from me surely I would have slain thee and saved her alive. And Balaam said unto the angel of the Lord, I have sinned; for I knew not that thou stoodest in the way against me. Now, therefore, if it displease thee, I will get me back again. But the angel of the Lord said, Go with the men; but only the word that I speak unto thee, that thou shalt speak. So Balaam went with the princes of Balak." As he was so intent on going, the Lord permits him to follow the bent of his inclination; but lets him know how much he was displeased with him for entertaining such a wish, after what he had said to him at the first; and although he permits him to go; yet he places him under such a restraint, that he would be able to say or do nothing of what Balak wished. Balak, however, was greatly pleased when he found that Balaam had come, and went out to meet him to the extreme border of his coast. And when he saw him, he gently upbraided him for not coming at once, since it was in his power to advance him to honour. But Balaam assured him that although he had come, it was not in his power to say any thing, but that word which God should put into his mouth. And Balak invited him to a rich feast at Kirjathhuzoth.

SECTION XLII.

BALAAM BLESSES ISRAEL.

BALAK, with raised expectations, took Balaam up into the high places of Baal, that thence he might take a view of the hosts of Israel, who were encamped on the plains of Moab. Balaam directed that seven altars should be erected on the elevated spot to which he had been conducted; and a bullock and a ram for each altar, should be prepared for burnt-offerings. And leaving Balak by the sacrifices, he went himself to another place alone, in the hope of receiving a message from God, and in this expectation he was not disappointed; for God met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, "Return unto Balak and thus shalt thou speak. And he returned unto him; and lo, he stood by his burnt-sacrifice, and all the princes of Moab. And he took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse me Jacob; and come, defy Israel. How shall I curse whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy whom the Lord hath not defied? For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him; lo the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations. Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous,

and let my last end be like his. And Balak said unto Balaam, What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse mine enemies, and behold thou hast blessed them altogether. And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which the Lord hath put in my mouth? And Balak said unto him, Come, I pray thee, with me into another place, from whence thou mayest see them; thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shall not see them all; and curse me them from thence. And he brought him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah; and built seven altars, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar. And he said unto Balak, Stand here by the burnt-offering, while I meet the Lord yonder. And the Lord met Balaam and put a word in his mouth." And when he returned, "Balak said unto him, what hath the Lord spoken? And he took up his parable and said, Rise up Balak and hear, hearken unto me thou son of Zippor. God is not a man that he should lie; nor the son of man, that he should repent; hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? Behold, I have received commandment to bless, and he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it. He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel. The Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them. God brought them out of Egypt; he hath, as it were, the strength of a unicorn. Surely, there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel. According to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought? Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion; he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain. And Balak said unto Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all. But Balaam answered, Told not I thee, saying, All that the Lord speaketh, that must I do. And Balak said unto Balaam, Come, I pray thee, I will bring thee to another place; peradventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence." And he brought him to the top of Peor, that looketh toward Jeshimon; and there he builded seven altars and offered a bullock and a ram on each, as before. "And when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he went not, as at other times, to seek for enchantments, but he set his face towards the wilderness. And Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel abiding in his tents, according to their tribes; and the Spirit of God came upon him, and he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said: He hath said, which heard the words of God, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open: How goodly are thy tents, O

Jacob! and thy tabernacles, O Israel! As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river's side; as the trees of lignaloes, which the Lord hath planted, and as cedar-trees beside the waters. He shall pour the water out of his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters; and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted. God brought him forth out of Egypt: he hath, as it were, the strength of an unicorn; he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows. He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion; who shall stir him up? Blessed is he that blesseth thee; and cursed is he that curseth thee. And Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam, and he smote his hands together and said, I called thee to curse mine enemies, and behold thou hast altogether blessed them these three times. Therefore, flee now to thy place. I thought to promote thee unto great honour; but lo, the Lord hath kept thee back from honour. And Balaam said unto Balak, Spake I not to thy messengers which thou sentest unto me, saying, If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the commandment of the Lord, to do either good or bad of mine own mind; but what the Lord saith, that will I speak. And now, behold, I go unto my people; come therefore, and I will advertise thee what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days. And he took up his parable, and said, I shall see him, but not now; I shall behold him, but not nigh; there shall come a star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel; and shall smite the corners of Moab; and destroy all the children of Sheth. And Edom shall be a possession; Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies; and Israel shall do valiantly. Out of Jacob shall come He that shall have dominion; and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city. And when he looked on Amalek, he took up his parable, and said, Amalek was the first of the nations; but his latter end shall be that he perish for ever. And he looked on the Kenites, and took up his parable and said, Strong is thy dwelling-place, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock; nevertheless, the Kenite shall be wasted, until Asshur shall carry thee away captive. And he took up his parable and said, Alas, who shall live, when God doeth this? And ships shall come from the coast of Chittim, and shall afflict Asshur; and shall afflict Eber, and he also shall perish for ever. And Balaam rose up and returned to his place; and Balak also went his way."

