 and Aaron shall number them by their hosts. And with you there shall be a man of every 5 tribe; every one head of his fathers' house. And these are the names of the men that shall 6 stand with you: of Reuben; Elizur the son of Shedeur. Of Simeon; Shelumiel the son of 7,8 Zurishaddai. Of Judah; Nahshon the son of Amminadab. Of Issachar; Nethanel the son 9,10 of Zuar. Of Zebulun; Eliab the son of Helon. Of the children of Joseph: of Ephraim; 11 Elishauma the son of Ammihud: of Manasseh; Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur. Of Benjamin; 12,13 Abidan the son of Gideoni. Of Dan; Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai. Of Asher; Pagiel 14,15 the son of Ochran. Of Gad; Eliasaph the son of Deuel. Of Naphtali; Ahira the son of 16 Enan. These are they that were called of the congregation, the princes of the tribes of their 17 fathers; they were the heads of the thousands of Israel. And Moses and Aaron took these 18 men which are expressed by name: and they assembled all the congregation together on the first day of the second month, and they declared their pedigrees after their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, by 19 their polls. As the LORD commanded Moses, so he numbered them in the wilderness of Sinai. 44 These are they that were numbered, which Moses and Aaron numbered, and the princes of 45 Israel, being twelve men: they were each one for his fathers' house. So all they that were numbered of the children of Israel by their fathers' houses, from twenty years old and up- 46 ward, all that were able to go forth to war in Israel; even all they that were numbered were six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty. 52 And the children of Israel shall pitch their tents, every man by his own camp, and every 53 man by his own standard, according to their hosts. But the Levites shall pitch round about the tabernacle of the testimony, that there be no wrath upon the congregation of the children 54 of Israel: and the Levites shall keep the charge of the tabernacle of the testimony. Thus did the children of Israel: according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did they. 2 1, 2 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, The children of Israel shall pitch every man by his own standard, with the ensigns of their fathers' houses: over against 3 the tent of meeting shall they pitch round about. And those that pitch on the east side toward the sunrising shall be they of the standard of the camp of Judah, according to their hosts. 9 All that were numbered of the camp of Judah were an hundred thousand and fourscore thousand and six thousand and four hundred, according to their hosts. They shall set forth first. 10 On the south side shall be the standard of the camp of Reuben according to their hosts. 16 All that were numbered of the camp of Reuben were an hundred thousand and fifty and one thousand and four hundred and fifty, according to their hosts. And they shall set forth second. 17 Then the tent of meeting shall set forward, with the camp of the Levites in the midst of the camps: as they encamp, so shall they set forward, every man in his place, by their standards. 18. On the west side shall be the standard of the camp of Ephraim according to their hosts. 24. All that were numbered of the camp of Ephraim were an hundred thousand and eight thousand and an hundred, according to their hosts. And they shall set forth third. 25. On the north side shall be the standard of the camp of Dan according to their hosts. 31. All that were numbered of the camp of Dan were an hundred thousand and fifty and seven thousand and six hundred. They shall set forth hindmost by their standards. 32. These are they that were numbered of the children of Israel by their fathers' houses: all that were numbered of the camps according to their hosts were six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty. But the Levites were not numbered among the children of Israel; as the LORD commanded Moses. Thus did the children of Israel; according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so they pitched by their standards, and so they set forward, every one by their families, according to their fathers' houses. § 1 Now these are the generations of Aaron and Moses in the day that the LORD spake with Moses in mount Sinai. And these are the names of the sons of Aaron; Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the priests which were anointed, whom he consecrated to minister in the priest's office. And Nadab and Abihu died before the LORD, when they offered strange fire before the LORD, in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children: and Eleazar and Ithamar ministered in the priest's office in the presence of Aaron their father. [The text covering the numbers of the several tribes, and names of the particular tribes in each camp; also the double enumeration of the three families of Levi, with the special charge of each in the care of the tabernacle and its furniture, omitted for economy of space.] The titles of the five books of Moses in our Bibles are all borrowed from the Greek translation of the Seventy. But the title of this book only we turn into English; in all the rest we retain the Greek word itself. This book might as well have been called Arithmos, the Greek title, as the first Genesis, and the second Exodus. H. — The book is so called from the two numberings (ch. 1 and ch. 26) of the people at the beginning and end of the wanderings. The book relates to a period of thirty-eight years and three months, from the completion of the Law-giving, "the first day of the second month of the second year" of the Exodus, to the first day of the fifth month of the fortieth year. Its contents have been thus summarized: (1) The breaking up of the encampment at Sinai; arrangement of the army, and the service of the priestly tribe, with an inventory of their charge; the parting service and blessing. (2) The march upon Canaan and its repulse. (3) Rebellions; confirmation of Moses and Aaron in authority; condemnation of the people to death in the wilderness. (4) Various events in the forty years' wandering. (5) Events of the fortieth year, the deaths of Miriam and Aaron; Balaam's mission; the corruption of the people by the Midianites, and its consequences; laws of inheritance, etc. From the death of Aaron to the opening of Deuteronomy there is a space of exactly six months. The first month of the six was passed at the foot of Mount Hor mourning for Aaron. Next ensued the journey to the brook Zered, accomplished within four weeks. Then came the two battles at Jahaz and Edrei. During the next two months the Israelites were engaged in completing and consolidating their conquest of Gilead and Bashan. J. P. The Book of Numbers possesses characteristics which point unmistakably in the direction of a Mosaic authorship. [After enumerating these (Pal. Com.), Mr. Whitelaw concludes:] This book, when fairly and dispassionately interrogated, not only does not support the modern hypothesis of its being a late compilation from pre-existing documents, some of which had descended from primitive times but the majority of which were only the praiseworthy endeavors of subsequent ages to preserve the national traditions of the Beni-Israel from becoming extinct, but abundantly warrants the belief that while there is every probability that, like the rest of the Pentateuchal writings, it has been subjected to one or more revisions and may even have suffered interpolation in unimportant passages, yet in the main, and substantially as we still possess it, it proceeded as an original composition from the hand of Moses. T. W. [See also Introduction to Numbers, by Mr. Espin, Bib. Com., p. 650-52.] The design of the encampment at Sinai was now fulfilled. The covenant was concluded; the Law had been given; the sanctuary was erected; the priests were consecrated; the worship had been arranged; and Jehovah dwelt in the midst of his chosen people. It was now time to think of departing, in order that the purpose to which the Israelites had been set apart might be accomplished. The immediate object was to take possession of the promised land. But this could not be done in a peaceable manner, for Canaan was inhabited by powerful and warlike tribes. It must be conquered; and the conquest of the land was to be connected with the extermination of the inhabitants, for the iniquity of the Amorites was now full. They had become ripe for judgment, and Israel was to execute it in the name and by the command of Jehovah. It was necessary, therefore, that the Israelites should be organized as an army of Jehovah. To this end a census was taken of those who were fit for war—viz., all the men of twenty years old and upward. The tribe of Levi alone was omitted. For this tribe, which had changed the curse of the patriarch Jacob into a blessing, through its zeal for the honor of God, was to be set apart from the rest of the tribes, and spend its life in the service of the sanctuary. Through this separation of an entire tribe, the significant number, twelve, which had been disturbed by the adoption of Joseph's sons, was once more restored. As the numbering of the tribes was so closely related to the vocation of Israel, it was carried out with fitting pomp and ceremony. Moses and Aaron performed the task themselves, attended by one of the princes from each of the twelve tribes. K. A month had passed away since the setting up of the tabernacle; and the Sinaitic legislation was now complete. The labor involved in taking the census had already been partially anticipated. An order had been issued some months before that, whenever the sum of the Israelites was taken, every person numbered should offer an atonement-money of half a shekel, to be applied for the service of the tabernacle (Ex. 30:11 sqq.). Before the construction of the tabernacle was complete, such a poll-offering had been actually received (Ex. 38:25-28). The accordance of numerical results shows that the present census was based, not upon any fresh registration of individuals, but upon that which necessarily accompanied the previous collection of the offerings. From the round numbers in which the results are given, we may infer that the offerings had been tendered by the people in groups, and these probably determined by kindred. If certificates of registration were furnished to such groups, the new census might be easily carried out by means of these documents, and got through, as seems suggested by verse 18, in a single day. But while, for the purpose of the poll-offering, it sufficed to note merely the number of persons, it was now required to enroll them "after their families, by the house of their fathers." The former registration too had been superintended by the Levites (Ex. 38:21); but now (verse 4) an assessor is to be named for each tribe to act in the business with Moses and Aaron; for the purpose now in view was not religious only. The census now taken would serve as a basis for various civil and military arrangements. Espin. Israel, who had been numbered already (Ex. 38:26) as the Lord's people, to be taxed for the sanctuary, are here numbered as the Lord's host, with a view to the order of encampment. Here women and children, old men and strangers, are not included, but such only as were capable of military service; "all that are able to go forth to war," "every male from twenty years old and upward." C. G. B.—A careful distinction was to be made of tribes, families, and households; that every one might know, and deliver to his posterity, the tribe and family to which he belonged. God hereby further provided for the certain genealogy of the Messiah, hereafter to be born of this nation. Further, God hereby demonstrated to them how faithful he had been to the promise, made to Abraham and their forefathers, of multiplying and preserving their posterity. Pyle. 4-16. The significance of the names of these princes shows how much God was in the thoughts of those that gave them their names; for most of them have El, God, at one end or other of their names. Nethaneel, the gift of God; Eliab, my God a father; Elizur, my God a rock; Shelumiel, God my peace; Eliasaph, God has added; Elishama, my God has heard; Gamaliel, God my reward; Pagiel, God has met me. By which it appears that the Israelites in Egypt did not quite forget the name of their God, but preserved the remembrance of it in the names of their children, and therefore comforted themselves in their affliction. H. 44-46. The number of the fighting men. It appears from the record that on three several occasions—in the third month of the first year after the exodus for the purpose of raising a poll-tax (Ex. 30:11 sqq.); now, in the second month of the second year, for the organization of an army, and in the fortieth year, in the steppes of Moab, with a view to the prospective division of Canaan among the tribes (Nu. 26:4)—in accordance with Divine instructions, a formal registration of the male heads of the people from twenty years old and upward was effected, the result being that in each case the numbers were practically the same—603,550, 603,550, and 601,730; the Levites, who were reckoned separately, numbering 22,000 in the second census, and 23,000 in the third. The historic accuracy of the second and third lists receives authentication from the circumstance that, while the totals of both so nearly approximate, the difference being only 1820, considerable variations exist in the numbers of the individual tribes, as appears from the appended table, and that these can in no small degree be accounted for. | | Smal. | Plains of Moab. | | --- | --- | --- | | Reuben | 46,500 | 43,730 | | Simeon | 59,300 | 22,200 | | Gad | 45,650 | 40,500 | | Judah | 74,600 | 76,500 | | Issachar | 54,400 | 64,300 | | Zebulun | 57,400 | 60,500 | | Ephraim | 40,500 | 32,500 | | Manasseh | 32,200 | 52,700 | | Benjamin | 35,400 | 45,600 | | Dan | 62,700 | 64,400 | | Asher | 41,500 | 53,400 | | Naphtali | 53,400 | 45,400 | | Total | 603,550 | 601,730 | The number of the congregation. Accepting then what seems to be indisputable, that the census of the adult males reached the round sum of 600,000, and estimating the proportion of those adult males or persons in the prime of life and capable of bearing arms to the rest of the population, in accordance with the somewhat precarious standard of modern statistics, as that of one to four or five, it may be safely concluded that the entire body of the people, or "the whole congregation," numbered between two and three millions. T. W. 2 : 1-34. The tribes being mustered, registered, and formed into companies, the next orders given were about the form of their encampments and of their marches. Their general camp was to be in the form of a square; of which the four sides were to be placed toward the four quarters of the compass. Each side was to consist of three tribes, nearest related to each other; and they were to pitch at such a distance from the tabernacle, which was in the midst of all, as might show their reverence for it, at the same time that the whole camp might serve for its protection. Pyle. Those tribes were placed together under the same standard, that were nearest of kin to each other; Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun, were the three youngest sons of Leah, and they were put together; Issachar and Zebulun would not grudge to be under Judah, since they were younger brethren. Reuben, Jacob's eldest son, is made chief of the next squadron; Simeon no doubt is willing to be under him, and Gad, the son of Zilpah, Leah's handmaid, is fitly added to them in Levi's room. Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin, are all the posterity of Rachel. Dan, the eldest son of Bilhah, is made a leading tribe, and to him were added the two younger sons of the handmaids. Thus unexceptionable was the order in which they were placed. God himself appointed them their place, to prevent strife and envy among them. Had they been left to determine precedency among themselves, they would have been in danger of quarrelling with one another; each would have had a pretence to be first, or at least not to be last. Had it been left to Moses to determine, they would have quarrelled with him and charged him with partiality; therefore God does it who is himself the Fountain and Judge of honor, and in his appointment all must acquiesce. If God in his providence advance others above us, we ought to be satisfied in his doing it. H. Every three of the tribes had a common banner, while every one of them had besides a particular standard, with the ensign of "the house of their fathers." The centre of the camp was occupied by the tabernacle; around this and nearest to it were the habitations of the priests and Levites; toward the east—Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun; toward the south—Reuben, Simeon, and Gad; toward the west—Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin; and toward the north—Dan, Asher, and Naphtali. The whole formed a square according to the sketch on the following page. C. G. B. Such was the ideal form of the encampment in the wilderness: a form reproduced in the square court with which the temple was eventually surrounded, and in the vision of the heavenly city as seen by Ezek. 48 : 20; and by John (Rev. 21 : 16; 20 : 9). Thus the camp of God's earthly people was divinely ordered so as to set forth the completeness of his Church; and to illustrate by its whole arrangement, which was determined by the tabernacle in the centre, both the dependence of all on God, and the access which all enjoyed to God. The actual form of the encampment would no doubt, while observing this arrangement generally, vary in different places according to local exigencies. Espin. On the march the camp of Judah, consisting of 186,400 soldiers, led the van. These were followed by the Gershonites and Merarites,  The whole may be said to consist of three camps—viz.: (1) The camp of the Lord: the inner square. (2) The camp of the Levites: the intermediate square. (3) And the camp of the people. These, in the grand camp in the wilderness, corresponded with the holy of holies, the holy place, and the outward court of the temple at Jerusalem. A. C. 13,700 strong, accompanied by the tabernacle furniture on wagons. Next came the camp of Reuben, numbering 151,450 men of war. Behind these the Kohathites, 8600, kept the charge of the sanctuary. These were succeeded by the camp of Ephraim, containing 108,100 adult males; while the camp of Dan, with 157,600 warriors, brought up the rear. In each case the soldiers were accompanied by their families, so that, counting women and children, each of the four camps may be roughly estimated at half a million. T. W. 3:1-4. The family of Aaron are alone mentioned, because these belonged to the priesthood. Moses passes by his own family or immediate descendants; he gave no rank or privilege to them during his life and left nothing to them at his death. They became incorporated with the Levites, from or among whom they are never distinguished. What a strong proof is this of the celestial origin of his religion! A. C. 44-51. The above numbers, besides excluding the tribe of Levi, included some who had no right there—namely, the first born, who were consecrated to Jehovah. Of both these classes, the Levites and the first-born, the census included the males from one month old and upward, and there were found to be: Of the first-born, 22,273, and of the tribe of Levi, 22,000. The difference amounted to 273 (verse 46). The Levites were taken for the service of Jehovah, in place of the first-born, man for man; the remaining 273 were redeemed for five shekels each; and this sum of 1365 shekels was given to Aaron and his sons (verse 50). This substitution of the Levites for the first-born gave the former a sacrificial as well as a sacerdotal holiness to Jehovah, an idea extended to all the redeemed, as "the church of the first-born." 4:1-49. The Levites were again numbered from thirty to fifty years, for the service of the sanctuary; and to each of their three families their respective duties were assigned. The numbers were: of the Kohathites, 2750; of the sons of Gershon, 2630; of the sons of Merari, 3200; total of priests and Levites, 8580. P. S. 4. The sense is, "this is the charge of the sons of Kohath, the most holy things"—i e., the Ark of the Covenant, the Table of Shew-bread, the Candlestick, and the Golden Altar, as appears from the verses following, together with the furniture pertaining thereto. 5-20. Particular directions are laid down as to the preparation of these for being transported when the camp set forward, and strict injunction given that none but the priests were to take part in that duty. After the priests had covered the most holy things and made them ready according to the rules here prescribed, then only were the Kohathites to lift their burden (verse 15). It appears, from a comparison of verses 16, 28, and 33, that the ministry of the Kohathites was superintended by Eleazar, the elder of the two surviving sons of Aaron; as was that of the two other families by Ithamar Espin.—God commands the sons of Aaron to take down and carefully cover the veil, the altar, and other sacred vessels with their proper covers, before the sons of Kohath laid a finger upon them, that thus the reverence of the people for holy things might be increased. For like reason the sons of Kohath are threatened with death if they touch any forbidden thing; and the sons of Aaron are admonished lest by their careless neglect of covering the sacred things they should destroy their brethren. Calv. 1. John Ploughman's Talk; or, Plain Advice to Plain People. By REV. CHARLES H. SPURGEON. On the Choice of Books. By THOMAS CARLYLE. 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The above works will be sent by mail, postage paid, on receipt of the price. | | SECTIONS | PAGE | | --- | --- | --- | | Acts of the Apostles | 190-234 | 5 | | Romans | 235-257 | 194 | | 1 Corinthians | 258-276 | 276 | | 2 Corinthians | 277-290 | 345 | | Galatians | 291-296 | 391 | | Ephesians | 297-304 | 414 | | Philippians | 305-308 | 444 | | Colossians | 309-312 | 466 | | 1 Thessalonians | 313-317 | 484 | | 2 Thessalonians | 318-320 | 498 | | 1 Timothy | 321-326 | 504 | | 2 Timothy | 327-330 | 527 | | Titus | 331-333 | 543 | | Philemon | 334 | 551 | | Hebrews | 335-349 | 554 | | James | 350-355 | 617 | | 1 Peter | 356-361 | 643 | | 2 Peter | 362-364 | 669 | | 1 John | 365-369 | 680 | | 2 John | 370 | 703 | | 3 John | 371 | 704 | | Jude | 372 | 707 | | Revelation | 373-386 | 712 | ## Summarized Topics: | Christ the Center of Christian Theology | 387 | 787 | | --- | --- | --- | | The Priesthood of Christ | 388 | 788 | | Christ the Center and Solution of Human History | 389 | 792 | | Christianity—as History, as Truth, and as Life | 390 | 793 | | Three Distinctive Features of Christianity | 391 | 796 | | Christianity a Religion of Facts | 392 | 800 | | Three Opponents of Primitive Christianity | 393 | 801 | | The Spread and Achievements of Christianity | 394 | 807 | | Intimations of the Final Supremacy of Christianity | 395 | 809 | | The Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures | 396 | 813 | | Faith and Revelation | 397 | 819 | | The Church | 398 | 821 | | Considerations Respecting Christian Missions | 399 | 824 | | Authors Cited, and Key to Abbreviations | | 828 | This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/butler/ No. 3 5 AND the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Bring the tribe of Levi near, and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto him. And they shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, to do the service of the tabernacle. And they shall keep all the furniture of the tent of meeting, and the charge of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle. And thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and to his sons : they are wholly given unto him on the behalf of the children of Israel. And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall keep their priesthood : and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death. No. 8 5 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Take the Levites from among the children of Israel, and cleanse them. And thus shalt thou do unto them, to cleanse them : sprinkle the water of expiation upon them, and let them cause a razor to pass over all their flesh, and let them wash their clothes, and cleanse themselves. Then let them take a young bullock, and its meal offering, fine flour mingled with oil, and another young bullock shalt thou take for a sin offering. And thou shalt present the Levites before the tent of meeting : and thou shalt assemble the whole congregation of the children of Israel : and thou shalt present the Levites before the LORD : and the children of Israel shall lay their hands upon the Levites : and Aaron shall offer the Levites before the LORD for a wave offering, on the behalf of the children of Israel, that they may be to do the service of the LORD. And the Levites shall lay their hands upon the heads of the bullocks : and offer thou the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, unto the LORD, to make atonement for the Levites. And thou shalt set the Levites before Aaron, and before his sons, and offer them for a wave offering unto the LORD. Thus shalt thou separate the Levites from among the children of Israel : and the Levites shall be mine. And after that shall the Levites go in to do the service of the tent of meeting : and thou shalt cleanse them, and offer them for a wave offering. For they are wholly given unto me from among the children of Israel instead of all that openeth the womb, even the firstborn of all the children of Israel, have I taken them unto me. For all the firstborn among the children of Israel are mine, both man and beast : on the day that I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified them for myself. And I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel. And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the children of Israel, to do the service of the children of Israel in the tent of meeting, and to make atonement for the children of Israel : that there be no plague among the children of Israel, when the children of Israel come nigh unto the sanctuary. Thus did Moses, and Aaron, and all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the Levites : according unto all that the LORD commanded Moses touching the Levites, so did the children of Israel unto them. And the Levites purified themselves from sin, and they washed their clothes ; and Aaron offered them for a wave offering before the LORD ; and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them. And after that went the Levites in to do their service in the tent of meeting before Aaron, and before his sons : as the LORD had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so did they unto them. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, This is that which belongeth unto the Levites : from twenty and five years old and upward they shall go in to wait upon the service in the work of the tent of meeting : and from the age of fifty years they shall cease waiting upon the work, and shall serve no more ; but shall minister with their brethren in the tent of meeting, to keep the charge, and shall do no service. Thus shalt thou do unto the Levites touching their charges. No. 18 21 And unto the children of Levi, behold, I have given all the tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service which they serve, even the service of the tent of meeting. And henceforth the children of Israel shall not come nigh the tent of meeting, lest they 23 bear sin and die. But the Levites shall do the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity : it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations, and among the 24 children of Israel they shall have no inheritance. For the tithe of the children of Israel, which they offer as an heave offering unto the LORD, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance : therefore I have said unto them, Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance. De. 18 1 The priests the Levites, even (or, and) all the tribe of Levi, shall have no portion nor inheritance with Israel : they shall eat the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and his inheritance. And they shall have no inheritance among their brethren : the LORD is their inheritance, as he hath spoken unto them. 6. And if a Levite come from any of thy gates out of all Israel, where he sojourneth, and come 7 with all the desire of his soul unto the place which the LORD shall choose ; then he shall minister in the name of the LORD his God, as all his brethren the Levites do, which stand there 8 before the LORD. They shall have like portions to eat, beside that which cometh of the sale of his patrimony. [Nu. 3 : 11-13 ; 18 : 6 and De. 10 : 8, 9 omitted as repetitions.] The Levites Set apart from the Tribes by Jehovah, and Assigned to Aaron "to do Service." 8 : 17. When the destroying angel smote the first-born of the Egyptian families, the symbolic blood on the lintel of every Hebrew house protected the eldest born from the plague of death. In consequence, every eldest son was reckoned as a thing devoted to the Lord—redeemed, and therefore set apart. The word here and elsewhere used to express this devotion is sanctify. By this subsequent arrangement these first-born were exchanged for the Levites. Instead of the eldest son in each family, a whole tribe was taken, and reckoned as set apart and devoted to Jehovah. F. W. R. "Purification" or Ordination of the Levites. The functions of the priests were clearly incompatible with the common activities of men. On these grounds therefore a distinct provision was made for them. This consisted: (1) Of one tenth of the tithes which the people paid to the Levites—i.e., one per cent, on the whole produce of the country. (2) Of a special tithe every third year. (3) Of the redemption-money, paid at the fixed rate of five shekels a head, for the first-born of man or beast. (4) Of the redemption-money paid in like manner for men or things specially dedicated to the Lord. (5) Of spoil, captives, cattle, and the like taken in war. (6) Of the shew-bread, the flesh of the burnt-offerings, peace-offerings, trespass-offerings, and, in particular, the heave-shoulder and the wave-breast. (7) Of an undefined amount of the first-fruits of corn, wine, and oil. Of some of these, as "most holy," none but the priests were to partake. It was lawful for their sons and daughters, and even in some cases for their home-born slaves, to eat of others. The stranger and the hired servant were in all cases excluded. (8) On their settlement in Canaan the priestly families had thirteen cities assigned them, with "suburbs" or pasture-grounds for their flocks. These provisions were obviously intended to secure the religion of Israel against the dangers of a caste of pauper-priests, needy and dependent, and unable to bear their witness to the true faith. They were, on the other hand, as far as possible removed from the condition of a wealthy order. The standard of a priest's income, even in the earliest days after the settlement in Canaan, was miserably low. The earliest historical trace of any division of the priesthood, and corresponding cycle of services, belongs to the time of David. The priesthood was then divided into the four and twenty "courses" or orders, each of which was to serve in rotation for one week, while the further assignment of special services during the week was determined by lot. P. S.—After the captivity only four of these classes returned, but they were again divided into twenty-four, each of which class or course had a chief or head, which are supposed to be the chief priests of the New Testament. J. T. W. The parts of the victims which regularly fell to the priests were: Of the burnt-offerings, only the hide, the whole of the flesh being consigned to the altar. Of the peace-offerings, the breast and the right shoulder (or leg), which might be eaten by the priests and their families in any unpolluted place. Of the sin-offerings and the trespass-offerings, the whole of the flesh (except the fat portions burned on the altar), and probably the hide. The flesh could only be eaten within the precinct of the tabernacle. Clark. No. 18:19. A covenant of salt. Everything was done to make and keep the priesthood separate, and prevent those who had it from being tempted into the ordinary business of life by lack of sufficient support. To emphasize the solemnity of the pledge, God adds this peculiar and suggestive expression: "It is a covenant of salt forever." It is a habit still common among the Bedawin for host and guest to eat together. This is said to be bread and salt between them, and constitutes a pledge of protection, support, and fidelity even to death. Thus we may understand God saying to Aaron, and through him to the long succession of priests, "There is bread and salt between us." All the meat offerings presented to God were to be seasoned with salt. When presented, a part was burned—as it were, eaten by God himself—and the remainder he returns to the priest for his own use. Thus there are mutual pledges of fidelity. God is the guest of the priest, and the priest in turn the guest of God. In this way God lifted a social custom to a holy use. Salt will not bring back life, but it will hinder putrefaction. Under the Old Covenant God did not give life, though he was preparing to give it; but at the same time he did much to preserve the world, dead in trespasses and sins, from corpse decay, while he made ready in the fulness of time to bring back the dead to life. Thus the covenant with men through types and shadows was emphatically a covenant of salt. Young. 25-32. The priests' tithe from Levites. A larger portion was given to the priests that they might meet many peculiar burdens. The tithe of the tithes which the Levites are commanded to pay should be as if they paid it from the threshing-floor and the wine-press. Sincere liberality is inculcated upon them; they should not lay aside as the priests' portion anything that was out of condition or in any respect of inferior quality, but they should rather offer whatever was most choice. Calv. Neither the priests nor the Levites were to possess any allotments of land, but to depend entirely upon Him who liberally provided for them out of his own portion; and this law was subservient to many important purposes, such as that, being exempted from the cares and labors of worldly business, they might be exclusively devoted to his service; that a bond of mutual love and attachment might be formed between the people and the Levites, who, as performing religious services for the people, derived their subsistence from them; and further, that being the more easily dispersed among the different tribes, they might be more useful in instructing and directing the people. Jamieson. THE TRIBE OF LEVI SET APART FOR SUBORDINATE MINISTRY : PURIFICATION (OR ORDINATION) OF THE LEVITES; THEIR MAINTENANCE FROM TITHES; THEIR POSITION, OFFICE, AND WORK. THE SACERDOTAL (OR LEVITICAL) ORDER; ITS PLACE AND INFLUENCE IN THE HEBREW POLITY. This chapter contains the Law of the Nazarites, recognizing devotees, or persons of more than ordinary allegiance and consecration to God. In its ethical and spiritual meaning, this law suggests the need of abstinence from fleshly lusts and dangerous delights, and the maintenance of full moral energy, and separation from the body of death. The sanction given to the Nazarite vow encourages no vows of celibacy, which were unknown to priest, Levite, or Nazarite, nor arbitrary rules sequestering men or women from the proper duties of family and social life, but a lofty aim in sanctification, and a vow or pledge, under the power of the Holy Ghost, to be in heart and conduct wholly separated to Christ. D. F.—The vow of the Nazarite differed from the ordinary one in that it affected the person, was one of abstinence and of separation unto the Lord. It was a kind of voluntarily assumed priestly sanctity. The long hair of the Nazarite, it might be said, answered, in its way, to the regalia of the sons of Aaron. His abstemiousness and avoidance of ceremonial defilement went even beyond theirs. His whole life, as a Nazarite, must begin anew, if, by chance or by design, his vow had been violated. E. C. B.—The Nazarite was to be a living type and image of holiness; he was to be in his person and habits a symbol of sincere consecration and devotedness to the Lord. It was no mere ascetical institution, as if the outward bonds and restraints, the self-denials in meat and drink, were in themselves well-pleasing to the Lord. Such a spirit was as foreign to Judaism as it is to Christianity. The Nazarite was an acted, symbolical lesson in respect to covenant obligations; and the outward observances to which he was bound were merely intended to exhibit to the bodily eye the separation from everything sinful and impure required of the Lord's servants. P. F. Of Nazarites there were two classes: First. Those who were Nazarites by birth (as Samson and John the Baptist); Second. Those who were Nazarites by engagement and for a limited time. All Nazarites were required: (1) To drink no wine or strong drink of any kind; (2) To eat no grapes or anything belonging to the vine; (3) To let their hair grow; (4) Not to defile themselves by touching the dead or mourning for their relations. If any one died in the presence of a Nazarite of the second class, the latter was compelled to shave his head, make the usual offerings, and recommence his Nazariteship. At the expiration of the vow the Nazarite was to offer at the door of the tabernacle one male lamb of the first year for a burnt-offering, one ewe-lamb of the first year for a sin-offering, and one ram for a peace-offering, together with a basket of unleavened bread and meal and drink offerings. He was also to shave his head and place the hair on the fire underneath the peace-offering, and the priest was to take the sodden shoulder of the ram, one unleavened cake, and one unleavened wafer, and, placing them in the hands of the Nazarite, he was to wave them for a wave-offering. After this the Nazarite might drink wine. Wheeler. Such persons in Israel must have been eminently useful in keeping alive upon men's consciences the holy character of God's service, and stimulating them to engage in it. The Nazarites are hence mentioned by Amos along with prophets as among the chosen instruments of God; "And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites." They were a kind of inferior priesthood in the land—by their manner of life, as the priests by the duties of their office, acting the part of symbolical lights and teachers to Israel. P. F. The solemnity of blessing the people in the name of the Lord appertained especially to the priestly office (De. 10 : 8), "The Lord separated the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister unto him, and to bless in his name unto this day." Bush. Nu. 6 : 24-26. The Lord bless thee and keep thee! The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee! The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace! In this form of benediction the Trinity in Unity of the Divine nature, which appears so visibly in the New Testament, is for the first time disclosed in the Old. We behold God as the Giver of all that is good and the Protector from all that is evil—as the Dispenser of grace, externally in the manifestation of his Son, whose glory was visibly seen full of grace and truth, and inwardly by his Spirit, who knits us into fellowship with him and gives us his peace. C. G. B.—The repetition of the name JEROVAN three times in these three verses, and that with a different accent in each of them, hath made the Jews themselves think that there is some mystery in it. It may well be looked upon as having respect to the three Persons in the blessed Trinity, who are one God from whom all blessings flow unto us (2 Cor. 13 : 14). This mystery, as Luther wisely expresses it, is here suggested, though not plainly revealed. And it is not hard to show how properly God the Father may be said to bless and keep us; and God the Son to be gracious unto us; and God the Holy Ghost to give us peace. Bp. Patrick.—The three articles of this benediction will be found to agree respectively to the three Persons taken in the usual order of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. The Father is the Author of blessing and preservation. Grace and illumination are from the Son, by whom we have "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 4 : 6). Of the Spirit, whose name is the Comforter, the first and best fruit is peace. Jones of Nayland. The favor of God is all in all in this blessing, for that is the fountain of all good. The Lord bless thee! Our blessing God is only our speaking well of him, his blessing us is doing well for us: those whom he blesses are blessed indeed. The Lord make his face shine upon thee! Alluding to the shining of the sun upon the earth, to enlighten and comfort it, and to renew the face of it. "The Lord love thee, and make thee to know that he loves thee." The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee! This is to the same purport with the former, and it seems to allude to the smiles of a father upon his child, or of a man upon his friend whom he takes pleasure in. If God give us the assurances of his special favor and his acceptance of us, that will put gladness into the heart (Ps. 4 : 7, 8). The fruits of favor conveyed by this blessing are protection, pardon, and peace; including all that good which goes to make up a complete happiness. H.—Here is a benediction that can go all the world over and can give all the time without being itself impoverished. Every heart may utter it. This is the speech of God; every letter may conclude with it; every day may begin with it; every night may be sanctified by it. Here is "blessing," "keeping," "shining"—the uplifting upon our poor life of all heaven's glad morning. It is the Lord himself who brings this bar of music from heaven's infinite anthem. J. P. 27. God here promises to ratify and confirm the blessing, They shall put my name upon the children of Israel. God's name upon them was their honor, their comfort, their safety, their plea; we are called by thy name, leave us not. It is added, And I will bless them. What Christ says of the peace is true of the blessing; when God's ministers pronounce the blessing, "Peace be to this congregation," if the sons of peace and heirs of blessing be there, the peace, the blessing shall rest upon them (Luke 10 : 5, 6). For in every place where God records his name he will meet his people and bless them. H.—All differences disappear, all tribal names pass out of view; and the name of Jehovah is all and upon all. "They shall put my name upon them"—upon Reuben and Simeon and Levi and Judah; upon Kohath and Gershon and Merari; upon priests and Levites; upon worker and warrior and worshipper; upon each of them, and all of them, they shall put my name; "and I will bless them." And in the same way we may have our different names and different standards, and yet all belong to the same great army. Those only who refuse to acknowledge their brethren of other denominations mar the unity of the Church and are guilty of schism. We do not need to surrender our distinctive names, indicative of differences of little moment, so long as we all gather round the tabernacle of the Lord, worshipping him as he has revealed himself in Jesus Christ and by his Holy Spirit, and glorying above all, far above all party or tribal designations in that one “Name which is above every name”—JEHOVAH JESUS. J. M. G. First Utterance of the Benediction, and Appearance of the Glory. Two distinct classes of offerings were made by the tribes through their princes or chiefs. The first comprised the six wagons and twelve oxen to be used in the transportation of the fabric of the tabernacle, the court, and all the holy things pertaining thereto. These were probably presented on the same day that the tabernacle and court were reared. The second comprised the costly vessels needed for the two altars and the special sacrifices to be first offered for a formal dedication of the altar of burnt-offering. B. The remarkable thing about this record is that though each prince gave precisely the same, all the details are repeated for each one, so that there appears at first sight to be a very needless waste of words. The very same reason which made it desirable that the separate gifts should be brought on separate days, made it proper that the record of them should be kept separate, and brought as near in impressiveness as possible to the original ceremony. And then though the gift be the same, the giver is different; therefore let him by all means have his place in the Divine notice and remembrance, exactly as if he had been the only man that brought it. It is also worthy of note that we have in this record a very obvious indication of contemporaneousness with the event. No later writer would have thought of making such entries as these. J. M. G. Offering of Wagons and Oxen. 2. The princes offered. These offerings came equally from all the tribes, though it is probable that neither the princes nor the tribes were all alike rich; but thus it was intimated that all the tribes of Israel had an equal share in the altar, and an equal interest in the sacrifices that were offered upon it. H. 6-9. The wagons and oxen were made over to the Levites for their respective services, in the transportation of the tabernacle. The Gershonites had chiefly to do with the lighter upholstery of the tabernacle, which could be put up in wrappings and made to occupy little room; whereas the Merarites had to do with its more unmanageable carpentry, its boards and bars and pillars. The Kohathites had no wagons or oxen assigned to them—they having to do with the furniture of the sanctuary, or holy of holies, which had the special honor put upon them of being borne on men's shoulders. The different parts of Scripture will be found to hang well together, and the more we examined the more shall we discover of that consistency which is the index of truth. T. C.—"Two wagons and four oxen he gave unto the sons of Gershon according to their service, and four wagons and eight ox-n he gave unto the sons of Merari according to their service." Why twice as many wagons and oxen to Merari as to Gershon? No reason is avowed. Yet Nu. 4 shows that the sons of Gershon had to bear all the lighter part of the furniture of the tabernacle. But the sons of Merari had to bear all the cumbrous and heavy part of the materials of which the framework of the tabernacle was constructed. And hence it is easy to see why more oxen and wagons were assigned to the one family than to the other. Is chance at the bottom of all this, or cunning contrivance, or truth and only truth? Blunt. Offerings of Utensils for the Altars, and of Animals for Sacrifice at the Dedication of the Altar of Burnt-offering (Nu. 7 : 12-88). In the order assigned, the tribes themselves presented these gifts through their chiefs. The twelve offerings are strictly alike, and had been arranged and prepared previously. They were offered, however, on twelve separate days, and the narrative describing each severally at length with unaltered language reflects somewhat of the stately solemnity which marked the repetition of the same ceremonial day by day. The sacrifices brought by each prince were offered on the day on which they were presented; the chargers, bowls, and spoons being preserved for the future use of the sanctuary. Espin. The offerings of all the princes were the same in kind, number, and value, to prevent emulation among the tribes, and to show that they were all equally interested in the altar and acceptable to the Divine Majesty. The offering of each consisted of one silver basin, for receiving the parts of the several sacrifices, weighing one hundred and thirty shekels or about sixty-five ounces; one silver bowl, to hold the blood, wine, or flour, of seventy shekels or about thirty-five ounces weight—both of these being full of flour and oil; one gold spoon to take up the incense, full of incense, weighing ten shekels or about five ounces; a burnt-offering consisting of a bullock, a ram, and a lamb; a sin-offering of a goat; and an eucharistic or peace-offering consisting of two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, and five lambs, with meal-offerings of bread and cakes annexed to them: the priests, princes, and as many of the people as were invited being to feast on their share of the last-named sacrifice. Thus magnificently did the tribes of Israel, in a religious festival of twelve days' continuance, declare their reverence toward God, and an exemplary liberality in providing for his ministry and worship. Pyle. 89. Moses heard the Voice speaking to him from above the mercy-seat.** Thus was the promise of Ex. 25 : 20-22 fulfilled ; and that as an immediate response on the part of God to the cheerful readiness with which the tribes had made their offerings, and supplied everything needful for the holy place and its service. All being now complete as God had appointed, and the camp purified from defilements, God meets Moses the mediator of the people, not as before on the peak of Sinai far away, but in their very midst, in the dwelling-place which he henceforth vouchsafed to tenant. Espin.—From henceforward God delivered His will to Moses in an audible voice from the mercy-seat, and conversed with him in the most clear and familiar manner upon all necessary and important occasions. Pyle.—As God gave oracular answers from this place, and spoke to Moses face to face, hence the place was called the ORACLE, or speaking place. And as this mercy-seat represented our blessed Redeemer, so the apostle says that God who had at sundry times and in divers manners SPOKEN in time past to the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days SPOKEN unto us by his Son. Hence the incarnated Christ is the true oracle in and by whom God speaks unto man. A. C. CONSECRATION OF AARON AND HIS SONS : WASHING AND ROBING, ANOINTING WITH OIL AND SPRINKLING WITH SACRIFICIAL BLOOD. TABERNACLE AND FURNITURE, ALTAR AND LAVER ANOINTED WITH OIL. THE ALTAR SPRINKLED WITH BLOOD. JEHOVAH'S PROMISE TO SANCTIFY TABERNACLE, ALTAR, AND PRIEST. In the circumstances of the Levites we have a strong proof that the institutions of Moses date from the conquest of Canaan. At no subsequent period could the Levites have been so separated from the rest. And at no subsequent time could the Pentateuch have been written. Not under the Kings, or it would have put more favorably the merits of a form of government which had rescued Israel from the depths of internal weakness and decay, and given it strength and empire. Not by Samuel, or it would have been more suited to his times. Not under the anarchy of the Judges. For the ideal state contemplated in the Pentateuch, of a people strong in faith, pure in morality, and living under the direct protection of Jehovah, was the very reverse of the reality. R. P. S. The Levites Taken Instead of First-born. The "consecration" of the priests is recorded in Lev. 8 (Section 127). The distinction between that ceremony and the less solemn "purification" of the Levites is marked. The Levites are simply sprinkled with water, have to wash their clothes, and to shave their flesh ; and then are offered to God on behalf of the people. There is no "washing" with water, anointing, or sprinkling with the blood of a consecrating sacrifice. Espin.—Although the Levites were not allowed to go into the sanctuary, but were only the priests' ministers, yet as they carried the tabernacle and the sacred vessels and prepared the sacrifices, God would have them set apart to himself by a solemn rite. Since they were only purified by water and sacrifice and without the addition of anointing, the difference in the external rite reminded them that their degree of honor was not the same as the priests. 20. Thus did Moses. The Levites are now inaugurated for the performance of their duties. Here it deserves note that the sons of Moses and their descendants were placed in this lower rank, and excluded from all expectation of the priesthood. It was then no ordinary act of obedience in Moses to execute what God had appointed respecting the Levites. Calv. The Levites' Maintenance from Tithes. They were not priests. Their exclusion from the mediatorial office was very emphatic. They were particularly charged with caring for the support and maintenance both of the ritual and of the legal administration. Grey.—In the wilderness the office of the Levites was to carry the tabernacle and its utensils and furniture from place to place, after they had been packed up by the priests. But when they entered the land of Canaan, the range of their service was considerably altered. While part attended at the tabernacle, the rest were distributed through the country in the several cities which were allotted to them. In the time of David a third and very important alteration was effected. While the priests were divided into twenty-four courses, that they might attend the temple in rotation weekly, and only officiate about two weeks in the year, the Levites were also divided into twenty-four courses of porters and servitors, and twenty-four of musicians. Besides acting as porters and servants during the day, they were also guards of the Temple. Kit. De. 18 : 6-8. Only a portion of the Levites were engaged in the service of the sanctuary; the rest lived in their towns throughout the country. It might happen, however, that a Levite, moved by pious feeling, would come to the place of the sanctuary to worship there; and it is prescribed that such a one should fare as his brethren the Levites engaged in the service of the sanctuary fared; he should minister along with them, and share with them in the gifts of the worshippers; and this in addition to any private means he might have from the sale of his patrimony. Where he sojourned. The Levite, though not homeless, was regarded as only a sojourner in the land, inasmuch as the tribe had no inheritance there. W. L. A. The charge to the priests was that "ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord had spoken unto them by the hand of Moses." It is plain, however, that even if the priests had been faithful to this part of their calling, they were quite inadequate, from their limited number, to be personally in any proper sense the teachers of all Israel. On this account were the Levites associated with the priesthood, and planted at proper distances in certain cities throughout the tribes of Israel. Separated as the Levites were from secular employments, without lands to cultivate, and "wholly given to the service of the Lord," it was obviously but a small number of them who could be regularly occupied with ministrations about the sanctuary; and as both their abundant leisure and their dispersion through the land gave them many opportunities of acting as the spiritual instructors of the people, it must have been chiefly through their instrumentality that the priests were to keep the people acquainted with the statutes and judgments of the Lord. This is clearly implied in those passages which speak most distinctly of the obligation laid upon the priesthood to diffuse the knowledge of the Law, and which refer equally to the priests and the Levites. Thus their common calling to "teach Jacob God's judgments, and Israel his Law," is announced in the blessing of Moses upon the whole tribe (De. 33 : 8-11). P. F. The tribe of Levi comprehended the learned of all names: the sages and professors of law and jurisprudence; of medicine and physiology; of the physical and mathematical sciences; in short, of all the so-called liberal arts and sciences, the possession and application of which constitute the civilization of a country. It was to be the chief instrument of a continuing and progressive mental, moral, and religious culture of the people. Its business was to produce, preserve, and perfect all the necessary sources and conditions of national civilization; to form and train up the people of the country to be obedient, free, useful citizens and patriots, living to the benefit of the State, and prepared to die for its defence. E. C. W. The first and certainly the most successful legislator of antiquity, who assumed the welfare of the whole community as the end of his constitution, Moses annihilated at once the artificial and tyrannical distinction of castes, and established political equality as the fundamental principle of the State. The whole nation was one great caste, that of husbandmen cultivating their own property. Even the single privileged class, that of Levi, stood on a totally different footing from the sacerdotal aristocracy of Egypt. With a wise originality Moses retained all that was really useful, and indeed, under the circumstances of the age and people, absolutely necessary in a priestly order, and rejected all that might endanger the liberties of the people, through their exorbitant wealth or power. In a constitution founded on a religious basis, sacred functionaries set apart from the mass of the people were indispensable; where the State was governed by a written law, minute and multifarious in its provisions, conservators and occasional expositors of the Law were equally requisite; a people at first engaged in ferocious warfare, afterward engrossed by agricultural labors, without an exempt order which should devote itself to higher and more intellectual studies, would soon have degenerated into ignorance and barbarism. Besides the officiating priesthood, the Levitical class furnished the greater number of the judges, the scribes, the genealogists and registers of the tribes, the keepers of the records, the geometricians, the superintendents of weights and measures; and Michaelis thinks, from the judgment in cases of leprosy being assigned to them, the physicians. Their influence depended rather on their civil than their ecclesiastical functions. They were bound to read the whole Law once in seven years before the people; but in other respects their priestly duties consisted only in attendance in the tabernacle or the temple in their appointed courses. Milman. It has been repeatedly charged against the institutes of Moses that they were purposely contrived to draw all the wealth and power of the nation into the hands of the Levites; and that the chief danger to the popular liberty arose out of the constitution of that tribe. Never was so malignant an accusation raised upon so slender a foundation. On the contrary, the organization and disposition of the tribe of Levi was contrived with consummate wisdom, both to impart a vital action to the whole system, and, at the same time, to act as a balance wheel to regulate its motions. It is undeniable that the Levites were the scholars of the nation; and if to this advantage they had united an independent government such as the other tribes enjoyed, and an equal possession of territory, there would have been a continual and dangerous tendency to the accumulation of property and power in their hands. But the Levites were deprived of a united and independent government, and rendered incapable of holding landed property. They were distributed into cities, allotted to them throughout the territories of all the other twelve tribes. By this arrangement both the estates and the persons of the Levites were given into the hands of the remaining tribes, as so many hostages for their good behavior. They were so separated from each other that it was impossible for them to form any dangerous combinations among themselves, or to afford mutual assistance in the execution of any ambitious projects. Hence, whatever influence the constitution conferred upon the Levites to do good, the same constitution took away from them all power to endanger the peace or the liberties of their country. Never did any other constitution preserve the people from the dangers of ill-balanced power, or guard the public liberty with so many and so admirably contrived defences against the projects of factious and restless ambition. Most justly does Lowman take notice how much these provisions of the Hebrew government to prevent the occasions of faction excel all the constitutions of the famed Spartan lawgiver for the same purpose, so much celebrated by Grecian authors. The State had but one master under the constitution of Moses, and that was the Law. To this the sons of Levi were as much bound to submit as the other citizens. "Lex major sacerdotio"—the Law is greater than the priesthood—was the principle of the Hebrew polity. How vast, how radical, heroin, the difference between the priesthood of Egypt and the priesthood of Israel! The former made the laws themselves, changed them at will, and concealed the books in which they were written from all profane eyes. The latter were simply charged with preserving the laws intact, with keeping them constantly exposed to the eyes of the people, and with teaching them all to all exactly. Moses took from the priesthood the power derived from property, from military command, and from illusions. He left them nothing but the power of the Law; a Law which they did not make, which they could not change, and which they were themselves bound to obey. Here, surely, is no foothold for despotism, no germ or aliment of ecclesiastical oppression. E. C. W. The sacerdotal institute had altogether a benign aspect toward the people. The priests, themselves secured of competency and curtailed of no natural enjoyment, had no motive either for grudging the happiness of others or for trenching upon the common liberties; on the contrary, their own wealth and ease expressed and flowed from the prosperity of the State. The nation did not exist for the priests; nor were the priests the obsequious dependents either of the monarch or the people. The character of the religion intrusted to the sacerdotal order afforded fewer means of sustaining ghostly power than perhaps any other system, ancient or modern. No scheme of belief and worship has drawn so little upon the undefined terrors of the invisible world; none has said less of futurity—an extra-mundane futurity. The views it opens, the motives it urges, the hopes it awakens, the fears it instils, are all terrestrial and temporary. The sacerdotal class possessed no immeasurable superiority of knowledge over the laity: what the priests knew, the people might know, and ought to know from the priest. The one party did not grasp the immortal destinies of the other. The priest might adjudge to death, but not to perdition; and to death only in cases well defined. Further, in the theology of Moses everything was marked out, circumscribed, and fixed; and therefore it was an unfit material of spiritual despotism. Never has there been a religion, ancient or modern, under which a man might on easier terms live piously and happily. No religion has afforded so few excitements to vague despondency. We doubt if ever an instance of religious despair occurred under primitive Judaism. It was only when he entertained the horror-fraught demonology of the Canaanitish tribes that the son of Abraham could become the victim of moody terrors. Judaism then was not the system on which to build spiritual despotism. Nor did the national temperament favor any such usurpations. In reading the historical books of the Old Testament commencing with the Book of Judges, one gathers from the whole an impression of a people high spirited and impassioned yet sedate and firm; dignified in manners, vigorous in action, steady in purpose, rich in axiomatic good sense, and terse in expression; especially warm and true in domestic sentiment, and keen in every feeling of honor. They took to themselves a monarchical government, but their usages were democratic; they bore the burden of kingly rule till it reached a galling weight, and then the cry was always, "To your tents, O Israe." The ante-Babylonish Jews were not the plastic stuff an ambitious hierarch would have chosen to work upon. Again, the priests and Levites were not merely ministers of religion and teachers of the people. Upon them also, or upon them chiefly, devolved the administration and interpretation of civil and criminal law and the business of courts of justice. The priests, too, were the only depositaries of general learning, and the copiers of books. If the exercise of so many functions might appear to place vast power in the hands of a single order, it will be found in the actual working of the social machine that this very multiplicity of labors, and this intimate blending of the priests with the people in all the occasions of common life, operates much more to break down and moderate than to build up and aggravate ghostly tyranny. The common people have never been so thoroughly enslaved by any priests as by those who affected an utter ignorance of all mundane affairs, and who spent or professed to spend their days and nights in seraphic abstraction. Another circumstance is of so much importance as to demand explicit mention: we mean that counterpoise of Church influence which sprung from the operation of the prophetic function. It is the exclusive possession and the irresponsible control of all kinds of spiritual power which enables a hierarchy to digest its plans of encroachment, and to achieve gradual usurpations. No such exclusive domination was permitted to the Jewish clergy. An unfailing succession of inspired men, sometimes members of the Aaronic house but more often not, stood up as the immediate ministers of Jehovah dealing rebuke, with high intrepidity, on all sides; and assailing the vices or the remissness as well of the priests as of the princes or the sovereign. The high-priest could never call himself the VICAR OF GOD, or the ultimate authority from whose decisions there could be no appeal. Whatever scheme of aggrandizement for his order an ambitious hierarch might meditate, he could never for a moment secure himself against the thundering reproof of some extra-sacerdotal voice, the pealing of which must have shattered his devices. This counterpoise, or rather corrective, forming as it did a permanent provision in the Jewish Church polity, deserves to be especially noticed in its relation to the hereditary tenure of the pontifical dignity. Into what condition, short of an intolerable spiritual despotism, could any community fall, among whom there existed an hereditary pontificate not checked in some very efficacious manner? Or how much power would be left to the civil magistrate who should sway his sceptre under the shade of an inherited prelacy? A pope, the lineal descendant of popes and the progenitor of popes, would be a despot such as the world has never seen. In this sense it was well for Europe that the Romish clergy condemned themselves to celibacy. It is worthy of remark that soon after the prophetic function failed among the Jews, the pontifical dignity ceased to descend from father to son; or even to be held for life. Lastly, we have to take account of that balance of power, and that reciprocal corrective influence, which subsisted between the priesthood and the monarchy in the Jewish State; each exerting over the other a control beneficial to each and to the community. Beside their proper spiritual authority with the people, which naturally tempered the civil and military power, the priests and Levites had an interest in the institutions of the country of a definite sort, which compelled them to resist innovations and encroachments, whether attempted by the people or the monarch. A privileged order accustomed to meet in convocation becomes inevitably, whatever its particular functions may be, the guardian of the State and the vigilant observer of all changes. Several actual instances are recorded, and others no doubt occurred, in which the constancy and patriotism of the priests saved the State and barred the way of a tyrant. On the other hand, the sacerdotal order itself stood in awe of the monarch; and on many remarkable occasions received from his hand a vigorous treatment, necessary and highly beneficial. The lapse of time never fails to break down the purity and integrity of a sacerdotal body. Secular motives insensibly supplant high principles; the earthly prevails over the heavenly element. But a hierarchy never reforms itself:—no corporation regenerates by spontaneous energy; it must be brought back to duty and virtue by a hand from without. No provision of the Mosaic Law had authorized this sort of reform; yet it had become the salutary usage of the State for strong-minded and pious sovereigns to do for the Church what the Church will not do for herself, and what the people either do not care to attempt or have no means of effecting. A main characteristic of Jewish history is CHURCH REFORM, again and again brought about by the civil power. Except for the piety and zeal of several kingly reformers, the Mosaic institutions, and with them the knowledge and worship of Jehovah, would in an early age have utterly disappeared. Isaac Taylor. THE SACRIFICIAL SYSTEM: NECESSITY AND SPIRITUAL IMPORT OF THE SYSTEM; DEFINITION OF "SACRIFICE;" CLASSES OF SACRIFICES; ORDER AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ACTS IN THE BLOOD SACRIFICES. THE ALTAR AN ORACLE OF GRACE, AND HENCE THE PLACE OF WORSHIP. RELATION OF THE LEVITICAL TO THE CHRISTIAN SACRIFICES; TO THE LORD'S SUPPER. FROM sacred persons we come next to sacred rites, of which animal sacrifice is the first and most essential element of worship. B.—Animal sacrifice was the peculiar main point and essence of all worship both in the Old Covenant religion and in all heathen services. We find that sacrifice was brought out of paradise in the family of Adam. But as Israel became a people only under Moses, the whole service of sacrifice did not receive before his time its full and complete form. Gerl. There is not a single word, recorded or revealed, about the origin and institution of sacrifices. We see a most solemn and important rite of Divine worship in established use, without having any account of its introduction. The idea of taking away the life of innocent creatures, in typical atonement for man's sin, could never have originated in the mind of man. And it never could have been accepted of God, or continued in connection with the worship offered to him, if it had been a mere human invention. This argument is conclusive. R. Newton.—The institution of animal sacrifice had continued until the giving of the Law, no other offering but that of an animal being recorded in Scripture down to this period, except in the case of Cain, when the offering was rejected. But when we come to the promulgation of the Law, we find the connection between animal sacrifice and atonement or reconciliation with God clearly and distinctly announced. It is here declared that sacrifices for sin should, on conforming to certain prescribed modes of offering, be accepted as the means of deliverance from the penal consequences of transgression. Magee. Necessity and Spiritual Import of the Sacrificial System. If there had been no fall, a ritual of worship would have been unnecessary. The knowledge of God would have remained unclouded. The way of approaching him would have been obvious and familiar. Every word would have been a note in the psalm of life, every deed a step in the path of rectitude, and every thought a link in the never-ending chain of truth; and all together would have been the unbidden presentation of a reverent homage to the Father of all. But with a fallen being all is changed. Guilt is upon his conscience, and doom is before his eyes. Of the mercy of God, or of the mode in which it may be exercised, he can form no anticipation. Only a positive revelation from God can afford any ground of certainty or comfort on these points. The main fact, that there is mercy with God for the returning penitent, had been communicated to the family of man immediately after the fall. And some hints had been given of the mode in which it could alone be conveyed. But now that a peculiar people has been selected to receive the Divine favor, and keep up the knowledge of God and his mercy on the earth, it is full time that a more complete and definite account should be given of the way in which the returning penitent may draw near to God with acceptance. M The whole sacrificial system of the Hebrew Law was intended for a people already brought into covenant with the living God, and every sacrifice was assumed to have a vital connection with the spirit of the worshipper. A Hebrew sacrifice, like a Christian sacrament, possessed the inward and spiritual grace, as well as the outward and visible sign. The mere empty form was as alien to the mind of an enlightened Israelite who brought his gift to the altar, as it is to the well-instructed Christian who comes to the table of the Lord. This fact will be found not obscurely intimated in the words of the Law itself. But it is most clearly expressed by the sacred writers in later ages, when it became necessary that they should remind their backsliding countrymen of the truth. Clark.—There cannot be produced out of the whole Old Testament a single passage in which the notion that sacrifices of themselves, apart from the state of mind in the offerers, are well-pleasing to God, is referred to except for the purpose of vigorously opposing it. When, for example, in Lev. 26 : 31, it is said in reference to the ungodly, “I will not smell the savor of your sweet odors ;” and when, in Gen. 4 : 4, 5, we find that, along with an outward similarity, the offerings of Cain and Abel met with such a different reception from God, and that this difference is represented as being based on something personal to the individuals, it is all but expressly asserted that sacrifices were regarded only as expressive of the inner sentiment. That the Law, with all its appearance of outwardness, still possessed throughout an internal, spiritual character, is manifest from the fact that the two internal commands of love to God and one’s neighbor are in the Law itself represented as those in which all the rest lie enclosed, the fulfilment of which carried along with it the fulfilment of all individual precepts, and without which no obedience was practicable. If everything in the Law is made to turn upon love, it is self-evident that a dead bodily service could not be what was properly required. Hengs.—To what extent the spiritual import of these rites was actually understood by the Jews themselves, it may not be easy to determine ; but that something vastly more important than the simple act of slaying and offering the animal victim was required by the spirit of the Law, is evident from the fact that the obedience of the chosen people is frequently represented as faulty, notwithstanding their scrupulous observance of the outward rite. Thus Isa. 1 : 11, 12, “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me ? saith the Lord : I am full of the burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts ; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats.” Bush. #### Definition of Sacrifice. According to the usage of the Old Testament, the most general term for sacrifice is korban. This word was employed in the Law to describe the genus of which sacrifices of all kinds were species. It is expressly predicated of the burnt-offering, the peace-offering, the thank-offering and the votive-offering, the sin-offering, the trespass-offering, the passover, the sacrifice of the Nazarite on the expiry or breach of his vow, the whole range of national sacrifices, the first-fruits, and even offerings made to Jehovah of the spoils of battle. Korban is manifestly the generic Hebrew term, equivalent to our English term sacrifice. This Hebrew word is expressly used and translated by an unequivocal Greek word in Mark 7 : 11. “Korban—that is to say, a gift.” Korban, the equivalent of the English word sacrifice, in general, is a gift to God. A sacrifice in the Levitical sense was a gift, or offering, or presentation made to Jehovah. #### Classes (or Kinds) of Sacrifices. Defining sacrifice, in accordance with both usage and etymology, as a gift, a presentation to God, a surrender to God of what has cost the offerer something, and remembering that in the large majority of cases at least these sacrifices were associated with the holy places—the several ordinances of the Mosaic Law in reference thereto will arrange themselves under the following classes. There were the national sacrifices, or those presented in the name of the entire Jewish people by their representatives. There were the official sacrifices, or the specific acts of worship by presentation prescribed for the ecclesiastical and political orders. And there were the personal sacrifices, which were made by individuals. 1. The NATIONAL OFFERINGS consisted of the serial offerings, or those daily, weekly, and monthly sacrifices ordered to be presented in the nation’s behalf ; the festal offerings, or the ceremonial appropriate to the several exceptional days of sacrificial observance ; and some extraordinary offerings instituted in response to a widely felt need for worship or humiliation at extraordinary seasons ; as at the erection of the tabernacle, the consecration of Aaron, etc. The serial offerings : Every day, morning and evening, the priests were bidden to present, in the name of the congregation, the burnt-offering of a lamb of a year old, with its appropriate mealoffering and drink offering. The presentation was made according to the customary ritual for burnt-offering. From the regularity of its succession this daily burnt-offering is also called the "continual" or "continuous" burnt-offering. Every Sabbath the daily burnt-offering was doubled night and morning. On the first day of every month, or on the new moon as it was called, two young bullocks, a ram, and seven lambs, with the prescribed meal and drink offerings were ordered to be offered, in addition to the continuous burnt-offering; a kid was also to be killed for a sin-offering. The festal offerings: Following the order of the Levitical calendar, the several festal or solemn seasons were Passover, the Paschal Feast, and Pentecost, and the Day of Atonement, followed by the Feast of Tabernacles. 2. THE OFFICIAL SACRIFICES. There were sacrificial rites administered by the priests and rulers purely as officials. 3. THE PERSONAL OFFERINGS. These are divisible into the blood and the bloodless sacrifices, the former including the burnt-offerings, the peace-offerings, the sin and the trespass-offerings; and the latter including the meal-offerings, the libations, the offerings of oil and incense, and a variety of oblations, such as the redemption moneys for every Israelite, the tithes, the firstlings, and the vows. The bloodless offerings always consisted of the products of labor, and were presentations simply; they were gifts made to Jehovah upon approach to him in worship; they were this and nothing more. The blood sacrifices were this and something more; they were both presentations and instruments of atonement; in addition to being the gifts of the offerer to Jehovah, they possessed the all-important blood which testified to the substituted life. Cave. The significant rites of the Mosaic Law may be reduced to two great classes—offerings and purifications. Of these the former is more important, the other being really supplementary to it and dependent on it. The offerings themselves may again be divided into animal and vegetable, or, as some prefer to call them, bloody and bloodless. The latter had no substantive or separate value, but were primarily used as appendages to the other. The elements or materials of the sacrifices were essentially the same in every case. It was their different combinations and the different occasions upon which they were presented that afforded the ground of their classification, under the names of the burnt-offering, the sin-offering, the trespass-offering, and the peace- (or requital) offering, with its subdivisions, thanksgiving, vow, and free-will offerings. In all these the material of the animal sacrifice consisted of the larger and smaller cattle, the latter including sheep and goats, with a substitution, in the case of poverty, of doves or pigeons for the more costly victims otherwise required. The materials of the vegetable-offering were the three great staples of subsistence—corn, wine, and oil. To both may be added, as subsidiary substances, frankincense and salt, which last was an indispensable addition to all animal oblations, while honey and leaven were expressly excluded. J. A. A. Order and Significance of the Acts Connected with the Blood Sacrifices. These acts consisted in the presentation, the imposition of the hand, the act of slaughter, the sprinkling of the blood, and sometimes the heaving and waving of the offering. No prescribed act was meaningless, and each had its own message to convey. The first stage in every act of sacrifice was the deliberate presentation of the offerer and his gift at the appropriate altar. The offerer presented himself and his offering solemnly before the priest. The presentation was itself a thoughtful religious act. To come to the altar was to come to the Lord; to come with a willing and obedient mind, fulfilling the conditions of the Law, was to ask for a share in the promises thereto attached. Next came the imposition of the hand. The victim having been solemnly presented, the offerer forcibly laid his hand upon its head; his hand, whoever he might be, priest or layman, king or elder. This act was a dedication of the victim to the purpose for which it was brought. Cave.—It is impossible to separate in any case the imposition of hands on the head of the victim from the expression and transference of guilt. The specific service the blood had to render in all the sacrifices was to be an atonement for the sinner's guilt upon the altar; and the imposition of the offerer's hands was the expression of his desire, through the offering, to find deliverance from his burden of iniquity, and acceptance with God. We learn from Jewish sources that the imposition of hands was always accompanied with confession of sin. And in the only explanation which Moses himself has given of the meaning of the rite—as connected with the services of the day of atonement—it is represented as being accompanied not only with confession of sin, but also with the transference of its guilt to the body of the victim: 'Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat. P. F. Then followed the act of slaughter. This was always performed by the offerer (possibly assisted or guided by the Levites), and hence its significance. In offering an animal, he was bringing before God an atonement as well as a presentation. But atonement was by the blood, not by the living animal. In the act of slaughter by his own hand, the offerer obediently brought before God the blood of atonement. There the duties of the offerer ended. A priest then collected the blood of the animal in a basin, and applied it to the altar wholly or partially; afterward he flayed, dismembered, cleansed, and burned the carcase wholly or partially. The sprinkling of the blood, varied with the sacrifice, was always a bringing of blood in contact with the altar, and thus before Jehovah. The significance of this proceeding is given in the passage so often quoted (Lev. 17 : 11), concerning which interpreters are agreed that it defines the use of blood in the Law. "For the soul of the flesh is in the blood : and I (the Lord) have given it you upon the altar to be an atonement for your souls." In other words, the blood of the animal legally presented has been appointed by God as a means of atonement for human life because that blood is really the life of the animal sacrificed, or, in other words, the blood or life of an animal has been graciously accepted by Jehovah as a valid substitute for the life or blood of the sinful offerer. As Kahnis puts it, blood is life in compendio. By the blood manipulation one part of the twofold aim of animal sacrifice was completed, and a legal atonement was made for human sin. Cave.—The cardinal act of sacrifice was not that of slaying the animal, nor even that of burning on the altar, but the offering of the blood, the various modes of doing which were not necessarily significant, but all alike expressive of the forfeiture of life. The doctrine taught therefore by this class of sacrificial rites was the necessity of expiation by the offering of life, and more specifically still, by the offering of life for life. The solemn rite of imposition could mean nothing, if it did not mean the transfer of the offerer's guilt to a substituted victim. The sacrifices, then, continually kept before the minds of the people the necessity of expiation, and the only way in which it could be wrought by the sacrifice of life for life. But they did not necessarily, and by a natural association, suggest to all who saw them who or what was the true victim thus prefigured. This was a New Testament doctrine, and so far as it was intimated at all, it was by special types the existence and meaning of which must be determined by New Testament authority. J. A. A. The significance of the combustion upon the altar. In the blood manipulation the atoning aspect of animal sacrifices was complete; the two remaining rites were connected with the offerings as gifts to God. There was in every case a burning of the carcase, wholly or in part; this was the first of the remaining acts. The symbolism of this combustion is manifest. It was a sending of the gift to God. After arranging the divided or the selected portions of the carcase in the heaven-born fire, they were burned—that is to say, they were etherealized, and they rose to heaven as "a sweet savor." The rite bore a similar interpretation when it had reference to any of the bloodless offerings. To burn was to effectually present. Waving and heaving. Sometimes a peculiar swinging of the offering was appended to the other acts of presentation, called "heaving" and "waving." This detail was enjoined in the consecration of the Levites and priests, in the vow of the Nazarite, in the offering of jealousy, in the cleansing of the leprous, in the thank-offerings and the tithes. This significant act of the officiator would seem to be a more emphatic presentation. The swinging forward was manifestly a symbolic presentation to God, a declaration by outward sign that the object waved belonged to him; the movement backward was as manifestly a declaration that the Almighty returned as a gift to his priest what actually belonged to himself. The heaving was very similar, taking place upward and downward, as if toward the Divine dwelling-place in the heavens. The last feature of the general ritual is that of the concluding meal, by the priesthood in the more common cases, or by the offerers, as in the peace-offerings. The restoration of part of the gift to priest or people was the Divine provision in mercy for human rejoicing in the act of worship. This feast was a call to fellowship and friendship. It is Jehovah taking the sinner to His house, preparing him a feast and eating with him at his table. As has well been said: "As the sprinkling blood betokened justification, and combustion sanctification, so the sacrificial meal told its tale of the unio mystica." Cave.—This feasting upon the flesh of the slain animal is in germ what the Gospel gives us in full development—viz., that the same Lamb of Calvary who "washed us from our sins in his own blood" "gave us his flesh to eat" as "the bread of life." The memorial supper carries in it the same double symbol—blood and bread—the blood looking toward pardon; the bread toward sustenance for the spiritual life. So the pious, Israelite might on the one hand see the blood of his sacrifice gurgling forth, caught, sprinkled toward the mercy-seat and upon his own person; and on the other hand, might take of the flesh of his slain lamb and sit down, not merely in peace but in joyful thanksgiving that death brings life—that sacrificial blood brings after it the new life of the redeemed, restored sinner, and sustenance therefor from the very animal whose body and blood became symbols of his pardon. H. C. Had sacrifice not been essentially of God; had it not required the humble and child-like heart of faith to present it aright; had it not carried along with it, when so presented, the blessing of forgiveness and grace from heaven, we cannot understand how such singular importance should have been attached to it. Like the sacrifice of Christ now, it has all the appearance of having then been the great touchstone of an accepted and blessed, or a guilty and rejected condition; not one of many, as it would have been if devised by man, but standing comparatively alone as an all-important ordinance of God. P. F. Through all the details of Leviticus there runs the emphasis that everything is by God's ordering, as if he had done it himself. This book becomes an illuminated missal on the freeness and amplitude of God's grace. There is not a trace of will-worship. Everything is done according to the Divine pattern. The entire ritual was a Divine parable. The blood was not given by man to God, but by God to man; and in this Divine gift upon the altar depended its prophetic and ritual atoning efficacy. And reading the parable in this way, a new and celestial radiance invests the cross, the one altar that shall never crumble. It is not the symbol of wrath-appeased, but of love triumphant. It is the journey ended, by which God has come to man. "It is finished." The debt paid, but by him to whom we owed it. The tyrant overthrown, but by God's hand, hiding behind the pierced palms. The penalty endured, but by him who pronounced it. The Law vindicated, but by him whose bosom is its eternal source and seat. Salvation by sacrifice, and sacrifice so great and painful that it awes the angels; but sacrifice as representing what God endures for those whom his love would save! Of course, where God meets man there man should hasten to meet his God. If the altar is an oracle of grace it will also be the place of worship. But it is the place of true worship only because it is vocal with God's compassionate thought. God and man meet at the altar; but the sacrifice does not represent man's part in the great dialogue. . . . What gives to the atonement its value? Is it the offering of man or of God? If of man, paying a debt, or discharging a legal liability, what need of an incarnation? However intimate the union between the Divine and the human in the person of our Lord, it must be the Eternal Son of God by whom properly the atonement was made. It was made in human nature, but not by human nature. It was human in the field of its transaction; it was Divine in its origin, essence, and import. It was human in its form, Divine in its substance. It was human in its utterance, Divine in its logic. The cross, like the altar which it forever displaced, is an oracle of Divine grace, showing at what cost God secures the eternal redemption of man from sin. The descriptive history of redemption, the picture of the cross, remains unaltered. The suffering and shame, the agony and abandonment and death of our Lord, are not toned down, nor explained away. But we read the story from the angle of God's thought, and that makes it luminous. Long enough have we studied the cross from the human angle, as if its main significance lay in the offering which man's representative makes to God, as if its design was to make the forgiveness of sin compatible with the claims of justice; let us take the one bold leap, and read it with the eyes of God, whose love is from everlasting, and interpret it as one great offering which he freely makes in Christ for the redemption of all who repent and believe! Its mighty secret is not in the energy which it imparts to man's prayer and plea for pardon, but in the solemn oath which it affixes to the free proclamation of mercy as witnessed in the redemption accomplished in human nature by the obedience, suffering, death, resurrection, and eternal ascension into glory, of the Eternal Word who became flesh. Bebends. Satisfaction is made to absolute justice, to the truth of God; and it is made not only by the sufferings, but by the perfect life of Jesus, as the perfect man, in obedience to the Law. Justice—not retaliation—demands that what a man sows, that shall he reap. Man sows sin, and reaps the necessary results—death, the forfeiture of God's presence. The picture of atonement in the Old Testament is that of a covering of sins, and in the New Testament is reconciliation of man to God. In the English version of the New Testament the word "atonement" occurs once, and translates the word which is elsewhere translated "reconciliation" (kutallaye). The satisfaction on which this covering of sins and reconciliation of man to God is based embraces the life, death, resurrection, ascension, and mediation of the Saviour God-Man. The object in view of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus was not one, but manifold. It was to manifest God ("God manifest in the flesh"); to reconcile man's heart ("You, that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in his sight"); to show man that he has a Mediator ("the one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus"); to prove his love ("Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends"); to enter death that he might show man that he is the victor over it, as the first-fruits from the dead ("If Christ be not raised, then is our hope in vain"); to read a lesson to other spheres ("To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord"). In all this he stood in man's place to suffer; the "chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed;" "he redeemed us from the curse of the Law, being made a curse for us." His merits were so perfect that they outweighed all man's demerits, so that for his sake man can be justified and accepted according to the covenant of grace. But to introduce the spirit of vindictiveness, or retaliation, on the part of the Jehovah of the sacred Scriptures, as thirsting for the blood of the sinner, and demanding the sufferings of Christ from any principle analogous to the human principle of retaliation, is one of the greatest insults ever offered to the Christian religion, which declares that the whole motive power toward salvation was love. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." R. Collins. Judging solely by the facts presented by the sacrificial conceptions of the two dispensations, they are manifestly connected, and that as the higher and the lower in a prearranged system of development. There is in Christianity an evident growth in reasonableness and freedom. In Christianity the fetters of Judaism are snapped, and its unintelligible features are explained. As Augustine said, "In the epoch of the Old Covenant the New lay latent, as a fruit does in a root," or, in the language of more modern times, we may say, the New Testament sacrifices are antitypes of those of the Old. In a word, judged by the definition of final cause, Christianity is the final cause of Judaism. Cave. The Mosaic ritual had at once a shell, and a kernel—its shell, the outward rites and observances it enjoined; its kernel, the spiritual relations which these indicated, and the spiritual truths which they embodied and expressed. Substantially these truths and relations were, and must have been, the same for the Old that they are for the New Testament worshippers, having in each the same wants and necessities to meet, and the same God condescending to meet them. In that fundamental agreement we are to find the bond of union between the symbolical institutions of Judaism and the permanent realities of Messiah's kingdom. One truth in both—but that truth existing first in a lower, then in a higher stage of development. That the rite of expiatory sacrifice was typically or prophetically symbolical of the death of Christ, is testified with much plainness and frequency in New Testament Scripture. Yet, independently of this connection with Christ's death, it had a meaning of its own, which it was possible for the ancient worshipper to understand, and, so understanding, to present through it an acceptable service to God, whether he might perceive or not the further respect it bore to a dying Saviour. It was in its own nature a symbolical transaction, embodying a threefold idea: first, that the worshipper, having been guilty of sin, had forfeited his life to God; then, that the life so forfeited must be surrendered to Divine justice; and finally that being surrendered in the way appointed, it was given back to him again by God, or he became re-established as a justified person in the Divine favor and fellowship. The complex capital idea which the transaction so impressively symbolized, finds its only true realization in the work of salvation by Jesus Christ. For in him alone was there a real transference of man's guilt to one able and willing to bear it; in his death alone, the surrender of a life to God, such as could fitly stand in the room of that forfeited by the sinner; and in faith alone on that death, a full and conscious appropriation of the life of peace and blessing obtained by him for the justified. So that here only it is we perceive the idea of a true, sufficient, and perfect sacrifice converted into a living reality—such as the holy eye of God, and the troubled conscience of man, can alike repose in with unmingled satisfaction. And while there appear precisely the same elements of truth in the ever-recurring sacrifices of the Old Testament, and in the one perfect sacrifice of the New, it is seen, at the same time, that what the one symbolically represented, the other actually possessed; what the one could only exhibit as a kind of acted lesson for the present relief of guilty consciences, the other makes known to us, as a work finally and forever accomplished for all who believe in the propitiation of the cross. P. F. That these sacrifices were “shadows of good things to come,” pointing more or less distinctly to “the body which is of Christ,” the whole Epistle to the Hebrews is a continued proof. The imposition of hands upon the head of the victim, the shedding of its blood, and the consumption of its members upon the altar, were prefigurative acts setting forth by a kind of dramatic representation the future offering of the “Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world.” The requisite qualities of these sacrificial victims were emblematic of Christ’s immaculate character, and the law of their oblation was a practical hieroglyphic of the great Gospel truth of the atonement. So also were the outward washings and purifications enjoined by the Mosaic Law designed to intimate the necessity of inward purity. If these institutions be severed from their New Testament relations, we have no key to unlock the hidden meaning of the Pentateuch, and the whole ritual contained in it dwindles down to a burdensome round of unmeaning ceremonies. But when regarded in the light now suggested, the whole service, like the veil on the face of Moses, conceals a spiritual radiance under an outward covering, and the wisdom of the various appointments appears at once worthy of its Divine Author. Bush.