Date and Place. B. C. 1490. Eccl. y. 2. 7 m. 6 d. 1490-1452. Eccl. y. 2-40. 1452. Eccl. y. 40. Im. 1490. Kadesh. Mount Hor. Zalmonah. Punon, Oboth, Iim. Dibon-gad. Almondiblathaim. Abarim. Plains of Moab by Event or Narrative. Israel murmurs at the report of the spies; God Laws of offerings; the sabbath-breaker stoned [Numb. 15]. The rebellion of Korah, etc.; earthquake, fire, and plague inflicted; Aaron approved as high-priest by the budding of his rod, Numb. 16., 17. The charge and portion of the priests and Levites [Numb. 18]. Water of purification; how to be made and used [Numb. 19]. The next seventeen joumeys (15th to 31st) of the Numb. 20. 14-21. (see John 3. 14): Numb. 21. 35th, 36th, and 37th journeys, 38th journey, (33.41)-9. Numb. 21. 10, 11: 33. 42-44. The Israelites stop at Zared, Arnon, and Beer, Sihon, the Amorite, opposes their passage; defeated, Og, of Bashan, attacks them; defeated, 39th journey, 40th journey, Numb. 21. 12-18. Numb. 21. 21-32. Numb. 21. 33-35. Numb. 21. 18-20: 33.47. 41st journey; account of Balaam and Baiak, 42nd journey; idolatry of Baal-Peor; zeal of Phinehas, Numb. 25. I (33. 49)-18. [Numb. 26]. Third numbering of the people, The daughters of Zelophehad; laws of inheritance, Laws of offerings, vows, etc., Numb. 27. 1-11: 36. Date and Place. B. C. 1451, Event or Narrative. Numb. 31. part of MaNumb. 22. The slaughter of Midian; Balaam slain, Eccl. y. 40. Territories given to Reuben, Gad, and nasseh, on the east of Jordan, Directions for the Israelites on their entering Canaan; borders of the land described; forty-eight cities for the Levites, of which six are to be cities of refuge; the laws on murder, Numb. 33. 50-56: 34: 35. Exod. 12. 37. This order of the journies is taken from Numb. 35. We see here how God weans his people from idolatry, how he inures them to trial and trains them to obedience. For an inspired, practical comment on the history of the Israelites in the wilderness, see Psa. 78: 105: 106: 136: and I Cor. 10. Lev. What an instructive month's history. Aaron consecrated, in proof of the holiness required in worship; his sons Nadab and Abihu punished for unhallowed contempt of Divine authority (see Exod. 30. 9), shortly after their consecration, which a miracle had confirmed, Exod. 24. 9: Lev. 9. 24; Aaron's resignation a touching exhibition of grace, 10. 3; the blasphemer stoned. Lev. 11. As the sacrifices of the law point to Christ and his atonement, so do the repeated purifications to man's need of inward purity and of the cleansing influence of the Holy Spirit. The ceremonial law contains rites closely resembling those in use among several heathen nations, but with striking differences (Spencer, de Leg. and Michaelis). Some (as Warburton and Maimonides) think the former borrowed from the latter; others (as Gale and Stillingfleet) think the latter borrowed from the former; others, still (as Calmet and Faber) maintain that both were taken from early patriarchal institutes, which the Gentiles corrupted and which God himself modified, to meet the peculiar condition of the Jews. This last theory, the most probable of the three, is confirmed by the fact that many primitive traditions are preserved in the systems, moral, religious, and philosophical, of many ancient nations. Numb. 9. 1-14. This section is out of its place, see ver. 1. When Jacob's family entered Egypt they numbered but seventy souls, Gen. 46. 27. Now their descendants number upwards (it may be gathered) of two millions (chap. 26); so richly had God already fulfilled his promise. Date and Place. B. C. 1451. Eccl. y. 40. Event or Narrative. 3. The Review and closing Charge of Moses. Moses reviews the history of the Israelites, introducing some new particulars, Deut. 1.-4. The moral law repeated and enforced, Deut. 5.-9: 10. 1-5, 10-22: II.. The ceremonial law repeated, with injunctions against idolatry, etc. [Deut. 12.-16: 17. 1.] The judicial law repeated and explained. Christ foretold as a prophet to whom they are to hearken, Deut. 17. 2-20: [18.-26]. Moses directs Israel, after entering Canaan, to write the law on stones, and to recite its blessings and curses upon Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal, Deut. 27. Prophetic promises and curses, Deut. 28. Concluding appeal to the Israelites, Deut. 29: 30. Deut. On the importance of comparing the law, as given in Deuteronomy, with the law as given in the earlier books, see Pt. ii. § 8. Date and Place. Event or Narrative. B. C. II m. 4. Joshua's appointment; death of Moses. Eccl. y. 40. Joshua appointed to succeed Moses, Numb. 27. 12-23. Moses recites his song, and exhorts Israel to set their Moses ascends Mount Nebo to view the land of Deut. 32. 48-52. Deut. 33. Moses prophetically blesses the tribes, Moses views the promised land; his death, burial, and character, Deut. 34. Sec. 5. The Design of the Law-Summary of its Religious Institutions. 