SECTION XLIII.

SEDUCTION OF THE ISRAELITES BY THE DAUGHTERS OF MOAB.

BUT although Balaam now returned home, it was not long before he was recalled; for we learn from an apostle, that the plan of enticing the children of Israel to sin, by means of the daughters of Moab, was of his devising. For we not only read that he fell into error, and loved the wages of unrighteousness; and that his going after the messengers of Balak, was a madness, which was rebuked by the speaking of the dumb ass; but in the book of Revelation, we read of some at Pergamos, who held the doctrines of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication. This extraordinary man and inspired prophet, although he was not permitted to curse Israel, yet could devise a plan by which they might be seduced into idolatry and fornication, by which means a multitude of the people perished.

SECTION XLIV.

PUNISHMENT OF THE ISRAELITES.

THE plan of seduction recommended to Balak by Balaam, seems to have been to invite Israel to the sacrifices of their gods. At these sacrifices, luxurious feasts were celebrated; and where licentious indulgences were not only tolerated, but formed a part of the service required of them, by their impure religion. The principal deity of the Moabites, was Baal-peor, one of the most abominable of the heathen gods; whose rites were a mixture of cruelty and obscenity. To this strange god, the Israelites invited to the sacrificial feasts, bowed down; so that "Israel was joined to Baal-peor; and the anger of the Lord was kindled against them. And the Lord said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people and hang them up before the Lord, against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel. And slay ye every one his man that were joined untc Baal-peor." And while the children of Israel were weeping before the door of the tabernacle, one of the children of Israel brought into the camp a Midianitish woman, in the sight of Moses and all the congregation. Upon which Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the chief-priest, seized with a holy zeal, rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; and went after the man into his tent; and thrust both of them through the body with the javelin. And the act, though vio

lent, was pleasing to God; so that from this time, the plague which had commenced its ravages among the children of Israel was stayed. "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned away my wrath from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy. Wherefore, say, Behold I give unto him. my covenant of peace; and he shall have it and his seed after him; even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel." The person who was thus made the victim of a holy indignation was no common man; but a prince of a chief house among the Simeonites; whose name was Zimri, the son of Salu. And the Midianitish woman also was of a chief house in Midian. Her name was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur. The Lord now commandeth Moses henceforth to treat the Midianites as enemies, "for," said he, "they have vexed you with their wiles, wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor; and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a prince of Midian, their sister, which was slain in the day of the plague for Peor's sake." Whether these Midianites, who now seem to have been incorporated with Moab, were of the same nation as Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, it is difficult to determine. The identity of the name renders it probable that they were a part of the same tribe; for the Arabs then, as now, were a migratory race, often shifting their place of abode, but still delighting in the wilderness; thus exhibiting in all ages, the justness of the description of sacred writ, in which they are represented by "a wild ass."

SECTION XLV.

SECOND CENSUS OF THE PEOPLE.

IT is an inevitable inference from the result of the enumeration, which was now ordered, that the tribe of Simeon were chief in the transgression and in the punishment; for it will appear by a comparison with the former census, that this tribe had lost more than half its number.

And the Lord said unto Moses and Eleazar the priest, saying, "Take the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, from twenty years old and upward."

Upon a comparison of this census with the one taken after the people came out of Egypt, the result will be as follows: The tribe of Reuben had decreased, during their wandering in the wilderness, by the number of 2770. The decrease of the tribe of Simeon was 37,100, nearly two-thirds of the whole num