—Scarcely a page of the New Testament dealing with events coming after the crucifixion fails to set them forth in their sacrificial character and under an array of sacerdotal symbols. The apostles preached it, wrote it, reasoned it, exulted in it, put it into their ascriptions and thanksgivings. It was the fire and ecstasy of their apostleship. Every place and utensil of the old altar service came in to help the redemptive impression. All that long, wonderful, providential Hebrew economy had prepared the moulds of thought and images of speech which are now taken up, spiritualized, and filled out. And the last voices we hear, as the sublime story of Revelation ends, and the apocalyptic visions of ages sweep away before us, are the voices of the mighty multitude, saying, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.” F. D. H. As bearing upon the fact and the nature of the atonement, this bloody ritual has a most vital and impressive significance. No questions of deeper and more vital import can ever arise than such as these: Was the death of Christ expiatory? Was his blood shed for the sins of men? Did he lay down his life, an innocent victim, that the guilty sinners who place their hands upon his sacred head and there confess their sins may live and never die? In a word, was his death foreshadowed and its true significance pre-intimated by the bloody offerings enjoined in this Hebrew system? Argumentatively, it would seem that these great questions are decided forever by the following considerations: (1) If the bloody sacrifices of this ancient system do not set forth the atoning death of Christ, they mean nothing; this, or nothing at all. (2) The writer to the Hebrew Christians testifies that they mean this. To give the proof of this statement in full would repeat entire the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth chapters of this epistle. (3) All the New Testament writers were Jews; men of Jewish education, men of life-long training in religious ideas based on this Hebrew sacrificial system. They never speak of the purpose or results of Christ’s death save in terms and phrases taken from this system given through Moses. Jesus never speaks of his own death save in these same words and phrases. When he speaks of “giving his life a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28); when he said, “This is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins;” when his great forerunner speaks of him as “the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world;” or Peter as “bearing our sins in his own body on the tree;” or Paul as being “made a sin-offering for us that we might be made the right-cousness of God in him,” it is simply impossible to disprove the reference of these terms and phrases to the Mosaic system—impossible to give them any other sense than that which is illustrated in the bloody death of the sin-offerings and burnt-offerings of that ancient law. Thus with bands which no sophistry can sever, the Old Testament and the New are bound together, and the atonement prefigured in the former is embodied and made perfect in the latter. The almost ceaseless blood-sheddings and blood-sprinklings of the former culminate in the latter in the one great scene of death-agony and blood on Calvary. The grand idea of expiatory suffering—of the vicarious death of the innocent in place of the guilty, which ages of ceremonial sacrifice had been setting forth and working into the minds of all reverent worshippers, had prepared the way for Christ's disciples to understand the mystery of his bloody death and to teach the Christian world in the writings of the New Testament how the blood of Jesus "takes away sin." H. C. # The System of Sacrifice the Analogue to the Lord's Supper. The world-sacrifice of Jesus Christ was a self-sacrifice of the highest conceivable import. And that one sacrifice, coupled with the life, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ, was in all its bearings the most significant event that ever happened in the history of the human race. Should not, then, the world of all time be educated for that one great central "mystery of godliness," the reconciliation of the world by 'God manifest in the flesh,' the outward circumstance of which was the life-shedding of Jesus on Calvary? But how was the world to be educated in prospect of that sacrifice? The great central fact to be taught was—the shedding of a life the salvation and life of the world. We are taught now to look upon that sacrifice at a meal, because the atoning power must always be connected with the life-giving power. The eating of bread and the drinking of wine are signs distinct enough to keep the world in memory of the fact and character of the death of Christ, the Life of the world. The Lord's Supper is, moreover, a bridge of history, taking us back by unerring steps to the hour of its institution, and the hour of Christ's agony. We find under the Mosaic dispensation the great analogue to the Lord's Supper in the system of sacrifice. Then also the symbol was connected with a meal; or had in every case at least some reference to food. Except in the case of the whole burnt-offering, either the priests and the offerers of the sacrifice, or the priests alone, solemnly ate the offering, and that for the most part, in "the holy place." Nor was the animal sacrifice the only sacrifice: the "meal-offering" (minchah) was as truly a sacrifice as the lamb, part being also consumed in the holy fire, and part eaten by the priest. Every animal sacrifice was an animal or bird used for food. But to the ritual of the animal sacrificial meal was added a most elaborate ritual as to the previous slaying of the animal itself, and the sprinkling of its blood, the offerer putting his hand on the head of the victim, and being taught to regard the sacrifice as a picture of atonement, the Hebrew idea of which was a covering, or a hiding of sin; and the blood was called the blood of the covenant. Thus, while the lesson of life by food is the same in the Lord's Supper and the sacrificial feast, the symbol of breaking of bread in token of the death of the Lord's body is replaced by a much more powerful symbol in the slaying of the animal that supplies the feast, and the solemn sprinkling of its blood. The two ordinances are from the same hand; and while we see the exquisite beauty of the symbolism in the commemorative Supper of the Lord, we cannot fail to see the beauty of power in the parallel symbolism of the shedding of blood in the prospective Old Testament dispensation, the great sacrament of the Old World. The error that has grown up about the words "sacrifice," "priest," and "altar," is idolatry; that is, making the picture more than a picture. When the Jew believed that the blood of bulls and of goats could take away sin, he perverted the truth and the ordinance of God; and when the Christian holds that there is in the Lord's Supper a propitiatory sacrifice for the quick and the dead for the remission of sins, he equally abuses the truth of God and the beauty of the ordinance. It is the confounding of the inward spiritual grace in the sacraments with the rite itself that has been at the root of the chief of the religious errors of mankind. The inward spiritual grace is the apprehension and appropriation by the intelligence and the affections of that which the outward observance typifies, and therefore to the faithful the actual reception of its benefit; and the observance itself, when rightly understood, becomes an instrument in arousing that apprehension, as well as a pledge and means, by virtue of its institution, of our receiving that grace. But to make a sacrament an opus operatum, to convert the image into that which it represents, is idolatry. It is this astounding, though truly human, error that plunged the ancient world into heathenism, the Jewish world into Pharisaism, and the Christian world into what is now commonly called Popery. The fall of the intelligence when the floods of superstition are let in upon the soul is great indeed; so that a man can even hold the blasphemous doctrine that the blessed Redeemer can become incarnate in the sacramental elements of bread and wine in the hands of the priest, and that it is necessary for salvation that the body, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ should be digested in the human stomach. This is a fall sorer than any fall on record of the Jews; however much we may pity their unbelief, we have no evidence that any Jew ever taught that every Passover lamb and every victim brought to the altar was God incarnate; and yet, if it be true of the Christian element of sacrifice, it must have been true of the Jewish. R. Collins. DETAILS RESPECTING ANIMAL SACRIFICE: ANIMALS OFFERED; UNBLEMISHED; AGE; TO BE VOLUNTARY; PLACE OF OFFERING. THE LIFE BLOOD THE ESSENTIAL FEATURE. Ex. 39 32 Thus was finished all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting: and the children of Israel did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so did they. 33. And they brought the tabernacle unto Moses, the Tent, and all its furniture, its clasps, its 34 boards, its bars, and its pillars, and its sockets; and the covering of rams' skins dyed red, 35 and the covering of sealskins, and the veil of the screen; the ark of the testimony, and the 36 staves thereof, and the mercy-seat; the table, all the vessels thereof, and the shewbread; the 37 pure candlestick, the lamps thereof, even the lamps to be set in order, and all the vessels 38 thereof, and the oil for the light; and the golden altar, and the anointing oil, and the sweet 39 incense, and the screen for the door of the Tent; the brasen altar, and its grating of brass 40 its staves, and all its vessels, the laver and its base; the hangings of the court, its pillars, and its sockets, and the screen for the gate of the court, the cords thereof, and the pins thereof, and all the instruments of the service of the tabernacle, for the tent of meeting; the finely wrought garments for ministering in the holy place, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's office. According to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did all the work. And Moses saw all the work, and, behold, they had done it; as the LORD had commanded, even so had they done it: and Moses blessed them. 40 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, On the first day of the first month shalt thou rear up the tabernacle of the tent of meeting. And thou shalt put therein the ark of the testimony, and thou shalt screen the ark with the veil. And thou shalt bring in the table, and set in order the things that are upon it; and thou shalt bring in the candlestick, and light the lamps thereof. And thou shalt set the golden altar for incense before the ark of the testimony, and put the screen of the door to the tabernacle. And thou shalt set the altar of burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting. And thou shalt set the laver between the tent of meeting and the altar, and shalt put water therein. And thou shalt set up the court round about, and hang up the screen of the gate of the court. And thou shalt take the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle, and all that is therein, and shalt hallow it, and all the furniture thereof: and it shall be holy. And thou shalt anoint the altar of burnt offering, and all its vessels, and sanctify the altar: and the altar shall be most holy. And thou shalt anoint the laver and its base, and sanctify it. 16. Thus did Moses; according to all that the LORD commanded him, so did he. 17. And it came to pass in the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was reared up. And Moses reared up the tabernacle, and laid its sockets, and set up the boards thereof, and put in the bars thereof, and reared up its pillars. And he spread the tent over the tabernacle, and put the covering of the tent above upon it; as the LORD commanded Moses. And he took and put the testimony into the ark, and set the staves on the ark, and put the mercy-seat above upon the ark: and he brought the ark into the tabernacle, and set up the veil of the screen, and screened the ark of the testimony; as the LORD commanded Moses. And he put the table in the tent of meeting, upon the side of the tabernacle northward, without the veil. And he set the bread in order upon it before the LORD; as the LORD commanded Moses. And he put the candlestick in the tent of meeting, over against the table, on the side of the tabernacle southward. And he lighted the lamps before the LORD; as the LORD commanded Moses. And he put the golden altar in the tent of meeting before the veil: and he burnt thereon incense of sweet spices; as the LORD commanded Moses. And he put the screen of the door to the tabernacle. And he set the altar of burnt offering at the door of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, and offered upon it the burnt offering and the meal offering; as the LORD commanded Moses. And he set the laver between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water therein, to wash withal. And Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet thereat; when they went into the tent of meeting, and when they came near unto the altar, they washed: as the LORD commanded Moses. And he reared up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the screen of the gate of the court. So Moses finished the work. 34. Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of meeting, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. No. 9 15 And on the day that the tabernacle was reared up the cloud covered the tabernacle, even the tent of the testimony: and at even it was upon the tabernacle as it were the appearance of fire, until morning. So it was alway: the cloud covered it, and the appearance of fire by night. No. 7 1 And it came to pass on the day that Moses had made an end of setting up the tabernacle, and had anointed it and sanctified it, and all the furniture thereof, and the altar and all the vessels thereof, and had anointed them and sanctified them; that the princes of Israel, the heads of their fathers' houses, offered; these were the princes of the tribes, these are they that were over them that were numbered: and they brought their oblation before the LORD, six covered wagons, and twelve oxen; a wagon for every two of the princes, and for each one an ox: and they presented them before the tabernacle. And the LORD spake unto Moses, 5 saying, Take it of them, that they may be to do the service of the tent of meeting; and thou 6 shalt give them unto the Levites, to every man according to his service. And Moses took the 7 wagons and the oxen, and gave them unto the Levites. Two wagons and four oxen he gave 8 unto the sons of Gershon, according to their service: and four wagons and eight oxen he gave unto the sons of Merari, according unto their service, under the hand of Ithamar the son 9 of Aaron the priest. But unto the sons of Kohath he gave none: because the service of the 10 sanctuary belonged unto them; they bare it upon their shoulders. And the princes offered for the dedication of the altar in the day that it was anointed, even the princes offered their 11 oblation before the altar. And the LORD said unto Moses, They shall offer their oblation, each prince on his day, for the dedication of the altar. 12 And he that offered his oblation the first day was Nahshon the son of Amminadab, of the 13 tribe of Judah: and his oblation was one silver charger, the weight thereof was an hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary; both 14 of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal offering; one golden spoon of ten shekels, 15 full of incense; one young bullock, one ram, one he-lamb of the first year, for a burnt offer- 16 ing; one male of the goats for a sin offering: and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two 17 oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five he-lambs of the first year: this was the oblation of Nahshon the son of Amminadab. 18 On the second day Nethanel the son of Zuar, prince of Issachar, did offer. [As the offerings of the other eleven princes are identical with the first, the text is omitted.] 84 This was the dedication of the altar, in the day when it was anointed, by the princes of 85 Israel: twelve silver chargers, twelve silver bowls, twelve golden spoons: each silver charger weighing an hundred and thirty shekels, and each bowl seventy: all the silver of the vessels 86 two thousand and four hundred shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary; the twelve golden spoons, full of incense, weighing ten shekels apiece, after the shekel of the sanctuary: all the 87 gold of the spoons an hundred and twenty shekels: all the oxen for the burnt offering twelve bullocks, the rams twelve, the he-lambs of the first year twelve, and their meal offering: and 88 the males of the goats for a sin offering twelve: and all the oxen for the sacrifice of peace offerings twenty and four bullocks, the rams sixty, the he-goats sixty, the he-lambs of the first 89 year sixty. This was the dedication of the altar, after that it was anointed. And when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with him, then he heard the Voice speaking unto him from above the mercy-seat that was upon the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim: and he spake unto him. One-third part of the entire Book of Exodus is taken up with the tabernacle; and it occupies more than two thirds of the portion devoted to Mount Sinai. All of Levities is occupied with it, and a considerable portion of Numbers. Minute instructions and full details are given, the most important of which are repeated again and again. All this goes to show the impor- tance attached to the tabernacle and its signifi- cance. J. M. G. The Entire Work Completed. Brought to Moses, and Approved (Ex. 39:32-43). 39:33. They brought the taber- nacle to Moses. They submitted it to his inspection. He knew what he had ordered them to make; and now the particulars were called over and all produced, that Moses might see both that they had made all, omitting noth- ing, that they had made all according to the instructions given them, and that, if they had made a mistake in anything, it might be forth- with rectified. H. 43. As the Lord had commanded. This is the tenth time that Moses, in this one chapter, says all this was done, "as the Lord had commanded," to show how scrupulously exact they were in their obedience. Patrick. —And Moses blessed them. This blessing seems to have been given not only to the workmen but to all the people. The people contributed liberally, and the workmen wrought faithfully, and the blessing of God was pro- nounced upon ALL. A. C. Command to Set up the Tabernacle and its Court and their Furniture, and to Anoint them (Ex. 40:1-11). In the erection of the tabernacle the order was from the holy of holies within outward to the court. In the directions for worship the order is reversed. Each order is appropriate in its place. In the setting up of the tabernacle, the prominent thought was the coming down of God to dwell with his people. Hence the throne, the mercy-seat, comes first, and after, in succession, the veils and barriers which guarded the shrine from unhallowed intrusion. In the directions for worship the prominent thought is the access of the people to God, and accordingly the beginning is made from the court, through which alone there can be access to the inner shrine. J. M. G. 9,10. Thou shalt anoint and hallow it, and it shall be holy.** Enlightened worshippers understood that the enjoyment of God's presence and blessing was by no means confined to that outward habitation, and that the relations there unfolded were proper to the whole Church of God. Hence the Psalmist represents it as the common privilege of an Israelite to dwell in the house of God, and abide in his tabernacle, though in the literal sense not even the priests could be said to do so. Of himself he speaks as desiring to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life, by which he could only mean, that he earnestly wished continually to realize and abide in that connection and fellowship with God which he saw so clearly symbolized in the form and services of the tabernacle. And this symbolical import of the tabernacle was plainly indicated by the Lord himself to Moses, in the words, "And I will set my tabernacle among you, and I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people." The least in spiritual discernment could scarcely fail to learn here that what was outwardly exhibited in the tabernacle of God's nearness and familiarity with his people was designed to be the image of what should always and everywhere be realizing itself among the members of his covenant; that the tabernacle was the visible symbol of the Church or kingdom of God. Before it could be used as the Lord's tabernacle, it had to be consecrated by the application to all its parts and furniture of the holy anointing oil, for the preparation of which special instructions were given. "And thou shalt sanctify them," was the word to Moses regarding this anointing oil, "that they may be most holy; whatsoever toucheth them shall be holy." The tabernacle and its furniture being a symbol of the true Church as the peculiarly consecrated, God-inhabited region, the anointing with the sacred oil was a sensible representation of the effusion of the Holy Spirit, whose part it is to sanctify the unclean, and draw them within the sphere of God's habitation, as well as to fit them for occupying it. And as the anointing not only rendered the tabernacle and its vessels holy, but made them also the imparters of holiness to others—"whatsoever toucheth them shall be holy"—the important lesson was thereby taught, that they who really come into a living connection with the Church or kingdom of God are brought into communion with his spiritual nature, and made partakers of his holiness. It is only within the sphere of that kingdom that true purification and righteousness proceed. And as everything in the original tabernacle required to be sprinkled with the holy anointing oil to fit it for its sacred destination and use, so in the higher and ultimate realities of the Divine kingdom all is pervaded and consecrated by the living Spirit of God. The ordinances of the Church are made fruitful of good because they are the ordained channels of the Spirit's communications. He who has become really united to the one spiritual body has done so by being baptized into it by the one Spirit. He who, through the word of the Gospel, has been convinced of sin, righteousness, and judgment, is a monument in what he has experienced of the powerful and blessed agency of that Spirit. And of every grace he exhibits, and every work of acceptable service he performs, it may be said that the will and the power to perform it have been wrought by the self-same Spirit. P. F. NOTE.—The actual anointing of the Tabernacle and its Furniture, and of the Altar of Burnt-offering and the Laver, took place in connection with the Consecration of Aaron and his sons to the Priesthood. The record is found in the next following section (Lev. 8 : 10, 11). B. The Tabernacle Reared and the Holy Things Put in Place. [NOTE.—These Trumpets, although not a part of the furniture of the tabernacle, were kept in the holy place. The command respecting their construction and use is therefore appropriately recorded in this section.] The Lord himself appoints the preparation of the trumpets by which the different signals for the people were to be given, that in all which they did as a people they might have the certainty they stood under God's immediate guidance. Every assembling of the people or of the council, every expedition in war, was thereby marked as holy. Gerl.—The silver trumpets gave the gathering-signal, so that the people should always be attentive to the voice and will of God. For God would have the Israelites set in motion by their sound, so that they should commence everything either in war or in peace under his guidance and auspices. Their use was threefold—viz., to gather the people or the rulers to public assemblies; to move them against their enemies; and, thirdly, to announce the sacrifices and festivals. Civ. The signals which regulated the breaking up of the camp and the march itself were of two kinds—those which proceeded from Jehovah, and those which were given by Moses or the priests. The former were made by means of the different positions assumed by the pillar of cloud and fire. It had come down upon the sanctuary on the occasion of its consecration. When it rose up from the tent, this was the signal on the part of Jehovah that the camp was to be broken up; and whenever it came down upon any spot, the Israelites saw in this a sign that they were to encamp upon that spot. But as this signal only presented itself to the eye, and could therefore be easily overlooked by many, another signal was added which appealed to the ear as well. For this purpose Moses provided, at the command of Jehovah, two silver trumpets. When both trumpets were blown, this was a sign for the whole congregation to assemble at the tabernacle. If only one was blown, it was a summons to the princes of the congregation to come to the tabernacle. When a blast was blown with both the trumpets, this was the signal for the whole congregation to break up the encampment. At the first blast the tents on the eastern side were struck; at the second those on the south side, and so forth. K. 70, had the golden candlestick and the golden table of the shew-bread, the silver trumpets, and the book of the Law taken out of the temple, and carried in triumph to Rome; and Vespasian lodged them in the temple which he had consecrated to the goddess of Peace! At the foot of Mount Palatine there are the ruins of an arch, on which the triumph of Titus for his conquest of the Jews is represented, and on which the several monuments which were carried in the procession are sculptured, particularly the golden candlestick, the table of the shew-bread, and the two silver trumpets. [For cut of these, see New Testament, Vol. I., p. 651.] These things had accomplished the end for which they were instituted, and were now of no further use. The glorious Personage typified by all this ancient apparatus had about seventy years before this made his appearance. The true light was come and the Holy Spirit poured out from on high; and therefore the golden candlestick by which they were typified was given up: the ever-during bread had been sent from heaven, and therefore the golden table, which bore its representative, the shew-bread, was now no longer needful: the joyful sound of the ever-lasting gospel was then published in the world; and therefore the silver trumpets that typified this were carried into captivity, and their sound was no more to be heard. Strange Providence but unutterable mercy of God! the Jews lost both the sign and the things signified; and that very people who destroyed the holy city and carried away the spoils of the temple were the first to receive the preaching of the Gospel, the light of salvation, and the bread of life! The Jews had these significant emblems to lead them to and prepare them for the things signified. They trusted in the former, and rejected the latter! God therefore deprived them of both, and gave up their temple to the spoilers, their land to desolation, and themselves to captivity and the sword. The heathens then carried away the emblems of their salvation, and God shortly gave unto those heathens that very salvation of which these things were the emblems! A. C. OFFERINGS FOR THE SERVICE OF THE SANCTUARY: BEATEN OIL; RANSOM OR ATONEMENT MONEY; INCENSE; ANOINTING OIL; SHEW OR FACE BREAD. No. 10 11 AND it came to pass in the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, that the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle of the testimony. 12 And the children of Israel set forward according to their journeys out of the wilderness of 13 Sinai; and the cloud abode in the wilderness of Paran. And they first took their journey 14 according to the commandment of the LORD by the hand of Moses. And in the first place the standard of the camp of the children of Judah set forward according to their hosts: and over 15 his host was Nahshon the son of Amminadab. And over the host of the tribe of the children 16 of Issachar was Nethanel the son of Zuar. And over the host of the tribe of the children of 17 Zebulun was Eliab the son of Helon. And the tabernacle was taken down; and the sons of 18 Gershon and the sons of Merari, who bare the tabernacle, set forward. And the standard of the camp of Reuben set forward according to their hosts: and over his host was Elizur the 19 son of Shedeur. And over the host of the tribe of the children of Simeon was Shelumiel the 20 son of Zurishaddai. And over the host of the tribe of the children of Gad was Eliasaph the 21 son of Deuel. And the Kohathites set forward, bearing the sanctuary: and the other did set 22 up the tabernacle against they came. And the standard of the camp of the children of Ephraim set forward according to their hosts: and over his host was Elishama the son of 23 Ammihud. And over the host of the tribe of the children of Manasseh was Gamaliel the son 24 of Pedahzur. And over the host of the tribe of the children of Benjamin was Abidan the son 25 of Gideoni. And the standard of the camp of the children of Dan, which was the rearward of all the camps, set forward according to their hosts: and over his host was Ahiezer the son 26 of Ammishaddai. And over the host of the tribe of the children of Asher was Pagiel the son 27 of Ochran. And over the host of the tribe of the children of Naphtali was Ahira the son of 28 Enan. Thus were the journeyings of the children of Israel according to their hosts; and they set forward. 33 And they set forward from the mount of the LORD three days' journey; and the ark of the covenant of the LORD went before them three days' journey, to seek out a resting place for 34 them. And the cloud of the LORD was over them by day, when they set forward from the 35 camp. And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, O LORD, and 36 let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee. And when it rested, he said, Return, O LORD, unto the ten thousands of the thousands of Israel. No. 33 16 And they journeyed from the wilderness of Sinai, and pitched in Kibroth-hattaavah. The march out of Egypt to Mount Sinai occupied six weeks, making, with the fourteen days before the Passover, two months; and they were encamped before Sinai, receiving the Divine laws, for the remaining ten months of the first ecclesiastical year. The tabernacle was set up on the first day of the first month (Abib) of the second year; and its dedication occupied that month. On the first day of the second month Moses began to number the people, and their encampment was broken up on the twentieth day of the second month of the second year. On that day the cloud of Jehovah's presence was lifted up from the tabernacle, as the sign of departure; and the tabernacle itself was taken down. At the alarm blown by the two silver trumpets, which God had commanded to be made, each of the four camps set forward in its appointed order, and the host followed the cloud. P. S. When the silver trumpets sounded, the tribe of Judah, mustering 74,600 fighting men, defiled forward from the east side of the camp, and led the van, followed by Issachar, with 54,400, and Zebulun, 57,400. Then came a division of the tribe of Levi, the descendants of Gershom and Merari, bearing the tabernacle, which was carefully taken down, and, thus moving after the advanced guard, might be set up, ready for the reception of the ark. Then Reuben, numbering 46,500; Simeon, 59,300; Gad, 45,650, broke up, and advanced from the southern part of the encampment. The second division of the Levites, the family of Kohath, next took their station, bearing the sanctuary and the ark, and all the sacred vessels, with the most religious care, lest any hands but those of Aaron and his assistants should touch a single part. All the males of the house of Levi amounted only to 22,000. Ephraim, 40,500; Manasseh, 32,200; Benjamin, 35,400, defiled, and formed the western wing of the encampment. Dan, 62,700; Asher, 41,500; Napthali, 53,400, brought up the rear. The whole number of fighting men was 603,550. This formidable army set forward, singing, "Rise up, O Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered;" and thus—already furnished with their code of laws, irresistible both in their numbers and the promised assistance of their God—they marched onward to take possession of the fruitful land which had been promised as the reward of their toils. Milman. After leaving Horeb, the Israelites marched northward, and traversing the grand gorge of El Watiyeh, turned to the east along the valleys of Zillegah and El Ain. Turning northward they entered the region of the Tih (Desert of Paran); and then proceeding onward across the great plains of limestone reached their halting-place at Kadesh-Barnea. The whole distance would be about one hundred and fifty miles, and for eleven days would be at the rate of nearly fourteen miles a day. Holland. 12. The wilderness of Paran. This tract comprised about one third of the entire extent of the peninsula, which lies between Egypt and Canaan, and is the eastern half of the great limestone plateau, which constitutes the centre of that peninsula. It was bounded on the north by the Canaanitish frontier; on the west by the brook or river of Egypt, which parted it from the other half of the plateau, the Wilderness of Shur; on the south by the great sand-belt, which sweeps across the peninsula in a northwardly-concave line, from gulf to gulf, and forms a broad demarcation between it and the cliffs of Sinai; and on the east by the northern portion of the Elanitic Gulf, and by the great valley of the Arabah, which divides it from the mountains of Edom. The Wilderness of Zin (to be carefully distinguished from that of Sin), forming the immediate boundary of Canaan, was its northeastern extremity; and it is thus that Kadesh is indifferently spoken of as in the Wilderness of Zin, or in that of Paran. The Wilderness of Paran is, on the whole, to European eyes, a blanched and dreary waste; intersected by watercourses, almost always dry except in the rainy season, and crossed by low ranges of horizontal hills which relieve but little the general monotony of its appearance. It does not exhibit the savage and frightful desolation of the Arabah; but neither, on the other hand, is it enlivened by the fertile valleys to be found amid the granite mountains of Sinai. Its soil is mostly strewn with pebbles, through which a slight coating of vegetation struggles; yet here and there level plains may be found in it of rich red earth fit for culture, or valleys abounding in shrubs and trees. Espin. The whole district still bears the name Bádi et Tih, "the desert of the wanderings." Its southern portion seems, as it were, driven in wedgeways into the Sinaitic peninsula proper, from which it is separated by a belt of sand. From the scene of the first year of Israel's pilgrimage and of the Sinaitic legislation, the Tih might be entered by one of several passes through the mountains which form its southern boundary. The Et Tih itself "is a limestone plateau of irregular surface." It may generally be described as "open plains of sand and gravel broken by a few valleys," and is at present "nearly waterless, with the exception of a few springs, situated in the larger wadies," which yield rather an admixture of sand and water than water. A. E. After they had received the Law, and completed the year of discipline, and put everything in order for their journey, they turned northward, through the wadies of granite, into the wadies of sandstone, crossed the sandy plain of Debbet-er-ramleh between Sinai and Et-Tih, and, climbing the steep escarpment of the Tih plateau, began their wanderings. Post. They went out of the wilderness of Sinai, and rested in the wilderness of Pavan. All our removes in this world are but from one wilderness to another. The changes which we think will be for the better do not always prove so; while we carry about with us wherever we go the common infirmities of human nature, we must expect wherever we go to meet with its common calamities; we should never be at rest, never at home, till we come to heaven, and all will be well there. H. 33. Three days' journey.** There is not much room for doubt that it was a "three days' journey" from Mount Sinai to their first resting-place; not that they marched day and night without stopping to rest; but that the first two nights they bivouacked, and on the third day they formally encamped. This is what we should gather from the text itself; and all outside examination as to the probabilities tends to confirm this view. H. C. T. 34. The cloud of the Lord was upon them by day. It would seem as if the cloud, which was luminous by night, dense and dark by day, spread itself upward and backward from over the ark, overshadowing the host as it followed. There is no doubt that it dwelt in the memory of the nation, and gave meaning to such expressions as the "shadow of the Almighty" (Ps. 91:1), and "the shadow of a cloud" (Is. 25:4, 5). R. W. 35, 36. "And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee. And when it rested, he said, Return, O Lord, unto the ten thousands of the thousands of Israel." Moses uttered a prayer of faith both in the marching and at the standing still. It was a petition from the mouth of the mediator of the covenant, and contained at the same time an earnest encouragement to the people themselves, reminding them of their entire dependence on God. Gect. —Each forward movement of the ark betokened the going forth of God against his enemies; each rest his gathering of his own people to himself: the one was the pledge of victory, the other the earnest of repose. Espin.—When the ark and the cloud set forward, it was the Almighty God going on before to victory; when the ark and the cloud rested, it was the all-merciful God returning to protect and cherish his own. This is clearly recognized in the morning and evening prayer of Moses. The typical and spiritual character of that setting forward and that resting could not well have been lost upon any religious mind—that God going before us is the certain and abiding pledge of final victory, that God returning to us is the only hope of present safety. "Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered." The sixty-eighth Psalm, which we have learned to associate with the wonders of Pentecost and the triumphs of the Church on earth, seems to be an expansion of Moses' morning prayer. R. W. Unless the ark went with them, and the cloud of the Divine glory with it, they could have neither direction nor safety; unless the ark rested with them, and the cloud of glory with it, they could have neither rest nor comfort. How necessary the Word of God and the Spirit of God, for direction, comfort, and defence. A. C.—Here we have two prayers—one for the hours of warfare and journeying, another for the hours of repose and recreation. Both turn to the one thing, the symbolic presence of God in that ark of the covenant. Is it not beautiful to think that the One Presence takes any shape that a man wants? When he needs it to be a spear and a shield, it is a spear and a shield for him; when he needs it to be a pillow on which to rest his head, it is a pillow on which he reposes. A. M. Nu. 33:16. The first station after Sinai in the list of stations is Kibroth-hattaavah. It is evident from the narrative that the tabernacle was set up at Kibroth-hattaavah, and that the people remained there a month or more. There were dug "the graves of lust"—for those who died as a penalty of their gluttonous and faithless lusting; and Taberah (the place of burning) was the name given to the rear of that vast camping field. Palmer thinks that he has discovered the site of that encampment, at a place called by the Arabs "Erweis el-Ebeirig," some thirty miles, more or less. H. C. T. It would be natural that the host should move north-easterly out of Wady Sheikh six miles from Jebel Músa, along the great thoroughfare through Wady Sa'al. The region of Erweis el-Ebeirig, with its mysterious remains, its line of passage for great flocks of birds, and its vicinity to Hudherah, might answer to Kibroth-hattaavah; and the copious spring of Ain Hudherah represents the etymology of Hazeroth. S. C. B. THE HEBREW ELEMENT A MAIN CONSTITUENT OF MODERN CIVILIZATION. ITS DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTIC, THE INSTINCT OF STATICAL ORDER. Modern civilization has received its impulse, not from Greece and Rome only, but from the ancient people of Palestine also, and, indeed, from these last mainly. This inherited influence has not been confined to the impartation of a religion; for the Hebrew mind has entered very largely among the constituents of our secular civilization, and its presence may be traced where least we might imagine it to exist. This suffused influence needs only to be pointed out to be recognized. It is trite to say that the Hellenic people, and these without a rival, possessed the instinct of symmetry and the consciousness of beauty. This prerogative of the race developed itself, not only in matchless works of art—in its sculpture and its architecture, but also in its abstract and speculative philosophy. Symmetry in Form and symmetry in THOUGHT were the two excellent products of the one endowment of the race. It is also trite to say that the Roman stock—whenceover derived—signalized itself in a wholly different manner. The race-endowment of the Roman people was the instinct of ORDER—order Dynamic; and this distinction evolved itself in the several modes of administrative ability. The outspeak of this gift was command; its passion was power; its means was military organization, and its result was extended empire. In thus following the method of comparison, we find the distinctive characteristic of the Hebrew race to be the instinct of ORDER; not dynamic, as the Roman, but STATICAL ORDER; and, as such, it has suffused itself in different degrees among the modern European nations. This instinct of statical order, as the endowment of the Hebrew race, the evidences of which are marked and unquestionable, evolved itself in its clanship, carried out with a rigorous adherence to its principle; and also in adjustments, and in administrative managements, and in fitnesses, either among material objects, or in the constantly recurrent operations of life ecclesiastical, or life secular. Order in position, order in daily observances: order was the law of a tranquil, a peaceful, a regulated, and unambitious perpetuity. Thus it stood contrasted with the Roman dynamic order, the law of which was restlessness, onward movement, and progress. It is manifest that, in whatever way so strange an event had come about, a vast multitude—mainly the men of one race, but not wholly so—had come to spread itself up and down through the wadies of the Sinaitic peninsula—a great multitude indeed, but it was not a crowd. This people, by the fixed usages of centuries, had long before divided and subdivided itself, on the patriarchal platform, into clans, and these clans into families, and the chief of each clan had his subordinates, and each family had its head, and the head had its subalterns. Each separate tribe constituting this people was swathed in ancestral loyalties—in its own traditions—in its rivalries. The mass was thoroughly an organic mass; and the cementing principle possessed binding energy enough to afford ample security against any widespread confusion or social disintegration. Seditions might and did spring up here and there; but there would not occur a national chaos. Recent national sufferings had imparted strength to every bond; and, in a word, as if in preparation for the shocks and throes of the new life in the desert, the Hebrew instinct of order—statical—had recently become intense in a degree that had not before been known. This people had become wealthy—not in herds only, but in all kinds of personal appointments. It possessed the costumes and the decorations of superfluous wealth. The mechanical and the decorative arts had long been in practice among them: quite familiar were they with the luxuries of an advanced material civilization; and they were adepts in the laborious arts of common life. The movable wealth of the people, and the appurtenances of rank, they had brought with them. As to the wealth they had created upon the Egyptian soil, they received from their masters a bare tithe of its value in jewelry. These were the visible or exterior conditions of this ousted multitude. But the people had also their inner habitudes, and these got expression in the tone and purport of those ordinances—in those regulations, mixedly religious and secular—in those forecasting appointments, which were to be carried out, years later, in a land of rest. In all these legal elements, whether sacred or civil, the race-instinct makes itself manifest; and thus, also, was it in the specialties, and in the measurements, and in the fitting of every hook to its eye and of every cord to its pole, of every vessel to its use and of every movement to its movement—everything was in harmony with and was an expression of statical order. Now read the Book of Numbers with this key in your hand; and while keeping in view analogous instances occurring in later histories, give license for a moment to the imagination while you bring before you, by the various aids of modern travel and of pictorial illustration, first, the Sinaitic scenery which the people were at this moment leaving; and then the broad expanses of the northward table-land—the wilderness of Paran. I see—as if I were carried back through the forty centuries—I see the host, for it is just now pushing its upward way through the passes of Jebel et Tih, and it is fanning itself out, in a predetermined order, upon the flats of this upland. What I see is not a rabble, is not a promiscuous crowd or horde; it is not a deluge of struggling, countless human forms; but it is a sample of what may be done in marshalling the millions of a people whose native instinct is order, and whose daily habitudes render conformity thereto far more easy to them than confusion could be. "Who is this that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, terrible as an army with banners?" Thus I read the record: "When the cloud rested in the wilderness of Paran, and the host took their journey according to the commandment of the Lord, by the hand of Moses. In the first place went the standard of the camp of Judah, according to their armies: and over his host was Nahshon, the son of Amminadab"—and so, and so, on, and on, and on, in their turns, came all the tribes and families of Israel. "Thus were the journeyings of the sons of Israel according to their armies, when they set forward." Now, if such passages do not breathe the very life of reality—if they be not pre-eminently exact and historical, then there is nothing true, there is nothing real, in all the hundred folios upon which our modern industry has employed itself these three centuries past. Not only are these Pentateuchal records manifestly real and true, but they carry with them, to the conviction of every unsophisticated mind, that inimitable impression of grandeur, that aspect of sublimity which no art can counterfeit, and which arises of itself to accompany and to signalize those notable occasions when the movements of vast multitudes of the human family are seen to be governed, in tranquil silence, by an instinctive sense of order. Here now before us a great people is outspreading its ranks—bright and banner-led, upon a scene fitting the action. The stony plain may vibrate far beneath the measured tread of these millions of men; but as the heaven above them is clear, and as the one cloud sharply outlines itself against the burning azure, so are the human masses free from din and uproar, or confusion—one voice in front is listened to, and this is the utterance: "And when the ark set forward, Moses said, Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee. And when it rested, he said, Return, O Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel." Isaac Taylor. MURMURING PUNISHED BY FIRE AT TABERAH, AND MOSES INTERCEDES. A SECOND MURMURING, AND MOSES COMPLAINS TO GOD. SEVENTY ELDERS ENDUED WITH THE PROPHETIC GIFT. QUAILS FOLLOWED BY PLAGUE AT KIBROTH-HATTAAVAH It seems evident that Hobab was in fact the brother-in-law, not father-in-law of Moses, and the Hebrew word signifies simply any relation by marriage. Hobab is described as the "son of Reuel;" and the desire of Moses to obtain his services as guide through the wilderness indicates that he was younger than Moses's father-in-law could now have been. It is stated in Ex. 18:27 that Jethro quitted the Israelites before they reached Sinai, to return to his own land; while it appears from the passage now before us compared with Judges 1:16; 4:11, that Hobab eventually accompanied them, and obtained a settlement with them in the land of Canaan. Espin.—It seems probable that Hobab was the son of Jethro, and that when the father, being aged, went to his own land (Ex. 18:27), he left his son Hobab with Moses, as Barzillai left Chimham with David; and the same word signifies both a father-in-law and a brother-in-law. Hobab stopped contentedly with Israel while they encamped at Mount Sinai near his own country; but now that they were removing, he was for going back to his own country and kindred and his father's house. H. Moses offers the inducement of great good to the man whom he invites to accompany him—one near to him, whose society he had daily enjoyed while he abode in the tents of Midian. For this good Hobab had not altogether to wait for forty years. He realized much of it even in the wilderness—more than he could have enjoyed among his own people and in his own land. It was good to be among a people under God's special covenant. He had opportunities unattainable elsewhere of realizing the presence of God among his people. The air he breathed, the sights he saw every day—the sounds he heard—all were full of God. And all tended to build up his faith, to cheer his heart, to keep him from being "discouraged because of the way." We need not apply this. It is applied, even by the terms in which it is expressed. In the conviction of the high privileges which belong to their condition the people of God may freely and confidently say to those who go with them, that it shall be good for them—good for them in the wilderness—and good for them in the promised land. Kit. It is no idle fancy which sees in all this a parable of the Christian faith and the Christian profession. We also look for an inheritance and rest. As truly as the tribes in the wilderness, we (unless we have believed in vain) have turned our backs upon Egypt, and have set our faces toward the better country. We are journeying. We are strangers and pilgrims. "Come thou with us." Even under the Old Testament the Church had an open door and a welcome for all who desired to enter. In point of fact, a considerable proportion of those who constituted the Hebrew commonwealth at any given time were of Gentile descent. Moses did not act without warrant when he invited Hobab to come in—he and all his. Binnie.—The inducement was, "we will do thee good." Not of their own ability or of their own abundance, but by communicating unto him the good things which God should bestow on them. We may fearlessly say to the child of this world, "we will do thee good." As a fact men find peace, support, sympathy, consolation here—heaven hereafter—in the society of the faithful, not out of it. R. W.—And what argument can be more powerful with us to take God's people for our people than this, that God hath spoken good concerning them. It is good having fellowship with those that have fellowship with God (1 John 1:3), and going with those with whom God is (Zech. 8:23). H. 31. "Forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes." It is an obvious conclusion, from the reasons here urged by Moses, that the many and wonderful promises of Divine guidance and Divine direction did not supersede in his eyes the use of all available human aids. In the broken and difficult country which they were to traverse, which had been familiar to Hobab from his youth, there would be scope enough for all his ability as a guide. And it would seem that it was just this prospect of being really useful to the people of Israel that prevailed with Hobab. R. W.—The Divine guidance of the pillar of the cloud would not render superfluous the human conductor who could indicate the spots where water, fuel, and pasture might be found, and the dangers from hurricanes. Probably indeed the pillar prescribed only the general direction of the journey. Nor would it be according to the general analogy of God's dealings had he miraculously rendered his people independent of such aids from human experience and sagacity as were within their reach. Espin.—Parties took several journeys while the host lay still. They therefore needed such a person as Hobab, who was well acquainted with the desert, to direct these particular excursions. What man cannot under the direction of God's providence do for himself, God will do in the way of especial mercy. He could have directed them to the fountains and to the places of fuel; but Hobab can do this, therefore let Hobab be employed: and let Hobab know, for his encouragement, that while he is serving others in the way of God's providence he is securing his own best interests. On these grounds Hobab should be invited; and for this reason Hobab should go. Man cannot do God's work; and God will not do the work which he has qualified and commanded man to perform. Thus then the Lord is ever seen, even while he is helping man by man. A. C.—Moses had the Divine signal of the moving pillar and cloud of fire, but he would not neglect any subordinate aids that were available. An important lesson is here for our guidance both in private and public life. D. F. Moses said, "Thou mayest be to us instead of eyes; and what goodness the Lord shall do unto us, the same will we do unto thee." There was true friendship, consisting in the interchange of mutual help. Those are ever the most profitable fellowships in which the weakness of one party is fortified by the strength of the other. Moses was ears to Hobab to hear what the Lord might say, and to share with him the knowledge which he thus obtained; and Hobab was eyes to Moses to communicate to him all his familiarity with that trackless desert in which he had lived so long. So they journeyed on, each helping the other. Moses received the earthly assistance, and sought to reward it by sharing the spiritual blessing. W. M. T. There can be no doubt that eventually Hobab yielded to the solicitations of Moses. The scriptural account leaves very little room to doubt of this. In fact, it is fully proved by Judges 1:16; 4:11, and 1 Sam. 15:6, where the descendants of Hobab, who are called children of the Kenite, the name by which they were distinguished from the rest of the Midianites, are said to have gone up with the Israelites into Canaan, and to have settled among them there, probably without relinquishing their nomadic mode of life. K.—From Judges 1:16 we learn that the sons of Hobab joined themselves to the sons of Judah, and dwelt among them on the southern border of the land. Here is an "undesigned coincidence," albeit a slight one. Judah led the way on the march from Sinai to Canaan, and Hobab's duties as guide and scout would bring him more into contact with that tribe than with any other. R. W All through the subsequent history of Israel we come on the traces of the Kenites, living their free desert life, dwelling in tents, and drinking no wine; one with the people of the Jews, and yet retaining their Arab customs; producing men distinguished in the worst times by their fidelity to God and to the habits of their fathers—as, for instance, Jabez, who was “more honorable than his brethren;” Jonadab, the austere sectary, who rode with Jehu when that vehement prince sought to extirpate every worshipper of Baal throughout the land; and that little band of Rechabites, who, in the final siege of Jerusalem, pitched their t-nts in the streets, and rather than drink wine endured the parching thirsts of famine. Cox. BOOK OF NUMBERS. PREPARATIONS FOR LEAVING SINAI: NUMBERING OF THE FIGHTING MEN; ARRANGEMENT OF THE CAMP AND ORDER OF THE MARCH; NUMBERING OF THE LEVITES, AND ASSIGNMENT OF SERVICE TO THE THREE FAMILIES. No. 11 1 And the people were as murmurers, speaking evil in the ears of the LORD: and when the LORD heard it, his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among them, 2 and devoured in the uttermost part of the camp. And the people cried unto Moses; and 3 Moses prayed unto the LORD, and the fire abated. And the name of that place was called Taberah: because the fire of the LORD burnt among them. 4 And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel 5 also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt for nought; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, 6 and the garlick : but now our soul is dried away ; there is nothing at all : we have nought 7 save this manna to look to. And the manna was like coriander seed, and the appearance 8 thereof as the appearance of bdellium. The people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in mortars, and seethed it in pots, and made cakes of it : and the taste 9 of it was as the taste of fresh oil. And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the 10 manna fell upon it. And Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, every man at the door of his tent : and the anger of the LORD was kindled greatly ; and Moses was 11 displeased. And Moses said unto the LORD, Wherefore hast thou evil entreated thy servant ? and wherefore have I not found favour in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this peo- 12 ple upon me ? Have I conceived all this people ? have I brought them forth, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing-father carrieth the sucking 13 child, unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers ? Whence should I have flesh to 14 give unto all this people ? for they weep unto me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat. I 15 am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favour in thy sight ; and let me not see my wretchedness. 16 And the LORD said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them ; and bring them unto the 17 tent of meeting, that they may stand there with thee. And I will come down and talk with thee there : and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them ; and 18 they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone. And say thou unto the people, Sanctify yourselves against to-morrow, and ye shall eat flesh : for ye have wept in the ears of the LORD, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat ? for it was well with 19 us in Egypt : therefore the LORD will give you flesh, and ye shall eat. Ye shall not eat one day, 20 nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days ; but a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you : because that ye have rejected the LORD 21 which is among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt ? And Moses said, The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand footmen ; and thou hast 22 said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month. Shall flocks and herds be slain for them, to suffice them ? or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to suffice them ? 23 And the LORD said unto Moses, Is the LORD's hand waxed short ? now shalt thou see whether 24 my word shall come to pass unto thee or not. And Moses went out, and told the people the words of the LORD : and he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them 25 round about the Tent. And the LORD came down in the cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and put it upon the seventy elders : and it came to pass, 26 that, when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, but they did so no more. But there remained two men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad : and the spirit rested upon them ; and they were of them that were written, but had 27 not gone out unto the Tent : and they prophesied in the camp. And there ran a young man, 28 and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp. And Joshua the son of Nun, the minister of Moses, one of his chosen men, answered and said, My lord Moses, 29 forbid them. And Moses said unto him, Art thou jealous for my sake ? would God that all the 30 LORD's people were prophets, that the LORD would put his spirit upon them ! And Moses gat 31 him into the camp, he and the elders of Israel. And there went forth a wind from the LORD, and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, about a day's journey on this side, and a day's journey on the other side, round about the camp, and about two cubits 32 above the face of the earth. And the people rose up all that day, and all the night, and all the next day, and gathered the quails : he that gathered least gathered ten homers : and they 33 spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp. While the flesh was yet be- tween their teeth, ere it was chewed, the anger of the LORD was kindled against the people, 34 and the LORD smote the people with a very great plague. And the name of that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah : because there they buried the people that lusted. This and the following three chapters recount the successive rebellions of the Israelites after their departure from Sinai ; culminating in that by which they brought upon themselves the sentence of personal exclusion from the land of promise. Incidentally the narrative furnishes some details of the northward march. Espin. 1. We read of their murmurings several times when they came first out of Egypt. But we do not read of any plagues inflicted on them for their murmurings, as there were now; for now they had had great experience of God's care of them, and therefore now to distrust him was so much the more inexcusable. Now a fire was kindled against Jacob (Ps. 78:21). H.—The indulgence allowed to their weakness at the first is no longer conceded to them after the training and organization they had undergone—and after the further opportunities afforded them of understanding their relations to the Lord, and their experience of his care and bounty, his power and judgments. All murmurings before Sinai are passed over, or merely rebuked—all murmuring and rebellion after Sinai bring down punishment and doom. They have now a law, and know what it exacts from them, and by that law they must be judged. So in this case, the fire of the Lord came, and "consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp." The name of Taberah, or the burning, was given to the spot in sorrowful memory of the event. Kit. 2. The prevalency of Moses's intercession for them; when Moses prayed unto the Lord (he was always ready to stand in the gap to turn away the wrath of God), God had respect to him and his offering, and the fire was quenched. By this it appears that God delights not in punishing, for when he has begun his controversy, he is soon prevailed with to let it fall. Moses was one of those worthies who by faith quenched the violence of fire. H. 3. Taberah. 34. Kibroth-hattaavah. The "burning," which gave to the place the name of Taberah, occurred on the outer edge of the camp (verse 1). Taberah was then the name of a spot in or near the station of Kibroth-hattaavah, and accordingly is not named in the list of encampments given (Nu. 33). Espin. 4. Mixed multitude. We should very imperfectly realize to our minds the idea of the great Hebrew camp if we ignored the existence in it of a large body of Egyptian people of the lowest order. In Ex. 12:38 they are described as "a great rabble," for such is the literal import of the Hebrew phrase. In the grosser discontents and low repinings, it is "the mixed multitude" who take the lead; and in De. 29:10, the members of this great body—the strangers of the camp—seem to be described as having become servants to the Hebrew host: "Thy stranger that is in thy camp, from the hewer of thy wood to the drawer of thy water." Kit. 5,6. God "had opened the doors of heaven," so as to supply them with the "corn of heaven," and the bread "of angels," and yet they complain that they are famished, while they are abundantly supplied. They complain that there is nothing before their eyes but manna: as if their loathing of this excellent and abundant food was actual famine. Calv.—They were madly in love with the idolatries of Egypt. Hence, on every little distress, "Let us go back to Egypt," was their never-ceasing cry. It was not merely the flesh pots—the fish, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic—it was the spiritual luxury of Egypt, her superstitions, with which the people were so debauched; a debauchery, which neither gentleness nor severity, neither mercy nor vengeance, neither the blaze of miracle nor the terrors of prophetic denunciation, could ever wholly overcome; a debauchery, of whose malignant virus the nation was at last purged only in the fiery furnace of a seventy years' captivity. E. C. W. Oh, the precious time that is buried in the grave of murmuring! When the murmurer should be praying, he is murmuring against the Lord; when he should be hearing, he is murmuring against Divine providences; when he should be reading, he is murmuring against instruments; and in these and a thousand other ways do murmurers expend that precious time which some would redeem with a world. Brooks. 7-9. The manna was sufficiently palatable for all practical purposes and had the necessary elements for the real bread—the staff of life—for a whole nation during forty years of wilderness life, with its alternations of marchings and encampments; of labor and of rest. The points which evinced the miraculous hand of God were—that it came from no known or possible source of supply in the kingdom of nature; that it fell in the full amount needed for the thousands of Israel; fell on each of six mornings but not at all on the seventh, the Sabbath; that the average amount on five of these mornings was a supply for one day, while on the morning next preceding the Sabbath, a double quantity fell, being a supply for two days; that the gathering for the first five days of the week could be kept only one day, but the double supply of the sixth day remained sweet and pure for two days; and moreover, a quantity laid up by God's command in the sacred ark remained unchanged for many generations. Thus wonderfully did the Almighty impress his hand upon every feature of this bread from heaven! H. C. (See Section 97.) 11-15. These murmurings of theirs reflected great dishonor upon God, and Moses laid to heart the reproaches cast on him. They knew that he did his utmost for their good, and that he did nothing, nor could, without a Divine appointment; and yet to be thus continually clamored against by an unreasonable ungrateful people would break in upon the temper even of Moses himself. God considered this, and therefore we do not find that he chid him. Yet Moses expressed himself otherwise than became him upon this provocation, and came short of his duty both to God and Israel in these expostulations. He speaks distrustfully of the Divine grace, when he despairs of being able to bear all this people (verse 14). Had the work been much less, he could not have gone through it in his own strength: but had it been much greater, through God strengthening him he might have done it. It was worst of all passionately to wish for death, and desire to be killed out of hand because just at this time his life was made a little uneasy to him (verse 15). Is this Moses? Is this the meekest of all the men on the earth? The best have their infirmities, and fail sometimes in the exercise of that grace which they are most eminent for. But God graciously overlooked Moses's passion at this time. H.—God was exceeding merciful to the sin of Moses, because it was of human infirmity, and because it was the petulant outbreak of a mind and heart overcharged with grief and failure. Even so did our Lord bear with his apostles, and will bear with all the errors and outbreaks of an honest heart. R. W. The Lord permits even the stronger language of dissatisfaction in his servant, as already before (Ex. 32:11). The wish to die was certainly a despairing and therefore a sinful wish. But God would rather that his servants should lay open before him in their prayers even such unholy movements of their heart, than that they should express their sorrow in any other way. In no way can this hidden sin of murmuring, of fear, of despondency, be so completely removed as by making it known to the merciful and gracious One. Gri. 16. Note the Divine dignity and goodness of the Lord's answer. The one thing in Moses's prayer which was reasonable he allowed at once; the rest he passed over without answer or reproof, as though it had never been uttered. R. W. 16,17,24. Seventy men of the elders of Israel.** The selection of the seventy elders and the prophetic gift bestowed on them is plainly distinct in character from the selection of judges (Section 155), as well as later in time. Not merely the exclusive judgeship, but the sole exercise of the prophetic office was too heavy a burden, and needed to be shared with others. Birks. The Hebrew Theocracy was engrafted upon a previously existing patriarchal government, and therefore it recognized this previous system as substantially the common law of the land, to be in force except so far as modified by special legislation under the new régime given from the Lord through Moses. This principle is illustrated in the powers and functions of the elders, known as "heads of the house of their fathers;" "princes;" "heads of the thousands of Israel" (Ex 6:25, and Nu. 3:24, 30, 35, and 1:16, and 10:4). H. C.—The elders or chiefs of the tribes, who appear as the background of the primitive constitution, existed before the exodus (Ex. 4:29). The priests were not part of them (2 Ch. 31:2). Through all the changes of the office, the name still continued. From time to time it appears in the settled period of the monarchy. On the dissolution of the kingdom it reasserts something of its original importance. Out of the elders of the desert thus grew the elders of the synagogues; and out of the elders of the synagogues—with no change of name except that which took place in passing from Hebrew to Greek and from Greek to the languages of modern Europe—the "Presbyters" of Christendom. That word and that office, so limited in its present meaning, is the direct descendant of the rudest and most primitive forms of the Jewish nation. The Christian Presbyter represents not the sacerdotal, but the primitive element of the ancient Church. Stanley. The distinguishing office, in every age alike, is the "elder," the successor of the patriarch. Already, when Moses comes to Egypt there are elders to receive him and examine his commission. Moses makes no change in the government—the elders continue to rule. One great source of confusion in reading the Law of Moses and his history arises from the fact that, like all other nations, the title of elder was given also to the civil magistrates of the courts set up at the suggestion of Jethro. But the careful reader will find that no ancient system of government kept the civil and ecclesiastical so distinct as the system of Moses. It is very easy in any case to see whether the elders who act are Church elders or civil magistrates, even though the ultimate appeal of both was to Jehovah himself at the tabernacle. In all subsequent times the same government is found. Jeremiah is condemned to prison by an ecclesiastical court of the elders; Ezekiel, a captive among the captives on the far-distant Chebar, is found sitting with the "elders" of Judah in council when the message of Jehovah comes to him. So chief priests and elders counselled at Christ's birth and death—so the Apostle Paul, called the elders at Ephesus—so at Jerusalem a synod was of elders with apostles. Now you may see significance of John's vision of twenty-four elders that represented the Church still organized, as it stands before the great throne. To Israel as a church was given the Passover, the Sinai Law with its ritual of worship and ecclesiastical law. To the Israelites as a State was given, in fulfilment of the covenant with Abraham, to inherit as a civil government the land of Canaan. As a church, not as a State, Israel, under the Mosaic forms of ordinance, worshipped Jehovah. As a State, not as a church, the people administered civil government and punished with pains and penalties the transgression of the civil law. Nor did it make it less a civil government that Jehovah was its theocratic King, to direct and decide cases in the last resort. As a church, not as a State, Israel had priests and elders and Levites to administer in spiritual things. As a State, not as a church, Israel had judges and magistrates who wielded the sword of power. As a church, not as a State, Israel had ecclesiastical courts to adjudge in what were called the "Lord's matters," with a supreme court of last resort (see De. 17:8-12 and 2 Ch. 19:5-11). As a State, not as a church, Israel had a series of civil courts for "the King's matters," appealing in the last resort to a supreme court and the oracle, as may be seen from the same passages. As a church, Israel admitted foreigners into membership by the rite of circumcision and to all the privileges of the people of God. As a State, Israel excluded foreigners from civil dignities and from the right to inherit or hold real estate. As a church Israel changed not, nor could change, the form and order of the Church's administration. As a State Israel could and did change its form of government from chieftain and republican to monarchical rulers. As a church Israel continued to exist, even after being carried away from Canaan. In the captivity, though without the temple and altar, the prophets still conferred with the presbytery or eldership; and after the captivity the Church still continued, whereas the State as an independent government perished at the captivity. Any one bearing these points in mind as he studies the Mosaic institutes and the subsequent hishistory will be surprised to find how readily the whole system may be understood with this key; and how strange is the confusion of ideas under either the popular or the scientific theory of the Mosaic system, which represents the Law at Mount Sinai as certain vague moral and ritual precepts, together with certain semi-political laws organizing a sort of half church, half State, with which the Christian Church has nothing to do. S. R. 21-23. The record of this weakness of faith on the part of one who, according to the same history, had been accustomed to Divine interpositions equally remarkable with anything here promised, shows the thorough honesty of the narrator; while it affords some measure whereby to estimate the extent to which so great a multitude must have been indebted to extraordinary sources for their daily supply. Had there been anything like a suitable provision for their subsistence, either in the desert or obtainable from friendly tribes, the above promise would not have been received by Moses with such incredulity as to call forth the rebuke that followed (verse 23). D. M.—How, in these wide deserts, this host of more than two millions of souls could find supplies for their support without a constant miracle, I am unable to divine. Yet among them we read only of occasional longings and complaints; while the tribes that now roam over the same regions, numbering scarcely as many thousands, are exposed to famine and privation of every kind; and at the best obtain only a meagre and precarious subsistence. Robinson. The sacred writer, with singular candor, under the moving of the Holy Spirit, records not only his own utter disgust with a temper in his people so unreasonable and ungrateful, but the influence of such a spirit in enfeebling his own faith. With the giving way of his patience there comes upon him also a spirit of unbelief that leads him also to murmur. And when the fullest assurance is given by Jehovah—"The Lord will give you flesh, and ye shall eat"—the querulous, desponding Moses replies with incredulity and unbelief. We are ready to exclaim in amazement: Is this the Moses, the man of heroic faith? And yet, with all this exhibition of an improper spirit, there is no record of any fault found with him. The Lord is merciful and gracious. He knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust. It is simply of the Lord's mercy that we are not consumed. How often comes home this reproof: "Is the Lord's hand shortened?" S. R.—Whatever our unbelieving hearts may suggest to the contrary, it is certain that God's hand is not short, his power cannot be restrained by anything but his own will, with him nothing is impossible. That hand is not short which measures the waters, metes out the heavens, and grasps the winds. And this is sufficient to silence all our distrusts when means fail us, Is anything too hard for the Lord? H. 25. Then, to show in sight of all men that he had appointed such help, yet only as a help to Moses, God "cause down in a cloud," spake unto Moses, and then put of his spirit upon these "elders." In manifestation of this new gift "they prophesied," by which, however, we are to understand probably that "speaking in the spirit" which in the New Testament also is designated as "prophesying." A. E. 27. Eldad and Medad do prophesy.** These, it seems, made two of the seventy elders—they were written though they went not out to the Tabernacle—they were enrolled as of the elders, but went not to meet God at the Tabernacle, probably at that time prevented by some hindrance—but they continued in the camp using their new function in exhorting the people. A. C.—The Spirit of God found them out in the camp, and there they prophesied—that is, they exercised their gift of praying, preaching, and praising God. The Spirit of God is not tied to the Tabernacle, but, like the wind, blows where he listeth. There was a special providence in it that these two should be absent, for thus it appeared that it was indeed a Divine Spirit which the elders were actuated by, and that Moses gave them not that Spirit, but God himself. H. 28. My lord Moses, forbid them. Probably he did not know that they had been enrolled, and he was naturally jealous for the honor of Moses—a jealousy which was not at all unnecessary, as the events of the next chapter proved. The prophesying of Eldad and Medad in the camp might well seem like the setting up of an independent authority not in harmony with that of Moses. R. W. Moses, having no aim to his own glory, replied that he wished "all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them." If God would have thus immediately revealed his will to every Israelite, the people would all have known what they were to do, as well as Moses himself; and he, not seeking his own honor, but sincerely desiring to be "faithful to him that appointed him," would have heartily rejoiced to see the Divine purpose and design thus effectually taking place among his people. Shuckford. "Would God," was the longing of Moses, "that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them!" His desire was fulfilled at Pentecost, and is realized now. Every believer possesses the Holy Spirit, not for his own spiritual life only, but to be a witness for Christ, as were the hundred and twenty at Pentecost. Equally does the charge to publish the glad tidings, and the promise of adequate power come to every one, according to that closing command of inspiration, "Let him that heareth say, Come!" Nay, more, the tongue of fire, the gift of utterance in its fitting measure, is always bestowed upon the kindled heart. Every one who seeks humbly and prayerfully to be a witness for Christ, in the home, in the ways of toil, in the spheres of intercourse, in the house of prayer, by the printed page, with the lips, and by the life, every such faithful disciple of the living Master shall receive his promised gift, the Pentecostal power of the Holy Ghost! B. 31,32. The quail migrates in vast flocks and regularly crosses the Arabian Desert, flying for the most part by night. The period when they were brought to the camp of Israel was in spring, when on their northward migration from Africa. According to their well-known instinct, they would follow up the coast of the Red Sea till they came to its bifurcation by the Sinaitic peninsula, and then, with a favoring wind, would cross at the narrow part, resting near the shore before proceeding. Accordingly, we read that the wind brought them up from the sea, and that, keeping close to the ground, they fell thick as rain about the camp in the month of April, according to our calculation. Thus the miracle consisted in the supply being brought to the tents of Israel by the special guidance of the Lord in exact harmony with the known habits of the bird. The Israelites "spread them out," when they had taken them before they were sufficiently refreshed to escape, "round about the camp," to dry them and prepare them for food, exactly as Herodotus tells us the Egyptians were in the habit of doing, drying them in the sun. Again, it was at even that they began to arrive, and by the morning the whole flock had settled. I have myself seen the ground in Algeria, in the month of April, covered with quails for an extent of many acres at daybreak, where in the preceding afternoon there had not been one. Tristram. 33. Hardly had they tasted the flesh ere the plague began among them. Even so greed has its natural reaction of misery, even in the life of this world, but it has its Divine punishment in the soul. "He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul," says the Psalmist (106 : 15), revealing the spiritual truth which lay hid in this history. No man can cater greedily for his body without impoverishing his soul; no man can gratify eagerly his carnal appetites without incurring spiritual disease. R. W.—He had formerly pardoned the murmurings for which he now punished them. The same sin repeated is death, whose first act found remission: relapses are desperate where the sickness itself is not. It is a mortal thing to abuse the lenity of God: it is presumptuous madness to hope that God will quietly suffer us to provoke him how we will. It is more mercy than we are entitled to if he forbear us once: it is his justice to punish us the second time: it is our own fault if we will not profit by former warnings. Bp. H. 34. The remembrance of this is preserved in the name given to the place. Moses called it Kibroth-hattaavah, the graves of lusters, or of lust. And well it had been, if these graves of Israel's lusters had proved the graves of Israel's lust: the warning was designed to be so, but it had not its due effect, for it follows (Ps. 78 : 32). For all this, they sinned still. H. MIRIAM AND AARON SPEAK AGAINST MOSES. JEHOVAH VINDICATES MOSES AND PUNISHES MIRIAM. AT HAZEROTH. No. 11 35 FROM Kibroth-hattaavah the people journeyed unto Hazeroth; and they abode at Hazeroth. 12 1 And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married: for he had married a Cushite woman. And they said, Hath the LORD indeed spoken only with Moses? hath he not spoken also with us? And the LORD heard it. Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth. And the LORD spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, Come out ye three unto the tent of meeting. And they three came out. And the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood at the door of the Tent, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth. And he said, Hear now my words: if there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, I will speak with him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so; he is faithful in all mine house: with him will I speak mouth to mouth, even manifestly, and not in dark speeches; and the form of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses? And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them; and he departed. And the cloud removed from over the Tent; and, behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous. And Aaron said unto Moses, Oh my lord, lay not, I pray thee, sin upon us, for that we have done foolishly, and for that we have sinned. Let her not, I pray, be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mother's womb. And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, Heal her, O God, I beseech thee. And the LORD said unto Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? let her be shut up without the camp seven days, and after that she shall be brought in again. And Miriam was shut up without the camp seven days: and the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again. 1. Miriam stands foremost as the author of this revolt against Moses, which originated in spiritual pride; and for that reason she is chiefly subjected to the punishment. Aaron, consistently with the well-known softness of his character, allows himself to be drawn by his sister into the same sin, takes her side, and joins her in reproaching their brother. C. G. B.—Is not this Aaron, that was brother in nature, and by office joint commissioner with Moses, that made his brother an intercessor for him to God in the case of his idolatry, that climbed up the hill of Sinai with Moses, whom the mouth and hand of Moses consecrated a high-priest unto God? Is not this Miriam, the elder sister of Moses, Miriam that led the triumph of the women and sung gloriously to the Lord? Who would not have thought this should have been their glory, to have seen the glory of their own brother? Bp. H. A Cushite woman. The name of Cush, the son of Ham, is applied in Scripture not only to Africa but to Arabia. Zipporah may have been called a Cushite, not as being herself of the children of Cush, but as belonging to a country which had received from them its name. Kit. For the first time we here encounter that pride of Israel after the flesh and contempt for all other nations, which appeared throughout their after history in proportion as they misunderstood the spiritual meaning of their calling. Miriam and Aaron now actually boasted in that prophetic gift, which should have only wrought in them a sense of deep humility. A. E.—Admitting the existence of any sense in which Jethro's daughter could be called a Cushite, it is obvious that her arrival might be very unwelcome to Miriam, since the wife of Moses would at least share the deference and attention which had hitherto belonged to his sister alone. The high consideration with which Jethro had been treated on his visit to the camp, and the influential position now taken by his son Hobab, may have been distasteful to Aaron. Yet his own position in the commonwealth was in some respects superior to that of Moses himself. The function of Moses was temporary, and would pass away with his life; whereas his own was permanent in himself and his heirs, and would leave him and them the foremost and most important persons in the State. He might not, therefore, always regard with patience the degree in which the full development of his own high office was superseded by the existing authority of Moses. That he was discontented is certain—that he made no secret of that discontent is clear—and that it had its principal source in the jealousy entertained of the powers exercised by Moses, is plainly stated. Kit. By this contention of his own brother and sister with respect to the supremacy it was clearly shown that Moses was sustained by the power of God alone. At the same time it appears how natural is ambition to the minds of almost all men. Aaron and Miriam contend with their own brother for the supremacy; and yet they had received the most abundant proofs that he, whom they desire to overthrow, had been elevated by the hand of God, and was thus maintained in his position. For Moses had arrogated nothing to himself; therefore it was not allowable that man should attempt to undermine the dignity of that high office which God had conferred upon him. Besides, God had ennobled their own house and name in the person of Moses, and out of favor to him they had also been endued with peculiar gifts of their own. Aaron too had been by his brother associated with himself; Moses had allowed the high-priesthood to be transferred to him and his descendants, and thus had placed his own in subjection to them. What, then, was there for Aaron to begrudge his brother, when so exalted a dignity was vested in his own sons, while all the race of Moses was degraded? Culv. God had spoken by Moses, but he had sometimes spoken also by them; and they intended to make themselves equal with him, though God had so many ways distinguished him. Striving to be greatest is a sin which easily besets disciples themselves, and it is exceeding sinful. Even those that are well preferred are seldom pleased if others be better preferred. Those that excel are commonly envied. H.—Pride is lightly the ground of all sedition. Which of their faces shined like Moses? Which of them had fasted twice forty days? Which of them ascended up to the top of Sinai, and was hid with smoke and fire? Which of them received the Law twice in two several tables, from God's own hand? And yet they dare say, "Hath God spoken only by Moses?" They do not deny Moses's honor, but they challenge a part with him; and as they were the elder in nature, so they would be equal in dignity, equal in administration. And yet how unfit were they? One, a woman, whom her sex debarred from rule; the other, a priest, whom his office sequestered from earthly government. Self-love makes men unreasonable, and teaches them to turn the glass to see themselves bigger, others less than they are. It is a hard thing for a man willingly and gladly to see his equals lifted over his head, in worth and opinion. Nothing will more try a man's grace than questions of emulation. That man hath true light which can be content to be a candle before the sun of others. Bp. H. 3. There is about these words, as also about the passages in which Moses no less unequivocally records his own faults (Nu. 20:12; Ex. 4:24; De. 1:37), the simplicity of one who bare witness of himself, but not to himself (cf. Matt. 11:28, 29). The words are inserted to explain how it was that Moses took no steps to vindicate himself, and why consequently the Lord so promptly intervened. Espin. No man could have given more proofs of his courage than Moses. He slew the Egyptian; he confronted Pharaoh in his own court; he beat the Midianite shepherds; he feared not the troops of Egypt; he durst behold the face of God amid all the terrors of Sinai: and yet that Spirit which made and knew his heart, says, "He was very meek above all men upon earth." Mildness and fortitude may well lodge together in one breast: to correct the misconceptions of these men who think none valiant but those that are fierce and cruel. Bp. H.—When God's honor was concerned, as in the case of the golden calf, no man more zealous than Moses, but when his own honor was touched, no man more meek. God's people are the meek of the earth (Zeph. 2: 3), but some are more remarkable than others for this grace, as Moses, who was thus fitted for the work he was called to, which required all the meekness he had and sometimes more. And sometimes the unkindness of our friends is a greater trial of our meekness than the malice of our enemies. Christ himself records his own meekness (Matt. 11: 29), I am meek and lowly in heart; and the copy of meekness which Christ has set was without a blot, that of Moses was not. H. At his earliest call Moses prayed that Aaron might be the leader instead of himself; at Sinai he besought that his name might be blotted out if only his people might be spared; in the desert, he wished that not only he, but all the Lord's people might prophesy. He founded no dynasty; his own sons were left in deep obscurity; his successor was taken from the rival tribe of Ephraim. He himself presents the highest type and concentration of endurance and self-abnegation. Stanley.—As we read this history, we can see that the service of Moses was rendered all for love, and nothing for reward. All he desired was the welfare of his countrymen, and their prosperous settlement in the land which God had covenanted to give them. He was the most heavily-burdened man in the encampment, and was literally only the highest among them, because he was the servant of all. W. M. T. Meekness is the attribute assigned to Moses. But he was not meek to begin with. He was not meek when he smote the Egyptian and hid him in the sand; nor when, descending the mountain at sight of the people's idolatry, he dashed in pieces the tables consecrated by the holograph of heaven, and for the moment felt that it was no use taking further pains with such a people. But seldom has the triumph been more complete. The man Moses became exceeding meek; and throughout all the sequel Meribah is the one brief outburst which interrupts the sweetness and self-control of nearly forty years. Hamilton. 4,5. But there was One who guarded the honor of Moses too well for him to be afflicted at the hard speeches even of a sister and a brother. It is emphatically remarked that "the Lord heard it." They were all three—the two brothers and the sister—suddenly summoned before the door of the tabernacle. To that door the pillar of cloud visibly moved, and the voice of the Lord spoke to them from it in words well suited to fill their hearts with shame. Kit.—Moses had often showed himself zealous for God's honor, and now God showed himself jealous for his reputation; for those that honor God he will honor, nor will he ever be behind-hand with any that appear for him. Judges of old sat in the gate of the city to try causes, and so on this occasion the Shechiaah in the cloud of glory stood at the door of the tabernacle. H. —Come out ye three unto the tabernacle. God calls Aaron and Miriam to the tabernacle, that the very sanctity of the place may cast down their haughtiness; that in the presence of God they at length might learn to revere Moses, whose cause is upheld by God. Calv. 5-8. Because he was meek and complained not, therefore the Lord struck in for him the more. The less a man strives for himself, the more is God his champion. No sooner is the word out of Miriam's mouth than the word of God's reproof meets it. Moses was zealously careful for God's glory, and now God is zealous for his. They had equalled themselves to Moses, God prefers him to them. Their plea was that God had spoken by them, as well as by Moses; God's reply is, That he hath in a more entire fashion spoken to Moses than them. God spake to the best of them but either in their dream, sleeping; or in vision, waking; but to Moses he spake with more inward illumination, with more lively representation: to others, as a stranger; to Moses, as a friend. God had never so much magnified Moses to them, but for their envy. Bp. H. 7. Moses was a man of great integrity and tried fidelity. He is faithful in all my house. This is put first in his character, because grace excels gifts, love excels knowledge, and sincerity in the service of God puts a greater honor upon a man, and recommends him to the Divine favor, more than learning, abstruse speculations, and an ability to speak with tongues. God intrusted Moses to deliver his mind in all things to Israel; Israel intrusted him to treat for them with God; and he was faithful to both. Moses was therefore honored with clearer discoveries of God's mind, and a more intimate communication with God, than any other prophet whatsoever. H. 8. With him will I speak mouth to mouth.** Moses received the Word of God direct from him and plainly, not through the medium of dream, vision, parable, dark saying, or such like (cf. Ex. 33 : 11 ; De. 34 : 10). Espin.—“Were you not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses?” Notice the emphasis of that expression, “again-t my servant, against Moses?” We ought to be afraid to speak against any one, much more against those whom God has a mind to honor. This is the devil’s proper sin, for he is “the accuser of the brethren.” T. Manton. 9. God’s departure was a sign of immediate condemnation, because there was no need of any further questioning. After God had convicted them of their sin, he first pronounced sentence against Miriam, and then suddenly withdrew. That “the cloud departed” is added in explanation. Calv. 10. Since she would acknowledge no difference betwixt herself and her brother Moses, every Israelite now sees his face glorious, hers leprous. Now both Moses and Miriam need to wear a veil : the one to hide his glory ; the other, her deformity. Bp. H.—God’s wrath was exceedingly kindled against Miriam, because she had inflamed her brother’s mind. It was just that the blame should rest on her, since she had been the origin of the evil. In sparing Aaron, he had regard to the priesthood, inasmuch as in his person it would have been subjected to disgrace. Calv. 11,12. Aaron, that but just now joined with his sister in speaking against Moses, here is forced for himself and his sister to make a penitent address to him, and in the highest degree to magnify him (as if he had the power of God to forgive and heal), whom he had so lately vilified. H.