25. What, then, it may be asked, was the purpose of this ancient dispensation, and to what end must we study it? There was faith and piety before it was given. Faith and piety remain, now that it is done away. As an institute, it was confessedly burdensome; and if its aim had been either to regulate the worship of God, to give a figurative representation of the gospel, or to separate the Jews from other nations, this aim might have been reached by simpler means. Might not some points, moreover, not forcibly impressed upon the ancient Jews, have been more clearly revealed-the spirituality, for example, of the coming dispensation, and the glories of eternal life? In reply to these questions, let it be remembered, that man has a strong tendency to forget God. Virtue, truth, godliness, submission to the Divine will, conformity to the Divine law, supreme desire for the Divine glory, are things not only not natural—they are things to which man is directly opposed. Without successive revelations, or some such provision as the Old Testament supplies, the feelings which these terms describe, and the truths on which they are founded, must long since have perished from the earth. This conclusion is gained by an induction of particulars as sound as any in science. Let it now be supposed that God has to deal with men who are ever prone to idolatry and barbarism, in a condition of intellectual childhood, with no relish for blessings purely spiritual, and so earthly as to be incapable of comprehending them; that he desires to impress the minds of such a race with his own infinite perfections, and induce them to worship him with becoming reverence; to prove to them what is in their heart, and so humble them for their depravity; to lead them to acknowledge him in all their ways, that they may fear his power and trust his love; to raise their confidence towards the God of their fathers, their covenant-God; to incline their hearts towards his holy place, and the privilege of communion with him;-suppose that he wishes to distinguish them as his peculiar people (that is, both purchased and separate); to prevent needless intercourse with their idolatrous neighbours; to unite all classes of Israelites as one body, under one king; to teach them to love one another as brethren; to check the tendency, in all communities, to the accumulation of extreme wealth in the hands of a few, and the oppression that springs from such accumulation; to induce honest industry among the people; to give every man the conviction that he has a name and a place in his country; to secure competent provision for the fatherless and the widow; to provide rest and moral training for all servants; to connect the maintenance of the learned and priestly class, in part at least, with the obedience and piety of the people, thus stimulating them to diligence in teaching the law ;-suppose that he seeks to reveal himself with new claims; to preserve the memory of what he had done for them as a nation; to teach them implicit obedience; to excite thoughts and feelings in harmony with the office, and work, and reign of that Messiah whom these various institutions were to introduce ;-and suppose, lastly, that owing to man's guilty depravity, and the powerlessness of ritual observance to cleanse him spiritually from sin, these precepts and rites could not, by themselves alone, secure more than legal forgiveness, or attain, in any sense, eternal life;-admit that these suppositions describe the end of the law, and its adaptation to its end will at once appear. Now, these suppositions really do describe its end, though they may be stated variously. Is the law a moral code? It teaches us our duty both to man and to God. Is it ritual observance? It teaches us our faults, and God's holiness, pointing, moreover, to the cross. Is it a civil institute? It regulates the worship of an Invisible King, preserves the Jews as a peculiar people, and enforces brotherly love. Regarded as a revelation of truth (objective religion), all its parts are instructive. Regarded as a shadow of truth afterwards to be revealed, it excites and deepens holy feeling (subjective religion.) Regarded chiefly as a treasury of earlier traditional knowledge, that knowledge it preserves, adding much of its own, in order to preserve it; though, of course, a spiritual perception of its truths is still, as before, essential to salvation. However the end of the law be defined, the chief facts remain. It reveals man's sin, God's holiness and love, forgiveness through sacrifice, and sanctification as its result, Christ's work and reign, while it provides for the preservation of these truths in a world ever prone to forget what is spiritual, and deteriorate what is holy. The whole institute is at once a gospel and a church. It preserved and guarded piety, union, and happiness; is every way worthy of its author, and entitled to the commendations which pious Jews have bestowed upon it in every age, Psalms 19. 119. 26. In theory, the Jewish constitution was a theocracy, a T |