the leading men of several tribes to restore things to their original footing when the priesthood and the civil authority went together with the birthright, throughout the larger and smaller sectional divisions,-tribes, clans, and families of the people. Their charge against Moses and Aaron was that they had taken away the former liberties of the people; which, being interpreted, means, that they had organised their loosely compacted tribes into a nation, and subjected them to a general government. Apart from such an explanation as this, it seems impossible to understand the equal pretensions of all the parties to the exercise of sacerdotal functions; without the least intimation that they all concurred in supporting the claims of any one particular party. But although there are obvious considerations which preclude the supposition. that the appropriation of the priesthood to himself was the avowed object of Korah, in which he was supported by the other parties; there is much reason to conclude, from the manner in which Moses (when he saw through his designs) spoke to him, that this was his real and ulterior object. There are indications that the Reubenites, while they desired as heartily as the others to overturn the existing plan of government, were rather afraid of the ulterior objects of Korah and of making common cause with him. Perhaps they were fearful that by so doing they should seem to compromise what they wished to regard as the self-evident character of the claims they derived from the usual laws of primogeniture.

In short, with some attention, we may perceive three parties agreeing to overturn the present ecclesiastical and civil government, and agreeing also in one common pretence, the liberties of the people; but having their several grounds of discontent, and differing, secretly at least, in their final objects. Korah appears to have felt that since the Levites were set apart as a sacred tribe, and the priesthood confined to one family in that tribe, his own rank therein* gave him a preferable claim to that dignity. The two hundred and fifty chiefs who joined him appear to have desired to reclaim, as a right of primogeniture, the sacerdotal privileges which had been transferred to the tribe of Levi. And the Reubenites probably felt aggrieved that Moses in all his arrangements acted on the will of Jacob as a reality, excluding Reuben from the ordinary pre-eminence of the first-born, and placing Judah and the sons of Joseph before him.

When the conspirators judged things ripe for an open rupture, they met in a body, and, presenting themselves before Moses and Aaron, they upbraided them with their unjust ambition, in engrossing all power in their own hands, and excluding the rest of the people, who were all, as much as they, the people of God. Moses was much astonished at this speech; but he administered in reply a cutting rebuke to the ambitious Korah, and assured him and his confederates that, however they might gloss this matter to themselves and others, their proceedings were really levelled against the government of the King JEHOVAH. To Him, who was the author of the appointments of which they complained, he would leave it to decide who should be the ministers of his service, and who should be held worthy to approach his presence. He therefore desired them to assemble on the morrow at the tabernacle, with censers, to offer incense to God, who would doubtless take the occasion of making his will known.

It is observable that the chiefs of Reuben, Dathan and Abiram,† were not present on this occasion. But whatever was the ground of their absence, they took care it should be known that it was not from any indifference to the cause in which they were engaged: for, when Moses sent for them to be present on the morrow with the others, they returned a very smart refusal, in terms which threw much light on the state of feeling that then prevailed:- "We will not come up. Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land that floweth with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, except thou make thyself altogether a prince over us? Moreover, thou hast not brought us into a land that floweth with milk and honey, or given us inheritance of fields and vineyards: wilt

Josephus says he was wealthy, and that he was older than Moses.

The other Reubenite, On, is not named except in the first instance. It is generally thought that he separated from his party after he heard what Moses said. The rabbins allege that his wife persuaded him to relinquish his part in this dangerous enterprise.

VOL. I.

2 s

thou blind the eyes of these men?-We will not come up." This answer, involving an appeal to the misconceptions and prejudices of the people, was manifestly framed for their ears more than for those of Moses. And as, by "the men" whom, they allege, Moses intended to blind, Korah and the others are doubtless denoted, they appear to have disapproved of the proposed trial, of the result of which they might well entertain some doubts, and to have thought it the better course not to commit their own claims and pretensions to the same issue.

Mild and forbearing as Moses usually was in all that concerned himself, his indignation rose very high when he received this reproachful message. He called God to witness the injustice of the charge it contained, since so far had he been from using his power to enrich or aggrandise himself, that he had as yet reaped nothing but care and sorrow from it.

The morrow came; and all Israel anxiously awaited what that day might bring forth. Korah and his two hundred and fifty associates were true to their appointment, and appeared before the tabernacle with censers. They were attended by a vast host of their more active partisans, who seem, from the expressions employed, to have represented the sympathies and sentiments of the bulk of the community, who appear to have stood awaiting the event before their tents.