—Lay not the sin upon us. Aaron speaks to Moses almost as if he were praying to God, so completely does he recognize in his brother the representative of God, in a far higher sense than himself. R. W. 13,14. O admirable meekness of Moses! His people rebelled against him : God proffers revenge ; he would rather die than they should perish. His sister rebels against him ; God works his revenge ; he will not give God peace till she be recured. Behold a worthy and noble pattern for us to follow. How far are they from this disposition who are not only content God should revenge, but are ready to prevent God’s revenge with their own! God’s love to Moses suffers him not immediately to obtain his suit for Miriam. If the judgment had been at once inflicted and removed, there had been no exexample of terror for others : God either denies or defers the grant of our requests for our good. It was fit for all that Miriam should continue some while leprous. There is no policy in a sudden removal of just punishment : unless the rain so fall that it lie and soak into the earth, it profits nothing. If the judgments of God should be only as passengers, and not sojourners for a little, they would be no whit regarded. Bp. H. 14. The act in question was not uncommon in itself, and in significance clearly marked (see De. 25 : 9). It was the distinctive note of public disgrace inflicted by one who had a right to inflict it. In the case of a father, it meant that he was thoroughly ashamed of his child, and judged it best (which would be only in extreme cases) to put his child to shame before all the world. So public a disgrace would certainly be felt in patriarchal times as a most severe calamity, and entailed by ordinary custom (as we learn here) retirement and mourning for seven days at least. How much more, when her Heavenly Father had been driven to inflict a public disgrace upon her for perverse behavior, should the shame and the sorrow not be lightly put away, but patiently endured for a decent period! R. W. 15. The punishment was as humiliating as it was public. Her tongue, so free upon her brother’s conduct, is mute enough now, except to cry if any approached her, “Unclean!” “unclean!” She who aspired to be Queen of Israel is cast forth as an unclean thing from the camp. When the dreadful punishment was finished she came back to the camp humbled, and no doubt strengthened in her soul by the correction she had received. There is no further record of her until the record of her death. S. R. The Israelites are stayed seven days in the station of Hazeroth, for the punishment of Miriam. Og, Sihon, and the kings of Canaan resisted Israel, but hindered not their passage ; their own sins only stay them from removing. Afflictions are not crosses to us in the way to heaven, in comparison to our sins. Bp. H. These things were written for our instruction. The lesson here has a very close application to all who engage as the Lord’s instruments and agents in the work of building up Christ’s kingdom. When those so engaged forget the nature of their calling, and fall into contentions and bickerings about their relative position as agents for Jehovah, the result must in the end be shame and humiliation to the envious and jealous and damage to the cause of Christ, about which he will surely make inquisition. How much of the strifes and bickering between Christians of the same church, and between different churches of the same body, and between different sects comes not from earnestly contending for the faith, but from the narrow jeal. ousies and envyings wholly personal with those who indulge them? How often is it simply the Miriams and Aarons giving way to their petty jealousy under cover of scruples of conscience! S. R. FROM HAZEROTH TO KADESH IN WILDERNESS OF PARAN. TWELVE SPIES TRAVERSE THE LAND OF CANAAN. REPORT OF TEN, AND OF CALEB AND JOSHUA. REBELLION OF THE PEOPLE. UPON MOSES' PLEADING JEHOVAH REMITS JUDGMENT OF DESTRUCTION, BUT ANNOUNCES THEIR DOOM OF FORTY YEARS' WANDERING AND DEATH IN THE DESERT. THE TEN SPIES DESTROYED BY PLAGUE. PRESUMPTUOUS ATTACK UPON THEIR NEAREST ENEMIES PUNISHED BY ISRAEL'S DEFEAT. No. 12 16 AND afterward the people journeyed from Hazeroth, and pitched in the wilderness of Paran. 13 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Send thou men, that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel : of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a prince among them. And Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran according to the commandment of the LORD : all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel. So they went up, and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, to the entering in of Hamath. And they went up by the South, and came unto Hebron. . . . And they came unto the valley of Esheol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it upon a staff between two ; they brought also of the pomegranates, and of the figs. And they returned from spying out the land at the end of forty days. And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh ; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land. And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey ; and this is the fruit of it. Howbeit the people that dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fenced, and very great : and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. Amalek dwelleth in the land of the South : and the Hittite, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, dwell in the mountains : and the Canaanite dwelleth by the sea, and along by the side of Jordan. And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it ; for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people ; for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land. 14 1 And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried ; and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron : and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt ! or would God we had died in this wilderness ! And wherefore doth the LORD bring us unto this land, to fall by the sword ? Our wives and our little ones shall be a prey : were it not better for us to return into Egypt ? And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt. Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that spied out the land, rent their clothes : and they spake unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceeding good land. If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it unto us ; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land ; for they are bread for us : their 10 defence is removed from over them, and the LORD is with us : fear them not. But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tent of meeting unto all the children of Israel. 11. And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people despise me? and how long will 12 they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have wrought among them? I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a nation greater and 13 mightier than they. And Moses said unto the LORD, Then the Egyptians shall hear it; for 14 thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them; and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: they have heard that thou LORD art in the midst of this people; for thou LORD art seen face to face, and thy cloud standeth over them, and thou goest before 15 them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if thou shalt kill this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, 16. Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore unto them, 17 therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness. And now, I pray thee, let the power of the 18. LORD be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, The LORD is slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth 19 generation. Pardon, I pray thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of 20 thy mercy, and according as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now. And 21 the LORD said, I have pardoned according to thy word: but in very deed, as I live, and as all 22 the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD; because all those men which have seen my glory, and my signs, which I wrought in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted 23 me these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; surely they shall not see the land 24 which I swore unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that despised me see it: but my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I 25 bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it. . . . To-morrow turn ye, and get you into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea. 26. And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, How long shall I bear with this 27 evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children 28 of Israel, which they murmur against me. Say unto them, As I live, saith the LORD, surely 29 as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old 30 and upward, which have murmured against me, surely ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I lifted up my hand that I would make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of 31. Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, 32 them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have rejected. But as for you, 33 your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall be wanderers in the wil- 34 derness forty years. . . . After the number of the days in which ye spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye 35 shall know my alienation. I the LORD have spoken, surely this will I do unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be con- 36 sumed, and there they shall die. And the men, which Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up an evil report 37 against the land, even those men that did bring up an evil report of the land, died by the 38 plague before the LORD. But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, re- 39 mained alive of those men that went to spy out the land. And Moses told these words unto 40 all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly. And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up to the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up 41 unto the place which the LORD hath promised: for we have sinned. And Moses said, Where- 42 fore now do ye transgress the commandment of the LORD, seeing it shall not prosper? Go not 43 up, for the LORD is not among you; that ye be not smitten down before your enemies. For there the Amalekite and the Canaanite are before you, and ye shall fall by the sword: because 44 ye are turned back from following the LORD, therefore the LORD will not be with you. But they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of 45 the LORD, and Moses, departed not out of the camp. Then the Amalekite came down, and the Canaanite which dwelt in that mountain, and smote them and beat them down, even unto Hormah. De. 1 44 And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and 45 chased you, as bees do, and beat you down in Seir, even unto Hormah. And ye returned and wept before the LORD; but the LORD hearkened not to your voice, nor gave ear unto you. De. 1:26-45. A condensed statement, the fuller account being in Nu. 13 and 14, of the occurrences which led to the banishment of the people for forty years into the wilderness. The facts are treated with freedom, as by one familiar with them, addressing those no less so, yet in consistency with the more strictly historical record of Numbers. There is no real discrepancy between these passages. The plan of sending the spies originated with the people; and, as in itself a reasonable one, it approved itself to Moses; was submitted to God, and sanctioned by him; and carried out under special Divine direction. Espin.—The mission of the spies is ascribed in Numbers to the express command of God, but in Deuteronomy to the wish of the people. But the two things perfectly agree. If Moses consulted God upon the request of the people, the answer would be a Divine command. So also in Numbers Moses is said to exhort the people to go up, only after the return of the spies, while in Deuteronomy it is before. But there is nothing in Numbers to exclude the earlier exhortation, and it is implied by the whole course of the previous history. Birks. Nu. 13:21-23. Up by the South. The negeb, or south-country, was a well-defined tract of territory forming the southernmost and least fertile portion of the land of Canaan and of the subsequent inheritance of Judah. It extended northward from Kadesh to within a few miles of Hebron, and from the Dead Sea westward to the Mediterranean. The hill-country of southern and central Canaan commences a few miles south of Hebron, and extending northward to the plain of Jezreel, runs out eventually northwestward into the sea in the headland of Carmel. Espin.—The northern barrier of the Desert of Paran or Tih, which forms the terrace of the “Negeb” or south country of Judah, is well described by Williams as “a gigantic natural rampart of lofty mountains, which we could trace for many miles east and west of the spot on which we stood, whose precipitous promontories of naked rock, forming, as it were, bastions of Cyclopean architecture, jutted forth in irregular masses from the mountain barrier into the southern wilderness, a confused chaos of chalk.” We can well understand how, with this barrier in front of them, the children of Israel always spoke of “going up” into Canaan. H. B. T. Eluding the Canaanites, they entered Palestine, and searched the land to its northernmost boundary, “unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath”—that is, as far as the plain of Coele-Syria. On their way back they descended by Hebron, and explored the route which led into the Negeb by the western edge of the mountains. A. E.—Hebron, being the most southerly place where grapes are now found, Eshcol has been generally identified with it. But Palmer and Drake discovered [on the route into the Negeb] miles upon miles of the small stone-heaps on which in former times the vines were trained. The spies, therefore, would be under no necessity of going so far as Hebron. In any case, these travellers would put Eshcol some way south of Hebron. Work in Palestine. 25. God had told them that Canaan was a land flowing with milk and honey, and they had therefore no need to distrust its advantages. God had promised to give the land to them, and it was needless for them to ascertain the strength of the inhabitants—as if their strength could render the performance of the promise difficult, or their weakness make it easy to him. It is profoundly remarked by Bishop Hall on this very case, “That which the Lord moves unto prospers; but that which we move him unto first, seldom succeedeth.” Forty days did they spend in the search, and forty years—a year for a day—of toilsome wanderings did that search cost them, connected as it was from beginning to end with distrust and unbelief. Kit. 30. And Caleb stilled the people before Moses. His words show, what appears plainly in the verses following, that the ten spies sought to dissuade the people from advancing by asserting that it was impossible to overcome these powerful enemies. But Caleb, relying on God’s promise, believed that they would be successful, and thus boldly foretold it. Calv.—We have a short account of their sin, with which they infected the whole congregation (Ps. 106:24). They despised the land, they believed not his word. Though, upon search, they had found it as good as he had said, a land flowing with milk and honey; yet they would not believe it as sure as he had said, but despaired of having it, though Eternal Truth itself had engaged it to them. H. 14:2-4. They accuse God of deception and cruelty, as if he were betraying them to the Canaanitish nations, and leading them forth to slaughter. They also accuse God of weakness, as if he were less powerful than the nations of Canaan. At length their blind senselessness comes to its climax when they consult as to their return, and, rejecting Moses, set themselves about choosing a leader who may again deliver them up to Pharaoh. Calv.—What had they to complain of? They had plenty, and peace, and rest, were under a good government, had good company, had the tokens of God's presence with them, and enough to make them easy even in the wilderness, if they had but hearts to be content. But whither were they thus eager to go to mend themselves? To Egypt! Had they so soon forgotten the sore bondage they were in there? H.—How could they get thither without food? which they could not expect God would send them from heaven when they had forsaken him. Or how could they hope to find their way when his cloud that directed them was withdrawn? Or hope to resist such nations as might oppose their progress? And if they came into Egypt, what reception could they expect from a people whose king, princes, and first-born had lately perished on their account? Patrick. 5-10. Already Caleb had endeavored to still the people before Moses; already Moses himself (De. 1:29) had endeavored to recall the people to obedience. After the failure of these efforts Moses and Aaron cast themselves down in solemn prayer before God; and the appearance of the glory of the LORD in the tabernacle of the congregation was the immediate answer. Espin. In the case of Caleb and Joshua, in contrast with their ten associate scouts, we have the illustration of how true heroism can be displayed only by souls staid on God. While the others portray the difficulties, these look simply to the fact "Jehovah will go with us." The theology which makes God everything and man nothing is the theology which makes most of men in the way of true energy and courage. All the world's great histories, ancient and modern, are full of this theology. All the world's great tragedies are full of the theology of Caleb and Joshua. Proffer of Jehovah, and Answer of Moses (verses 11-20). This is the second time that Jehovah, in his holy anger, had proposed to deal thus with Moses and make him the head of a righteous seed to receive the inheritance which Israel has so justly forfeited. How would any one else have acted in his place? As the offer comes from Jehovah, can the Judge of all the earth do wrong? And if the forbearance of Jehovah is exhausted, may not the patience of Moses well be? Here is an offer that will release him from the thankless burden of a cowardly, degraded people which has again and again almost crushed him. Shall he not accept it, and not only free himself from trouble, but rise to the greatness in history of being the outflowing stock of the visible kingdom of God? No, Moses has in himself an intrinsic greatness of soul beyond all that, though it may make his name less celebrated. He will not dissociate himself from his people. He will rather be the type of the great Intercessor who is to come. The singleness of heart with which, as a saint, he loves God shall not impair the passionate love that bound him to his people. Yea, and above the love of his people rises his passionate earnestness for the honor of Jehovah. Lying there prostrate on the ground before the brightness at the tabernacle—hear—as you may almost hear in the Hebrew—his sobs in broken sentences, as he argues the case with Jehovah and pleads for his people. "And Egypt will hear that thou hast brought thy people in thy might out of the midst of her; and they will say to the inhabitants of this land, they have heard how thou, Jehovah, wert in the midst of thy people, seen of them face to face, and thy cloud standing over them; even thou, Jehovah, going in front of them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. And thou wilt make thy people die as one man. And they will say, the nations that have heard tell of thee: Through being not able to lead his people into the land that he had sworn to them, he hath slain them in the wilderness. And now, I beseech thee, the might of Jehovah shall be magnified, even as thou hast spoken, saying Jehovah, long-suffering and of great mercy, bearing iniquity and transgression and not cleansing, but visiting the iniquity of fathers upon children to the third and fourth generation; forgive, I pray thee, the iniquity of this people according to thy great mercy, and as thou hast been gracious to them from Egypt up to this present time." Do not these passionate pleadings raise Moses nearer than any born of woman to the type of the great Intercessor? And yet now with the great Intercessor on his side the least in the kingdom of heaven, who is truly in Christ—one with Christ, is greater in power than Moses at the throne. And Jehovah is moved by the passionate plea, and declares, "I have forgiven them according to thy word." S. R. God's proposal, twice made to Moses, to cut off all Israel and make of him a great nation, in neither case does he ever even allude to. But as the Lord seemed to overlook the glory of his own name before the nations, Moses took the responsibility (boldly, shall we say?) of reminding him as to this point. Apparently his soul was so much absorbed in this line of considerations—the glory of God as before the nations of the earth—that he could not let it drop from his range of view. Hence Moses was mighty (almost omnipotent we may say) in prayer. It would seem to have been the Lord's special purpose to bring out this prime quality of his religious character and set it in sunlight before all future ages—an illustration of the fact that the great men of all time are mighty with God in prayer. They know the secret of communion with God. They have easy, unrestricted access to his throne. H. C. Of Moses it was to be said in miniature what of his antitype can be said in full—that his gentleness made him great. Not when he parted the waters of the Red Sea, not when he sang his hymn of triumph on the shores of liberty, is he half so great as when he bore the sorrows and endured the murmurings of that rude undisciplined multitude. If ever a man has inherited the earth by meekness, that man was Moses. His was a grand unselfish life made to wait upon the lives of others. He never reached the promised land; he received not the treasures of Canaan any more than the treasures of Egypt; he bore the toil, and Joshua entered in. He had to bear on his heart the interests of that motley multitude with no other encouragement than faith. Geo. Matheson. The effectual intercession of Moses was based on two arguments: that God would not destroy his own work begun; that God would not belie his own character revealed. Even so is all-prevailing Christian prayer based upon the same foundations: we plead with God his own work begun in us or others; we plead with him his eternal love and mercy declared in Christ, and extended to sinners in days past. R. W. 21,22. Once more, as before Sinai, the intercession of Moses prevailed; but in pardoning the nation, Jehovah swore by himself that "the whole earth should be filled with his glory," in the example he would make of the men who had rebelled against him, not one of whom, save Caleb, should see the promised land. The execution of the sentence was to begin on the morrow, by their turning into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea. There they were to wander for forty years—a year for each day that the spies had searched the land—till all the men of twenty years old and upward had left their carcasses in the desert. P. S.— It was at Kadesh that the measure of their iniquity was filled up. At Sinai they had rejected Jehovah, who led them out of Egypt, and had desired a god such as they formerly possessed in Egypt; at Kadesh they rejected the land of Jehovah—the land of promise, and wished to return to Egypt. K. 24. "My servant Caleb." Caleb had another spirit, not only a bold, generous courageous, noble, and heroic spirit; but the Spirit and influence of the God of heaven thus raised him above earthly fears; therefore he followed God fully. A. C.—This other spirit was the spirit of faith, which the Law cannot give, the spirit of adoption, not of bondage. By the guidance of this spirit, Caleb constantly followed the Lord and obtained the promised inheritance. Ainsworth. 26-35. The decree was gone forth, the consumption was determined, they did not seek the Lord while he might be found, and now he would not be found. H.—One significant addition in Deuteronomy (1:38): Ye returned and wept before the Lord; but the Lord would not give ear to you. Their tears were like those of Esau, on the borders of whose lands they were encamped, and could not reverse the settled judgment of God. They too, like him, had despised their birthright, and "thought scorn of that pleasant land." Birks. 36,37. The sudden death of the ten evil spies. While the sentence was passing upon the people, before it was published, they died of the plague before the Lord. God hereby showed his particular displeasure against them who sinned, and made Israel to sin. They sinned themselves in bringing up a slander upon the land of promise. Those greatly provoke God who misrepresent religion, cast reproach upon it, and raise prejudices in men's minds against it, or give occasion to those to do so who seek occasion. H. 40-45. Against Jehovah's sentence they rebelled; and, having been afraid when they should have been bold, they were now bold when they should have been afraid. Disregarding the command of Moses, they attacked the Amalekites, and suffered a severe defeat, learning to their cost, and showing to us, that the bravery of presumption is just as fatal as the cowardice of unbelief. D. F.—Moses said, "Go not up, for Jehovah is not among you." The pillar of cloud did not move, and Moses remained in the camp. But they went up, notwithstanding; and the Amalekites and Amorites came down from the mountains, and drove them back to Hormah. K. Hormah seems, with reason, identified with the ruins of Sebaita, twenty-four miles north of Kadesh. It is on the very northern extremity of the wilderness of Paran. H. B. T.—In the immediate neighborhood of Kadesh are the mountains of the Amorites, still called by their scriptural name in its Arabic form, 'Amarin. An ancient fort guards a mountain-pass in these hills, by which we reach a fertile plain having the ruins of a fine town in its midst. The city is named Sebaitah (the Hebrew Zephath, or "watch-tower"); and the fort is called by an Arabic word meaning also watch-tower. Comparing Nu. 14:43, 45, and Judges 1:17 we find that Zephath and Hormah are the same, or rather that Hormah was called the city of the Zephath or watch-tower, because of the tower or fort which guarded the approach to it. E. H. Palmer. Thus issued this sad case of strange, cruel unbelief. The conquest of Canaan was postponed almost forty years; the generation of twenty years and over when they came out from Egypt were doomed to fruitless wandering and an early death in the wilderness; and that nation and the world had one more lesson on the wisdom of believing God, and on the infinite folly as well as guilt of refusing to believe and trust the Lord. Moses (in De. 1:19-46) gives a somewhat full recapitulation of these scenes. In Ps. 90 he puts in the form of sacred song his meditation and prayer on this sad yet most instructive event. H. C. One of many internal proofs of the truthfulness of the record is that Moses does not conceal from us the difficulties and even the disasters which they met with. Had the Pentateuch been written in long subsequent times, when the sojourn in the wilderness was surrounded by a halo of romance, while its physical difficulties were probably magnified (Jer. 2:2, 6), the conduct of the Israelites would have been put in a better light, and certainly they would not have been represented as poor soldiers, not to say cowards. R. P. S. WILDERNESS OF PARAN. ROUTE OF ISRAEL FROM SINAI TO KADESH. LOCALITY OF KADESH-BARNEA. THIRTY-SEVEN YEARS' BAN: STATIONS; LIFE AND MAINTENANCE OF THE PEOPLE. No. 12 16 AND afterward the people journeyed from Hazeroth, and pitched in the wilderness of Paran. 13 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Send thou men, that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel : of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a prince among them. And Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran according to the commandment of the LORD : all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel. So they went up, and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, to the entering in of Hamath. And they went up by the South, and came unto Hebron. . . . And they came unto the valley of Esheol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it upon a staff between two ; they brought also of the pomegranates, and of the figs. And they returned from spying out the land at the end of forty days. And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh ; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land. And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey ; and this is the fruit of it. Howbeit the people that dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fenced, and very great : and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. Amalek dwelleth in the land of the South : and the Hittite, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, dwell in the mountains : and the Canaanite dwelleth by the sea, and along by the side of Jordan. And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it ; for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people ; for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land. 14 1 And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried ; and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron : and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt ! or would God we had died in this wilderness ! And wherefore doth the LORD bring us unto this land, to fall by the sword ? Our wives and our little ones shall be a prey : were it not better for us to return into Egypt ? And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt. Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that spied out the land, rent their clothes : and they spake unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceeding good land. If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it unto us ; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land ; for they are bread for us : their 10 defence is removed from over them, and the LORD is with us : fear them not. But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tent of meeting unto all the children of Israel. 11. And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people despise me? and how long will 12 they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have wrought among them? I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a nation greater and 13 mightier than they. And Moses said unto the LORD, Then the Egyptians shall hear it; for 14 thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them; and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: they have heard that thou LORD art in the midst of this people; for thou LORD art seen face to face, and thy cloud standeth over them, and thou goest before 15 them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if thou shalt kill this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, 16. Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore unto them, 17 therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness. And now, I pray thee, let the power of the 18. LORD be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, The LORD is slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth 19 generation. Pardon, I pray thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of 20 thy mercy, and according as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now. And 21 the LORD said, I have pardoned according to thy word: but in very deed, as I live, and as all 22 the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD; because all those men which have seen my glory, and my signs, which I wrought in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted 23 me these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; surely they shall not see the land 24 which I swore unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that despised me see it: but my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I 25 bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it. . . . To-morrow turn ye, and get you into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea. 26. And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, How long shall I bear with this 27 evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children 28 of Israel, which they murmur against me. Say unto them, As I live, saith the LORD, surely 29 as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old 30 and upward, which have murmured against me, surely ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I lifted up my hand that I would make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of 31. Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, 32 them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have rejected. But as for you, 33 your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall be wanderers in the wil- 34 derness forty years. . . . After the number of the days in which ye spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye 35 shall know my alienation. I the LORD have spoken, surely this will I do unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be con- 36 sumed, and there they shall die. And the men, which Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up an evil report 37 against the land, even those men that did bring up an evil report of the land, died by the 38 plague before the LORD. But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, re- 39 mained alive of those men that went to spy out the land. And Moses told these words unto 40 all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly. And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up to the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up 41 unto the place which the LORD hath promised: for we have sinned. And Moses said, Where- 42 fore now do ye transgress the commandment of the LORD, seeing it shall not prosper? Go not 43 up, for the LORD is not among you; that ye be not smitten down before your enemies. For there the Amalekite and the Canaanite are before you, and ye shall fall by the sword: because 44 ye are turned back from following the LORD, therefore the LORD will not be with you. But they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of 45 the LORD, and Moses, departed not out of the camp. Then the Amalekite came down, and the Canaanite which dwelt in that mountain, and smote them and beat them down, even unto Hormah. De. 1 44 And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and 45 chased you, as bees do, and beat you down in Seir, even unto Hormah. And ye returned and wept before the LORD; but the LORD hearkened not to your voice, nor gave ear unto you. De. 1:26-45. A condensed statement, the fuller account being in Nu. 13 and 14, of the occurrences which led to the banishment of the people for forty years into the wilderness. The facts are treated with freedom, as by one familiar with them, addressing those no less so, yet in consistency with the more strictly historical record of Numbers. There is no real discrepancy between these passages. The plan of sending the spies originated with the people; and, as in itself a reasonable one, it approved itself to Moses; was submitted to God, and sanctioned by him; and carried out under special Divine direction. Espin.—The mission of the spies is ascribed in Numbers to the express command of God, but in Deuteronomy to the wish of the people. But the two things perfectly agree. If Moses consulted God upon the request of the people, the answer would be a Divine command. So also in Numbers Moses is said to exhort the people to go up, only after the return of the spies, while in Deuteronomy it is before. But there is nothing in Numbers to exclude the earlier exhortation, and it is implied by the whole course of the previous history. Birks. Nu. 13:21-23. Up by the South. The negeb, or south-country, was a well-defined tract of territory forming the southernmost and least fertile portion of the land of Canaan and of the subsequent inheritance of Judah. It extended northward from Kadesh to within a few miles of Hebron, and from the Dead Sea westward to the Mediterranean. The hill-country of southern and central Canaan commences a few miles south of Hebron, and extending northward to the plain of Jezreel, runs out eventually northwestward into the sea in the headland of Carmel. Espin.—The northern barrier of the Desert of Paran or Tih, which forms the terrace of the “Negeb” or south country of Judah, is well described by Williams as “a gigantic natural rampart of lofty mountains, which we could trace for many miles east and west of the spot on which we stood, whose precipitous promontories of naked rock, forming, as it were, bastions of Cyclopean architecture, jutted forth in irregular masses from the mountain barrier into the southern wilderness, a confused chaos of chalk.” We can well understand how, with this barrier in front of them, the children of Israel always spoke of “going up” into Canaan. H. B. T. Eluding the Canaanites, they entered Palestine, and searched the land to its northernmost boundary, “unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath”—that is, as far as the plain of Coele-Syria. On their way back they descended by Hebron, and explored the route which led into the Negeb by the western edge of the mountains. A. E.—Hebron, being the most southerly place where grapes are now found, Eshcol has been generally identified with it. But Palmer and Drake discovered [on the route into the Negeb] miles upon miles of the small stone-heaps on which in former times the vines were trained. The spies, therefore, would be under no necessity of going so far as Hebron. In any case, these travellers would put Eshcol some way south of Hebron. Work in Palestine. 25. God had told them that Canaan was a land flowing with milk and honey, and they had therefore no need to distrust its advantages. God had promised to give the land to them, and it was needless for them to ascertain the strength of the inhabitants—as if their strength could render the performance of the promise difficult, or their weakness make it easy to him. It is profoundly remarked by Bishop Hall on this very case, “That which the Lord moves unto prospers; but that which we move him unto first, seldom succeedeth.” Forty days did they spend in the search, and forty years—a year for a day—of toilsome wanderings did that search cost them, connected as it was from beginning to end with distrust and unbelief. Kit. 30. And Caleb stilled the people before Moses. His words show, what appears plainly in the verses following, that the ten spies sought to dissuade the people from advancing by asserting that it was impossible to overcome these powerful enemies. But Caleb, relying on God’s promise, believed that they would be successful, and thus boldly foretold it. Calv.—We have a short account of their sin, with which they infected the whole congregation (Ps. 106:24). They despised the land, they believed not his word. Though, upon search, they had found it as good as he had said, a land flowing with milk and honey; yet they would not believe it as sure as he had said, but despaired of having it, though Eternal Truth itself had engaged it to them. H. 14:2-4. They accuse God of deception and cruelty, as if he were betraying them to the Canaanitish nations, and leading them forth to slaughter. They also accuse God of weakness, as if he were less powerful than the nations of Canaan. At length their blind senselessness comes to its climax when they consult as to their return, and, rejecting Moses, set themselves about choosing a leader who may again deliver them up to Pharaoh. Calv.—What had they to complain of? They had plenty, and peace, and rest, were under a good government, had good company, had the tokens of God's presence with them, and enough to make them easy even in the wilderness, if they had but hearts to be content. But whither were they thus eager to go to mend themselves? To Egypt! Had they so soon forgotten the sore bondage they were in there? H.—How could they get thither without food? which they could not expect God would send them from heaven when they had forsaken him. Or how could they hope to find their way when his cloud that directed them was withdrawn? Or hope to resist such nations as might oppose their progress? And if they came into Egypt, what reception could they expect from a people whose king, princes, and first-born had lately perished on their account? Patrick. 5-10. Already Caleb had endeavored to still the people before Moses; already Moses himself (De. 1:29) had endeavored to recall the people to obedience. After the failure of these efforts Moses and Aaron cast themselves down in solemn prayer before God; and the appearance of the glory of the LORD in the tabernacle of the congregation was the immediate answer. Espin. In the case of Caleb and Joshua, in contrast with their ten associate scouts, we have the illustration of how true heroism can be displayed only by souls staid on God. While the others portray the difficulties, these look simply to the fact "Jehovah will go with us." The theology which makes God everything and man nothing is the theology which makes most of men in the way of true energy and courage. All the world's great histories, ancient and modern, are full of this theology. All the world's great tragedies are full of the theology of Caleb and Joshua. Proffer of Jehovah, and Answer of Moses (verses 11-20). This is the second time that Jehovah, in his holy anger, had proposed to deal thus with Moses and make him the head of a righteous seed to receive the inheritance which Israel has so justly forfeited. How would any one else have acted in his place? As the offer comes from Jehovah, can the Judge of all the earth do wrong? And if the forbearance of Jehovah is exhausted, may not the patience of Moses well be? Here is an offer that will release him from the thankless burden of a cowardly, degraded people which has again and again almost crushed him. Shall he not accept it, and not only free himself from trouble, but rise to the greatness in history of being the outflowing stock of the visible kingdom of God? No, Moses has in himself an intrinsic greatness of soul beyond all that, though it may make his name less celebrated. He will not dissociate himself from his people. He will rather be the type of the great Intercessor who is to come. The singleness of heart with which, as a saint, he loves God shall not impair the passionate love that bound him to his people. Yea, and above the love of his people rises his passionate earnestness for the honor of Jehovah. Lying there prostrate on the ground before the brightness at the tabernacle—hear—as you may almost hear in the Hebrew—his sobs in broken sentences, as he argues the case with Jehovah and pleads for his people. "And Egypt will hear that thou hast brought thy people in thy might out of the midst of her; and they will say to the inhabitants of this land, they have heard how thou, Jehovah, wert in the midst of thy people, seen of them face to face, and thy cloud standing over them; even thou, Jehovah, going in front of them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. And thou wilt make thy people die as one man. And they will say, the nations that have heard tell of thee: Through being not able to lead his people into the land that he had sworn to them, he hath slain them in the wilderness. And now, I beseech thee, the might of Jehovah shall be magnified, even as thou hast spoken, saying Jehovah, long-suffering and of great mercy, bearing iniquity and transgression and not cleansing, but visiting the iniquity of fathers upon children to the third and fourth generation; forgive, I pray thee, the iniquity of this people according to thy great mercy, and as thou hast been gracious to them from Egypt up to this present time." Do not these passionate pleadings raise Moses nearer than any born of woman to the type of the great Intercessor? And yet now with the great Intercessor on his side the least in the kingdom of heaven, who is truly in Christ—one with Christ, is greater in power than Moses at the throne. And Jehovah is moved by the passionate plea, and declares, "I have forgiven them according to thy word." S. R. God's proposal, twice made to Moses, to cut off all Israel and make of him a great nation, in neither case does he ever even allude to. But as the Lord seemed to overlook the glory of his own name before the nations, Moses took the responsibility (boldly, shall we say?) of reminding him as to this point. Apparently his soul was so much absorbed in this line of considerations—the glory of God as before the nations of the earth—that he could not let it drop from his range of view. Hence Moses was mighty (almost omnipotent we may say) in prayer. It would seem to have been the Lord's special purpose to bring out this prime quality of his religious character and set it in sunlight before all future ages—an illustration of the fact that the great men of all time are mighty with God in prayer. They know the secret of communion with God. They have easy, unrestricted access to his throne. H. C. Of Moses it was to be said in miniature what of his antitype can be said in full—that his gentleness made him great. Not when he parted the waters of the Red Sea, not when he sang his hymn of triumph on the shores of liberty, is he half so great as when he bore the sorrows and endured the murmurings of that rude undisciplined multitude. If ever a man has inherited the earth by meekness, that man was Moses. His was a grand unselfish life made to wait upon the lives of others. He never reached the promised land; he received not the treasures of Canaan any more than the treasures of Egypt; he bore the toil, and Joshua entered in. He had to bear on his heart the interests of that motley multitude with no other encouragement than faith. Geo. Matheson. The effectual intercession of Moses was based on two arguments: that God would not destroy his own work begun; that God would not belie his own character revealed. Even so is all-prevailing Christian prayer based upon the same foundations: we plead with God his own work begun in us or others; we plead with him his eternal love and mercy declared in Christ, and extended to sinners in days past. R. W. 21,22. Once more, as before Sinai, the intercession of Moses prevailed; but in pardoning the nation, Jehovah swore by himself that "the whole earth should be filled with his glory," in the example he would make of the men who had rebelled against him, not one of whom, save Caleb, should see the promised land. The execution of the sentence was to begin on the morrow, by their turning into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea. There they were to wander for forty years—a year for each day that the spies had searched the land—till all the men of twenty years old and upward had left their carcasses in the desert. P. S.— It was at Kadesh that the measure of their iniquity was filled up. At Sinai they had rejected Jehovah, who led them out of Egypt, and had desired a god such as they formerly possessed in Egypt; at Kadesh they rejected the land of Jehovah—the land of promise, and wished to return to Egypt. K. 24. "My servant Caleb." Caleb had another spirit, not only a bold, generous courageous, noble, and heroic spirit; but the Spirit and influence of the God of heaven thus raised him above earthly fears; therefore he followed God fully. A. C.—This other spirit was the spirit of faith, which the Law cannot give, the spirit of adoption, not of bondage. By the guidance of this spirit, Caleb constantly followed the Lord and obtained the promised inheritance. Ainsworth. 26-35. The decree was gone forth, the consumption was determined, they did not seek the Lord while he might be found, and now he would not be found. H.—One significant addition in Deuteronomy (1:38): Ye returned and wept before the Lord; but the Lord would not give ear to you. Their tears were like those of Esau, on the borders of whose lands they were encamped, and could not reverse the settled judgment of God. They too, like him, had despised their birthright, and "thought scorn of that pleasant land." Birks. 36,37. The sudden death of the ten evil spies. While the sentence was passing upon the people, before it was published, they died of the plague before the Lord. God hereby showed his particular displeasure against them who sinned, and made Israel to sin. They sinned themselves in bringing up a slander upon the land of promise. Those greatly provoke God who misrepresent religion, cast reproach upon it, and raise prejudices in men's minds against it, or give occasion to those to do so who seek occasion. H. 40-45. Against Jehovah's sentence they rebelled; and, having been afraid when they should have been bold, they were now bold when they should have been afraid. Disregarding the command of Moses, they attacked the Amalekites, and suffered a severe defeat, learning to their cost, and showing to us, that the bravery of presumption is just as fatal as the cowardice of unbelief. D. F.—Moses said, "Go not up, for Jehovah is not among you." The pillar of cloud did not move, and Moses remained in the camp. But they went up, notwithstanding; and the Amalekites and Amorites came down from the mountains, and drove them back to Hormah. K. Hormah seems, with reason, identified with the ruins of Sebaita, twenty-four miles north of Kadesh. It is on the very northern extremity of the wilderness of Paran. H. B. T.—In the immediate neighborhood of Kadesh are the mountains of the Amorites, still called by their scriptural name in its Arabic form, 'Amarin. An ancient fort guards a mountain-pass in these hills, by which we reach a fertile plain having the ruins of a fine town in its midst. The city is named Sebaitah (the Hebrew Zephath, or "watch-tower"); and the fort is called by an Arabic word meaning also watch-tower. Comparing Nu. 14:43, 45, and Judges 1:17 we find that Zephath and Hormah are the same, or rather that Hormah was called the city of the Zephath or watch-tower, because of the tower or fort which guarded the approach to it. E. H. Palmer. Thus issued this sad case of strange, cruel unbelief. The conquest of Canaan was postponed almost forty years; the generation of twenty years and over when they came out from Egypt were doomed to fruitless wandering and an early death in the wilderness; and that nation and the world had one more lesson on the wisdom of believing God, and on the infinite folly as well as guilt of refusing to believe and trust the Lord. Moses (in De. 1:19-46) gives a somewhat full recapitulation of these scenes. In Ps. 90 he puts in the form of sacred song his meditation and prayer on this sad yet most instructive event. H. C. One of many internal proofs of the truthfulness of the record is that Moses does not conceal from us the difficulties and even the disasters which they met with. Had the Pentateuch been written in long subsequent times, when the sojourn in the wilderness was surrounded by a halo of romance, while its physical difficulties were probably magnified (Jer. 2:2, 6), the conduct of the Israelites would have been put in a better light, and certainly they would not have been represented as poor soldiers, not to say cowards. R. P. S. WILDERNESS OF PARAN. ROUTE OF ISRAEL FROM SINAI TO KADESH. LOCALITY OF KADESH-BARNEA. THIRTY-SEVEN YEARS' BAN: STATIONS; LIFE AND MAINTENANCE OF THE PEOPLE. No. 12 16 AND afterward the people journeyed from Hazeroth, and pitched in the wilderness of Paran. 13 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Send thou men, that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel : of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a prince among them. And Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran according to the commandment of the LORD : all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel. So they went up, and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, to the entering in of Hamath. And they went up by the South, and came unto Hebron. . . . And they came unto the valley of Esheol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it upon a staff between two ; they brought also of the pomegranates, and of the figs. And they returned from spying out the land at the end of forty days. And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh ; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land. And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey ; and this is the fruit of it. Howbeit the people that dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fenced, and very great : and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. Amalek dwelleth in the land of the South : and the Hittite, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, dwell in the mountains : and the Canaanite dwelleth by the sea, and along by the side of Jordan. And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it ; for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people ; for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land. 14 1 And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried ; and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron : and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt ! or would God we had died in this wilderness ! And wherefore doth the LORD bring us unto this land, to fall by the sword ? Our wives and our little ones shall be a prey : were it not better for us to return into Egypt ? And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt. Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that spied out the land, rent their clothes : and they spake unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceeding good land. If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it unto us ; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land ; for they are bread for us : their 10 defence is removed from over them, and the LORD is with us : fear them not. But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tent of meeting unto all the children of Israel. 11. And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people despise me? and how long will 12 they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have wrought among them? I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a nation greater and 13 mightier than they. And Moses said unto the LORD, Then the Egyptians shall hear it; for 14 thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them; and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: they have heard that thou LORD art in the midst of this people; for thou LORD art seen face to face, and thy cloud standeth over them, and thou goest before 15 them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if thou shalt kill this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, 16. Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore unto them, 17 therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness. And now, I pray thee, let the power of the 18. LORD be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, The LORD is slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth 19 generation. Pardon, I pray thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of 20 thy mercy, and according as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now. And 21 the LORD said, I have pardoned according to thy word: but in very deed, as I live, and as all 22 the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD; because all those men which have seen my glory, and my signs, which I wrought in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted 23 me these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; surely they shall not see the land 24 which I swore unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that despised me see it: but my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I 25 bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it. . . . To-morrow turn ye, and get you into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea. 26. And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, How long shall I bear with this 27 evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children 28 of Israel, which they murmur against me. Say unto them, As I live, saith the LORD, surely 29 as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old 30 and upward, which have murmured against me, surely ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I lifted up my hand that I would make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of 31. Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, 32 them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have rejected. But as for you, 33 your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall be wanderers in the wil- 34 derness forty years. . . . After the number of the days in which ye spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye 35 shall know my alienation. I the LORD have spoken, surely this will I do unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be con- 36 sumed, and there they shall die. And the men, which Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up an evil report 37 against the land, even those men that did bring up an evil report of the land, died by the 38 plague before the LORD. But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, re- 39 mained alive of those men that went to spy out the land. And Moses told these words unto 40 all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly. And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up to the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up 41 unto the place which the LORD hath promised: for we have sinned. And Moses said, Where- 42 fore now do ye transgress the commandment of the LORD, seeing it shall not prosper? Go not 43 up, for the LORD is not among you; that ye be not smitten down before your enemies. For there the Amalekite and the Canaanite are before you, and ye shall fall by the sword: because 44 ye are turned back from following the LORD, therefore the LORD will not be with you. But they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of 45 the LORD, and Moses, departed not out of the camp. Then the Amalekite came down, and the Canaanite which dwelt in that mountain, and smote them and beat them down, even unto Hormah. De. 1 44 And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and 45 chased you, as bees do, and beat you down in Seir, even unto Hormah. And ye returned and wept before the LORD; but the LORD hearkened not to your voice, nor gave ear unto you. De. 1:26-45. A condensed statement, the fuller account being in Nu. 13 and 14, of the occurrences which led to the banishment of the people for forty years into the wilderness. The facts are treated with freedom, as by one familiar with them, addressing those no less so, yet in consistency with the more strictly historical record of Numbers. There is no real discrepancy between these passages. The plan of sending the spies originated with the people; and, as in itself a reasonable one, it approved itself to Moses; was submitted to God, and sanctioned by him; and carried out under special Divine direction. Espin.—The mission of the spies is ascribed in Numbers to the express command of God, but in Deuteronomy to the wish of the people. But the two things perfectly agree. If Moses consulted God upon the request of the people, the answer would be a Divine command. So also in Numbers Moses is said to exhort the people to go up, only after the return of the spies, while in Deuteronomy it is before. But there is nothing in Numbers to exclude the earlier exhortation, and it is implied by the whole course of the previous history. Birks. Nu. 13:21-23. Up by the South. The negeb, or south-country, was a well-defined tract of territory forming the southernmost and least fertile portion of the land of Canaan and of the subsequent inheritance of Judah. It extended northward from Kadesh to within a few miles of Hebron, and from the Dead Sea westward to the Mediterranean. The hill-country of southern and central Canaan commences a few miles south of Hebron, and extending northward to the plain of Jezreel, runs out eventually northwestward into the sea in the headland of Carmel. Espin.—The northern barrier of the Desert of Paran or Tih, which forms the terrace of the “Negeb” or south country of Judah, is well described by Williams as “a gigantic natural rampart of lofty mountains, which we could trace for many miles east and west of the spot on which we stood, whose precipitous promontories of naked rock, forming, as it were, bastions of Cyclopean architecture, jutted forth in irregular masses from the mountain barrier into the southern wilderness, a confused chaos of chalk.” We can well understand how, with this barrier in front of them, the children of Israel always spoke of “going up” into Canaan. H. B. T. Eluding the Canaanites, they entered Palestine, and searched the land to its northernmost boundary, “unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath”—that is, as far as the plain of Coele-Syria. On their way back they descended by Hebron, and explored the route which led into the Negeb by the western edge of the mountains. A. E.—Hebron, being the most southerly place where grapes are now found, Eshcol has been generally identified with it. But Palmer and Drake discovered [on the route into the Negeb] miles upon miles of the small stone-heaps on which in former times the vines were trained. The spies, therefore, would be under no necessity of going so far as Hebron. In any case, these travellers would put Eshcol some way south of Hebron. Work in Palestine. 25. God had told them that Canaan was a land flowing with milk and honey, and they had therefore no need to distrust its advantages. God had promised to give the land to them, and it was needless for them to ascertain the strength of the inhabitants—as if their strength could render the performance of the promise difficult, or their weakness make it easy to him. It is profoundly remarked by Bishop Hall on this very case, “That which the Lord moves unto prospers; but that which we move him unto first, seldom succeedeth.” Forty days did they spend in the search, and forty years—a year for a day—of toilsome wanderings did that search cost them, connected as it was from beginning to end with distrust and unbelief. Kit. 30. And Caleb stilled the people before Moses. His words show, what appears plainly in the verses following, that the ten spies sought to dissuade the people from advancing by asserting that it was impossible to overcome these powerful enemies. But Caleb, relying on God’s promise, believed that they would be successful, and thus boldly foretold it. Calv.—We have a short account of their sin, with which they infected the whole congregation (Ps. 106:24). They despised the land, they believed not his word. Though, upon search, they had found it as good as he had said, a land flowing with milk and honey; yet they would not believe it as sure as he had said, but despaired of having it, though Eternal Truth itself had engaged it to them. H. 14:2-4. They accuse God of deception and cruelty, as if he were betraying them to the Canaanitish nations, and leading them forth to slaughter. They also accuse God of weakness, as if he were less powerful than the nations of Canaan. At length their blind senselessness comes to its climax when they consult as to their return, and, rejecting Moses, set themselves about choosing a leader who may again deliver them up to Pharaoh. Calv.—What had they to complain of? They had plenty, and peace, and rest, were under a good government, had good company, had the tokens of God's presence with them, and enough to make them easy even in the wilderness, if they had but hearts to be content. But whither were they thus eager to go to mend themselves? To Egypt! Had they so soon forgotten the sore bondage they were in there? H.—How could they get thither without food? which they could not expect God would send them from heaven when they had forsaken him. Or how could they hope to find their way when his cloud that directed them was withdrawn? Or hope to resist such nations as might oppose their progress? And if they came into Egypt, what reception could they expect from a people whose king, princes, and first-born had lately perished on their account? Patrick. 5-10. Already Caleb had endeavored to still the people before Moses; already Moses himself (De. 1:29) had endeavored to recall the people to obedience. After the failure of these efforts Moses and Aaron cast themselves down in solemn prayer before God; and the appearance of the glory of the LORD in the tabernacle of the congregation was the immediate answer. Espin. In the case of Caleb and Joshua, in contrast with their ten associate scouts, we have the illustration of how true heroism can be displayed only by souls staid on God. While the others portray the difficulties, these look simply to the fact "Jehovah will go with us." The theology which makes God everything and man nothing is the theology which makes most of men in the way of true energy and courage. All the world's great histories, ancient and modern, are full of this theology. All the world's great tragedies are full of the theology of Caleb and Joshua. Proffer of Jehovah, and Answer of Moses (verses 11-20). This is the second time that Jehovah, in his holy anger, had proposed to deal thus with Moses and make him the head of a righteous seed to receive the inheritance which Israel has so justly forfeited. How would any one else have acted in his place? As the offer comes from Jehovah, can the Judge of all the earth do wrong? And if the forbearance of Jehovah is exhausted, may not the patience of Moses well be? Here is an offer that will release him from the thankless burden of a cowardly, degraded people which has again and again almost crushed him. Shall he not accept it, and not only free himself from trouble, but rise to the greatness in history of being the outflowing stock of the visible kingdom of God? No, Moses has in himself an intrinsic greatness of soul beyond all that, though it may make his name less celebrated. He will not dissociate himself from his people. He will rather be the type of the great Intercessor who is to come. The singleness of heart with which, as a saint, he loves God shall not impair the passionate love that bound him to his people. Yea, and above the love of his people rises his passionate earnestness for the honor of Jehovah. Lying there prostrate on the ground before the brightness at the tabernacle—hear—as you may almost hear in the Hebrew—his sobs in broken sentences, as he argues the case with Jehovah and pleads for his people. "And Egypt will hear that thou hast brought thy people in thy might out of the midst of her; and they will say to the inhabitants of this land, they have heard how thou, Jehovah, wert in the midst of thy people, seen of them face to face, and thy cloud standing over them; even thou, Jehovah, going in front of them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. And thou wilt make thy people die as one man. And they will say, the nations that have heard tell of thee: Through being not able to lead his people into the land that he had sworn to them, he hath slain them in the wilderness. And now, I beseech thee, the might of Jehovah shall be magnified, even as thou hast spoken, saying Jehovah, long-suffering and of great mercy, bearing iniquity and transgression and not cleansing, but visiting the iniquity of fathers upon children to the third and fourth generation; forgive, I pray thee, the iniquity of this people according to thy great mercy, and as thou hast been gracious to them from Egypt up to this present time." Do not these passionate pleadings raise Moses nearer than any born of woman to the type of the great Intercessor? And yet now with the great Intercessor on his side the least in the kingdom of heaven, who is truly in Christ—one with Christ, is greater in power than Moses at the throne. And Jehovah is moved by the passionate plea, and declares, "I have forgiven them according to thy word." S. R. God's proposal, twice made to Moses, to cut off all Israel and make of him a great nation, in neither case does he ever even allude to. But as the Lord seemed to overlook the glory of his own name before the nations, Moses took the responsibility (boldly, shall we say?) of reminding him as to this point. Apparently his soul was so much absorbed in this line of considerations—the glory of God as before the nations of the earth—that he could not let it drop from his range of view. Hence Moses was mighty (almost omnipotent we may say) in prayer. It would seem to have been the Lord's special purpose to bring out this prime quality of his religious character and set it in sunlight before all future ages—an illustration of the fact that the great men of all time are mighty with God in prayer. They know the secret of communion with God. They have easy, unrestricted access to his throne. H. C. Of Moses it was to be said in miniature what of his antitype can be said in full—that his gentleness made him great. Not when he parted the waters of the Red Sea, not when he sang his hymn of triumph on the shores of liberty, is he half so great as when he bore the sorrows and endured the murmurings of that rude undisciplined multitude. If ever a man has inherited the earth by meekness, that man was Moses. His was a grand unselfish life made to wait upon the lives of others. He never reached the promised land; he received not the treasures of Canaan any more than the treasures of Egypt; he bore the toil, and Joshua entered in. He had to bear on his heart the interests of that motley multitude with no other encouragement than faith. Geo. Matheson. The effectual intercession of Moses was based on two arguments: that God would not destroy his own work begun; that God would not belie his own character revealed. Even so is all-prevailing Christian prayer based upon the same foundations: we plead with God his own work begun in us or others; we plead with him his eternal love and mercy declared in Christ, and extended to sinners in days past. R. W. 21,22. Once more, as before Sinai, the intercession of Moses prevailed; but in pardoning the nation, Jehovah swore by himself that "the whole earth should be filled with his glory," in the example he would make of the men who had rebelled against him, not one of whom, save Caleb, should see the promised land. The execution of the sentence was to begin on the morrow, by their turning into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea. There they were to wander for forty years—a year for each day that the spies had searched the land—till all the men of twenty years old and upward had left their carcasses in the desert. P. S.— It was at Kadesh that the measure of their iniquity was filled up. At Sinai they had rejected Jehovah, who led them out of Egypt, and had desired a god such as they formerly possessed in Egypt; at Kadesh they rejected the land of Jehovah—the land of promise, and wished to return to Egypt. K. 24. "My servant Caleb." Caleb had another spirit, not only a bold, generous courageous, noble, and heroic spirit; but the Spirit and influence of the God of heaven thus raised him above earthly fears; therefore he followed God fully. A. C.—This other spirit was the spirit of faith, which the Law cannot give, the spirit of adoption, not of bondage. By the guidance of this spirit, Caleb constantly followed the Lord and obtained the promised inheritance. Ainsworth. 26-35. The decree was gone forth, the consumption was determined, they did not seek the Lord while he might be found, and now he would not be found. H.—One significant addition in Deuteronomy (1:38): Ye returned and wept before the Lord; but the Lord would not give ear to you. Their tears were like those of Esau, on the borders of whose lands they were encamped, and could not reverse the settled judgment of God. They too, like him, had despised their birthright, and "thought scorn of that pleasant land." Birks. 36,37. The sudden death of the ten evil spies. While the sentence was passing upon the people, before it was published, they died of the plague before the Lord. God hereby showed his particular displeasure against them who sinned, and made Israel to sin. They sinned themselves in bringing up a slander upon the land of promise. Those greatly provoke God who misrepresent religion, cast reproach upon it, and raise prejudices in men's minds against it, or give occasion to those to do so who seek occasion. H. 40-45. Against Jehovah's sentence they rebelled; and, having been afraid when they should have been bold, they were now bold when they should have been afraid. Disregarding the command of Moses, they attacked the Amalekites, and suffered a severe defeat, learning to their cost, and showing to us, that the bravery of presumption is just as fatal as the cowardice of unbelief. D. F.—Moses said, "Go not up, for Jehovah is not among you." The pillar of cloud did not move, and Moses remained in the camp. But they went up, notwithstanding; and the Amalekites and Amorites came down from the mountains, and drove them back to Hormah. K. Hormah seems, with reason, identified with the ruins of Sebaita, twenty-four miles north of Kadesh. It is on the very northern extremity of the wilderness of Paran. H. B. T.—In the immediate neighborhood of Kadesh are the mountains of the Amorites, still called by their scriptural name in its Arabic form, 'Amarin. An ancient fort guards a mountain-pass in these hills, by which we reach a fertile plain having the ruins of a fine town in its midst. The city is named Sebaitah (the Hebrew Zephath, or "watch-tower"); and the fort is called by an Arabic word meaning also watch-tower. Comparing Nu. 14:43, 45, and Judges 1:17 we find that Zephath and Hormah are the same, or rather that Hormah was called the city of the Zephath or watch-tower, because of the tower or fort which guarded the approach to it. E. H. Palmer. Thus issued this sad case of strange, cruel unbelief. The conquest of Canaan was postponed almost forty years; the generation of twenty years and over when they came out from Egypt were doomed to fruitless wandering and an early death in the wilderness; and that nation and the world had one more lesson on the wisdom of believing God, and on the infinite folly as well as guilt of refusing to believe and trust the Lord. Moses (in De. 1:19-46) gives a somewhat full recapitulation of these scenes. In Ps. 90 he puts in the form of sacred song his meditation and prayer on this sad yet most instructive event. H. C. One of many internal proofs of the truthfulness of the record is that Moses does not conceal from us the difficulties and even the disasters which they met with. Had the Pentateuch been written in long subsequent times, when the sojourn in the wilderness was surrounded by a halo of romance, while its physical difficulties were probably magnified (Jer. 2:2, 6), the conduct of the Israelites would have been put in a better light, and certainly they would not have been represented as poor soldiers, not to say cowards. R. P. S. WILDERNESS OF PARAN. ROUTE OF ISRAEL FROM SINAI TO KADESH. LOCALITY OF KADESH-BARNEA. THIRTY-SEVEN YEARS' BAN: STATIONS; LIFE AND MAINTENANCE OF THE PEOPLE. 32. While the children of Israel were in the wilderness.** Moses mentions here, as is his wont, the first open transgression and its punishment, in order to exemplify the laws which he is laying down. The offence of Sabbath-breaking was one for which there could be no excuse. This law at least might be observed even in the wilderness. Espin.—His offence was the doing servile work; its spirit was presumptuous disobedience to Jehovah, and the penalty had already been declared. The case was expressly referred by Moses to Jehovah, and it is recorded as an exexample that the law of the Sabbath was not to be a dead letter. P. S.—In the judgment of this case we must carefully keep in view the significance of the Sabbath as the sign of God's covenant with his people. An intentional transgression of the prohibition to work was an open breach of the covenant, an act of rebellion against the Lord. Gerl. We think of huge sins; there are none. We think of little sins; there are none. In relation to the poor man who went out on the Sabbath day to gather a bundle of "sticks," we look at the "sticks" and not at the Sabbath. Why not look at the reality of the case—of every case—and instead of dwelling upon the relative smallness of the offence, fix the imagination and the judgment and the conscience upon the thing violated?—for only in that way can we establish the balance of righteousness and begin to understand the movement of God. J. P. De. 6 6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be upon thine heart : and 7 thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest 8 down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine 9 hand, and they shall be for frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thy house, and upon thy gates.De. 11 18 Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul ; and ye shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between 19 your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, talking of them, when thou sit- test in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, 20 and when thou risest up. And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thine 21 house, and upon thy gates : that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, upon the land which the LORD swore unto your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens above the earth.De. 6 20 When thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgements, which the LORD our God hath commanded 21 you ? then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt ; and 22 the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand : and the LORD shewed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his house, 23 before our eyes : and he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to 24 give us the land which he swore unto our fathers. And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might 25 preserve us alive, as at his day. And it shall be righteousness unto us, if we observe to do all this commandment before the LORD our God, as he hath com- manded us.Nu. 15 37 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and 38 bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of each border a cord of blue : 39 and it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them ; and that ye go not about after your 40 own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring : that ye may 41 remember and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God. I am the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God : I am the LORD your God. De. 6 : 6. These words shall be upon thine heart. De. 11 : 18. Lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul. This is the first and fundamental requirement of this brief series. B.—God's words must be laid up in our heart, that our thoughts may be daily conversant with them, and employed about them, and thereby the whole soul may be brought to abide and act under the influence and impression of them. This immediately follows upon the law of loving God with all our heart; for they that do so will lay up his Word in their hearts, both as an evidence and effect of that love, and as a means to preserve and increase it. He that loves God loves his Bible. H. God's words are to be received first of all into the heart. It is when individuals receive God's testimony into the heart, as Lydia did, that it leads to a fitting public profession. "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness," and then "with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." As the ark received the tables of the Law, so the heart of man is to be the depository of the Divine commandments. Edgar.—Truth, possessing the heart, becomes the fount of all righteous principle. As the pulverized soil is the proper home of seed, so the heart of man is the proper abode of truth. On stony tablets, in books, or in speech, it is only in transit toward its proper destination. Received and welcomed into the soul, it begins a process of blessed activity; it vitalizes, ennobles, beautifies every part of human nature. It is the seed of all virtue and goodness—the root of immortal blessedness. Truth in the heart is translated into righteousness in the life, and righteousness makes heaven. No enjoyment can be perfect in which our children do not share; and in sharing our joys with our children, we multiply our joys beyond all arithmetical measure. Such days of consecrated service will be "days of heaven upon earth." Davies. Where true love to God exists in the heart, it will manifest itself in a regard to his will and in the diligent keeping of his commandments. Hence his words were to be not only in the memory of the people, but laid upon their heart, that they might be ever present to the thought and will. 7. They were also to be inculcated upon their children, and to be the subject of conversation on all fitting occasions between them, the members of their household, and even their casual associates. Thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children; literally, Thou shalt sharpen them to thy children, impress them upon them, send them into them like a sharp weapon. W. L. A.—"And shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." These words were addressed not to the official representatives, the ecclesiastical leaders of Israel, but to the whole body of the people. They enjoin on every parent or head of a household the duty of teaching his children the commandments of God. And this teaching is to be distinctive, positive, diligent, earnest, oft-repeated, constant. Very many directions of a similar import are to be found throughout the Old Testament; reappearing also in the New; where parents are required to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. W. Adams. De. 11 : 19. Ye shall teach them your children. This is repeated very often. The Jews do this diligently. As soon as their children are capable of understanding anything, they make them carefully read the holy books: and instruct them, so that before they can be called youths they are acquainted with the whole Law of God. In this they shame many Christians, who scarce understand as much of their religion when they are men and women, as the Jews do of theirs when they are mere children. Bp. Patrick.—It is decreed in the Law of Moses that children shall be taught it; and to this day the child's first accents are almost formed by "the holy language," as the Hebrews emphatically distinguish theirs, till they acquire the holy language itself, at least by rote. The Law of Moses inculcates that it should form the subject of their conversations, walking or sitting; and so familiar is this knowledge to the Jewish ear, that whenever their Law is quoted in conversation, which it frequently is, it is usual with an auditor to chime in with the close of the passage, like a chant often repeated. The Pentateuch is delivered by sections corresponding with the Sabbaths of the year, while each weekly section is further subdivided into two portions, delivered on two days weekly. At the close of the year the "Holy Law" has been twice repeated. D'Israeli. The religious education of children is God's way of perpetuating vital religion. No other agency, of the Church or Sunday-school, can relieve the parent from this duty or compensate for his neglect of it. This education is to be carried on painstakingly and systematically. "In thine house, when thou sittest, when thou liest down, when thou risest up, and when thou walkest by the way." Orr.—Parents are em phatically enjoined to teach God's truth to their own children. They cannot delegate this matter altogether to others. It is to be treated as of paramount importance. It is a subject to be talked of at all times as no other subject should be. The occasional services of the preacher, the Sabbath-school once in the week, will never suffice. The world has the Church at a prodigious advantage: six days against one. These are things to be taught not one day in seven, but every day, every morning and every evening, at all times, with utmost diligence. An. Parental life holds a great trust in charge, to be committed to those who shall come after; that though one generation passeth away and another cometh, there may be no break in the continuity of holy thinking and living, from age to age. The Hebrews had their Law, which, as a revelation from God, was in advance of aught possessed by the rest of the world, and in which was couched the germ of larger truth that was to follow. There might be more light thrown upon it; there was never to be a forfeiture of it. Hence there were special reasons why parents should guard it intact for all the ages that were to follow. The light from the past is to be handed down for the ages to come, that sire and son and son's son may rejoice in the same God, and insure a blessed continuity of holy faith and consecrated life. C. C.—The most sedulous care in instructing their children in the rites and ceremonies of their religion, and in the reasons on which they were founded, is frequently enjoined upon parents throughout the Mosaic narrative. The Psalmist also speaks of it (Ps. 78:5-8) as a positive institution among his people: "For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born: who should arise and declare them to their children: that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments: and might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God." Bush.—In these words of the Psalmist the duty is urged, partly for their own profit (verse 7), "That they might set their hope in God." Acquaintance with God's favor will encourage their faith; knowledge of his power will help them to believe his promise. By teaching thy children God's actions, thou wilt fix them the faster, and they will make the greater impression upon thy own spirit. A frequent mention of things is the best art of memory: what the mouth preacheth often the mind will ponder much. Besides, it may work for thy children's weal; the more they be acquainted with the goodness, wisdom, power, and faithfulness of God which appear in his works, the more they will fear, love, and trust him. Swinnock. He whose memory is rich has a song for every day; he who recollects the past in all its deliverances, in all its sudden brightnesses, in all its revelations and appearances, cannot be terrified or chased by the spirit of fear: he lives a quiet life, deep as the peace of God. Can Moses suggest any way of keeping the memory of God's providences quick and fresh? He lays down the true way of accomplishing this purpose: Speak about them, dwell upon them, magnify them, be grateful for them. What a reproach to those Christians who are dumb! How much they lose who never speak about God! "Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written. . . . And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels." De. 6:7. Talk of them. The very word is suggestive. The words of God are to be so thoroughly in our hearts as to become part of our life; then we may talk about them with the ease of conscious mastery, with the familiarity of the heart's truest friendship. Religion is not to be introduced upon State occasions, or upon great days, or even upon the Sabbath day as an exclusive period of time. The Word of God is to be talked about, is to come into conversation as if it had a right to be there, to elevate the speech of social man, to give grace and dignity and solemnity to all the transactions of the day. J. P.—God's words are to be the staple of home training. The children are to be taught them at home, when the "home school" is gathered together. God's words are also to be the staple of conversation when parents and children are enjoying their saunters together. And the first thought of the morning and the last at night should be of God's commandments. In this way the indoctrination of the rising generation is to be secured. Well would it be for us still if these old Jewish rules were practised. . . . The children are manifestly meant to be the companions of the parents, to have their parents' society at home and abroad, at morning and night. The mistake made by many parents is not making themselves simply companionable. It is companionship that determines the bent of children. Edgar. De. 6 : 20-25. Moses told Israel that questions would be asked. The son would ask of the father the meaning of institutions, statutes, and judgments, and the father was bound to reply to the son's natural and rational inquiry. Such is our position now. It is incumbent upon us to be able to give some reason or explanation for the faith and the hope that are in us. We cannot adopt a better reply than the answer suggested by Moses. No originality of answer is required. The leader of Israel gave the only reply that will stand the test of reason and the wear and tear of time. We could enlarge the answer which Israel was to give, and ennoble it. We, too, were in a house of bondage. That must be our first point. Human nature had gone astray. The great cry of the ages was, "There is none righteous, no, not one." The Christian argument starts there. All Christian doctrine is founded upon that one fact, or bears direct and vital relation to it. We, too, could add with Israel, that human nature was divinely delivered, and that the deliverance was attested by many "signs and wonders." We, too, had a Deliverer, the same that Israel had; the name of our Deliverer is Jesus Christ. He was born in Bethlehem; he proclaimed himself the Son of Man, the Son of God; he looked upon the whole race with eyes filled with tears; he tasted death for every man; he died the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God; he was crucified, he died and was buried, and on the third day he rose again, and now he is in heaven, our Advocate before the throne; his wounds still upon him as historical marks, but the pain of the wounding is forever gone. That is our answer in brief and imperfect outline. We, therefore, stand upon this historical ground. J. P. All the more substantial part of the lines of thought here indicated is unchanged and unchangeable. Christian parents are inheritors of the truth of God: they hold it in trust for their children: they, as they grow up, will inquire concerning it: its historic basis is the great deliverance effected by the Lord Jesus: Christians are now God's peculiar people: they are redeemed that they may be holy, and that in holiness they may train succeeding generations: and just in proportion as through them loyalty to the truth and to God is leavening their posterity, are they bringing honor to the cause they espouse. Hebrews were to be conservative. Christians are to be also aggressive. We are to be "the light of the world," and "the salt of the earth." By the light of God's love we are to scatter men's darkness, and by the salt of God's truth are we to stay its corruption. And just so far as our nation is imbued with righteousness and truth, will it have within it the guarantee of its own perpetuation. C. C. 20. Inquiry is the king's highway to wisdom, and who dare block it up? God loves to hear honest inquiry. To afford instruction is the delight of the Divine Spirit, but what instruction will be valued if no spirit of inquiry is awake? Some questions which we ask can never be solved; they are beyond the range of the human mind. Some questions God will not answer, because they are vain and useless. But honest questions, with a view to practical obedience, God delights to hear. You can do the young no better service than encourage their minds to inquire after religious facts. "What mean these things?" Davies. 23,24. If they continued faithfully witnessing for God, the land would be continued to them; if not, they would have to quit, and give up the possession thereof to strangers. This is precisely the principle on which God governs the nations now. No nation can preserve itself in being by any other policy than that of obedience to God. Disloyalty to God and the right is the surest possible policy of decomposition. C. C. 25. Our righteousness.** As contrasted with Pauline sayings, the text is an illustration of the maxim, "On the outside of things look for differences, on the inside for likenesses." Hare.—The form is that of the Law, the spirit is that of Christ, whose Gospel is the key to the Law's utterances. Here is a requirement which believers in Christ are enabled to fulfil, though imperfectly, yet acceptably. The utmost that the Jew could render was that imperfect but sincere obedience which is still the mark of the true believer. The believer's duty is to render a perfect obedience; his privilege is that, falling short of this, his sincere though faulty obedience will be graciously accepted for the sake of Christ. In harmony with his calling, it was to be the Jew's aim to realize the righteousness which the Law set before him. But in his inability to do this the weakness of the Law revealed itself, and in contrast with this weakness (Rom. 8 : 3) is the power of the Gospel, enabling the believer to triumph, and to bring forth fruit unto holiness, the end of which is everlasting life (Rom. 6 : 22). This also is a "righteousness of faith," as springing from faith, and rendered possible through it. It is his righteousness, yet in a deeper sense not his, but Christ's, for it is the work of Christ living in him (Gal. 2 : 20). It is not the ground of acceptance, but a result of it; not a title to heaven, but a meetness for it. It is itself a gift of grace. Orr. As to the religious instruction and the worship of the people, the Mosaic code recognizes and perpetuates the ancient patriarchal form of family religion. The new ritual did by no means supersede that. Except in providing by the institution of a Sabbath the time needful for religious instruction, and in distributing the Levites among the people everywhere as religious teachers, it is noteworthy that the laws of religion given by Moses seem to provide no systems and methods of religious instruction; but left that to the ancient custom of family religion among the patriarchs, and to the good sense of the people. S. R.—The Mosaic Law required that the greatest pains should be taken to mould the minds, the principles, the habits, and manners of the young. Parents were again and again commanded to teach their children from infancy all the words of the Law, and all the glorious facts of their national history. The whole system of legislation was crowded with commemorative rites and festivals. Into the meaning of these it was taken for granted that the young would inquire, and it was ordained that their curiosity should be satisfied by the explanations of their sires. The Passover reminded them of the wonders of the exode; the Pentecost of the terrific splendors which accompanied the giving of the Law; the feast of tabernacles of the hardships and miraculous supplies of the wilderness; and the monumental heap of stones at Gilgal of the standing of the waters of Jordan upon a heap to afford a passage to their forefathers. E. C. W. The Law requires that a holy education in the fear and love of God be given to children. There are no special precepts in the Law with a view to this, but it is repeated again and again with great emphasis, that the Divine deeds in the redemption and guidance of Israel, and the Divine commands, are to be impressed on the children. O.—The home is here supposed to be a centre in which the conserving forces of truth and godliness are to be themselves conserved. What a profound principle Moses here indicates—viz., that a nation will be good or bad according to its home life! Wonderful! that an infant nation should, at starting, have this truth deep graven in its statutes—our land will be as our homes are! In the home, our God looks to the parent to give it its character, tone, and influence. A child's religious faith is, in a high and holy sense, to be chosen for him by anticipation, by those who were "in Christ before" him. The truths are to be in the parents' heart, that they may be poured out anew from thence as rivers of living water. Hence the word in verse 7, "Thou shalt sharpen them;" coming fresh out of the sanctuary of a living soul, they are to be pointed, quick, and breathing truths. By a variety of ways, the parent is to see his child's spirit early saturated with the truths of God. Thus the child is from the first to be regarded as God's child, to be trained for him. He is to receive God's Word through the avenues of eye, ear, intellect, heart. Divine truth is to be ever before him, night and day, indoors and out. Those who gave him birth and who love him best are to mould his young life for God; he is to grow up as the Lord's rightful possession, with the view of his afterward saying, in the spirit of devout surrender, "I am the Lord's!" Whatever was essential in the days of Moses, in the training of children for God as the means of guarding a nation, is not less needful now. The wider the range of human learning becomes, the more needful it should be rightly directed; otherwise the greater the attainment, the greater the peril! C. C. The most powerful agency for the promotion of piety and for the diffusion of practical righteousness is the household. If any one doubts it, let him study the history of monasticism, or let him look closely into the life of military camps. Religion, of necessity, makes the home its sanctuary and training school. For while it is personal, it is no less social. It has two great commandments, love to God and love to man. They cannot be severed. And so we find that while atheism breaks up the home, and remands the children to the care of the State, Christianity builds up the home, invests it with inviolable sanctities, and makes the parent a priest of righteousness. The Prophet Malachi declares that God ordained monogamy as the law of the household, in order that he might secure a godly seed. Polygamy enervates and brutalizes. It is the monogamous races that have seized the leadership of the world's civilization. What the cell is to the human body, that the family is to society. Behrends. The standing of children in the covenant entails serious obligations on the parents. (1) Religious instruction. The children had not been personally at Horeb. They had not seen the mighty works of God in Egypt and the desert. It was the duty of parents to acquaint them with the history, and to instruct them in their duties. (2) Religious training, which is education in act, as instruction is education in word. (3) Religious example. The parent is to be one who loves the Lord for himself. The Word is to be in his own heart. Only thus will he teach with effect. All this has its counterpart in the duties of Christian parents. The standing of children in the covenant entails serious obligations on the children. Where parental duties had been fulfilled, the Israelitish child was under the most sacred obligations to choose and adhere to the God of his fathers, and to serve him in the way prescribed. There was in this no interference with freedom, for when God proposes covenant relations to a human being, while it is his privilege, it can never be aught else than his duty to accept them. In the Christian Church, a like obligation rests on the children of believers. The baptized child is bound to serve God, and, if properly instructed, it cannot evade the responsibilities thus laid upon it. Great is the guilt of a child brought up in a Christian home, if wantonly it apostatizes. Orr. De. 6: 7-9. To help in keeping a sense of religion in their minds, it was commanded that its great principles should be carried about with them wherever they went, as well as meet their eyes every time they entered their homes. It is probable that Moses used the phraseology in the seventh verse, merely in a figurative way, to signify assiduous, earnest, and frequent instruction; and perhaps he meant the metaphorical language in the eighth verse to be taken in the same sense also. But as the Israelites interpreted it literally, many writers suppose that a reference was made to a superstitious custom borrowed from the Egyptians, who wore jewels and ornamental trinkets on the forehead and arm, inscribed with certain words and sentences, as amulets to protect them from danger. These, it has been conjectured, Moses intended to supersede by substituting sentences of the Law; and so the Hebrews understood him, for they have always considered the wearing of the Tephilim or frontlets a permanent obligation. With regard to the other usage supposed to be alluded to, the ancient Egyptians had the lintels and imposts of their doors and gates inscribed with sentences indicative of a favorable omen [WILKINSON]; and this is still the case, for in Egypt and other Mohammedan countries the front doors of houses—in Cairo, for instance—are painted red, white, and green, bearing conspicuously inscribed upon them such sentences from the Koran as “God is the Creator,” “God is one, and Mohammed is his prophet.” Moses designed to turn this ancient and favorite custom to a better account, and ordered that, ininstead of the former superstitious inscriptions, should be written the words of God, persuading and enjoining the people to hold the laws in perpetual remembrance. Jimieson. De. 6: 8; 11: 18. Bind them for a sign upon your hand, as frontlets between your eyes. He desires bracelets and frontlets to be made of the precepts of the Law, contrasting doubtless this spiritual ornament with chains of gold, as much as to say that they would more properly take delight in the pious recollection of the Law than in those trifling ornaments which attract men's senses. The Jews, understanding this literally, accounted this external ostentation a mark of holiness, so as to think that they had almost done all they needed when they wore the Law on their arms and foreheads. Calv. It shall be for a token or memorial of what God did for your forefathers; to make thee as sensible of God's goodness as of that which thou hast in thy hand, or of a thing which is continually before thine eyes. The Jewish superstition of wearing what were called “phylacteries” took its rise from these words. Phylactery is a word derived from the Greek, and properly signifies a preservative, such as the Pagans carried about them to preserve them from evils, diseases, or dangers. The Jewish phylacteries were little boxes, or rolls of parchment, in which were written certain words of the Law. Patrick.