nor divination against Israel. In the right time it is revealed to Jacob and to Israel what God does. Behold, the people rises up like a great lion, and lifts itself up as a young lion it does not lie down until it has consumed the prey, and has drunk the blood of the slain !'

As Balaam ended, Balak exclaimed in dread, 'Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.' But Balaam answered humbly, All that the Lord speaks that must I do.'

The king resolved to make another trial; he took the seer up to the heights of Peor, which solemnly rise over the endless desert, and there caused seven altars to be built, and the sacrifices to be offered as before. Balaam, now satisfied that God wished him to bless and not to curse Israel, no more sought the solitude for a Divine inspiration; but when he looked down, and beheld the brilliant hangings of the Tabernacle, and round it, in vast circles, the spreading tents of the Israelites, he burst forth into enthusiastic praise:

'The speech of Balaam, the son of Beor, and the speech of the man whose eyes are open, the speech of him who hears the words of God, who sees the vision of the Almighty, who is prostrated, but has his eyes open: How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob! and thy tabernacles, O Israel! As valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river's side, as the trees of aloes which the Lord has planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters. He pours

the water out of his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted. God brought him forth out of Egypt; he has the swiftness of the buffalo : he consumes the nations, his enemies, and crushes their bones, and pierces them through with his arrows. He couches, he lies down as a lion and as a lioness; who shall stir him up? Blessed is he that blesses thee, and cursed is he that curses thee!'

Balak's anger was now kindled almost to rage; he upbraided the prophet, and ordered him in disgrace from his presence; but Balaam had more terrible things to reveal; he bade the king stay, to hear what the strange invading nation would do to him and to the neighbouring tribes. And he took up his parable, and said:

'Speech of Balaam, the son of Beor, and speech of the man whose eyes are open, speech of him who hears the words of God, and knows the knowledge of the Most High, who sees the vision of the Almighty, who is prostrated, but has his eyes open: 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 the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of the tumult. And Edom shall be a possession for his enemies, and Israel shall act valiantly. And he that comes out of Jacob shall rule and shall destroy those that escape from the cities.'

Then, after adding a few words about the Amalekites, the Kenites, and the Phoenicians, Balaam departed to return to his home, and the king followed, oppressed by gloomy forebodings.

The Hebrews now resumed their military expeditions, and next turned against the Midianites. Twelve thousand chosen men attacked the hostile army, headed by five kings of Midian, and accompanied by Balaam. They routed the army, killed the five kings and the prophet, burnt the towns, made the women and children captives, and seized a vast amount of spoil, which they brought into the Hebrew camp near the Jordan, for equal distribution among the warriors, the congregation, and the priests.

61. NEW CENSUS AND ALLOTMENT OF THE

EAST-JORDANIC LAND.

[NUMBERS XXV. XXVI. XXXII.]

A census of the men above twenty years was instituted in the plains of Moab, and gave the number of 601,730. 'But among these there was not a man of those whom Moses and Aaron the priest numbered, when they 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, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.'

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Large districts in the east of the Jordan consisted chiefly of pasture lands most valuable for shepherd tribes. When the Israelites had conquered from Sihon and Og extensive tracts of such land, together with walled cities and deep wells, the tribes of Reuben and Gad and a great portion of the Manassites, who were particularly rich in cattle, desired to settle there permanently. They made their request to Moses and to the High-priest Eleazar. But Moses replied severely: Shall your brethren go to war, and shall you sit here?' Then he bade them remember how the cowardice of the scouts that had been sent from Kadesh to Eshcol had called down the Lord's anger, who declared that the whole generation should perish in the wilderness without entering the Promised Land. The men, however, had no intention to desert their brethren; after building sheepfolds for their cattle, and houses for their children, they wished to go with the Hebrew army over the Jordan, and to assist in the conquest of the land; and not before that conquest was completed would they return to their eastern possessions. Moses expressed himself satisfied with this declaration and pledge, and assigned to Reuben, Gad, and half Manasseh, the beautiful provinces which they claimed.

62. DEATH AND CHARACTER OF MOSES.

[DEUT. I. sqq.]

The nation of wanderers lay encamped in the districts of Moab, with the rugged mountain fastnesses rising around them, with the distant prospect of plains and fields, where herds of cattle were grazing, near the oaks of Bashan and the fenced cities which now belonged to them and their children.

The prophet stood at the door of the Tabernacle, encompassed by the glory of God. The people, all gathered about their tents, were awaiting his word. They were resting from their victory over the Midianites, and prepared to cross the Jordan for the occupation of Canaan. They had swept the enemies from their path, and had now no fear of the mighty children of Anak. In the desert, a new generation of sturdy warriors had sprung up, who had never felt the bondage, and had never seen the wealth and luxury, of Egypt. But Moses, no more than his brother Aaron, was permitted to enter the Promised Land: he was to die on its very borders. He had once doubted the word of the Lord at the rock of Meribah, and in spite of his habitual faith and obedience, he was to suffer a bitter punishment. He neither murmured nor repined: he had fulfilled his appointed task, he left the rest to the Lord. He was 120 years old, but his eye was not dim, and his strength had not abated. He was still a general ready to lead forth his people to battle, and a judge administering justice to all. Filled with the spirit of God, he assembled the children of Israel in their encampment at the foot of Mount Pisgah, and in solemn and touching words recalled to them the incidents of their miraculous deliverance, from their flight out of

Egypt down to the recent warfare with the powerful desert tribes. Intending the address as his farewell to the people on the very eve of their triumph, he interwove with it a repetition of the Ten Commandments and of many of the important laws, together with impressive appeals to faith and piety. He bade the people remember that it was through the Lord alone that they had been delivered out of Egypt; He had chosen them to hand down the revealed truth from generation to generation, and to diffuse it throughout the earth. They were to possess Canaan not on account of their own righteousness, for they had ever been sinful and disobedient, but by the grace and mercy of God. But they must preserve their faith pure and undefiled, abhorring and keeping aloof from every form and manner of idolatry. All images found in the land of Canaan were to be destroyed, all groves and temples dedicated to false gods to be hewn down, all idolatrous nations exterminated. Should any one of the children of Israel turn to idolatry, no pity was to be shown to him: he should be stoned to death by the congregation; for Moses knew too well the weakness and inconsistency of the people.

Then followed a powerful exhortation to obedience. It seemed as if the great prophet had divined the days of peril and tribulation which the Israelites later called down upon themselves; as if it were given to him to see into the distant future fraught with sorrow and suffering. In forcible and soul-stirring words, he tried to impress his hearers with the great principles of the new creed proclaimed by him: Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve Him.' But if they should forsake their God, if they should follow in the evil ways of other nations, then dire punishment would assuredly follow: The Lord shall scatter you among the nations, you shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the Lord shall lead

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