Moses and his posterity a great nation, but that he again entreated for them, and prevailed. Nevertheless a sentence had gone forth against this rebellious generation; they must turn away from the land of promise, and live and die in the desert. Only their children under twenty, who had not partaken of their sin, were to enter it with Caleb and Joshua, when their fathers should be no more.

Yet now, by a strange perversity, did this rebellious people resolve to go in and possess the land by their own strength, though Moses with the ark, and those faithful to their duty, remained in the camp. They were, of course, defeated by the Amalekites and other nations of Canaan.

Then the nation returned to their life in the desert; and we hear little of them for thirtyeight years, excepting in an attempt made by Korah and his followers, to assume to themselves the rights of the priests, whom God had set apart to minister holy things. They were miraculously destroyed, and the Levites confirmed in their rights by a miracle. Each tribe was commanded to take a rod and mark it with the name of their chief, and the rod which should blossom was to show the tribe chosen. Then Moses laid the twelve rods before the tabernacle, and the rod which blossomed was Aaron's for the tribe of Levi, and it brought forth almonds. The people were satisfied, and the rod was laid up in the ark, as a testimony or witness, that the office of the priesthood belonged to the tribe of Levi.

At length, after thirty-eight years spent in the desert, when a new generation had sprung up, probably bolder and more hardy than their fathers, they were permitted to approach the land of Canaan, and encamp once more at Kadesh. Here Miriam died; and here Moses committed the only

sin recorded of him, through impatience and presumption, in respect of the command given to him and Aaron by the Lord, to bring water out of the rock for the people. Few particulars are given, but we know, that through this sin, Moses and Aaron were excluded from entering the land of Canaan.

LESSON III.

JOURNEYINGS OF THE ISRAELITES-(continued.) AARON died shortly after on Mount Hor, and was succeeded by his son Eleazer. Moses had many other trials to endure. He had purposed to lead the people through the land of Edom, so as to enter Canaan by the eastern side. But the Edomites refused to let them pass through their country, and the Israelites, on account of the promise made by God to Esau their ancestor, were not permitted to force their way. So Moses was obliged to lead them again through the desert, to the top of the eastern gulf of the Red Sea, in order to get round the land of Edom.

The people, dismayed at this disappointment, rebelled against Moses, and were punished by serpents of the desert attacking them. On their repentance, Moses was ordered to erect a brazen serpent, and all who, trusting in God, raised their eyes to it, were healed.

When this long and weary march round the mountainous country of Edom was accomplished, the Israelites had to encounter the Amorites, and other nations, who came out to oppose their advance. But the Lord was with them, and they subdued their enemies, and took possession of the country. At length they found themselves in the plains of Moab, separated from the land of pro

mise only by the river Jordan. Here they encamped, to the dismay of the surrounding nations, especially the Moabites and Midianites.

The king of Moab, however, seems to have believed that the Israelites had more than mortal strength to aid them, for he made no attempt to do battle with them while they rested in the plain, but looked about him for other means of destroying them.

He sought the assistance of the prophet Balaam, who dwelt in the eastern country, and was a worshipper of the God of Israel. To him he sent rich offers to induce him to come and curse this people, for I suppose he thought that Balaam was' a favoured servant of the God of Israel, and that whomsoever he cursed, would be abandoned, and fall an easy prey.

Balaam was at first forbidden by God in a dream to go. But on his again seeking permission, he was abandoned to his own evil wishes, though he was made aware that he would only be able to speak the words which God should put into his mouth.

And so he went. And seven altars were prepared at his desire for sacrifice to the God of Israel, and Balak took him to a hill whence he could see the tents of Israel, and he opened his mouth and blessed the people, and prophesied their future greatness. Three times Balak changed his position, but again and again the prophet poured forth blessings on the camps of Israel.

Then Balak and the elders of Midian made no further attempt against Israel, but dealt friendly with them, and invited them, by Balaam's advice, to their idol feasts. And far more fatal was their friendship to this people than could have been their enmity. They were seduced into the society of idolaters, and learned to bow their heads to Baal.

It was on this occasion that Moses received his. last commission, which was to extirpate the nation of the Midianites, remarkable for its wickedness and idolatries. Accordingly he commanded the people to arm themselves, and a mighty and desructive war followed, in which the nation was early destroyed, and the wicked prophet Balaam slain.

And now the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh, sought permission from Moses to settle on the east side of Jordan, in the countries they had lately conquered; because the lands were suited for grazing cattle, and these tribes were rich in flocks and herds. Moses consented, but only on condition that the fighting men of the tribes should accompany their brethren to assist them in conquering the land of Canaan.

And now Moses' long and anxious life was drawing to a close; the Lord had called him to his rest, and the last days of his life were spent in the service of the people he had governed for forty years. No vain jealousy of Joshua his successor, no mortification at being deprived of the privilege of leading his people into the goodly land promised to their fathers, clouded his mind, or damped his exertions. He repeated to the people a clear and lively history of their past lives, from the period at which they and their fathers left the wilderness of Sinai and the mountains of Horeb, where the law was delivered, until the day on which he stood before them on the borders of the land of promise. He reminded them of the awful way in which the law had been delivered to them, and repeated all its most solemn commands. This history is contained in a Book of the Bible called Deuteronomy.* It was written

* Meaning repetition of the Law.

by his desire, and delivered by himself to the priests to lay up in the ark. He afterwards gave a solemn warning to the people, in the form of a poem or song which he taught them; and ended with a blessing on each tribe separately, as he departed. For Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo; and from Pisgah, one of ts heights, the Lord showed to him the land of Canaan-the land which had been promised to Abraham, and which the children of Abraham were about to possess its rivers, its seas, its mountains, and fruitful valleys lay stretched before him. Doubtless the Lord also showed his servant a better land, a heavenly Canaan, to cheer his last moments; but this could not have been revealed to the Israelites without preaching the Gospel, which was reserved for Jesus Christ, who brought life and immortality to light.

So Moses died on Mount Nebo.

"No monument marked the place where this man of God found his last repose; so that he who had constantly been zealous against all idolatry might not even in the grave himself give occasion of it;" for the Israelites, though they were often rebellious to him in life, would have been very likely to worship his remains.

SETTLEMENT IN THE HOLY LAND.

WHEN Moses was dead, Joshua* the son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim, who had already been appointed his successor, was commanded by God to lead his people into the land of Canaan, and

*The name is the same as Jesus.