—The Jewish custom originated at a time (probably after the return from Babylon) when Israel, by its traditions, had perverted the command of God into doctrines of men. Gert.—The manner in which the Jews understood and kept these commands may appear in their practice. They wrote the following four portions of the Law upon slips of parchment or vellum: Sanctify unto me the firstborn (Ex. 13 from verses 2-10, inclusive). And it shall be when the Lord shall bring thee into the land (Ex. 13 from verses 11-16, inclusive). Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord (De. 6 from verses 4-9, inclusive). And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently (De. 11 from verses 13-21, inclusive). These four portions, covered with leather, they tied to the forehead and to the hand or arm. Those which were for the head (the frontlets) they wrote on four slips of parchment, and rolled up each by itself, and placed them in four compartments, joined together in one piece of skin or leather. Those which were designed for the hand were formed of one piece of parchment, the four portions being written upon it in four columns, and rolled up from one end to the other. These were all correct transcripts from the Mosaic text, without one redundant or deficient letter, otherwise they were not lawful to be worn. Those for the head were tied on so as to rest on the forehead. Those for the hand or arm were usually tied on the left arm a little above the elbow, on the inside, that they might be near the heart, according to the command (De. 6 : 6). These phylacteries formed no inconsiderable part of a Jew's religion; they wore them always when they read the Law, or when they prayed; and hence they called them tephillin, prayer-ornaments, oratories, or incitements to prayer. In process of time, the spirit of this law was lost in the letter, and when the word was not in their mouth nor the Law in their heart, they had their phylacteries on their heads and on their hands. And the Pharisees, who in our Lord's time affected extraordinary piety, made their phylacteries very broad, that they might have many sentences written upon them, or the ordinary portions in very large and observable letters. A. C. The words of God were to be bound for a sign [a memorial or directory] upon thine hand, the instrument of acting, and to be as frontlets [fillets or bands] between thine eyes, the organs of direction in walking or moving, and so on the forehead, the chamber of thought and purpose; and they were to inscribe them on the posts of their houses, and on their gates. The purport of this is that they were constantly and everywhere to have these commandments of the Lord in view and in mind, so as to undeviatingly observe them. W. L. A.—God's words are to be kept before our own eyes and the eyes of others. This seems to be the idea about the frontlets between the eyes—in this way others had the words displayed for their benefit; whereas the placing them upon the hand was for the individual's own memorial (cf. Isa. 49 : 16). So the person heartily interested in God's Word will make arrangements to remind himself continually of it, and also to keep it before the minds of others. Religion thus becomes not only a constant personal experience, but a constant public profession. Edgar.—It is also intimated that we must never be ashamed to own our religion, nor to own ourselves under the check and government of it. Let it be written on our gates, and let every one that goes by our door read it, That we believe Jehovah to be God alone, and believe ourselves bound to love him with all our hearts. H. The Jew was to write God's commandments on the door-posts and on the gates of his house. The household was thus to be God's. Households need conversion just as individuals do. There is as much difference between a religious household and a worldly one as there is between a converted and an unconverted individual. The direction given consequently to the Jews covered the household as well as the person, and was thus perfect. Edgar. It seems to have been a custom widely prevalent among the ancient Eastern peoples to carry about their persons slips of parchment or some other material, on which were written sentences of moral or religious import; and such sentences they were also wont to inscribe on conspicuous places of their dwellings; usages still to be found among the Moslems, and the latter of which was not altogether unknown among Western nations, of which traces may still be seen in Switzerland, Germany, and on old houses in both England and Scotland. This custom originated, probably, in a desire to have the sentiments inscribed always in mind; but for the most part these inscriptions came to be regarded as amulets or charms, the presence of which on the person or the house was a safeguard against evil influences, especially such as were supernatural. W. L. A. There have been various conjectures as to the object of this law. The most probable is that the "fringe" was intended as a sort of badge by which, as well as by circumcision and by the fashion of their beards and by their peculiar diet, the Hebrews were to be distinguished from other people. Be this as it may, much superstition came in the end to be connected with the use of these fringes. The Pharisees are severely censured by our Saviour for the ostentatious hypocrisy with which they made broad the "borders" of their garments. Pict. Com. 29. It is plain that God had no other object but to exercise the Jews in constant meditation upon the Law. There was no religion contained in the fringes themselves, nor had that material texture any value in itself; but since men are forgetful in the cultivation of piety, God would by this aid make provision for their infirmity. When he says that they should "look upon it and remember," he hints that they have need of these rudiments, which may strike their outward senses; and again, that unless their memory was kept awake, forgetfulness would steal upon them. But it is added that God has no satisfaction in mere knowledge, but demands serious affections and practical performance. In the latter part of the verse he requires not only that their sluggishness should be stimulated but their wantonness restrained. When he says "that ye seek not after your own heart," he intimates that unless God should restrain their wandering senses, they would be inclined to all superstitions and errors. Calv. 40,41. Very plainly and impressively is the full reason of this peculiar ordinance emphasized in these two verses, "That ye may remember and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God." "I am the Lord your God!" B. No. 16 1 Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan 2 and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men: and they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of 3 the congregation, called to the assembly, men of renown: and they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: where- 4 fore then lift ye up yourselves above the assembly of the LORD? And when Moses heard it, 5 he fell upon his face: and he spake unto Korah and unto all his company, saying, In the morning the LORD will shew who are his, and who is holy, and will cause him to come near 6 unto him: even him whom he shall choose will he cause to come near unto him. This do; 7 take you censers, Korah, and all his company; and put fire therein, and put incense upon them before the LORD to-morrow: and it shall be that the man whom the LORD doth choose, 8 he shall be holy: ye take too much upon you, ye sons of Levi. And Moses said unto Korah, 9 Hear now, ye sons of Levi: seemeth it but a small thing unto you, that the God of Israel hath separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself; to do the service of the tabernacle of the LORD, and to stand before the congregation to minister unto them: 10 and that he hath brought thee near, and all thy brethren the sons of Levi with thee? and seek 11 ye the priesthood also? Therefore thou and all thy company are gathered together against 12 the LORD: and Aaron, what is he that ye murmur against him? And Moses sent to call 13 Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab: and they said, We will not come up: is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wil- 14 derness, but thou must needs make thyself also a prince over us? Moreover thou hast not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and 15 vineyards: wilt thou put out the eyes of these men? we will not come up. And Moses was very wrath, and said unto the LORD, Respect not thou their offering: I have not taken one 16 ass from them, neither have I hurt one of them. And Moses said unto Korah, Be thou and 17 all thy congregation before the LORD, thou, and they, and Aaron to-morrow: and take ye every man his censer, and put incense upon them, and bring ye before the LORD every man 18 his censer, two hundred and fifty censers; thou also, and Aaron, each his censer. And they took every man his censer, and put fire in them, and laid incense thereon, and stood at the 19 door of the tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron. And Korah assembled all the congrega- tion against them unto the door of the tent of meeting: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto all the congregation. 20, 21 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, Separate yourselves from among 22 this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment. And they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wrath 23 with all the congregation? And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the congre- 24 gation, saying, Get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And 25 Moses rose up and went unto Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel followed him. 26 And he spake unto the congregation, saying, Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these 27 wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest ye be consumed in all their sins. So they gat them up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side: and Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood at the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and 28 their little ones. And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the LORD hath sent me to do all 29 these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind. If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then the LORD hath not sent 30 me. But if the LORD make a new thing, and the ground open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down alive into the pit; then ye shall 31 understand that these men have despised the LORD. And it came to pass, as he made an end 32 of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them: and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men that 33 appertained unto Korah, and all their goods. So they, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit: and the earth closed upon them, and they perished from among the 34 assembly. And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them: for they said, 35 Lest the earth swallow us up. And fire came forth from the LORD, and devoured the two hundred and fifty men that offered the incense. (Verses 36-40. The two hundred and fifty censers made into "beaten plates for a covering of the altar.") 41. But on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses 42 and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of the LORD. And it came to pass, when the congregation was assembled against Moses and against Aaron, that they looked toward the 43 tent of meeting : and, behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD appeared. And 44 Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting. And the LORD spake unto Moses, 45 saying, Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment. 46 And they fell upon their faces. And Moses said unto Aaron, Take thy censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and lay incense thereon, and carry it quickly unto the congregation, and make atonement for them : for there is wrath gone out from the LORD ; the plague is 47 begun. And Aaron took as Moses spake, and ran into the midst of the assembly ; and, be- hold, the plague was begun among the people : and he put on the incense, and made atone- 48 ment for the people. And he stood between the dead and the living ; and the plague was 49 stayed. Now they that died by the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, besides 50 them that died about the matter of Korah. And Aaron returned unto Moses unto the door of the tent of meeting : and the plague was stayed. 17 1, 2 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and take of them rods, one for each fathers' house, of all their princes according to their fathers' 3 houses, twelve rods : write thou every man's name upon his rod. And thou shalt write Aaron's name upon the rod of Levi : for there shall be one rod for each head of their fathers' houses. 4 And thou shalt lay them up in the tent of meeting before the testimony, where I meet with 5 you. And it shall come to pass, that the man whom I shall choose, his rod shall bud : and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur 6 against you. And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, and all their princes gave him rods, for each prince one, according to their fathers' houses, even twelve rods : and the rod of 7 Aaron was among their rods. And Moses laid up the rods before the LORD in the tent of the 8 testimony. And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses went into the tent of the testi- mony ; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and put forth buds, 9 and bloomed blossoms, and bare ripe almonds. And Moses brought out all the rods from before the LORD unto all the children of Israel : and they looked, and took every man his rod. 10 And the LORD said unto Moses, Put back the rod of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept for a token against the children of rebellion ; that thou mayest make an end of their murmur- 11 ings against me, that they die not. Thus did Moses : as the LORD commanded him, so did he. 12 And the children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we perish, we are undone, 13 we are all undone. Every one that cometh near, that cometh near unto the tabernacle of the LORD, dieth : shall we perish all of us ? After Moses' nearest kinsmen had risen up against him, the same rebellious spirit seizes on the Levitical tribe, to which Moses and Aaron themselves belonged, and which was entrusted with the highest service in sacred things. The nearer they stood to the priesthood, so much the more did they feel their distance from it. With them distinguished men out of the tribe of Reuben ally themselves, probably in order to assert the natural right of primogeniture in op- position to God's election, both in respect to Levi and to Judah. Moses' behavior here is the same as ever. We see him, as in the former outbreaks, firm and dauntless, full of holy anger against the godless sinners, full of intercession and love for the thankless covenant people of God. And the punishment inflicted by God justifies and attests his authority afresh, while it shows most clearly the hopeless corruption of that generation of Israelites. Gerl. We find him first on his face before the Lord (verse 4), and then, without the slightest assertion of authority, leaving the whole matter in dispute to the Lord's decision (verse 5), while at the same time he gave the leaders to under- stand that he recognized the selfish motives which really inspired the rebellion (verses 8-11). And then, when the decision was given and the judgment of God was about to fall (verse 21), again we find him on his face before the Lord, pleading with all the earnestness of his mighty nature for the people whom he loved so much, in spite of all their ingratitude and sin, and anon making atonement for them, until the plague was stayed. As the matter in dispute had been the right of Aaron and his family to a priesthood distinct from that of the entire na- tion, care was taken, after the excitement of the conspiracy and the judgment which followed had calmed down, to give such a testimony to the Divine right of the Aaronic priesthood as should set the matter forever at rest. Hence the proceeding recorded in the seventeenth chapter. J. M. G. The date of the transaction contained in it cannot be determined, but verses 13, 14 probably point to a period not much later than that of the rebellion at Kadesh. Espin.—Korah was one of the chiefs of the family of Kohath, which was specially employed to carry the ark and furniture of the holy of holies, though not permitted to look into them. They were therefore, among the Levites, the next in sacredness of function to Aaron and his sons, and may therefore the more readily have formed a scheme to contest with Aaron his exclusive right to the high-priesthood. Dathan, Abiram, and On, were chiefs of the tribe of Reuben, the first-born of the sons of Jacob; and may therefore have conceived themselves better entitled than Moses to pre-eminence in temporal power. Graves.—On is not again mentioned. He probably withdrew from the conspiracy. These three were Reubenites; and were probably discontented because the birthright had been taken away from their ancestor, and with it the primacy of their own tribe among the tribes of Israel. Espin. We discover two interests at work—one against the sacerdotal and the other against the political power and pre-eminence—and we find the two coalescing to produce the objects sought by both. We do not discover that they desired to disturb the institutions as established; but that they aspired to take to themselves the power which these institutions gave to others. Kit. It is mentioned incidentally (Nu. 3 : 20) that “the families of the sons of Kohath were to pitch on the side of the tabernacle southward.” And we read no less incidentally (2 : 10), “on the south side (of the tabernacle) shall be the standard of the camp of Reuben, according to their armies.” The family of Kohath, therefore, and the family of Reuben, both pitched on the same side of the tabernacle—they were neighbors, and were therefore conveniently situated for taking secret counsel together. Blunt. 3. Every word of this speech was a falsehood. Instead of “lifting himself up,” Moses humbled himself, “Who am I?” It was God who lifted him up over Israel. And Israel was as “holy” as Moses was ambitious. What holiness was there in so much infidelity, fear, idolatry, mutiny, disobedience? What could make them unclean, if this were holiness? They were still fresh from their last obstinacy; and yet these flatterers say, “All Israel is holy.” 6,7. There cannot be conceived an honor less worth emulation than this principality of Israel; a people that could give nothing; a people that had nothing, but in hope; a people whom their leader was fain to feed with bread and water; which paid him no tribute but of ill words; whose command was nothing but a burden; and yet this dignity was an eye-sore to these Levites and these Reubenites, “Ye take too much upon you, ye sons of Levi.” And this challenge, though thus unseasonable, hath drawn in two hundred and fifty captains of Israel. What wonder is it, that the ten rulers prevailed so much with the multitude to dissuade them from Canaan, when three traitors prevailed thus with two hundred and fifty rulers, “famous in the congregation, and men of renown”? Bp. H. 9-11. Neither of these brothers had been desirous of office, and the places which they filled had not been taken by them of their own motive. Moses had not seized upon authority as a usurper. He had been called to his post by Jehovah, who had given him credentials, in miracles and signs, such as no impostor could fabricate and no enemy could gainsay. In like manner, Aaron had not taken his office upon himself; he, too, had been “called of God,” who had commanded him to be consecrated by peculiar services to his work. It was the prerogative of Jehovah to appoint his priest and to designate his magisterial representative. The people, according to their own covenant obligations, had no option but to accept them both. They had been taken out from the nations and elected to certain great privileges; and in connection with their acceptance of that position they had taken Jehovah to be their King. But his royalty was a reality. It placed them under his authority; it bound them to respect his laws, to obey his legate, and to approach him in worship through his appointed priest. Therefore, this conspiracy to overthrow Moses and depose Aaron was worse than any political plot, because it was rebellion against God, who was not only the fountain of law among the people, but also the object of their worship. W. M. T. 13,14. Moses is accused of injustice, cruelty, falsehood, treachery, usurpation; and Egypt itself must be commended, rather than Moses shall want reproach. Innocency is no shelter from ill tongues; malice never regards how true any accusation is, but how spiteful. Bp. H. 15. He begs of God to plead his cause. Lord, says he, Respect not thou their offering. Wherein he seems to refer to the history of Cain lately written by his own hand, of whom it is said that to him and his offering God had not respect (Gen. 4 : 5). These that followed the gainsaying of Korah, walked in the way of Cain (these are put together, Jude 11), and therefore he prays that they might be frowned upon as Cain was and put to the same confusion. H. —He went to God with everything, and he waited for God's vindication. He was conscious of integrity. He could take God to witness that "he had not taken an ass from one of them, or injured any of them." And strong in the knowledge of his own rectitude, he left the whole matter in God's hands. So if we are in the right, and men assail us, let us calmly appeal to God, and bide his time. W. M. T. 18. And they took every man his censor.** The sacred incense-offering was calculated to inspire with alarm, especially after so memorable an example had been made in the case of Nadab and Abihu. How greatly they were blinded by pride, since, although admonished both by the confidence of Moses and also by the previous examples, they still obstinately go forward! Moses narrates how ostentatiously Korah hardened himself in his rebellion, before he should offer the incense; for he gathered the people together to his party, in order that the magnificence of his array might overwhelm the grace of God, which opposed him. Calv. The glory of the Lord appeared (verse 19). The same glory that appeared to install Aaron in his office at first, now appeared to confirm him in it, and to confound those that oppose him, and set up themselves in competition with him. The Shekinah, or Divine Majesty, the glory of the Eternal Word, which ordinarily dwelt between the cherubim within the veil, now was publicly seen over the door of the tabernacle, to the terror of the whole congregation. H. Korah kindled the fire; the two hundred and fifty captains brought sticks to it; all Israel warmed themselves by it; only the incendiaries perish. Now do the Israelites owe their life to them, whose death they intended. God and Moses knew to distinguish betwixt the heads of the faction and the train; though neither be faultless, yet the one is plagued, the other forgiven. God's vengeance, when it is at the hottest, makes differences of men; "Get you away from about the tabernacles of Korah." Ever before common judgment there is a separation. In the universal judgment of all the earth, the Judge himself will separate; in these particular executions, we must separate ourselves. The society of wicked men, especially in their sins, is mortally dangerous; while we will not be parted, how can we complain if we be enwrapped in their condemnation? Bp. II. 28-30. From the beginning of the world unto this day, no man ever made so bold and noble an assertion of Divine approval, or subjected his claims, in the presence of a nation, to a test so immediate and so infallible. But the response to this awful appeal was not for a moment delayed. The earth did open; and Dathan and Abiram—they, their tents, and all they had, went down, and the earth closed over them—they were seen no more. At the same moment a fire went forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote down with instant death the men with their censers at the door of the tabernacle—in number two hundred and fifty. Thus both branches of the great conspiracy were at once extinguished by a judgment most signal, immediate, and miraculous. Kit. 31-33,35. Korah and his company who dared to intrude themselves on the priestly office were destroyed by fire from the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the Lord; the Reubenites, who had reviled Moses for the failure of the promises about the pleasant land, were suddenly engulfed while standing at their own tent doors in the barren wilderness. We read (Nu. 26:11), "The children of Korah died not," but all belonging to him who had associated themselves with him in this rebellion. Espin. —It is an emphatic testimony alike to the truth of God's declaration, that he punisheth not men for the sins of their fathers, and to the piety of the Levites, that the sons of Korah did not share in the rebellion of their father, and consequently died not with him. More than this, not only were Samuel and afterward Heman descendants of Korah, but among them were some of those "sweet singers of Israel," whose hymns, divinely inspired, were intended for the Church at all times. And all the Psalms "of the sons of Korah" have this common characteristic, which sounds like an echo of the lesson learned from the solemn judgment upon their house, that their burden is praise of the King who is enthroned at Jerusalem, and longing after the services of God's sanctuary. A. E. 36-40. God would have the Israelites keep up the memory of these things, and learn from this sad example, to have due regard to them whom he chose to minister in holy things. And to this purpose he commands that plates should be made of the censers of the rebels for the altar of burnt-offering, that so there might remain a memorial of this fatal rebellion in the view of the people. He caused also Aaron's rod to flourish, and to be preserved as a token against the rebels. Kidder. 41-50. It seems almost incredible that after such a scene of holy judgment on guilty rebels and of such consternation upon the whole people, we read that on the morrow all the congregation murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying, "Ye have killed the people of the Lord." This, although their prayer had saved the masses of the people (verse 22); this, although the hand of God only and of no mortal man had wrought their destruction; this, although they had seen the whole transaction and fled in horror lest God swallow them up also! It should not surprise us that the wrath of the Lord broke forth against them and the plague began. Moses cried to Aaron to take a censer with incense (the symbol of prayer) and run in among the people, waving his censer between the living and the dead. Only so was the plague stayed. Yet fourteen thousand seven hundred fell in that fearful judgment. We are simply amazed at the perverseness and folly of many of that Hebrew people. "How often" and with what strange infatuation "did they provoke their God in the wilderness and grieve him in the desert" (Ps. 78:40)! H. C. 46,47. This dark picture of men insulting God, even with his recognized presence among them and in spite of his amazing goodness toward them, because he has been, as it were, compelled to punish treason against his authority, is but the life-likeness of what is going on every day around us. Hence the apostle, reciting these events, admonishes: "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief." Ordinarily incense could be offered only at the tabernacle, in the sanctuary, on the golden altar, but in this extraordinary emergency Aaron is sent into the camp, where the death arrows are flying. The Lord could, in answer to their prayers, have stayed the plague without any ritual; but it is all important to demonstrate to these rebellious scoffers, who have assailed his ministers, that it is through the intercession of the very men whom they have injured that their lives are spared, and that their high-priest was acting in his sacred office under Jehovah's appointment, and by his direction. Aaron is as full of anxiety as his brother. Instantly—for he knew that every moment was adding fearfully to the numbers of the dead—he runs with his censer into the crowded camp. He interposed himself between the infected and uninfected parts of the camp, exposing himself to the ravages of the plague in behalf of his people. Bishop Hall remarks on this phrase: "As one that would part a fray, he thrusts himself under the strokes of God, and puts it to the choice of the revenger whether he will smite him or forbear the rest; he stands boldly between the living and the dead, as one that will either die with them or have them to live with him; the sight of fourteen thousand carcasses dismayed him not; he that before feared the threats of the people now fears not the strokes of God." Beautifully does Aaron here typify the love of Jesus, our great High-Priest and Intercessor, who, though it must cost him his life and infinite agony, interposed between the living and the dead to make atonement for us. S. R. If Aaron's sacrifice were thus accepted, how much more shall the High-Priest of the New Testament, by interposing himself to the wrath of his Father, deliver the offenders from death! The plague was entered upon all the sons of men: O Saviour, thou stoodst betwixt the living and the dead, that all which believe in thee should not perish. Aaron offered and was not stricken; but thou, O Redeemer, wouldst offer and be struck that by thy stripes we might be healed; so stoodst thou betwixt the dead and living that thou wert both alive and dead; and all this that we, when we were dead, might live forever. Bp. H. It was the intercession of Moses and Aaron which saved the people; but it was necessary that the power of this mediation should be made manifest in the eyes of the people by a visible sign, and thereby the truth declared. The same burning of incense which in the hands of him who is not a priest brings death, gives life in the priest's own hands. It was also intended that the people should receive an impression of the greatness of Aaron's loving devotion by his placing himself between the living and the dead. Geri — Further, by the destructive results that followed the attempt of Korah and his company to intrude into the priest's office and burn incense before the Lord—as contrasted with the beneficent effects of Aaron's approach with his censer unto Jehovah when the plague was stayed—the divine and indefeasible right of Aaron to the priesthood is conclusively established. W. M. T. #### Aaron's Red that Blossomed. 17:1-13. In order to cut off forever the disposition to revolt against the lawful priesthood, the Lord was pleased to follow up what he had done to Korah and his two hundred and fifty men and immediately after to fourteen thousand seven hundred of the rebels, with an additional sign, and to settle by a Divine election whom he had called to serve him in his sanctuary. From the head of every tribe Moses was to take an almond-rod inscribed with the name of the tribe, and add as the thirteenth one for the family of Aaron with his name also written upon it, and to bring them all before the Lord into the tabernacle, while He made this Divine intimation to the people: "The man's rod, whom I shall choose, shall blossom; that I may make to cease the murmurings of the children of Israel." Moses did as he was told; and on the morrow he brought all the rods unto the children of Israel from the tabernacle, and they saw and were convinced that one of the rods had put forth leaves and blossoms and almonds. This one was the rod of Aaron. Thus did the Lord declare by a new miracle to whom he was pleased to impart of his vital Spirit and whom the people were to recognize as their rightful mediator. As a token of this and a warning against the murmuring of the people, Aaron's rod that blossomed was to be preserved in the sanctuary and in the Ark of the Covenant (Heb. 9:4, 5). C. G. B. The priesthood was to be confirmed to Aaron not only by the destruction of those who had presumed to take it, but also by a miracle, which signified in a beautiful manner the holy fulness of life which God vouchsafed to this order of men, and so an abiding memorial of it (as well as of Korah's punishment) might be preserved. Gerl. 8. And it came to pass, that on the morrow. Not without cause the time is notified, for by no skill could it be brought about that a rod should blossom in the lapse of a single night. Again, all suspicion of fraud was removed by the fact that Moses departed when he had placed the rods in the sanctuary, and returning on the next day brought out the bundle of rods before them all. Culv. 10. Commonly, those fruits which are soon ripe soon wither; but these almonds of Aaron's rod are not more early than lasting; the same hand which brought them out before their time, preserved them beyond their time; and for perpetual memory both rod and fruit must be kept in the ark of God. The tables of Moses, the rod of Aaron, the manna of God, are monuments fit for so holy a shrine. All times shall see and wonder how his ancient Church was fed, taught, ruled. Moses's rod did great miracles, yet I find it not in the ark. The rod of Aaron hath this privilege, because it carried the miracle still in itself; whereas the wonders of that other rod were passed. Those monuments would God have continued in his Church, which carry in them the most manifest evidences of that which they import. Bp. H. Read the Pentateuch without asking minor questions; read it as a whole, and then ask what are the impressions it makes upon the mind; and the first impression will be that God is near, direct in his communication, interested in every action, holding every man of value; that God is Critic of all time, Judge of all action, never afraid after having blessed the world to drown it, to burn it, for human wickedness may be greater than Divine blessing. In the Pentateuch we are struck with the fact that though hand join in hand the wicked shall not go unpunished. "Be sure your sin will find you out." There is more water in the clouds, there is more fire in the throne of God; and God will not hesitate to drown the world or to burn the universe, if so be that man's sin exceed God's grace. J. P. In the world there is not a greater misery can happen to any man than to be an enemy to God's Church. All histories of Christendom and the whole Book of God have sad records and sad stories and sad threatenings of Korah, Doeg, and Balaam, of Jeroboam, Uzzah, and Ananias and Sapphira, of Julian, and of heretics, schismatics, and sacrilegious; and after all these men could not prevail finally, but paid for the mischief they did; they ended their days in dishonor, and left nothing behind them but the memory of their sin and the record of their curse. Bp. Taylor. THE HOST GATHERS AT KADESH-BARNEA FOR FINAL DEPARTURE. REBELLIOUS MURMURING OF THE NEW GENERATION. SIN OF MOSES AT THE ROCK IN KADESH; ITS PUNISHMENT ANNOUNCED. No. 16 1 Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan 2 and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men: and they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of 3 the congregation, called to the assembly, men of renown: and they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: where- 4 fore then lift ye up yourselves above the assembly of the LORD? And when Moses heard it, 5 he fell upon his face: and he spake unto Korah and unto all his company, saying, In the morning the LORD will shew who are his, and who is holy, and will cause him to come near 6 unto him: even him whom he shall choose will he cause to come near unto him. This do; 7 take you censers, Korah, and all his company; and put fire therein, and put incense upon them before the LORD to-morrow: and it shall be that the man whom the LORD doth choose, 8 he shall be holy: ye take too much upon you, ye sons of Levi. And Moses said unto Korah, 9 Hear now, ye sons of Levi: seemeth it but a small thing unto you, that the God of Israel hath separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself; to do the service of the tabernacle of the LORD, and to stand before the congregation to minister unto them: 10 and that he hath brought thee near, and all thy brethren the sons of Levi with thee? and seek 11 ye the priesthood also? Therefore thou and all thy company are gathered together against 12 the LORD: and Aaron, what is he that ye murmur against him? And Moses sent to call 13 Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab: and they said, We will not come up: is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wil- 14 derness, but thou must needs make thyself also a prince over us? Moreover thou hast not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and 15 vineyards: wilt thou put out the eyes of these men? we will not come up. And Moses was very wrath, and said unto the LORD, Respect not thou their offering: I have not taken one 16 ass from them, neither have I hurt one of them. And Moses said unto Korah, Be thou and 17 all thy congregation before the LORD, thou, and they, and Aaron to-morrow: and take ye every man his censer, and put incense upon them, and bring ye before the LORD every man 18 his censer, two hundred and fifty censers; thou also, and Aaron, each his censer. And they took every man his censer, and put fire in them, and laid incense thereon, and stood at the 19 door of the tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron. And Korah assembled all the congrega- tion against them unto the door of the tent of meeting: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto all the congregation. 20, 21 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, Separate yourselves from among 22 this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment. And they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wrath 23 with all the congregation? And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the congre- 24 gation, saying, Get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And 25 Moses rose up and went unto Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel followed him. 26 And he spake unto the congregation, saying, Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these 27 wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest ye be consumed in all their sins. So they gat them up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side: and Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood at the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and 28 their little ones. And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the LORD hath sent me to do all 29 these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind. If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then the LORD hath not sent 30 me. But if the LORD make a new thing, and the ground open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down alive into the pit; then ye shall 31 understand that these men have despised the LORD. And it came to pass, as he made an end 32 of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them: and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men that 33 appertained unto Korah, and all their goods. So they, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit: and the earth closed upon them, and they perished from among the 34 assembly. And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them: for they said, 35 Lest the earth swallow us up. And fire came forth from the LORD, and devoured the two hundred and fifty men that offered the incense. (Verses 36-40. The two hundred and fifty censers made into "beaten plates for a covering of the altar.") 41. But on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses 42 and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of the LORD. And it came to pass, when the congregation was assembled against Moses and against Aaron, that they looked toward the 43 tent of meeting : and, behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD appeared. And 44 Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting. And the LORD spake unto Moses, 45 saying, Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment. 46 And they fell upon their faces. And Moses said unto Aaron, Take thy censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and lay incense thereon, and carry it quickly unto the congregation, and make atonement for them : for there is wrath gone out from the LORD ; the plague is 47 begun. And Aaron took as Moses spake, and ran into the midst of the assembly ; and, be- hold, the plague was begun among the people : and he put on the incense, and made atone- 48 ment for the people. And he stood between the dead and the living ; and the plague was 49 stayed. Now they that died by the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, besides 50 them that died about the matter of Korah. And Aaron returned unto Moses unto the door of the tent of meeting : and the plague was stayed. 17 1, 2 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and take of them rods, one for each fathers' house, of all their princes according to their fathers' 3 houses, twelve rods : write thou every man's name upon his rod. And thou shalt write Aaron's name upon the rod of Levi : for there shall be one rod for each head of their fathers' houses. 4 And thou shalt lay them up in the tent of meeting before the testimony, where I meet with 5 you. And it shall come to pass, that the man whom I shall choose, his rod shall bud : and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur 6 against you. And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, and all their princes gave him rods, for each prince one, according to their fathers' houses, even twelve rods : and the rod of 7 Aaron was among their rods. And Moses laid up the rods before the LORD in the tent of the 8 testimony. And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses went into the tent of the testi- mony ; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and put forth buds, 9 and bloomed blossoms, and bare ripe almonds. And Moses brought out all the rods from before the LORD unto all the children of Israel : and they looked, and took every man his rod. 10 And the LORD said unto Moses, Put back the rod of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept for a token against the children of rebellion ; that thou mayest make an end of their murmur- 11 ings against me, that they die not. Thus did Moses : as the LORD commanded him, so did he. 12 And the children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we perish, we are undone, 13 we are all undone. Every one that cometh near, that cometh near unto the tabernacle of the LORD, dieth : shall we perish all of us ? After Moses' nearest kinsmen had risen up against him, the same rebellious spirit seizes on the Levitical tribe, to which Moses and Aaron themselves belonged, and which was entrusted with the highest service in sacred things. The nearer they stood to the priesthood, so much the more did they feel their distance from it. With them distinguished men out of the tribe of Reuben ally themselves, probably in order to assert the natural right of primogeniture in op- position to God's election, both in respect to Levi and to Judah. Moses' behavior here is the same as ever. We see him, as in the former outbreaks, firm and dauntless, full of holy anger against the godless sinners, full of intercession and love for the thankless covenant people of God. And the punishment inflicted by God justifies and attests his authority afresh, while it shows most clearly the hopeless corruption of that generation of Israelites. Gerl. We find him first on his face before the Lord (verse 4), and then, without the slightest assertion of authority, leaving the whole matter in dispute to the Lord's decision (verse 5), while at the same time he gave the leaders to under- stand that he recognized the selfish motives which really inspired the rebellion (verses 8-11). And then, when the decision was given and the judgment of God was about to fall (verse 21), again we find him on his face before the Lord, pleading with all the earnestness of his mighty nature for the people whom he loved so much, in spite of all their ingratitude and sin, and anon making atonement for them, until the plague was stayed. As the matter in dispute had been the right of Aaron and his family to a priesthood distinct from that of the entire na- tion, care was taken, after the excitement of the conspiracy and the judgment which followed had calmed down, to give such a testimony to the Divine right of the Aaronic priesthood as should set the matter forever at rest. Hence the proceeding recorded in the seventeenth chapter. J. M. G. The date of the transaction contained in it cannot be determined, but verses 13, 14 probably point to a period not much later than that of the rebellion at Kadesh. Espin.—Korah was one of the chiefs of the family of Kohath, which was specially employed to carry the ark and furniture of the holy of holies, though not permitted to look into them. They were therefore, among the Levites, the next in sacredness of function to Aaron and his sons, and may therefore the more readily have formed a scheme to contest with Aaron his exclusive right to the high-priesthood. Dathan, Abiram, and On, were chiefs of the tribe of Reuben, the first-born of the sons of Jacob; and may therefore have conceived themselves better entitled than Moses to pre-eminence in temporal power. Graves.—On is not again mentioned. He probably withdrew from the conspiracy. These three were Reubenites; and were probably discontented because the birthright had been taken away from their ancestor, and with it the primacy of their own tribe among the tribes of Israel. Espin. We discover two interests at work—one against the sacerdotal and the other against the political power and pre-eminence—and we find the two coalescing to produce the objects sought by both. We do not discover that they desired to disturb the institutions as established; but that they aspired to take to themselves the power which these institutions gave to others. Kit. It is mentioned incidentally (Nu. 3 : 20) that “the families of the sons of Kohath were to pitch on the side of the tabernacle southward.” And we read no less incidentally (2 : 10), “on the south side (of the tabernacle) shall be the standard of the camp of Reuben, according to their armies.” The family of Kohath, therefore, and the family of Reuben, both pitched on the same side of the tabernacle—they were neighbors, and were therefore conveniently situated for taking secret counsel together. Blunt. 3. Every word of this speech was a falsehood. Instead of “lifting himself up,” Moses humbled himself, “Who am I?” It was God who lifted him up over Israel. And Israel was as “holy” as Moses was ambitious. What holiness was there in so much infidelity, fear, idolatry, mutiny, disobedience? What could make them unclean, if this were holiness? They were still fresh from their last obstinacy; and yet these flatterers say, “All Israel is holy.” 6,7. There cannot be conceived an honor less worth emulation than this principality of Israel; a people that could give nothing; a people that had nothing, but in hope; a people whom their leader was fain to feed with bread and water; which paid him no tribute but of ill words; whose command was nothing but a burden; and yet this dignity was an eye-sore to these Levites and these Reubenites, “Ye take too much upon you, ye sons of Levi.” And this challenge, though thus unseasonable, hath drawn in two hundred and fifty captains of Israel. What wonder is it, that the ten rulers prevailed so much with the multitude to dissuade them from Canaan, when three traitors prevailed thus with two hundred and fifty rulers, “famous in the congregation, and men of renown”? Bp. H. 9-11. Neither of these brothers had been desirous of office, and the places which they filled had not been taken by them of their own motive. Moses had not seized upon authority as a usurper. He had been called to his post by Jehovah, who had given him credentials, in miracles and signs, such as no impostor could fabricate and no enemy could gainsay. In like manner, Aaron had not taken his office upon himself; he, too, had been “called of God,” who had commanded him to be consecrated by peculiar services to his work. It was the prerogative of Jehovah to appoint his priest and to designate his magisterial representative. The people, according to their own covenant obligations, had no option but to accept them both. They had been taken out from the nations and elected to certain great privileges; and in connection with their acceptance of that position they had taken Jehovah to be their King. But his royalty was a reality. It placed them under his authority; it bound them to respect his laws, to obey his legate, and to approach him in worship through his appointed priest. Therefore, this conspiracy to overthrow Moses and depose Aaron was worse than any political plot, because it was rebellion against God, who was not only the fountain of law among the people, but also the object of their worship. W. M. T. 13,14. Moses is accused of injustice, cruelty, falsehood, treachery, usurpation; and Egypt itself must be commended, rather than Moses shall want reproach. Innocency is no shelter from ill tongues; malice never regards how true any accusation is, but how spiteful. Bp. H. 15. He begs of God to plead his cause. Lord, says he, Respect not thou their offering. Wherein he seems to refer to the history of Cain lately written by his own hand, of whom it is said that to him and his offering God had not respect (Gen. 4 : 5). These that followed the gainsaying of Korah, walked in the way of Cain (these are put together, Jude 11), and therefore he prays that they might be frowned upon as Cain was and put to the same confusion. H. —He went to God with everything, and he waited for God's vindication. He was conscious of integrity. He could take God to witness that "he had not taken an ass from one of them, or injured any of them." And strong in the knowledge of his own rectitude, he left the whole matter in God's hands. So if we are in the right, and men assail us, let us calmly appeal to God, and bide his time. W. M. T. 18. And they took every man his censor.** The sacred incense-offering was calculated to inspire with alarm, especially after so memorable an example had been made in the case of Nadab and Abihu. How greatly they were blinded by pride, since, although admonished both by the confidence of Moses and also by the previous examples, they still obstinately go forward! Moses narrates how ostentatiously Korah hardened himself in his rebellion, before he should offer the incense; for he gathered the people together to his party, in order that the magnificence of his array might overwhelm the grace of God, which opposed him. Calv. The glory of the Lord appeared (verse 19). The same glory that appeared to install Aaron in his office at first, now appeared to confirm him in it, and to confound those that oppose him, and set up themselves in competition with him. The Shekinah, or Divine Majesty, the glory of the Eternal Word, which ordinarily dwelt between the cherubim within the veil, now was publicly seen over the door of the tabernacle, to the terror of the whole congregation. H. Korah kindled the fire; the two hundred and fifty captains brought sticks to it; all Israel warmed themselves by it; only the incendiaries perish. Now do the Israelites owe their life to them, whose death they intended. God and Moses knew to distinguish betwixt the heads of the faction and the train; though neither be faultless, yet the one is plagued, the other forgiven. God's vengeance, when it is at the hottest, makes differences of men; "Get you away from about the tabernacles of Korah." Ever before common judgment there is a separation. In the universal judgment of all the earth, the Judge himself will separate; in these particular executions, we must separate ourselves. The society of wicked men, especially in their sins, is mortally dangerous; while we will not be parted, how can we complain if we be enwrapped in their condemnation? Bp. II. 28-30. From the beginning of the world unto this day, no man ever made so bold and noble an assertion of Divine approval, or subjected his claims, in the presence of a nation, to a test so immediate and so infallible. But the response to this awful appeal was not for a moment delayed. The earth did open; and Dathan and Abiram—they, their tents, and all they had, went down, and the earth closed over them—they were seen no more. At the same moment a fire went forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote down with instant death the men with their censers at the door of the tabernacle—in number two hundred and fifty. Thus both branches of the great conspiracy were at once extinguished by a judgment most signal, immediate, and miraculous. Kit. 31-33,35. Korah and his company who dared to intrude themselves on the priestly office were destroyed by fire from the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the Lord; the Reubenites, who had reviled Moses for the failure of the promises about the pleasant land, were suddenly engulfed while standing at their own tent doors in the barren wilderness. We read (Nu. 26:11), "The children of Korah died not," but all belonging to him who had associated themselves with him in this rebellion. Espin. —It is an emphatic testimony alike to the truth of God's declaration, that he punisheth not men for the sins of their fathers, and to the piety of the Levites, that the sons of Korah did not share in the rebellion of their father, and consequently died not with him. More than this, not only were Samuel and afterward Heman descendants of Korah, but among them were some of those "sweet singers of Israel," whose hymns, divinely inspired, were intended for the Church at all times. And all the Psalms "of the sons of Korah" have this common characteristic, which sounds like an echo of the lesson learned from the solemn judgment upon their house, that their burden is praise of the King who is enthroned at Jerusalem, and longing after the services of God's sanctuary. A. E. 36-40. God would have the Israelites keep up the memory of these things, and learn from this sad example, to have due regard to them whom he chose to minister in holy things. And to this purpose he commands that plates should be made of the censers of the rebels for the altar of burnt-offering, that so there might remain a memorial of this fatal rebellion in the view of the people. He caused also Aaron's rod to flourish, and to be preserved as a token against the rebels. Kidder. 41-50. It seems almost incredible that after such a scene of holy judgment on guilty rebels and of such consternation upon the whole people, we read that on the morrow all the congregation murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying, "Ye have killed the people of the Lord." This, although their prayer had saved the masses of the people (verse 22); this, although the hand of God only and of no mortal man had wrought their destruction; this, although they had seen the whole transaction and fled in horror lest God swallow them up also! It should not surprise us that the wrath of the Lord broke forth against them and the plague began. Moses cried to Aaron to take a censer with incense (the symbol of prayer) and run in among the people, waving his censer between the living and the dead. Only so was the plague stayed. Yet fourteen thousand seven hundred fell in that fearful judgment. We are simply amazed at the perverseness and folly of many of that Hebrew people. "How often" and with what strange infatuation "did they provoke their God in the wilderness and grieve him in the desert" (Ps. 78:40)! H. C. 46,47. This dark picture of men insulting God, even with his recognized presence among them and in spite of his amazing goodness toward them, because he has been, as it were, compelled to punish treason against his authority, is but the life-likeness of what is going on every day around us. Hence the apostle, reciting these events, admonishes: "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief." Ordinarily incense could be offered only at the tabernacle, in the sanctuary, on the golden altar, but in this extraordinary emergency Aaron is sent into the camp, where the death arrows are flying. The Lord could, in answer to their prayers, have stayed the plague without any ritual; but it is all important to demonstrate to these rebellious scoffers, who have assailed his ministers, that it is through the intercession of the very men whom they have injured that their lives are spared, and that their high-priest was acting in his sacred office under Jehovah's appointment, and by his direction. Aaron is as full of anxiety as his brother. Instantly—for he knew that every moment was adding fearfully to the numbers of the dead—he runs with his censer into the crowded camp. He interposed himself between the infected and uninfected parts of the camp, exposing himself to the ravages of the plague in behalf of his people. Bishop Hall remarks on this phrase: "As one that would part a fray, he thrusts himself under the strokes of God, and puts it to the choice of the revenger whether he will smite him or forbear the rest; he stands boldly between the living and the dead, as one that will either die with them or have them to live with him; the sight of fourteen thousand carcasses dismayed him not; he that before feared the threats of the people now fears not the strokes of God." Beautifully does Aaron here typify the love of Jesus, our great High-Priest and Intercessor, who, though it must cost him his life and infinite agony, interposed between the living and the dead to make atonement for us. S. R. If Aaron's sacrifice were thus accepted, how much more shall the High-Priest of the New Testament, by interposing himself to the wrath of his Father, deliver the offenders from death! The plague was entered upon all the sons of men: O Saviour, thou stoodst betwixt the living and the dead, that all which believe in thee should not perish. Aaron offered and was not stricken; but thou, O Redeemer, wouldst offer and be struck that by thy stripes we might be healed; so stoodst thou betwixt the dead and living that thou wert both alive and dead; and all this that we, when we were dead, might live forever. Bp. H. It was the intercession of Moses and Aaron which saved the people; but it was necessary that the power of this mediation should be made manifest in the eyes of the people by a visible sign, and thereby the truth declared. The same burning of incense which in the hands of him who is not a priest brings death, gives life in the priest's own hands. It was also intended that the people should receive an impression of the greatness of Aaron's loving devotion by his placing himself between the living and the dead. Geri — Further, by the destructive results that followed the attempt of Korah and his company to intrude into the priest's office and burn incense before the Lord—as contrasted with the beneficent effects of Aaron's approach with his censer unto Jehovah when the plague was stayed—the divine and indefeasible right of Aaron to the priesthood is conclusively established. W. M. T. #### Aaron's Red that Blossomed. 17:1-13. In order to cut off forever the disposition to revolt against the lawful priesthood, the Lord was pleased to follow up what he had done to Korah and his two hundred and fifty men and immediately after to fourteen thousand seven hundred of the rebels, with an additional sign, and to settle by a Divine election whom he had called to serve him in his sanctuary. From the head of every tribe Moses was to take an almond-rod inscribed with the name of the tribe, and add as the thirteenth one for the family of Aaron with his name also written upon it, and to bring them all before the Lord into the tabernacle, while He made this Divine intimation to the people: "The man's rod, whom I shall choose, shall blossom; that I may make to cease the murmurings of the children of Israel." Moses did as he was told; and on the morrow he brought all the rods unto the children of Israel from the tabernacle, and they saw and were convinced that one of the rods had put forth leaves and blossoms and almonds. This one was the rod of Aaron. Thus did the Lord declare by a new miracle to whom he was pleased to impart of his vital Spirit and whom the people were to recognize as their rightful mediator. As a token of this and a warning against the murmuring of the people, Aaron's rod that blossomed was to be preserved in the sanctuary and in the Ark of the Covenant (Heb. 9:4, 5). C. G. B. The priesthood was to be confirmed to Aaron not only by the destruction of those who had presumed to take it, but also by a miracle, which signified in a beautiful manner the holy fulness of life which God vouchsafed to this order of men, and so an abiding memorial of it (as well as of Korah's punishment) might be preserved. Gerl. 8. And it came to pass, that on the morrow. Not without cause the time is notified, for by no skill could it be brought about that a rod should blossom in the lapse of a single night. Again, all suspicion of fraud was removed by the fact that Moses departed when he had placed the rods in the sanctuary, and returning on the next day brought out the bundle of rods before them all. Culv. 10. Commonly, those fruits which are soon ripe soon wither; but these almonds of Aaron's rod are not more early than lasting; the same hand which brought them out before their time, preserved them beyond their time; and for perpetual memory both rod and fruit must be kept in the ark of God. The tables of Moses, the rod of Aaron, the manna of God, are monuments fit for so holy a shrine. All times shall see and wonder how his ancient Church was fed, taught, ruled. Moses's rod did great miracles, yet I find it not in the ark. The rod of Aaron hath this privilege, because it carried the miracle still in itself; whereas the wonders of that other rod were passed. Those monuments would God have continued in his Church, which carry in them the most manifest evidences of that which they import. Bp. H. Read the Pentateuch without asking minor questions; read it as a whole, and then ask what are the impressions it makes upon the mind; and the first impression will be that God is near, direct in his communication, interested in every action, holding every man of value; that God is Critic of all time, Judge of all action, never afraid after having blessed the world to drown it, to burn it, for human wickedness may be greater than Divine blessing. In the Pentateuch we are struck with the fact that though hand join in hand the wicked shall not go unpunished. "Be sure your sin will find you out." There is more water in the clouds, there is more fire in the throne of God; and God will not hesitate to drown the world or to burn the universe, if so be that man's sin exceed God's grace. J. P. In the world there is not a greater misery can happen to any man than to be an enemy to God's Church. All histories of Christendom and the whole Book of God have sad records and sad stories and sad threatenings of Korah, Doeg, and Balaam, of Jeroboam, Uzzah, and Ananias and Sapphira, of Julian, and of heretics, schismatics, and sacrilegious; and after all these men could not prevail finally, but paid for the mischief they did; they ended their days in dishonor, and left nothing behind them but the memory of their sin and the record of their curse. Bp. Taylor. THE HOST GATHERS AT KADESH-BARNEA FOR FINAL DEPARTURE. REBELLIOUS MURMURING OF THE NEW GENERATION. SIN OF MOSES AT THE ROCK IN KADESH; ITS PUNISHMENT ANNOUNCED. All the sons of Aaron formed the order of the PRIESTS. They stood between the high priest on the one hand and the Levites on the other. The dress which they wore during their ministrations consisted of linen drawers, with a close-diting cassock, also of linen, white. This came nearly to the feet, and was to be worn in its garment shape. The white cassock was gathered round the body with a girdle of needle-work, into which, as in the more gorgeous belt of the high priest, blue, purple, and scarlet were intermingled with white, and worked in the form of flowers. Upon their heads they were to wear caps or bonnets in the form of a cup-shaped flower, also of fine linen. In all their acts of ministration they were to be bare-footed. P. S.—Their's was the business of sacrificing, in all its rites, in all offerings upon the altar of burnt-offerings. The government and ordering of the sanctuary lay upon them. They kept the table of shew-bread properly supplied; they attended to the lamps of the golden candelabrum every morning; at the same time they burned the daily incense. It was their duty to keep up the fire upon the brazen altar, that the fire originally kindled from heaven might never be extinguished. It was their office to make the holy anointing oil; and theirs to blow the silver trumpets at the solemn feasts and before the ark at its removals. Bush. The priests were middle-men; they had an exceptional privilege of Divine approach; they represented God to man, and man to God. Every sacrifice presented through the priest was presented to Jehovah by the appointed medium of legal access. Cave.—When the priest received the sacrifice for the altar at the hand of the worshipper in the court, he acted as the representative of God; but when he entered the holy place, it was as the representative of the people. Personally, the priests were in no better position in things pertaining to God than the rest of the people; only in their official capacity as representatives of the entire congregation they entered the tabernacle. And accordingly they dare not enter it except in certain vestments and after certain ceremonies, which were all intended to invest with a symbolic holiness those who should as representatives of Israel enter the holy place. So that, when the congregation of Israel saw a priest, clothed in white robes, after offering a sacrifice on the altar and washing hands and feet at the laver before the door, entering the holy place, where were the table and the candlestick and the golden altar, they were taught the precious truth that there was a way open for them, through sacrifice and by washing, of entering with the white robes of holiness into the presence of the Most High, there to sit at his table, rejoice in his light, and worship at his altar. J. M. G. When, conscious of some trespass, a Hebrew took his offering to the altar, the priest could not refuse to present it. That priest was "ordained for men in things pertaining to God," and on very purpose to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. Nor was it a reason for declining to interpose that the man was poor, or unacquainted with the ritual, or that he was a great transgressor. The worse he was and the more ignorant, the greater his need of the priest's ministry. So our great High Priest knows not any kind of guilt for which an expiation was not rendered when once for all he offered up himself, and there is no sinner of Adam's family whom he does not deem entitled to plead the power of that atonement, and whom he does not make welcome to all the services which his mediatorial enthronement can render and his irresistible intercession can procure. Hamilton.—He who is the Mediator is also the High Priest of his people; and while partaker of flesh and blood like the brethren, yet being the Holy One of God, He needed no offerings and ablutions to consecrate him to the office of priesthood. He had, in the constitution of his person, everything that could be desired to render him the proper Head and High Priest of his people. As the beloved Son of God, he has at all times free access to the presence of the Father, and in whatever he asks must also have power as a prince to prevail. As the representative of his people, and one in nature with themselves, they can at all times make known with confidence to him the sins and sorrows of their condition, and recognizing what is his as also theirs can rise with filial boldness to realize their near relationship to God, and their full participation in the favor and blessing of heaven. The Priesthood the Appointed Teachers of the People (Lev. 10 : 11). It was not the sole end of the appointment of the priesthood to represent the people in the sanctuary, and mediate between them and God in holy things. It belonged also to their office to secure the diffusion among the people of sound knowledge and instruction; so that there might be a right understanding among the people of the nature of God's service, and a fitness for entering in spirit into its duties, while the priests were personally employed in discharging them. A certain amount of such knowledge was necessary, in order that the people might be disposed to bring their gifts and offerings at suitable times; and a still greater, that, in the presentation of these by the hand of the priests, they might be blessed as acceptable worshippers. With the oversight of this, therefore, so nearly connected with their sacred employments about the tabernacle, the priesthood were charged: "And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses" (Lev. 10:11). So again in De. 33:10, "They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy Law." The words of Malachi (2:7) also are express on this point: "For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the Law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts." P. F. Nu. 18:1. Thou and thy sons shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary. They must be answerable for its legal pollutions, and make the necessary atonements and expiations. Though they had a high office, yet it was a place of the highest responsibility; and they must not be high-minded, but fear. A. C.—God would have the sanctuary kept clear from every stain and defect. The priests were set over the holy things as guardians. If anything were done amiss they were to be exposed to punishment, because the blame rested on them. This may be properly applied to all pastors, to whom blame is justly imputed if religion and the holiness of God's worship be corrupted, if purity of doctrine impaired, if the welfare of the people endangered, since the care of all these things is intrusted to them. Calv. Charges Respecting Ceremonial Defilement, Bodily Unfitness, and Cleansing (Lev. 21: 1-24; 22: 1-9). Chapter twenty-one contains two brief communications addressed to Moses for Aaron and his sons. The first refers to the sanctity to be maintained by the priests in their personal relations to others, and consists of two parts; the first applying to the priests in general (1-9); the second to the high-priest in particular (10-15). The second communication refers to the personal qualities of the priests (16-24). M. 1-15. Certain restrictions of an external kind were laid upon the priests, as to avoiding occasions of bodily defilement; such as contact with the dead, excepting in cases of nearest relationship; cutting and disfiguring the hair of the beard, as in times of mourning; marrying a person of bad fame, or one that had been divorced. And the high-priest, as being in his own person the most sacred, was still further restricted, so that he was not to defile himself even for his father or mother, and should marry only a virgin. These observances were enjoined as palpable symbols of the holiness in social life, which became those who stood so near to the Holy One of Israel. P. F.—Special purity became those who represented the person of Christ. It seems as if God here gave precepts respecting small and unimportant things; but the legal rites were steps by which the Israelites might ascend to the study of true holiness. The use of the ancient shadows under the Law must be estimated by their end. Calv.—These regulations have for their object to keep inviolate the sacredness and respectability of the priesthood. And their obvious moral is that still the ministers of religion should study to signalize themselves by the superior virtue and holiness of their lives. T. C. As the whole people—in bodily purity, in the avoiding of all pollution, in the sexual relations, or through touching the dead—were continually reminded of sin and exhorted to inward holiness; so was the priestly order, and among them the high-priest, to be distinguished from all the people by higher requirements, to a more perfect separation from all that was defiling, either actually or figuratively, and also by outward faultlessness. The requirement of bodily cleanliness from the priest was not simply out of a sense of propriety, but contained likewise, as in the case of the sacrifices, a deeper symbolical meaning. There was to be nothing of a bodily kind in the servants of the Lord, which by its unseemliness could remind them of the kingdom of sin, from which all evil, as well as death, had its origin. Gerl.—The special ministers of the Most High were to keep themselves at a distance from everything that savored in the least of uncleanness in the estimation of the people, lest they should countenance that which they were set apart to prevent. Bush. God requires cheerfulness in his service, especially under the Gospel, where he sits upon a throne of grace, and acts the covenant of grace and the sweet relation of a Father. The priests of old were not to sully themselves with any sorrow when they were in the exercise of their functions. Indeed, there is no Christian duty but is to be set off and seasoned with cheerfulness. Charnock. 2. But for his kin that is near unto him. Defilement was contracted by coming into a tent or house where a dead body lay, or by touching or bearing the dead. The rule here laid down constitutes an exception to the general statute. It would have been an extreme privation for one of the priestly order to have been prohibited from paying the last offices of affection to a parent, a child, a brother, or sister. It is a beautiful exemplification of the great principle that God would "have mercy and not sacrifice," where the claims of both came in competition. 6. They shall not make baldness. This was enacted that they might not adopt the customs of the heathen. In Lev. 19:28 this is made a general law, not peculiar to the priests. 6. Heb. The fire (offerings) of Jehovah, (even) the food of their God. Thus by a bold figure are the sacrificial offerings denominated which were devoured by fire to the honor of God; and nothing could be said tending to give a higher idea of their office, or consequently to impose upon them more solemnly the duty of an exemplary sanctity in all their deportment. 8. Thou shalt sanctify him therefore. That is, thou, Israel, shalt hold and repute him as holy, and shalt do all in thy power to keep up the sacred estimation in which for his office s sake he is held. Bush. 9. She shall be burned with fire. It seems very doubtful whether this and other texts of the same import in the early books of the Old Testament express the punishment of burning alive, or of the ignominious burning of the body after execution. In Josh. 7:15 it is declared that the unknown person who had taken of the accursed thing should be "burned with fire;" and when the man was discovered, we find this intention executed not by burning him alive, but by stoning him first and then burning his remains. Kit. 13. As the high-priest was a type of Christ, his wife, who was to be a virgin, was a type of the Church; wherefore the apostle says (2 Cor 11:2), "I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you a chaste virgin to Christ." 15. He shall not render his sons unfit for the priesthood by marrying contrary to the rules above laid down. For I the Lord do sanctify him—that is, have separated him to my service. Bush. Bodily Defects Disqualifying for the Priesthood. Verses 16-24. There were personal marks and distinctions of a bodily kind, the possession of which was necessary to qualify any one for the priesthood, and the absence of which was to prove an utter disqualification. These, when not possessed, bespoke his rejection of God in the peculiar sense required for the priestly office. Such were all kinds of bodily defects; it was declared a profanation of the altar or the sanctuary for any one to draw near in whom they appeared. For completeness of bodily parts is to the body what holiness is to the soul. To the acquirement or the promotion of this holiness as the perfection of man's spiritual nature, the whole of the Mosaic institutions were bent. And as signs and witnesses to Israel concerning it, those who occupied the high position of being at once God's and the people's representatives must bear upon their persons that external symbol of the spiritual perfection required of them. P. F.—A further reason is to be found in the fact, that the priests, both in their persons and their work, were types of him who was the "Lamb without blemish and without spot," holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. Bush. Further Directions Respecting the Ministrations of the Priests (Lev. 22:1-9). 2. The precept has respect to such of the priests as were ceremonially unclean. During the time that this uncleanness was upon them they were to abstain from eating the holy things which ordinarily belonged to the priests. 3-9. The priest thus rendered unclean was to remain like other Israelites in a state of separation for a day—i.e., till sunset, and be incapable of all priestly offices and privileges till he had washed his clothes and his body, and this under the penalty of "bearing sin," or suffering condign punishment by being cut off by the immediate hand of God, as a bold profaner of his service. Bush. Strangers, Sojourners, and Hired Servants Interdicted from Eating the Holy Things (Lev. 22:10-16). Nu. 18 : 21. All the tenth in Israel. The dedication of the tithe had been handed down from patriarchal times. Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek : Jacob had promised the tithe of all wherewith God blessed him if he should return in peace to his father's house. But now first the Lord's tithes are assigned to the Levites for their support. Espin.—God would have them receive tithes from the rest of the people, because they had no part in Israel, and because they were engaged in the service of the tabernacle. God, who as their King laid claim to the tithes as his own right, resigns them to the Levites and appoints them to be his representatives. To this the words, "I am thine inheritance," refer. Calv. Their maintenance was such as left them altogether d sentangled from the affairs of this life; they had no grounds to occupy, no land to till, no vineyards to dress, no cattle to tend, no visible estate to take care of, and yet had a plentiful income. Thus God ordered it. That they might be the more entirely addicted to their ministry, and not diverted from it by any worldly care or business: the ministry requires a whole man. That they might be examples of living by faith, not only in God's Providence but in his ordinance. They lived from hand to mouth that they might learn to take no thought for the morrow; and they had no estates to leave their children that they might by faith leave them to the care of that God who had fed them all their lives long. H. De. 18:1, 2. The priests the Levites, and all the tribe of Levi. It is here made apparent that the difference between the priests and Levites was quite understood by the writer of Deuteronomy. Espin.—That, moreover, such distinction was actually designed here is proven by the context. In verses 3-5, where the maintenance of the priests is under consideration, they are spoken of apart from their tribal brethren, the Levites. Subsequently (verses 6-8) the case is exactly reversed, the Levites being spoken of to the exclusion of the priests. The passage, so far from helping the hypothesis of Kuenen, when correctly quoted offers a fatal objection to it. E. C. B. No portion nor inheritance with Israel. God shows that there was no reason why the Israelites should be aggrieved at paying tithes to the Levites, and at remitting the first-fruits and other oblations to the priests, since this tribe was deprived of their inheritance. Calv.—Three considerations the Levites rendered to the rest of the Israelites for whatever they received from them. (1) The tribe of Levi gave up to the other tribes their whole share of the promised land, except so much as was sufficient to afford them a place of habitation. (2) They parted with the right of an independent government such as the other tribes enjoyed, and completely sunk their political existence. (3) They gave up themselves to the national service, as ministers of religion, ministers of State, magistrates, teachers of the people, and literati of all the faculties; services the most laborious, responsible, and useful to the commonwealth. For all this they received a simple annuity, liberal it may be but depending solely upon the national faith for its payment, while they divested themselves of all power of re-entry in case of non-payment. Let the benefits surrendered and the services performed be weighed in just balances, and the rent-roll of the tribe of Levi will appear rather below than above the demands of reason and justice. E. C. W. Nu. 18:21. This law, it is alleged, differs so both in content and character from De. 14:22-29 that it cannot be supposed that Moses could have enacted both; and as the enactment in Numbers is undoubtedly the original, that in Deuteronomy must belong to a later age (Bleek). That these two laws differ from each other is indisputable, and the difference is such that, supposing them to relate to the same object, there is no possibility of harmonizing them; the one must exclude the other. But it is conceivable that Moses, after enacting the general law of tithes as a provision for the Levites, should, in the prospect of the people settling in a rich and fertile land where the produce of their possessions would be great, prescribe the giving of an additional tithe, to be devoted to sacred festivity and for the benefit of the poor and needy, in which benefit the Levite was to share. That such an additional tithe was actually made and rendered by the Israelites in Palestine, appears certain from the testimony of the Talmudists and Josephus. There seems no doubt as to the existence of a second tithe among the Jews. What is called the "third tithe" (Josephus) was only "this second tithe converted into the poor tithe, to be given to and consumed by the poor at home" (Ginsburg). This being the case, we are justified in regarding the Law in Deuteronomy as an additional prescription for the benefit of the Levites, who as a tribe were without possessions in the land, as well as for the poor and destitute. As both laws were apparently in operation at a late period, the one obviously does not abrogate or exclude the other, and therefore there is no reason why both should not have been appointed by Moses. W. L. A. Position, Office, and Work of the Levites. Washing with water, sprinkling with blood, and anointing with oil have thus far been indicated as the means of ceremonial purification from defilement. In exclusive connection with uncleanness from personal association with death, there is here introduced as a special ordinance a new and peculiar means of purification. The ordinance (respecting the red heifer) is first recited, and its uses subsequently referred to. B. The ordinance regarding the red heifer had respect to actual defilements arising from personal contact with the dead, such as the touching of a dead body, or dwelling in a tent where death had entered, or lighting on the bone of a dead man, or having to do with a grave in which a corpse had been deposited. In such cases a bodily uncleanness was contracted, which lasted seven days, and even then could not be removed but by a very peculiar element of cleansing—viz., the application of the ashes, mixed with water, of the body of a heifer, red-colored, without blemish, unaccustomed to the yoke, burned without the camp, and with cedar-wood, hyssop, and scarlet cast into the midst of the burning. The rite respecting the red heifer presents in bold relief what was one grand design of the Law's observances—the bringing of sin to remembrance, and teaching the necessity of men's being purified from its pollution. It is true there was no actual sin in simply touching a dead body, or being in the place where such a body lay. In the case of ordinary persons it was even a matter of duty to defile one's self in connection with the death of near relatives. But as the corporeal relations were here made the signs and interpreters of the spiritual, there was, in such cases, the coming, on the part of the living body, into contact with what bore on it the awful mark and impress of sin—a breathing of the polluted atmosphere of corruption, most alien to the region where Jehovah has his peculiar dwelling, and which corruption cannot inherit. Therefore, in a symbolical religion like the Mosaic, the neighborhood or touch of a dead body was most fitly regarded as forming an interruption to the intercourse between God and his people. It placed them in a condition of external unfitness for approaching the sanctuary of his presence and glory, or even for having freedom to go out and in among the living in Jerusalem. It was not an ordinance for purging away the guilt of actual sin, but the means of purification from a merely external contact with the consequences of transgression, a symbolical ordinance of cleansing a symbolical defilement. And the bearing of the whole on Christian times, with respect to the higher work of Christ, is so plainly and distinctly intimated in the Epistle to the Hebrews, that there is no need for any further comment: "If the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctified to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God! Whoever looks with this view to the ordinance, will see in it the perfect purity and completeness of Christ's character, the corrupt and loathsome nature of that for which he died, and the sole as well as perfect efficacy of his blood, so that he who has not this applied to his conscience must inevitably perish. P. F. 2-10. The two marks of the sin-offering here meet—that it must be in and for itself clean—but becomes unclean through the sin laid upon it. The heifer, therefore, must be clean and without blemish in itself; but all is impure which has to do with the act of sacrifice—i.e., with the laying on of sin upon it, with the whole process of purification: only when all is accomplished which is to serve for the purification does the water of sprinkling defile no more. Then is sin and death overcome by the Divine power of life. In all this may we easily perceive a type of the true offering for sin (Heb. 9:13; 2 Cor. 5:21). Gerl. But why did the Law make a dead corpse such a defiling thing? (1) Because death is the wages of sin, entered into the world by it, and reigns by the power of it. Death to mankind is another thing from what it is to other creatures. It is a curse, it is the execution of the Law, and therefore the defilement of death signifies the defilement of sin. (2) Because the Law could not conquer death nor abolish it and alter the property of it, as the Gospel does by bringing life and immortality to light and so introducing a better hope. Since our Redeemer was dead and buried death is no more destroying to the Israel of God, and therefore dead bodies are no more defiling; but while the Church was under the Law, to show that it made not the comers thereunto perfect, the pollution contracted by dead bodies could not but form in their minds melancholy and uncomfortable notions concerning death, while believers now through Christ can triumph over it. O grave, where is thy victory? Where is thy pollution? H. No. 20 1 And the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month: and the people abode in Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was 2 buried there. And there was no water for the congregation: and they assembled themselves 3 together against Moses and against Aaron. And the people strove with Moses, and spake, 4 saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the LORD! And why have ye brought the assembly of the LORD into this wilderness, that we should die there, we 5 and our cattle? And wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in unto this evil place? it is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is 6 there any water to drink. And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tent of meeting, and fell upon their faces: and the glory of the LORD 7 appeared unto them. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Take the rod, and assemble 8 the congregation, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes, that it give forth its water; and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou 9 shalt give the congregation and their cattle drink. And Moses took the rod from before the 10 LORD, as he commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; shall we bring you forth water out of 11 this rock? And Moses lifted up his hand, and smote the rock with his rod twice: and water 12 came forth abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their cattle. And the LORD said unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed not in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the chil- dren of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given 13 them. These are the waters of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified in them. I. The whole congregation . . . in Kadesh. At the close of the long period of wandering to which the people were condemned, this chapter introduces us at once to the transac- tions belonging to the second encampment at Kadesh in the fortieth year after the Exodus, "in the first month." Espin.—The events of history beginning with Nu. 20 fall within the last of the forty years of wandering. This date is obtained indirectly from the death of Aaron, which is recorded at the close of this chapter (verses 22-29), and was connected with its events. H. C.—The twentieth of Numbers is one of the saddest chapters in the book. It be- gins with the death of her who had been the leader in the song of victory on the shores of the Red Sea. It ends with the death of him who had so long been the honored representative of Israel in the holy and the most holy place. And, between the two, we have the old story of murmuring on the part of the people, and mercy on the part of God, but with this sad ad- dition, that Moses himself has a fall—a fall so serious that it leads to his own, as well as Aaron's exclusion from the land of promise. J. M. G. A new time begins for Israel. At first the old rebellious and capricious spirit meets us; nay, even Moses and Aaron waver. Repeated dis- obedience brings fresh punishment after it. Nevertheless, these outbreaks are not of so bad a character as the former ones. A fresh, enter- prising spirit inspires the new generation, full as it is of hope, and destined to take possession of the promised land. The people march with eagerness to battle and to victory. Songs cele- brating their triumphant march are sung. These are collected in a book of the wars of the Lord, and the fulfilment of the great promise draws nigh. Gerl. Miriam died. The doom under which most of the old generation had by this time perished, now reached the house of Amram. MIRIAM, the elder sister of Moses and Aaron, died and was buried here. We have seen her as a young girl, watching the cradle of Moses, and aiding in his deliverance. She is spoken of as sharing in the sacred mission of her broth- ers. When she leads off the song of triumph on the shore of the Red Sea, she is expressly called "Miriam, the prophetess;" and the ground on which she and Aaron rebelled against Moses implies their possession of the prophetic gift: "Hath Jehovah spoken by Moses? Hath he not also spoken by us?" The delay of the march till she was free from the defilement of her leprosy proves her high consideration. Lastly, she bore the name of the mother of our Lord. Tradition makes her the wife of Hur and grandmother of the artist Bezaleel; and it is said that the mourning for her, as for her brothers, lasted thirty days. P. S. Rebellious Murmuring of the New Generation (verses 3-5). Israel was in Kadesh, or the Desert of Zin, the name applying probably to the whole district. So large a number of people gathered in one place would naturally soon suffer from want of water. That generation knew of the wonders of the Lord chiefly by the hearing of the ear, but of his judgments by what they had seen of death sweeping away all who had come out of Egypt. It now seemed as if the prospect be- fore them were hopeless, and they destined to suffer the same fate as their fathers. Something of this unbelieving despair appears in their cry: "Would God that we had died when our brethren died before Jehovah"—that is, by Divine judgment during these years of wandering. The remembrance of the past with its disappointments seems to find expression in their complaints. It is as if they contrasted the stay of their nation in Egypt and the hopes awakened on leaving it, with the disappointment of seeing the good land almost within their grasp and then being turned back to die in the wilderness! And so the people broke forth in rebellion against Moses and against Aaron. A. E. They had grown so weary of the bread of heaven which God so mercifully provided; and they wanted something in addition—something, too, which was not absolutely necessary to their existence. When they murmured for water at Massah, they murmured for something welful. Their sin then was in murmur ing, instead of praying. But here they lusted for something unnecessary, and this was an aggravation of their sin. And thus the psalmist (78:17), evidently comparing this sin with the murmuring at Massah, says, "They sinned yet more against him." George Wagner.