Moses and Aaron were with or near the conspirators, where they stood prepared to offer incense. But at that moment, the Shechinah, that glorious symbol of the Divine presence, which usually abode in the inmost sanctuary, appeared at the door of the tabernacle; and a voice was heard therefrom, commanding Moses and Aaron,-" Separate yourselves from this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment." On hearing this they both fell upon their faces, and entreated that he would not be wroth with the misguided people for the evil into which they had been drawn by one ambitious man. A compliance with this prayer, it respecting all but the ringleaders, was involved in the direction which they received to go to the tents of Dathan and Abiram, and warn the people off from the neighbourhood of their tents. Warned by the supernatural appearance at the entrance of the tabernacle, the people obeyed. Moses then addressed them, and appealed for the authority of his commission to the prodigy which was about to follow. No sooner had he spoken, than the earth opened and engulphed the present rebels and all that belonged to them: while at the same instant, Korah and his party, who remained before the tabernacle, were struck dead by fire from heaven. Thus awfully perished the men who wished to make subservient to their own ends the discontent which they excited among the people.

But even this awful example was not sufficient to allay the ferment which had been excited. It is true that mutinous mob fled with horror and alarm from the doom which befel their leaders. But, with a degree of infatuation and insane hardihood, which is rarely to be found but among the blind instruments of popular commotions, they assembled tumultuously the very next day, and clamoured against Moses and Aaron, saying:-" Ye have slain the people of the Lord." Yesterday they had been spared: but the welfare, the very existence of the nation, required that a memorable example to all future time should now be made. God, therefore, sent a fearful plague among them, which spread rapidly through their ranks, and before which they fell down in sudden death.

No sooner did the brothers perceive that the wrath of God was raging among the riotous crowd, than Aaron, at the instance of Moses, took a censer, and, filled with the most deep compassion and animated by all-conquering faith, he therewith rushed into the crowd, and planted himself between the living and the dead, as if to stay that storm of death, and say, "thus far shalt thou come, and no further." With this noble act God was well pleased, and stayed the hand of the destroyer; but not until fourteen hundred people had fallen before him.

It was evident that to persons of the most consequence and influence in the nation, the appointment of Aaron to the hereditary priesthood was so distasteful, that only the most sensible evidence that the appointment was indeed divine, could bring them to submit to it. One would think that the recent events would have been sufficient to convince the most doubt

ful of this. Perhaps for the time it was so. But God was pleased, by a new prodigy, to afford an abiding testimony of his preference. None but the princes of the tribes were likely to think their claims to that high office equal or preferable to those of Aaron; or, at all events, if they, who were highest in dignity, were satisfied, or silenced, none of those below them could fairly make complaint. The princes of the twelve tribes and Aaron were therefore commanded to take, each of them, an almond rod, and write thereon the name of his tribe. These rods, with Aaron's rod among them, were solemnly deposited before the ark of the covenant. The next morning they were brought forth from thence; and it was found that while the other rods remained in their former state, the rod of Aaron was covered with leaves, and blossoms, and ripened fruit. All the people admired this mild and significant prodigy, and peace was re-established in Israel. The rod was directed to be laid up in the sanctuary that it might remain an abiding testimony of the divine appointments, which do not, indeed, seem to have been ever after called in question.

At length the fortieth year from the deliverance commenced. By this time the doom of the former generation had been accomplished. They had all died gradually away. The new race which now stood in their place were scarcely less turbulent and rebellious than their fathers; but they had grown up in the free air of the desert, the chain of bondage had not rusted their souls, and their necks had not been fretted by the yoke. They were therefore more hardy in their frames, and in their hearts more courageous and enterprising than their fathers. They had also been brought up under the theocracy; and its forms and principles were familiar to them, however imperfectly they were as yet imbued with its spirit.

As the appointed time drew nigh, they were conducted again to Kadesh,-that place between the borders of Canaan and Edom, where their fathers had received their doom, to die in the wilderness.

Miriam died soon after their arrival at this place, and was buried there. The Jews have a notion that she was the legislatrix and ruler of the Hebrew women, as her brother was of the

men.

