the rock before their eyes: and it shall give forth water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink.”

In this one instance, the faith and obedience of Moses failed. He assembled the people, and took the rod as he was commanded; but instead of reverently working the great miracle which they were divinely directed to perform, Moses and Aaron gave way to their angry feelings against the murmuring people, and struck the rock whilst under the influence of passion. "Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?" This was not language fitting the servants of God, in the act of performing a miracle by His command.

"And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice." Moses was commanded to speak to the rock, not to strike it; "and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also."

As a punishment for this sin, Moses and Aaron were not to enter the Promised Land. The place was henceforth called Meribah.

From Kadesh Moses sent messengers to the King of Edom, demanding permission for the Israelites to pass through his land. He promised that the people should "go by the king's high way," not through the vineyards or fields, that they should not drink of the water of the wells, and should pay for whatever provisions they received. But the king of Edom refused to

suffer them to pass through his land. And as the Edomites were descended from Esau, the brother of Jacob, the Israelites were forbidden to make war upon them. Mount Seir, the country of the Edomites, lay directly in the way of their march: the Israelites were therefore obliged to make a long circuit round the mountain, passing between it and the eastern arm of the Red Sea. On the way, Aaron died at Mount Hor. "And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor, by the coast 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 rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah, Take Aaron and Eleazer his son, and bring them up unto Mount Hor. And strip Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazer his son, and Aaron shall be gathered unto his people, and shall die there."

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And Moses did as the Lord commanded; and they went up into Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazer his son; and Aaron died there in the top of the mount; and Moses and Eleazer came down from the mount. And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel."

The tomb of Aaron is still pointed out to travellers by the Arabs, by whom his memory

is held in honour; and its situation on the summit of a mountain in Seir, near to Petra exactly agrees with the account in Numbers. In 1812, Burckhardt approached within sight of it, to the foot of the mountain, in the disguise of an Arab; but the treacherous and savage character of the tribes which inhabit Idumea, render it scarcely possible for the most adventurous and least scrupulous traveller to examine it. Since Burckhardt's attempt, however, a French traveller, M. Laborde succeeded in visiting Petra and the tomb. In the latter there is little to interest: it is shown by an old Arab sheik, who lives in a cavern at the top of the mount.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE BRAZEN SERPENT.

SIHON AND OG SLAIN. BALAAM.

THE Israelites continued their journey from Mount Hor southward, towards the Red Sea. Led by the pillar of cloud which preceded their march, they quitted the mountainous district of Edom, passed by the head of the Red Sea near Elath, and, turning again northward, came into the country of Moab. Discouraged with the length of the way, they broke out into fresh murmurings; they loathed the manna, and complained of having been brought into the wilderness to perish. For

this they were punished by a plague of Serpents, which bit the people, and a great number died. On their repenting, Moses was commanded to make a Serpent of brass, and set it on a pole in the midst of the camp, when all the people who looked upon it were cured.

The Israelites passed peaceably through this part of the land of the Moabites, whom they were commanded not to injure nor attack. From Moab they sent messengers to demand permission to pass in like manner through the country of the Amorites; but their demand was refused. Sihon, king of the Amorites, assembled his forces and attacked the Israelites; a battle was fought, in which the latter were completely victorious; and the country of the Amorites became theirs. Heshbon was its principal city, which afterwards fell to the tribe of Reuben.

Og, king of Bashan, whose territories lay to the north of the Amorites, next opposed the Israelites. He was of the race of giants, and is said to have had an iron bedstead, nine cubits long. But his gigantic strength was of no avail against the chosen people of God: his army was entirely defeated, and his land fell to the possession of the Israelites.

After the defeat of Sihon, the Israelites entered the plains of Moab, on the borders of the Jordan. Balak, king of the Moabites, having seen the destruction of Sihon and Og, became

*Or nine feet. There are two cubits, the natural and the sacred: the sacred cubit is 1ft. 9in.

alarmed, and resolved no longer to suffer the Israelites to proceed; although he feared to attack them openly. Having sent to the Midianites to assist him, they agreed to despatch messengers to Balaam, a prophet, who lived on the banks of the Euphrates, and who was famous throughout the country, to come and curse the Israelites, as they lay encamped. Accordingly, the princes of Moab and Midian took presents with them, and came to Pethor, where Balaam lived, and delivered the message of Balak.

Balaam appears to have had a knowledge of the true God, and to have known that his own power of pronouncing a blessing or a curse, depended upon His will. On receiving Balak's message, he desired the princes to wait until the morrow, that he might know from the Lord whether he should go.

And God commanded Balaam not to go. "Thou shalt not curse the people, for they are blessed." Then Balaam dismissed the princes, and they returned to Balak.

But the king of Moab was resolved to persuade Balaam, if possible, to curse the Israelites; and accordingly he sent other princes to him, more honourable than the first, and loaded with more costly presents.

"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 unto me, For I will promote thee unto very great honour, and I will do whatsoever, thou sayest unto me: