A. By Arad, a Canaanitish prince, who fought against them, and took some of them prisoners. Therefore they called the place Hormah, or Destruction, because they vowed to destroy utterly the people of that place.

Q. What happened at Zalmonah ?*

A. The people again murmured, and the Lord sent fiery serpents among them, which stung great numbers of them mortally, and caused such terror in the whole camp that they cried for mercy.

Q. How was this tendered?

A. Moses, by Divine command, made a serpent of brass, aud put it on a pole, and whoever looked upon it was healed.

Q. Of what was the elevation of this serpent typical ? A. Of the death of Christ, who being lifted up on the cross, heals the soul of every sinner that by faith looks to him.t

Q. What became of the brazen serpent?

A. It was kept by the Jews until the time of Hezekiah, who, finding that it was an object of idolatry, broke it in pieces.‡

Q. Did the approach of the Israelites to Canaan, excite any apprehensions on the part of the Amorites eastward of Jordan?

A. Yes: and Sihon, king of Heshbon, and Og, king of Bashan,¶ attacked them, but were defeated, their sub

Zalmonah, Numbers xxxiii. 41. from tzalam, an image.

+ John iii. 14. Isa. xlv. 22. Heb. xii. 2.

+2 Kings xviii. 4.

¶ Numb. xxi. 21-35. Deut. ii. 26.-36.

jects put to the sword, and their territories seized by the Israelites.

Q. What is remarkable of Og?

A. He was the last of a gigantic race: his bedstead, máde of iron, was nine cubits long, and four broad.*

Q. Did the Israelites cause alarm to any other state? A. Yes: the Moabites were greatly distressed; wherefore Balak, their king, sent the elders of Moab, and of Midian, to solicit Balaam the prophet to come and curse Israel.†

Q. Did he accompany them?

A. As God had forbidden him to go, he at first refused; unable however to withstand the rewards offered by a second embassy, he went: but instead of cursing Israel, the Lord constrained him to bless them altogether. Q. What memorable predictions did the prophet utter concerning the Israelites ?

A. He foretold their isolated condition, and the subjugation of their enemies.

Q. What calamity did he bring upon Israel ?

A. By his counsel, the Israelites were seduced to associate with the daughters of Moab and Midian, and

* Deut. iii. 1—-13. + Numb. xxii-xxiv. Jude 11. 2 Peter ii. 15, 16.

‡ Numb. xxiii. 9. That "the people should dwell alone, and should not be reckoned among the nations:" was a circumstance, of all others, the most improbable. Where is the nation, scattered as the Jews have been, that is yet a distinct people? In their singular situation among all nations at the present time, we see displayed, in the most striking manner, the providence of God, and the truth of prophecy.

eventually to sacrifice to their gods: wherefore the Lord smote them with a plague that carried off twenty-three thousand persons;* and the judges were commanded to slay every man who had joined himself to Baalpeor.†

Q. By whom was an act of summary justice executed on this occasion ?

A. By Phinehas, grandson of Aaron. Seeing Zimri, a prince of the Simeonites, bring Cozbi, a Midianitish princess into the camp of Israel, in the sight of Moses and all the congregation, who were weeping at the door of the tabernacle, he took a javelin, and went after them, and thrust them through. For this well-timed zeal, the Lord gave him the covenant of an everlasting priesthood.‡ Q. By what was the plague followed?

A. By a census of the male population, who were found to amount to six hundred and one thousand seven hundred and thirty, from twenty years' old and upward, able to go to war; besides twenty-three thousand Levites, upwards of one month old. "But among these there was not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron the priest numbered,"-in the wilderness of Sinai, save Caleb and Joshua.

* 1 Cor. x. 8. An additional thousand was probably slain by the Judges. Numb. xxv. 5,9,

+ This was an obscene deity, worshipped with impure rites.

The prieshood, which continued a long time in the family of Phinehas, appears, from some cause not known, to have passed into the family of Ithamar, during the latter part of the epoch of the judges, for Eli belonged to this line. But on the exclusion of Abiathar, the line of Phinehas was restored in the person of Zadok. 1 Kings ii. 27, 35. 1 Chron. xxiv. 3, 6. Numb. xxvi. 2, 51, 62-65.

Q. Why are the transgressions of the Israelites recorded?

A. "All these things happened unto them for ensamples and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come."

:

Q. How were the Midianites punished?

A. The Israelites, by Divine command, warred against them; and, having subdued them, put five princes, and Baalam the prophet, and all the males, to the sword; burnt all their cities and goodly castles; took the women and children captive, and carried away all their cattle and goods.

Q. To whom did Moses give the land of the Amorites or Gilead?

A. To the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, because they had much cattle.†

Q. Did Moses make any provision to secure to posterity the knowledge of the Divine law?

A. Yes; by the following injunction: "These words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and 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 down, and when thou risest up."‡

Q. What happy result was expected from this?

A. That "the children which should be born, should

Moses has not recorded all the sins of the Israelites, who seem to have transgressed continually. Lev. xvii. 7. Deut. xxxii. 17. Ezek. xx 4-25. Amos v. 26.

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."*

Q. What followed the reduction of Midian t

A. Moses recapitulated the law; reminded the Israelites of God's dealings with them during their abode in the wilderness; caused them to renew the covenant; ‡ warned them against apostacy by foretelling the awful judgments that would ensue, blessed the tribes, and then A. M. 2551. ascending Mount Pisgah, beheld from B. C. 1453. thence the promised land; and there he died, "according to the word of the Lord."§

Q. What became of his body?

A. The Lord "buried him in a valley in the land of Moab;" but the Israelites were not permitted to know the place.

Q. How old was Moses ?

A. "He was an hundred and twenty years old when

* Psalm lxxviii. 6. 7.

+ Deut. xxix.

+ Numb. xxxi. 2.

¶ Deut. xxxiii.

§ Deut. xxxiv. A record of the posterity of this illustrious prophet occurs in 1 Chron. xxiii. 15—17.-xxiv. 20, 21.

An American poet has noticed the death of Moses in the following beautiful lines:

From Pisgah's top his eye the prophet threw

O'er Jordan's wave, where Canaan met his view:

His sunny mantle, and his hoary locks,

Shone, like the robe of winter, on the rocks:

Where is the mantle? Melted into air.

Where is the prophet? God can tell thee where.

AIRS OF PALESTINE.