While they tarried at this place water failed them. There the recollections of what the elder portion of the population had seen, and of what the younger had heard of Egypt and of its abundant and glorious river, revived, and they assailed Moses with the old reproaches, because he had not suffered them to remain in that fruitful land, but had brought them into that "evil place," which was, they complained, "no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates, neither is there any water to drink." Moses and Aaron received the command of God to take the old wonder-working rod or staff [not that which had budded], and smite therewith a certain rock from which water should flow in abundance. They did this; but in doing it manifested some degree of impatience and distrust of Jehovah, in consequence of which they were told that they should not be allowed to enter the promised land. To Moses, however, was granted the indulgence of viewing that land afar off, although not permitted to set his foot upon it.

Palestine seems at this time to have been of difficult access on the southern frontier. Besides being, as we have elsewhere described, a hilly region, traversed by narrow passes and valleys, and therefore of comparatively easy defence, the hills were crowned by forts and fortified towns which were at that time considered strong and formidable. It was also occupied by brave and vigilant warriors, by whom every foot of ground was likely to be disputed. In this southern part of the country, near Hebron, were the tall sons of Anak, the very sight of whom had struck the spies with terror thirty-eight years before. In advancing in this direction, they would also have their old and much dreaded enemies, the Philistines, on their left hand; and they were not likely to remain quiet witnesses of the progress of the Israelites in that quarter. From the concurrence of these causes, it did actually happen that this quarter of

It will be recollected that the older and leading part of the present population, being those under twenty years of age on leaving Egypt, could remember that country well. Two-thirds of the present race had probably been born in the desert; but even they must have heard constant talk of the splendid country from which their fathers had been brought.

the country was not fully subdued till the time of David. This country also, in many respects, was less desirable and fertile than the more central parts, as has been abundantly shown in the descriptive portion of this work.

On all these accounts together, it was manifestly less desirable that the Hebrew host should enter at the south, and fight their way northward through the whole extent of the country, than that they should at once, if possible, establish themselves in the central part of the country, which was not only the richest, but the least defensible, and from thence extend their power right and left, into the portions of country between which they would thus be thrown.

This was actually the course which was determined to be taken. But to this end it was necessary that the Israelites should take a circuit round the southern end of the Dead Sea, and march northward along its eastern border, in order to pass the Jordan and establish themselves at once in the very heart of the country to be conquered; and in effecting this design it would be desirable to pass through the kingdom of the Edomites, and necessary to traverse those of the Moabites and Amorites, nations with whom the Hebrews had no quarrel, and with two of which, as being allied to themselves by blood, they were expressly forbidden. to wage war.

The mountains of Seir, which the Edomites at this time occupied, bound the valley of Araba on the east, and extend all the way from the Dead Sea to the Elanitic Gulf. They offer only one valley through which a large and encumbered army could pass from the western to the eastern plains. This is the valley of El Ghoeyr, which opens into the Araba at about forty-five miles to the south of the Dead Sea. As it afforded by far the most convenient and shortest route which the Israelites could take, it doubtless forms "the king's highway" through which Moses desired from the Edomites permission for the Israelites to pass. The negotiation, if it may be so called, for this purpose, is curious from the illustration which it offers of the practices which then prevailed as to the very important point of international law, involved in the conditions on which an army might expect permission to march, for warlike purposes, through the territories of a neutral or friendly power.

At this time the eighth king of the Edomites was upon the throne. Eleven princes were subordinate to him; so that the king was, in fact, no more than the chief of twelve princes,―a relic of the patriarchal form of government to which the Edomites, in common with all ancient nations, were originally subject. This empire seems, in the time of Moses, to have been in a very flourishing condition. Mention is incidentally made of eight considerable cities, and also of fields, vineyards, and highways in this country.†

Moses had previously been cautioned by God not in any way to meddle injuriously with the Edomites; for Mount Seir had been given to Esau, in the possession of which his descendants were not to be disturbed. Therefore, in marching through or along their country, they were charged to maintain a strict discipline, and to pay scrupulously for whatever food or water they required.

