Sea, and not far from Egypt. The former was on the borders of Canaan, the district called by modern travellers Bl Ghor and El Araba, between the Dead Sea and the eastern gulf of the Red Sea.-Num. xiii. 21.

CALEB signifies "all heart."-Num. xiii. 26-33.

THOSE who do not trust God are continually vexing themselves. The sorrow of the world worketh death.-Num. xiv. 1-4.

THE marginal reading for "defence" is shadow, which is the literal translation of the Hebrew. This metaphorical expression is common in the East to denote protection or support, and is peculiarly appropriate in hot, sultry climates.-Num.

xiv. 9.

KORAH was nearly related to Moses; they were brothers' children, (Exod. vi. 18).-Num. xvi. 1-11.

Ir others fail in their duty to us, that does not discharge us from our duty to them, nor take away the obligations we are under to seek their welfare.-Num. xvi. 16-22.

It was customary in ancient times for those in authority to carry a rod or staff as a mark of dignity. This was the origin of the sceptres peculiar to princes.-Num. xvii. 2.

BISHOP HALL here observes, that fruitfulness is the best evidence of a Divine call.-Num. xvii. 8-13.

SCANDALOUS maintenance makes scandalous ministers.— Num. xviii. 8-19.

As salt was added to different kinds of viands, not only to give them a relish, but to preserve them from putrefaction and decay, it became the emblem of incorruptibility and permauence. Hence a covenant of salt signified an everlasting covenant.-Num. xviii. 19.-A. Clarke.

THE accounting those as polluted who touched dead bodies, has been found to prevail among many heathen nations at the present day.-Num. xix. 11-22.- Henry and Scott.

MANY heathen nations have believed that some persons had power, by the performance of certain rites, to devote others to destruction. Several instances are recorded in history. The Romans had officers, whose business it was to perform these ceremonials.-Num. xxii. 6.

THERE are many among ourselves who may be able to describe the nature of sound religion, and to make rice and accurate distinctions in its doctrines, while they detect the ignorance and gross mistakes of others, yet feel nothing in themselves of the influence of real piety. It should be remembered that godliness consists not so much in a system of right

notions, as in holy and spiritual affections, regulating the whole conduct.-Num. xxiii. 11-30.-Robinson.

as

PERHAPS this prophecy of Balaam, one of the children of the East, concerning a star that should arise out of Jacob, the indication of a sceptre arising in Israel, gave occasion to the wise men, who were of the East, to inquire for him that was born King of the Jews, (Matt. ii. 2).-Num. xxiv. 15-25. -Henry and Scott.

CHITTIM usually means the islands and maritime countries of the Mediterranean, as Greece, Italy, Crete, &c.—Num. xxiv. 24.

LEVI was God's tribe; a tribe that was to have no inherit ance like the rest, but by itself. So it had been numbered in the beginning of this book at Mount Sinai, and therefore it came not under the sentence passed upon all then numbered, that none of them should enter Canaan, but Caleb and Joshua; for of the Levites that were not numbered with them, nor were to go forth to war, Eleazar, probably Ithamar, and perhaps others, who were above twenty years old then, entered Canaan, (Josh. xvii. 4, xxi. 3).—Num. xxvi. 57-62.

AMOUNTING to £37,869 16s. 5d. of our money.-Num.

xxxi. 52.

THE land of Canaan, usually so called, lies between latitude 31° and 33° 30' N., and longitude 35° and 37° E. From the city of Dan in the north, to Beersheba in the south, it is about 160 miles in length; and its width, from the Mediterranean to the eastern borders of the tribes beyond Jordan, is about 90 miles. What is here meant, and what is properly called the land of Canaan, as here described, extends from the Mediterranean to the river Jordan, and is about fifty miles in width; but in that only nine tribes and a half were settled. According to the best calculations, the country allotted to the twelve tribes contained 14,976,000 acres. As the number of men at the last enumeration before they entered Canaan, see ch. xxvi., was 600,000, more than twenty-one acres might be allotted to each, and even then more than 2,000,000 of acres would remain for the cities of the Levites, the princes of the tribes, or any other purpose. Such an allotment, in a country so fertile as Canaan undoubtedly was in former times, with the simple methods of life then used, and the small number of unproductive animals then kept, would maintain a far larger population than was settled in it.-Num. xxxiv.

MURDER in all its forms, and under all disguises, pollutes the land; so that nothing but the blood of the murderer, whatever

K

be his rank or quality, can cleanse it. Alas! that unscriptural and absurd distinctions, and concessions to the maxims of proud, ungodly men, should cause so many atrocious murders, under the name of duels, &c., to pass unpunished.-Num. XXXV. 9-34.

THE Jewish writers relate many particulars beautifully illustrative of this institution. The cities were placed on eminences affording a plain direction to the fugitive as he fled towards them. The roads to the cities of refuge were objects of special care and scrupulous attention. They were about fifty-six feet in breadth, smooth, and even, that no impediment might delay the man-slayer. Bridges were erected where the ways crossed a brook or river. The magistrates of the city inspected them yearly, on a certain day, and repaired them diligently. Stones were erected at every cross-road, with the welcome term, Refuge, Refuge, inscribed upon them in large and plain characters. The gates of the city stood open night and day; to have closed them under any circumstances might have defeated the end for which the appointment was made. Once entered within those walls of refuge, the citizens were under the necessity of receiving and accommodating the fugitive, who was permitted to know no real want till the time of his trial came. No weapon was allowed to be made within the city. They were appointed equally for the stranger and the Israelite, without difference, distinction, or partiality.-Buddicom.

