CHAP. XXII.-After a time of brotherly intercourse, during which Esau and Jacob witnessed the death of their aged father, and buried him in "the cave of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan," they separated from each other, "for their riches were more than that they might dwell together; and the land wherein. they were strangers was not able to bear them, because of their cattle." And Esau took his wives, and his children, and all the persons of his house, and his cattle, and all his substance, and journeyed to Mount Seir. The territory surrounding this district of Arabia was, as we read in Genesis xxxvi. inhabited by a tribe called "The sons of Seir the Horite:" they had been settled there long before the immigration of Esau: for we read in the early history of the Patriarch Abram of" the Horites in their Mount Seir." The country was called Edom, but the mountain and the territory surrounding it was denominated Seir, after the father of the race. His grandson Hori appears to have become the leader or chief amongst the tribe. We are told in Genesis xxxii. 3, that "Jacob sent

messengers before him to Esau his brother, unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom." Also in chap. xxxvi. that "the sons of Seir, the Horite, who inhabited the land," were, together with the sons of Esau, styled “Dukes of Edom." In Deut. ii. 12, we read that "The Horims dwelt in Seir beforetime; but the children of Esau succeeded them, when they had destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their stead." There is good reason to believe that the Dukes of Edom, as well as some who were called Kings, were all petty princes, or rulers over limited portions of the territory. After the settlement of Esau and his tribe that district of Arabia became much extended. We may conclude, that the high ground which formed the most striking feature of the region was called Mount Horeb, from Hori, the grandson of Seir: Mount Sinai being identical with it, or one of its peaks, probably its highest point. This is proved throughout the sacred history: for, when Jehovah appeared to Moses in the burning bush, at "Horeb the mountain of God," He said unto Moses, "When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye

shall serve God on this mountain." In the nineteenth chapter of Exodus, we have a description of the awful display of Almighty Power, when the Lord descended upon Mount Sinai in fire, and when He gave forth His holy law. "Moses alone" was permitted to 66 come near the Lord". -the people being commanded to "worship afar off."-In the fourth chapter of Deuteronomy, the same

:

olemn scene is spoken of, and the same events narrated, as occurring in Horeb. In several chapters of the last-named book allusions are made to the covenant made 66 in Horeb"-to Jehovah speaking to the people there in Kings and Chronicles to the tables of stone," which Moses put in the ark at Horeb.' Psalm cvi. 19, says, the Israelites "made a calf in Horeb." Malachi exhorts the Jews to remember the law that was given to Moses in Horeb - with the statutes and Of the several peaks of the ridge of mountains, that intersected the desert country through which the Israelites journeyed, we have some interesting details. in the sacred history; and they prove that the maps of Arabia and Canaan, which are

judgments."

designed to show the localities of that region, are generally, if not universally, very incorrect. From Genesis xxxii. we learn that Esau lived in "the land of Seir, the country of Edom." Gen. xxxvi.-" Thus dwelt Esau in Mount Seir: Esau is Edom." Deut. xxxiii. -Moses said, "The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them: He shined forth from Mount Paran." Thus all these eminences were clearly in Horeb, contiguous to which were the several nations of the Edomites, in Seir; the Midianites, at the base of Horeb, descended from Midian, one of the sons of Abraham by Keturah; mingled with the seed of Ishmael, as appears from Gen. xxxvii.; the Amalekites from Amalek, the grandson of Esau; and the Moabites and Ammonites, the posterity of Lot, the nephew of Abraham. Some of these retained, for a considerable space of time, traces of allegiance to the one true God; but, by degrees, they all became corrupted by idolatry and immersed in sin. We have a distinct clue to the countries which they inhabited by observing the scriptural record. It was when Moses kept the flock of his father-in-law,

Jethro, priest of Midian, that Jehovah appeared unto him in " a flame of fire in a bush,” in “ Horeb, the mountain of God." Moab was contiguous to Midian; for we find that "the Elders of Moab and the Elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand," and came unto "Balaam, the son of Beor;" in order to bribe him to curse Israel. At Rephidim, in the wilderness of Zin, (sometimes written Sin,) Moses "smote the rock, and the waters gushed out:" that, says the sacred text, "is the water of Meribah in Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin;" for "the people tempted the Lord," and said, "Is the Lord among us, or not ?" notwithstanding that Jehovah had said unto Moses, " Behold, I will stand before thee there, upon the rock in Horeb." "Then came Amalek and fought with Israel in Rephidim." We are informed that at the end of forty years Moses reiterated to Joshua, the command to "Remember what Amalek did," when he came to them at Rephidim, where "the Amalekites dwelt in the valley." It was during the encampment of the Israelites in Kadesh in Horeb, that Miriam died. And