Accordingly, when Moses sent from Kadesh, to request from the king of Edom a free passage through his territory, the ambassadors were charged with the following message,"Thus saith thy brother Israel, Thou knowest all the travail that hath befallen us: how our fathers went down into Egypt, and we have dwelt in Egypt a long time: and the Egyptians afflicted us and our fathers: And when we cried unto JEHOVAH he heard our voice, and sent an angel, and hath brought us forth out of Egypt: and behold we are in Kadesh, a city in the uttermost of thy border. Let us pass, we pray thee, through thy country: we will not pass through the fields, or through the vineyards, nor will we drink water out of the wells; we will march through the king's highway: we will not turn to the right hand or to the left, until we have passed through thy borders.'

The king of Edom was afraid to admit such an immense body of armed men into his country, and sent a plain refusal to let them pass, and threatened to oppose by arms any attempt they might make to do so.

Gen. xvii. 20, xxxvi. 31-44.

+ Gen. xxxvi. 31-39; Num. xx. 17, 21, 22.

The Israelites, whose experience in the desert had made them extremely sensible of the value of water, and of the necessity of husbanding a limited supply, suspected that the principal fear of the king was, lest they should exhaust or waste the water in the wells and reservoirs from which the inhabitants derived their supply of water during the season in which the rivers were dried up. They, therefore, sent back to assure him, that they desired nothing but leave to pass through on their feet," and that they would most willingly pay for whatever water they and their cattle might need. But the king was inexorable, and made a display of his forces to intimidate them. The frontier was so strong on this side that it was hardly possible for the Hebrews to force a passage, if they had been so minded. It was, therefore, resolved to take a circuitous route-that is, to return southward, and pass to the other side of these mountains at the point where they terminate, near the head of the Elanitic Gulf. They would then turn northward, and march along the borders of the high plains, which lie beyond these mountains eastward.

They, therefore, proceeded down the broad valley of Araba, till they reached the foot of Mount Hor, where they encamped.* To the top of that mountain, Moses, Aaron, and Eleazer proceeded, according to Divine direction, in the sight of all the people, and there Aaron died and was buried. The tomb which is now seen afar on the top of that mountain, in all probability marks the spot of his death and sepulture. The Moslems, who highly honour the memory of Aaron, hold this tomb in great reverence, and offer sacrifices there.

Thus died a man rendered eminent by the circumstances in which he was placed, and by the important part he took in the deliverance of Israel, and in the establishment of the Hebrew commonwealth. If his unequal temperament, and the facility of his disposition, disqualified him for the higher place which his younger brother so ably filled, and amply justifies and explains the divine preference, we must still acknowledge that the services which he rendered were neither few nor unimportant, and were, of their kind, indispensably necessary.

From the place which the circumstance occupies in the narrative, it would seem that it was while they were encamped at this place, although other considerations would rather indicate that it was at Kadesh that the outposts of the Hebrew camp were attacked by one of the Canaanitish nations on the southern border of Palestine. Their leader is called the king of Arad; and most of the Jewish writers think they were a tribe of Amalekites, which, under all the circumstances, is not very unlikely. This attack was so far successful that the Canaanites were able to carry off several Israelites as captives. On this, the Hebrews put the whole invading tribe, with their cities, under that solemn vow of devotement to utter destruction, which, under its proper name of cherem, we have described in a previous page (278). This vow they were enabled to accomplish when they ultimately came again in contact with the same people, in the great warfare which they waged against the Canaanites. Then they utterly destroyed this people and their cities, and called the name of the land Hormah, -the devoted place.†

The people having considered their wandering in the desert nearly at an end, and having made up their minds for a shorter and more pleasant route, were greatly disappointed at this retrograde movement-this delay in their anticipated change of life and diet, and renewal of the fatigues and privations which they had deemed to be all but ended. As they pursued their difficult way down the waterless and sandy Araba, their discontent gathered strength, and at last began to vent itself in the usual manner :-" Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For we have neither bread nor water, and our soul loatheth this light food." For this offence the Lord refused to protect them from the mortal bites of the serpents which infested the region to which they now came, and which are described by Burckhardt as still abounding in a neighbouring district. They are called "fiery serpents," either from the inflammation caused by their bites or from their fiery and splendid appearance. Under punishment this generation behaved better than their fathers. In the present case they went to Moses, confessed that they had sinned, and implored him to • Mount Hor has been described, and a view of it given in p. xliv. of the 'Physical History.' † Comp. Num. xxi. 1-3; Josh. xii. 14; Judg. i. 16, 17. Travels in Syria,' p. 499, 500.