THE Greek interpreters called it Deuteronomy, which signifies the second law; or, a second edition of the law; not with amendments, for there needed none, but with additions, for the further direction of the people.-Deut. Preface.

"THE RED Sea." The reader will observe the word "Sea" is in italics, not being in the original, which is only Zuph, or rather Suph: see the marginal reading. The Red Sea is called in Hebrew Yam Suph, which probably led to this rendering. It cannot be correct, as the Israelites were then in the plains of Moab, on the banks of the Jordan, very far from the Red Sea. Deut. i. 1.

THE sun, in Hebrew, is called sheinesh, which signifies a servant.-Deut. iv. 1-23.

WHEN we hear the Word of God, we must set ourselves to learn it, that we may have it ready to use upon all occasions; and what we have learned, we must put in practice, for that is the end of hearing and learning; not to fill our heads with notions, or our mouths with talk, but to rectify and direct our affections and conversations.-Deut. v. 1-5.

THE original reason for hallowing the Sabbath, taken from God's resting from the work of creation on the seventh day, is not here mentioned.-Deut. v. 6-22.

WHAT is good, as far as it goes, let it be commended.— Deut. v. 23-33.

66

OB," Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God is one Jehovah." On this passage the Jews lay great, stress, and it is one of the passages they write upon their phylacteries. On the word Elohim (here translated God), Simeon ben Jarchi says, "Come and see the mystery of the word Elohim; there are three degrees, and each degree is by itself alone, and yet they are all one, and joined together in one, and are not divided from each other."-Deut. vi. 4.-Greenfield.

TAKE all occasions to discourse with those about thee of Divine things; not of unrevealed mysteries, or matters of doubtful disputation, but of the plain truths and laws of God, and the things that belong to our peace.-Deut. vi. 7.

No change of condition will cure a disposition to murmur and fret.

We must remember that books were not common then, as in our country at the present day. The passages of Scripture fixed upon the posts of the houses and the gates among the Jews in later times were, Deut. vi. 4-9; xi. 13-20. The parchment on which these portions were inscribed, was rolled up and put in a cane, or small leaden tube, the word "Shaddai” having been written on the roll, and a hole cut in the tube through which it appeared. These tubes they considered ought to be nailed upon all their doors. The phylacteries in later ages have only been worn by the Jews in time of prayer. Exod. xiii. 1-10, and 11-16, have also been used for these inscriptions. They degenerated into superstitious charms; but originally they were fixed up so that they might be read and impart instruction.-Deut. vi. 9.

THE sacrificing of their children to idols was sometimes carried to a very dreadful extent by the heathen. When the Carthaginians, who were descended from one of the ancient nations of Canaan, were besieged by Agathocles, they sacrificed two hundred children of their noblest families. In England, in the time of the Druids, on solemn occasions, a number of children were enclosed in a large idol made of wicker-work, and burned alive.-Deut. xii. 31.

Ir was usual for courts of judgment among all eastern nations to be held in the gates. Pursuant to this law, beside the great sanhedrim that sat at the sanctuary, consisting of

seventy elders and a president, there was in the large cities, such as had in them above a hundred and twenty families, a court of twenty-three judges; in the smaller cities, a court of three judges. See this law revived by Jehoshaphat, (2 Chron. xix. 5-8).-Deut. xvi. 18.-Henry.

WHATEVER is directly repugnant to sense, to the light and law of nature, and to the plain sense of the written Word, we may be sure is not that which the Lord has spoken.-Deut. xviii. 15-22.

THE principal circumstance in this description is, the likeness to Moses. Not one of the Jewish prophets was a lawgiver, not even David; the kingly office in Judea was only executive. The Divine law admitted neither addition nor diminution. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the only Jewish prophet, who has been, like Moses, the founder of a new law.-Deut. xviii. 18.-J. P. Smith.

If we duly regarded the golden rule of "doing to others as we would they should do unto us," many particular precepts might be omitted.-Deut. xxii. 1-4.

OUR eye should be single, our heart simple, and our behaviour all of a piece.-Deut. xxii. 5-12.

THAT Some parts and passages of Scripture may be used improperly by persons of impure minds, is no argument against its Divine authority, any more than it would be to say that the sun was not created by the Almighty, because its light may be used by wicked men in perpetrating the crimes they have meditated.-T. H. Horne.

THE corn in the East, being ground from day to day in small hand-mills for the use of each family, the millstone was an indispensable utensil in every house.-Deut. xxiv. 6.

A GREAT many precepts have not any particular penalty annexed to them, the violation of most of which, according to the constant practice of the Jews, was punished by scourging; f om which no person's rank or quality exempted him, if he were a delinquent. The Jews say, that while execution was doing, the chief judge read with a loud voice Deut. xxviii. 58, 59, and xxix. 9, and concluded with those words, (Psa. lxxviii. 38): "But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity." But the number of stripes never should exceed forty. Forty save one was the common usage (2 Cor. xi. 24). It seems they always gave Paul as many stripes as they ever gave to any malefactor whatsoever. They abated one, either for fear of having miscounted, though one of the judges was appointed to number the stripes; or because they would never