—This was a new generation; murmuring ran in the blood, yet the entail of the Divine favor was not cut off; but in this instance of it, the Divine patience shines as bright as the Divine favor. By repeated rebellions, they draw upon themselves new punishments. They were, however, a fresh generation, more pliant than the old, and not as yet so hardened; and, inasmuch as they had not exhausted the Divine patience like their fathers, they were more meet to enter upon the possession of the promised inheritance. C. G. B. The Direction of Jehovah and the Disobedience of Moses. Punishment Announced (verses 7-13). When the eventful moment came, Moses, instead of saying—Ye have sinned against the Lord your God, yet in his mercy he will give you rivers of water from this rock upon the word of command from his servant—said as in the record—"Hear now, ye rebels, must we fetch you water out of this rock?" In circumstances where man should be nothing and God all in all, it was one of the sad infirmities of the best of men to put himself so prominently forward and thrust the great God so ungratefully into the background. Then, moved by the same excited passion, instead of speaking to the rock he smote it with his rod, not once only but twice. Yet the Lord did not rebuke him with failure, but despite of his bad spirit gave forth water abundantly. The rebuke upon both Moses and Aaron came shortly after in the form of an absolute prohibition upon their entering the land of promise. They had so dishonored the Lord in this case at Kadesh that he must needs express his disapprobation by denying to both of them the long-desired consummation of entering the goodly land. If the Lord's rebuke of Moses seem severe, let it be considered that his sin was very great because he had been admitted into so near communion with God—such communion as had never been granted to any other man. If the guilt of sin be as the light sinned against, we are not likely to overestimate the guilt of his. The Lord speaks of it as rebellion (Nu. 27:14). And manifestly his sin was so public as well as so flagrant that it became vital to the honor of God's name and government to rebuke it unmistakably. H. C. The fact that he smote the rock impetuously, and smote it twice, is a part of the sin, inasmuch as this was the unmistakable effect of excitement caused by impatience and anger. It is evident from Ps. 106:32, 33, "they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips"—that the sin was not confined to the two passionate strokes, but embraced also his passionate words. And in the Divine sentence the fact is distinctly expressed that his actions and words evinced a temporary wavering of his faith: "Because, said Jehovah, ye believed me not (or did not place confidence in me), to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel." K. Remember what a critical time this was, when Israel was taking a new departure; and what special care he ought to have exercised at this juncture to have his testimony unclouded by any weakness or faithlessness. The responsibility of Moses's position was great at all times; but it was perhaps greatest of all at this particular time. This important element in the case must not be disregarded. But besides this, we cannot but notice that the impatience which he manifested at Kibroth-hattaavah was in the presence of the Lord himself, and not before the people—a very different thing. There, he was wrestling with God in private. Here, he is standing in the eye of all. Is there not some reference to this in the very words of the sentence: "Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them?" J. M. G. The Lord desires him to address the rock, but Moses speaks to Israel. God wishes him to speak a word to the inanimate stone, and Moses strikes it twice. The Lord himself elsewhere employs in reference to this sin the strong word rebellion; and that hard word is surely not too hard. Van O. His sin is characterized in ch. 20 : 12 by his “not believing God,” and in verse 24, and ch. 27 : 14, as a “rebelling against the Word of God.” Again, in De. 1 : 37 ; 3 : 26 ; 4 : 21, the punishment is said to have been laid on Moses “for their sakes,” or, as it should rather be, “because of their words.” The proper account of the matter seems to be this : Moses through their chiding lost command of himself, and did the work appointed, not as God’s messenger, in a spirit of faith and holiness, but in a state of carnal and passionate excitement, under the influence of that wrath which worketh not the righteousness of God. The punishment he received, it may seem, was peculiarly severe for such an offence : but it was designed to produce a salutary impression upon the people in regard to the evil of sin. And then, as Moses and Aaron were in the position of greatest nearness to God, and had it as their especial charge to represent God’s holiness to the people, even a comparatively small backsliding in them was of a serious nature, and required to be marked with some impressive token of the Lord’s displeasure. P. F. In a dispensation itself mainly gracious, and foreshadowing one which would be grace altogether, it was of prime importance that the mediating men should be men merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and slow to anger. And such they were in marvellous measure. The man Moses was exceeding meek, and if for patience and a sweet submissiveness the palm had been assigned to any one besides, it would have been to Aaron, his brother. But after all they were human. Their endurance was wonderful, but it was not inexhaustible ; and on this occasion, instead of hastening in betwixt an infatuated people and the God against whom they murmured, and crying, “Pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of thy mercy,” when it turned out that God had this time pardoned already and was about to give them good for evil, instead of faithfully exhibiting the Divine munificence and calmly asking the rock for its water, they (so to speak) defeated the Divine generosity, and failing to sympathize with God’s forgiveness, he was not “sanctified in the eyes of the children of Israel.” To this effort of long-suffering and loving-kindness the chafed spirit of Moses and Aaron was unequal. By the way they managed it, they spoiled the moral glory of the miracle, and what on God’s side was a gift of pure grace, under their hard blows and hot words assumed the aspect of an angry gospel. They believed him not, to sanctify him in the eyes of the children of Israel. Hamilton. How long a road has he traversed ere he has reached this fatal Kadesh, and how exemplary has he been throughout ! How much he has endured from the fathers of these sulking sons, without becoming wearied or embittered by it all ! Israel was often like a rock, but he has never struck that rock. Through all those years his life was but a daily sacrifice of faith and true obedience, a daily prayer for his people’s good. He has not sinned designedly, but in his haste. He is old, already six score years save one ; he has grown gray in serving Israel’s King ; may not the old man be forgiven what, in the younger, well deserved the most severe reproof ? But Moses cannot say he did not understand the will of God ; the oracle spoke plainly enough. As little is it true that so much passion was required to bring about what was desired. And least of all was he urged to such a course by love, either to God or to his people. He, the Lawgiver, has broken the commandments of both tables in their spirit ; but what caused this sin ? “Because you believed me not !” God perceived in Moses what none of us would charge against the man of God : that the bitter root from which the fruit of disobedience sprung was unbelief. And if the Lord but bring our faith and obedience to a special test, how often may we see that we too merit the reproof which brings us shame : “Ye believed me not, neither sanctified my name !” Even though the fruits and branches of the poison-plant of unbelief are all removed, how deeply are its roots sunk within the consecrated heart ; and how often to the best of us may the words uttered to Belshazzar be justly spoken : “The God, in whose hand thy breath is and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified !” Van O. The best have their failings, even in those graces that they are most eminent for. The man Moses was very meek, and yet here he sinned in passion ; wherefore let him that thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall. When our heart is hot within us, we are concerned to take heed that we offend not with our tongue. It is an evidence of the sincerity of Moses, and his impartiality in writing, that he himself left this upon record concerning himself, and drew not a veil over his own infirmity ; by which it appeared that in what he wrote, as well as what he did, he sought God’s glory more than his own. H.—The most eminent saints have not only failed, but failed in those very graces for which they were most eminent, and that too by means of temptations far inferior to others which they were enabled to resist. The faith of Abraham, the patience of Job, the meekness of Moses, and the courage of Peter were all found unequal to the conflict when left alone in the hour of trial. These examples are recorded for our admonition. Blessed be God for the assurance we have that help is laid for us upon one that is mighty; upon him let us lean in our journey through the wilderness; to his hand let us look for the help we need, and he will make his grace sufficient for us. R. Walker. In Moses himself, who had been thought worthy of so high grace, the very least imperfection must be chastised in the most severe manner. And in this very punishment he appears as the greatest servant of God in the Old Testament Gerl—That Moses and Aaron were so eminent as saints and representatives of Jehovah, only made it the more necessary that this signal failure in obedience should be marked as a lesson for all whom God should charge with his missions and messages in after ages. Nay, it is a law of his administration that the sins of those who are highest in knowledge or official station or prerogative shall be punished with special severity. Saith Jehovah by the mouth of Amos, "Ye only have I known of all the families of the earth, therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities." Whoever else may escape, the Lord will not fail to punpunish the disobedience of his own favored and honored servants. S. R. It had been the aspiration of his life to see the goodly land of Canaan and to plant his children—the great Hebrew nation—there with his own hand and see them with his own eyes in their glorious home! The exclusion from Canaan fell sorely upon the heart of Moses. He prayed earnestly that God would reverse this decree, but in vain. The Lord shut off all hope, saying, "Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto me of this matter" (De. 3:23-27). Sorrowful are the words of Moses: "I must die in this land; I must not go over Jordan" (De. 4:21). H. C. Moses did not darken that last year of his labor with any forebodings of his coming death. He simply went on doing his daily duties, if anything a little more diligently, just as the traveller quickens his step when he sees the sun hastening to his setting. He kept the even tenor of his way precisely as he had done before and just as he would have done if no warning had been received by him; and he left all the rest to God. That is the way to live, and that is the way to die. Filling every day with God's service in the service of our generation, at the last we shall get something better than Pisgah; we shall get heaven, and be at home with Christ. W. M. T. MESSENGERS TO EDOM. KADESH TO MOUNT HOR. DEATH AND BURIAL OF AARON. RETURN THROUGH KADESH REGION. ARAD'S ATTACK AND ISRAEL'S VOW. SOUTHWARD AND EASTWARD JOURNEY THROUGH THE WAY OF THE RED SEA. THE FIERY SERPENTS AND METHOD OF HEALING. Na. 20 14 And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto the king of Edom, Thus saith 15 thy brother Israel, Thou knowest all the travail that hath befallen us: how our fathers went down into Egypt, and we dwelt in Egypt a long time; and the Egyptians evil entreated us, 16 and our fathers: and when we cried unto the LORD, he heard our voice, and sent an angel, and brought us forth out of Egypt: and, behold, we are in Kadesh, a city in the uttermost of 17 thy border: let us pass, I pray thee, through thy land: we will not pass through field or through vineyard, neither will we drink of the water of the wells: we will go along the king's high way, we will not turn aside to the right hand nor to the left, until we have passed thy 18 border. And Edom said unto him, Thou shalt not pass through me, lest I come out with the 19 sword against thee. And the children of Israel said unto him, We will go up by the high way: and if we drink of thy water, I and my cattle, then will I give the price thereof: let me only, without doing any thing else, pass through on my feet. And he said, Thou shalt not pass through. Na. 32 37 And they journeyed from Kadesh, and pitched in mount Hor, in the edge of the 38 land of Edom. And Aaron the priest went up into mount Hor at the commandment of the LORD, and died there, in the fortieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the 39 land of Egypt, in the fifth month, on the first day of the month. And Aaron was an hundred and twenty and three years old when he died in mount Hor. De. 10 6 And the children of Israel journeyed from Beeroth Bene-jaakan to Moserah : there Aaron died, and there he was buried ; and Eleazar his son ministered in the priest's office in his stead. Nu. 20 22 And they journeyed from Kadesh : and the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, came unto mount Hor. And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in mount 24. Hor, by the border of the land of Edom, saying, Aaron shall be gathered unto his people : for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel, because ye 25 rebelled against my word at the waters of Meribah. Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and 26 bring them up unto mount Hor : and strip Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar 27 his son : and Aaron shall be gathered unto his people, and shall die there. And Moses did as the LORD commanded : and they went up into mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. 28. And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son ; and Aaron 29 died there in the top of the mount : and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mount. And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they wept for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel. 20. And Edom came out against him with much people, and with a strong hand. Thus Edom 21 refused to give Israel passage through his border : wherefore Israel turned away from him. Nu. 33 40 And the Canaanite, the king of Arad, which dwelt in the South in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the children of Israel. And they journeyed from mount Hor, and pitched in Zalmonah. Nu. 21 1 And the king of Arad, which dwelt in the South, heard tell that Israel came by the way of Atharim [or, of the spies] ; and he fought against Israel, and took some of them 2 captive. And Israel vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver this 3 people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities. And the LORD hearkened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites ; and they utterly destroyed them and their cities : and the name of the place was called Hormah. 4. And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way to the Red Sea, to compass the land of 5. Edom : and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness ? for there is no bread, and there is no water ; and our soul loatheth this 6 light bread. And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people ; 7 and much people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee ; pray unto the LORD, that he take 8 away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a standard : and it shall come to pass, that 9 every one that is bitten, when he seeth it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and set it upon the standard : and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when 10 he looked unto the serpent of brass, he lived. And the children of Israel journeyed, and pitched in Oboth. Nu. 33 42 And they journeyed from Zalmonah, and pitched in Punon. And they journeyed from Punon, and pitched in Oboth. The region assured to Esau and his descendants by the Divine promise was Mount Seir, the mountain range on the east of the Arabah, a region wholly outside of the limits of Canaan—the birthright inheritance bartered to Jacob. The names "Seir" and "field of Edom," applied to the old ranging-field of Esau in southern Canaan, are not to be confounded with Esau's Mount Seir. But Edom proper seems always to have included, in its westward stretch, the Arabah and more or less of the mountain region west of the Arabah and southward of the natural boundary line between these mountains and Canaan ; southward of Wady Fekreh, with its Azazimeh, or Mukrah, mountain-wall standing over against the wall of Mount Halak. This is fairly to be inferred from the Egyptian references to ancient Edom ; it is consistent with our earliest knowledge of the bounds of Edom ; it is an inevitable deduction from the early Bible mentions of Edom's westward reach. H. C. T.—Both Edom and Seir and Mount Seir cover a wide extent. For the Amorites destroyed the Israelites "in Seir unto Hormah" (De. 1 : 44). Now whatever site is fixed upon for Hormah carries it into a region far west of the Arabah. So, too, among the twenty-nine cities of Judah, toward the coast of Edom, southward, was Beersheba (Josh. 15:28). These facts indicate a wide range of Edom and Seir, westward of the Arabah. S. C. B. NOTE.—For a clear understanding of the distinction between the region of Esau's earlier occupancy in and adjoining southern Canaan ("Land of Seir" or "Field of Edom"), and the larger definite mountain range east of the Arabah, called "Mount Seir," which was Esau's birthright inheritance by Divine promise, and for a careful study of the manifold Biblical connections of each of these distinct regions, as well as of the common term "Edom" applied to both, see Dr. Trumbull's "Kadesh Barnea," pp. 74-102. B. Outline of Movements Included in this Section. (To be studied with map.) The line of contemplated advance into Canaan at this time was a new one. Not, as seemed to be the plan thirty-eight years before, directly northward by way of Beersheba and Hebron, but easterly, around the lower end of the Dead Sea, through the principal highway of Edom [Wady Ghuweir], was the now purposed course. The first move was up along the natural boundary-line of Canaan, from Kadesh-barnea, through the Wilderness of Zin, to the boundary-hinge at Jebel Madurah, at the junction of wadies Murreh and Madurah; and this move was made while messengers were on their way to the King of Edom asking permission for the purposed traversing of his territory. There at Jebel Madurah, or Mount Hor, on that isolated and remarkable mountain, at the very border line of the Land of Promise yet outside of it, Aaron died and was buried; and before that mountain, on the borders of Edom yet not within Edom's line, the people mourned for thirty days over the loss of their faithful high-priest. Meantime, this forward movement of regathered Israel alarmed both the Edomites on the one hand, and the neighboring Canaanites on the other. Edom's king refused his consent to Israel's passing through his territory, and he came down against Israel in force; "wherefore Israel turned away from him;" turned about from Jebel Madurah and moved back westerly along the course which had been taken thitherward. And as the Israelites turned back, at this time, the Canaanitish King of Arad came down against them. By whatever course the Israelites had originally entered Kadesh, or Rithmah, they evidently went out from that region by the westerly route; for it is said, that "they journeyed from Mount Hor," at this time, "by the Way of the Red Sea." In other words, they passed down along by Jebel Araif en-Nakah, and struck the Red Sea Road, or the Hajj route. This took them across the Desert et Teeh, almost its entire stretch from west to east; "and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the [Hajj] Road," in its desclateness. [Thus for this section.] Reaching the eastern edge of the desert, they descended to the Arabah, and thence in due time they passed around the southern extremity of the mountains of Seir, by the Way of the Arabah, and turned northward along the eastern borders of Seir and Moab, until they were finally opposite the Jordan at the Plains of Moab. H. C. T. Nu. 20:14-19. "The Mountain Seir" rises precipitately on the east from the valleys Ghor and Arabah, and is intersected by a couple of narrow wadies from the west to the east: of these the Wady Ghuweir alone offers a not very difficult route for a hostile force. This was probably the road by which Moses, who perceived how difficult it would be to force his way, and who hoped to attain his object by negotiations, desired a passage from the Edomites, on the condition of buying provisions from the inhabitants. Burckhardt. This Arabah is one of the most remarkable depressions in the world, being a deep trench from two to fourteen miles wide, extending, in fact, from the eastern arm of the Red Sea more than three hundred miles, if we include the Dead Sea, the Jordan, and the Sea of Galilee, which occupy the northern portion of it, but over one hundred and fifty miles through the Arabian Desert from the Dead Sea to the Red Sea. The mountains on each side of this trench, which lies thirteen hundred feet below the level of the Mediterranean, form a sort of a natural wall. On the west side are the long limestone ranges of the Tih, which range from fifteen hundred to eighteen hundred feet in height, while the eastern wall of granite and basalt, with overlying porphyry, tipped with sandstone, in broken cliffs and ridges of limestone, is in many places covered with the richest vegetation and abounds in sections of great fertility. This eastern range was Esau's portion. Now if Edom would permit them to pass up one of the ravines of this range a few days' march to the northeast would bring them to the plains of Moab on the Jordan. S. R. Nu. 33:37. De. 10:6. While the messengers of Moses had gone on their embassy, the camp of Israel had moved forward to the border of Edom. A day's journey eastward from Kadesh through the Wady Murreh, suddenly rises a remarkable mountain, quite isolated and prominent. Its present name Moderah preserves the Biblical Moserah, which we know from above passages to have been another designation for Mount Hor. This was the natural route for Israel to take if they hoped to pass through Edom by the king's highway, the present Wady Ghuweir, which would have led them round by way of Moab easily and straight to the other side of Jordan. It was natural for them here to await the reply of the King of Edom. A. E. This probably occurred at a station in the Desert et-Tih (Paran), on the eastward journey toward the Gulf of Akabah, and before reaching the Arabah Valley. B. 7. Now the people are glad to seek to Moses unbidden. They had spoken against God and Moses, and now they humbly ask Moses that he would pray to God for them. He that so often prayed for them unbidden, cannot but much more do it requested; and now obtains the means of their cure. It was equally in the power of God to remove the serpents, and to heal their stinging; to have cured the Israelites by his word, and by his sign; but he finds it best for his people (to exercise their faith) that the serpents may bite and their bitings may envenom and that this venom may endanger the Israelites; and that they thus affected may seek to him for remedy, and seeking may find it from such means as should have no power but in signification; that while their bodies were cured by the sign, their souls might be confirmed by the matter signified. Bp. H. 8,9. The Hebrews cannot but acknowledge a mystery in this brazen serpent, which our Lord Christ himself hath explained in his discourse with Nicodemus. He doth not compare himself to the brazen serpent (for what likeness can there be found between the serpent and the seed of the woman; or how should light be foreshadowed by darkness), but he compares the lifting up of this serpent on the pole with his lifting up, or crucifixion on the cross. For so he himself expresses his death and the manner of it; "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." And their looking on the serpent in the wilderness, as evidently represented men's believing on Christ; and their cure, the powerful virtue of Christ's death to preserve all those that believe on him from perishing. Patrick.—From our Lord's words, we may learn: (1) That as the serpent was lifted up on the pole or ensign, so Jesus Christ was lifted up on the cross. (2) That as the Israelites were to look at the brazen serpent, so sinners must look to Christ for salvation. (3) That as God provided no other remedy than this looking for the wounded Israelites, so he has provided no other way of salvation than faith in the blood of his son. (4) That as he who looked at the brazen serpent was cured and did live; so he that believeth on the Lord Jesus Christ shall not perish, but have eternal life. (5) That as neither the serpent, nor looking at it, but the invisible power of God healed the people; so neither the cross of Christ, nor his merely being crucified, but the pardon he has bought by his blood, communicated by the powerful energy of his Spirit, saves the souls of men. May not all these things be plainly seen in the circumstances of this transaction, without making the serpent a type of Jesus Christ? A. C. It was intended to be a pictorial representation in the outer physical world, both of the disease and cure of the souls of a fallen race, bitten by that old serpent, the Devil, who seduced the race into sin. How striking does the resemblance become as we look at it in this light! The disease in both cases is similar. In one case it is the body bitten by the visible serpent, in the other case the soul bitten of him of whom the serpent is the type. As the bite of the one inflames the flesh with fiery sores, so the bite of the other inflames all the evil passions and lusts of the soul. In both cases alike the remedy can be found only in what God prescribes. But our Lord uses it to illustrate the very central truth of his Gospel. For he declares, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so the Son of Man must be lifted up." Have you ever pondered the deep significance of this expression, "The Son of Man?" And yet, in assigning the ground and reason for this, he declares, "For God gave his only begotten Son." It was, therefore, an essential element in the remedy provided for the serpent-bitten souls that the only begotten Son of God should become also the "Son of Man." And, observe, to provide the remedy for the souls exposed to death and dying on the burning sin-desert, the Son of Man must be "lifted up." It is no random use of words, this "lifted up," for Jesus uses them again, with remarkable emphasis, in John 12:32, 33: "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto me. This he said signifying what death he should die." The act of faith bridges over the centuries—forgets the Roman soldiers and the Jewish mob—all the historic drapery of the crucifixion, and sees this Jesus here and now lifted up in the shame and agony, and yet in the majesty of the crucified One. He stands out in matchless splendor now from the darkness of human history as the one great object which can arouse the self sacrificing enthusiasm, the enduring patience, the buoyant trust and hope of the human soul. If Jesus had only taught us the guilt of sin without facing it for us; the power of sin without breaking its spell; the beauty of holiness without bestowing upon us the gifts of his holy Spirit—he might have excited our wonder, indeed, but would only have augmented our misery. Thus Jesus "lifted up" is the grand attraction, not because he is the first of all teachers, but because he is the all-sufficient victim for sin—"lifted up" as such, he draws all unto him in loving obedience. It is by his sacrifice that he has such an attractive power. And then, also, by his good Spirit, he renews those thus drawn to himself. S. R. Our condition in the wilderness of life resembles that of the Israelites in their wilderness. Those were cured who looked to the serpent of brass, and we rise to newness of life by lifting our eyes to the cross. By the good pleasure of God man bears an active and important part in his salvation, but a part which is very simple. All he does is to believe and look, to look and believe. Whoso sees the Son and believes in him hath eternal life. There must be something to look at, and this depends solely on God; but it is necessary to look, and this is the part of man. The object exhibited to our view is of such a nature and of such virtue that when looked at it gives us life, just as life was given to those who looked at the serpent of Moses. . . . We look, and we are saved. We look, and we are comforted. There is the blood of the great sin-offering, the blood that cleanseth from all sin. There is the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness. There is the well of living water, springing up into everlasting life. That cross is both death and life; condemnation and pardon, weakness and strength, shame and glory. It kills, and makes alive; it wounds, and it heals; it is wrath, and it is love; it is terror, and it is tenderness; it is righteousness, and it is grace; it is Satan's victory, and it is Satan's overthrow; it is the world's triumph, and it is the world's destruction; it saves in crucifying, and it crucifies in saving. All hell is there, and all heaven is there; rebellion is there, and reconciliation is there. Vinet. That cross of agony and shame reared on Golgotha shall never be overturned. Men of every race, and clime, and dye of guiltiness, shall be drawn toward it, and subdued by it. Everything else on earth shall totter and pass away; laws, customs, institutions, religions. But this shall stand unshaken amid the nations. Jews and Gentiles, wise and foolish, high and low, bond and free, shall gather round it. High looming amid the civilizations and the centuries, it shall stand and draw; working slowly, it may be, but working ever surely till its work is done, and great voices are heard shouting back and forth athwart the heavens, that the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. R. D. H. The fact of the erection of the brazen serpent in the desert is fully confirmed by 2 Kings 18:4. We are there told that the brazen serpent which Moses had made was preserved till the time of Hezekiah, and called Nehushlan (brass, copper); that it had become an object of Divine worship (through the offering of incense); and that it was destroyed by Hezekiah himself, who broke it to pieces. But if it is fully established as a historical fact that Moses did erect the serpent, it can hardly be doubted that he set it up not as a (mere) symbol only, but also as a means of healing. And if the Israelites preserved it, and subsequently paid it Divine honors, this is only conceivable on the supposition that they associated with it the historical recollection of the cure that had been wrought. K. FROM THE DESERT ET-TIH INTO THE ARABAH; TO ELATH AND EZION-GEBER ON THE RED SEA. NORTHWARD ON EASTERN BOUNDARY OF EDOM, OR MOUNT SEIR, TO THE VALLEY OF THE ARNON. DESERT WANDERINGS ENDED BY TWO SONGS OF GLADNESS. De. 21 THEN we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way to the Red 2 Sea, as the LORD spake unto me: and we compassed mount Seir many days. And the LORD 3 spake unto me, saying, Ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward. 4 And command thou the people, saying, Ye are to pass through the border of your brethren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir; and they shall be afraid of you: take ye good heed 5 unto yourselves therefore: contend not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as for the sole of the foot to tread on: because I have given mount Seir unto 6 Esau for a possession. Ye shall purchase food of them for money, that ye may eat; and ye 7 shall also buy water of them for money, that ye may drink. For the LORD thy God hath blessed thee in all the work of thy hand: he hath known thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing. 8 So we passed by from our brethren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir, from the way of the Arabah from Elath and from Ezion-geber. 9 And we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab. And the LORD said unto me, Vex not Moab, neither contend with them in battle: for I will not give thee of his land for a possession; because I have given Ar unto the children of Lot for a possession. 10 (The Emim dwelt therein aforetime, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakim: these 11 also are accounted Rephaim, as the Anakim; but the Moabites call them Emim. The Horites 12 also dwelt in Seir aforetime, but the children of Esau succeeded them; and they destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their stead: as Israel did unto the land of his posses- 13 sion, which the LORD gave unto them.) Now rise up, and get you over the brook Zered. And 14 we went over the brook Zered. And the days in which we came from Kadesh barnea, until we were come over the brook Zered, were thirty and eight years; until all the generation of the men of war were consumed from the midst of the camp, as the LORD swore unto them. 15 Moreover the hand of the LORD was against them, to destroy them from the midst of the camp, until they were consumed. 16 So it came to pass, when all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the 17 people, that the LORD spake unto me, saying, Thou art this day to pass over Ar, the border of 18 Moab: and when thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon, vex them not, nor 19 contend with them: for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon for a posses- 20 sion: because I have given it unto the children of Lot for a possession. (That also is accounted a land of Rephaim: Rephaim dwelt therein aforetime; but the Ammonites call them 21 Zamzammim; a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakim; but the Lord destroyed 22 them before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead: as he did for the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites from before them; and 23 they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead even unto this day: and the Avvim which dwelt in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim, which came forth out of Caphtor, destroyed 24 them, and dwelt in their stead). Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the valley of Arnon: behold, I have given into thine hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his 25 land: begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle. This day will I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the peoples that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee. Na. 21 11 And they journeyed from Oboth, and pitched at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness 12 which is before Moab, toward the sunrising. From thence they journeyed, and pitched in 13 the valley of Zered. From thence they journeyed, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, which is in the wilderness, that cometh out of the border of the Amorites: for Arnon is the 14 border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. Wherefore it is said in the book of the Wars of the Lord, Vaheb in Suphah, And the valleys of Arnon, 15. And the slope of the valleys That inclineth toward the dwelling of Ar, And leaneth upon the border of Moab. 16. And from thence they journeyed to Beer: that is the well whereof the LORD said unto Moses, Gather the people together, and I will give them water. 17. Then sang Israel this song: Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it: 18. The well, which the princes digged, Which the nobles of the people delved, With the sceptre, and with their staves. After being in a part of the very country they were going to on the west of the Dead Sea, they returned toward the Red Sea, and near the eastern tongue or gulf of the Red Sea on the south of Edom marched round Edom to the east of the Dead Sea, in order to enter Canaan from the east side of Jordan! Kennicott. De. 2:1. By the way to the Red Sea. A careful study of all the connected passages impresses us with the reasonableness of the conjecture that the plague of "fiery serpents" (close of preceding section) occurred at one of the encampments on the way to the Red Sea, in the Wilderness of et-Tih, and before descending into the Arabah to the stations of Elath and Ezion-geber. From that unknown encampment the host proceeded into the Arabah Valley to these stations at the head of the Gulf of Akabah. From thence their course would lie northward and upward on the eastern border of Mount Seir, or Edom. "We compassed Mount Seir many days," says Moses, referring to the long stay at these Red Sea stations "And the Lord said, Turn you northward." B. The great valley of the Arabah is the physical prolongation of that great depression which commences at the north with the valleys of the Litany and the Orontis [Mount Lebanon], and stretches thence southward along the course of the Jordan, the Salt Sea, and the Ghor, through the El Arabah itself into the Gulf of Akabah; a depression pronounced by Humboldt to be the most remarkable on the face of the earth. Throughout the whole extent of this depression the strata of the earth's crust have been fractured and vertically displaced, so that those on the eastern side of the fracture have been relatively elevated, or those on the western relatively lowered. This fracture is known among geologists as a "fault," and in consequence of the displacement above stated, the rocks and formations on opposite sides of this depression do not in general correspond to each other. The line of fault generally runs along the eastern side of the valley, and close to the base of the mountains of granite and porphyry. There are no continuous rivers in the Arabah Valley; and the floods, which from time to time descend from the glens opening out on either hand, are speedily absorbed or evaporated on entering the plain. Hull. The general direction of Israel's march, in order to "compass" the land of Edom, was first to the head of the Elanitic Gulf of the Red Sea, or the Gulf of Akabah. Thence they would, a few hours north of Ezion-geber (the giant's backbone), enter the mountains, and then pass northward, marching to Moab "by the road which runs between Edom and the limestone plateau of the great eastern desert." A. E. The road taken by the Israelites, with the design of skirting the territory of the Edomites, led them into the immediate neighborhood of the gulf, where the Wady el-Ithm (Getum) afforded a good opening through the mountains, by which they could cross without interruption to the eastern side. They turned to the north and traversed the caravan road, which is still in existence, "on a ridge which forms the western boundary of the desert of Arabia, and the eastern boundary of the cultivated country, and leads from the land of Edom to the sources of the Jordan on the eastern side of the Ghor." K. 4. The name Seir was perhaps adopted on account of its being descriptive of the "rugged" character of the territory. The original inhabitants of the country were called Horites, from Hori, the grandson of Seir (Gen. 36: 20, 22), because that name was descriptive of their habits as "Troglodytes," or "dwellers in caves." Immediately after the death of Isaac Esau left Canaan and took possession of Mount Seir. When his descendants increased they extirpated the Horites, and adopted their habits as well as their country. On the south, Edom reached as far as Elath, which stood at the northern end of the Gulf of Elath, and was the seaport of the Edmonites. On the north of Edom lay the territory of Moab, from which it was divided by the "brook Zered," probably the modern Wady el-Ahsy, which still divides the provinces of Kerak (Moab) and Jebal (Gebalene). P. S. The land of Edom, or Idumæa, stretches along the sides of a rocky ridge—Mount Seir—which extends from the Gulf of Akabah to near the Dead Sea. Esau's descendants held possession of it for many generations, and were always remarkable for the intense bitterness of their hatred to the descendants of Jacob. Though subdued by David and also by later kings, the Edomites revived from time to time, and when Jerusalem was taken by Nebuchadnezzar, they were a powerful nation. By the Romans Idumæa was treated pretty much as a part of Juda; afterward it seems to have been absorbed into the kingdom of Arabia Petræa. For many centuries it was literally an unknown land, unnoticed by any historian and unvisited by any traveller. It is only within the last fifty years that it has begun to be visited and known. The interest belonging to it is chiefly derived from the wonderful fulfilment of ancient prophecy which it presents. The predictions of utter desolation pronounced against it were more than usually emphatic, and have been most literally fulfilled. At one time a very populous and fertile kingdom, it is now an expanse of shifting sands and rocky mountains. At one time the highway for the commerce between Syria and India—now, not a single merchant passes through it. Though at one time he had his dwelling in "the fatness of the earth," Esau has now become most "bare" (Gen. 27: 39; Jer. 49: 10). The ancient magnificence of the kingdom, and its present degradation and desolation, are both most strikingly seen in the ruins of Petra. Bozrah (twenty-five miles south of Kerak) appears to have been the ancient capital, but Petra eclipsed its glory. If any city could have defied the ravages of time, that city was Petra. Let the reader fancy a narrow passage of two miles, lined by precipitous cliffs from four hundred to seven hundred feet high, leading into an oblong space, where the rocks retire to some distance from each other; let him fancy these rocks excavated from top to bottom—tombs, temples, and other buildings, everywhere chiselled out of the solid stone; and let him fancy the whole now a collection of ruins, without a single inhabitant, the remains of tombs and temples, palaces and pillars, strewn on every side, and he will have some conception at once of the "terribleness" and strength of the place in former days, and its marvellous degradation now. The unbrotherly act of the Edomites in refusing the Israelites a passage through their borders, was the first of the long series of crimes that provoked upon the land and people of Edom the heavy judgments of God. W. G. B. 5. Contend not with them—i.e., "which dwell in Seir"—for there was another branch of Esau's posterity—viz., the Amalekites, who were to be fought against and destroyed. But the people of Edom were not to be injured, either in their persons or property. And although the approach of so vast a nomadic horde as the Israelites naturally created apprehension, they were to take no advantage of the prevailing terror to compel the Edomites to accept whatever terms they imposed. They were merely to pass "through" or along their border, and to buy meat and water of them for money (verse 6). The people, kinder than their king, did sell them bread, meat, fruits, and water in their passage along their border. Jamieson. 7. When Moses spake these words Israel was near the verge of Canaan. And the words are retrospective. They are a testimony to Divine faithfulness and care; "These forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing." So may the believer say and sing as he closes stage after stage of life; so will he sing when he closes the last stage of all: "Not one thing hath failed of all that the Lord hath spoken." The more life unfolds to him of his own weakness, the louder and sweeter will be his song over Divine care; yea, he will go singing to the heavenly rest! Clemance. 9. He had previously forbidden them to enter the land of Edom, unless consent were obtained. A similar prohibition is now added with respect to the Moabites, because God had allotted to them the territory which they inhabited. Inasmuch as they were the descendants of Lot, and consequently of the race of Abraham, he would treat them with special favor. Calv. Not very long before the return of the Israelites to the land of their fathers' pilgrimage, the Moabites and Ammonites, who had previously spread themselves as far as the Jabbok and the Jordan, were driven back by the Amorites toward the south and east, and an Amoritish kingdom was established in Gilead; so that the Arnon was now the northern boundary of Moab. This rendered it possible for the Israelites to take possession of the country to the east of the Jordan, without being obliged to engage in hostilities with any nations that were related to them by birth. K. 10-12. The mention of the Moabites gives occasion to the author to introduce some notices of the ancient inhabitants of Edom and Moab. In Moab dwelt, in the earlier times, the Emim, a giant race, potent and numerous, like the Anakim. They were also, like the Anakim, reckoned among the Rephaim, but were by the Moabites called Emim. The Horim appear from the name to have been a Troglodyte race, inhabiting the caves which abound in the Edomite range, and with whom, perhaps, originated the conception which was at a later period carried out in the marvellous rock city of Petra. Of their own origin nothing is known. W. L. A. 13. Now rise up and get you over the brook Zered. The southern border of Moab, Zered (woody), now Wady Ahsy, forms a natural division of the country between the north and south. Jamieson.—14. This brook formed the boundary line between Edom and Moab, and was the limit of Israel's wanderings in the wilderness. They crossed it thirty-eight years after the doom had been pronounced upon them at Kadesh, and during that period the entire generation of those who had rebelled had died out. W. L. A. 18. Ar, called in later times Rabbah, was the capital of Moab, and situated twenty-five miles south of the Arnon on the banks of a small but shady stream, the Beni-Hamed. It is here mentioned as representative of the country dependent on it—a rich and well-cultivated country, as appears from the numerous ruins of cities, as well as from the traces of tillage still visible on the fields. Jamieson. 16-19. The generation that sinned having quite died out, the people were now to cross the border of Moab and advance to the conquest of the promised land. To the east of Moab was the country of the Ammonites; these, also, the Israelites were to leave unassailed, for the Lord had given to them their land for a possession. 20-23. Another parenthetical insertion, containing some ethnographical notices, intended, probably, to confirm the assertion that to the children of Ammon God had given their land for a possession. W. L. A.—What a strange insight does this parenthesis of four verses give into the early history of Palestine! How many successive wars of conquest had swept over its early state—what changes of dynasty among the Canaanitish tribes had taken place long prior to the transactions recorded in this history! Jamieson. No. 21:13. Pitched on the other side of Arnon. The Arnon was without doubt the stream or torrent now known as the Wady Mojeb, which breaks its way down to the Salt Sea through a precipitous ravine. It must have been in the upper part of its course, in the desert uplands, that the Israelites crossed it; and this both because the passage lower down is extremely difficult, and also because they were keeping well to the eastward of Moabitish territory up to this point. It would appear from De. 2:26 that Israel remained at this spot until the embassage to Sihon had returned. That cometh out of the coasts of the Amorites—i.e., the Arnon which comes down from the northeast. For Arnon is the border of Moab. It was at that time the boundary. R. W. It was a marked epoch in their journeyings—almost an anticipation of the passage of the Jordan itself—when, after having crossed the watercourse or torrent, shaded or overgrown by willows (Zered), that formed the first boundary of the desert, they passed the stream of the Arnon—the first that they had seen since the Nile—which, flowing through its deep defile of sandstone rocks, parts the cultivated land of Moab from the wild mountains of Edom. Stanley. 14. The book of the wars of the Lord.** Of this book nothing is known except what may be gathered from the passage before us. It was apparently a collection of sacred odes commemorative of that triumphant progress of God's people which this chapter records. From it is taken the ensuing fragment of ancient poetry relating to the passage of the Arnon, and probably also the Song of the Well, and the Ode on the Conquest of the Kingdom of Sihon. Espin.—This book was probably a collection of ballads and songs composed on different occasions by the watch-fires of the camp, and for the most part, though not perhaps exclusively, in commemoration of the victories of the Israelites over their enemies. The title shows us that these were written by men imbued with a deep sense of religion, and who were therefore foremost to acknowledge that not their own prowess, but Jehovah's right hand had given them the victory when they went forth to battle. Hence it was called "The Book of the Wars of Jehovah." J. P. No. 21. Three quotations are given successively in this chapter. The first is from "the Book of the Wars of the Lord," and the last is plainly a triumphant war-song. Hence they all probably belonged to the same book. These quotations are made to relieve the seeming dryness of the details in these journeys, and to show how melodies of song and praise, which had been silent in the wilderness, awoke once as soon as they began to enter upon the land of promise. This "Book of the Wars of the Lord" was probably a small collection of national chants or songs of praise, which grew up during their years of sojourn, after the marvels of the exodus had wakened up the faithful to a new sense of the power and mercy of the God of Israel. Its chief subjects would be the exodus and the entrance; and each chant or song being composed successively as the occasion arose, these brief allusions or quotations serve to light up the details of the march with a dramatic vividness, scarcely attainable in any other way. In fact, the words of verse 27 ("they that speak in proverbs") seem to imply that this last triumphal song was still current in the lips of the Israelite bards, and had scarcely been enrolled in the book to which it naturally belonged in a written form. The first quotation (verses 13-15) is plainly incomplete. It might have formed part of the opening words of a lyrical song nearly as follows: "I will sing the works of the Lord, the mighty acts of the God of Israel. What he did for us at the Red Sea," etc. The crossing of the Arnon would thus be marked, in a simple but impressive way, as the close of their wilderness sojourn. The second quotation (verses 17, 18) is a contrast to the miraculous smiting of the rock in the wilderness, and marks their first entrance upon "a land inhabited," with "fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills." The rock had been smitten amid the murmurs of the people, but the well of the nobles is digged amid their songs of hope and joy. The third quotation (next section) is clearly an Israelite song of victory upon the conquest of Sihon. His former exploits against Moab are named, to make the victory of Israel more impressive. There is an abrupt lyrical change from Sihon's triumphs to his sudden overthrow. Birks. 16-18. The second encampment after crossing the Arnon was called Beer, a well. The people suffered here for want of water; but Moses gathered the people together at the command of Jehovah, who gave them water again—not, however, by a miracle in the ordinary sense, but by means of their own exertions in first digging a well. This gave rise to the beautiful WELL-SONG: Spring up, O well! Sing to answer it! Well, which the princes dug, Which the nobles of the nation bored, With the sceptre and their staves. The good-will and activity of the people which are manifest here present a glorious contrast to the bitter spirit and murmuring of the ancient Israelites. K. #### Geographical and Ethnographical. The deep rocky valley of the Wady Ahsy (Ahsa), the lower end of which is called Kurahy, divides the land of the Edomites from the Moabilish mountains. In the time of Moses, and also in later periods of the Old Testament history, the country of the Moabites extended northward as far as the Wady Mojeb, through whose deep rocky bed, the sides of which are almost perpendicular, the river Arnon flows to the Dead Sea. The Wady Kerak (Haditheh) intersects Moabitis, and divides it into two nearly equal halves. As long as it received a certain amount of cultivation, Moabitis was an extraordinarily fertile country; but now that all cultivation has been suspended for many centuries, it is barren and waste. The ancient capital was Ar, or Ar-Moab, on the left bank of the Arnon. Rabba, or Rabbath-Moab, which was the second capital, was situated in the heart of the country. The fortified city of Kir, or Kir-Moab, the modern Kerek, was in the south, and stood upon a rocky height, not far from the northern declivity of the Wady Kerek. K. The Arnon (Wady Mojeb), which formed the boundary between Moab and the Amorites, and at a later period between Moab and Israel, is a tremendous ravine, more than two thousand feet deep, which cuts its way through the plateau, and discharges its waters into the Dead Sea. The district south of the Arnon is termed in Ruth 1 "the country of Moab," and may be considered as Moab proper; but Moab extended at one period much farther to the north, over the district called the "land of Moab" in De. 1:5, and embraced the plain of Seisaban, north of the Dead Sea, termed in the Bible Arboth Moab, or the plain of Shittim. On the south, Moab extended to the borders of the Wady Sidiyeh, or Seil Gharabi, down which runs a fine stream, which is probably the brook Zered, that lay between Moab and Edom, and was the proper term of the Israelites' wandering. The character of this portion of the country is very similar to that north of the Arnon, an elevated plateau, with a rich soil providing abundant pasturage for the flocks of the Bedouin, as it formerly did for those of the Moabites, whose pastoral character may be inferred from the fact that the country paid a tribute to Ahab of one hundred thousand rams, and the same number of wethers with their fleeces. The relations between the Moabites and Israelites appear to have been of a mixed character; the story of Ruth points to a friendly intercourse between the two peoples at that time, and at a later period we find David's father and mother dwelling with the King of Moab "all the while that David was in the hold" (1 Sam. 22:4); but with the exception of these instances, the relations were hostile rather than amicable. Wilson. The Moabites were descended from Moab, the son of Lot's eldest daughter, and the Ammonites from Ben-Ammi, the son of his youngest daughter. The near relation between the two peoples indicated in the story of their origin continued throughout their existence. Indeed, so close was their union, and so near their identity, that each would appear to be occasionally spoken of under the name of the other. Zoar was the cradle of the race of Lot. From this centre the brother-tribes spread themselves. The Ammonites, whose disposition seems throughout to have been more roving and unsettled, went to the northeast. The Moabites, whose habits were more settled and peaceful, remained nearer their original seat. The Moabites originally dwelt on the eastern side of the Dead Sea, extending as far north as the mountain of Gilead, from which country they expelled the Emims, the original inhabitants. But they themselves were afterward driven southward by the warlike Amorites, who had crossed the Jordan, and were confined to the country south of the river Arnon, which formed their northern boundary (Nu. 21:13; Judges 11:18). The territory occupied by Moab at the period of its greatest extent, before the invasion of the Amorites, divided itself naturally into three distinct and independent portions. Each of these portions appears to have had its name by which it is almost invariably designated. (1) The enclosed corner or canton south of the Arnon was the "field of Moab" (Ruth 1:1, 2, 6, etc.). (2) The more open rolling country north of the Arnon, opposite Jericho, and up to the hills of Gilead, was the "land of Moab" (De. 1:5; 33:49). (3) The sunk district in the tropical depths of the Jordan valley, taking its name from that of the great valley itself—the Arabah—was the Arboth-Moab, the dry regions—in the Authorized Version very incorrectly rendered the "plains of Moab" (Nu. 22:1, etc.). Unlike Moab, the precise position of the territory of the Ammonites is not ascertainable. In the earliest mention of them (De. 2:20) they are said to have destroyed the Rephaim, whom they called the Zamzummim, and to have dwelt in their place, Jabbok being their border. "Land" or "country" is, however, but rarely ascribed to them, nor is there any reference to those habits and circumstances of civilization which so constantly recur in the allusions to Moab. On the contrary, we find everywhere traces of the fierce habits of marauders in their incursions. The hatred in which the Ammonites were held by Israel is stated to have arisen partly from their opposition, or, rather, their denial of assistance to the Israelites on their approach to Canaan. But it evidently sprang mainly from their share in the affair of Balaam (De. 23:4; Neh. 13:1). But whatever its origin, it is certain that the animosity continued in force to the latest date. P. S. SIHON SMITTEN, HIS LAND AND CITIES TAKEN. OG AND HIS PEOPLE DESTROYED, BASHAN AND ITS CITIES POSSESSED. ENCAMPMENTS NORTH OF THE ARNON. FINAL AND PROTRACTED GATHERING ON THE ARBOTH MOAB, PLAINS OF JORDAN. Nu. 21 21 And Israel sent messengers 22 unto Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, Let me pass through thy land : we will not turn aside into field, or into vineyard ; we will not drink of the water of the wells : we will go by the king's high way, until we have 23 passed thy border. And Sihon would not suffer Israel to pass through his border : but Sihon gathered all his people together, and went out against Israel into the wilderness, and came to Jahaz ; and he fought against 24 Israel. And Israel smote him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land from Arnon unto Jabbok, even unto the children of Ammon : for the border of the children of 25 Ammon was strong. And Israel took all these cities : and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all the 26 towns thereof. For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab, and taken all his land out of his hand, even unto 27 Arnon. Wherefore they that speak in proverbs say, Come ye to Heshbon, let the city of Sihon be built and established : 28 For a fire is gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon : It hath devoured Ar of Moab, the lords of the high places of Arnon 29 Woe to thee, Moab ! thou art undone, O people of Chemosh : He hath given his sons as fugitives, and his daughters into captivity, 30 Unto Sihon king of the Amorites. We have shot at them ; Heshbon is perished even unto Dibon, And we have laid waste even unto Nopah, which reacheth unto Medeba. 31 Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites. 32 And Moses sent to spy out Jazer, and they took the towns thereof, and drove out the 33 Amorites that were there. And they turned and went up by the way of Bashan : and Og the king of Bashan went out against them, 34 he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. And the LORD said unto Moses, Fear him not : for I have delivered him into thy hand, and all his people, and his land ; and thou shalt do to him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the 35 Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon. So they smote him, and his sons, and all his people, until there was none left him remaining : and they possessed his land. Nu. 21 And from the wilderness they journeyed to Mattanah : and from Mattanah to 20 Nahaliel : and from Nahaliel to Bamoth : and from Bamoth to the valley that is in the field of Moab, to the top of Pisgah, which looketh down upon the desert. Nu. 33 45 And they journeyed from Ijim, 46 and pitched in Dibon-gad. And they journeyed from Dibon-gad, and pitched in Al- 47 mon-diblathaim. And they journeyed from Almon-diblathaim, and pitched in the moun- 48 tains of Abarim, before Nebo. And they journeyed from the mountains of Abarim, and pitched in the plains of Moab by the 49 Jordan at Jericho. And they pitched by Jordan, from Beth-jeshimoth even unto Abel-shittim in the plains of Moab. Moses, in the first instance, sent a message of peace to Sihon, proposing to pass through his territory on the same terms as he had made with the Moabites and Edomites, travelling by the highway, and paying for such provisions as his followers required. But this Sihon refused, and came out against Israel, with all his people, to battle. The issue was that he was utterly discomfited; all his towns were captured, he and all his people utterly destroyed, and the cattle and spoil of the whole country taken for booty. W. L. A. The rejection of Moses’ request by Sihon, and his opposition to the advance of the Israelites drew down on himself and his Amorite subjects the predicted doom in the first pitched battle-field with the Canaanites, and secured to Israel not only the possession of a fine and pastoral country, but a free access to the Jordan on the east. Jamieson. 25. Heshbon.** Now Heshban, a ruined city, due east of the point where the Jordan enters the Dead Sea; conspicuous from all parts of the high plateau on which it stands, but concealed, like the rest of the plateau, from the valley beneath. Espin. #### Israel’s Song of Victory. The meaning of these triumphant proverbial sayings is this: “Heshbon, the chief city of the Amorites, lies overthrown. Better to depict the greatness and glory of the city the poet alludes to its former power, when the sons and daughters of the Moabites were led captive by Sihon. Israel has now destroyed the glory of this town—has thrown down the mighty people with their spears.” Heshbon is still found on the end of the Wady Hesban, as also are places under the names Diban and Madeba. Hesban is entirely in ruins, but these bear evidence to the considerable circumference and splendor of the ancient town. Madeba lies on a hill, and is about two miles in circumference. Gerl. On closer inspection it becomes more and more obvious that this song of victory is altogether of a sarcastic character, and is not a song of thanksgiving. Come home to Heshbon—to the city, that is, which can now no longer furnish either house or shelter;—restore (if you can) the city, which is now laid forever in ruins! That the guilt of the vanquished may be the more loudly proclaimed, a second voice is heard recalling their earlier history. This Heshbon is the very same city from which the fire of war once issued forth in its most destructive form against unfortunate Moab, for whose fall and the impotence of its god Chemosh the most piteous lamentations had been uttered! But at the very moment when these Amorites, who had devastated Moab with fire and sword, were imagining themselves to be in perfect security (the clear voice of the victors now returns to the opening of the song), our fire of war burst forth from Heshbon, as the leading and central place, and burned and devastated the country to its utmost borders. Thus was Moab avenged by Israel. That this ode dates immediately from the period of the conquest, is also obvious from the fact that shortly afterward (Nu. 32:37) Heshbon was restored by the tribe of Reuben, and that henceforward it was always a place of importance. Ewald. Attacked by Og, King of Bashan. His People Destroyed, his Cities and Territory Taken by Israel. As Og, the King of Bashan, saw at once that his own country was endangered by this successful campaign, he also prepared for war, and met with the same fate. A decisive battle was fought at Edrei, in which the army of Og was utterly annihilated. As the whole of Bashan now came into the possession of the Israelites, they established their headquarters in the Arboth Moab, within sight of the Jordan, opposite to Jericho, between Beth-Hajeshimoth and Abel-Shittim. K.—Thus Israel became possessed of two kingdoms—whose united territories extended from the river Arnon to the roots of Lebanon—forming one of the finest countries in the world, well wooded, and full of rich pastures. Thus Israel began its career of conquest by acquiring a valuable possession over and above what had been promised to them; and by this their faith must have been much encouraged. Kit. The boundaries of Bashan, the northern portion of Manasseh's inheritance, are very clearly laid down. It extended from the southern slopes of Mount Hermon in the north, to Gilead in the south—the frontier line between Bashan and the northern Gilead of King Og being the river Hieromaz or Sheriat-el-Mandhur, which runs due west and enters the Jordan just below the Sea of Galilee. North of this the country is comparatively flat, a high table-land, whence the name Bashan—i.e., "level;" while south of it is the undulating and rugged country of Gilead. The Upper Jordan and the Sea of Galilee bounded Bashan on the west, the city of Salcah and the country of the Geshurites and of the Maacathites, on the east. H. B. T.—The region of Bashan, as Scripture informs us in many places, was fertile, and famous for its rich pastures; Moses also testifies to its great extent. In Psalm 135:10-12 God's power and goodness is magnified in reference to these victories; because he "slew mighty kings Sihon king of the Amorites, and Og King of Bashan, and gave their land for a heritage, a heritage unto his people." Calv.—Bashan was famous for its kine in Bible times, and is so still. In southern Palestine I observed flocks of sheep and goats in numberless instances, yet saw no herds of kine. But coming into the northern country, opposite Bashan, on the slopes of Little Hermon and the wooded plain north of Tabor, our party encountered immense herds. N. C. B. De. 3:4. Region of Argob. It would be difficult to mention a spot in civilized lands which could be compared to this ancient region in regard to its wild and savage aspect. The lava bed proper embraces about three hundred and fifty square miles, and its average height above the surrounding plain is perhaps twenty feet. The bed in its outline or edge is far from being regular, but sends out at a multitude of points black promontories of rock into the surrounding plain. Argob, or the Lejah itself, is a great plain, and one of the strangest on earth. The surface is black, and has the appearance of the sea when it is in motion beneath a dark, cloudy sky, and when the waves are of good size but without any white crests of foam. But this sea of lava is motionless, and its great waves are petrified. In the process of cooling the lava cracked, and in some cases the layers of great basalt blocks look as if they had been prepared and placed where they are by artificial means. In other cases, the hillocks have split lengthwise, or sometimes into several portions, and thus seams have been opened, forming great fissures and chasms which cannot be crossed. Merrill. 4,5. Threescore cities, fenced with high walls, gates, and bars, besides unwalled towns, a great many. That sixty walled cities, besides unwalled towns a great many, should exist in a small province, at such a remote age, far from the sea, with no rivers and little commerce, appeared to be inexplicable. Inexplicable, mysterious though it appeared, it was true. On the spot, with my own eyes, I now verified it. The walled cities, with their ponderous gates of stone, are there now as they were when the Israelites invaded the land. Some of them retain the ancient names recorded in the Bible. I have more than once entered a deserted city in the evening, taken possession of a comfortable house, and spent the night in peace. Many of the houses in the ancient cities of Bashan are perfect, as if only finished yesterday. The walls are sound, the roofs unbroken, the doors, and even the window-shutters in their places. The great numbers of unwalled towns are there, too, standing testimonies to the truth and accuracy of Moses, and monumental protests against the poetical interpretations of modern rationalists. There are the roads once thronged by the teeming population; there are the fields they enclosed and cultivated; there are the terraces they built up; there are the vineyards and orchards they planted; all alike desolate, not poetically or ideally, but literally "without man, and without inhabitant, and without beast." J. L. P. —It is astonishing to learn that, in some of these ancient cities, from two to five hundred houses have been found perfect, but without a solitary inhabitant. From the battlements of the Castle of Salcah, Dr. Porter counted no fewer than thirty towns and villages dotting the vast plain, many of them perfect as when first built, and "yet, for more than five centuries, there has not been an inhabitant in one of them." All that has been recently discovered has completely established the descriptions in the writings of Moses and the prophets. To the very letter their statements have been vindicated by architectural remains, which are without a parallel. W. Fraser. 11. Bedstead of iron. The "iron" was probably the black basalt of the country, which not only contains a large proportion, about twenty per cent, of iron, but was actually called iron, and is still so regarded by the Arabians. The word translated "bedstead" may certainly mean "bier," and perhaps does so in this passage. Modern travellers have discovered in the territories of Og sarcophagi as well as many other articles made of the black basalt of the country. Is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? Probably after the defeat and death of Og at Edrei the remnant of his army fled into the territory of the friendly Ammonites, and carried with them the corpse of the giant king. Rabbah was not captured by the Israelites till the time of David; but it is not likely that this remarkable relic would remain at Rabbah unknown to them. Nine cubits. The bedstead or sarcophagus would thus be from thirteen to fourteen feet long: but was of course considerably larger than the body of the man for whom it was designed. Espin. It was not for nought that Og and his people were dispossessed. Great strength was combined with ghastly wickedness. This is the reason why they were swept away. Unless a nation is accomplishing God's purposes, it will not be spared to fulfil its own! Whether it is best for the world that a nation should continue in being depends on the virtue, purity, and piety of the people who compose it. If virtue be a-wanting, no number of cities and towns, nor any strength and hardness in the race, will shield a nation from absolute extinction. Cemance. In reading the Old Testament account of the terrible destruction brought upon these nations, we are to bear in mind that we are reading the execution of a dreadful but just sentence, pronounced by God against their intolerable and incorrigible crimes; that they were intended to be made an example to the whole world of God's avenging wrath against sins of such a magnitude and such a kind; that the miseries inflicted upon the nations by the invasion of the Jews were expressly declared to be inflicted on account of their abominable sins; that God had borne with them long; that he did not proceed to execute his judgments till their wickedness was full; that the Israelites were mere instruments in the hands of a righteous Providence for effecting the extermination of a people whom it was necessary to make a public example to the rest of mankind; that this extermination, which might have been accomplished by a pestilence, by fire, by earthquakes, was appointed to be done by the hands of the Israelites, as being the clearest and most intelligible method of displaying the power and righteousness of the God of Israel—his power over the pretended gods of other nations, and his righteous hatred of the crimes into which they were fallen. This is the true statement of the case. It is no forced or invented construction, but the idea of the transaction set forth in Scripture; and it is an idea which may fairly reconcile us to everything which we read in the Old Testament concerning it. Paley. The character of the nations to be extirpated furnishes the reason of the Divine procedure toward them. That the total extirpation of a pre-eminently wicked race is in no respect more opposed to Divine justice than was the destruction of the world by a deluge, and of Sodom and Gomorrah by fire from heaven, will hardly be questioned. Other instances of the destruction of tribes and nations are of frequent occurrence in the world's history. Further, experience abundantly confirms the testimony of Scripture, that God employs men, as well as inferior agencies, for the accomplishment of his purposes, whether of good or evil. Individuals and nations have a mission, and God employs them often, unconsciously or even contrary to their intentions, as the instruments of his wrath, and when they have fulfilled their destiny arms in turn other powers against them. This is the voice of universal history, and of Scripture his tory in particular, which discovers the hidden springs of actions and the will which directs all affairs (Is. 10 : 5-12). In these matters God not merely permits—for this were to take a low view of the Divine government, and utterly inadequate to explain the various perplexing phenomena of Providence—he arranges all events and regulates their issues. If God, then, does employ men as the unconscious ministers of his will, can he not also legitimate a people as righteous instruments of punishment? If God can and does employ an instrumentality of destruction, acting from its own will and for the accomplishment of its own ends without any respect to the Divine will, can he not also employ an instrumentality which, acting under his sole and supreme authority, shall be guiltless of wrong? This is the precise point to which the present question is reduced, and it is with this that the objector has to deal. D. M. The religion of the Bible is no less remarkable for its tenderness than for its severe purity. Once in five hundred or a thousand years, when morality is on the brink of perishing among men, the sword of justice smites and spares not. Hostile criticism, blind because hostile, fixes on these rare and long-deferred examples of Divine severity (always preceded by forbearance and warning) and overlooks the fact that the prevailing representation of the Divine character places mercy, compassion, kindness, tenderness among its foremost attributes. Heathen poets have sounded the depths of human sorrow, passion, and pity; but nowhere in pagan literature, least of all in the religious books of heathendom, can we catch even the echo of that full-toned tenderness and gracious comfort which rings through the Hebrew Scriptures, assuring us that "the LORD is very pitiful," and "his tender mercies are over all his works." E. R. Conder. Stations of Israel in Sihon's Territory. Final and Protracted Encampment on the Plains of Moab, or Shittim, opposite Jericho. Nu. 21 : 19, 20. The encampments of the Israelites, amounting to forty-two, are recorded all together in historical succession in ch. 33, where Ije-abarim is the thirty-eighth; Dibongad, thirty-nine; Almon-Diblathaim, forty; mountains of Abarim, forty-one; and the plains of Moab, by Jordan, forty-two. The words are strictly the proper names of the three places: but here the words Mattanah, Nahaliel, and Bamoth follow some lines of poetry, and seem to form a continuation of the song. They evidently express figurative and poetical ideas. The word Mattanah signifies a gift; Nahaliel, great streams; Bamoth may point out any high places of signal benefit in the country of Moab. If, therefore, these words were meant to express poetically some eminent blessing, what blessing was so likely to be then celebrated as copious streams of water? And after they had wandered near forty years through many a barren desert where there was no water, it is no wonder they should shout for joy at finding water in plenty. No wonder they should sing, in poetic rapture, that after the wilderness was (Mattanah) the GIFT OF GOD, meaning the great well in Moab, dug by public authority; and no wonder that, after such a gift, there were (Nahaliel) blessed streams, by which they passed, till they came to (Bamoth) the high places, from which these streams descended. Kennicott. Nu. 33 : 48. Pitched in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho. The plains (Arboth) OF MOAB, Israel's last place of encampment in the valley to the east of the Jordan, must not be confounded, as is often the case, with the FIELD OF MOAB on the top of the mountain (Nu. 21 : 20). Arboth Moab is the name given to that portion of the Ghor (Arabah) which stretches along the eastern bank of the Jordan, from the Jabbok or thereabout to the Dead Sea. It answers to the lowlands of Jericho, on the other side of the Jordan; and for this reason it is frequently described as being "over against Jericho." The field of Moab, on the other hand, was undoubtedly the large tract of table-land to the east of the Jordan, which stretched pretty uniformly from the mountains of Gilead to the Kerek. This is evident, first, from the fact that, according to Nu. 21 : 20, the Israelites encamped in a valley of the field of Moab before they reached the Arboth Moab (22 : 1); secondly, from 21 : 20, where Bamoth, or more properly Bamoth-Baal, the heights of Baal (22 : 41), which was situated between Dibon and Beth-Baal-Meon, is also described as being in the field of Moab; and thirdly, from the fact that the cities of Heshbon, Dibon, Medeba, and others, were in this field. K. Nu. 21 : 20. "And from Bamoth (they marched) to the valley, which is in the field of Moab (on the plateau of Moab), on the height of Pisgah, and looks over to the face of the wilderness"—that is, over the tract of land which extends to the northeastern shore of the Dead Sea. From this plateau on the mountains of the Abarim, of which Pisgah and Nebo were peaks, Israel had its first view of the Land of Promise, and especially of that mysterious Sea of Salt whose glittering surface and death-like surroundings would recall such solemn memories and warnings. The whole country east of the Jordan was now Israel's, and the passage of that river could not be disputed. A. E. Nu. 33 : 49. Abel-Shittim signifies "marshes of the acacia," and from hence to Beth-Jesimoth, near the head of the Dead Sea, the camp extended. Immediately under the hills of Gilead and Moab a rich wilderness of garden extends the whole way, watered by the abundant, never-failing springs and streams that gush from the foot of the wooded mountains. Among the tangled wilderness, chiefly on its western edge, still grow many of the acacia-trees, "shittim," from which the place derived its name. No place could thus be better situated for the vast camp—abundant water and forage behind, and open space for miles in front. Here, in these sultry groves, Israel was seduced by the Moabites into the licentious rites of Baal-Peor. Upon this rich plain Balaam looked down from the top of Peor, from Pisgah, from the bare hill on the top of the rocks and from the cultivated field of Zophim, "that looketh on the face of the waste." Here, not many months after, did Moses give his last blessing to the people he had led so long; hence he ascended those gray heights that towered beyond, and gained at length a glimpse of the land he was never himself to tread. Here were the tribes marshalled by his successor. In front of these green pastures their hosts were drawn out in the early morning just before their last halt on the river's brink (Josh. 3 : 1). H. B. T. The pilgrimage of Israel through the desert to the promised land presents three points, around which all the rest is grouped: first, the rest at Sinai, where they were set apart as the people of God, and where the covenant with Jehovah was concluded; second, the sojourn at Kadesh, in the Desert of Paran, where the unbelief of the Israelites came to a head, and the Divine sentence was pronounced, that they should be detained in the wilderness for forty years; and third, their stay in the plains of Moab, where the period of the curse came to an end, and the new generation arrived at the goal of its pilgrimage and the borders of the promised land. K. Nu. 22. 1 And the children of Israel journeyed, and pitched in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan at Jericho. 2 And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. And Moab was 3 sore afraid of the people, because they were many : and Moab was distressed because of the 4 children of Israel. And Moab said unto the elders of Midian, Now shall this multitude lick up all that is round about us, as the ox licketh up the grass of the field. And Balak the son 5 of Zippor was king of Moab at that time. And he sent messengers unto Balaam the son of Beor, to Pethor, which is by the River, to the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying, Behold, there is a people come out from Egypt : behold, they cover the face of the 6 earth, and they abide over against me : come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people ; for they are too mighty for me : peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land : for I know that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and 7 he whom thou cursest is cursed. And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand ; and they came unto Balaam, and spake unto 8 him the words of Balak. And he said unto them, Lodge here this night, and I will bring you word again, as the LORD shall speak unto me : and the princes of Moab abode with Balaam. 9 And God came unto Balaam, and said, What men are these with thee ? And Balaam said unto 10 God, Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, hath sent unto me, saying, Behold, the people 11 that is come out of Egypt, it covereth the face of the earth : now, come curse me them ; per- 12 adventure I shall be able to fight against them, and shall drive them out. And God said unto Balaam, Thou shalt not go with them ; thou shalt not curse the people : for they are blessed. 13 And Balaam rose up in the morning, and said unto the princes of Balak, Get you into your 14 land : for the LORD refuseth to give me leave to go with you. And the princes of Moab rose 15 up, and they went unto Balak, and said, Balaam refuseth to come with us. And Balak sent 16 yet again princes, more, and more honourable than they. And they came to Balaam, and said to him, Thus saith Balak the son of Zippor, Let nothing, I pray thee, hinder thee from coming 17 unto me : for I will promote thee unto very great honour, and whatsoever thou sayest unto 18 me I will do : come therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people. And Balaam answered and said unto the servants of Balak, If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I 19 cannot go beyond the word of the LORD my God, to do less or more. Now therefore, I pray you, tarry ye also here this night, that I may know what the LORD will speak unto me more. 20 And God came unto Balaam at night, and said unto him, If the men be come to call thee, rise 21 up, go with them ; but only the word which I speak unto thee, that shalt thou do. And 22 Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab. And God's anger was kindled because he went : and the angel of the LORD placed himself in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding upon his ass, and his two servants 23 were with him. And the ass saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand : and the ass turned aside out of the way, and went into the field : and 24 Balaam smote the ass, to turn her into the way. Then the angel of the LORD stood in a hol- 25 low way between the vineyards, a fence being on this side, and a fence on that side. And the ass saw the angel of the LORD, and she thrust herself unto the wall, and crushed Balaam's foot 26 against the wall : and he smote her again. And the angel of the LORD went further, and 27 stood in a narrow place, where was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left. And the ass saw the angel of the LORD, and she lay down under Balaam : and Balaam's anger was 28 kindled, and he smote the ass with his staff. And the LORD opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three 29 times ? And Balaam said unto the ass, Because thou hast mocked me : I would there were a 30 sword in mine hand, for now I had killed thee. And the ass said unto Balaam, Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden all thy life long unto this day ? was I ever wont to do 31 so unto thee ? And he said, Nay. Then the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand : and he bowed 32 his head, and fell on his face. And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three times ? behold, I am come forth for an adversary, because thy 33 way is perverse before me : and the ass saw me, and turned aside before me these three times : unless she had turned aside from me, surely now I had even slain thee, and saved her alive. 34 And Balaam said unto the angel of the LORD, I have sinned ; for I knew not that thou stoodest 35 in the way against me : now therefore, if it displease thee, I will get me back again. And the angel of the LORD said unto Balaam, Go with the men : but only the word that I shall speak 36 unto thee, that thou shalt speak. So Balaam went with the princes of Balak. And when Balak heard that Balaam was come, he went out to meet him unto the City of Moab, which is 37 on the border of Arnon, which is in the utmost part of the border. And Balak said unto Balaam, Did I not earnestly send unto thee to call thee ? wherefore camest thou not unto me ? 38 am I not able indeed to promote thee to honour ? And Balaam said unto Balak, Lo, I am come unto thee : have I now any power at all to speak any thing ? the word that God putteth 39 in my mouth, that shall I speak. And Balaam went with Balak, and they came unto Kiriath- 40 huzoth. And Balak sacrificed oxen and sheep, and sent to Balaam, and to the princes that 41 were with him. And it came to pass in the morning, that Balak took Balaam, and brought him 42 up into the high places of Baal, and he saw from thence the utmost part of the people. And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and 43 seven rams. And Balak did as Balaam had spoken ; and Balak and Balaam offered on every 44 altar a bullock and a ram. And Balaam said unto Balak, Stand by thy burnt offering, and I will go ; peradventure the LORD will come to meet me : and whatsoever he sheweth me I will 45 tell thee. And he went to a bare height. And God met Balaam : and he said unto him, I 46 have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered up a bullock and a ram on every altar. And the LORD put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt 47 speak. And he returned unto him, and, lo, he stood by his burnt offering, he, and all the 48 princes of Moab. And he took up his parable, and said, 49 From Aram hath Balak brought me, the king of Moab from the mountains of the East : 50 Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel. 51 How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed ? and how shall I defy, whom the LORD hath not defied ? 9. For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: Lo, it is a people that dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations. 10 Who can count the dust of Jacob, or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his! 22: 1. With the decisive victories over Sihon and over Og, all who could have barred access to the Land of Promise had been either left behind, or else scattered and defeated. And now the camp of Israel had moved forward to "the other side Jordan from Jericho." Their tents were pitched in rich meadow-land, watered by many streams which rush down from the neighboring mountains—the Arboth or lowlands of Moab, as the country on this and that side the river was still called, after its more ancient inhabitants. The vast camp lay scattered over a width of several miles, from Abel-Shittim, "the meadow of the acacias," in the north, to Beth-Jeshimoth, "the house of desolations." A. E. The plains. Heb. Araboth; the word is the plural of that which is used to denote the whole depressed tract along the Jordan and the Dead Sea, and onward, where it is still called the Arabah, to the Elanitie Gulf. Near the mouth of the Jordan this tract is about eleven miles across, a breadth of from four to five miles being on the eastern bank. The space occupied by the Israelitish camp consisted, in the main, of a large and luxuriant oasis upon this bank, slightly raised above the barren flat, sultry because sheltered by the Perasan hills which bear up the fertile plateau above, and watered by the brooks which, descending from those hills, run westward across the plain into the Jordan. It commenced on the south at Beth-Jeshimoth, "house of the wastes," close to the Dead Sea: thence it covered the sites of the future cities Beth-ram and Beth-haran, and terminated northward at Abel-Shittim, the "acacia meadow." Espin. The overthrow of the Amorites opened the way for the march of the Israelites to "the plains of Moab," where they remained encamped during all the subsequent transactions until they passed the Jordan into the promised land. These plains are formed by a narrow strip of land, scarcely two leagues in breadth, lying along the eastern banks of the Jordan, opposite to the plains of Jericho. The Dead Sea lies to the south of it, Mount Pisgah on the southeast, and the mountains on the east; and toward the north, losing its specific name, this plain continues as "the valley of the Jordan," even to the Sea of Tiberias. This plain, with that of Jericho on the opposite side, form together, in fact, an expansion of the valley of the Jordan. Kt. 3. And Moab was sore afraid.** The Israelites had entirely routed and ruined Sihon King of the Amorites, and Og King of Bashan, taking possession of their lands; and they had done it with such despatch and in so surprising a manner, that the neighboring nations had reason to suspect there was something supernatural in it. It seems to have been owing to some such apprehension that none of them durst oppose the Hebrews without endeavoring first to engage heaven on their side, which they hoped to do by the help of enchantments. The Midianites and Moabites were both of them full of this persuasion, as we learn from this chapter; and we find from other places of Scripture that the Ammonites joined with them in the design of sending to Balaam (De. 23: 3, 4). Waterland. 4. Midian.** It is manifest from Scripture that there were two regions called Midian. The inhabitants of the one were at first of the Cushite race, and their situation was upon the Red Sea; they were the people to whom Moses betook himself when he fled from Egypt, and among whom he resided forty years. The other Midian was to the north, on the river Arnon, and in the vicinity of Moab. The natives were of the family of Abraham by Keturah, and bordered on the upper part of Edom; being allied to the Edomites, as well as to the children of Moab, by the ties of consanguinity. Their situation may be known from the correspondence which they kept up with the Israelites when the latter were encamped in the plains of Moab, near the rivers Jordan and Arnon. Bryant. 5. The exact situation of Pethor is uncertain. Balaam came "from the mountains of the east"—i.e., from Aram or from Mesopotamia; and Pethor therefore cannot be placed very far down the river. No better centre could be found for influencing alike the Arabian tribes on the east and the Aramaic tribes on the west bank of the great river. Espin. King Balak does not venture to attack the Israelites, but he has recourse to a genuine heathen means of defence. He hires, for a great sum, a celebrated soothsayer to curse Israel. The person and the history of this man are in every point of view remarkable, and full of strange inconsistencies. Gurl.—When all helps fail Moab, the magician is sought to. It is a sign of a desperate cause, to make Satan either our counsellor or our refuge. Why did they not send to Balaam to bless themselves, rather than to curse Israel? It had been more easy to be defended from the hurt of their enemies, than to have their enemies laid open to be hurt by them. Bp. H. Few characters stand forth from the page of Holy Scripture with such sombre magnificence as that of the prophet Balaam. A Gentile yet a Seer, an enchanter yet enlightened with some knowledge of the true God, a bad man yet with the fires of genius burning in his soul, the son of Beor had won throughout the colossal kingdoms of the East, and even among the desert tribes of Arabia, a reputation so powerful that the first notice of him tells us how Balak, King of Moab, sends for him far away to the shores of the great river to curse Israel, whose tents lay beneath the heights of Pisgah. The king thinks that where arms are unavailing maledictions may prevail. He thinks that nothing will withstand the might of enchantments. "For," he says, "I wot that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed." Farrar. According to the view which Hengstenberg has thoroughly established, the knowledge of Jehovah possessed by Balaam is to be traced to the events of his own day—namely, to the fame of the God of Israel, which had spread in the time of Moses over all the heathen nations round about, and to the overpowering effect produced upon all these nations, according to the express testimony of the Sacred Scriptures, by the mighty deeds which God did in the midst of his people. K. In Mesopotamia, Balaam's own residence and Abraham's native land, the knowledge of the true God does not seem to have been wholly lost; and he must have heard enough of what occurred in the wilderness and in Egypt to regard Jehovah at least as a mighty, perhaps as the supreme Deity. But with this knowledge there was also combined the most pagan superstition—almost in the same way, perhaps, as we find in Laban the Syrian a mixture of true religion and idolatry. Hence also he is not called a prophet in Scripture, but a soothsayer, and as such he was accustomed to practise his sorceries on a large scale, and had, throughout a wide extent of country, a reputation proportionate to the greatness of his abilities and the skill with which he maintained the deception. That at least on one occasion the Spirit of God was indeed present with him is attested not merely by himself, but by Moses (ch. 24 : 2), in the most express terms. Do not be surprised that God could make use of such a deceiver or fanatic —choose whichever name you please—to make him the herald of the coming salvation. Van O. —Inspiration, though rarely, was really bestowed on wicked men. King Saul was among the prophets; Balaam was inspired; so was Caiaphas; so were those who prophesied in the name of Christ, to whom Christ will say: "I never knew you, depart from me ye that work iniquity." Here we find the distinction between the gifts and the graces of the Spirit. Inspiration, like the foresight of prophecy, like the power to work miracles, was a gift that might or might not be associated with saving grace. E. P. H. Concerning Balaam; his residence, his previous and subsequent history, and his personal character, we have (outside of Nu. 22-24) three references in the Old Testament and the same number in the New. The Old Testament passages describe him as a soothsayer, practising divination for reward. The New Testament writers go to the bottom of his character, and represent him as "loving the wages of unrighteousness; rebuked for his iniquity, the dumb ass, speaking with man's voice, forbade the madness of the prophet" (2 Pet. 2 : 15, 16). They speak of "going after the error of Balaam for reward" (Jude 11), and of him as one who "taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication" (Rev. 2 : 14). Further, we are told (Nu. 31 : 8 and Josh. 13 : 22) that he was found among the Midianites—enemies of God's people, and slain with the sword. H. C. 7,8. Balaam was being tempted, and he knew it, to commit a deadly wrong; but unhappily the temptation came to him with uncontrollable force, for it appealed to his besetting sin. That sin was the love of gold. The keynote to the whole history is given in the quiet words that "the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand." Now there would have been for Balaam, had he chosen to adopt it, "with the temptation also the way to escape." It lay in the instant dismissal of the messengers, with the answer that what Balak wished could never be granted. But when Balaam gazed on those "rewards of divination" he felt morally unable to do this. Conscience said "I ought," but inclination refused to say "I will." He parleyed and dallied with the temptation; and to dally with temptation is to be lost. He put off the right decision; he lost the opportunity for the firm refusal. He blunted his moral sense by hesitating as to the decision of duty. He affected to need a direct Divine interposition to tell him how to act. He must (forsooth) have a vision from God, and longs to persuade himself that he may, after all, earn the promised guerdon and may go. "Lodge here this night; and I will bring you word again as the Lord shall speak unto me" Farrar. 9. I should wonder to hear God speak with a false prophet, if I did not know it hath been no rare thing with him (as with men) to bestow words, even where he will not bestow favor. Pharaoh, Abimelech, Nebuchadnezzar, receive visions from God; neither can I think this strange, when I hear God speaking to Satan in a question no less familiar than this of Balaam, "Whence comest thou, Satan?" Not the sound of the voice of God, but the matter which he speaks, argues love; he may speak to an enemy; he speaks peace to none but his own. God heard all the consultation and message of these Moabites; these messengers could not have moved their foot or their tongue but in him; and yet he, who asked Adam where he was, asks Balaam, "What men are these?" God loves to take occasion of proceeding with us from ourselves, rather than from his own immediate prescience. Hence it is, that we lay open our wants and confess our sins to him that knows both better than our own hearts, because he will deal with us from our own mouths. 13. He insinuates his own forwardness, and casts the blame of the prohibition upon God, and, which is worse, delivers but half his answer; he says, indeed, "God refuses to give me leave to go;" he says not, as it was, "He charges me not to curse them, for they are blessed." So did Balaam deny, as one that wished to be sent for again. Bp. H.—He does, in effect, desire them to give his humble service to Balak, and let him know that he would have been very glad to gratify him, but that he must not go without leave from God, which he has not yet obtained, and therefore for the present he must be excused. Those are a fair mark for Satan's temptation that speak diminishingly of Divine prohibitions as if they amounted to no more than the denial of a permission, and as if to go against God's law were only to go without his leave. H. 19. "That I may know what the Lord will say unto me more?" What "more?" Did Balaam fashion to himself a god after his own heart, and imagine that he also was to be moved from his declared purpose by the gifts and promises of Balak? Could he mean to insult God by his importunities? Did he hope to extort from him, out of regard to his own worldliness, permission to bring a curse upon an entire nation, which had been so long and so notoriously the object of his covenant care? Even such was what Peter well calls "the madness of the prophet." Kit. 20. Again Balaam wavers, dallies with the sin, renews his vain pretence of uncertainty, thinks that even God may be moved to allow his acceptance of these splendid proffers; dwells in longing anticipation on the thought of a house full of silver and gold. And then insulted conscience leaves him. God suffers him to go; lets him eat of the fruit of his own way and be fed with his own devices. He has tried hard to persuade himself, and as it were to persuade God, that in the course to which he is tempted there is no harm; he is suffered to believe that there is no harm. God answered him according to his idols; he is cursed with the gratification of his own desire; he may start on the open road of guilt. He wishes to face both ways; to go a certain length with each. And God suffers him to try the experiment. As the temptation had been renewed because it had been but half resisted, so now the temptation is suffered to prevail in order that it may be its own avenger. Sin, in Balaam's case as in so many cases, was made the penalty of sin. He was scourged by his own pleasant vices. His sin was punished by further temptations and opportunities of sin. The tempting opportunity is allowed to meet the susceptible disposition. By that terrible irony which we so often see in the Divine judgment God gives the penal permission to go astray. Farrar. The alternations of Balaam's own mind were the alternations of a mind with which God was expostulating; the horrible mazes and inconsistencies of a spirit which contradicts itself, and strives to disobey the God whom yet it feels and acknowledges. "With the froward"—oh, how true!