glory shone so brightly from his face, that the people were unable to look at him, till he had covered it with a veil, while he recited to them the commandments that God had given him. 117 § 13. Moses now gathered a congregation of the people, and, after repeating the law of the Sabbath," he asked their free gifts for the tabernacle and its furniture. The spoil of the Egyptians was brought as a free-will offering to Jehovah, jewels and precious metals, skins and woven fabrics, spices, oils, and incense. Two men were filled by God with skill for the work; Bezaleel, the son of Uri, of the tribe of Judah, and Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and they wrought with "every wise-hearted man, in whom Jehovah put wisdom and understanding to work for the service of the sanctuary." They soon found the offerings of the people far above what was required; and they made the tabernacle with its furniture and vessels, the cloths of service, and the garments of the priests, after the pattern shown to Moses in the mount, and Moses blessed them. 119 All things being thus prepared, Moses was commanded to set up the tabernacle and place in it the ark of the covenant, and to anoint Aaron and his sons to the priesthood. The solemu ceremony took place on the first day of the first month of the second year from the epoch of the Exodus, March to April, B.C. 1490. Jehovah vouchsafed a visible token of His presence and approval by covering the tabernacle with the cloud and filling it with His glory, so that Moses could not enter into the tabernacle, and by sending down on the altar the sacred fire, with which alone the sacrifices were henceforth to be offered. 120 The scene thus simply and briefly related by Moses should be compared with the more elaborate description of the dedication of Solomon's temple, of which the tabernacle was the model.121 A whole month was spent in arranging the service of the sanctuary, as it is set forth in the Book of Leviticus, before the people prepared for their onward journey. 117 Ex. xxxiv. 29-35; comp. 1 Cor. iii. 12-18. 118 Ex. xxxv. 1-3. 119 Exod. xxxv.-xxxix. xxv. 40 Heb. viii. 25. 120 Ex. xl.; Num. ix. 15, 16. 191 1 K. viii.; 2 Chron. vi. vii. 15. Rithmah signifies the plant genista or broom. 26. Probably near Moseroth, perhaps Ain Hasb, N. W. in the Arabah. "From Beeroth of the children of Jaakan to Moserah: there Aaron died and was buried." Perhaps Kusheibeh, at the mouth of the Wady Abu, near the foot of Mount Hor. II. BEFORE REACHING SINAL. 5. Marah.. 6. Elim.. 9, 10 7. By the Red Sea. 10, 11 8. Wilderness of Sin.. 11, 12 9. Dophkah.. 12, 13 27. Deut. x. 6. 10. Alush.. 13, 14 14, 15 12. Wilderness of Sinai. 15, 16 III. FROM SINAI TO THE FRONTIER. 13. Kibroth-hattaavah.. 16, 17 14. Hazeroth. 17, 18 28. (i. e., wells called after their name). Jaakan was the grandson of Seir the Horite (1 Chron. i. 42). Ain Ghurundel. 29. Gudgodah (Deut. x. 7), perhaps Wady el-Ghudhagidh. 30. Jotbath, "a land of rivers of waters" (Deut. x. 7). Perhaps at the confluence of Wady el-Adbah with el-Jerajeh. "At that 21, 22 time Jehovah separated Levi," etc. (Deut. x. 22, 23 8). 23, 24 31. Perhaps a ford across the head of the 24, 25 Gulf of Akabah. 25, 26 34. Here Aaron died; and here king Arad 26, 27 the Canaanite heard of their coming. 27, 28 28, 29 2, 30 (B.) PI-HAHIROTH, MIGDOL, 30, 31 31, 32 32, 33 AND BAAL-ZEPHON. After leaving Etham the direction 33, 34 of the route changed. The Israelites 34, 35 35, 36 were commanded "to turn and en、 camp before Pi-hahiroth, between 36, 37 Migdol and the sea, over against Baal zephon" (Ex. xiv. 2). Therefore it is most probable that they at once turned, although they may have done se later in the march. The direction can not be doubted, if our description of the route thus far be correct, for they would have been entangled (ver. 3) only by turning southward, not north ward. They encamped for the night 37-41 41, 42 42, 43 43, 44 44, 45 As the first stay at Kadesh is not mentioned in the list, the place of this division is only conjectural. by the sea, probably after a full day's stance now called manna in the Arajourney. The place of their encamp- bian desert, through which the Israelment and of the passage of the sea ites passed, is collected in the month would therefore be not far from the of June from the tarja or tamarisk Persepolitan monument, which is shrub (Tamarix gallica). According made in Linant's map the site of the to Burckhardt, it drops from the Serapeum. We do not venture to at- thorns on the sticks and leaves with tempt the identification of the places which the ground is covered, and must mentioned in the narrative with mod- be gathered early in the day, or it will ern sites. Something, however, may be be melted by the sun. The Arabs gathered from the names of the places. cleanse and boil it, strain it through a The position of the Israelite encamp- cloth, and put it in leathern bottles; ment was before Pi-hahiroth, behind and in this way it can be kept uninwhich was Migdol, and on the other jured for several years. They use it hand Baal-zephon and the sea. Pi- like honey or butter with their unhahiroth or Hahiroth is probably the leavened bread, but never make it into name of a natural locality. The sepa- cakes or eat it by itself. Rauwolf and rable prefix is evidently the Egyptian some more recent travellers have obmasculine article, and we therefore served that the dried grains of the hold the name to be Egyptian. Ja- Oriental manna were like the corianblonsky proposed the Coptic etymol-der-seed. Niebuhr observed that at ogy, "the place where sedge grows," Mardin, in Mesopotamia, the manna which may be identified with the modern Ghuweybet-el-boos, "the bed of reeds." Migdol appears to have been a common name for a frontier watchtower. Baal-zephon we take to have had a similar meaning to that of Migdol. We should expect, therefore, that the encampment would have been in a depression, partly marshy, having on either hand an elevation marked the olive-tree, having a leaf like the by a watch-tower. (C.) MANNA. lies like meal on the leaves of a tree called in the East ballôt, and afs or as, which he regards as a species of oak. The harvest is in July and August, and much more plentiful in wet than dry seasons. In the valley of the Jordan Burckhardt found manna like gum on the leaves and branches of the tree gharrob, which is as large as poplar, though somewhat broader Two other shrubs, which have been supposed to yield the manna of ScripThe natural products of the Arabian ture, are the Alhagi maurorum, or deserts and other Oriental regions Persian manna, and the Alhagi deserwhich bear the name of manna, have torum-thorny plants common in Syr not the qualities or use ascribed to ia. The manna of European com the manna of Scripture. The manna merce comes mostly from Calabris of Scripture must be regarded as and Sicily. It is gathered during the wholly miraculous, and not in any months of June and July from some espect a product of nature. The species of ash (Ornus Europœa and Or Arabian physician Avicenna gives the nus rotundifolia), from which it drops following description of the manna, in consequence of a puncture by an which in his time was used as a med- insect resembling the locust, but disicine: "Manna is a dew which falls tinguished from it by having a sting or stones or bushes, becomes thick under its body. The substance is like honey, and can be hardened so as fluid at night, and resembles the dew, to be like grains of corn." The sub- but in the morning it begins to harden THE ADVANCE FROM SINAI, AND THE WANDERING IN THE WIL DERNESS. A.M. 2514-2552. B.C. 1490-1452. ran § 1. Numbering of the people-Order of the camp and march. § 2. Numbering of the first-born and of the Levites. § 3. Other events at Sinai -Purification of the camp-Order of Nazarites-Second PassoverNadab and Abihu-The blasphemer stoned. § 4. Departure from Si nai-Hobab their guide-Manner of the march. § 5. The route from Sinai--Entrance designed by way of Hebron-The Wilderness of PaQuails. Pestilence - Ap- Taberah. § 6. Kibroth-hattaavah pointment of the seventy elders-Their gift of prophesying. §7. Hazeroth-Sedition of Miriam and Aaron-Testimony to the meekness and fidelity of Moses. § 8. Kadesh-barnea-difficulties about its site. § 9. The spies sent out-Their return and report-Rebellion of the peopleFidelity of Caleb and Joshua. § 10. Attempt to scale the pass defeated by the Amorites, Canaanites, and Amalekites. § 11. Beginning of the thirty-eight years' wanderings-Their direction and object. § 12. Some transactions of these years-i. The Sabbath-breaker stoned-ii. Rebellion and fate of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, with 250 princesiii. The plague stayed by Aaron-iv. The blossoming of Aaron's rodThe charge of the sanctuary given to the Levites. § 1. On the first day of the second month of the second year from the epoch of the Exodus (Jyar-May, 1490), Je hovah commanded Moses to number the people able to bear arms, from twenty years old and upward. The census was to be taken by Aaron, with a chosen assistant from each tribe, except that of Levi. The Levites were exempted from military service, and numbered separately. The other tribes were made up to twelve by the division of Joseph into Ephraim and Manasseh. The following is the result, in the order given in the book of Numbers, which takes its title from this census :— From These may be taken as the exact figures corresponding to the round number of 600,000, as given at the Exodus. the identity of the total, and the improbability of there being two numberings in one year, this seems to be the same as the census mentioned before, in connection with the halfshekel tax for the service of the sanctuary.' The object of the census was military, in preparation for the march to Canaan. A captain was appointed for every tribe; and the whole host was divided into four camps, which surrounded the tabernacle during a halt, and went before and after it on the march, in the following order : i. On the East, and in the van: the camp of Judah, with Issachar and Zebulun, 186,400 men. ii. On the South, and second: the camp of REUBEN, with Simeon and Gad, 151,450 men. The TABERNACLE and Levi. iii. On the West, and last but one: the camp of EPHRAIM, with Manasseh and Benjamin, 108,100 men. iv. On the North, and in the rear: the camp of Dan, with Asher and Naphtali, 157,600 men. Each tribe had its standard. § 2. Another object of the census was religious. The above numbers, besides excluding the tribe of Levi, included some who had no right there, as not being sui juris, namely, the first-born, who were consecrated to Jehovah.' Of both these classes, the Levites and the first-born, the census included the males from one month old and upward, and there were found to be3 Of the first-born....... Of the tribe of Levi....... Difference....... 22,273 273 'Ex. xxxviii. 26. 2 Ex. xiii. 1, 2, 11-16. iii. (Gershon, 7500; Kohath, 8600; Merari, 6200) give a total of 23,300. The separate numbers in Num, The received solution of the discrep |