dered by a Greek word which signifies to cut out; and that the LXX interpreters, in some places, render it in the same way. Whence, some conjecture, that there were, in one part of Mount Nebo, steps cut out, that one might ascend it with less difficulty; and that this part was called Pisgah.

Beth-jesimoth was a city afterwards given to the tribe of Reuben, and is said, (Jos. xii. 3,) to have lain in the south border of the kingdom of Sihon, not far from the Salt Sea.

Abel-shittim was probably the same place as is, in Num. xxv. 1, Jos. ii. 1, and iii. 1, called Sittim, and which, being the place whence Joshua sent the spies to Jericho, and the place which Israel quitted in order to encamp by the river Jordan, when they were about to pass over that river, must have been north of the camp, as Beth-jesimoth was south.

Here it will be proper to notice, and endeavour to adjust, the encampments mentioned both in Num. xxi. 11-20, and Num. xxxiii. 44-49. In the former place, ver. 11, and in the latter, ver. 44, we have mention of Ije-abarim, lying in the borders of Moab, and more particularly in the wilderness which is before Moab, towards the sun-rising. In Num. xxi. 12, 13, we read, that the Israelites removed from Ije-abarim, and pitched in the valley of Zered, and then, on the other side of Arnon: and Num. xxxiii. 45, we read, that they removed from Ije-abarim, and pitched in Dibon-gad. Now this place, as has been before observed, lying on the other side of Arnon, it is very probable, that here the Israelites first encamped, after they had crossed the river Arnon. In Num. xxi. 16-20, we read that from thence, namely, from the other side of Arnon, which is in the wilderness that comes out of the coasts of the Amorites, (ver. 13,) the Israelites went to Beer; which lay within the aforesaid wilderness, as is evident from what follows, (ver. 18,)

namely, that from the wilderness they went to Matara; which place, Eusebius tells us, lay upon or in the Arnon, whereby he understands the rocky tract so called, not the river,-twelve miles from Medeba, east. Hence the Israelites removed to Nahaliel, and thence to Bamoth, and from Bamoth to the valley that is in the country of Moab to the top of Pisgah, which looks towards Jeshimon, or the wilderness. And in Num. xxii. 1, we read, that the children of Israel set forwards and pitched in the plains of Moab, on this, i. e. the east, side of Jordan, by Jericho. Now this encampment, as it is the last in the life of Moses, so it is apparently the same with the last encampment mentioned, Numb. xxxiii., that being also said (ver. 48,) to be in the plains of Moab, by Jordan, near Jericho. Certainly to determine the order of these immediate encampments, is impossible, from the short account we have of them in both places of Scripture. What seems probable is this: that the Israelites having crossed the river Arnon, first encamped at Dibon-gad, in the wilderness; then at Beer, that is, the well which God was pleased to discover to them, they being in a great strait for water in that wilderness; then at Almon-diblathaim, 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 named perhaps, because here the Israelites began to meet with a country watered with rivulets, or streams, from the neighbouring mountains, and running into the river Arnon, or the river Jordan. From Nahaliel, the Israelites seem to have encamped in the mountainous tract of Abarim, and in this tract to have had two encampments, one at Bamoth, which probably enough may be the place called (Jos. xiii. 17,) Bamoth-baal, or, the high-places of Baal; the other, afterwards, nearer Jordan, in that part, or in those parts of the mountains of Abarim, called Nebo and Pisgah. Hence they moved, and encamped in the

plains of Moab, between Beth-jesimoth, and Abelshittim, which is the last encampment mentioned in the chapters of which we are speaking, and in the Mosaic history.*

Thus ended the journeyings of the Israelites in the desert, and with them the administration of Moses among them. He had conducted them to the borders of Canaan, but he was not to conduct them into it. "The triumph of the people was to be preceded by the death of the lawgiver. He was to behold, not to enter the promised land. Once he had sinned from want of confidence in the divine assistance; the penalty affixed to his offence was now exacted. As his end ap

proached, he summoned the assembly of all Israel to receive his final instructions. His last thoughts were the welfare of the commonwealth, and the permanence of the constitution. He recounted their whole eventful history since their deliverance, their toils, their dangers, their triumphs; he recapitulated and consolidated in one brief code, the book of Deuteronomy, the whole law, in some degree modified, and adapted to the future circumstances of the republic.

"And now closing, at length, his admonitions, his warnings, and his exhortations to repentance, having renewed the covenant with the whole nation, from the highest to the lowest, from the prince to the hewer of wood and drawer of water, having committed the law to the custody of the Levites, and appointed the valiant Joshua as his successor-finally, having enriched the national poetry with an ode worthy of him who composed the hymn of triumph by the Red Sea, Moses ascended the loftiest eminence in the neighbourhood, in order that he might once behold, before his eyes closed for ever, the land of promise. From the top of Mount Abarim, or Nebo, the former of which names

* Vide Wells' Hist. Geog.

1

may perhaps be traced in Djebel Attarous, the highest point in the district, the lawgiver, whose eyes were not yet dimmed, and who had suffered none of the infirmities of age, might survey a large tract of country. To the right, lay the mountain-pastures of Gilead, the romantic district of Bashan; the windings of Jordan might be traced along its broad and level valley, till almost beneath his feet, it flowed into the Dead Sea. To the north spread the luxuriant plains of Esdraelon, the more hilly, yet fruitful country of Lower Galilee. Right opposite stood the city of Jericho, embowered in its groves of palms-beyond it the mountains of Judea, rising above each other till they reached the sea. Gazing on this magnificent prospect, beholding in prophetic anticipation his great and happy commonwealth, occupying its numerous towns and blooming fields, Moses breathed his last. The place of his burial was unknown, lest, perhaps, the impious gratitude of his followers might ascribe divine honours to his name, and assemble to worship at his sepulchre."*

* History of the Jews, vol. i. pp. 159, 160, 163.

LECTURE IX.

CANAAN.

WE have followed the chosen race from the birthplace of its author, to the spot on which its lawgiver yielded up his office into the hands of a successor, and his spirit into the hands of Him who gave it; and, in our progress, we have had opportunities of examining the countries of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Arabian Desert. We are now on the confines of the Land of Promise, and are about to enter with the tribes into their destined inheritance; we have thus an opportunity of examining Canaan. And whether we enter on the examination with the feelings of the naturalist, the amateur, the political economist, the historian, or the religionist, the labour we bestow on it will be amply repaid.

Canaan was a distinguished country. Nature had made it productive, and cultivation secured plenty, and Providence, by the establishment in it of liberal institutions, created facilities for the enjoyment of the produce. It being the spot which Jehovah had chosen in which to try the experiment of a pure theocracy for the recovery of the world from idolatry, it enjoyed his special protection. In its terraced hills, and fruitful plains, and meandering streams, there existed the elements of beauty; and, in its towering cliffs, and inland seas, there existed those of grandeur and sublimity. It possessed the substance of poetry, and it