—"thou wilt show thyself froward." God speaks once, and if that voice be not heard, but is wilfully silenced, the second time it utters a terrible permission. Experience will tell us how God has sent us to reap the fruit of our own wilfulness. F. W. R. 21. Now he makes himself sure of success. His corrupt heart tells him that, as God had relented in his license to go, so he might perhaps in his license to curse; and he saw how this curse might bless him with abundance of wealth; he rose up early, therefore, and saddled his ass. Bp. H. 22-31. By the first decided and satisfactory refusal God willed to repress his avarice, and to give a helping hand to his better feelings. But when the greater honors and gifts excite Balaam's avarice, sin obtains the upper hand, and so God can be no more glorified by his obedience; and thus he will, as Avenger of his disobedience, be sanctified in him, and yet in such a manner that, step by step, he gives him room for repentance, while he holds him as it were by a chain, and does not suffer him to give more than he pleases. This is especially the object in view in the incident of the ass. On this depends its deep significance. Balaam is confident in his gift of soothsaying, as though it was his own property. Possessed of this, he thinks he cannot miss the reward, when suddenly, by this event, his true relation to the gift is made known. The seer who boasts that the eyes of his mind are open (ch. 24:4, 16) becomes blind. In his stead the beast receives the higher vision; and thus is declared to him that it is God's free grace to which he owes the gift of second sight, and that his beast is more capable of perceiving things out of the higher world than an impure man, whom sinful desire has blinded. Nay, the punishment goes beyond this; the prophet who can no longer see anything becomes also dumb, and the ass prophesies in his stead. This is clearly the meaning of the history, whether we consider it as an event which really and outwardly happened, or as a vision represented by God before the mind of the prophet, by which the conduct of the ass was explained. An argument in favor of the opinion that it was not a mere vision but an actual event seems to be this—that the transaction is related just like the rest of the history, but more particularly, because God designed to show Balaam how he could take away a gift from the prophet and transfer it to his beast; but this a vision, however significant, would not have told him; nay, when afterward he understood it to be a vision, that very impression must have been destroyed. What the ass says is merely the expression of her animal feeling, only uttered in human language; but it is not the expression of any thought, since an animal is incapable of this. What the ass therefore says is of less moment in the history than the fact that she really has spoken. Gerl. 25. Even the dumb animal on which he rides is conscious of the white gleam of the Avenger's raiment; but the prophet at first sees him not, and will not see him; will persuade himself that what he sees is only the sunlight streaming on the hot gorge through the vines. The eyes which will not see are blinded; the ears that will not hear are made deaf; the heart which will not understand is made hard and gross; the iron sinew is stiffened in the neck which will not bend. It is thus that men stumble on toward the drawn sword of retribution. It is thus that, as Augustine says, God scatters penal darkness over forbidden lusts. Farrar. 27. Balaam the third time smote his ass, though she had now done him the best piece of service that ever she did him, saving him from the sword of the angel, and by her falling down teaching him to do likewise. H. 28. An adequate cause is assigned for this wonderful effect, for it is said expressly that "the Lord opened the mouth of the ass;" and no one who believes a God can doubt of his having power to do this, and much more. The miracle was by no means needless or superfluous; it was very proper to convince Balaam that the mouth and tongue were under God's direction; and that the same Divine power which caused the dumb ass to speak contrary to its nature could make him in like manner utter blessings contrary to his inclination. Bp. Newton.—That no man may marvel to see Balaam have visions from God and utter prophecies from him, his very ass hath his eyes opened to see the angel, which his master could not, and his mouth opened to speak more reasonably than his master. There is no beast deserves so much wonder as this of Balaam, whose common-sense is advanced above the reason of his rider; so as for the time the prophet is brutish, and the beast prophetical. To hear a voice come from that mouth, which was used only to bray, it was strange and uncouth; but to hear a beast whose nature is noted for incapacity to outreason his master, a professed prophet, is in the very height of miracles; yet can no heart stick at these that considers the dispensation of the Almighty in both. Bp. H. 31. When the dumb ass falls under his impotent anger, and he is rebuked and horrified by the unnatural voice, Balaam becomes tremblingly aware that a spirit is before him. He can discern now the waving of his garment, the flashing of his sword; he cannot mistake them now for the hot sunshine and the flickering vines. "Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam." God dispelled for a moment the penal blindness. It is as when a man is wandering with some evil purpose at the dead of night, and suddenly a flash of lightning splits the gloom, and shows him the pitfalls and precipices on every side. "There is," it has been said, "a tendency in acts of extreme wickedness suddenly to reveal the moral law within the heart in terrible and unsupportable majesty; and the interior of conscience is lighted up with all the fierce glare and microscopic clearness of an unnatural illumination; the guilty act operates with the power of a spiritual light within the dark chamber of the soul, and creates a more vivid scene than ever the natural mid-day sun would do." Farrar. 32. The angel of God takes notice of the cruelty of Balaam to his beast; his first words to the unmerciful prophet are an expostulation for this wrong. We little think it, but God shall call us to an account for the unkind and cruel usage of his poor mute creatures. He hath made us lords, not tyrants; owners, not tormentors; he that hath given us leave to kill them for our use, hath not given us leave to abuse them at our pleasure. Bp. H. Thy way is perverse before me. Thy intentions and purposes are not sincere and honest before me; for thou designest to serve Balak, and so to gain thy covetous and ambitious ends rather than to serve me. Wells.—That which was displeasing to God was his going with a malicious design against Israel, and a secret hope that, notwithstanding the proviso with which his permission was clogged, he might prevail to curse them, and so gratify Balak and get preferment under him. 34. It does not appear that he is sensible of this wickedness of his heart or willing to own it, but if he finds he cannot go forward he will be content (since there is no remedy) to go back. Here is no sign that his heart is turned, but if his hands are tied he cannot help it. Thus many leave their sins only because their sins have left them. There seems to be a reformation of the life, but what will that avail if there be no renovation of the heart? H. 35. Balaam was now to be compelled to further the designs of God, though even now his position was not altogether a hopeless one. He was obliged to submit, it is true, to further the designs of God; but he might still have done this of his own free will. He was obliged to do what would bring him nothing but anger and scorn from the Moabites, instead of gold and renown; but he might still have done it in such a manner that it would bring him honor and favor from G-d. Bless he must; but everything depended upon whether he did this with willingness and cheerful obedience, or with reluctance and of constraint. K. 23:1. In each case before Balaam inquired of God he directed Balak to prepare seven altars and to offer upon each one bullock and one ram. The object in this seems to have been to propitiate the Lord and secure his favorable consideration. It is remarkable that Balaam, coming from the region of the Euphrates, should have these ideas as to the sacrifice of clean animals. The fact seems to show that the idea of animal sacrifices was revealed to the race in its infancy, and that it prevailed extensively over the eastern world. H. C. 5. God did meet Balaam, not in auguries, but by putting "a word in Balaam's mouth." As the man shared not in it otherwise than by being the outward instrument of its communication, this "word" was to him only "a parable," and is designated as such in Scripture. Never before so clearly as in presence of the powers of heathenism, assembled to contend against Israel, did Jehovah show forth his almighty power, alike in making use of an instrument almost passive in his hand, and in disclosing his eternal purpose. A. E.—Who shall prescribe God what instruments to use? He knows how to employ, not only saints and angels, but wicked men, beasts, devils, to his own glory; he that put words into the mouth of the ass puts words into the mouth of Balaam; the words do but pass from him; they are not polluted, because they are not his. Bp. H. 7. The predictions of Balaam are wonderful, whether we consider the matter or the style; as if the same Divine Spirit that inspired his thoughts had also raised his language. They are, indeed, as the word "parable" implies, a weighty and solemn speech, delivered in figurative and majestic language. We cannot peruse them without being struck with the beauty of them, and perceiving their uncommon force and energy, though we read them only in a translation. Bp. Newton. Balaam's oracles are expressed in the purest style of Hebrew poetry—such as few can read without a sense of its beauty and majesty. If read with a present sense of the moral status of this prince of diviners—of the conflict in his soul between the love of riches and honor on the one hand and some regard to the high behests of the Almighty on the other, we cannot well suppress a feeling of sadness that one so gifted by nature and so favored of God with prophetic revelations should, despite of all, have yet succumbed to the dominion of the baser impulses of his soul. H. C. 7-10. First, as to the form of this parable; each thought is embodied in two sentences, with rapid, almost abrupt, transitions from one thought to the other. Secondly, the outward and inward separation of Israel (the former as symbol of the latter) is singled out as the grand characteristic of God's people—a primary truth this of the Old Testament, and, in its spiritual application, of the New Testament also. But even in its liberality it has proved true in the history of Israel of old, and still applies to them, showing us that Israel's history is not yet finished; that God has not forgotten his people, and that a purpose of mercy yet awaits them, in accordance with his former dealings. Such a people Balaam could not curse. A. E. The Israelites needed strong encouragement for the conflicts in which they were soon to engage. So God, in his wisdom and goodness, adopted a method of revealing his purposes which cheered the hearts of his people, while it brought confusion on their adversaries. It was to their enemies, the world powers, before whom they were ready to quail, that the predictions of Israel's irresistible career were now primarily addressed, and by a prophet of their own whose identity of interest with themselves could not be suspected, and whose oracle therefore announced, only with greater certainty, the disappearance of their glory and their complete subjugation to the kingdom of God. D. M. 9. The people shall dwell alone. They shall ever be preserved as a distinct nation. This prophecy has been literally fulfilled through a period of thirty-three hundred years to the present day! This is truly astonishing! A. C. —How could Balaam, on a distant view only of a people whom he had never seen or known before, have discovered the genius and manners not only of the people then living, but of their posterity to the latest generations? What renders it the more extraordinary is the singularity of the character, that they should differ from all the people in the world, and should dwell by themselves among the nations without mixing and incorporating with any. The time, too, when this was affirmed increases the wonder; it being before the people were well known in the world, before their religion and government were established, and even before they had obtained a settlement anywhere. That the character was fully verified in the event not only all history testifies, but we have ocular demonstration at this day. The Jews in their religion and laws, their rites and ceremonies, their manners and customs, were so totally different from all other nations that they had little intercourse or communion with them. Other nations, the conquerors and the conquered, have often associated and united as one body under the same laws; but the Jews in their captivities have commonly been more bigoted to their own religion and more tenacious of their own rites and customs than at other times. And even now, while they are dispersed among all nations, they yet live distinct and separate from all; trading only with others, but eating, marrying, and conversing chiefly among themselves. Bp. Newton. 10. Let me die the death of the righteous. He goes upon the supposition of the soul's immortality, and a different state on the other side death, to which this is a noble testimony, and an evidence of its being anciently known and believed. For how could the death of the righteous be more desirable than the death of the wicked upon any other account than as it involved happiness in another world, since in the manner and circumstances of dying we see all things come alike to all? He pronounces the righteous truly blessed, not only while they live, but when they die; which makes their death not only more desirable than the death of others, but even more desirable than life itself. H. —Balaam could wish at this time to have his dying portion with the righteous; yet that wish had no abiding influence upon his conduct. The present—the gains and honors of the world, were still the subjects of his thoughts, and to win them the great object of his solicitude. Therefore his "end" was far from that. In the tents of Midian, where he lingered, or to which he returned to claim the rewards of unrighteousness, his sun went down in blood, leaving a name that has become a byword in the world. It is a fearful thought that a man may have "his eyes open" so wide as Balaam's were, and see as distinctly as he "the vision of the Almighty," and yet perish in practical unbelief; for that belief avails only for condemnation, which is not operative upon the heart, and allows a man still to have his portion with the world. Kit. The object now before us is the most astonishing in the world! A very wicked man, under a deep sense of God and religion, persisting still in his wickedness, and preferring the wages of unrighteousness, even when he had before him a lively view of death, and that approaching period of his days which should deprive him of all the advantages for which he was prostituting himself; and likewise a prospect, whether certain or uncertain, of a future state of retribution! All this joined with an explicit wish that when he was to leave this world he might be in the condition of a righteous man! What inconsistency, what perplexity is here! With what different views of things, with what contradictory principles of action, must such a mind be torn and distracted! It was not an unthinking carelessness; no, he acted upon the cool motives of interest. Neither was he totally callous to impressions of religion, what we call abandoned; for he absolutely refused to curse Israel. When Reason resumes her place, he owns and feels and is actually under the influence of the Divine authority while he is carrying on his views to the grave, the end of all temporal greatness; under this sense of things, with the better character and more desirable state present full before him, voluntarily to choose the worse! How can such a character be explained? And yet, strange as it may appear, it is not altogether an uncommon one! Nay, with some small alterations and put a little lower, it is applicable to a considerable part of the world. For if the reasonable choice be seen and acknowledged, and yet men make the unreasonable one, is not this the same inconsistency which appeared unaccountable? Men's strong attachments to this present world, their hopes, fears, and pursuits, are beyond all proportion to the known value of the things they respect. They try to make a composition with the Almighty. Those of his commands they will obey; but as to the others, they will make all atonements in their power. Indulgences before, or atonements afterward, are all the same; and they add faint hopes and half resolves of making a change at one time or other. Bp. Butler. For the death of the righteous, beforehand we must die daily to ourselves, and hide our life with Christ in the bosom of God. Lord, teach us this death, in order that we may be capable of the other! Disrobe us of ourselves, and clothe us with thyself! Make us poor in order that we may be rich! Be our only treasure! Be our only light in the days of happiness, so that thou mayest also be our light in days of mourning, and at the hour of final departure! Vinet. BALAAM'S SECOND AND THIRD PROPHETIC BLESSINGS UPON ISRAEL. HIS GREAT PROPHECY OF THE STAR AND SCEPTRE. DESTINY OF EXISTING NATIONS. VISTA OF THE GREAT FUTURE. Nu. 23 11 AND Balak said unto Balaam, What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast blessed them altogether. And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which the LORD putteth in my mouth? And Balak said unto him, Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest see them; thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all: and curse me them from thence. And he took him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered up a bullock and a ram on every altar. And he said unto Balak, Stand here by thy burnt offering, while I meet the Lord yonder. And the LORD met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus shalt thou speak. And he came to him, and, lo, he stood by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said unto him, What hath the LORD spoken? And he took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; Hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor: 19. God is not a man, that he should lie; Neither the son of man, that he should repent: Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? 20 Behold, I have received commandment to bless: And he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it. 21 He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, Neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: The LORD his God is with him, And the shout of a king is among them. 22. God bringeth them forth out of Egypt; He hath as it were the strength of the wild-ox. 23 Surely there is no enchantment with Jacob, Neither is there any divination with Israel: Now shall it be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought! 24 Behold, the people riseth up as a lioness, And as a lion doth he lift himself up: He shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, And drink the blood of the slain. 25. And Balak said unto Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all. But Balaam 26 answered and said unto Balak, Told not I thee, saying, All that the LORD speaketh, that I 27 must do? And Balak said unto Balaam, Come now, I will take thee unto another place; per- 28 adventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence. And Balak took 29 Balaam unto the top of Poor, that locketh down upon the desert. And Balaam said unto 30 Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams. 24 1 And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered up a bullock and a ram on every altar. And when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he went not, as at the other times, 2 to meet with enchantments, but he set his face toward the wilderness. And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel dwelling according to their tribes; and the spirit of God came 3 upon him. And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor saith, And the man whose eye was closed saith: 4. He saith, which heareth the words of God, Which seeth the vision of the Almighty, Falling down, and having his eyes open: 5 How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, Thy tabernacles, O Israel! 6 As valleys are they spread forth, As gardens by the river side, As lign-aloes which the LORD hath planted, As cedar trees beside the waters. 7 Water shall flow from his buckets, And his seed shall be in many waters, And his king shall be higher than Agag, And his kingdom shall be exalted. 8. God bringeth him forth out of Egypt; He hath as it were the strength of the wild-ox: He shall eat up the nations his adversaries, And shall break their bones in pieces, And smite them through with his arrows. 9 He couched, he lay down as a lion, And as a lioness; who shall rouse him up? Blessed be every one that blesseth thee, And cursed be every one that curseth thee. 10. And Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam, and he smote his hands together: and Balak said unto Balaam, I called thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast altogether 11 blessed them these three times. Therefore now flee thou to thy place: I thought to promote 12 thee unto great honour; but, lo, the LORD hath kept thee back from honour. And Balaam said 13 unto Balak, Spake I not also to thy messengers which thou sentest unto me, saying, If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the LORD, to 14 do either good or bad of mine own mind; what the LORD speaketh, that will I speak? And now, behold, I go unto my people: come, and I will advertise thee what this people shall do 15 to thy people in the latter days. And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor saith, And the man whose eye was closed saith: 16. He saith, which heareth the words of God, And knoweth the knowledge of the Most High, Which seeth the vision of the Almighty, Falling down, and having his eyes open: 17 I see him, but not now: I behold him, but not nigh: There shall come forth a star out of Jacob, And a sceptre shall rise out of Israel, And shall smite through the corners of Moab, And break down all the sons of tumult. 18 And Edom shall be a possession, Seir also shall be a possession, which were his enemies; While Israel doeth valiantly. 19 And out of Jacob shall one have dominion, And shall destroy the remnant from the city. 20. And he looked on Amalek, and took up his parable, and said, Amalek was the first of the nations; But his latter end shall come to destruc- tion. 21 And he looked on the Kenite, and took up his parable, and said, Strong is thy dwelling place, And thy nest is set in the rock. 22 Nevertheless Kain shall be wasted, Until Asshur shall carry thee away captive. 23 And he took up his parable, and said, Alas, who shall live when God doeth this? 24 But ships shall come from the coast of Kit- tim, And they shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber, And he also shall come to destruction. 25. And Balaam rose up, and went and returned to his place: and Balak also went his way. Balak first met Balaam on the banks of the Arnon, then proceeded north with him to Kir-jath-huzoth (22:39), the northern Kiriathaim, and its high place, the top of Attarus immediately above it, and the first conspicuous eminence north of the Arnon; then across the Zerka the next day to the high places of Baal (verse 41), Baal-meon, afterward changed by the Reubenites into Beth-meon. Thence, in order that he might see the utmost part of Israel's host, he brought him still further north to the top of Pisgah (23:14). Finally, in the last vain attempt to conciliate the Deity by fresh sacrifices, he led him to the top of Peor (verse 28), which, following the topographical sequence, I would place where there are a group of ruins on the summit of the ridge due west of Heshbon and exactly opposite Beth-Jesimoth, which is probably identical with the Jeshimon of Nu. 33:28. Thus we have, with every reasonable probability, the identification of the four sacrificial stations of Balak and Balaam. H. B. T. This oracle depicts the source of Israel's peculiar happiness as to be sought in its exceptional relation to God. Thanks to the Divine Law it is a holy people; thanks to Divine revelation it is an enlightened people; and thanks to God's royal leading it is an unconquerable people for whom a glorious future is reserved. Orelli. 19. Men change their minds, and therefore break their words. But God never changes his mind, and therefore never recalls his promise. Balaam had owned (verse 8) that he could not alter God's counsel, and from thence he infers here that God himself would not alter it; such is the imperfection of man, and such the perfection of God. It is impossible for God to lie (Heb. 6:18). And when in Scripture he is said to repent, it is not meant of any change of his mind (for he is in one mind, and who can turn him?), but only of the change of his way. This is a great truth, that with God there is no variableness or shadow of turning. 20. He hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it—that is, "I cannot prevail with him to reverse it." Israel were of old a blessed people; they were born under the blessing of the covenant, and born to the blessing of Canaan, and therefore they could not be cursed, unless the God of eternal truth should break his word and become false to himself and his people. 21. He has not beheld iniquity in Jacob. Not but that there was iniquity in Jacob, and God saw it; but there was not such a degree of iniquity as might provoke God to abandon them and give them up to ruin. There was no idolatry among them, which is in a particular manner called iniquity and per- perverseness; we have found nothing of that kind in Israel since the golden calf, and therefore though they were in other instances very provoking yet God would not cast them off. H. Balaam speaks of Israel as an upright and righteous nation. There is something in such a description which cannot fail to astonish us, so vivid is the recollection of their constant rebellion, disobedience, and ingratitude, of the trouble they caused their God, and of the numerous punishments and plagues with which he had to visit them. We must look deeper for an explanation. Balaam's prophetic glance and saying was not concerned with what Israel might be at any one particular time in its outward and variable appearance, but with its calling and election in every age. In this sinful world there is always a contrast, of less or greater strength, between the idea and the outward manifestation. We find it in Israel; and on many occasions it became most terribly glaring. But the imperishable seed of the promise, which had been deposited in the outward Israel by him who had begotten the spiritual Israel, was still there. A genuine Israel, to whom the predicate of honorable and righteous might justly be applied, still continued to exist in the most deeply degraded periods as a counteracting leaven, though it might be confined to the seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal. And even at such periods as these, according to its calling and election, which must eventually be realized, Israel was a nation of just and righteous men. So essential a characteristic was this of Israel, so inseparable was the inward call from the outward manifestation, that the Deuteronomist, whom no one could charge with unduly glorifying and idealizing his nation, has incorporated this idea in the word Jeshurun, which he adopts as a proper name for Israel (De. 32:15; 33:5, 26; Is. 44:2). Balaam looked upon Israel in its separation from the heathen; and in this respect, notwithstanding all its wanderings, it was and remained a people of Jesharim, a Jeshurun; since its wanderings were only for a time. Under the guidance and teaching and chastisement of Jehovah, it always returned from its wanderings and rose up from its fall, whereas the way of the heathen was from first to last a false way. K. 22. Here we find an answer to the question, why this occurrence has been left on record in these sacred pages for all generations. A man who was called to curse feels himself irresistibly impelled by the power of the Spirit from on high to bless the people of the Lord: what was such a man, if not a powerful witness to the greatness and the honor of Israel? To use his own words, it was necessary to show that "no enchantment availed against Jacob, nor any divination against Israel;" and that the people of the Lord had nothing to fear in any case from heathen superstition and sorcery. Thus they were encouraged against approaching days of darkness, and assured of the protection of an Almighty power, which if need were could change even the curse into a blessing. And the history and utterances of Balaam were not merely of the deepest significance for that time, but remain such for all succeeding ages. Van O. At this point of time Israel was on the threshold of Canaan. Sihon and Og had fallen. The spirit of a pure and vigorous faith in God was never more thoroughly national than in this generation. As between Moab and Israel, the contrast was never greater. God's people as seen by his prophetic eye were on the eve of sublime victories. No enchantment or divination could have force against them. That was the era in their history when it might fitly become a standing exclamation: "What hath God wrought?" H. C. 28. He led Balaam this time to the top of Mount Peor, which rose immediately above the plain in which Israel was encamped, and where the whole camp lay spread out before the eyes of the seer, like the contents of an open book. Altars were erected, and sacrifices offered, as before; but Balaam did not go and seek for auguries. K. 24 : 3-9. The third blessing is the finest of all. Its central ideas are prosperity and victory. To appreciate its imagery, we must remember the exceeding value of water in the East, so that abundance of it is the best poetical image of prosperity and national welfare—also that Agag was the dynastic name of Amalekite kings, and that accordingly, inasmuch as Amalek was at that time "the first of the nations" (verse 20) with which Israel had to deal, Agag was the great representative of the power of the enemies of God's people. J. M. G. 5. Tabernacles.** The sight of the actual tents in the camp of the Israelites transports his view to the dwellings of Israel, crowned with all manner of blessing from the fulness of the Lord. Their whole earthly well-being has its source in the unfailing streams which flow from God to his people. Gerl.—By an inner sense he beholds the tribes in the promised land, that region which, in comparison with the desert abodes of Moab, Midian, and Edom, was a very garden. There stretch like brooks the long lines of Israel's tents, planted in fact by fresh waters. The thirsty eye of the Oriental rejoices in nothing so much as in water. Where this is there is life, growth, wealth, joy. Hence this blessing of God is promised in fullest measure to Israel, which will therefore grow up like stately trees. From this peaceful prosperity (verse 7) then passes to the power of military expansion dwelling in the people, by which it will be raised above the mightiest nations. Orelli. 9. Blessed is he that blesseth thee.** Whatever good offices are performed toward the Church are conferred upon God himself, who will recompense them faithfully; and believers cannot be injured without his avenging them; even as he says: "He that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of my eye" (Zech. 2 : 8). And assuredly, whosoever have contributed their labors for the Church's welfare and have been her faithful helpers, shall be sure partakers of the blessing which is here promised. Cule. 11. The Lord hath kept you back from honor.** These words clearly exemplify the seductive impious spirit of the world. Surely Balaam now has found in serving Balak what the world really is; and the world itself fully deserves to bear the name borne by that king—Balak, destroyer. On every hand, the world looks out for allies, servants, friends; as Balak did to Balaam, she promises to bestow her favors and her wealth if you but follow her behests, and make her will your own. If you refuse, as he did at the first, the world will not believe that you act but from principle—rather, she thinks that you regard self-interest; but she will give you large rewards when you but sell yourself to her. "All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me:" so spake the prince of this world to Jesus; and at every turn he modifies his voice, but still to say the same thing, in the softest tone, to all Christ's followers—nay, even to every one of his redeemed. This Balak also, like a true destroyer, rests not for an instant till he brings you where he will; and if the first attempt does not succeed, he makes a second and a third. The world knows very well, like Balak, how to suit herself to circumstances when they change and to attract some friends from every side. Nay, she can even in her own time and way be quite religious—from mere policy and ill-concealed self-interest; and she shows all possible respect for—forms. Obey God rather than any man! The world will forgive you everything but this—that you earnestly believe God's Word, and give obedience to what he requires. If you show, like Balaam, that you hesitate because the truth is much too strong for you, like Balaam, you are roughly pushed aside, and told, "The Lord hath kept thee back from honor." To such a world—so selfish, false, malicious, just like Balak—should you make your heart a slave? Van O. 14. Balaam was ready enough to go. But the Spirit constrained him to finish his prophecy; and before his departure he announced to the Moabitish king what glory awaited Israel, and what destruction was in reserve for their heathen foes. K. The fourth parable is more strictly prophetic, setting forth what is to happen in the end of the days. It is not given at Balak's solicitation; but is, as it were, forced upon his unwilling ear as a wonderful appendix to the three-fold benediction pronounced upon Israel. J. M. G. Behind Balaam lay the vast expanse of desert extending to the shores of his native Assyrian river. On his left were the red mountains of Edom and Seir: further still was the dim outline of the Arabian wilderness, where ruled the then powerful tribe of Amalek; immediately below him lay the vast encampment of Israel, among the acacia groves of Abel-Shittim—like the water-courses of the mountains, like the hanging gardens beside his own river Euphrates, with their aromatic shrubs, and their widespread cedars. Beyond them, on the western side of Jordan, rose the hills of Palestine, with glimpses through their valleys of ancient cities towering on their crested heights. And beyond all, though he could not see it with his bodily vision, he knew well that there rolled the deep waters of the great sea, with the Isles of Greece, the Isle of Chittim—a world of which the first beginnings of life were just stirring, of which the very name here first breaks upon our ears. These are the points indicated in the view which lay before the prophet as he stood on the Watchers' Field, on the top of Peor. What was the vision which unrolled itself as he heard the words of God, as he saw the vision of the Almighty, "falling" prostrate in the prophetic trance, "but having the eyes" of his mind and his spirit "open"? The outward forms still remained. He still saw the tents below, goodly in their array; he still saw the rocks, and hills, and distant desert; but as his thought glanced from height to height, and from valley to mountain, the future fortunes of the nations who dwelt there unfolded themselves in dim succession, revolving round and from the same central object. As he watched the course of the surrounding nations, he saw how, one by one, they would fall, as fall they did, before the conquering sceptre of David, before the steady advance of that star which then, for the first time, rose out of Bethlehem. And, as he gazed, the vision became wider and wider still. He saw a time when a new tempest would break over all these countries alike, from the remote east—from Asshur, from his own native land of Assyria. "Asshur shall carry thee away captive." But at that word another scene opened before him, and a cry of horror burst from his lips: "Alas! who shall live when God doeth this!" For his own nation, too, was to be at last overtaken—"For ships shall come from the coast of Chittim"—from the island of Cyprus, which, as the only one visible from the heights of Palestine, was the one familiar link with the western world, "and shall crush Asshur, and shall crush Eber, 'the people beyond the Euphrates,' and he also shall perish forever." So it came to pass, when the ships of Cyprus, of Greece, of Europe, then just seen in the horizon of human hopes and fears, did at last, under the great Macedonian conqueror, turn the tide of eastern invasion backward; and Asshur and Babylon, Assyria and Chaldæa, and Persia, no less than the wild hordes of the desert, "perished forever" from the earth. Stanley. 17. I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not nigh: the future tense in Hebrew being often used for the present. He saw with the eyes of prophecy; and prophets are emphatically called seers. There shall come a star out of Jacob, and a sceptre.** The "star" and "sceptre" are probably metaphors borrowed from the ancient hieroglyphics, which much influenced the language of the East; and they evidently denote some eminent and illustrious king or ruler, particularized in the following words. Bp. Newton.—The star and the sceptre are symbols of royalty, the one of royal splendor, the other of royal power. The prophecy then heralds the coming of a king, who shall rise out of Israel. J. M. G. Who is "the star" and "the sceptre" of this prophecy? The leading thought of the passage (verses 17-19) and indeed of the entire prophecy to the end of verse 24 is the supremacy of Israel, and the fall of all powers hostile to Israel and to Israel's God. The key-note is in the words: "Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion." The prophetic future (as usual) is built upon the visible present, or perhaps more precisely, springs out of it—is suggested by it, and takes its phraseology and costume from it. The Lord forces the truth upon Balaam's soul that this Israel whom he was called out from his Eastern home to curse could not be cursed to any purpose by any earthly divination or power because they were God's own people, and it was his fixed purpose to bless them. To impress this great truth the more deeply, the Lord reveals to him in prophetic vision that this present fact is not transient but destined to reach into the remote future; that it is indeed only a beginning of their supremacy—a pledge of a far more sovereign ascendancy, to be manifested in future ages. With this view of the spirit of the prophecy, we must find here, not merely David in whom as the first conqueror of Moab and of Edom (2 Sam. 8:2, 12, 14) these words receive the first palpable instalment of their meaning; but yet more surely that greater Son of David whose sceptre is to rule the nations with a rod of iron. That this broad construction is the true one will appear yet more fully when we compare the use of the word "sceptre" here with Jacob's use of it (Gen. 49:10); the "star" here with the "star in the East" (Matt. 2:1) seen by other wise men [magicians] from Balaam's own country; and not least, the fact that Edom and Seir became in the usage of later prophets symbolic names for the declared and malign enemies of Christ's kingdom (see Is. 34). "He shall smite the corners;" better the two sides of Moab—i.e., Moab from side to side, through and through, laying waste her whole country. Edom and Seir—two names for one and the same kingdom, often affiliated with Moab, shall become the possession of their enemies and Israel shall outmaster them through her valor, and yet more through the might of her God—first fulfilled by David (2 Sam. 8:14). H. C. This prophecy was fulfilled in the person and actions of David; but most Jewish as well as Christian writers apply it ultimately to the Messiah, as the person chiefly intended, in whom it was to receive its full and entire completion. Onkelos, the most ancient and valuable of the Chaldee paraphrasts, interprets it of the Messiah: "When a prince," says he, "shall arise of the house of Jacob, and Christ shall be anointed of the house of Israel, he shall both slay the princes of Moab, and rule over all the sons of men:" and with him agree the other Targums or paraphrases. It appears to have been generally understood by the Jews as a prophecy of the Messiah, because the false Christ, who appeared in the reign of the Roman Emperor Adrian, assumed the title of Barchochebas, or the son of the star, in allusion to this prophecy, and in order to have it believed that he was the star whom Balaam had seen afar off. The Christian fathers are unanimous in applying this prophecy to our Saviour, and to the star which appeared at his nativity. Both Origen and Eusebius affirm that it was in consequence of Balaam's prophecies, which were known and believed in the East, that the Magi, upon the appearance of a new star, came to Jerusalem to worship him who was born king of the Jews. The stream of modern divines and commentators runs the same way—that is, they apply the prophecy principally to our Saviour, and by Moab and Edom understand the enemies and persecutors of the Church. A star did really appear at our Saviour's nativity; and in Scripture he is styled "the day star" (2 Pet. 1:19), "the morning star" (Rev. 2:28), "the bright and morning star" (22:16), perhaps in allusion to this very prophecy. Bp. Newton. The expression, "in the latter days," always denotes the period of the ultimate completion of the kingdom of God, in other words, the Messianic age. The "star out of Jacob" evidently denotes the Israelitish monarchy in its highest personal culmination, which was in the person of the Messiah. If Balaam's prophecy centred in David, as fulfilling its announcements, it centred in the Messiah also. From the fulfilment we know that what Balaam predicted of this one king was certainly fulfilled in David, but only in a provisional, imperfect, and not exhaustive manner. It was not till the coming of Christ that the fulfilment was complete and final. The conclusion therefore is that the prophecy refers first of all to David, and that it really was fulfilled in David, who as king was a type of Christ, the everlasting King. But it also refers to Christ; and the fulness of the completion in Christ exceeded that in David, to the same extent to which the sovereignty of Christ, the antitype, exceeded that of David, the type. When David had appeared, and had accomplished all that was given him to do, the believing Israelite could perceive that David was the star of which Balaam had prophesied. But when upon closer examination he found that, notwithstanding the relative completeness of the victories of David, the heathen foes of the kingdom of God were not absolutely defeated and destroyed, and therefore that Balaam's prophecy was only provisionally and not finally fulfilled in David—the examination might have led him to false conclusions as to the prophecy itself, if this had not been prevented by a continued course of prophecy. But just at the time when the want of harmony between Balaam's prophecy and the fulfilment forced itself upon the mind, the course of prophecy entered upon a fresh stage of its historical development, and the announcement was made that a second David would arise from David's seed, in whom the typical attitude of David to the heathen would find its most complete and antitypical realization. The star above the manger merely announced the Coming of Christ; it served as a guide to the place of his birth. But the star which was seen in the future by Balaam's prophetic eye was Christ himself. Balaam's star, therefore, was not a prediction of the star of the wise men, but they were both witnesses of the coming of Christ—the former as a prophecy of the future, the latter as a symbol for the time then present. K. 18. Edom shall be a possession. This was fulfilled by David, who in two of his Psalms hath mentioned together his conquest of Moab and Edom, as they are also joined together in this prophecy (Ps. 60 : 8 ; 108 : 9). Seir also.** "Seir" is the name of the mountains of Edom; so that even their mountains and fastnesses could not defend the Idumeans from David and his captains. Israel shall do valiantly. As they did particularly under the command of David, several of whose victories are recorded in 2 Sam. 8 together with his conquest of Moab and Edom. Bp. Newton. It is apparent that Edom and Moab are named by Balaam, as they are also by the prophets, not for their own sake merely, but as representatives of the heathen nations who were hostile to the Theocracy. As Jacob then figures as a constant type of the kingdom of Messiah in the prophets, so too do Edom and Moab of the enemies of that kingdom; and in the threatened ruin of Edom and Moab is indicated the eventual destruction of all that resist the kingdom of God in its power. Espin.—Nothing less than the entire and permanent conquest of all the enemies of the kingdom of God could be regarded as consummating the fulfilment of the prophecy. Where there are enemies, there are Moabites, and the words spoken by Balaam are still in process of fulfilment. Hengs—We have, in fact, in this last prophecy of Balaam concerning "the latter days" another form of the earlier assurance, "As truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord," and an anticipation of many that are to follow, some of which combine both forms of presenting ing the truth; as, for example, in the second Psalm. J. M. G. 20. Amalek, first of the nations.** The most asciend and most powerful of all the nations or States then within the view of Balaam; but his latter end shall be that he perish forever. This oracle began to be fulfilled by Saul (1 Sam. 15 : 7, 8), who overthrew the Amalekites, and took their King Agag prisoner. Afterward they were nearly destroyed by David (1 Sam. 27 : 8), and they were finally exterminated by the sons of Simeon in the days of Hezekiah (1 Ch. 4 : 41-43); since that time they have ceased to exist as a people, and now no vestige of them remains on the face of the earth; so completely is their posterity cut off according to this prophecy. A. C. 21. The Kenites.** Not one of the Canaanitish nations, mentioned in Gen. 15 : 19, but probably a tribe of the Midianites. Bp. Newton.—Since the name of the Kenites unquestionably occurs among the Midianites, and a curse directed against this nation, which was now allied with the Moabites for the purpose of compassing the destruction of Israel, would be perfectly in place here, we have no hesitation in regarding the curse directed against the Kenites as intended for the Midianites. How the name of Kenites came to be applied to the Midianites must be left undetermined. K. 22. The Amalekites were to be utterly destroyed, but the Kenites were to be carried captive. And accordingly when Saul was sent to destroy the Amalekites, he ordered the Kenites to depart from among them (1 Sam. 15 : 6). This shows that they were "wasted" and reduced to a low and weak condition. And as the kings of Assyria carried captive not only the Jews, but also the Syrians (2 Kings 16 : 9) and several other nations (2 Kings 19 : 12, 13), it is highly probable that the Kenites shared the same fate with their neighbors; especially as some Kenites are mentioned among the Jews after their return from captivity. 24. Ships from the coast of Kittim. Kittim was one of the sons of Javan, who was one of the sons of Japhet, by whose posterity "the isles of the Gentiles were divided" and peopled—that is, Europe, and the countries to which the Asiatics passed by sea. The land of Kittim was a general name for the countries and islands in the Mediterranean. And Balaam might here mean either Greece, or Italy, or both; the particular names of those countries being at that time perhaps unknown in the East. And the passage may be the better understood of both, because Greece and Italy were alike the scourges of Asia. Shall afflict Asshur. Asshur properly means the descendants of Asshur, the Assyrians; but the Syrians and Assyrians are often confounded together, and mentioned as the same people. The Greeks under Alexander the Great subdued all those countries. The Romans afterward extended their empire into the same regions; and Assyria, properly so called, was conquered by the Emperor Trajan. And shall afflict Eber.** By Eber is meant either the people bordering on the Euphrates, or the Hebrews, the posterity of Eber. If the former, they as well as the Assyrians were subdued both by the Greeks and Romans; if the latter, as is most probable, they were afflicted, though not much by Alexander himself, yet by his successors the Seleucidæ and particularly by Antiochus Epiphanes, who spoiled Jerusalem, defiled the temple, and slew all those who adhered to the Law of Moses (1 Macc. 1). They were worse afflicted by the Romans, who not only subdued and oppressed them and made their country a province of the empire, but at last took away their place and nation, and sold and dispersed them over the face of the earth. And he also shall come to destruction. That is "Kittim," who is the main subject of this part of the prophecy. If by Kittim be meant the Greeks, the Grecian Empire was entirely subverted by the Romans; if the Romans, the Roman Empire was in its turn broken into pieces by the incursion of the northern nations. The name only of the Roman Empire and Cæsarean majesty is subsisting at this day, and is transferred to another country and another people. Bp. Newton. The fact that the event which the seer here beholds, an event which shakes the world, and fills him with the greater terror and dismay, from the fact that it touches the children of his own nation, is mighty and irresistible in its character, is expressed without ambiguity in the words, "Woe, who will live, when God doeth this" (verse 23)! To an expositor who retains the least impartiality, it cannot for a moment be doubtful that the destruction of the imperial power of Asia by Greeks and Romans is predicted here (like the Assyrian and Babylonian empires, they are still classed together as one); and therefore that we have here a prophecy in the strictest sense of the word, the prediction of an event which no human wisdom or acuteness could have foreseen or calculated upon, either in the time of Moses, or David, or Malachi. K. This may, indeed, be characterized as the most wonderful of prophecies. More than a thousand years before the event, not only the rising of the great world empire of the West is here predicted, with its conquest of Asshur and Eber (i.e., of the descendants of Eber), but far beyond this the final destruction of that world empire is foretold! In fact, we have here a series of prophecies, commencing with the appearance of the Messiah and closing with the destruction of anti-Christ. To this there is no parallel in Scripture, except in the visions of Daniel. No ingenuity of hostile criticism can take from or explain away the import of this marvellous prediction. A. E. These oracles materially enrich the patriarchal benedictions, while also partially coinciding with them. The enrichment consists precisely in what Israel had become through the Mosaic covenant at Sinai. We see there the people countless in numbers, thanks to the covenant with Jehovah possessing a sacred nationality, an impregnable victorious power, full of blessing, unfolding into true royalty, while every worldly power and force is sinking into dust. Orelli.—What was little Israel to great Assyria, or greater Greece, or Rome, the mightiest of all? Yet where is Assyria now? Where are the Greek and Roman empires now? And where is the star and sceptre now? Is not the star brighter and the sceptre mightier than it ever was before? And in the same way shall the enemies of the truth in modern times, near and far, related and unrelated, go down at last before the rising star and the all-conquering sceptre. J. M. G. #### Balaam Returns "to his Place" (verse 25). Not to his own land, for he remained among the Midianites to plot by new means against the people of God, and to perish in his sin. The phrase, which is of frequent recurrence, is idiomatic, meaning merely that Balaam went away whither he would. Espin.—He remained among the Midianites, as the following history shows, and gave them out of revenge the advice to seduce the Israelites by means of sensual lust, and thereby secured his reward. The more glorious the prophecies which he was obliged to utter, so much the more under this compulsory office did his heart become alienated from God. He had been obliged to experience that he could not cope with God himself; but his people were as he knew a weak, fickle, sensual people, and if he could not reverse God's promises, yet he hoped to alienate this his people from him, and thus to undermine his power. Gerl. "The way of Balaam" and the words of Balaam are really two different subjects. His conduct was of the meanest; his words were of the noblest that ever came from mortal lips. Alas! how often do these two—noble words and ignoble conduct—run on alongside each other in the life of man, and never meet! The words abide; the man, identified not with his words, which were from him, but not of him, but with his conduct, which was the true expression of himself, perishes forever. J. M. G.—He knew what was right, and yet did what was wrong. His was not a sin of ignorance. His intellectual, nay, his moral convictions were correct. He knew what he should do, and there was in him also a feeling of obligation to do it. It was he who declared that "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent;" while, by his repeated yieldings to Balak's entreaties, he acted just as if he supposed it to be possible to change the purpose of God in reference to Israel. And it was he who said, "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his;" yet "he loved the wages of iniquity," and died in the ranks of Jehovah's enemies. W. M. T. ISRAEL'S SIN WITH THE MOABITES AND MIDIANITES. PUNISHMENT. JUDGMENT EXECUTED BY PHINEHAS. DESTRUCTION OF MIDIANITES. DIVISION OF ALLOWED SPOIL. No. 25 1 And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the 2 daughters of Moab: for they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods; and the 3 people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor: 4 and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel. And the LORD said unto Moses, Take 5 all the chiefs of the people, and hang them up unto the LORD before the sun, that the fierce 6 anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel. And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay 7 ye every one his men that have joined themselves unto Baal-peor. And, behold, one of the 8 children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of 9 Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, while they were weep- 10 ing at the door of the tent of meeting. And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of 11 Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from the midst of the congregation, and took a spear in 12 his hand; and he went after the man of Israel into the pavilion, and thrust both of them 13 through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from 14 the children of Israel. And those that died by the plague were twenty and four thousand. 15 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the 16 priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, in that he was jealous with 17 my jealousy among them, so that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy. 18 Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: and it shall be unto him, and 19 to his seed after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was jealous for 20 his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel. Now the name of the man of Israel 21 that was slain, who was slain with the Midianitish woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a 22 prince of a fathers' house among the Simeonites. And the name of the Midianitish woman 23 that was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur; he was head of the people of a fathers' house 24 in Midian. 25 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Vex the Midianites, and smite them: for they vex 26 you with their wiles, wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the mat- 27 ter of Cozbi, the daughter of the prince of Midian, their sister, which was slain on the day of 28 the plague in the matter of Peor. 31 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Avege the children of Israel of the Midian- 29 ites: afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people. And Moses spake unto the people, 30 saying, Arm ye men from among you for the war, that they may go against Midian, to execute 31 the LORD's vengeance on Midian. Of every tribe a thousand, throughout all the tribes of 32 Israel, shall ye send to the war. So there were delivered, out of the thousands of Israel, a 33 thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. And Moses sent them, a thousand 34 of every tribe, to the war, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with 7 the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand. And they warred 8 against Midian, as the LORD commanded Moses; and they slew every male. And they slew the kings of Midian with the rest of their slain; Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and 9 Reba, the five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword. And the children of Israel took captive the women of Midian and their little ones; and all their 10 cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods, they took for a prey. And all their cities in 11 the places wherein they dwelt, and all their encampments, they burnt with fire. And they 12 took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of man and of beast. And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, unto Moses, and unto Eleazar the priest, and unto the congrega- tion of the children of Israel, unto the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan at Jericho. 13 And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to 14 meet them without the camp. And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, the cap- tains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, which came from the service of the war. 15 And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive? Behold, these caused the 16 children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the 17 matter of Peor, and so the plague was among the congregation of the LORD. Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying 18 with him. But all the women children, that have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves. [Verses 19-24. Instructions to purify themselves, their garments, and their useful booty.] 25. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of 26 man and of beast, thou, and Eleazar the priest, and the heads of the fathers houses of the 27 congregation: and divide the prey into two parts; between the men skilled in war, that went 28 out to battle, and all the congregation: and levy a tribute unto the LORD of the men of war that went out to battle: one soul of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the beeves, and 29 of the asses, and of the flocks: take it of their half, and give it unto Eleazar the priest, for the 30 LORD's heave offering. And of the children of Israel's half, thou shalt take one drawn out of every fifty, of the persons, of the beeves, of the asses, and of the flocks, even of all the cattle, 31 and give them unto the Levites, which keep the charge of the tabernacle of the LORD. And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the LORD commanded Moses. 48 And the officers which were over the thousands of the host, the captains of thousands, and 49 the captains of hundreds, came near unto Moses: and they said unto Moses, Thy servants have taken the sum of the men of war which are under our charge, and there lacketh not one 50 man of us. And we have brought the LORD's oblation, what every man hath gotten, of jewels of gold, ankle chains, and bracelets, signet-rings, earrings, and armlets, to make atonement 51 for our souls before the LORD. And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of them, even 52 all wrought jewels. And all the gold of the heave offering that they offered up to the LORD, of the captains of thousands, and of the captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven 53 hundred and fifty shekels. (For the men of war had taken booty, every man for himself.) 54 And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tent of meeting, for a memorial for the children of Israel before the LORD. We have here the record of an idolatrous defection on the part of a new generation of Israelites, the children of the men who had fallen in the wilderness, on the eve of entrance into the promised land. They joined themselves unto Baal-peor, the god of the Moabites, for which the displeasure of the true God, jealous of his honor, broke loose upon them. T. C. 1. Shittim. The last station of the wilder- ness, called afterward Abel-Shittim (the afflic- tion of Shittim), after the punishment which followed there. It lay in the plains opposite Jericho. Here the people remained a long time, and received the second giving of the Law. Gerl.—And now at the very last station of their long march, with the land of promise in full view before them across the Jordan, the people of God—at least a large number of them —give way to temptation. That Balaam was the instigator of this plot we know from subse- quent Scriptures, among others from Rev. 2:14: “I have a few things against thee be- cause thou hast there them that hold the doc- trine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.” S. R.—He was hankering after the rewards that Balak offered; and he could not bear to give them up. And so although he would never curse God's people, since he was told that he must not, he did the very wickedest thing recorded in the Old Testament; he deliberately told the Moabites how they could seduce God's people into sin. Temple.—As if in defiance, he counselled the evil stratagem by which he hoped to compass indirectly that ruin of God's people which he had been withheld from working otherwise. He thus, like Judas and Ahithophel, set in motion a train of events which involved his own destruction. Espin. The infernal sagacity of Balaam led him to conclude that if they could be seduced from their allegiance to their Divine king, the protection which rendered them invincible would be withdrawn, and they easily be subdued by their enemies. This discovery he made known to the King of Moab before his departure; and it illustrates the character of the man that he could form this device and counsel the king to act upon it, just after his mouth had poured forth—even by constraint—eloquent blessings upon the people whose ruin he now devises. And all this was purely gratuitous; for his business with Moab was ended. He could not curse Israel—and had incurred the anger rather than the honors of the King of Moab. He seems to have retired among the neighboring people of Midian, close allies with Moab, until he should behold the results of the course he had suggested, and in which he seems to have induced the Midianites also to co-operate. These people, however dissatisfied with the result of their sending for him, were still too deeply impressed with the notion of his superhuman sagacity not to pay the most heedful attention to his advice. This was, in effect, that the women should be rendered instrumental in seducing the Israelites to take part in the obscene rites of Baal-Peor. Kit. He instructs Balak to make a great feast; and, by collecting all the youth and beauty of Moab at this carnival, he allures the people first to fornication, and then, through the medium of their passions, to idolatry; he thus finds a way to rob them of all those privileges which he had so sublimely sung. Such is the darkening, hardening influence of an evil passion cherished within; so wonderfully it glosses over evil and confounds it with good. None knew so well as Balaam that whoso touched the people of God, touched the apple of his eye; yet all was lost in the love of filthy lucre; he was maddened by avarice. R. Hull. Rather than lose his hopes, Balaam resolves to speak worse than curses. The fear of God's judgments in a worldly heart is at length overcome with the love of gain. He would not curse, but he would advise, and his counsel is worse than a curse; for his curse had hurt none but himself, his counsel cost the blood of twenty-four thousand Israelites. Where Balaam did speak well, there was never any prophet spake more divinely; where he spake ill, there was never any devil spake more wickedly. How justly did he perish with the sword of Israel, whose tongue had insensibly slain so many thousands of them! Bp. H. Balaam wanted to do what he knew to be contrary to the express mind of God; he had inward checks and restraints which he could not entirely get over. Not daring as a prophet to assist the King of Moab, he considers whether there might not be found some other means of aiding him against that very people whom he was restrained from cursing in words. He could think of no other method than to betray the children of Israel to provoke his wrath, who was their only strength and defence. The temptation which he pitched upon was that concerning which Solomon afterward observed that it had cast down many wounded; yea, many strong men had been slain by it: and of which he himself was a sad example when his wives turned away his heart after other gods. This succeeded; the people sin against God; and thus the prophet's counsel brought on that destruction which he could not be prevailed upon to assist with the religious ceremony of execration. And surely that impious counsel he gave to Balak against the children of Israel was a greater piece of wickedness than if he had cursed them in words. . . . Yet, strange as it may appear, such a character is not an uncommon one; nay, with some small alterations and put a little lower, it is applicable to a considerable part of the world. For if the reasonable choice be seen and acknowledged, and yet men make the unreasonable one, is not this the same contradiction and inconsistency which, in Balaam, appear so unaccountable? Bp. Butler. 1. God secured the people against their enemies, while they brought destruction on themselves by their wickedness. Bp. Wilson.—2. The people did eat. Of the Moabitish sacrifices. This was an act of idolatry, whereby they owned themselves the servants of the gods of Moab; as to eat of the Lord's sacrifices was an act of Divine worship (see Ex. 34:15). Bp. Patrick. Closely connected with an irrevocable condemnation of every form of idolatry was the special character of the legislation that dealt with the seven nations or tribes inhabiting Palestine at the time of the exodus, and with those people who dwelt on its borders, allies in blood to the Israelites, as being the descendants of the father of Abraham in two cases, and of Isaac himself in the third—namely, the Ammonites, the Moabites, and the Edomites. Whether the chief danger of being seduced to join in the worship of these people lay in the vicinity of their dwelling places, or in the sympathy of kindred blood, it was warded off by the most inflexible barriers. Against the seductive influences of the neighboring idolaters the door was thus altogether closed, so long as the Law of God was obeyed. For the Law was not a mere idle threat; it was a rule of life, to be enforced by the sword, the stake, the cord, and the stone, for wilful breach; by stripes and by the pecuniary mulct of the sin-offering for inadvertent trespass. It is only within the past few years that this tone and temper of the Pentateuch have been made clearly intelligible, by the discovery of what the gods of Ammon and of Moab actually were. From the time when Israel abode in Shittim, the rites of the service of Baal-Peor have been of a directly licentious character; and the idols before which they were performed are of a type and nature which modesty forbids us to delineate, or more distinctly to describe. F. R. Conder. The uncleanness committed was a part of the worship and service performed to Baal-Peor. Those that have broken the fences of modesty will never be held by the bonds of piety: and those that have dishonored themselves by fleshly lusts will not scruple to dishonor God by idolatrous worship; for this they are justly given up yet further to vile affections. H. 4,5. Kennicott remarks that the Samaritan and Hebrew texts must be both taken together, to make the sense here complete. And the Lord said unto Moses, SPEAK unto all the heads of the people; AND LET THEM SLAY THE MEN THAT WERE JOINED TO BAAL-PEOR; and hang them up before the Lord, against the sun. A. C.—The pronoun “them” refers not to the heads of the people, but to the transgressors, whom the chiefs were to stone, and then hang up as a terror to those evil doers. For Moses said to the judges, “Slay ye every one his men that were joined to Baal-Peor.” Hanging alive was not a Jewish mode of execution, but stoning. The victim was first stoned to death and then hung up, in some cases, as a special mark of the Divine malediction. Hence the axiom (De. 21:23), “He that is hanged is accursed of God”—that is, the being thus hung up is a sign of his being accursed. S. R. 6. Midianitish woman. It appears that she was the daughter of Zur, who was a “head over a people, and of a chief house in Midian,” and is mentioned (31:8) as one of the five kings of Midian that afterward perished by the hands of the Israelites. Her high rank proves that Zimri had not fallen in with her by mere chance, but had been deliberately singled out by the Midianites as one whom they must at any price lead astray. The example of Zimri is doubtless recorded as one of the most memorable and characteristic in itself, as well as because it gave the impulse to the act of Phinehas. Espin. 6-15. Here is a remarkable contest between wickedness and righteousness, which shall be most bold and resolute; and righteousness carries the day, as no doubt it will at last. Never was vice more daring than it was in Zimri; a prince of a chief house in the tribe of Simeon. All the circumstances concurred to make it exceeding sinful, exceeding shameful. It was an affront to the justice of the nation, and bid defiance to that. It was an affront to the religion of the nation, and put a contempt upon that. Moses and the main body of the congregation who kept their integrity were weeping at the door of the tabernacle; lamenting the sin committed and deprecating the plague begun; they were sanctifying a fast in a solemn assembly, weeping between the porch and the altar, to turn away the wrath of God from the congregation; then comes Zimri among them, in effect to tell them that he was resolved to fill the measure of sin, as fast as they emptied it. And never was virtue more daring than it was in Phinehas. H. The act of Phinehas was its own justification. Its merit consisted in the evidence it gave that his heart was right before God. He was, to quote the text of verse 11, “zealous with God’s zeal,” and abhorred the presumptuous wickedness of Zimri as God abhorred it. He therefore risked his own life by dealing according to their deserts with two influential and defiant evildoers; and his act, done in the face of Moses and the people and for them, was accepted by God as a national atonement. How thoroughly the nation adopted the deed is manifest by the conspicuous position from henceforth assigned to Phinehas, and by the fame which attached to him and it ever afterward. Espin.—The zeal of God hath barred out all weak deliberations; and Phinehas holds it now both his duty and his glory to be an executioner of so shameless a pair of offenders. God loves this heat of zeal in all the carriages of his servants; and if it transport us too far he pardoneth the errors of our fervency, rather than the indifferences of lukewarmness. As these two were more beasts than any that ever he sacrificed, so the shedding of their blood was the acceptablest sacrifice that ever he offered unto God; for both all Israel is freed from the plague, and all his posterity have the priesthood entailed to them so long as the Jews were a people. Bp. H. 8. So the plague was stayed. The plague was the execution which Moses and the chiefs of the people were carrying on till twenty-four thousand had been executed. S. R. 13. The promise to Phinehas imports no more than that he and his seed should thenceforward have the honor to be the representatives of that everlasting priesthood, which primarily, and by an eternal covenant, was vested in the Messiah: hence God calls it here his covenant of peace. It proved literally true that Phinehas and his seed should hold that typical and ceremonial priesthood as long as it was to last, and be the representatives of the everlasting priesthood of Christ, until his coming. Wogan. —The Jews reckon twelve high-priests of the race of Phinehas, from this time to the days of Solomon—nine more from that time to the captivity, and fifteen from their return, to the time of Antiochus Espator, the last of whom was Onias, slain by Lysias. Ezra, the great priest and scribe, was of this line (7:1, 5). The family of Ithamar, uncle of Phinehas, had the priesthood for about one hundred and fifty years; but it was restored to the family of Phinehas in the person of Zadok the priest (1 Ch. 6:50), in which it continued, in the whole about nine hundred and fifty years. God therefore sufficiently fulfilled his promise. A. C. 17. The mischief which the Midianites did to Israel must be remembered and punished with as much severity as that which the Amalekites did in fighting with them when they came out of Egypt. God will certainly reckon with those that do the devil's work in tempting men to sin. H. DESTRUCTION OF THE MIDIANITES (Nu. 31:1-54). Of the two nations who had shown themselves hostile toward the Israelites—the Moabites and Midianites—revenge is now taken on the latter. The reason why the first were spared, seems to be because the Midianites had taken the lead in the crime of seducing Israel to the practice of the licentious idolatry, and Balaam, the instigator to the act, was found among them and killed. The sin in Israel had been stemmed by the act of Phinehas: so had judgment begun at the house of God; but now likewise must the purified people of God take vengeance on his enemies. The conduct of the people in the war, the division of the spoil, as well as their wonderful preservation, are related with particular detail, since this battle was to serve as a kind of example for the war of conquest which was now immediately before them. Geri. For these plots against Israel, as well as for their former inhospitality, the Moabites were excluded from the congregation to the tenth generation; and the Midianites were doomed to destruction. The execution of this sentence was the last act of the government of Moses. All the men of Midian were slain, with the princes who had been allied with Balak, and Balaam died in the general slaughter. Their cities were burned and their spoil taken, and the women, who had been saved alive, were slain by the command of Moses, the female children only being spared. At the same time a law was made for the equitable division of the spoil between those who went forth to battle and those who remained in the camp. P. S.—That this account of the attack and extermination of the Midianites has reference to the Midianitish tribes upon the table-land of Moab, the chiefs of which are spoken of in Josh. 13:21 as having been formerly the vassals of Sihon, is placed beyond all doubt by the express statement to that effect in verse 8. The main body of the Midianites does not appear to have taken part at all, and therefore there is nothing surprising in their subsequent hostile and powerful attacks upon the Israelites. Moreover, the fact that only twelve thousand Israelites (a thousand from every tribe) were engaged in the battle, is a proof that the foe was neither numerous nor strong. K. 2,3. God said, Avenge Israel, Moses says, Avenge the Lord; for the interests of God and Israel are united, and the cause of both is one and the same. And if God in what he does shows himself jealous for the honor of Israel, surely Israel in what they do ought to show themselves jealous for the glory of God. Then only we can justify the avenging of ourselves when it is the vengeance of the Lord that we engage in. Nay, for this reason we are forbidden to avenge ourselves, because God has said, Vengeance is mine, I will repay. H. The very words in which the command is given show that the war against the Midianites was no ordinary one. It was indeed less a war than the execution of a Divine sentence against a most guilty people. The Midianites had corrupted and, so far as in them lay, ruined God's people, body and soul; and had done this knowing, as after the overruling by God of Balaam's attempts to curse Israel they must have known, that in doing it they were openly rebelling against God. From God then a no less open retribution overtakes them. The employment in this work of so small a number of Israelites as twelve thousand (verse 4); the selection of an equal number from each tribe irrespective of its warlike strength; the appointment of Phinehas, famous for his zeal against the very sin to which the Midianites had tempted Israel, to take the lead in the war with "the holy instruments and trumpets" (verse 6); and the extraordinary preservation (verse 49) of all those engaged; are tokens that on this occasion, no less than when the cities of the plain were destroyed by fire from heaven, the hand of God directed the stroke. The Israelites had no discretion to kill or to spare. They were bidden to exterminate without mercy, and brought back to their task (verse 14) when they showed signs of flinching from it. It was a preparation for other duties of the like kind which awaited them; a proof by experiment that they had no alternative in such matters except to fulfil the commands of God; an awful but doubtless salutary manifestation, as was afterward the slaughter of the Canaanites, to which that of Midian is in all essential respects similar, of God's wrath against sin; and a type of the future extermination of sin and sinners from his kingdom. Espin. 8. Moses forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of King Pharaoh, that he might be true to Israel; Balaam, a man of the same time, but of a base selfishness of heart, went to Moab to seek King Balak's favor and rewards by cursing those whom God had blessed. By enchantments he prevailed nothing against Israel, and was compelled to bless them in glowing strains. But by vile and crafty counsel he did succeed in partially ensnaring them. So the chosen nation was defiled and was smitten of God for the sin. But Israel was soon restored, and under Phinehas the priest attacked and almost exterminated the wicked Midianites. "Balaam also, the son of Beor, they slew with the sword." No death of the righteous could be for a man that loved the wages of unrighteousness. He had prophesied as one who enjoyed the "vision of the Almighty." Yet he died as a fool dieth, and has left a shameful memory. D. F.—Had he himself believed what he said of the happy state of Israel, he would not have herded himself thus with the enemies of Israel, but justly does he die the death of the wicked (though he pretended to desire that of the righteous), and go down slain to the pit with the uncircumcised, who rebelled thus against the convictions of his own conscience. The Midianites' wiles were Balaam's projects, it was therefore just that he should perish with them (Hos. 4:5). Now was his folly made manifest to all men, who foretold the fate of others, but foresaw not his own. H. The beginning of the way of Balaam was loving the wages of unrighteousness; the middle of it was the seeking of them, combined with an ever-weakening attempt to keep the path of righteousness while seeking the other wages; and now what is the end? "The wages of sin;" which is death. From the double-mindedness of the middle stage he very rapidly passed into whole-hearted wickedness, and after doing the devil's work with a singleness of purpose he had never shown before, at last "utterly perished in his own corruption." One of his wonderful sayings had been: "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his." These, and such as these, were his words; that was the end of his way. J. M. G. Not with the righteous, but fighting among the enemies of God; not on a peaceful death-bed, but in the red front of guilty strife: so, on the blood-stained turf, amid the routed ranks, by the pitiless sword of men whom he had tempted to their ruin; so, after a wasted life, his plots frustrated, his curses foiled, died one who, if he had been true to his convictions, might have been almost as great as Moses' self; and the thick pall of utter darkness rushes down upon his end. And if we look down the dark and slippery steps of his degradation, we can trace them through temptation faintly resisted to temptation yielded to, and remorse stifled, and warnings resisted, and penal blindness inflicted, and sin willingly chosen, and sin let alone, until the seer of the vision of the Almighty becomes the tempter to the infamies of Baal-Peor. But the very central lesson of his career is the power of a besetting sin. Farrar. Two hostile kingdoms forever confront each other in this world. The strong one armed keepeth his own palace. He will never surrender it, or one particle of it, in any human soul, till a stronger than he—and there is only one stronger—binds him. He will seem to surrender it; he will call it by some innocent name; he will cover it with a Christian title; he will deceive, flatter, promise, and manage; he will transform himself into an angel of light; but he will do it all to keep his own. Equally exclusive, over against that dark kingdom, is the kingdom of light: open, candid, without concealment or evasion, rejoicing in the truth, all its deeds done in the day, but admitting no admixture, no compromise, no neutrality. Everywhere, what fellowship hath light with darkness? Anywhere, what part hath the true subject with the traitor? In every soul, these two kingdoms and their laws are contrary the one to the other. It is remarkable, in all the Gospel, how invariable and how clear Christ makes this doctrine of absolute and necessary separation. There is no third party after all. There is no place for one. Non-profession does not make non-allegiance, or neutrality. It makes allegiance to the enemy. It makes disloyalty. "He that is not with me is against me." There is a striking record of a prophet who tried in perilous days to be on neither side, and paltered with a double tongue between the true God and his enemies; but at last the issue between the two armies could be no longer evaded, and after the battle the body of this compromising neutral, Balaam, was found on the enemy's side, where it fell fighting against the Lord. F. D. H. 9-24. In this war against the Midianites, which was to be to a certain extent the pattern of the subsequent wars of extermination in Canaan, all cattle, with all kinds of property and substance, were destroyed, the whole spoil brought before Moses and the high-priest, and only the female sex spared. The rest of the booty was sanctified and purged—metal articles being passed through the fire, and wearing apparel through water. C. G. B. 15-18. It was the women more than the men of Midian of whom they had just reason to be afraid. In justice to the men, in fairness to the wives of Israel, it was simply impossible to let them loose upon the camp. Again, to suffer a generation of Midianites to grow up under the roofs of Israel would have been madness and worse, for it would have been to court a great and perhaps fatal national disaster. For the sake of Israel the captive women and children must be got rid of, and this could only be done either by slaughtering the women and boys, or by taking them back to their desolated homes to perish of hunger and disease. Of the two courses Moses certainly chose the more merciful. The nation was exterminated, as God had commanded; the girls only were spared because they were harmless then, and likely to remain harmless; distributed through the households of Israel, without parents or brothers to keep alive the national sentiment, they would rapidly be absorbed in the people of the Lord. R. W. 25-47. The distribution of the spoils. Those who had gone to the war had gone as representatives of the whole of Israel, hence it was for the whole of Israel to share in the spoil. While part was away, avenging the Lord of Midian, another part stayed at home, also serving God by looking after the interests of those who were absent. Young.—The booty brought home by the conquerors was extraordinarily rich, especially in cattle; from which we may infer that the rearing of cattle was the occupation of the tribe. For the Israelites such booty as this must have been doubly valuable. There was something very peculiar in the manner in which Moses and Eleazar distributed the booty. The whole of it, consisting of 675,000 sheep, 72,000 oxen, 61,000 asses, and 32,000 persons, was divided into two equal parts, one of which was allotted to the victors, the other to those who had taken no part in the battle. As the 12,000 men who were selected to fight did not go to war on their own responsibility, but as representatives of the whole congregation, it was but right that the whole congregation should share in the booty; but as the 12,000 had had all the trouble and fatigue, it was just as proper that they should receive an incomparably larger share. And since the war was also a war of Jehovah, whose presence and aid had given the victory to the Israelites, and therefore the booty, strictly speaking, belonged to Jehovah, a certain quota was to be allotted to the priests and Levites as his servants and representatives. The priests were to receive two parts in a thousand from the share of the warriors; the Levites, two in a hundred from that of the congregation. K. 28-30. The soldiers were ordered out of their half to deduct a five hundredth part of every kind of spoil, as an offering to God, in acknowledgment of him as the sovereign owner of all and the author of their success. This was to be presented to the priests. In like manner, out of the half belonging to the people, who had borne no fatigue in the war, a much larger proportion was to be deducted out of each article of spoil—namely, a fiftieth part, to be presented to the Levites, the other branch of God's ministry. Pyle. 49. There lacketh not one man of us. The Israelitish army consisted of but 12,000 men, a mere handful when opposed to the people of Midian. Yet when the officers made a muster of their troops after their return from the war, they found they had not lost a single man! This struck them as so decisive an evidence of God's interposition that out of the spoils they had taken they offered "an oblation to the Lord, an atonement for their souls." Bp. Watson. This oblation the captains offered to make an atonement for their souls (verse 50). Instead of coming to Moses to demand a recompense for the good service they had done in acenging the Lord of Midian, they bring an oblation to make atonement for their souls, being conscious to themselves, as the best men must be even in their best services, that they had been defective in their duty not only in that instance for which they were reproved (verse 14), but in many others. Moses accepted it and laid it up in the tabernacle as a memorial for the children of Israel (verse 54)—that is, a monument of God's goodness to them, that they might be encouraged to trust in him in their further wars; and a monument of their gratitude to God, that he, being well pleased with this thankful acknowledgment of favors bestowed, might continue and repeat his mercies to them. H. THIRD NUMBERING OF ISRAEL. LAND EAST OF JORDAN DIVIDED BETWEEN REUBEN, GAD, AND HALF MANASSEH. BOUNDARIES OF THE LAND OF CANAAN. DIVISION BY LOT AMONG NINE AND A HALF REMAINING TRIBES. NOTE.—Essential portions cited. No. 26 1 And it came to pass after the plague, that the LORD spake unto Moses and unto 2 Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, saying, Take the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, from twenty years old and upward, by their fathers' houses, all that are able to 3 go forth to war in Israel. And Moses and Eleazar the priest spake with them in the plains of 4 Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying, Take the sum of the people, from twenty years old and upward : as the LORD commanded Moses and the children of Israel, which came forth out of 52 the land of Egypt. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Unto these the land shall be 53 divided for an inheritance according to the number of names. These are they that were 51 numbered of the children of Israel, six hundred thousand and a thousand seven hundred and thirty. 57 And these are they that were numbered of the Levites after their families : of Gershon, the family of the Geshonites : of Kohath, the family of the Kohathites : of Merari, the family of the 62 Merarites. And they that were numbered of them were twenty and three thousand, every male from a month old and upward : for they were not numbered among the children of Israel, because there was no inheritance given them among the children of Israel. No. 32 1 Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle : and when they saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead, that, behold, the 2 place was a place for cattle ; the children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spake unto Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and unto the princes of the congregation, saying, 3 Ataroth, and Dibon, and Jazer, and Nimrah, and Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Sebam, and 4 Nebo, and Beon, the land which the LORD smote before the congregation of Israel, is a land 5 for cattle, and thy servants have cattle. And they said, If we have found grace in thy sight, 6 let this land be given unto thy servants for a possession ; bring us not over Jordan. And Moses said unto the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben, Shall your brethren go to 7 the war, and shall ye sit here ? And wherefore discourage ye the heart of the children of 8 Israel from going over into the land which the LORD hath given them ? Thus did your 13 fathers, when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land. And the LORD's anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander to and fro in the wilderness forty years, 14 until all the generation, that had done evil in the sight of the LORD, was consumed. And, behold, ye are risen up in your fathers' stead, an increase of sinful men, to augment yet the 15 fierce anger of the LORD toward Israel. For if ye turn away from after him, he will yet again 16 leave them in the wilderness ; and ye shall destroy all this people. And they came near unto him, and said, We will build sheepfolds here for our cattle, and cities for our little ones : 17 but we ourselves will be ready armed to go before the children of Israel, until we have brought them unto their place : and our little ones shall dwell in the fenced cities because of the in- 18 habitants of the land. We will not return unto our houses, until the children of Israel have 19 inherited every man his inheritance. For we will not inherit with them on the other side Jordan, and forward; because our inheritance is fallen to us on this side Jordan eastward. 20 And Moses said unto them, If ye will do this thing; if ye will arm yourselves to go before the 21 LORD to the war, and every armed man of you will pass over Jordan before the LORD, until 22 he hath driven out his enemies from before him, and the land be subdued before the LORD: then afterward ye shall return, and be guiltless toward the LORD, and toward Israel; and 23 this land shall be unto you for a possession before the LORD. But if ye will not do so, be- 24 hold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out. Build you cities for your little ones, and folds for your sheep; and do that which hath proceeded out of 25 your mouth. And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben spake unto Moses, saying, 26 Thy servants will do as my lord commandeth. Our little ones, our wives, our flocks, and all 27 our cattle, shall be there in the cities of Gilead: but thy servants will pass over, every man that is armed for war, before the LORD to battle, as my lord saith. 28. So Moses gave charge concerning them to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, 29 and to the heads of the fathers' houses of the tribes of the children of Israel. And Moses said unto them, If the children of Gad and the children of Reuben will pass with you over Jordan, every man that is armed to battle, before the LORD, and the land shall be subdued before you; 30 then ye shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession: but if they will not pass over 31 with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan. And the chil- dren of Gad and the children of Reuben answered, saying, As the LORD hath said unto thy 32 servants, so will we do. We will pass over armed before the LORD into the land of Canaan, 33 and the possession of our inheritance shall remain with us beyond Jordan. And Moses gave unto them, even to the children of Gad, and to the children of Reuben, and unto the half tribe of Manasseh the son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, the land, according to the cities thereof with their borders, 34 even the cities of the land round about. And the children of Gad built Dibon, and Ataroth, 35 and Aroer; and Atroth shophan, and Jazer, and Jogbehah; and Beth-nimrah, and Beth- 36 haran; fenced cities, and folds for sheep. And the children of Reuben built Heshbon, and 37 Elealeh, and Kiriathaim; and Nebo, and Baal-meon, (their names being changed,) and 38 Sibmah: and gave other names unto the cities which they builded. And the children of 39 Machir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead, and took it, and dispossessed the Amorites which 40 were therein. And Moses gave Gilead unto Machir the son of Manasseh; and he dwelt 41 therein. And Jair the son of Manasseh went and took the towns thereof, and called them 42 Havvoth jair. And Nobah went and took Kenath, and the villages thereof, and called it Nobah, after his own name. De. 3 12 And this land we took in possession at that time; from Aroer, which is by the valley of Arnon, and half the hill country of Gilead, and the cities thereof, gave I unto the 13 Reubenites and to the Gadites: and the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, gave I unto the half tribe of Manasseh; all the region of Argob, even all Bashan. (The same 14 is called the land of Rephaim. Jair the son of Manasseh took all the region of Argob, unto the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites; and called them, even Bashan, after his 15 own name, Havvoth-jair, unto this day.) And I gave Gilead unto Machir. And unto the 16 Reubenites and unto the Gadites I gave from Gilead even unto the valley of Arnon, the middle of the valley, and the border thereof; even unto the river Jabbok, which is the border 17 of the children of Ammon; the Arabah also, and Jordan and the border thereof, from Chinner- eth even unto the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, under the slopes of Pisgah eastward. Nu. 33 50 And the LORD spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, 51 saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye pass over Jordan into 52 the land of Canaan, then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images, and demolish all their 53 high places: and ye shall take possession of the land, and dwell therein: for unto you have 54 I given the land to possess it. And ye shall inherit the land by lot according to your families; to the more ye shall give the more inheritance, and to the fewer thou shalt give the less in- heritance: wheresoever the lot falleth to any man, that shall be his; according to the tribes 55 of your fathers shall ye inherit. But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then shall those which ye let remain of them be as pricks in your eyes, and as 56 thorns in your sides, and they shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell. And it shall come to pass, that as I thought to do unto them, so will I do unto you. No. 34 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Command the children of Israel, and 2 say unto them, When ye come into the land of Canaan, (this is the land that shall fall unto 3 you for an inheritance, even the land of Canaan according to the borders thereof,) then your south quarter shall be from the wilderness of Zin along by the side of Edom, and your south 4 border shall be from the end of the Salt Sea eastward : and your border shall turn about southward of the ascent of Akrabbim, and pass along to Zin : and the goings out thereof shall be southward of Kadesh-barnea ; and it shall go forth to Hazaraddar, and pass along to 5 Azmon : and the border shall turn about from Azmon unto the brook of Egypt, and the goings 6 out thereof shall be at the sea. And for the western border, ye shall have the great sea and the 7 border thereof : this shall be your west border. And this shall be your north border : from 8 the great sea ye shall mark out for you mount Hor : from mount Hor ye shall mark out unto 9 the entering in of Hamath ; and the goings out of the border shall be at Zedad : and the border shall go forth to Ziphron, and the goings out thereof shall be at Hazar-enan : this shall 10 be your north border. And ye shall mark out your east border from Hazar-enan to Shepham : 11 and the border shall go down from Shepham to Riblah, on the east side of Ain ; and the bor- 12 der shall go down, and shall reach unto the side of the sea of Chinnereth eastward : and the border shall go down to Jordan, and the goings out thereof shall be at the Salt Sea : this shall 13 be your land according to the borders thereof round about. And Moses commanded the chil- dren of Israel, saying, This is the land which ye shall inherit by lot, which the LORD hath 14 commanded to give unto the nine tribes, and to the half tribe : for the tribe of the children of Reuben according to their fathers' houses, and the tribe of the children of Gad according to their fathers' houses, have received, and the half tribe of Manasseh have received, their 15 inheritance : the two tribes and the half tribe have received their inheritance beyond the Jordan at Jericho eastward, toward the sunrising. 16 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, These are the names of the men which shall 17 divide the land unto you for inheritance : Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun. 18 And ye shall take one prince of every tribe, to divide the land for inheritance. And these are 19 the names of the men. These are they whom the LORD commanded to divide the inheritance 20 unto the children of Israel in the land of Canaan. The first numbering was under the express direction of God (Ex. 38 : 26) in the third or fourth month after the exodus, during the en- campment at Sinai, chiefly for the purpose of raising money for the Tabernacle. The num- bers then taken amounted to 603,550 men, which may be presumed to express with greater pre- cision the round numbers of 600,000 who are said to have left Egypt at first. Again, in the second month of the second year after the exodus (Nu. 1 : 2, 3) a census was taken. The total number on this occasion, exclusive of the Levites, amounted to 603,550 (Nu. 2 : 32). This third numbering took place thirty-eight years afterward, previous to the entrance into Canaan, when the total number, excepting the Levites, amounted to 601,730 males, showing a decrease of 1870. All tribes presented an increase except the following : Reuben, of 2770 ; Simeon, 37,100 ; Gad, 5150 ; Ephraim and Naphtali, 8000 each. The tribe of Levi had increased by 727. The great diminution which took place in the tribe of Simeon may probably be assigned to the plague consequent on the misconduct of Zimri. On the other hand, the chief instances of increase are found in Manasseh, of 20,500 ; Benjamin, 10,200 ; Asher, 11,900 ; and Issachar, 9,900. None were numbered at this census who had been above twenty years of age at the pre- vious one in the second year, excepting Caleb and Joshua. Dic. B. Its main object was in view of the approach- ing apportionment of the land which Israel was so soon to possess. Accordingly, the census was not taken as before, according to the num- ber of individuals in each tribe, but according to " families." This corresponded in the main with the names of the grandsons and great- grandsons of Jacob, enumerated in Gen. 46. In reference to the future division of the land, it was arranged that the extent of the " inheri- tance" allotted to each tribe should correspond to its numbers. But the exact locality assigned to each was to be determined " by lot," so that each tribe might feel that it had received its " possession" directly from the Lord himself. A. E. Notwithstanding the increase in some and decrease in other tribes, the same sort of pro- portion is preserved in the east, west, north, and south divisions as before : so as to keep the divi- sion of Judah, which was always in the front or Dun, the largest ; and the division of Dun, which was always in the rear, the next number. But it is worthy of remark that as they are now to commence their grand military operations, so their front or advanced division is increased from 186,400 to 201,300. And their rear from 157,600 to 163,200. The first division is strengthened 14,900 men, and the last division 5600 men. The reasons for this are sufficiently obvious. A. C. 53. As they were multiplied, so they were portioned, not by common providence, but by promise; and for the support of the honor of Divine revelation, God will have the fulfilling of the promise taken notice of both in their increase and in their inheritance. When Moses had numbered the people, God does not say, By these shall the land be conquered; but taking that for granted, he tells him, Unto these shall the land be divided. These that are now registered as the sons of Israel shall be admitted (as it were by copy of court-roll) heirs of the land of Canaan. H. Division of the Conquered Land East of the Jordan, Gilead and Bashan, between Reuben, Gad, and Half Manasseh. Nu. 26 63 THESE are they that were numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest; who numbered the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho. But among these there was not a man of them that were numbered by Moses and Aaron the priest; who numbered the children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. For the LORD had said of them, They shall surely die in the wilderness. And there was not left a man of them, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. Nu. 35 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying, Command the children of Israel, that they give unto the Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to dwell in; and suburbs for the cities round about them shall ye give unto the Levites. And the cities shall they have to dwell in; and their suburbs shall be for their cattle, and for their substance, and for all their beasts. And the suburbs of the cities, which ye shall give unto the Levites, shall be from the wall of the city and outward a thousand cubits round about. And ye shall measure without the city for the east side two thousand cubits, and for the south side two thousand cubits, and for the west side two thousand cubits, and for the north side two thousand cubits, the city being in the midst. This shall be to them the suburbs of the cities. And the cities which ye shall give unto the Levites, they shall be the six cities of refuge, which ye shall give for the manslayer to flee thither: and beside them ye shall give forty and two cities. All the cities which ye shall give to the Levites shall be forty and eight cities: them shall ye give with their suburbs. And concerning the cities which ye shall give of the possession of the children of Israel, from the many ye shall take many; and from the few ye shall take few: every one according to his inheritance which he inheriteth shall give of his cities unto the Levites. De. 4 41 Then Moses separated three cities beyond Jordan toward the sunrising; that the manslayer might flee thither, which slayeth his neighbour unawares, and hated him not in time past; and that fleeing unto one of these cities he might live: namely, Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, for the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, for the Manassites. [Nu. 27 : 1-11 and 36 : 1-12 contains the Law of Daughters' Inheritance and its Amendment.] Nu. 27 12 And the LORD said unto Moses, Get thee up into this mountain of Abarim, and behold the land which I have given unto the children of Israel. And when thou hast seen it, thou also shalt be gathered unto thy people, as Aaron thy brother was gathered: because ye rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin, in the strife of the congregation, to sanctify me at the waters before their eyes. (These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.) And Moses spake unto the LORD, saying, Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation, which may go out before them, and which may come in before them, and which may lead them out, and which may bring them in; that the congregation of the LORD be not as sheep which have no shepherd. And the LORD said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thine hand upon him; and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation; and give him a charge in their sight. And thou shalt put of thine honour upon him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may obey. And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him by the judgement of the Urim before the LORD: at his word shall they go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he, and all the children of Israel with him, even all the congregation. And Moses did as the LORD commanded him: and he took Joshua, and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation: and he laid his hands upon him, and gave him a charge, as the LORD spake by the hand of Moses. De. 3 21 And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, Thine eyes have seen all that the LORD your God hath done unto these two kings: so shall the LORD do unto all the kingdoms 22 whither thou goest over. Ye shall not fear them : for the LORD your God, he it is that fighteth for you. 23 And I besought the LORD at that time, saying, O LORD GOD, thou hast begun to shew thy 24 servant thy greatness, and thy strong hand : for what god is there in heaven or in earth, that 25 can do according to thy works, and according to thy mighty acts? Let me go over, I pray 26 thee, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon. But the LORD was wroth with me for your sakes, and hearkened not unto me : and the LORD said 27 unto me, Let it suffice thee ; speak no more unto me of this matter. Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, 28 and behold with thine eyes : for thou shalt not go over this Jordan. But charge Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him : for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause 29 them to inherit the land which thou shalt see. So we abode in the valley over against Beth- peor. Nu. 36 13 These are the commandments and the judgements, which the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses unto the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho. Nu. 26 : 63-65. The impressive fact is here distinctly recorded of the disappearance by death of every man of the former generation, save Caleb and Joshua. T. C.—Attention is called to a fulfilled prediction. It deserves special attention as a very remarkable, exact, and early fulfilment of prediction. Most of God's predictions for Israel worked on to their fulfilment slowly and imperceptibly through many generations ; some in the highest sense of them are still incomplete ; but here was a prediction concerning the present, moving to its fulfilment under the very eyes of many whom in their turn it would also include. Surely it must often have been talked of in the tents of Israel. The fulfilment had its dark side and its bright one. It was an impressive proof that what penalties God attaches to sin he can accomplish to their full extent. All had perished save Caleb and Joshua. Things had happened exactly as God said they would, the people themselves being witnesses. Rightly looked at, it was very comforting and inspiring for Israel to go into Canaan with such a won- derful proof of God's power in their minds. He who had so manifestly fulfilled such a pecul- iar prediction might be confidently expected to keep his word in all others. Young. The command to divide the land among the people "according to the number of the tribes of their fathers," suggests the petition of the daughters of Zelophehad now brought before Moses (verses 1-6); and the decision in this case leads to a general enactment respecting the right of inheritance when a man died and left only daughters behind him. This law is afterward supplemented by certain restrictions as to the marriage of such heiresses (36). It is obvious that these successive enactments grew out of emergencies which presented themselves when the questions connected with the taking possession of Canaan came actually to be encountered. Espin. A very interesting case arose on the promulgation of the land law which should govern the new settling of the country. It was the case of four daughters of a father who left no son to perpetuate the name of his family, and, of course, therefore, under the general rule, this family would receive no inheritance. The daughters, with true filial regard for the memory of their father and reverence for the name of his family, but, higher than all, with an abiding faith in the covenant of Jehovah with Abraham that the promised land would come into actual possession of the covenant people; and, therefore, with an earnest desire to share in the inheritance, came before Moses and the great court of the congregation and stated their case. S. R.—The singular case of these women caused an additional law to be made to the civil code of Israel, which satisfactorily ascertained and amply secured the right of succession in cases of inheritance. The law, which is as reasonable as it is just, stands thus: 1. On the demise of the father, the estate goes to the sons. 2. If there be no son, the daughters succeed. 3. If there be no daughter, the brothers of the deceased inherit. 4. If there be no brethren or paternal uncles, the estate goes to the brothers of his father. 5. If there be no grand uncles or brothers of the father of the deceased, then the nearest a kin succeeds to the inheritance. Beyond this fifth degree the law does not proceed, because, as the families of the Israelites were kept distinct in their respective tribes, there must always be some who could be called kinsmen, and were really such, having descended without interruption from the patriarch of the tribe. A. C. Nu. 27 : 12. Though Moses was a servant of the Lord, a faithful servant, yet once he rebelled against God's commandment, and failed in his duty; and though a very honorable servant, and highly favored, yet he shall hear of his miscarriage, and all the world shall hear of it, too, again and again; for God will show his displeasure against sin, even in those that are nearest and dearest to him. Those that are in reputation for wisdom and honor have need to be constantly careful of their words and ways, lest at any time they say or do that which may be a diminution either to their comfort or to their credit, or both, a great while after. H.—The time will soon arrive when the great servant of the Lord shall depart this life. That his death may not be altogether unexpected either to himself or to the people, and that he may complete the whole commission laid on him by God in respect to them, God solemnly apprises him of his approaching death and reminds him of his former sin. Gerl. 13. Thou shalt be gathered to thy people.** Moses had seen how easily and cheerfully Aaron had put off the priesthood first, and then the body; let not Moses therefore be afraid of dying, it was but to be gathered to his people, as Aaron was gathered. Thus the death of our near and dear relations should be improved by us as an encouragement to us to think of death without terror; it is but to die as such and such died if we live as they lived; and their end was peace, they finished their course with joy; why then should we fear any evil in that valley? H. De. 3:23-25. The whole of this prayer of Moses is very characteristic. The longing to witness further manifestations of God's goodness and glory, and the reluctance to leave unfinished an undertaking which he had been permitted to commence, are striking traits in his character. Espin. Moses remembered the time when he had by prayer prevailed with God to recede from the declarations which he had made of his wrath against Israel (Ex. 32:14). And why might he not hope in like manner to prevail for himself? Let me go over and see the good land. How pathetically does he speak of Canaan, that good land, that goodly mountain! Though Moses, being one of the wrestling seed of Jacob, did not seek in vain, yet he had not the thing itself which he sought for. God may accept our prayers and yet not grant us the very thing we pray for. 26. God put an honor upon his prayer, in directing him not to insist upon his request. Speak no more to me of this matter. It intimates that God takes such a pleasure in the prayer of the upright that it is no pleasure to him to give a denial to it. H.—Yet part of the prayer was answered. Moses was permitted to see, though not to tread the good land. B. It is remarkable how often saints who have spent their strength on some great Christian enterprise, and earnestly desired to see it accomplished before their departure, have been denied this gratification. Moses did not cross the Jordan; David did not see the temple, nor Daniel the return, nor John the Baptist the manifestation of Christ's glory. Yet to all those saints there was granted some such view as that which gladdened the eye of Moses on Nebo. He who knows the hearts knew how dear to Moses's heart was the good of Israel. Binnie. Nu. 27:15-17. It is touching to see how meekly Moses received the sentence. Faithful to the end in his stewardship over God's house, his chief concern was that God would appoint a suitable successor, so "that the congregation of the Lord be not as sheep which have no shepherd." A. E.—This is a beautiful expression, and shows us in what light Moses viewed himself among this people. He was their shepherd—he sought no higher place; he fed and guided the flock of God under the direction of the Divine Spirit, and was faithful in all his Master's house. To this saying of Moses our Lord alludes (Matt. 9:36). A. C.—This request was met by the command to take Joshua, whom we have met already on several occasions as his minister, and to set him apart as his successor before the high-priest and before the people. And so, having been freed from all anxiety on the score of the leadership of the tribes, he made haste to put everything else in order, in anticipation of his death. How diligently he labored with that end in view will appear from the fact that the entire Book of Deuteronomy belongs to the closing days of the great Lawgiver's life. W. M. T. 18. He must ordain him; lay thine hand upon him. This was done in token of Moses's transferring the government to him, as the laying of hands on the sacrifice put the offering in the place and stead of the offerer; also in token of God's conferring the blessing of the Spirit upon him, which Moses obtained by prayer. It is said (De. 34:9) Joshua was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. H.—Well doth Joshua (Jesus) succeed Moses. The very acts of God of old were allegories: where the Law ends, there the Saviour begins; we may see the land of promise in the Law; only Jesus the mediator of the New Testament can bring us into it. So was he a servant of the Law that he supplies all the defects of the Law to us: he hath taken possession of the promised land for us; he shall carry us from this wilderness to our rest. Bp. H. 20,21. Though thus recognized as Moses's successor, divinely commissioned to bring the children of Israel into the promised land, he was not to be Moses's equal. It was only "some" of his "honor" that he was to put upon him. There was one point in which his inferiority was very strongly marked. Moses enjoyed unrestricted personal intercourse with God, "face to face." This privilege was denied to Joshua. Eleazar, the high-priest, was to be his medium of communication with God. Joshua was to bring his matters to the priest, and he was to inquire of God for him, through the ordinary means of obtaining the knowledge of God's will. E. V. 22. Moses did as the Lord commanded him. In this we see the great integrity, the sincere humility and self-denial of Moses, that he readily submitted to have the government of Israel translated from his own family and tribe to another who was of the tribe of Ephraim. By this means his own children were reduced to a mean condition; being not so much as priests, but mere Levites. This demonstrates that he acted not from himself, because he acted not for himself; but was contented to have the supreme authority placed where God pleased, both in Church and State; and to leave his own family in inconsiderable employment. This shows him to have had a principle which raised him above all other law-givers; who always took care to advance their own families, and establish them in some share of that greatness which they themselves possessed. This likewise shows that the future rulers of this nation had no temptation to advance the credit of Moses beyond what it really was; since they were not descended from him, but were of other tribes. Bp. Patrick. It had not been so much his praise if he had thus resigned his honor to a son of his own; but with his own hands to ordain Eleazar high-priest, and then Joshua, one of another tribe, chief ruler, while his own children had no prepreferment at all, but were left in the rank of common Levites; this was such an instance of self-denial and submission to the will of God, as was more his glory than the highest advancement of his family could have been; for it confirms his character as the meekest man upon earth, and faithful to him that appointed him in all his house. H. Nu. 36 : 13. Close of the Book of Numbers. The conclusion of this whole book, referring to the latter part of it; these are the judgments which the Lord commanded in the plains of Moab, these foregoing ever since (ch. 26), most of which related to their settlement in Canaan, into which they were now entering. Whatever new condition God is by his providence bringing us into, we must beg of him to teach us the duty of it, and to enable us to do it, that we may do the work of the day in its day, of the place in its place. H. We have borrowed the name of this book, as in former cases, from the Vulgate Latin, Deuteronomium, as the Vulgate has done from the Greek version of the Septuagint Deuteronomion, which is a compound term literally signifying the second law, because it seems to contain a repetition of the preceding laws, from which circumstance it has been termed by the Rabbins mishneh, the iteration, or doubling. It appears that both these names are borrowed from ch. 17 : 18, where the king is commanded to write him a copy of this Law; the original is mishneh ha-torah, a repetition, or doubling of the Law; which the Septuagint have translated this second Law; which we properly enough translate a copy of the Law. In Hebrew, like the preceding books, it takes its name from its commencement, ELLEH HA-DEBAREEM, these are the words; and in the best Rabbinical Bibles its running title is SEPHER DEBAREEM, the book of debareem, or the book of the words. Our Saxon ancestors termed it the after Law. The Book of Deuteronomy contains an account of what passed in the wilderness from the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year after the departure of the Israelites from Egypt, to the seventh day of the twelfth month of the same; making in the whole a history of the transactions of exactly five weeks, the months of the Jews being lunar. The history is continued about seven days after the death of Moses; for he began to deliver his first discourse to the people in the plains of Moab, the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year (ch. 1 : 3), and died on the first day of the twelfth month of the same year, aged one hundred and twenty years. As the Israelites were now about to enter into the promised land, and many of them had not witnessed the different transactions in the wilderness, to impress their hearts with a deep sense of their obligation to God and to prepare them for the inheritance which God had prepared for them, Moses here repeats the principal occurrences of the forty years, now almost elapsed. A. C. As we have it, the Pentateuch is rounded and complete; it is a living unity; and to separate its parts is to mutilate and mangle it. In Genesis we have the soil and the seed; in the historical part of Exodus we have the stem; in the prophetic portion of the same book, in the priestly Book of Leviticus, and in the kingly Book of Numbers, we have the threefold development of the single stem as it branches out into three main limbs, one going right up from the central stem, and therefore finding a place in the same Book of Exodus, and the other two spreading out on the right hand and on the left; in the closing book we have the blossoms and the fruit, not, however, actually gathered, for it is a prophetic book, but the thought and idea of that fruit in the mind of Moses, who looked forward to the gathering of it after the people had come into the land to which the Lord was leading them. J. M. G. And now, with the solemnity of death just before him, Moses proceeds in three great speeches to Israel to recapitulate the story of the deliverance and the journey, to restate the chief provisions of the Law, and to adapt its several provisions to the new and settled condition upon which they were now about to enter. These three addresses, together with an inspired ode and a prophetic blessing at the close, constitute the Book of Deuteronomy. The first address, extending to ch. 4 : 40, is of a hortatory character, reminding Israel of their continued rebellions against God and of his goodness and mercy toward them. The second and longest address extends from ch. 5 to 26, and contains a practical exposition of the Ten Commandments as the basis of all morality. He takes the first table of the Law and deduces from it the chief truths which should govern our relations to God. Then, in ch. 12, he proceeds to consider man in his social relations, and supplements the precepts of the previous books by the addition of many special regulations and the application of many of the former enactments to the altered circumstances of Israel in a settled state. In the third discourse, extending from ch. 27 to ch. 30, inclusive, he proceeds to set before them the blessings and the curses which will follow upon obedience and disobedience. S. R.—The remainder of the book, containing the thirty-first and three following chapters, was probably added to the rest by Joshua or some other duly authorized prophet or leader of the people after the death of Moses. The three addresses, which constitute seven eighths of the contents of Deuteronomy, reflect very clearly the circumstances which attended their delivery. They were spoken within the space of a very few days. By comparing De. 1 : 3 ; 34 : 8, and Josh. 4 : 19, it is evident that the delivery of these speeches, and likewise the utterance of the song and blessing, and the transaction of the closing events of Moses's life, must all be placed chronologically in the first ten days of the eleventh month of the fortieth year. Espin. Now the time had arrived for the people to pass over into the promised land, and for Moses to take leave of them. As Christ, the Mediator of the New Covenant, must leave his disciples even before they had received the promised Comforter and were endued with power from on high for their new life, in like manner must the Mediator of the Old Covenant take leave of his people without seeing them in possession of the promised land, or witnessing the fulfilment of God's Word, and without being himself the accomplisher of it. But as Christ, before he went to his death, once more put his disciples in mind of what he had said to them in his farewell discourses, and confirmed them by the repetition of exhortations and warnings, in like manner did Moses clearly and emphatically lay before the people once more the whole counsel of God in the election of his people—how he had saved them by miracles out of Egypt, led them through the wilderness, made them to triumph over the Canaanites, as it was contained in the Law itself. The "repetition of the Law," therefore, includes the memorial of these events, as well as here and there interweaves some new rules of conduct. Two somewhat long discourses of Moses open the whole book, which are written down by himself, as his last legacy of wisdom and love. Gerl. The book repeats portions of the civil code and also of the religious system. It also gives a brief summary of the leading historical events of the exodus, of Sinai, of the golden calf, and of the murmurings of the fathers in the early years of their wanderings. This book was manifestly written within the last one or two years of Moses's life, when the scenes of the desert wandering were drawing to a close. Moses stood before the people, almost the only old man of the nation at the age of one hundred and twenty years, while all the rest (Caleb and Joshua excepted) were under twenty when they came out of Egypt, and not exceeding sixty at the writing of this book. "The fathers—where were they!" Fallen in death; smitten with the swift judgments of the Almighty for their murmurings or cut off in middle life during their wanderings, to which they were doomed for their unbelief upon the report of the spies. The nation, as they stood before Moses, were truly his children. How had he borne them on his heart for forty years; given them line upon line of statute and of ritual; shaping their civil life and their religious life; watching every development of their character; devoted with the deepest love of his heart to their moral culture. The points of the history from Egypt and Sinai onward to that hour Moses brings forward here, with more or less expansion of the details for the sole purpose of enforcing their moral application. He makes those historic facts the basis of a series of exhortations to holy living, which testify how deeply he sympathized with God and with the true interests of his covenant people. Most solemnly does he exhort them against the great sin of their times—idolatry; and implore them to remember the God of their fathers; the Giver of all their mercies; the God of their national salvation. H. C. Their aim is strictly hortatory; their style earnest, heart-stirring, impressive, in passages sublime, but throughout rhetorical; they keep constantly in view the circumstances then present and the crisis to which the fortunes of Israel had at last been brought. Moses had before him not the men to whom by God's command he delivered the Law at Sinai, but the generation following which had grown up in the wilderness. Large portions of the Law necessarily stood in abeyance during the years of wandering; and of his present hearers many must have been strangers to various prescribed observances and ordinances, and those not unimportant ones. On their entry into settled homes in Canaan a thorough discharge of the various obligations laid on them by the covenant would become imperative; and it is to this state of things that Moses addresses himself. Espin. In these thirty chapters we have the essence of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers; only conveyed in a tone of patriarchal affection and personal tenderness. Deuteronomy is a speech rather than a book, full of that anxious fidelity and fatherly desirousness which, knowing that it is a last opportunity, can hardly leave off, and which, after attempting to close, begin again in the spirit of the last sentences (ch. 30:15-20). Hamilton.—The Deuteronomic Code is adapted to the supposed occasion of a popular assembly. It is simple in style. The technical language of the preceding books disappears. Nearly all the laws of Deuteronomy, moreover, are marked by a peculiarly hortatory, rather than a merely prohibitive style. The "thou shalt not" of Mount Sinai has largely taken on a pathetic "O, do not" of expostulation and affectionate appeal. What is enjoined is not alone put upon the conscience of the individual Israelite: he is expected to lay it to heart. Each of the codes treats of the respect that is due to the poor and the helpless; but neither of the others to the extent that it is done in this. It is exactly in the spirit of Deuteronomy to enjoin that the back of the enfranchised slave be loaded down with gifts from granary and wine-press (15:14). It is just like it to call attention to the circumstance that the day-laborer "sets his heart" upon his earnings and to urge that he be paid the wage of the day on his day (24:15). There is evidently a purpose in all this. As it seems to us, it cannot lie far off from that other purpose which prompted Moses to rehearse to the people their own code in a language they could understand and to provide for this whole impressive scene just preceding, as we are told, the exit of the great Law-giver from the stage of Jewish history. Alike the style of speech and the spirit of it harmonize perfectly with the circumstances of the case as they are frankly recited in the eleven chapters that introduce the code of Deuteronomy and the eight that follow it. With those other circumstances in the days of King Josiah (n.c. 621), alleged to be the real historic setting of these laws, clearly and emphatically they do not harmonize. For strictly speaking this is not legislation. It is rather the admonition that follows the precept, Moses performing the office of prophet, after fulfilling so well the office of leader and legislator. It is the same voice that we hear speaking, but one grown somewhat tremulous with age and full of the tenderness of a farewell utterance. Mark the motives to which appeal is made. These are the thousands of Israel, fresh from a pilgrimage of forty years in the rough wilderness skirting the southern borders of Canaan. But they are addressed as any audience of Bible-educated people in similar circumstances might be addressed. The standard that is set for them—how far short does it come of that which is set for us by the teachers and preachers of to-day? If there be imperfectness of form, there is surely none in spirit. It is a spirit that we recognize as Divine. E. C. B. Deuteronomy is what it purports to be, a repetition and modification, under other circumstances, of older laws, at the hands of him who himself had been their medium at first, and who therefore had the right to modify, as well as repeat, them. It begins with the sublimities of Sinai and ends with the inimitable solemnities of Nebo and Pisgah. It is no effort at historiography interjected with pious expressions, as some critics represent the later biblical narratives to be. It is in web and woof sacred history, narrated, as it was enacted, under the eye of God. The point of view from beginning to end is conspicuously that of a tender father of his people, emphatically Mosaic, in short, and nothing else. That it is genuine, and not assumed for effect, the latest results of biblical archaeology unite with the best results of literary criticism in strongly confirming. E. C. B. The aspect and attitude of the writer, both retrospective and prospective, are those of one in the position of Moses at the time immediately before the entrance of the Israelites into Canaan. The book presents itself as Mosaic, and with this the entire costume and coloring of the book is in keeping. "There is nowhere even a single expression which is not suited to the position of Moses at that time; the standpoint throughout the whole book is the same; the situation is ever that of one on the borders of the promised land." W. L. A.—He speaks to hearers neither wholly ignorant of the Law, nor yet fully versed in it. Much is assumed and taken for granted; again, on other matters, he goes into detail, knowing that instruction in them was needed. Sometimes, too, opportunity is taken of promulgating regulations which are supplementary or auxiliary to those of the preceding books; some few modifications suggested by longer experience or altered circumstances are now made, and the whole Mosaic system is completed by the addition of several enactments of a social, civil, and political nature. Espin. Whoever penned the Book of Deuteronomy as amanuensis or historiographer, if its own clear and continually repeated testimony is to be accepted, Moses is responsible both for its substance and general form. It does not simply belong to his time; it actually originated with him. It is essentially the product of his divinely illuminated mind, is thoroughly penetrated by his spirit, and in outward arrangement still carries throughout the peculiar individual impression he left upon it. It would surprise one unacquainted with the subject to know how large a portion of the book is put directly into the mouth of the Lawgiver and is represented to be spoken by him. By actual enumeration of verses, it makes fifteen sixteenths of the whole matter. Out of nearly a thousand verses, there are but about sixty that are not in the form of direct address—that is, that do not purport to be the word-for-word utterances of Moses himself. This is not all. Not only is Moses made responsible for the substance of the Book of Deuteronomy, he is equally so for its literary construction and expression. It is declared that he wrote it (31:9, 24), and wrote it "to the end"—an addition of no slight importance. It is true that the term employed is "this Law," "this book of the Law." Still, there ought to be no uncertainty on that account, considering the form in which the work is cast, its own usage as it respects this very term, and the admitted unity of language and style throughout. The whole book up to this point is meant. E. C. B. Nothing can be more probable than that the Lawgiver, now in the presence of a new generation, when the wanderings in the wilderness had come to an end, when the Israelites were to cease to be a Bedouin tribe, and to become a settled agricultural people—that Moses, at the close of his mission and of his own life, should now reiterate in the most solemn and impressive way the sanctity of the Law, the penalties and the promises. There might be even modifications and corrections, a harmonizing of the provisions, and in some degree an adaptation to the change of circumstances. The wild desert would now be left behind; the promised land, with its settled life, expand more fully. Certainly in Deuteronomy the people seem to be in a transitional state. Strange if a late imaginative writer, or even compiler, should preserve this singular accuracy—if I may so say, this naturalness of detail. Even in Deuteronomy there is still great want of order and arrangement; the laws do not follow each other in natural sequence; they pass from one subject to another, apparently with no connection or relation to each other; they are more or less mingled with historical incidents. But all this seems to belong to an early inartificial period of composition; it is precisely that which a later writer or compiler would have labored to avoid. The ancient legislation would afford materials for a code, the later would have framed a code. Milman. The difference between the Law of the central books and the Law of Deuteronomy, so far as the substance is concerned, is chiefly the following. In the first place, the latter expressly refers to the circumstances in which the Israelites would be placed in the promised land (see, for example, ch. 6:1, etc.); whereas the former is much more general in its character, and no special reference is made to circumstances which would not arise till they reached the borders of the land. And secondly, the Law of the central books is chiefly of a priestly character—is, in fact, properly the Law for the priestly and Levitical order. By far the greater number of its laws are laws for the priests—laws which it was not necessary that any should be thoroughly acquainted with, except the priests (and Levites). The Law of Deuteronomy is much less restricted in its purpose. Its precepts all relate to the nation as a whole; and therefore it passes over all such precepts and ordinances as it was unnecessary for any but the priests and Levites to be particularly acquainted with. K. There is much more in the last book of the Pentateuch than in the preceding four—regarded as a ground and moral condition of the Hebrew people of that time; for it consists of a series of popular addresses, orally delivered; and these, by the calm majesty of the style throughout, by the remonstrant tone, by innumerable allusions to events and usages, carry with them a demonstration of historic verity which no ingenuous and cultured mind will fail to admit. The Israelite of that time was such that to him might be propounded, intelligently, the sublime theology and the rightful and truthful ethics of the Book of Deuteronomy; which have held their place, unrivalled, as institutes of religion, from age to age. What is our alternative on this ground? This book is either "from heaven," in its own sense, or it is from man. If from heaven, then a great controversy reaches its conclusion, by admission of the opponent; but if from man, then the people among whom this theology, and these ethical principles, and these institutions spontaneously arose, and to whose actual condition they were adapted, were a people far advanced beyond any other, even of later times, in their religious conceptions, in their moral consciousness, in their openness to remonstrance, and their sensibility toward some of the most refined emotions of domestic and social life. Our question is, What were these people, or what had they become in consequence of their Egyptian sojourn? what in consequence of the discipline of the desert? What, upon a new generation, had been the influence of the Sinaitic Law, and of tabernacle worship, and of the tribune administration of social order? Prospective as were many of the Mosaic injunctions, social and ecclesiastical, the theology was ripe and entire, from the first; so were the ethical principles, and so was the worship. The generation which then reached maturity along with all of younger age, from infancy upward, were the product of this religious and social training. The Mosaic homilies are available as indirect, yet conclusive, evidence of a true theistic habitude of mind among the people of the Exodus. They must have been a people with whom there had been matured a settled usage of theistic terms, devout habitudes, and withal a diffused warmth of those social sentiments which are consequent upon and which are the proper results of an expansion of the domestic affections. I. T. It must not be supposed, however, that this book is wholly a repetition of the history and the laws recorded elsewhere, with comments upon them and applications to the new state. There are some important additional historical statements and many important additions to the laws as previously recorded. The command of God to leave Horeb (De. 1:6, 7), the repentance of the Israelites when defeated by the Amalekites (ch. 1:45), the intercession of Moses for Aaron (ch. 9:20), are minor instances of additions to the historic record in Deuteronomy. There are also more important additions to the historical statements, such as the command prohibiting war with the Moabites and Ammonites and Edomites, and permitting Israel to buy of them food and water (ch. 2:4); the historical notice of the earlier inhabitants of Moab, Ammon, and Mount Seir (ch. 2:10, 23), the sixty fortified cities of Bashan and the king, who was a remnant of the giants (ch. 3:11), and the more extended account of the battle with the Amalekites (ch. 25:17). The additions to the Law recorded in Deuteronomy are still more extensive. Thus to the Law concerning cities of refuge (ch. 19:7); the appointment of one permanent place of worship (ch. 12:5); the removal of the restriction as to slaying the victims at the door of the tabernacle; the law of tithes (chs. 12:11, and 14:22); the law concerning false prophecy (ch. 12:5), etc. And so of many other precepts found in Deuteronomy, but not found in the previous records of the Law. S. R. But these additions do not betray another and a later hand than that which gave the original code. They are one and all such as are supplementary or explanatory of earlier laws, and might well be suggested by a short experience of the working of those laws; or such as would have been premature or impracticable during the wandering in the wilderness, but became necessary when the people was about to settle down in Canaan. The occurrence of such enactments in Deuteronomy, and there first, is in thorough harmony with the time and circumstances set forth in the book itself as belonging to its composition. In like manner the alleged historical inconsistencies between this book and the earlier narrative are apparent only and not real; and the total omission of large portions of the Sinaitic legislation is easily intelligible when we bear in mind the purpose which the orator in Deuteronomy had in view. It is particularly to be noted that the laws passed over in this book are more especially those pertaining to the offices of the priests and Levites. And these are precisely the topics which it would be needless for one addressing the general assembly of the people to expound or insist upon. Espin. With all its additions and modifications, the Deuteronomic Law is not a new legislation, or even a continuation of the preceding; it is the Sinaitic legislation enforced anew, and wherever necessary adapted to the circumstances which had emerged at the close of the forty years' wandering. D. M.—More than seventy facts, recorded more fully in the previous history, are woven into the texture of this closing book of the Law. Nothing can be more spontaneous and natural than the way in which they are introduced. Some fresh particulars are added, but so naturally and in such agreement with the rest as to bespeak their own reality. Besides these historical references which link this book so closely with the whole previous history and disprove its later origin, its moral features and tone make the hypothesis of a forgery insufferable and monstrous to every mind which retains any spiritual instinct and has learned "to fear that great and terrible name, the Lord our God." How real and earnest, how lofty and sublime is its tone of Divine authority, from first to last! How tender and delicate are its touches of human sympathy from the dying Lawgiver to the people he so dearly loved, and whom, for their sins even more than his own, he was forbidden to lead into the land of promise! Birks. The Deuteronomist evidently had in mind, at least, nearly as extensive a code of laws as we possess in the priestly legislation. If this were not the case, it would be inconceivable that, with the exception of the Book of the Covenant, a popular address should be produced in which allusions were made to laws, but in which the laws themselves were not fully given. There are really no regulations in regard to priests and sacrifices in Deuteronomy. Hence it presupposes a code and one much fuller than the Book of the Covenant. If we accept the premises of modern criticism, we must also accept its conclusions. The Bible at once sinks to the level of other books. It is no longer God's revelation to man. Its supernatural character is at once lost. The Old Testament ceases to be preparatory for Christianity as the religion of Divine revelation. There is no sin, and no need of a Saviour. From this point we can very readily accept the positions of a Haeckel, and deny the existence of a personal God. We cannot see any stopping-place. Curliss. The alterations and modifications of the Law in Deuteronomy are in no way inconsistent with the old theory, that it was composed toward the close of the wanderings before the entrance into the holy land. Of these variations, some relate to a permanent place for the Divine worship, hereafter to be determined by God. This provision could not have been made during the wanderings. Some forbid idolatrous usages common among the tribes with whom they were or were about to be in contact; men wearing women's clothes; worship of sacred trees, less common, no doubt, in the wilderness; laws about captive women and runaway slaves. These laws were especially necessary when war was about to begin. Some are modifications of ritual observances; tithes and first-fruits to the Levites, widows and orphans, not to the sanctuary; the slaughter of beasts (in Leviticus) before the door of the tabernacle, now (in Deuteronomy) anywhere. Strangers (Exodus and Leviticus) were bound to keep the whole law, now (in Deuteronomy) with certain exemptions. Some are more precise provisions for the administration of justice, being necessary for a settled people; the inhibition of man-stealing, not very likely in the wandering life; inheritance of elder sons. The simplicity of what may be called the prophet-law (De. 18) is singularly inconsistent with any later time, after schools of the prophets had been an historic institution, and during or after the great age not of one but of many prophets. All these discrepancies seem to me sufficiently accounted for by the change in the state and position and character of the people; from that when the original Law was delivered in the actual desert, and forty years after, when they had approached and were about to enter into Palestine. Milman. That the character of the style and diction in this book deviates in various ways from that of the former ones, and that there is greater freedom and power in the flow of the narrative, is what we naturally expect to find when we take into view the purpose of the book, and the time in which Moses communicated its contents. It is the repetition of what had been before related, accompanied by impressive exhortations, promises, and threatenings, and rehearsed by Moses in the last two months of his life, to a people that had grown up under his eye, and with the land of promise in view. C. G. B.—The allegation so positively made that the very style of Deuteronomy betrays its late origin is arbitrary and baseless. No doubt the book is written in a very different manner from the preceding ones; yet the parallelisms between it and them both in ideas and expressions are neither few nor insignificant (cf. for instance De. 28 with Lev. 26 throughout). And the fact that the book consists mainly of three speeches addressed by Moses to the people in immediate view of his own death and their entrance into Canaan sufficiently explains its literary characteristics. Naturally the matter thus orally set forth is given in more sustained, flowing, and rhetorical language than would be employed when laws were to be promulgated, passing events chronicled, or ancient transactions, already perhaps enshrined in tradition or document, incorporated into a connected historical work. It is to be observed also that all the classes of archaisms, whether in vocabulary or grammatical forms, which have been pointed out as characteristic of the Hebrew of the Pentateuch (see Introduction to Pentateuch, pp. 18, 19) are found in Deuteronomy, and some of them frequently. Espin (Bib. Com.) The style used in Deuteronomy answers to the changed circumstances at the close of the sojourn. The judgment on Korah, the Levite ringleader in rebellion, had made the deepest impression. Aaron had died, full of years and honor, second only to Moses in the reverence of the people, and Eleazar had succeeded in his stead. Phinehas, Eleazar's son, had received the high approval of God and the promise of an everlasting priesthood. The house of Aaron were still few in number, and their honor for the present was secure; but the Levites were a tribe of many thousands. They were made to depend for their subsistence on the tithes and offerings of the people, and their honor and privilege needed new and strong safeguards after Moses was gone. This key explains the partial change of style in Deuteronomy, which no dual authorship can ever do. Moses first mentions the death of Aaron, and that Eleazar, his son, ministered in the priest's office in his stead. After this he dwells mainly, if not entirely, on the privileges and duties of the whole priestly tribe. This feature of Deuteronomy, which has been alleged as a decisive proof of separate and later authorship, is really a sign of its historical truth and Mosaic origin. The relation to the history is of that delicate and real kind which no forger of later times could invent or observe. Birks. Moses valued his opportunity too highly to spend his breath in repeating that which was so well known, nay, was daily before the eyes of the people, as the order of worship, the duties and emoluments of the priesthood and their assistants. From memory he calls, with remarkable freshness, as much as is necessary of the Israelitish history, just as it occurs to him at the time. He speaks from experience, emphasizes an old law, modifies it as the result of his observation through more than an entire generation, without thought or anxiety concerning the cross-examination which would arise as to the apparent differences between his reported speech and the existing documents. He throws out principles in bold outline, and speaks of tribes rather than individuals. He passes over Aaron, who is dead, with the briefest mention, although he does not thereby disparage his memory. His object is not eulogy. The tribe of Levi stands before him as the living embodiment of the priesthood. Hence he naturally speaks of the Levitical rather than of the Aaronite priests. Supposing the priestly law was already in existence, there was no object in his speaking of the priests as the sons of Aaron. It was rather natural in addressing, as it were, the nation, which was composed of twelve tribes, that he should connect the name of the tribe of Levi with that which gave it its honor and dignity, nay more, its very subsistence, the priesthood. As regards the authorship of Deuteronomy, we have, besides, the positive testimony that "Moses wrote this law," not to speak of the strong personality which pervades the book. Of course, on Kuenen's theory and that of other critics, we may believe that the author assumed the character of Moses for the sake of influence. But this is fatal to our belief that Deuteronomy is a divinely revealed book. The Christian experience very properly revolts from the idea that God could sanction the systematic fiction, "These be the words which Moses spoke unto all Israel," and especially, "And Moses wrote this law," as the medium of his revelation, if Moses did not write it, but some one else. The assertion that Moses wrote this book is too positive and its whole texture is too real and favorable to that authorship for us to accept an explanation which strikes at the very foundations of morality. That Moses should have foreseen the future woes of his people; that he should have anticipated the rise of the kingdom, and spoken accordingly; that he should speak of these things with prophetic certainty, can only be a stumbling-block to those who deny the possibility of a Divine revelation of the future. Cartiss. The legislation of Deuteronomy was committed to writing from the first, but refers throughout to an earlier code, the covenant at Sinai, of which it is only the completion. There are nearly a hundred links of mutual correspondence—most various in their character—from a verbal repetition of the same law to supplemental developments of historical facts, or kindred laws where the principle is the same. But this earlier legislation, the central portion of the Pentateuch, is inseparably linked with the history of the desert, the sojourn in Egypt, the plagues, the Passover, and the exodus, which have gone before, and with the forty years in the wilderness which follow. And the allusions to these histories in Deuteronomy are in proportion not less numerous than to the Sinaitic legislation which intervenes. The coat may be said to be woven without seam from the beginning of Exodus to the end of Deuteronomy. Birks. It must be added that Deuteronomy has in a singular manner the attestation of the apostles and of our Lord. Paul in Romans 10 and 15 argues from it at some length, and expressly quotes it as written by Moses; Peter and Stephen (Acts 3 : 22 ; 7 : 37) refer to the promise of "a prophet like unto" Moses, and regard it as given, as it professes to be, by Moses himself; our Lord, wielding "the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God" against the open assaults of Satan, thrice resorts to Deuteronomy for the texts with which he repels the tempter. Espin. The Lord of glory himself has proclaimed that faith in his words and in the writings of Moses, his servant, stand and fall together. Whoever rejects Moses rejects also the words of Christ. The Law given by Moses and the grace and truth which have come by Jesus Christ form one twofold but harmonious message from the Creator, the Preserver, and the Judge of mankind. Birks.—To assert that he who is the truth believed Deuteronomy to be the work of Moses, and quoted it expressly as such, though it was in fact a forgery introduced into the world seven or eight centuries after the exodus, is in effect to impeach the perfection and sinlessness of his nature, and seems thus to gainsay the first principles of Christianity. Espin. The Book of Deuteronomy has its truth and genuineness confirmed not only by the voice of our Lord and his apostles and the consenting testimony of the Jewish people in every age, but by the clearest signs of historical reality as the parting words of Moses. Its moral earnestness and pathos of appeal, its tone of holy reverence, its sublime and solemn grandeur, both in the opening exhortations and the song and blessing at the close, make the view which degrades it into a subtle and complicated forgery of some later age incredible, impossible, and monstrous. Most of the objections brought against it only turn, when fairly examined, into powerful evidences of its truth. The differences in style and diversities of statement, as compared with the earlier books, are such as any later forger would have been likely to have avoided with care, while they result naturally from the circumstances of the latest message of the Lawgiver before his own death. To this book of the Law, even more than the others, the warning of our Lord will clearly apply, "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." Birks. Deuteronomy, with its sermons and laws cannot have originated under Josiah, or, even earlier, under Manasseh. It is older than Isaiah; for not only Jeremiah, but Isaiah, Micah, Hosea, and Amos rest on Deuteronomy as a book of Divine revelation. The assertion that the prophecy does not imply the Law as antecedent is one of the greatest illusions of modern criticism. This assertion is confusing even in itself. For the prophets of the period of kings themselves celebrate Moses as a great prophet (compare Hos. 12 : 13 with Is. 63 : 11). F. Delitzsch. Is this book an imposture of Jeremiah, or some unknown deceiver in Jeremiah's time, or the genuine writing of "Moses, the man of God?" No middle ground is possible in this inquiry. If the discourses and parting words of Moses were real events, it seems certain that they would be recorded at once; and the Book of Deuteronomy, received by the Jews as a Divine message for at least twenty-three centuries, must be that record. If those discourses were not real, but invented long after, and ascribed to Moses and to God himself eight centuries after Moses's death, then the whole book is a successful forgery by which the Church and the world have been long deceived. Viewed as history, it occupies only the eleventh month of the fortieth year. But the links are very numerous which bind it to the earlier histories. These are natural and impressive, when we view it as a genuine record of the words of Moses. But when it is ascribed to some forger of later date, or even of the age of Jeremiah, they involve such a combination of subtle invention with reckless and deliberate lying as to degrade the Law of God, the bright reflection of his perfect holiness, into nothing higher than a frightful masterpiece of Satanic falsehood. Birks.—Accepting the rationalistic hypothesis of the new criticism, Israel was either a religious development, an evolution, or it was a religious decadence, a failure. If it was a development up from low beginnings, then Moses is one difficulty. We cannot account for him. If it was a national declension and failure, then what shall we do with Christ and his words? Our Bible lies before us. What do we find therein? Covenant, law, gospel; priest, prophet, Messiah. These stand in reciprocal relation. That relationship is not counter-destructive. Weddell. Most probably the addresses which form the Book of Deuteronomy, and which were spoken to the people at the very close of Moses's life, were left by him as separate documents, each written on its own roll of skin. And in a similar manner the song of Moses and the blessing of the tribes would each be copied upon a skin by itself. And it is exceedingly probable that Joshua, after the conquest of Canaan, gathered these records together, and himself added to them the account of the great Lawgiver's death, excepting the last four verses. In them we have the solemn verdict of Ezra and the men of the great synagogue, as to the character and rank of Moses. In the grand roll of prophets who had ennobled their nation, not even an Elijah or an Isaiah had equalled the great "servant of Jehovah," with whom God had spoken face to face. When the canon of Holy Scripture closed, the words of Moses in De. 18:15, 18 were, according to their deliberate judgment, still unfulfilled. R. P. S. The books of the Pentateuch are to be taken as the memorials of the birth—first, of a people, and then—of a NATION. No memorials altogether comparable to these have come down from ancient to modern times. In so far as these documents are in analogy with parallel documents, they work into adjustment with all that we know of Oriental antiquity, and of human nature everywhere. But in so far as they differ from all such instances, the difference is a difference available in proof of their reality, their genuineness, their authenticity: it is so by reason of the gravity and exactness of the matters at large, and of the matters in detail. A perusal of these books—the so-called Mosaic archives—carries, in minds not debilitated by sophisms, an irresistible conviction of truthfulness: there is a majesty here, before which we bow. There is nothing in this world, there is nothing in all history that is real, if there is not in these books the various, yet coherent and consecutive memorials and the authentic documents of the birth of a nation, as to its civil and its religious institutions. I. T. FIRST PARTING ADDRESS: EXORDIUM; DISTRICTS OF THE LAND OF CANAAN; EXHORTATIONS TO OBEDIENCE, BASED UPON JEHOVAH'S GRACIOUS DISCLOSURES AND DEALINGS. De. 1 1 THESE be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel beyond Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah over against Suph, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Di-zahab. And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the LORD had given him in commandment unto them; after he had smitten Sihon the king of the Amorites, which dwelt in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, which dwelt in Ashtaroth, at Edrei: beyond Jordan, in the land of Moab, began Moses to declare this law, saying, The LORD our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mountain: turn you, and take your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the Arabah, in the hill country, and in the lowland, and in the South, and by the sea shore, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the LORD swore unto your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them. 4 1 And now, O Israel, hearken unto the statutes and unto the judgements, which I teach you, for to do them; that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, giveth you. Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you. Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baal-peor; for all the men that followed Baal-peor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from the midst of thee. But ye that did cleave unto the LORD your God are alive every one of you this day. 5. Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgements, even as the LORD my God commanded 6 me, that ye should do so in the midst of the land whither ye go in to possess it. Keep there- fore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understand- 7 ing people. For what great nation is there, that hath a god so nigh unto them, as the LORD 8 our God is whensoever we call upon him? And what great nation is there, that hath statutes 9 and judgements so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes saw, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life; but make them known unto thy chil- 10 dren and thy children's children; the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, Assemble me the people, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children. 14 And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgements, that ye 15 might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it. Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of form on the day that the LORD spake unto you in 16 Horeb out of the midst of the fire: lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image 17 in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on 18 the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the heaven, the likeness of any thing 19 that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth: and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the host of heaven, thou be drawn away and worship them, and serve them, 20 which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all the peoples under the whole heaven. But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be unto 21 him a people of inheritance, as at this day. Furthermore the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, and sware that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that 22 good land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance: but I must die in this 23 land, I must not go over Jordan: but ye shall go over, and possess that good land. Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image in the form of any thing which the LORD thy God hath for- 24 bidden thee. For the LORD thy God is a devouring fire, a jealous God. 25 When thou shalt beget children, and children's children, and ye shall have been long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image in the form of any thing, and 26 shall do that which is evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to provoke him to anger: I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but 27 shall utterly be destroyed. And the LORD shall scatter you among the peoples, and ye shall 28 be left few in number among the nations, whither the LORD shall lead you away. And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, 29 nor eat, nor smell. But if from thence ye shall seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, 30 if thou search after him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. When thou art in tribula- tion, and all these things are come upon thee, in the latter days thou shalt return to the LORD 31 thy God, and hearken unto his voice: for the LORD thy God is a merciful God; he will not fail thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto 32 them. For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and from the one end of heaven unto the other, whether there 33 hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it? Did ever people 34 hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live? Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your 35 eyes? Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is 36 none else beside him. Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he made thee to see his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of 37 the midst of the fire. And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after 38 them, and brought thee out with his presence, with his great power, out of Egypt; to drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou, to bring thee in, to give thee 39 their land for an inheritance, as at this day. Know therefore this day, and lay it to thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above and upon the earth beneath: there is none 40 else. And thou shalt keep his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, for ever. It is the eleventh month of the fortieth year. It is the eleventh hour of the Mosaic Era. The great Lawgiver and Leader is about to be "gathered to his fathers;" yet "his eye is not dim, nor his natural force abated;" and of this he gives abundant evidence in the three long and spirited addresses which he delivers to the people as his parting charge. In these addresses he urges the people, with all the force of his mighty nature, to be mindful of the Lord that has redeemed them, to be obedient to his Law, and faithful to his covenant. They are, in fact, a powerful practical application of the Law which had been given on Mount Sinai. Hence the name given to the book which records these addresses: "Deuteronomy," the second Law, J. M. G. 1 : 1-5. In these verses we have the inscription and general introduction to the book, announcing the contents of the book, the author of it, the parties whom he addressed, and the time and place of his addresses. W. L. A.—There are abundant, and abundantly satisfactory, grounds for maintaining the literary and material unity of the Book of Deuteronomy. It is a remarkable example of it in its outward form. One might be safely challenged to point to another book of the Bible that is more so. The few verses of introduction are singularly appropriate (1 : 1-5) and so detailed as it respects dates and places, amounting almost to a species of literary triangulation, that it scarcely offers a choice between a theory of honest history and egregious, not to say impossible, invention. It tells just where the Israelites were when these addresses were uttered, fixing the spot, as I have said, with little less than geometric exactitude by references to half a dozen other places in the neighborhood. It gives the year of the wilderness wanderings, the month, and even the day of the month, in noticeable, though clearly undesigned, coincidence with other important chronological data of the history. The crossing of the Jordan was on the tenth of Abib of the following year (Josh. 4 : 19). The previous month had been spent in mourning for the departed chief (De. 34 : 8). Hence ten, full, solemn days are left for the delivery of the great discourses of our book. The whole is popular, hortatory, retrospective, and spiritually elevating, nowhere falling below the key struck in the opening announcement: "These are the words which Moses spake unto all Israel." E. C. B. This exordium to Deuteronomy is remarkable. It states that this book is not, like the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, a direct narration or journal of the various events which occurred to the Jewish legislator and nation from the commencement of their deliverance from Egypt; but that it is a recapitulation of everything which Moses thought it necessary to notice, in addressing the people shortly before his death, at the close of the forty years during which he had acted as their lawgiver and judge. Graves. 1. Beyond Jordan.** The words mean, taken by themselves, "at the crossing of the Jordan." Used alone they point neither to the east nor the west side. Just what is meant in any given instance is a matter which can be determined only by the context. The writer of this book, in fact, employs the words in the very same passage, intelligibly and with clear intention, to mean now the east, and again the west, side of the Jordan (3 : 8, 20). Conscious of the ambiguity of the phrase, he uses it in no single case where misunderstanding might arise that he has not himself guarded against it. He says, "on this side Jordan in the plain over against the Red Sea;" or, "on this side Jordan in the land of Moab;" or, "toward the sunrising;" or, "by the way where the sun goeth down." Every passage (of ten) is thus rigorously insured against the possibility of error by means of an added explanation, excepting one (3 : 20), which does not need it. How absurd, in these circumstances, the ado that has been made, and continues to be made, over these words by critics, learned and unlearned, who seem never to have thoroughly examined the connection in which they stand. E. C. B. The wilderness. This term is used of any extensive district not occupied by inhabitants or subjected to culture; hence of vast prairies or pasture-lands, as well as of places properly desert and desolate. It here denotes the grassy plains or downs on the east and southeast of the Jordan, in the land of Moab (verse 5). In the plain; in the Arabah. This is properly the whole of that remarkable depression which stretches from the source of the Jordan on to Akabah, or the Elanitic Gulf; but here it is only that part of it which extends from the south end of the Dead Sea. This part still bears the name of the Arabah, the northern part being known as the Ghor. W. L. A. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/butler/ The first day of the lunar month was observed as a holy day. In addition to the daily sacrifice there were offered two young bullocks, a ram, and seven lambs of the first year as a burnt-offering, with the proper meal-offerings and drink-offerings, and a kid as a sin-offering (Nu. 28:11-15). As on the Sabbath, trade and handicraftwork were stopped (Am. 8:5), the temple was opened for public worship (Ez. 46:3; Is. 66:23). The trumpets were blown at the offering of the special sacrifices for the day, as on the solemn festivals (Nu. 10:10; Ps. 81:3). The new moons are generally mentioned so as to show that they were regarded as a peculiar class of holy days, distinguished from the solemn feasts and the Sabbaths. The religious observance of the day of the new moon may plainly be regarded as the consecration of a natural division of time. Dic. B. The new-moon feast, depending upon no calendar but that of the sky, and more clearly marked in that than any other recurring period, was certain to fix itself deeply in the social and religious habits of a simple pastoral or agricultural people. Accordingly we find it incidentally mentioned as a day of social gathering (1 Sam. 20:5), and as a day for religious instruction (2 Kings 4:23). From the latter passage, and from passages [cited above], it is evident that the feast of the New Moon became to the month exactly what the Sabbath was to the week—a day of rest and of worship. Pal. Com. Lev. 23 15 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall there be complete: even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meal offering unto the LORD. Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth parts of an ephah: they shall be of fine flour, they shall be baken with leaven, for firstfruits unto the LORD. And ye shall present with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be a burnt offering unto the LORD, with their meal offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD. And ye shall offer one he-goat for a sin offering, and two he-lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings. And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest. And ye shall make proclamation on the selfsame day; there shall be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work: it is a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations. Nu. 28 26 Also in the day of the firstfruits, when ye offer a new meal offering unto the LORD in your feast of weeks, ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work: but ye shall offer a burnt offering for a sweet savour unto the LORD; two young bullocks, one ram, seven he-lambs of the first year, and their meal offering, fine flour mingled with oil, three tenth parts for each bullock, two tenth parts for the one ram, a several tenth part for 30 every lamb of the seven lambs; one he-goat, to make atonement for you. Beside the continual burnt offering, and the meal offering thereof, ye shall offer them (they shall be unto you without blemish), and their drink offerings. De. 16 9 Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: from the time thou beginnest to put the sickle to the standing corn shalt thou begin to number seven weeks. And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the LORD thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give, according as the LORD thy God blesseth thee: and thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are in the midst of thee, in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt: and thou shalt observe and do these statutes. Nu. 29 1 And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work: it is a day of blowing of trumpets unto you. And ye shall offer a burnt offering for a sweet savour unto the LORD; one young bullock, one ram, seven he-lambs of the first year without blemish: and their meal offering, fine flour mingled with oil, three tenth parts for the bullock, two tenth parts for the ram, and one tenth part for every lamb of the seven lambs: and one he-goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you: beside the burnt offering of the new moon, and the meal offering thereof, and the continual burnt offering and the meal offering thereof, and their drink offerings, according unto their ordinance, for a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the LORD. Lev. 23 23 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall be a solemn rest unto you, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation. Ye shall do no servile work: and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD. This feast was held at the distance of seven complete weeks, a week of weeks, from the second day of the Passover, when the first ripe barley sheaf was presented—therefore on the fiftieth day after the former. The males were then again to repair to the house of God. And from the Greek word for fifty being Pentecoste, the feast itself in the New Testament came to be designated Pentecost. But its Bible name is rather that of Weeks, being determined by the complete cycle of weeks that followed the waving of the barley sheaf at the time of the Passover. There are two other names applied to it in the Pentateuch. In Ex. 23:16 it is called “the Feast of Harvest,” because it was kept at the close of the whole harvest, wheat as well as barley—the intervening weeks between it and the Passover forming the season of harvest. And in the same passage, as again in Nu. 28:26, it is also called “the Feast of the First-fruits,” because it was the occasion on which the Israelites were to present to God the first-fruits of their crop, as now laid up for use. This was done by the high-priest waving two loaves in the name of the whole congregation. In later times the feast is understood to have been held for an entire week, like the Passover. But no time is specified in Scripture for its continuance, and as a holy solemnity it appears to have been limited to one day, when the same number and kind of offerings were presented as on each day of the Paschal Feast. But as the people were specially required at this feast to invite not only their servants but also the widow, the orphan, the stranger, and the Levite, to share with them in the goodness which the Lord had bestowed on them, it is obvious that a succession of days must have been required for its due celebration. P. F. The day was one of “holy convocation”—in this respect resembling the first and last days of the feasts of Unleavened Bread and Tabernacles; and the distinguishing feature of its services was the presenting to the Almighty of two loaves of fine flour baked with leaven. These loaves were not laid upon the altar, but were waved before the Lord in token of dedication to his service, and were then given to the priests to eat. Like the first sheaf of barley, they were a national, and not an individual or a family offering. Two loaves only were offered, but for all the families of Israel considered as one whole. With these loaves were associated as a part of the same festal offering seven lambs without blemish of the first year, one young bullock, and two rams for a burnt-offering, with their appropriate meal and drink offerings, one kid of the goats for a sin-offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace-offerings (Lev. 23:17-19). Other offerings also were presented. As in the case of the other great feasts, the feast of Pentecost was attended by innumerable crowds. Milligan. Till the Pentecostal loaves were offered, the produce of the harvest might not be eaten, nor could any other first-fruits be offered. The whole ceremony was the completion of that dedication of the harvest to God as its giver, which was begun by the offering of the wave-sheaf at the Passover. The interval is still regarded as a religious season. P. S.—While the immediate design of this institution seems to have been that they might thankfully acknowledge the goodness of God in giving them the fruits of the earth, and implore his further blessing by offering to him the first-fruits of their harvest, it doubtless had a typical reference to the first-fruits of the Holy Spirit, and of converts to Christ after Peter's preaching on the day of Pentecost. Jennings.—The period and perfection of this feast was the pouring out of the Spirit upon the apostles on the day of this feast (Acts 2:1), in which the law of faith was given, fifty days after Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. And on that day the apostles, having themselves received the first-fruits of the Spirit, begat three thousand souls through the word of truth, and presented them as the first-fruits of the Christian Church to God and the Lamb. H. As a feast of joyful thanksgiving over the first-fruits of their principal grain harvest, it was eminently the appropriate occasion for the Pentecostal scene of the first great Christian ingathering. How suggestive of the gratitude due to God for the shedding forth of the Holy Ghost and the glorious fruitage from this Gospel power! H. C.—The Passover represents death; the wave-sheaf and the wave-loaves symbolize life. The Messiah is priest, king, and prophet. As priest he is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. As king, he is the wave-sheaf, the first-fruits from the dead. This has peculiar force when we remember that he rose on the first day of the week and the very day of the wave-sheaf being offered. As prophet, when the day of Pentecost was fully come he sent the promise of the Father, the Spirit of Truth and of utterance upon the disciples, the full harvest of their waiting and praying, the bread of eternal life for their hungering souls. In this brief period of seven times seven days there is a typical epitome of the history of salvation. M. De. 16:10. To keep this feast they must bring an offering unto God. It is here called a tribute of a free-will offering. It was required of them as a tribute to their sovereign Lord and Owner, under whom they held all they had; and yet because it was left to every man's generosity to bring what he chose, it is called a free-will offering. H.—What is given under pressure is not given: only that is given which cannot be kept back; only that is accepted which carries with it the blood of the heart. J. P. Thou shalt give according as the Lord thy God blesseth thee. The goodness of God was conspicuous when in claiming what was his own he did not at all diminish the food of the people; afterward they received as from his hand whatever each individual had stored at home, just as though it had come out of his sanctuary. Paul's statement, "For if the first-fruit be holy, the lump is also holy" (Rom. 11:16), alludes to this ancient ceremony of the Law. Moses signifies that the fruits of the earth cannot otherwise be eaten with a clear conscience, because they would not feel that God accepted them and looked upon them with paternal affection. The ceremony remains in force as regards its substance; for nothing but the acknowledgment of God's bounty, which springs from faith and thanksgiving, sanctifies whatever we receive of his hand. Calv.—Receiving should prompt us to a proportionate giving. The gift to be brought to the temple is not specified. It might be a gift of corn, or of wine, or of money. The form of the gift was left to the option of the husbandman; but some tribute was required, and the amount must be proportionate to the abundance of his crops. If plain and imperative law could make the Jews generous-hearted, God did his utmost to cultivate in them this excellence. D. D. De. 16:11. Thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God. This gives us the joyous aspect of religion. An ancient Jewish annotator has made a beautiful remark upon this verse, to the effect that "thy four, O Israel, and my four shall rejoice together." Observe how the numbers are divided into fours, and how the one four may be said to be man's and the second four may be said to be God's. This is the distinction drawn by Rashi, the Jewish commentator: "Thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant"—let them rejoice; but my four must be there also: the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow; they represent the Divine name, and sit down in seats divinely claimed for them at the festive board. J. P.—They must rejoice before God. Holy joy is the heart and soul of thankful praises, which are as the language and expression of holy joy. They must rejoice in their receivings from God, and in their returns of service and sacrifice to him; our duty must be our delight as well as our enjoyment. H.—It was not intended that we should pass our religious festivals in retirement, shunning human converse. The Jews were bidden to “rejoice” in their feasts “before the Lord their God.” Christians are bidden to “rejoice in the Lord alway.” And a very ancient father, Tertullian, informs us that on a Sunday, for so he calls it, they gave way peculiarly to religious joy; as well they might, since he who “died for our sins then rose for our justification.” Secker. A greater degree of relative importance seems to have been attached to this festival than appears to be designed by the Law. It was discovered that the date, fifty days after the Passover, coincided with the delivery of the Law from Mount Sinai, which was fifty days after the departure from Egypt, and consequently after the first Passover. Hence, by degrees, instead of resting on the ground on which Moses placed it, the festival was turned into a commemoration of that great event. Bush. The first day of the lunar month was observed as a holy day. In addition to the daily sacrifice there were offered two young bullocks, a ram, and seven lambs of the first year as a burnt-offering, with the proper meal-offerings and drink-offerings, and a kid as a sin-offering (Nu. 28:11-15). As on the Sabbath, trade and handicraftwork were stopped (Am. 8:5), the temple was opened for public worship (Ez. 46:3; Is. 66:23). The trumpets were blown at the offering of the special sacrifices for the day, as on the solemn festivals (Nu. 10:10; Ps. 81:3). The new moons are generally mentioned so as to show that they were regarded as a peculiar class of holy days, distinguished from the solemn feasts and the Sabbaths. The religious observance of the day of the new moon may plainly be regarded as the consecration of a natural division of time. Dic. B. The new-moon feast, depending upon no calendar but that of the sky, and more clearly marked in that than any other recurring period, was certain to fix itself deeply in the social and religious habits of a simple pastoral or agricultural people. Accordingly we find it incidentally mentioned as a day of social gathering (1 Sam. 20:5), and as a day for religious instruction (2 Kings 4:23). From the latter passage, and from passages [cited above], it is evident that the feast of the New Moon became to the month exactly what the Sabbath was to the week—a day of rest and of worship. Pal. Com. Lev. 23 15 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall there be complete: even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meal offering unto the LORD. Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth parts of an ephah: they shall be of fine flour, they shall be baken with leaven, for firstfruits unto the LORD. And ye shall present with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be a burnt offering unto the LORD, with their meal offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD. And ye shall offer one he-goat for a sin offering, and two he-lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings. And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest. And ye shall make proclamation on the selfsame day; there shall be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work: it is a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations. Nu. 28 26 Also in the day of the firstfruits, when ye offer a new meal offering unto the LORD in your feast of weeks, ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work: but ye shall offer a burnt offering for a sweet savour unto the LORD; two young bullocks, one ram, seven he-lambs of the first year, and their meal offering, fine flour mingled with oil, three tenth parts for each bullock, two tenth parts for the one ram, a several tenth part for 30 every lamb of the seven lambs; one he-goat, to make atonement for you. Beside the continual burnt offering, and the meal offering thereof, ye shall offer them (they shall be unto you without blemish), and their drink offerings. De. 16 9 Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: from the time thou beginnest to put the sickle to the standing corn shalt thou begin to number seven weeks. And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the LORD thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give, according as the LORD thy God blesseth thee: and thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are in the midst of thee, in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt: and thou shalt observe and do these statutes. Nu. 29 1 And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work: it is a day of blowing of trumpets unto you. And ye shall offer a burnt offering for a sweet savour unto the LORD; one young bullock, one ram, seven he-lambs of the first year without blemish: and their meal offering, fine flour mingled with oil, three tenth parts for the bullock, two tenth parts for the ram, and one tenth part for every lamb of the seven lambs: and one he-goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you: beside the burnt offering of the new moon, and the meal offering thereof, and the continual burnt offering and the meal offering thereof, and their drink offerings, according unto their ordinance, for a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the LORD. Lev. 23 23 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall be a solemn rest unto you, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation. Ye shall do no servile work: and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD. This feast was held at the distance of seven complete weeks, a week of weeks, from the second day of the Passover, when the first ripe barley sheaf was presented—therefore on the fiftieth day after the former. The males were then again to repair to the house of God. And from the Greek word for fifty being Pentecoste, the feast itself in the New Testament came to be designated Pentecost. But its Bible name is rather that of Weeks, being determined by the complete cycle of weeks that followed the waving of the barley sheaf at the time of the Passover. There are two other names applied to it in the Pentateuch. In Ex. 23:16 it is called “the Feast of Harvest,” because it was kept at the close of the whole harvest, wheat as well as barley—the intervening weeks between it and the Passover forming the season of harvest. And in the same passage, as again in Nu. 28:26, it is also called “the Feast of the First-fruits,” because it was the occasion on which the Israelites were to present to God the first-fruits of their crop, as now laid up for use. This was done by the high-priest waving two loaves in the name of the whole congregation. In later times the feast is understood to have been held for an entire week, like the Passover. But no time is specified in Scripture for its continuance, and as a holy solemnity it appears to have been limited to one day, when the same number and kind of offerings were presented as on each day of the Paschal Feast. But as the people were specially required at this feast to invite not only their servants but also the widow, the orphan, the stranger, and the Levite, to share with them in the goodness which the Lord had bestowed on them, it is obvious that a succession of days must have been required for its due celebration. P. F. The day was one of “holy convocation”—in this respect resembling the first and last days of the feasts of Unleavened Bread and Tabernacles; and the distinguishing feature of its services was the presenting to the Almighty of two loaves of fine flour baked with leaven. These loaves were not laid upon the altar, but were waved before the Lord in token of dedication to his service, and were then given to the priests to eat. Like the first sheaf of barley, they were a national, and not an individual or a family offering. Two loaves only were offered, but for all the families of Israel considered as one whole. With these loaves were associated as a part of the same festal offering seven lambs without blemish of the first year, one young bullock, and two rams for a burnt-offering, with their appropriate meal and drink offerings, one kid of the goats for a sin-offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace-offerings (Lev. 23:17-19). Other offerings also were presented. As in the case of the other great feasts, the feast of Pentecost was attended by innumerable crowds. Milligan. Till the Pentecostal loaves were offered, the produce of the harvest might not be eaten, nor could any other first-fruits be offered. The whole ceremony was the completion of that dedication of the harvest to God as its giver, which was begun by the offering of the wave-sheaf at the Passover. The interval is still regarded as a religious season. P. S.—While the immediate design of this institution seems to have been that they might thankfully acknowledge the goodness of God in giving them the fruits of the earth, and implore his further blessing by offering to him the first-fruits of their harvest, it doubtless had a typical reference to the first-fruits of the Holy Spirit, and of converts to Christ after Peter's preaching on the day of Pentecost. Jennings.—The period and perfection of this feast was the pouring out of the Spirit upon the apostles on the day of this feast (Acts 2:1), in which the law of faith was given, fifty days after Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. And on that day the apostles, having themselves received the first-fruits of the Spirit, begat three thousand souls through the word of truth, and presented them as the first-fruits of the Christian Church to God and the Lamb. H. As a feast of joyful thanksgiving over the first-fruits of their principal grain harvest, it was eminently the appropriate occasion for the Pentecostal scene of the first great Christian ingathering. How suggestive of the gratitude due to God for the shedding forth of the Holy Ghost and the glorious fruitage from this Gospel power! H. C.—The Passover represents death; the wave-sheaf and the wave-loaves symbolize life. The Messiah is priest, king, and prophet. As priest he is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. As king, he is the wave-sheaf, the first-fruits from the dead. This has peculiar force when we remember that he rose on the first day of the week and the very day of the wave-sheaf being offered. As prophet, when the day of Pentecost was fully come he sent the promise of the Father, the Spirit of Truth and of utterance upon the disciples, the full harvest of their waiting and praying, the bread of eternal life for their hungering souls. In this brief period of seven times seven days there is a typical epitome of the history of salvation. M. De. 16:10. To keep this feast they must bring an offering unto God. It is here called a tribute of a free-will offering. It was required of them as a tribute to their sovereign Lord and Owner, under whom they held all they had; and yet because it was left to every man's generosity to bring what he chose, it is called a free-will offering. H.—What is given under pressure is not given: only that is given which cannot be kept back; only that is accepted which carries with it the blood of the heart. J. P. Thou shalt give according as the Lord thy God blesseth thee. The goodness of God was conspicuous when in claiming what was his own he did not at all diminish the food of the people; afterward they received as from his hand whatever each individual had stored at home, just as though it had come out of his sanctuary. Paul's statement, "For if the first-fruit be holy, the lump is also holy" (Rom. 11:16), alludes to this ancient ceremony of the Law. Moses signifies that the fruits of the earth cannot otherwise be eaten with a clear conscience, because they would not feel that God accepted them and looked upon them with paternal affection. The ceremony remains in force as regards its substance; for nothing but the acknowledgment of God's bounty, which springs from faith and thanksgiving, sanctifies whatever we receive of his hand. Calv.—Receiving should prompt us to a proportionate giving. The gift to be brought to the temple is not specified. It might be a gift of corn, or of wine, or of money. The form of the gift was left to the option of the husbandman; but some tribute was required, and the amount must be proportionate to the abundance of his crops. If plain and imperative law could make the Jews generous-hearted, God did his utmost to cultivate in them this excellence. D. D. De. 16:11. Thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God. This gives us the joyous aspect of religion. An ancient Jewish annotator has made a beautiful remark upon this verse, to the effect that "thy four, O Israel, and my four shall rejoice together." Observe how the numbers are divided into fours, and how the one four may be said to be man's and the second four may be said to be God's. This is the distinction drawn by Rashi, the Jewish commentator: "Thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant"—let them rejoice; but my four must be there also: the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow; they represent the Divine name, and sit down in seats divinely claimed for them at the festive board. J. P.—They must rejoice before God. Holy joy is the heart and soul of thankful praises, which are as the language and expression of holy joy. They must rejoice in their receivings from God, and in their returns of service and sacrifice to him; our duty must be our delight as well as our enjoyment. H.