both in the one and the other places must have been be- CHAP. II. tween the two encampments already mentioned, viz. be- SECT. VI. tween the rivers Arnon and Jordan, or more particularly between Dibon-Gad and the plains of Moab by Jordan, overagainst Jericho. Certainly to determine the order of these intermediate encampments, is impossible in respect of the short account we have of them in both places of Scripture. What seems to be probable in the matter is this: That the Israelites having crossed the river Arnon, first encamped at Dibon-Gad, lying in the wilderness; then at Beer, i. e. the Well, which God was pleased to discover to them, being in a great strait for water in that wilderness; then at Almon-diblathaim, lying in the edge of the same wilderness; then at Mattanah; then at Nahaliel, a word which taken appellatively denotes the rivers or brooks of God; and so perhaps named, because here the Israelites began to meet with a country better watered than they had done in their journeys hitherto, namely, watered with several rivulets or streams issuing from the neighbouring mountains, and running into the river Arnon, or the river Jordan. From Nahaliel the Israelites decamping, they seem to have encamped next in the mountainous tract of Abarim, and in this tract to have had two particular encampments, one at Bamoth, (which probably enough may be the same place with that called, Josh. xiii. 17. Bamothbaal, or the high places of Baal,) and the other afterwards nearer Jordan, at that part (or parts) of the mountains of Abarim, which was particularly called Nebo and Pisgah. Hence they moved, and encamped in the plains of Moab, between Beth-jeshimoth and Abel-shittim, which is the last encampment mentioned in either of the chapters we are speaking of, or in the whole Mosaic history, as being the last made during the life of Moses. To conclude this chapter concerning the encampments of the Israelites. From comparing Num. xxxiii. with other chapters, where some of the journeys of the Israelites are taken notice of, it seems very probable, that though in Num. xxxiii. Moses professes to give an account PART II. of the journeys of the Israelites; yet he is not thereby to be understood, as if he there designed to give an account of all the particular places, where they made any halt or stay, only for a single night or day, or the like; but only of such places where they encamped, i. e. staid for some considerable time. And thus I have gone through what I judged requisite to observe concerning the journeys of the Israelites from Rameses in the land of Egypt, to the east side of the river Jordan, during the life of Moses. CHAP. III. Of the Country beyond Jordan, i. e. on the East of Jordan, which was divided by Moses between the two Tribes of Reuben and Gad, and one half of the Tribe of Manasseh. 1. The coun THE Israelites having subdued Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites, beyond or on the east of Jordan, try beyond Moses divided their country (from its situation in respect Jordan, by of the land of Canaan, called by the Greeks Peræa, i. e, sessed sucthe country beyond Jordan) between the two tribes of Reu-cessively. ben and Gad, and one half of the tribe of Manasseh. And because it will be of good use for the clearer understanding of the sacred history, I shall briefly premise here a short account of the several masters, under whom these countries successively were, as far forth as may be gathered from Scripture; and so shall have opportunity to take notice by the way of the lands of Moab and Ammon. 2. First, as is scendants I have in the former Part of the Geography of the Old Testament observed, that it is generally agreed, that upon probable, the first plantation of the earth after the Flood, as great by the de part of Mesopotamia, and the adjoining parts of what was of Uz. called by the Greeks and Latins Syria, fell to the lot and possession of Aram, one of the sons of Shem; so Uz, one of the sons of Aram, settled himself in the parts of Syria about Damascus; and so these parts beyond Jordan, of which we are now speaking, were probably at first possessed by the descendants of Uz. Whence it is, I think, most probably thought by many ancient as well as modern writers, that the land of Uz, mentioned in the book of Job, is to be understood of the country lying originally between Damascus to the north, and the plantation of Cush or Arabia to the south, and the land of Canaan to the west, and Arabia Deserta to the east. 3. But be this as it will, in process of time, namely, at the time when Abraham first sojourned in the land of Canaan, the Re Then by |