—It was not intended that we should pass our religious festivals in retirement, shunning human converse. The Jews were bidden to “rejoice” in their feasts “before the Lord their God.” Christians are bidden to “rejoice in the Lord alway.” And a very ancient father, Tertullian, informs us that on a Sunday, for so he calls it, they gave way peculiarly to religious joy; as well they might, since he who “died for our sins then rose for our justification.” Secker. A greater degree of relative importance seems to have been attached to this festival than appears to be designed by the Law. It was discovered that the date, fifty days after the Passover, coincided with the delivery of the Law from Mount Sinai, which was fifty days after the departure from Egypt, and consequently after the first Passover. Hence, by degrees, instead of resting on the ground on which Moses placed it, the festival was turned into a commemoration of that great event. Bush. De. 23 21 When thou shalt vow a vow unto the LORD thy God, thou shalt not be slack to 22 pay it : for the LORD thy God will surely require it of thee ; and it would be sin in thee. But 23 if thou shalt forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in thee. That which is gone out of thy lips thou shalt observe and do ; according as thou hast vowed unto the LORD thy God, a freewill offering, which thou hast promised with thy mouth. Nu. 30 1 And Moses spake unto the heads of the tribes of the children of Israel, saying, 2 This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded. When a man voweth a vow unto the LORD, or sweareth an oath to bind his soul with a bond, he shall not break his word ; he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth. [Verses 3-16 refer to vows of woman, as daughter, wife, widow, or divorced.] Lev. 27 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and 2 say unto them, When a man shall accomplish a vow, the persons shall be for the LORD by thy 3 estimation. And thy estimation shall be of the male from twenty years old even unto sixty years old, even thy estimation shall be fifty shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctu- 4 ary. And if it be a female, then thy estimation shall be thirty shekels. And if it be from 5 five years old even unto twenty years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male twenty 6 shekels, and for the female ten shekels. And if it be from a month old even unto five years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male five shekels of silver, and for the female thy esti- 7 mation shall be three shekels of silver. And if it be from sixty years old and upward ; if it be 8 a male, then thy estimation shall be fifteen shekels, and for the female ten shekels. But if he be poorer than thy estimation, then he shall be set before the priest, and the priest shall value him ; according to the ability of him that vowed shall the priest value him. [Verses 9-25 concern the redemption of beasts, houses, and fields] 26. Only the firstling among beasts, which is made a firstling to the LORD, no man shall sane- 27 tify it ; whether it be ox or sheep, it is the LORD's. And if it be of an unclean beast, then he shall ransom it according to thine estimation, and shall add unto it the fifth part thereof : or if it be not redeemed, then it shall be sold according to thy estimation. 28 Notwithstanding, no devoted thing, that a man shall devote unto the LORD of all that he hath, whether of man or beast, or of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed : 29 every devoted thing is most holy unto the LORD. None devoted, which shall be devoted of men, shall be ransomed ; he shall surely be put to death. Nu. 6 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying Speak unto the children of Israel, and say 2 unto them, When either man or woman shall make a special vow, the vow of a Nazarite, to 3 separate himself unto the LORD : he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink ; he shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of 4 grapes, nor eat fresh grapes or dried. All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that 5 is made of the grape-vine, from the kernels even to the husk. All the days of his vow of sep- aration there shall no razor come upon his head : until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the LORD, he shall be holy, he shall let the locks of the hair of his 6 head grow long. All the days that he separateth himself unto the LORD he shall not come near to a dead body. [Verses 7-20 respect purification from defilement by the dead.] 21. This is the law of the Nazarite who voweth, and of his oblation unto the LORD for his sepa- ration, beside that which he is able to get : according to his vow which he voweth, so he must do after the law of his separation. Vows were religious engagements or promises voluntarily undertaken by a person toward the Almighty. Though the Israelites were not counselled or encouraged to make them, yet Je- hovah himself declared his acceptance of them, and they were therefore binding not only in a moral view, but according to the national law, and the priest was authorized to enforce and estimate their fulfilment. Wheeler.—The motive for such vows is to be sought in the un- satisfactory feeling attending the religious ser- vice of the Old Testament in the hearts of those who wished by means of it to draw nearer to God. The consciousness that the sacrifices could only figuratively reconcile and unite to God, urged some among the Israelites expressly and entirely to give up themselves or what be- longed to them to the Lord. Gerl. De. 23 : 21-25. The imperative obligation and the voluntary character of such vows is very clearly enunciated in these emphatic words : When thou shalt vow a vow to Jehovah thy God, thou shalt not be slack to pay it ; for Jehovah thy God will surely require it of thee ; according as thou hast vowed, a free will-offering. B.—Nu. 30 : 2. He that vows is here said to bind his soul with a bond. It is a vow to God, who is a Spirit, and to him the soul with all its powers must be bound. A promise to man is a bond upon his estate, but a promise to God is a bond upon the soul. Our sacramental vows, by which we are bound to no more than what was before our duty, are bonds upon the soul; by them we must feel ourselves bound out from all sin and bound up to the whole will of God. Our occasional vows concerning that which before was in our own power, when they are made are bonds upon the soul likewise. The command given is that these vows be conscientiously performed. He shall not break his word. H. The remarkable passage Josh. 9: 19, 20 shows in what light the children of Israel regarded the breach of their plighted faith even to a portion of the devoted nations of Canaan; "But all the princes said unto all the congregation, We have sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel: now therefore we may not touch them. This will we do to them; we will even let them live, lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath which we swore unto them." Bush. The Vows of Women (Nu. 30: 3-16). Vows made without the knowledge or consent of the father or husband were to be of no force. No priest had any warrant from the Mosaic institutes to come between a young woman and her father, or between husband and wife. Vows to God were to be completely spontaneous, as between the soul and God. They were not to be extorted by others, nor yet to involve the entanglement of others. C. C.—It is observable how carefully the Divine Law consults the good order of families. It is fit that every man should bear rule in his own house, and rather than that this great rule should be broken God himself would release the obligation even of a solemn vow; so much does religion strengthen the ties of all relations and secure the welfare of all societies, and in it the families of the earth are blessed. H. Redemption of Votive Offerings. Upon reflection, the person might regret the step he had taken, or particular circumstances might render the literal performance of this vow inconvenient or unsuitable. Provision is here made for the redemption of the persons or things thus consecrated, and a table of rates is here given by which the priests were to be governed in their estimation of the value of the thing vowed. It does not appear that it was the purpose of the Law to enforce the practice, but merely to place a natural impulse of devotion under wise regulations. If an Israelite under such an impulse should bind himself or his child by a vow, to be a servant of the sanctuary, he might commute that service by paying a specified pecuniary equivalent, varying with sex and age, into the sacred treasury; and if he were too poor to pay the prescribed sum, it was in the discretion of the priest to fix upon some other, proportioned to his means. Redemption of Persons (verses 3-8). The rules of mortality are the principle on which these rates are graduated. The value was regulated according to the probability of life and service. None were vowed under a month old; and the first-born, being considered by a prior Law (Ex. 12) the Lord's property, could not be vowed at all. Of Beasts (verses 9-13). Clean beasts and unblemished, proper for offering—viz., bullocks, sheep, or goats, could not be redeemed; and the firstlings, being already consecrated to God, could not be thus devoted. 9. Shall be holy. Set apart for God's service according to the nature of the vow—that is to say, it shall be offered at the altar if given or vowed for sacrifice; or shall be given to the priests or Levites if vowed for that end; or shall be sold and the value of it employed in the service of the sanctuary, if given with that intention; or left at large to be disposed of as should be deemed most meet for the service of God. If the vow related to the gift of an animal, it must be offered in sacrifice if suitable to be so offered; and whoever was detected in attempting to substitute for it one of inferior worth was punished by the forfeiture of both. If it were an unclean animal that had been consecrated, the owner might still retain it on the payment of one fifth more than the priest declared to be its value. Houses and Lands (verses 14-25). On the same condition a house or a farm, consecrated as a religious offering, might be redeemed. The estimation of the value of an estate so consecrated was to have reference to the length of the interval between the time of the consecration and a Jubilee Year, at which time it reverted to its owner; and this provision held equally good, if the estate consecrated was one of which the devotee was only a tenant. Bush.—The law is then extended to lands which had been sold, and which in the Year of Jubilee returned to their former owners; because the first allotment of the land was then wholly restored. For these fields God commands a price to be paid upon a calculation of the time, so that only the produce and not the fee should be taken into account. Calv. Lev. 27:26. The first-born of all males of both men and animals belonged to God. The firstling of a cow, sheep, or goat was unredeemable and sacrificed, its blood sprinkled and fat burned upon the altar, and the remainder given to the priests. But the firstling of a man or an unclean animal was to be redeemed by the payment of five shekels. Wheeler. Of Things Irredeemably Devoted. 28. Notwithstanding, no devoted thing. Heb. cherem. This is not the nēder or common vow, such as we have previously considered, but one of a far more solemn kind, and inadequately represented by the term "devoted thing." It signifies properly a vow made with imprecations by the vower on himself or others if that should not be done in which he engaged. Of the precise difference between the nēder and the cherem we are not informed by Moses, but it is clear from this passage that a thing devoted to God by cherem was irrevocably devoted beyond the power of redemption. Bush.—As to the word cherem, there is no good reason to doubt that its application to man is made exclusively in reference to one rightly doomed to death and in that sense alone given up to Jehovah. The feeling of the sacredness of life has its seat in the depth of the human heart. In an enlightened mind it becomes a clear conviction that all life belongs to God and is claimed by him. Every animal sacrifice is an expression of this truth. When human life is in question, the impression is beyond comparison stronger and more distinct. To destroy a life is in fact to give it back to God. The putting to death either of a criminal or an enemy, if it is anything more than an indulgence of vengeance, is to be regarded in this light. The man who, in a right spirit, either carries out a sentence of just doom on an offender, or with a single eye to duty slays an enemy in battle, must regard himself as God's servant rendering up a life to the claim of the Divine justice (Rom. 13:4). It was in this way that Israel was required to destroy the Canaanites at Hormah, and that Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord. In all such instances a moral obligation rests upon him whose office it is to take the life. He has to look upon the object of his stroke as under a ban to the Lord. This is the only ground on which the destruction of human life is to be justified. When this ground is clearly ascertained, the duty of him who is called to act refers to the forfeit of the individual life. There can therefore be neither redemption nor commutation. Clark. 29. Put to death. The vow of Jephtha has very mistakenly been referred to this command. What was devoted could never be offered in sacrifice; but in all places where mention is elsewhere made of the ban laid on anything (Nu. 21:23; I.e. 2:34; Joshua 6:17; Mal. 4:6), this appears as a dedication to destruction, as a fulfilling of the Divine vengeance, as an honoring of God on those in whom he cannot show himself holy and glorious. Jephtha's vow cannot be of this kind, as he vowed his daughter for a "burnt-offering," since here it is not said that the thing devoted should be offered in sacrifice, but that it should be put to death. In like manner the devoted town was to be made "an heap forever" (De. 13:16). Gerl. Lev. 27 : 30. The tithe of the land. This is the first mention of tithes in the Law of Moses. As the priests and Levites had no share in the division of the land, except a number of cities with their suburbs, they were supported by the tithe or tenth part of the produce of all the lands : this tenth was paid to the Levites, who again paid a tenth of all which they received to the priests. It is impossible to assign any direct reason why a tenth part of the produce, and not more or less, was assigned to the ministers of religion. The tenth part was anciently paid to kings, as well as to God. It appears from 1 Sam. 8 : 15 that this was a part of the royal right among the people of the East. Aristotle mentions it as an ancient law in Babylon : the same law obtained also in Athens, which was a republic, and among the Romans. Lewis. Lev. 27 : 32. Passeth under the rod. The tithing rod, used in numbering the tenth out of the herd ; or the shepherd's crook, under which the flock passed as he numbered them daily. Patrick.—It seems to be in reference to this custom that the Prophet Ezekiel, speaking to Israel, says, I will cause you to pass under the rod, and will bring you into the bond of the covenant : you shall be once more claimed as the Lord's property, and be in all things devoted to his service, being marked or ascertained by especial providences and manifestations of his kindness, to be his peculiar people. A. C. The Second Tithe (De. 14 : 22-29). The tithe of Lev. 27 : 30-32 (above) was taken generally from the land, the herd, and the flock, and was paid to the priests and Levites as their regular means of support. But here is a second tithe in addition to the first, taken specifically from the corn, the wine, and the oil. This was not for the maintenance of the priests and Levites, but was taken to the sanctuary and expended in providing sacrificial meals for the promotion of brotherly and religious feeling. This for two years out of three. B. 28,29. Every third year the whole second tithe of the year's produce was to be set apart, not to be brought to the sanctuary to be eaten before the Lord, but as a portion in their towns for the Levite, the stranger, the widow, and the fatherless. This was not an additional tithe, but the former differently applied ; the tithe of the first and second years was to be eaten before the Lord at the sanctuary ; the tithe of the third year was for the poor and needy. W. L. A. Each man was to act as his own assessor, and to separate at harvest-time God's share of corn and wine and oil. Every plan was devised to suit his convenience. He might bring his tithe to the temple either in kind or in coin. Jehovah was no hard Taskmaster, but a considerable and generous King. Giving to him was only another form of receiving. The absence of intermediary officers was a spiritual advantage. It brought each man into direct contact with God, and taught him to act with integrity toward the "Searcher of hearts." D. D. Piety and charity are to be liberally provided for in the apportionment of income. The tithes were to be faithfully and punctually set apart as a first charge upon the Jew's income. The second or vegetable tithe was appointed to be consumed in feasts at the sanctuary, or, in the third year, at home. A lesson is taught here as to the duty of liberal, systematic, and conscientious giving for religious and charitable purposes. If this was done under law, how much more ought to be done under the impulse of love to Christ! Orr. The tithes in Israel being thus sanctified by the commandment of God to his honor, the maintenance of his ministers and the relief of the poor, it taught them and teaches us to honor the Lord with our substance (Prov. 3:9), acknowledging him to be the author of all our increase and store (Hos. 2:8). To honor his ministers, and to communicate unto them in all good things, that they who sow unto us spiritual things should reap our carnal things. And to give alms of such things as we have, that all things may be clear unto us. Yea even to sell that we have, and give alms; to provide ourselves bngs that wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that falleth not. Ainsworth. The greatest prosperity that a man can have from God is the gift of a heart that loves to give. Under the Old Dispensation it was a law to give the tenth part of one's income to the Lord. Under the New Dispensation all giving is a voluntary thing. A man who had complied strictly with the terms of the Law in giving his tithes might be just as covetous as ever in regard to all the rest; but a man under grace has the covetousness itself broken up, and feels that all is the Lord's, and only lent to himself for a little season to use for the Lord, to do good with as he has opportunity. It is one of the remarkable things in the change from the Old Dispensation to the New, that whereas the tithe law of benevolence was abolished, no new law was put in its place. It was because God was then setting up the voluntary system, and would carry everything by grace, and heartfelt, cheerful, happy love. Cheever. God is a good Master. He will be pleased to see you increase your comforts, provided only you increase your giving to his poor and his cause in the proportion in which you increase your expenditure on yourself. Next to our own daily support and that of those dependent upon us, He would have us to lay up against the time to come, and make provision for those of our households who are under age or in infirmity if we should be taken suddenly from the earth. If he open up the way, we may add to the capital of our business, only however to increase the means of serving him. We are to give to his cause and to his poor liberally and systematically. No one of us is kept from the enjoyment of this high privilege—for it is a privilege; and as we increase in resources we should increase our gifts. As far as possible we should have a fixed proportion of our income laid aside for these purposes. The poorer we are, that proportion may be the smaller, for the twentieth part of his income may be a greater sacrifice for one than the tenth will be for another. We should never allow it to become stereotyped, but we should adjust the matter anew with every change in our circumstances. If we act on this plan, benevolence would become a habit in us, instead of a wayward impulse, and our lives would help to irrigate the Church, the neighborhood, and the nation with blessing. W. M. T. In the after Jewish history, tithe neglect was always associated with spiritual decay and death, and tithe resumption was equally associated with spiritual restoration and life. When Hezekiah instituted his great reformation he made it a point to have tithe paying restored. And the people were busy four whole months in the work. The result was that God blessed them. The priests who served in God's house said to Hezekiah, "Since the people began to bring the offerings we have had enough to eat and have left plenty, for the Lord hath blessed his people and that which is left is this great store." It should be the same to-day. All the great societies are complaining for want of means to carry on their work. If God's people would do their duty and come back to weekly giving, as Paul has "given order," and give as God has prospered them, the blessed shout would come up from the missionary societies, "We are well supplied." Ashmore. No. 25 1 And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the 2 daughters of Moab: for they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods; and the 3 people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor: 4 and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel. And the LORD said unto Moses, Take 5 all the chiefs of the people, and hang them up unto the LORD before the sun, that the fierce 6 anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel. And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay 7 ye every one his men that have joined themselves unto Baal-peor. And, behold, one of the 8 children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of 9 Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, while they were weep- 10 ing at the door of the tent of meeting. And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of 11 Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from the midst of the congregation, and took a spear in 12 his hand; and he went after the man of Israel into the pavilion, and thrust both of them 13 through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from 14 the children of Israel. And those that died by the plague were twenty and four thousand. 15 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the 16 priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, in that he was jealous with 17 my jealousy among them, so that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy. 18 Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: and it shall be unto him, and 19 to his seed after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was jealous for 20 his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel. Now the name of the man of Israel 21 that was slain, who was slain with the Midianitish woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a 22 prince of a fathers' house among the Simeonites. And the name of the Midianitish woman 23 that was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur; he was head of the people of a fathers' house 24 in Midian. 25 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Vex the Midianites, and smite them: for they vex 26 you with their wiles, wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the mat- 27 ter of Cozbi, the daughter of the prince of Midian, their sister, which was slain on the day of 28 the plague in the matter of Peor. 31 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Avege the children of Israel of the Midian- 29 ites: afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people. And Moses spake unto the people, 30 saying, Arm ye men from among you for the war, that they may go against Midian, to execute 31 the LORD's vengeance on Midian. Of every tribe a thousand, throughout all the tribes of 32 Israel, shall ye send to the war. So there were delivered, out of the thousands of Israel, a 33 thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. And Moses sent them, a thousand 34 of every tribe, to the war, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with 7 the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand. And they warred 8 against Midian, as the LORD commanded Moses; and they slew every male. And they slew the kings of Midian with the rest of their slain; Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and 9 Reba, the five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword. And the children of Israel took captive the women of Midian and their little ones; and all their 10 cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods, they took for a prey. And all their cities in 11 the places wherein they dwelt, and all their encampments, they burnt with fire. And they 12 took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of man and of beast. And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, unto Moses, and unto Eleazar the priest, and unto the congrega- tion of the children of Israel, unto the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan at Jericho. 13 And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to 14 meet them without the camp. And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, the cap- tains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, which came from the service of the war. 15 And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive? Behold, these caused the 16 children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the 17 matter of Peor, and so the plague was among the congregation of the LORD. Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying 18 with him. But all the women children, that have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves. [Verses 19-24. Instructions to purify themselves, their garments, and their useful booty.] 25. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of 26 man and of beast, thou, and Eleazar the priest, and the heads of the fathers houses of the 27 congregation: and divide the prey into two parts; between the men skilled in war, that went 28 out to battle, and all the congregation: and levy a tribute unto the LORD of the men of war that went out to battle: one soul of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the beeves, and 29 of the asses, and of the flocks: take it of their half, and give it unto Eleazar the priest, for the 30 LORD's heave offering. And of the children of Israel's half, thou shalt take one drawn out of every fifty, of the persons, of the beeves, of the asses, and of the flocks, even of all the cattle, 31 and give them unto the Levites, which keep the charge of the tabernacle of the LORD. And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the LORD commanded Moses. 48 And the officers which were over the thousands of the host, the captains of thousands, and 49 the captains of hundreds, came near unto Moses: and they said unto Moses, Thy servants have taken the sum of the men of war which are under our charge, and there lacketh not one 50 man of us. And we have brought the LORD's oblation, what every man hath gotten, of jewels of gold, ankle chains, and bracelets, signet-rings, earrings, and armlets, to make atonement 51 for our souls before the LORD. And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of them, even 52 all wrought jewels. And all the gold of the heave offering that they offered up to the LORD, of the captains of thousands, and of the captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven 53 hundred and fifty shekels. (For the men of war had taken booty, every man for himself.) 54 And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tent of meeting, for a memorial for the children of Israel before the LORD. We have here the record of an idolatrous defection on the part of a new generation of Israelites, the children of the men who had fallen in the wilderness, on the eve of entrance into the promised land. They joined themselves unto Baal-peor, the god of the Moabites, for which the displeasure of the true God, jealous of his honor, broke loose upon them. T. C. 1. Shittim. The last station of the wilder- ness, called afterward Abel-Shittim (the afflic- tion of Shittim), after the punishment which followed there. It lay in the plains opposite Jericho. Here the people remained a long time, and received the second giving of the Law. Gerl.—And now at the very last station of their long march, with the land of promise in full view before them across the Jordan, the people of God—at least a large number of them —give way to temptation. That Balaam was the instigator of this plot we know from subse- quent Scriptures, among others from Rev. 2:14: “I have a few things against thee be- cause thou hast there them that hold the doc- trine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.” S. R.—He was hankering after the rewards that Balak offered; and he could not bear to give them up. And so although he would never curse God's people, since he was told that he must not, he did the very wickedest thing recorded in the Old Testament; he deliberately told the Moabites how they could seduce God's people into sin. Temple.—As if in defiance, he counselled the evil stratagem by which he hoped to compass indirectly that ruin of God's people which he had been withheld from working otherwise. He thus, like Judas and Ahithophel, set in motion a train of events which involved his own destruction. Espin. The infernal sagacity of Balaam led him to conclude that if they could be seduced from their allegiance to their Divine king, the protection which rendered them invincible would be withdrawn, and they easily be subdued by their enemies. This discovery he made known to the King of Moab before his departure; and it illustrates the character of the man that he could form this device and counsel the king to act upon it, just after his mouth had poured forth—even by constraint—eloquent blessings upon the people whose ruin he now devises. And all this was purely gratuitous; for his business with Moab was ended. He could not curse Israel—and had incurred the anger rather than the honors of the King of Moab. He seems to have retired among the neighboring people of Midian, close allies with Moab, until he should behold the results of the course he had suggested, and in which he seems to have induced the Midianites also to co-operate. These people, however dissatisfied with the result of their sending for him, were still too deeply impressed with the notion of his superhuman sagacity not to pay the most heedful attention to his advice. This was, in effect, that the women should be rendered instrumental in seducing the Israelites to take part in the obscene rites of Baal-Peor. Kit. He instructs Balak to make a great feast; and, by collecting all the youth and beauty of Moab at this carnival, he allures the people first to fornication, and then, through the medium of their passions, to idolatry; he thus finds a way to rob them of all those privileges which he had so sublimely sung. Such is the darkening, hardening influence of an evil passion cherished within; so wonderfully it glosses over evil and confounds it with good. None knew so well as Balaam that whoso touched the people of God, touched the apple of his eye; yet all was lost in the love of filthy lucre; he was maddened by avarice. R. Hull. Rather than lose his hopes, Balaam resolves to speak worse than curses. The fear of God's judgments in a worldly heart is at length overcome with the love of gain. He would not curse, but he would advise, and his counsel is worse than a curse; for his curse had hurt none but himself, his counsel cost the blood of twenty-four thousand Israelites. Where Balaam did speak well, there was never any prophet spake more divinely; where he spake ill, there was never any devil spake more wickedly. How justly did he perish with the sword of Israel, whose tongue had insensibly slain so many thousands of them! Bp. H. Balaam wanted to do what he knew to be contrary to the express mind of God; he had inward checks and restraints which he could not entirely get over. Not daring as a prophet to assist the King of Moab, he considers whether there might not be found some other means of aiding him against that very people whom he was restrained from cursing in words. He could think of no other method than to betray the children of Israel to provoke his wrath, who was their only strength and defence. The temptation which he pitched upon was that concerning which Solomon afterward observed that it had cast down many wounded; yea, many strong men had been slain by it: and of which he himself was a sad example when his wives turned away his heart after other gods. This succeeded; the people sin against God; and thus the prophet's counsel brought on that destruction which he could not be prevailed upon to assist with the religious ceremony of execration. And surely that impious counsel he gave to Balak against the children of Israel was a greater piece of wickedness than if he had cursed them in words. . . . Yet, strange as it may appear, such a character is not an uncommon one; nay, with some small alterations and put a little lower, it is applicable to a considerable part of the world. For if the reasonable choice be seen and acknowledged, and yet men make the unreasonable one, is not this the same contradiction and inconsistency which, in Balaam, appear so unaccountable? Bp. Butler. 1. God secured the people against their enemies, while they brought destruction on themselves by their wickedness. Bp. Wilson.—2. The people did eat. Of the Moabitish sacrifices. This was an act of idolatry, whereby they owned themselves the servants of the gods of Moab; as to eat of the Lord's sacrifices was an act of Divine worship (see Ex. 34:15). Bp. Patrick. Closely connected with an irrevocable condemnation of every form of idolatry was the special character of the legislation that dealt with the seven nations or tribes inhabiting Palestine at the time of the exodus, and with those people who dwelt on its borders, allies in blood to the Israelites, as being the descendants of the father of Abraham in two cases, and of Isaac himself in the third—namely, the Ammonites, the Moabites, and the Edomites. Whether the chief danger of being seduced to join in the worship of these people lay in the vicinity of their dwelling places, or in the sympathy of kindred blood, it was warded off by the most inflexible barriers. Against the seductive influences of the neighboring idolaters the door was thus altogether closed, so long as the Law of God was obeyed. For the Law was not a mere idle threat; it was a rule of life, to be enforced by the sword, the stake, the cord, and the stone, for wilful breach; by stripes and by the pecuniary mulct of the sin-offering for inadvertent trespass. It is only within the past few years that this tone and temper of the Pentateuch have been made clearly intelligible, by the discovery of what the gods of Ammon and of Moab actually were. From the time when Israel abode in Shittim, the rites of the service of Baal-Peor have been of a directly licentious character; and the idols before which they were performed are of a type and nature which modesty forbids us to delineate, or more distinctly to describe. F. R. Conder. The uncleanness committed was a part of the worship and service performed to Baal-Peor. Those that have broken the fences of modesty will never be held by the bonds of piety: and those that have dishonored themselves by fleshly lusts will not scruple to dishonor God by idolatrous worship; for this they are justly given up yet further to vile affections. H. 4,5. Kennicott remarks that the Samaritan and Hebrew texts must be both taken together, to make the sense here complete. And the Lord said unto Moses, SPEAK unto all the heads of the people; AND LET THEM SLAY THE MEN THAT WERE JOINED TO BAAL-PEOR; and hang them up before the Lord, against the sun. A. C.—The pronoun “them” refers not to the heads of the people, but to the transgressors, whom the chiefs were to stone, and then hang up as a terror to those evil doers. For Moses said to the judges, “Slay ye every one his men that were joined to Baal-Peor.” Hanging alive was not a Jewish mode of execution, but stoning. The victim was first stoned to death and then hung up, in some cases, as a special mark of the Divine malediction. Hence the axiom (De. 21:23), “He that is hanged is accursed of God”—that is, the being thus hung up is a sign of his being accursed. S. R. 6. Midianitish woman. It appears that she was the daughter of Zur, who was a “head over a people, and of a chief house in Midian,” and is mentioned (31:8) as one of the five kings of Midian that afterward perished by the hands of the Israelites. Her high rank proves that Zimri had not fallen in with her by mere chance, but had been deliberately singled out by the Midianites as one whom they must at any price lead astray. The example of Zimri is doubtless recorded as one of the most memorable and characteristic in itself, as well as because it gave the impulse to the act of Phinehas. Espin. 6-15. Here is a remarkable contest between wickedness and righteousness, which shall be most bold and resolute; and righteousness carries the day, as no doubt it will at last. Never was vice more daring than it was in Zimri; a prince of a chief house in the tribe of Simeon. All the circumstances concurred to make it exceeding sinful, exceeding shameful. It was an affront to the justice of the nation, and bid defiance to that. It was an affront to the religion of the nation, and put a contempt upon that. Moses and the main body of the congregation who kept their integrity were weeping at the door of the tabernacle; lamenting the sin committed and deprecating the plague begun; they were sanctifying a fast in a solemn assembly, weeping between the porch and the altar, to turn away the wrath of God from the congregation; then comes Zimri among them, in effect to tell them that he was resolved to fill the measure of sin, as fast as they emptied it. And never was virtue more daring than it was in Phinehas. H. The act of Phinehas was its own justification. Its merit consisted in the evidence it gave that his heart was right before God. He was, to quote the text of verse 11, “zealous with God’s zeal,” and abhorred the presumptuous wickedness of Zimri as God abhorred it. He therefore risked his own life by dealing according to their deserts with two influential and defiant evildoers; and his act, done in the face of Moses and the people and for them, was accepted by God as a national atonement. How thoroughly the nation adopted the deed is manifest by the conspicuous position from henceforth assigned to Phinehas, and by the fame which attached to him and it ever afterward. Espin.—The zeal of God hath barred out all weak deliberations; and Phinehas holds it now both his duty and his glory to be an executioner of so shameless a pair of offenders. God loves this heat of zeal in all the carriages of his servants; and if it transport us too far he pardoneth the errors of our fervency, rather than the indifferences of lukewarmness. As these two were more beasts than any that ever he sacrificed, so the shedding of their blood was the acceptablest sacrifice that ever he offered unto God; for both all Israel is freed from the plague, and all his posterity have the priesthood entailed to them so long as the Jews were a people. Bp. H. 8. So the plague was stayed. The plague was the execution which Moses and the chiefs of the people were carrying on till twenty-four thousand had been executed. S. R. 13. The promise to Phinehas imports no more than that he and his seed should thenceforward have the honor to be the representatives of that everlasting priesthood, which primarily, and by an eternal covenant, was vested in the Messiah: hence God calls it here his covenant of peace. It proved literally true that Phinehas and his seed should hold that typical and ceremonial priesthood as long as it was to last, and be the representatives of the everlasting priesthood of Christ, until his coming. Wogan. —The Jews reckon twelve high-priests of the race of Phinehas, from this time to the days of Solomon—nine more from that time to the captivity, and fifteen from their return, to the time of Antiochus Espator, the last of whom was Onias, slain by Lysias. Ezra, the great priest and scribe, was of this line (7:1, 5). The family of Ithamar, uncle of Phinehas, had the priesthood for about one hundred and fifty years; but it was restored to the family of Phinehas in the person of Zadok the priest (1 Ch. 6:50), in which it continued, in the whole about nine hundred and fifty years. God therefore sufficiently fulfilled his promise. A. C. 17. The mischief which the Midianites did to Israel must be remembered and punished with as much severity as that which the Amalekites did in fighting with them when they came out of Egypt. God will certainly reckon with those that do the devil's work in tempting men to sin. H. DESTRUCTION OF THE MIDIANITES (Nu. 31:1-54). Of the two nations who had shown themselves hostile toward the Israelites—the Moabites and Midianites—revenge is now taken on the latter. The reason why the first were spared, seems to be because the Midianites had taken the lead in the crime of seducing Israel to the practice of the licentious idolatry, and Balaam, the instigator to the act, was found among them and killed. The sin in Israel had been stemmed by the act of Phinehas: so had judgment begun at the house of God; but now likewise must the purified people of God take vengeance on his enemies. The conduct of the people in the war, the division of the spoil, as well as their wonderful preservation, are related with particular detail, since this battle was to serve as a kind of example for the war of conquest which was now immediately before them. Geri. For these plots against Israel, as well as for their former inhospitality, the Moabites were excluded from the congregation to the tenth generation; and the Midianites were doomed to destruction. The execution of this sentence was the last act of the government of Moses. All the men of Midian were slain, with the princes who had been allied with Balak, and Balaam died in the general slaughter. Their cities were burned and their spoil taken, and the women, who had been saved alive, were slain by the command of Moses, the female children only being spared. At the same time a law was made for the equitable division of the spoil between those who went forth to battle and those who remained in the camp. P. S.—That this account of the attack and extermination of the Midianites has reference to the Midianitish tribes upon the table-land of Moab, the chiefs of which are spoken of in Josh. 13:21 as having been formerly the vassals of Sihon, is placed beyond all doubt by the express statement to that effect in verse 8. The main body of the Midianites does not appear to have taken part at all, and therefore there is nothing surprising in their subsequent hostile and powerful attacks upon the Israelites. Moreover, the fact that only twelve thousand Israelites (a thousand from every tribe) were engaged in the battle, is a proof that the foe was neither numerous nor strong. K. 2,3. God said, Avenge Israel, Moses says, Avenge the Lord; for the interests of God and Israel are united, and the cause of both is one and the same. And if God in what he does shows himself jealous for the honor of Israel, surely Israel in what they do ought to show themselves jealous for the glory of God. Then only we can justify the avenging of ourselves when it is the vengeance of the Lord that we engage in. Nay, for this reason we are forbidden to avenge ourselves, because God has said, Vengeance is mine, I will repay. H. The very words in which the command is given show that the war against the Midianites was no ordinary one. It was indeed less a war than the execution of a Divine sentence against a most guilty people. The Midianites had corrupted and, so far as in them lay, ruined God's people, body and soul; and had done this knowing, as after the overruling by God of Balaam's attempts to curse Israel they must have known, that in doing it they were openly rebelling against God. From God then a no less open retribution overtakes them. The employment in this work of so small a number of Israelites as twelve thousand (verse 4); the selection of an equal number from each tribe irrespective of its warlike strength; the appointment of Phinehas, famous for his zeal against the very sin to which the Midianites had tempted Israel, to take the lead in the war with "the holy instruments and trumpets" (verse 6); and the extraordinary preservation (verse 49) of all those engaged; are tokens that on this occasion, no less than when the cities of the plain were destroyed by fire from heaven, the hand of God directed the stroke. The Israelites had no discretion to kill or to spare. They were bidden to exterminate without mercy, and brought back to their task (verse 14) when they showed signs of flinching from it. It was a preparation for other duties of the like kind which awaited them; a proof by experiment that they had no alternative in such matters except to fulfil the commands of God; an awful but doubtless salutary manifestation, as was afterward the slaughter of the Canaanites, to which that of Midian is in all essential respects similar, of God's wrath against sin; and a type of the future extermination of sin and sinners from his kingdom. Espin. 8. Moses forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of King Pharaoh, that he might be true to Israel; Balaam, a man of the same time, but of a base selfishness of heart, went to Moab to seek King Balak's favor and rewards by cursing those whom God had blessed. By enchantments he prevailed nothing against Israel, and was compelled to bless them in glowing strains. But by vile and crafty counsel he did succeed in partially ensnaring them. So the chosen nation was defiled and was smitten of God for the sin. But Israel was soon restored, and under Phinehas the priest attacked and almost exterminated the wicked Midianites. "Balaam also, the son of Beor, they slew with the sword." No death of the righteous could be for a man that loved the wages of unrighteousness. He had prophesied as one who enjoyed the "vision of the Almighty." Yet he died as a fool dieth, and has left a shameful memory. D. F.—Had he himself believed what he said of the happy state of Israel, he would not have herded himself thus with the enemies of Israel, but justly does he die the death of the wicked (though he pretended to desire that of the righteous), and go down slain to the pit with the uncircumcised, who rebelled thus against the convictions of his own conscience. The Midianites' wiles were Balaam's projects, it was therefore just that he should perish with them (Hos. 4:5). Now was his folly made manifest to all men, who foretold the fate of others, but foresaw not his own. H. The beginning of the way of Balaam was loving the wages of unrighteousness; the middle of it was the seeking of them, combined with an ever-weakening attempt to keep the path of righteousness while seeking the other wages; and now what is the end? "The wages of sin;" which is death. From the double-mindedness of the middle stage he very rapidly passed into whole-hearted wickedness, and after doing the devil's work with a singleness of purpose he had never shown before, at last "utterly perished in his own corruption." One of his wonderful sayings had been: "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his." These, and such as these, were his words; that was the end of his way. J. M. G. Not with the righteous, but fighting among the enemies of God; not on a peaceful death-bed, but in the red front of guilty strife: so, on the blood-stained turf, amid the routed ranks, by the pitiless sword of men whom he had tempted to their ruin; so, after a wasted life, his plots frustrated, his curses foiled, died one who, if he had been true to his convictions, might have been almost as great as Moses' self; and the thick pall of utter darkness rushes down upon his end. And if we look down the dark and slippery steps of his degradation, we can trace them through temptation faintly resisted to temptation yielded to, and remorse stifled, and warnings resisted, and penal blindness inflicted, and sin willingly chosen, and sin let alone, until the seer of the vision of the Almighty becomes the tempter to the infamies of Baal-Peor. But the very central lesson of his career is the power of a besetting sin. Farrar. Two hostile kingdoms forever confront each other in this world. The strong one armed keepeth his own palace. He will never surrender it, or one particle of it, in any human soul, till a stronger than he—and there is only one stronger—binds him. He will seem to surrender it; he will call it by some innocent name; he will cover it with a Christian title; he will deceive, flatter, promise, and manage; he will transform himself into an angel of light; but he will do it all to keep his own. Equally exclusive, over against that dark kingdom, is the kingdom of light: open, candid, without concealment or evasion, rejoicing in the truth, all its deeds done in the day, but admitting no admixture, no compromise, no neutrality. Everywhere, what fellowship hath light with darkness? Anywhere, what part hath the true subject with the traitor? In every soul, these two kingdoms and their laws are contrary the one to the other. It is remarkable, in all the Gospel, how invariable and how clear Christ makes this doctrine of absolute and necessary separation. There is no third party after all. There is no place for one. Non-profession does not make non-allegiance, or neutrality. It makes allegiance to the enemy. It makes disloyalty. "He that is not with me is against me." There is a striking record of a prophet who tried in perilous days to be on neither side, and paltered with a double tongue between the true God and his enemies; but at last the issue between the two armies could be no longer evaded, and after the battle the body of this compromising neutral, Balaam, was found on the enemy's side, where it fell fighting against the Lord. F. D. H. 9-24. In this war against the Midianites, which was to be to a certain extent the pattern of the subsequent wars of extermination in Canaan, all cattle, with all kinds of property and substance, were destroyed, the whole spoil brought before Moses and the high-priest, and only the female sex spared. The rest of the booty was sanctified and purged—metal articles being passed through the fire, and wearing apparel through water. C. G. B. 15-18. It was the women more than the men of Midian of whom they had just reason to be afraid. In justice to the men, in fairness to the wives of Israel, it was simply impossible to let them loose upon the camp. Again, to suffer a generation of Midianites to grow up under the roofs of Israel would have been madness and worse, for it would have been to court a great and perhaps fatal national disaster. For the sake of Israel the captive women and children must be got rid of, and this could only be done either by slaughtering the women and boys, or by taking them back to their desolated homes to perish of hunger and disease. Of the two courses Moses certainly chose the more merciful. The nation was exterminated, as God had commanded; the girls only were spared because they were harmless then, and likely to remain harmless; distributed through the households of Israel, without parents or brothers to keep alive the national sentiment, they would rapidly be absorbed in the people of the Lord. R. W. 25-47. The distribution of the spoils. Those who had gone to the war had gone as representatives of the whole of Israel, hence it was for the whole of Israel to share in the spoil. While part was away, avenging the Lord of Midian, another part stayed at home, also serving God by looking after the interests of those who were absent. Young.—The booty brought home by the conquerors was extraordinarily rich, especially in cattle; from which we may infer that the rearing of cattle was the occupation of the tribe. For the Israelites such booty as this must have been doubly valuable. There was something very peculiar in the manner in which Moses and Eleazar distributed the booty. The whole of it, consisting of 675,000 sheep, 72,000 oxen, 61,000 asses, and 32,000 persons, was divided into two equal parts, one of which was allotted to the victors, the other to those who had taken no part in the battle. As the 12,000 men who were selected to fight did not go to war on their own responsibility, but as representatives of the whole congregation, it was but right that the whole congregation should share in the booty; but as the 12,000 had had all the trouble and fatigue, it was just as proper that they should receive an incomparably larger share. And since the war was also a war of Jehovah, whose presence and aid had given the victory to the Israelites, and therefore the booty, strictly speaking, belonged to Jehovah, a certain quota was to be allotted to the priests and Levites as his servants and representatives. The priests were to receive two parts in a thousand from the share of the warriors; the Levites, two in a hundred from that of the congregation. K. 28-30. The soldiers were ordered out of their half to deduct a five hundredth part of every kind of spoil, as an offering to God, in acknowledgment of him as the sovereign owner of all and the author of their success. This was to be presented to the priests. In like manner, out of the half belonging to the people, who had borne no fatigue in the war, a much larger proportion was to be deducted out of each article of spoil—namely, a fiftieth part, to be presented to the Levites, the other branch of God's ministry. Pyle. 49. There lacketh not one man of us. The Israelitish army consisted of but 12,000 men, a mere handful when opposed to the people of Midian. Yet when the officers made a muster of their troops after their return from the war, they found they had not lost a single man! This struck them as so decisive an evidence of God's interposition that out of the spoils they had taken they offered "an oblation to the Lord, an atonement for their souls." Bp. Watson. This oblation the captains offered to make an atonement for their souls (verse 50). Instead of coming to Moses to demand a recompense for the good service they had done in acenging the Lord of Midian, they bring an oblation to make atonement for their souls, being conscious to themselves, as the best men must be even in their best services, that they had been defective in their duty not only in that instance for which they were reproved (verse 14), but in many others. Moses accepted it and laid it up in the tabernacle as a memorial for the children of Israel (verse 54)—that is, a monument of God's goodness to them, that they might be encouraged to trust in him in their further wars; and a monument of their gratitude to God, that he, being well pleased with this thankful acknowledgment of favors bestowed, might continue and repeat his mercies to them. H. THIRD NUMBERING OF ISRAEL. LAND EAST OF JORDAN DIVIDED BETWEEN REUBEN, GAD, AND HALF MANASSEH. BOUNDARIES OF THE LAND OF CANAAN. DIVISION BY LOT AMONG NINE AND A HALF REMAINING TRIBES. The destruction of the power of Midian, who might have harassed them from the east, secured to Israel the quiet possession of the district east of Jordan, which their arms had already conquered. All along, from the river Arnon in the south, which divided Israel from Moab, to the river Jabbok and far beyond it, the land of Gilead and of Bashan, their borders were safe from hostile attacks. The accounts of travellers are unanimous in describing that district as specially suited for pastoral purposes. We read of magnificent park-like scenery, of wide upland pastures, and rich forests, which everywhere gladden the eye. No wonder that those of the tribes which had all along preserved their nomadic habits, and whose flocks and herds constituted their main possessions and their wealth, should wish to settle in those plains and mountains. To them they were in very truth the land of promise, suited to their special wants, and offering the very riches which they desired. The other side Jordan had little attraction for them; and its possession would have been the opposite of advantageous to a strictly pastoral people. Accordingly, "the children of Gad" and "the children of Reuben" requested of Moses: "Let this land be given unto thy servants for a possession, and bring us not over Jordan" (Nu. 32 : 5) A. E. The Arnon was the southern limit of the trans- Jordanic Palestine. "From Arnon to Hermon" was equivalent on the east side to "from Dan to Beersheba" on the west. The river absolutely splits by its narrow channel the great Moab range to their very base, for several thousand feet; yet its channel is not more than one hundred feet wide. South of it Israel never extended their conquests; while those north of it were, as we have seen, soon lost, at least as far as Heshbon. It is therefore difficult to separate the history of Reuben from that of Moab. H. B. T.—The part assigned to Reuben stretched from the deep chasm of the Arnon north to a line with the head of the Dead Sea; Gad secured the region from the limits of Reuben's territory to the Jabbok, across the whole breadth of the country, and also a strip along the east side of the Jordan, to the Sea of Chinnereth, better known as the Lake of Galilee. Thence to the foot of Lebanon was made over to Manasseh. Geikie. The trans-Jordanic territory was the forestland, the pasture-land of Palestine. The smooth downs received a special name, "Mishor," expressive of their contrast with the rough and rocky soil of the west. The "oaks" of Bashan, which still fill the traveller with admiration, were to the prophets and psalmists of Israel the chief glory of the vegetation of their common country. The vast herds of wild cattle which then wandered through the woods were at once the terror and pride of the Israelite—"the fat bulls of Bashan." In the encampment of Israel two tribes, Reuben and Gad, were pre-eminently nomadic. They had "a very great multitude of cattle." For this they desired the land, and for this it was given to them, "that they might build cities for their little ones, and folds for their sheep." In no other case is the relation between the territory and its occupiers so expressly laid down, and such it continued to be to the end. From first to last they alone of the tribes never emerged from the state of their Patriarchal ancestors. Gad and Reuben accordingly divided the kingdom of Sihon between them—that is, the territory between the Arnon and the Jabbok, and the eastern side of the valley of the Jordan up to the Lake of Chinnereth or Gennesaret. The northern outposts of the eastern tribes were intrusted to that portion of Manasseh which had originally attacked and expelled the Amorite inhabitants from Gilead. The same martial spirit which fitted the western Manasseh to defend the passes of Esdraelon fitted "Machir, the first-born of Manasseh, the father of Gilead," to defend the passes of Hauran and Anti-Libanus; "because he was a man of war, therefore he had Gilead and Bashan." The pastoral character common to Gad and Reuben was shared, but in a much less degree, by these descendants of the ruling tribe of Joseph. Stanley.—Machir, Jair, and Nobah, chiefs of Manasseh, were valiant warriors, whose deeds are frequently recorded. It was Jair who took all the tract of Argob with its sixty great cities; and Nobah who took Kenath and its dependencies; and we are told that because Machir was a man of war, therefore he had Gilead and Bashan. These districts, as we have seen, were the most difficult in the whole country, for they embraced the hills of Gilead, and the almost impregnable tract known as the Lejah, or "refuge," from the security which its natural fortifications afforded. But Manasseh also, like Reuben and Gad, affected by its position and its isolation, gradually fell into the wandering shepherd life, and ceased to be a power in Israel. Nor did it even remain true to its ancient faith, but, like the other tribes of the east of Jordan, gave itself up to the local idolatry. Geikie. 17-23. They promised to go armed before the children of Israel. "Nay" (says Moses), "ye shall go armed before the Lord. It is God's cause more than your brethren's, and to him you must have an eye, not to them only." Upon this condition he grants them this land, and neither sin nor blame should cleave to it; neither sin before God nor blame before Israel; and whatever possessions we have, it is desirable thus to come guiltless to them. But he warns them of the danger of breaking their word: If you fail, you sin against the Lord (verse 23), and not against your brethren only, and be sure your sin will find you out—that is, "God will certainly reckon with you for it, though you may make a light matter of it." Sin will find out the sinner sooner or later. It concerns us therefore to find our sins out that we may repent of and forsake them, lest our sins find us out to our ruin and confusion. H. Moses consents to the request of the Reubenites and Gadites on certain conditions; but is very earnest that the conditions which he prescribed should be punctually observed. Accordingly he represents sin, by which he means the consequence of sin, under the strong image of a person, who should certainly find out every transgressor among them that did not punctually perform the condition to which he had agreed. Gilpin.—The expression, "Sin will find you out," is more emphatic than as if he had simply said, You shall not escape God's hand; for the meaning of it is that vengeance is so connected with sin, that it cannot be severed from it. Thus, in Gen. 4: 7 it is said, "Sin lieth at the door" to lay hold at length of the guilty. Calv.—Moses meant to say, "Ye will recognize your sin when it overtakes you." Men fail to recognize their sin at the time; often, that it is a sin at all; generally, how great a sin it is in deed. Then when it overtakes them in its consequences, then they see it in its true light. The awfulness of sin is not due to its awful consequences, but it is manifested by them. The particular sin against which Moses warned them was the sin of selfishly deserting their brethren, and thereby discouraging and enfeebling them. And this is a sin as great as it is common, the disastrous consequences of which are most sadly evident. R. W.—These words, though ultimately true of every sin, are spoken of actions which, going forth from us, perform their mischievous errands, but will come home again, bringing retribution with them. Sinners indulge vague hopes of impunity; they act as though they said, "The Lord shall not see" (Ps. 94: 7). But they cannot escape from sin. Lapse of time will not annihilate sin; careful concealment will not hide it up; mere repentance will not avert all its consequences. Nor will death screen from detection. Prout. Men's sins often find them out, though no visible sign or token may betray this fact to the world. All may outwardly stand fair; there may be no breach in the worldly prosperity; nay, this may be ampler, more strongly established than ever; while yet there may be that within which forbids to rejoice, which takes all the joy and the gladness out of life—the memory of that old sin which was as nothing when committed, but which now darkens all, the deadly arrow poisoning the springs of life, which will not drop from the side, which no force, no art of man's device can withdraw. Is there not here one whose sin has found him out? Nor is it only the wicked whose sins thus come round to them again. God will not allow his own children to escape any more than the children of this present world. But there is still something which we can do. We can turn the table on our sins, and instead of waiting for them to find us out, we, earnestly seeking by aid of that candle which the Lord has lighted in us, may find them out; and then we have the sure word of promise that if we will judge ourselves we shall not be judged of the Lord. Trench. 33. "And unto half the tribe of Manasseh." As no mention has been previously made of this tribe in this connection, we are left to conjecture why it should have been divided at all, and why the one half should have received the remote regions of Northern Gilead and Bashan. The enormous increase in the tribal numbers during the wanderings may have made the division more advisable, and the adventurous and independent character of the Machirites may have rendered it almost a necessity. They had not apparently preferred any request to Moses, but since the trans-Jordanic territory was to be occupied, Moses probably recognized their claim to the conquests they had made. R. W.—It would seem that Moses, when assigning to the pastoral tribes the inheritance which they desired, took opportunity at the same time to appropriate to these Manassites specially the district they had already subdued. Thus the whole of the conquered country was provisionally disposed of, and the forwardness and valor of the Machirites rewarded. It seems clear from verse 39 and Josh. 17 : 1, that the claims of the Machirites arose simply out of their exploits. The notices of the conquest of northeast Gilead and Bashan by the Machirites plainly intimate that it was effected by a few chiefs of great military prowess, who overran rapidly a far larger district than they could colonize. The tribe of Manasseh was the least numerous of all at Sinai, and only stood sixth in the census recently held; yet it eventually received on the west of Jordan a territory as large on the average as fell to the other tribes. 34. The leading city of the first group is Dibon; called, from the possession which the Gadites now took of it, Dibon-gad. It lay four miles north of the Arnon, and its extensive ruins still bear the name Dhiban. It was here that the Moabite stone was discovered by the Rev. T. Klein, in 1868. Occupied on the first acquisition of the territory by the Gadites, and assigned by Joshua to the Reubenites, it was eventually recaptured by the Moabites, in whose hands it remained. Espin.—A wall runs round the town, and just within the gateway the famous Moabite stone, containing an inscription of King Mesha, was found. The inscription gives a brief account of King Mesha and his father, tells of the victorious campaigns of the former, and contains a record of the rebuilding of certain cities in Moab; among the names which appear are Jehovah, Israel, Omri, Chemosh, Dibon, Baal-meon, Horonaim, Kerioth, etc. A short distance south of Dhiban, on the "brink" of the torrent Arnon, are the featureless ruins of Araar, the ancient Aroer, the southern point of the territory of Sihon, King of the Amorites, and afterward of the tribe of Reuben. Wilson. 37,38. The Reubenites established themselves more compactly than the Gadites. Their central city was the old Amoitish capital, Heshbon. They occupied also Elealeh, now el-'Al, a mile to the northeast; Nebo, probably three miles to the southwest, and Baal-meon, now apparently Myun, nearly two miles to the south. It is obvious that neither the Reubenites nor the Gadites were the founders of the cities of which they thus took possession, and which the text describes them as "building." They probably fortified them, for the first time or afresh, so as to render them places of safety for their families during the campaigns on the other side of the Jordan, and provided them with all conveniences for their flocks and herds. Espin De. 3 : 14. Unto this day. Why this phrase, when the conquest had occurred only three full months before? The phrase, used seven times in Genesis, never once in the three later books, reappears in De. 2 : 12, 22, in reference to the occupation of Seir and the conquest of the Horites. This was the first instance of the overthrow of a giant race by the posterity of Abraham, and the possession of Bashan was the last. Five similar events had occurred, and the latest, like the earliest, was an accomplished fact, marked by an abiding and settled change of possessors. Thus the use of the phrase by Moses is emphatic and significant. All the giant races outside of Canaan are at length finally vanquished and displaced. It remains only for Israel to overthrow the dreaded Anakims, and enter their promised inheritance. This day beholds Edom in the land of the Horims, Moab in that of the Emiims, Ammon in that of the Zamzummims, and Manasseh in the land of Og, the last remnant of the giants. To-morrow, then, must see the Anakims overthrown, and Israel settled in their stead. The use of the phrase is thus no objection to the Mosaic authorship, but its strong confirmation. Birks Nu. 33 : 50-56. The expulsion of the Canaanites and the destruction of their monuments of idolatry had been already enjoined, and verse 54 is substantially a repetition from 26 : 53-55. But the solemn warning of verses 55, 56 is new. A call for it had been furnished by their past transgressions in the matter of Baal-peor, by their imperfect fulfilment, at the first, of Moses' orders in the Midianitish war; and perhaps by the indulgence of the Machirites to those whom they conquered in Bashan (32 : 42). Espin. 55. Since God did not at once cast out the Canaanites, but made their conquest dependent on the faith of the Israelites, he thus secured an instrument for the punishment of their unbelief and disobedience, and so proved that his favor for them was not inconsiderate, but that they would be treated as the Canaanites if they resembled them in their character. D. M — 56. The righteous God would turn that wheel upon the Israelites which was to have crushed the Canaanites. I shall do to you as I thought to do unto them. It was intended that the Canaanites should be dispossessed, but if the Israelites fell in with them and learned their way, they should be dispossessed, for God's displeasure would justly be greater against them than against the Canaanites themselves. Let us hear this, and fear. If we do not drive sin out, sin will drive us out; if we be not the death of our lusts, our lusts will be the death of our souls. H. "Mount Hor" is a descriptive title, indicating a mountain which is peculiar and distinctive. Its Hebrew form is Hor ha-Har, literally "Mountain, the Mountain." There is a mountain which fully meets the requirements of the Bible text, and the rational demands of the narrative, as to the Mount Hor where Aaron died and was buried. That mountain is Jebel Madurah, near the western extremity of Wady Fekreh, a little to the southwest of the passes Es-Sufah and El-Yemen. Its formation, its location, its name, go to identify it with the place of Aaron's burial. Jebel Madurah is peculiarly the "Mountain, the Mountain;" a mountain rising by itself alone from a plain, like Mount Tabor. "This Madurah," says Crosby, "is detached from all other mountains, and rises from the plain as we may imagine the tower of Babel on the plain of Shinar." Seetzen describes it as a "steep-sided" hill, "quite naked," and "surrounded with a most unfruitful plain." Schubert mentions it as "a high, bald mountain." Lord Lindsay calls it "a large, singular-looking, isolated chalk hill." Robinson refers to it as "remarkable in its appearance, . . . rising alone like a lofty citadel." Wilson designates it as "an isolated hill;" and Palmer as "a round isolated hill." Nothing certainly is lacking in these descriptions to show it as Hor ha-Har, a mountain that is a mountain, instead of being a mountain among mountains. In its location, Jebel Madurah stands at a triangular site, where the boundaries of Edom, of Canaan, and of the Wilderness of Zin, or in a larger sense of the Wilderness of Paran, approach each other so as to pass along this mountain without touching it. It is at the extremest northwestern boundary of the land of Edom, yet it is not within that boundary line. It is on the very verge of the Land of Promise, yet it is not within the outer limits of that land. The border wadies—Fekreh, Madurah, Murreh, and Hanjoorat—which separated Canaan from Edom, and both Canaan and Edom from the unclaimed wilderness, so run as to form the surrounding plain, above which is upreared this remarkable mountain-tower, this lofty, solitary mountain-citadel. And Jebel Madurah lies in a north-easterly direction from the region of Kadesh-barnea, in the line from Kadesh-barnea of the route which the Israelites seem to have had in mind, when they proposed to pass along Edom's royal road from the east of the Arabah, and eastward of the Dead Sea; possibly through the broad Wady el-Ghuweir which offers an easy passage. The Israelites would not unnaturally move thitherward as they planned for that route; and such a move on their part would not unnaturally be looked upon by the kings of Edom and Arad as a threatening move, to be met and resisted vigorously. Then it was, on the occasion of that refusal, and the hostile demonstration that accompanied it, that Israel "turned away" from Edom, turned sharply from the northeast to the southwest, and journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea; went out into the "great and terrible wilderness" once more, to strike the Red Sea Road, or the Hajj Route as it is called to-day. H. C. T. [For additional proofs and convincing treatment, see Kadesh barnea, pp. 127-135.] The traditional site for Mount Hor is Jebel Harun, close by Petra, the capital of Edom. To state is already to refute a supposition which implies that Israel had asked leave to pass through Edom, and then, without awaiting the reply, marched into the heart of Edom, and camped for thirty days close by its capital! Moreover, it is difficult to understand what could have been the object of going so far south, if Israel hoped—as at the time they did—to strike through the nearest practicable wady, the road that led northward through Edom and Moab to the ford of Jordan. In that case Jebel Harun would have been far out of their way. Finally, it is impossible to arrange the chronological succession of events as given in the Bible, except on the supposition that Moderah (Madurah) was Mount Hor. For, if the camp of Israel had been near Petra, there could have been no reason for the King of Arad to dread their forcing their way through his territory, even as it seems most unlikely that he should have marched so far southeast as Petra to attack Israel. Accordingly, interpreters who regard Jebel Harun as Mount Hor are obliged to suppose that the attack of the King of Arad had taken place earlier, say, at the period indicated in Nu. 20 : 22. But in that case it is difficult to imagine how the king could have heard that Israel was "coming by the way of the spies," seeing they were taking exactly the opposite direction, and had just requested permission to pass through Edom. Against these weighty reasons we have only the authority of tradition in favor of Harun. On the other hand, all becomes plain and easily understood if we regard Moderah as Mount Hor; and the whole narrative in its chronological succession in Scripture is just what we should have expected. A. E. Nu. 20 : 24. Aaron shall be gathered unto his people. "Gathered to his people," to a reunion with the patriarchal fathers that had already preceded him, and whose personal identity and continued existence is here so hopefully indicated for the comfort of all true servants of God. Christlieb.—This beautiful expression from the patriarchal age here again returns with reference to a man who, along with much infirmity, showed also great fidelity to the Lord, especially in the after period of his life. The expression involved, at the very least, not merely a strong desire for, but a more or less clear presentiment of, a higher life beyond the grave, the archetype of the terrestrial Canaan. C. G. B. 26. Strip Aaron of his garments.** Of his priestly robes. This implied the divesting him of his office; as the putting them upon Eleazar his son, implied the succeeding of Eleazar to his father's office and dignity. Moses herein acted as the minister of God, who now transferred the priesthood to another. Patrick.—The transference of his office to his son, at the command of God and by the hand of Moses, sets forth in act the will of God for the continuance of the high-priesthood, notwithstanding the mortality of its successive inheritors; and also its subordination to him who came invested with direct authority from God. Espin. 28. And Aaron died there.** Hence, as Lightfoot has observed, we have an "indisputable proof that the earthly Canaan was not the utmost felicity at which God's promises to the Israelites aimed; since the best men among them were excluded from it." The remark of some of the Fathers here is worthy of attention. "Neither Moses, the representative of the Law, nor Miriam, the representative of the prophets, nor Aaron, the representative of the priesthood and its sacrificial rites, could bring the Israelites into the possession of the promised land. This was reserved for Joshua, who was in name and conduct the lively type of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." He alone can bring those who believe in his name into that rest which remains for the people of God. A. C. 33 : 38, 39. The notice that Aaron was a hundred and twenty-three years old at his death in the fortieth year of the exodus accords with the notice of Ex. 7 : 7, that he was eighty-three years old when he stood before Pharaoh. Espin.—The Pharaohs built lofty pyramids for their ashes, that they might outstrip all other beings in the magnificence of their tombs; but no Pharaoh had ever pyramid or monument so massive as that which God thus set apart for Aaron. W. G. B. Scripture has few more solemn and majestic pictures than this of the two aged men—brothers in heart and sacred service—ascending with Eleazar to this wild mountain-top. "In his full priestly dress" walked Aaron to his burial. He knew it; and so did all in that camp, who now, for the last time, reverently and silently looked upon the venerable figure of him who these forty years had ministered unto them in holy things. There were no farewells. In that typical priesthood all depended on the unbroken continuance of the office, not of the person. And hence on the mountain-top, Aaron was first unclothed of his priestly robes, and Eleazar his son formally invested with them. Thus the priesthood had not for a moment ceased when Aaron died. Then, not as a priest, but simply as one of God's Israel, was he "gathered unto his people." But over that which passed between the three on the mount has the hand of God drawn the veil of silence. And so the new priest Eleazar came down from the solemn scene on Mount Hor to minister amid a hushed and awe-stricken congregation. "And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel." A. E. It has been well observed that the very defects of Aaron's character, and especially his sin and repentance in the matter of the golden calf, fitted him the more for the office of a high-priest—"Who can have compassion on the ignorant and the erring, for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity." And he could also sympathize with deep suffering, such as he felt when his sons Nadab and Abihu were slain for their sacrilege—"and Aaron held his peace." All these points are placed by the apostle in striking contrast to His priesthood, whose perfect and sinless human nature makes him have sympathy without infirmity. P. S. Despite the many weaknesses and sins Aaron had always, through the Divine mercies and discipline, returned to the Lord. His life contained imperishable fruits—deeds of faith, of love, and of trust in God. Upward, not downward, does he go in his death. Though privileged to see the promised land only at a distance, his end was assuredly in peace and reconciliation with God—albeit his life-history had been a stormy one, full of toils, sufferings, and chastisements. Calmly submissive to God's holy but most gracious decree, deprived of his outward priestly robes, yet retaining the inward priestly adornments of peace and hope, of trust and humble resignation to the Divine will—thus is he gathered to his fathers, and permitted, without a protracted struggle, to pass away. He had not lived in vain; following the wise guidance of God he had brought forth fruit, and therefore his name was held in blessed remembrance among the people. Chris'lieb. Nu. 20 : 20, 21. Now the messengers returned from Edom bringing absolute refusal to the request of passage through that country. Not only so, but the large army of Edom was assembling on the frontier, close to the camping-ground of Israel. If, according to the Divine command, Edom was not to be attacked, then Israel must rapidly retreat. The ordinary route from Mount Hor "to compass the land of Edom," so as to advance northward by the east of Edom, would have led Israel straight down through the northern part of the Arabah. But this route touched the western boundary of Edom just where, as we gather from the scriptural narrative, the army of Edom was cheloned. To avoid them, it became therefore necessary, in the first place, to retrace their steps again through the Wady Murreh, in order thence to strike in a southeasterly direction through what are now known as "the mountains of the Aza-zimeh." But just at the point where the host of Israel would turn southward from Wady Murreh, they were also in almost a straight line for the territory of the King of Arad. Of course, he would be informed that Israel had been refused a passage through Edom, and, finding them on the flank of his territory, would naturally imagine that they intended to invade it. Nu. 21 : 1-3. "And the Canaanitish King of Arad, which dwelt in the Negeb" (or south country), "heard tell that Israel came by the way of the spies" (or, more probably, "the way of the merchants," the caravan road); "then he fought against Israel, and took of them prisoners"—having probably fallen on their rearguard. The event is mentioned now to show the unprovoked enmity of Canaan against Israel, and the subsequent faithfulness of God. For Israel at that time "vowed a vow" utterly to destroy these cities. Many years afterward God gave the prayed-for victory, when the name of Hormah, or ban, given in anticipation of God's faithfulness, became a reality. A. E.—Joshua conquered the king of this district, and finally in the time of the early Judges the ban of Moses and his contemporaries was fully executed. We have therefore in the passage before us the history of the actual origin of the name "Hormah." Espin. 3-5. The southern border. Render: "Then your south quarter shall extend from the wilderness of Zin which resteth upon the side of Edom. And your south border shall start from the extremity of the salt sea on the east; and your border shall turn on the south to Maaleh-akrabbim, and shall pass on toward Zin, and the extent of its reach on the south shall be to Kadesh-barnea; and it shall reach forth thence to Hazar-addar, and shall pass on to Azmon, and from Azmon the border shall turn to the river of Egypt, and its reach shall be to the sea." The first few words set forth in general terms the southern boundary, which is more exactly described in the following sentence. The details of its course are more fully given (Josh. 15 : 1-4.) The boundary commenced at the Dead Sea. Of the broad and desolate valley by which the depressed bed of that sea is protracted toward the south, the first few miles comprised under the general name of the Ghor' present little else than a tract of marshy jungle. A deep narrow glen, descending from the southwest, enters this tract at its southwest corner; it is called Wady Fikreh. The course of this valley forms the natural division between the land of promise and the desert. On its left side, as one ascends it, the hills are, though utterly barren, comparatively low; but on the right it is flanked all the way by a steep mountain-wall varying from about 700 to 1000 feet in height, to the north of which rise ranges of much greater elevation. The route from Petra to Hebron mounts this precipice at a point about fourteen miles from the mouth of Wady Fikreh, by a long winding track, appropriately designated the "Pass of the Bare Rock," Nakb es-Safah; and attesting by its difficulty how formidable was the rampart which the land of Canaan here presented to an invader. About three miles further up the valley, on its left bank, stands the isolated hill of Madurah [Mount Hor], rising, citadel-like, in the form of a truncated cone, to a height of about 500 feet. Here the head of the water-course of Wady Fikreh is reached. But the valley itself is continued in the same southwestern direction, under the name of Wady Murreh; the water-course of which, passing south of the hill of Madurah, runs eastward, not like Wady Fikreh into the Ghor, but into the higher level of the Arabah. The upper part of Wady Murreh is, however, grander and more striking than Wady Fikreh. Not only do the hills of Canaan rise as precipitously and in greater elevation on the right, jutting forth in huge irregular promontories or bastions of naked rock; but on the other side, the hills of the wilderness (which in this part are known as Jebel Murreh) become more lofty, and present in their terrific ruggedness an aspect which English travellers describe as that of a confused chaos of matter once in a boiling state and while so suddenly solidified. To the French traveller Callier the great depth of the valley appeared extraordinary in a district where the water-courses are often so shallow as to be scarcely recognizable. The direction of this valley continues nearly straight for about ten miles above Madurah, up to a wild ascent on the Canaanitish side called Nakb Kareb. In this we may recognize, by the resemblance of name, the ancient Maaleh-akrabbim or "Scorpion Pass." The literal Arabic rendering of Akrabbim, "scorpions," would be Akarib; and to this the modern name of the ascent comes very near. Here the Wady Murreh turns southward, and probably loses itself among the hills, which must have belonged to "the wilderness of Zin;" and Kadesh-barnea, which is "in the wilderness of Zin," will be, as the text implies, the southernmost point of the southern boundary. That wilderness, however, was probably of wide extent, and comprised the whole rugged mountain region south of Wady Murreh and Wady Fikreh, as far east as the Arabah. If this be so, it was separated by the Arabah only from the mountains of Edom; and might thus be fairly described in the text as resting upon the side or flank of the latter territory. And if the wilderness of Zin were thus regarded as connected with Edom, the fact would help to account for the way in which the southern cities of Judah are described as lying "toward the coast of Edom" (Josh. 15 : 21). That so many points are named in so short a line is due perhaps to the familiarity which the Israelites had acquired with the district during the period of their encampment at Kadesh. 7-9. The northern border. Here the name "Hor" denotes the whole western crest of Mount Lebanon, eighty miles in length, commencing east of Zidon, and terminating with the point immediately above the entrance of Hamath. Espin.—"From Hor ye shall point your border to the entrance of Hamath ;" which Joshua, speaking of the yet unconquered land, describes, "All Lebanon, toward the sun-rising, from the valley of Baal-gad, under Mount Hermon, unto the entrance of Hamath" (Josh. 13 : 5). This demonstrates that Hor corresponded to all Lebanon, including Mount Hermon. Hales. 10-12. The eastern border, as here described, must be understood to commence at that point from which the boundary line pursued an uninterruptedly southward course. Espin. 11. The Sea of Chinnereth.** The sea known as the "lake of GENNESARET," mentioned as at the end of Jordan opposite to the "Sea of the ARABAH"—i.e., the Dead Sea ; as having the Arabah below it (De. 3 : 17 ; Josh. 11 : 2 ; 12 : 3). In the two latter passages it is CHINNERETH. It seems likely that Chinnereth was an ancient Canaanite name existing long prior to the Israelite conquest. Dic. B. The boundary line is described with great minuteness, the river Jordan is mentioned as the east border ; and an irregular curve, extending across the desert, from the southern extremity of the Dead Sea to the river of Egypt, forms the south border. But in all the other passages, where the boundaries are spoken of—viz., Gen. 15 ; Ex. 23 : De. 1 : 11 ; 2 Sam. 8 ; 1 Kings 4 ; and 2 Ch. 8 : 9—eight passages in all—the Euphrates is mentioned as the eastern limit ; and in Ex. 23 : 31 the bounds of Israel are spoken of as stretching to the southward as far as the Red Sea. But there is no real contradiction. The boundary of the holy land, which the Israelites were, to divide, after expelling the inhabitants, was one thing ; the boundary, beyond which they were not permitted to extend their conquests eastward, was another. Jordan was the former, Euphrates the latter. The intervening territory was not necessarily to be occupied exclusively by the Israelites, but was to serve as a pasture-ground for their cattle, the greater part of it being fit for no other purpose. The appointment of the Euphrates as a boundary included in it a prohibition to the Israelites against extending their dominion beyond it ; which they never did, not even in the reign of David, although he obtained important victories over the kings of Mesopotamia. E. C. W. 16-29. Appointment of princes from the ten tribes to divide the land just described. The positions of the several inheritances were to be determined by lot ; but their dimensions were proportioned to the wants of the tribes to which they fell. Thus the limits of each were to be marked out after the lot had determined to which tribe it belonged, and for the due and fair adjustment of the limits the presence of a representative from each tribe was requisite. Of the representatives now selected through Moses beforehand, who were all princes—i.e., heads of chief families in their respective tribes, Caleb alone, of the tribe of Judah, is otherwise known to us. Espin.—This was arranged, no doubt, in order to insure fairness in fixing the boundaries between the tribes, which had to be done after the situation of the tribe was determined by lot ; the further subdivision of the tribal territory was probably left to be managed by the chiefs of the tribe itself. R. W.—Through the casting of the lots by the princes, God would show by his decree the districts respectively assigned to the tribes ; while the princes could arrange that the dimensions of each might be proportionate to the number of its occupants. Calv.—Nothing could be more prudent than this partition of the country by lot, and making Joshua and the high-priest superintendents of it, since it was the only plan which could effectually prevent all murmurings and quarrellings among such an obstinate people as the Jews. It is supposed, from what followed, that every tribe first drew its lot for its own canton ; and after that there were proper persons appointed to measure out a quantity of land for each family, according to their size. But whether this distribution was made by this or any other method, it is certain that we do not read of any broils or jealousies that it ever occasioned among them. Stackhouse. A GENERATION DEAD. THE LEVITICAL CITIES. LAW OF DAUGHTERS' INHERITANCE; THE LAW AMENDED ANNOUNCEMENT OF MOSES'S DEATH; HIS DOUBLE PRAYER. ORDINATION OF JOSHUA AS HIS SUCCESSOR. Nu. 35 : 4, 5. The suburbs of the cities are ordained to be 3000 cubits on every side from the wall of the city and outward. The first thousand cubits are the suburbs, and the 2000, which they measured without the suburbs, were for fields and vineyards. Maimonides.— 7. Moses allotted to the Levites forty-eight cities in different parts of the land, that they might with more convenience go to perform re- ligious offices in every quarter, particularly that of instructing the people, which Moses ex- pressly assigns to their whole tribe (De. 33 : 10). Abp. Secker. The forty-eight cities, although denominated "Levitical cities," were not devoted exclusively to members of this tribe. For example, Hebron, which was, perhaps, the most noted of the forty- eight, being the city of refuge for what was afterward the whole kingdom of Judah, formed part of the inheritance of Caleb the Kenezite (Josh. 14 : 14). Doubtless many families of Judah would also be found among the residents ; for the city belonged to Judah. What the Levites obtained was not, in any instance, ex- clusive possession of the city, but certain houses within the walls, and certain pasture grounds ("glebe lands") adjoining. The houses and glebes thus set apart became the inalienable inheritance of the respective Levitical families. They were as strictly entailed as the lands which constituted the patrimony of the other families in Israel. If at any time they were sold for debt, they reverted to the family at the Jubilee. The cities of refuge were so distributed that no manslayer had far to run before reaching one. There were three on each side of Jordan ; of the three, in each case, one lay near the north border, one near the south border, and one in the middle. Every city was the natural centre of its province and accessible from every side. They were so situated that no fugitive required to cross either a river or a mountain chain before reaching his refuge. How strikingly is all this realized in Christ our refuge ! Binnie. Now when Eleazar and Phinehas have the promise of an everlasting priesthood, and the leadership is about to pass, in Joshua, to the tribe of Ephraim, one object of the dying Law- giver is to confirm the priestly dignity of the tribe of Levi, on which the very preservation of the whole legal economy would depend. The Levites were made to depend for their subsistence on the tithes and offerings of the people, and new and strong safeguards for their protection would be needed after Moses was gone. Hence he enforces more than twenty times the distinctive honors and privileges of the Levites, while the prerogatives of Aaron's family are left to depend on the Sinaitic legislation. This feature of Deuteronomy, which has been alleged as a proof of separate and later authorship, is really a sign of its historical truth and Mosaic origin. Birks.—The three codes present the cities of refuge much as we might expect them to do on the supposition that they appear in chronological order, and that all of them originated within the Mosaic period. The Book of the Covenant (Ex. 21 : 13) recognizes the necessity for a law on the subject, and announces that some place will be provided to which one accidentally taking the life of another may flee and be safe. In the fuller legislation of Numbers (35 : 1-38), in natural connection with instructions concerning the Levitical cities, such provision is duly made, and a sufficient number of conveniently situated asylums of this sort appointed. In Deuteronomy (4 : 41-43) we find Moses, in harmony with the law of the middle books, designating three cities of refuge on the eastern side of the Jordan; and subsequently, Joshua (Josh. 21 : 13, 21, 27) selecting the other three called for by the statutes on the western side. The Deuteronomic code (19 : 1-13; cf 24 : 16), evidently presupposing what Moses is recorded as doing here previously, is much of the nature of a commentary on the law in Numbers. It makes still more explicit by illustration what class of persons might find domicile within the refuge cities; gives comprehensive, though brief, directions for rendering the cities easily accessible, and, what is more important of all for our investigations, adds the concession that, on certain conditions, three cities more, making nine in all, may be used for this purpose. The conditions are that the people prove obedient and faithful—which, unhappily, they do not—and their boundaries are ultimately enlarged to the extent promised to Abraham. E. C. B. The amendment contained provisions for preventing any portion of the inheritance of one tribe passing to another through the marriage of an heiress. The necessity for regulating this arose out of the ordinance which permitted the daughters of an Israelite dying without male issue to inherit their father's property. And as it was on the suit of the daughters of Zelophehad that that ordinance had been promulgated, so now it was on the suit of the chiefs of the Machirites, of whom Zelophehad had been one, that a supplemental enactment is made, directing that heiresses should marry within their own tribe. The Machirites doubtless foresaw the loss which, but for the provisions of the text, would be likely to fall on their tribal inheritance. Espin. By the previous law it would happen that the inheritance of the daughters of Zelophehad, who belonged to the tribe of Manasseh, if they married into another tribe, would be transferred from their own to their husband's tribe. This, should it ever occur, Manasseh thought would be a hardship and a wrong. That tribe did not attempt to nullify the laws of the land, but brought the case before the national legislature, and sought relief through its action. The petition was respectfully considered, and a law was enacted in accordance with its prayer. By this law, heiresses were required to marry in their own tribes, that no part of the ancient inheritance might be alienated from the original family. It is plain that, if the decree of the nation had been different from what it was, Manasseh's duty would have been submission. E. C. W. It was a great point with the people of Israel that their possession should always appear as one lent to them by God. But the division of the tribes was essentially connected with this view. This division would be done away with if the inheritance was allowed to pass into other tribes by marriage; and this so much the more as the small states which formed the tribes rested altogether on the family constitution. The geographical boundaries, therefore, could not be regulated otherwise than by the possessions of the families constituting the tribe. Gerl. The original division of land was to the several tribes according to their families, so that each tribe was settled in the same country, and each family in the same barony or hundred. Nor was the estate of any family in one tribe permitted to pass into another, even by the marriage of an heiress. So that, not only was the original balance of property preserved, but the closest and dearest connections of affinity attached to each other the inhabitants of every vicinage. Thus domestic virtue and affection had a more extensive sphere of action; the happiness of rural life was increased, and a general attention to virtue and decorum was promoted, from that natural emulation, which each family would feel to preserve unsullied the reputation of their neighborhood; and the poor might everywhere expect more ready assistance, since they implored it from men whose sympathy in their sufferings would be quickened by hereditary friendship, and hereditary connection. Graves. This law was amended because of a direct appeal to the Lawgiver in view of certain difficulties expected to arise under it if it were left as first drafted. It is quite probable that the legislation in Deuteronomy was the result of a similar, though unrecorded, emergency. Such instances, in fact, serve to account, in some measure, for the journal-like character of a large portion of the laws of the Pentateuch. So-called discrepancies are often nothing more or less than amendments called forth by altered circumstances, or revision suggested by further thought. In the case before us there is certainly no just occasion for predicating a later date for the law in its Levitical form. We see, indeed, the very circumstance of the history that called it forth passing before our eyes E. C. B. ANNOUNCEMENT OF MOSES'S DEATH. HIS TOUCHING PRAYER. ORDINATION OF JOSHUA AS HIS SUCCESSOR.